A tribute to Metroid

platinumfungi backlit metroid custom nes samus aran nintendo noel mcewen airbrush

This one-of-a-kind Metroid themed NES was created as a collaborative project between myself and Noel McEwen of ‘Airbrush by Noel McEwen’. It was unveiled during the first day of the Metroid Celebration in August 2015 (#metroidcelebration).

 

We’re both big Metroid fans, and wanted to try and create an art piece that captured the spirit of playing the game. In preparation for this project, I played though the entire game and took note of what stood out the most to me as I went along. The final battle through Tourian, and then against Mother Brain, seemed a fitting scene – it’s absolute chaos compared to what you face throughout the rest of the adventure, and the first time you get that far you’re probably going to die. You just have no idea what to expect. The flurry of enemy fire and the lava hazards you can fall down into create a very frantic final boss confrontation.

 

Noel and I sketched out several different ideas but ultimately decided on what you see here.

 

All the paint is airbrushed by hand! The level of detail on this system is second to none. We’ve tried to include all the elements found in that final area of the game, right down to the platform that Samus is standing on.

 

The 8-bit pixel cut out in the NES case was done all by hand by myself using a drill, dremel, very small files, sand paper, and a LOT of care and effort.

 

This system took a tremendous amount of work, but in the end I really like how it turned out. I’ve never seen a Metroid tribute quite like it.