That’s as per a recent financial report by Nordisk Games, owner of a 40% minority stake in MercurySteam, which stated that the Spanish studio currently has two “large undisclosed” games in the works (via @MauroNL3 on Twitter).

One of these games is known to be a dark fantasy action RPG codenamed Project Iron, which will be co-published by MercurySteam and 505 Games. What the second game is remains up in the air for now, of course, but Metroid fans will be hoping that the studio is working with Nintendo on the next mainline 2D instalment in the series.

When asked recently about whether MercurySteam had Metroid 6 in the works, CEO Enric Álvarez was reluctant to say much one way or another. Read more on that through here.

Spanish developer MercurySteam is currently working on "two large undisclosed titles" according to Nordisk Games financials, which owns a 40% stake in the studio.

Mercury Steam is best known for Castlevania Lords of Shadow and 2021's Metroid Dread.

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— MauroNL (@MauroNL3) August 9, 2023

Even though it does conclude that story though, as you may have imagined, it’s far from the end of the series. In a recent interview with CNET, echoing similar earlier statements, series producer Yoshio Sakamoto said that as long as series protagonist Samus Aran is still around, Metroid game will continue to get made, adding that though Metroid Dread does end the series’ 5-game 2D arc, it’s “not the ultimate end” for all things 2D Metroid.

“As long as the character Samus exists, I think her adventure will continue,” Sakamoto said. “I feel that Samus should continue her adventure, and that’s something that we would really need to put our best effort into. Metroid Dread does conclude the five-story arc that has been going on for 35 years. However, I feel that it’s not the ultimate end. There should be something that is able to continue the franchise and the universe. So yes, as long as your character Samus is loved, I would like to do what I have to do.”

Metroid Dread has certainly got off to a solid start where sales are concerned in several regions of the world, and right now, it certainly looks like it’s going to be that rare Metroid game that actually matches its critical reception with equally impressive sales (or at least sales that are respectable, if nothing else). A new Metroid game will certainly look like an attractive proposition to Nintendo right now.

Whenever that happens, there’s other stuff for Metroid fans to still look forward to. Metroid Prime 4 is still in the works, while leaks have claimed that a remaster of the original Metroid Prime is also in the works. Read more on that through here.

There’s been seemingly no end to the rumors surrounding the new Nintendo Switch, which will be an upgrade over the current model, but it seems an announcement is finally coming up. According to Bloomberg, Nintendo is planning to begin assembly in July and the console will release in September or October this year as per people familiar with the same. It will be priced higher than $299 and could likely be announced before E3 2021 begins.

This is to provide an opportunity for publishers to showcase Switch titles at the actual conference according to anonymous sources. Furthermore, the current Switch model will be phased out overtime with the Switch Lite becoming the de facto budget options. Interestingly, the commercial name is only known to “a handful of people” within Nintendo.

Insider Emily Rogers also on Twitter that the announcement of the new Switch “seems imminent.” She was also confident that a Metroid game would be releasing this year (which could refer to the rumored 2D Metroid being developed by MercurySteam). Bloomberg’s report was noted to be “accurate” especially with the plans for a September-October release. The console will have a new screen and upgraded chips and it seems that news will be dropping “sooner than we thought.”

E3 2021 is slated to run from June 12th to 15th.

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It’s a day for Nintendo leaks, it seems, and all of them coming from a single source, funnily enough. Known Nintendo insider Zippo recently published a blog update, in which they spoke about a number of potential upcoming Switch announcements, including a new Mario Kart, a new Donkey Kong game, and the Breath of the Wild sequel’s launch. In addition to that, the leaker also spoke about several other unannounced Switch games.

Rumours of a new 2D Metroid game have been around for some time now, and Zippo says that this is definitely happening. Developed by MercurySteam, the insider says this game “two hundred percent exists”, and apparently, it’s already wrapped up development. Nintendo and Metroid boss Yoshio Sakamoto are apparently very happy with how the game has turned out, and the game will apparently run at a “very smooth” 60 FPS. An announcement at E3 seems likely, the report claims.

Meanwhile, Nintendo has more plans for Mario Party as well, it seems. Super Mario Party is the highest selling game in the series, at over 14.7 million copies sold, and recently also received a substantial online update, nearly three years on from its launch. Zippo writes that Super Mario Party 2 is probably going to be announced at E3 next month, and will be ready for a late 2021 launch.

It should go without saying, but all of this is unverified information, so treat it as such. Zippo has been on the money with several Nintendo leaks in the past, but has been inaccurate at times as well, and Nintendo in particular is notoriously secretive and unpredictable- so nothing is set in stone. Either way, it looks like we’ll know for sure one way or another with all of this stuff, so stay tuned.

Guardian Ape – Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Immortality in Sekiro is a curse, something you learn firsthand when dealing with the Guardian Ape. It’s torturous enough with its grabs, slams and dung and you’d think things would end upon severing its head. However, the Guardian Ape resurrects and utilizes the sword embedded in its neck along with Terror to make the fight even more annoying. Stabbing its centipede ends the fight but won’t permanently kill the ape. Instead, when traveling to the Ashina Depths, you fight the Headless Ape again, only this time it receives some backup from its mate. Defeating it will result in the centipede taking a rest…until you come back with the Mortal Blade and kill it for good.

So without further ado, let’s get started.

BLACK MESA

Perhaps the most well-known (and also probably one of the very best) fan remakes to have ever been released. Black Mesa, which only recently launched after years of development, is a full-on remake of Half-Life 1– and without the shadow of a doubt, it is the best way to experience that all-time classic. That it not only understands and perfectly encapsulates everything that made Valve’s shooter so good, but also actually makes it better in many ways is a testament to its impeccable quality.

So let’s do that, shall we?

WARNING: Obviously, there will be spoilers ahead for every game we discuss, so if you see us beginning to talk about a game you don’t want spoiled, skip ahead to the next entry.

GOD OF WAR 2

The time paradox plot hole in God of War 2’s ending is well-known by this point. It’s a causality nightmare- because of Kratos stopped Zeus from ever killing him, that means he never had to escape Hades and then look for the Sisters of Fate, because the only reason he did so was so he could stop Zeus from killing him. But by this point, over a decade on from God of War’s release, we’ve kind of gotten over that point. Before its reinvention in 2018, the God of War series was more about blockbuster action than it was about intelligent, bulletproof storytelling, and that plot hole very much falls in line with that identity. Besides, that plot hole led to an excellent ending for the game, so we find it easy to overlook the flaw.

So let’s begin with the character that is perhaps anonymous with the very concept of video games more than any other.

MARIO (SUPER MARIO)

Mario has been at the top of the gaming pantheon for as long as gaming as we know it today as existed, and because of it (or maybe vice versa), his design has become iconic. The red hat, the bushy moustache, the blue overalls- these are all features that have collectively become immediately recognizable even to someone who isn’t too ingrained in video games. It makes sense, then, that Nintendo have largely kept Mario’s design the same- or at least the most important features.

Well, for the most part. For his very outing first in Donkey Kong on arcade machines, Mario sported his iconic attire, but things changed after that for a while. On the NES, Super Mario Bros was restricted by the limited number of colours the console could display, so everything from his clothes to his overalls to his hat to even his hair was all basically just different shades of the same colour. In fact, it wasn’t until Super Mario World on the SNES that we saw him donning the blue overalls for a look that much closely resembles what we now associate him with (though the box art of Super Mario Bros. 3 did indeed display that look as well).

Then, Super Mario 64 – his first ever 3D outing – was what really cemented his look, and since then, in all the sequels and the many, many, many spinoffs and offshoots he has appeared in, his visual design has mostly stuck to same fundamentals, right up until his more recent outings in the likes of Super Mario Odyssey and Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle. Of course, we’ve seen greater detail being added to that design as technology has progressed, which has allowed developers to really breathe life into the character’s look.

But that doesn’t mean there’s no other way they could be successful. There are plenty of franchises out there that we’d like to see branch out and try new things. In this feature, we’ll be listing fourteen video game franchises, and talk about different genres from the one they usually subscribe to that we think would actually work pretty well for them. We’re not going for completely off-rails combinations here – you won’t see us talking about a possible kart racing God of War game in here – and we’ll try to talk only about franchise-genre combinations that we think would actually make sense for the former.

So with that all out of the way, let’s get started.

POKEMON AS MMO

A Pokemon MMORPG is something that people have been dreaming about for years now, and multiple developments in recent months have only solidified the notion that that’s something that would actually work very well. For starters, Pokemon’s mainline games have refused to grow and evolve too much over the years, so at this point, most people are desperate for something fresh. More importantly though, we already have a perfect example of how good a Pokemon-style MMO would be in Crema’s Temtem. That’s not a game without its own issues by any means, but it does prove something we’ve all been shouting about at the top of our voices for some time- that a Pokemon template is actually very well suited to the MMO space.

Nintendo’s lineup for 2020 is looking dry so far, and though there has een some speculation of an upcoming Nintendo Direct with new announcements, so far, the only known upcoming Switch releases of note are Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, and No More Heroes 3 (which may or may not get delayed). However, if a recent “leak” is to be believed, there may be more stuff waiting in the wings that we don’t yet know about.

Known leaker Sabi recently took to Twitter to shared details on games they claim are going to launch in 2020 itself (presumably on the Switch). These games are a new Paper Mario title – which will supposedly be more in line with earlier traditional entries in the series – and a new 2D Metroid game – which is allegedly a sequel to Metroid Fusion (via Nintendo Enthusiast).

As always, take this with a grain of salt. It’s best not to put too much stock in unverified leaks, especially when it comes to the notoriously unpredictable Nintendo. That said, it’s been a while since we last saw game from both these series, with Intelligent Systems’ Paper Mario: Color Splash for the Wii U in 2016 and MercurySteam’s Metroid: Samus Returns for the 3DS in 2017. It would definitely be interesting to see sequels for both of them.

Meanwhile, recent leaks have also suggested that Nintendo is planning at least two more Wii U ports for the Switch this year, while another Nintendo rumour earlier this month claimed that a new Switch model would be out in mid-2020.

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