Project AM2R - Another Metroid 2 Remake

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Sorry I haven´t been replying emails or posting here. These last couple of weeks were too short and chaotic. So, I received a lot of offers from many different music and pixel artists, and I mean A LOT. I think the project has gained some popularity since last year, there are many talented artists out there and many of them offered their help. I gave a couple of test assignments to some people, hopefully by the next update I´ll be able to annouce the new spriters and musicians. In the meantime, the project has advanced a little. Right now I´m making all the caves that connect the main areas, and the new and mysterious area 5. Thank you very much for following the project, for your comments and for your support. I´ll do my best to make 2010 the year when AM2R is finally released. I wish you all a Happy New Year, have fun and be safe!

Another year is about to end. It´s in these days when I realize how many of my plans for the whole year I couldn´t complete. AM2R is one of those, it´s not finished like I wanted it to be, but at least the progress was good. So, I´m planning my summer. Besides a couple of days of vacations, there will be very little movement here at my recording studios, like every summer. So it can be a nice opportunity to dedicate myself properly to the project. I do have plans for next year, some of them involve big changes in my life. My free time will be compromised, a lot. This means I´ll be putting myself a deadline to finish AM2R once and for all. Last year I made a checklist of features and goals to be achieved on summer, this time the list is as follows: - Finish Zeta Metroids sprite and AI - Start Omega Metroids production - Start Queen Metroid production - Recruit one or two sprite artists for backgrounds, tiles, minibosses and new enemies - Recruit one or more musicians for original compos...

This is the approximate progress of the project. Game Engine Physics, states, behaviours - 100% Abilities - 100% Powerup System - 100% Weapons - 98% (some balance and testing still needed) Enemies - 70% Map System - 100% HUD - 100% Sound FX - 60% Music - 30% Level Design - 75% Still to do: Omegas nest, Queen´s lair, new area and the tunnels connecting those places. Also, some of the done areas still need tweaking and scripting. Metroids Alpha - 95% (some cosmetic details left) Gamma - 90% (could use some more animation frames) Zeta - 60% (needs a lot of sprite work, and is still missing the fireball attack) Omega - 0% Queen - 0% About the new area. It was kinda frsutrating to have a new place to unleash my level design creativity at such a late part of the game. By the time you reach this place, Samus is a walking tank, with a lot of health and all the abilities of the game. The only item that can limit the exploration is the Power Bomb, since it´s aqcuired there. But once you get th...

So, NCFC is over. It was even cooler than last year, and AM2R was given again the "Best Metroid Booth" award. I was sure the award was going to be given to the guys of Project Prime (BTW, check it out if you haven´t). Thanks to all the great people at NCFC! Here´s the trailer I made for the event, and some new pics: There are mixed oppinions about the Zetas. First of all, this is a Work In Progress sprite, and I decided to show it just for the NCFC. The animations are unfinished, and there are details to tweak about the overall apprearance. Second, I took a slightly different approach in the design. The original Zeta seemed to be designed within the limits of the sprite size, and it´s a good middle step between the original Gamma and the original Omega designs displayed in-game. In my case, Omegas will be fairly smilar to the ones in Fusion, in terms of size and proportions. If I were to use a more "traditional" design, there would be a major evolutionary differenc...

NCFC begins tonight, and this year will be awesome as always. Last year AM2R made an appearance in its own booth, it was the first time the Alpha Metroids were shown to the world. I do have some exclusive material for this year. No new demo, but I´m sharing the progress of these months. It´s a surprise... I´ll post the material here after the convention is over, don´t worry. Unlike last year, I´ll be appearing every once in a while in the NCFC chat. If you want to exchange some words with me, come by the chat room. I´ll be online tonight during the opening ceremony. Comments about the new material are welcome. I read the ones of the last post, and I was really tempted by some of the ideas you shared with me. The limit here is my time, and the ammount of effort I can put in the project right now. Well, enjoy the Nintendo Community Fangame Convention .

There was a lot of progress with Zeta Metroids. Right now they walk, crouch, jump and do a horrendously animated claw attack (soon to be redrawn). I just realized that since this is a ground based enemy, it will require much more testing than the floating ones. Specially when the environment limits the Metroid´s movement, there´s room for exploits. So, last time I mentioned Challenge Mode. And there were many cool suggestions about it, and the possible escape sequence (thanks!!!). Here´s what I have planned so far for this mode: - It will be available after completing the normal game once. - All the lava will be gone, so you can explore freely. - The item and Metroid placement will be changed. - There will be extra Metroid fights, even maybe more than one at the same time. - A boss rush mode could be unlocked after completing Challenge Mode. One thing I know for sure, challenge mode will be done after the game is finished. This means I´ll release the game once it´s completed, and chall...

In the last post there was a very interesting suggestion by Palamon: A final escape sequence after the Queen fight. It´s true, the planet is succeptible to earthquakes caused by Metroids, and killing the biggest one of them all could easily cause some disaster. Ok, but you (supposedly) have Gravity Suit by the time you reach the end, and lava isn´t much of a threat now. If the escape is going to be dramatic, it should be more menacing than lava and some falling rocks. And making so would deviate too much from the original game, IMHO. The moment you first see the hatchling, and peacefully reach the surface is a classic scene. I might consider making an escape sequence for "Challenge Mode", a special mode for hardcore players. I´d like to hear your oppinions about this. About the progress: I´m starting with the AI of the Zeta Metroids. I had to make a custom animation system, since there are separate body parts with different numbers of frames. Using the built-in variables was ...