The Metroid series is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year, with many fans joining in the festivities. Some are looking to catch up on the Metroid series however they can, as Metroid Dread drops this October. One of the games that frequently gets brought up by fans is AM2R, or Another Metroid 2 Remake for short. Like other Nintendo fan-games, however, it was quickly hit with a cease and desist from Nintendo. Despite this, the creator of AM2R recently released a short game in celebration of the series.
DoctorM64, or Milton Guasti, is the creative mind behind the brilliantly designed AM2R. This was a full-on remake of Metroid 2 before Metroid: Samus Returns, with gameplay that closely resembled Metroid: Zero Mission and Super Metroid. The game earned him a lot of praise, with the fresh coat of paint earning the developer plenty of praise. Sadly, Nintendo has officially shut down development of AM2R, though fans have continued distributing the game and giving its own patches. While not much news has come from Guasti since its shutdown, he released a new game that not only celebrates Metroid, but also takes place within the world of AM2R.
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The game that he unveiled was Skippy the Robot, which went up the day of Metroid's 35th anniversary. In AM2R, the Super Missiles are locked behind a platforming puzzle, in which the player controls a remote controlled robot to clear a path for Samus to get access to it. In this spinoff game, the player controls the robot itself, using similar platforming based gameplay. Skippy the Robot comes with ten unique levels and thirty collectibles. It is available through itch.io and can be played on a browser or through a download.
Guasti further explains this celebratory game in a post he made on blogspot. He reminisced about how AM2R's influence had been widespread in the years after it was released, taking pride in the fact that fans had enjoyed his interpretation of the original game. Skippy itself is a personal project that was made in a couple of weeks for the anniversary, with Guasti saying it is the framework of a bigger project he hopes that he can reveal in the near future.
The blog post then says that if fans really enjoy Skippy the Robot, more levels will be added later on. Guasti finishes his post by detailing his experience as a full-time game developer. One highlight of his career has been working at Moon Studios, as he was brought on board for the level design of Ori and the Will of the Wisps. As such, the dedicated Metroid fan says to keep an eye out for an unannounced project from Moon Studios as well.
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Source: Project AM2R