Metroid: Samus Returns – JP Website open, plenty of details and footage; latest trailer

Today, Nintendo finally opened the official website for Metroid: Samus Returns in Japan, providing us with more details about the game, but also footage, pictures, and more. Also, the game is available for pre-loading on the Nintendo eShop in Japan, too!

But first, here’s a second overview trailer for the game, that showcase Samus’ abilities (such as her beams, for example):

Next, here’s a video with all video clips from the official website (but without any sound, sadly…):

Metroid: Samus Returns – Introduction

The game takes place in Year 20X5. A floating life form known as Metroid was found on Planet SR-388, and the infamous Space Pirates were planning to use them as biological weapons in their quest to conquer the galaxy. Fortunately, Samus Aran was able to stop them by going to Planet Zebes, where she successfully defeated Mother Brain (the leader of the Space Pirates).

However, it turned out there were still many more Metroid to be found deep in Planet SR-388, and so the Galactic Federation sends Samus Aran there in order to eradicate this menace once and for all.

Samus Aran is a bounty warrior, and one of the strongest ones in the galaxy to boot. She has quite the history, and was involved in many incidents, but her identity remains a mystery. She received a request to go to Planet SR-388 in order to eradicate the Metroid menace from the Galactic Federation.

Metroid are unknown life forms found on Planet SR-388. It’s an extremely dangerous species that can grow in size when exposed to beta rays, and latches onto other organisms to suck out their life energy. It turns out there is a Queen Metroid, which has undergone several evolutions and can give birth to new Metroid.

About Planet SR-388: it’s a mysterious planet, which a vast and intricate network of underground tunnels and structures. There, deep below the ground, the ruins of the an ancient civilisation known as Chozos can be found, along with various mechanisms left by that civilisation.

Naturally, Samus will have to make use of all her abilities in order to fully explore this dangerous planet!

Metroid: Samus Returns – Action

As mentioned above, the terrain is quite complex on Planet SR-388, and Samus Aran will need to make use of all her abilities to fully explore it and eradicate the Metroid menace.

First, let’s take a look at the various types of Beams at her disposal:

• Power Beam: Samus’ signature weapon;
• Charge Beam: Samus’ signature weapon… charged!
• Ice Beam: can freeze enemies, that Samus can then use as platforms for her jumps;
• Wave Beam: shots can go through walls and other obstacles
• Grappling Beam: Samus can latch it onto red or blue points, and then use it to swing around, but also pull things towards her, and more;
• Speizer Beam: a beam with increased fire power, where every shot is made of three beams instead of just one;
• Plasma Beam: a powerful plasma-based weapon, that can penetrate everything… even enemies!
• Missile: a stapple of the Metroid series. A basic sub-weapon that you can use when you need some extra firepower;
• Super Missile: another stapple of the Metroid series. A much more powerful missile, that can open Green doors.

As for the Morph Ball, we have…

• Morph Ball: Samus “transforms” into a ball, allowing her to go through small spaces and openings;
• Spider Ball: allows Samus to roll onto walls, as if latched onto a rail;
• Spring Ball: allows Samus to jump in her Morph Ball state;
• Bombs: small bombs Samus can use when in her Morph Ball state;
• Power Bombs: extremely powerful bomb that can obliterate many things… including Yellow gates!

Next, Power Suits:

• Varia Suit: higher defense than regular suit, allows Samus to survive intense heat;
• Gravity Suit: higher defense than the Varia Suit, increased mobility in water, and allows Samus to walk into lava.

And finally, jumps:

• High Jump: allows Samus to reach higher places than regular jumps;
• Space Jump: allows Samus to make continuous jumps, in the air, to reach high places;
• Screw Jump: a sort of offensive variant of the Space Jump, as it allows Samus to make continous jumps, and deal damage to any enemy hit during said jumps.

Metroid: Samus Returns – New Systems

Since Metroid: Samus Returns is a remake/reimagining of Metroid: Return of Samus on GameBoy, it does feature various elements that were not found in the original:

• Free Aim: by using the control stick while pressing the L button, you can aim in 360°… pretty handy when you want to get rid of an enemy in nasty spot;
• Melee Counter: with the right timing, you can use a Melee Counter to counterattack, and leave enemies totally open for a few moments;

But the main new element of the game is definitely the Aeion Abilities: they’re pretty useful and powerful, but they require Aeion energy. Here’s the 4 abilities found in the game:

• Beam Burst: semi-automatic fire beam, more powerful than the regular beam;
• Lightning Armour: Samus is covered in electricity, which absorbs damage from enemy attacks;
• Phase Drift: slow down time around Samus;
• Scan Pulse: scan the surrounding area in search of secrets (destructible blocks), and displays them on the map.

Metroid: Samus Returns – Technical details, pre-loading screenshots

If you have a Japanese Nintendo 3DS, you can now pre-load the game from the Nintendo eShop or Nintendo’s website. In doing so, you will be able to start playing at 10PM JST on September 14th.

Here’s some technical details about the game:

• Genre: Action
• Players: 1
• File size: 5 542 blocks / 692MB
• Save data file: 512KB
• Save data files: 3
• New Nintendo 3DS enhancements: Yes (use the C-Stick to scroll through the map on the bottom screen)

Finally, here’s some more screenshots:

Source: Nintendo