Prerelease:Metroid Fusion

This page details pre-release information and/or media for Metroid Fusion.

Development Timeline

2000

• August 23 - A preview of Metroid Prime is shown at Spaceworld 2000. According to former Retro Studios employee John Whitmore, the hype this reveal generated led to Nintendo starting development on Fusion, a companion game for the Game Boy Advance.

2001

• March 23 - Nintendo confirms a brand new Metroid title for GBA at a press event called Camp Game Boy Advance.
• May 18 - The game is shown at E3 2001 as Metroid IV. The game's visual presentation at this point is derided.

2002

• May 21 - The game is shown at E3 2002 under its final title, with an aesthetic much closer to final and better received by folks.
• August 22 - Nintendo reveals the fact that Fusion and Prime will have "connectivity features". They also reveal the game's release date of November 18th, 2002.
• August 29 - The first screenshots of the SA-X are released.
• September 11 - A European debug prototype is built.
• September 16 - The final packaging for the North American version is revealed. Additionally, another European debug prototype is built.
• October 18 - The Metroid series timeline for all games at that point is revealed, with Fusion confirmed to take place after Super Metroid.
• October 25 - Nintendo reveals the feature of connecting Prime and Fusion via the GBA-GCN Link Cable, mentioning the original game and the Fusion Suit in Prime as unlocks.
• November 18 - Metroid Fusion is released for Game Boy Advance in North America.
• November 22 - Metroid Fusion is released for Game Boy Advance in Europe.
• November 29 - Metroid Fusion is released for Game Boy Advance in Australia.

2003

• February 14 - Metroid Fusion is released for Game Boy Advance in Japan.

2006

• March 2 - Metroid Fusion is released for the iQue Game Boy Advance in China.

E3 2001 Footage

Called "Metroid IV", and looks very different from the final game. However, a few elements from it are more or less implied, such as:

• The Samus/Metroid "fusion" element is shown through an animation, and the phrase "Fusion completed." being visible.
• Unknown floating enemies (early X parasites?) getting grabbed using the Grapple Beam.
• Samus is seen traveling through an abandoned space station or a space ship, and even a map is shown, revealing its shape.

Other elements to note, which make "Metroid IV" heavily based off Super Metroid:

• The intro shows the Screw Attack logo from the ending of the SNES game, but with a slightly different appearance.
• Samus looks larger, and is seen interacting with a station object simiar to Super Metroid's map stations.
• Samus' animations seem to be directly based off her SNES design, same as the Sidehopper-like enemy she kills.

Finally, a few mechanics which never resurfaced in the final game are shown here, such as the (already mentioned) Grapple Beam, a timer (which starts from around two hours), and some kind of zero-gravity/magnet system shown here to be used with the Screw Attack, and allowing Samus to run on walls and ceilings.

PGC E3 2002 Footage

Despite this build being mere months before initial release, there are still a LOT of differences.

Prerelease	Final

• Title screen is wildly different, going for a more stylistic and jaggy approach instead of the final's uniform, simplistic styling to coincide with Prime's release

• The HUD has a Pokemon-esque energy meter instead of the classic "NUMBER | ETANKS" format
• There is a (seemingly useless? Citation needed) radar of some sort next to the map display
• X parasites are purple and reuse Super Metroid's Boyon sprites and have no absorption animation
• Every room is drastically different, with a good handful of them likely being to display features (see: zombie power-bomb room at 0:24)
• Sector 1 (SRX) has a dry, rocky tileset, also featuring Skrees(!?)
• Doors are boxy and proximity-based rather than blast sensitive, staying open until Samus is far out of range
• Zombie scientists have the more traditional "rotten corpse" color palette
• Power bombs don't suck up parasites in a cluster
• Yameba have an orange and purple color palette and all have one hit point no matter the size
• The gunship is much more angular and centered onto one tile rather than two
• Location banner is black, centered to the middle-top of the screen and expands/contracts horizontally
• The gunship has a completely different landing room, referred to as "STAR SHIP"
• Location names are entirely capitalized akin to what Zero Mission eventually did
• Infested atmospheric stabilizers have a radically different sprite and used to be vulnerable from 4 sides
• Main deck ventilation is much more open and explorable
• Sector 2's (TRO) "main room" is much more mechniacal, featuring a lot of organic test tubes(?)
• The sector lobby is larger and more open
• Speed booster sound is different, cutting in and out with a flatter pitch
• Navigation and data rooms function more like save points with a floating platform instead of a pressure-sensitive plate
• Arachnis was a boss in Sector 1 with a much larger arena, and swipes out three beam-like projectiles instead of one large slash
• The SA-X reuses Samus's sprites from Super Metroid and doesn't make any firing sounds
• The freeze sound is a simple click