Shinesparkers Podcast

Our first podcast episode of 2025 sees our team members discussing the second trailer for Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, which aired during the Nintendo Direct of March 27, and the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct, which aired earlier on the day of recording. They share their reactions to the trailer and their theories about what everything […]

Our third podcast episode of 2024 commemorates the third anniversary of Metroid Dread. Who better to join us than prominent Metroid Dread speedrunner Arkandy? Amanda and Roy moderate a discussion between Torvus and Arkandy about speedrunning techniques, the speedrunning community, and resources for the community. Additionally, the four of us share our memories of playing […]

Our second podcast episode of 2024 was recorded within hours of the June 18 Nintendo Direct, which finally brought us a gameplay trailer for Metroid Prime 4: Beyond! Amanda and Roy are joined by team member Glaedrax to share their immediate reactions to the trailer and their theories on what will happen in the game. […]

Our first podcast episode of 2024 marks the 30th anniversary of Super Metroid! Amanda and Roy are joined by team member TorvusBolt to share their memories of playing Super Metroid for the first time and discuss their favorite Easter eggs and secrets. We also answer listener submissions to our mailbag about potential actresses to play […]

For our third and final podcast of 2023, Amanda and Roy recorded an audio drama based on the Super Metroid comics in Nintendo Power. Amanda voices Samus and Virginia Aran, while Roy voices Armstrong Houston and Rodney Aran, and Amanda’s husband Dan voices Old Bird. We also answer listener submissions to our mailbag about their […]

For our second podcast of 2023, we are joined by Kit and Krysta, the former hosts of Nintendo Minute, who now host The Kit & Krysta Podcast! They answer our burning questions about Nintendo’s approach to marketing the Metroid series, and we share our reactions to Metroid Prime Remastered, which was announced and released only […]

Our twenty-sixth episode of the Shinesparkers Podcast stars Bryan Walker, the former Development Director at Retro Studios, who oversaw Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Metroid Prime Trilogy and the standalone New Play Control! Wii port of Metroid Prime. Bryan shares his memories of working at Retro Studios, answers our questions, and offers […]

Our twenty-fifth episode of the Shinesparkers Podcast highlights the rather impressive Chozo Language Course, which has taken data such as symbols and voice clips from Metroid Dread’s Chozo language, along with promotional materials and other official sources, and created a guide on how to learn this constructed language. The podcast features guest Deadweight, a linguist […]

Our twenty-fourth episode of the Shinesparkers Podcast stars Lawrence Schwedler, the composer of Metroid Prime Hunters, and many other video game soundtracks during the Nintendo 64 and GameCube era, while at NST (Nintendo Software Technology). Lawrence shares his memories of working on Metroid Prime Hunters, and answers our questions, and shares his thoughts on topics […]

Our twenty-third episode brings two important topics to the discussion table: video game preservation, and video game accessibility, which impact Metroid fans, and video game fans generally. The team talks about how this impacts the Metroid series, and what can be done to change it. We know this is a topic that our community has […]

Our twenty-second episode welcomes Kynan Pearson, a former Retro Studios developer who was a Level Designer for Metroid Prime 2: Echoes and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. He then went on to become Lead Designer for Donkey Kong Country Returns. Kynan discusses how the Metroid series could be adapted for other genres, and goes on to […]

Our twenty-first episode features special guest Jack Mathews, Technical Lead Engineer of Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, and Principal Technology Engineer on Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. In this special extended podcast, Jack goes into his thoughts on Metroid Dread, and answers questions relating to speculation and rumours surrounding the three Metroid Prime games […]

Our twentieth episode rounds off the year 2021 by looking back at our content from Shinesparkers published this year, highlighting some of the great features and community spotlights across the website. The podcast also features a special Metroid themed quiz, featuring six contestants from members of the Shinesparkers community! Please be aware that this episode […]

Our nineteenth episode of the Shinesparkers Podcast is now available! This episode welcomes back industry veteran Eric Kozlowsky to the podcast, who was a Level 3 artist at Retro Studios and worked on Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze, and currently Art Director at indie video game company, FuzzyBot. The team discuss where we want to […]

Our eighteenth episode of the Shinesparkers Podcast is now available! In this episode our team discuss their thoughts on the newly released Metroid Dread, delving deep into the lore of the game, and the controversy surrounding MercurySteam and crediting. We also answer some messages from the mailbag! Darren takes on hosting duties this time around, […]

Our seventeenth episode of the Shinesparkers Podcast is now available! This episode discusses the team’s hopes for Metroid Dread, three weeks prior to its global release on October 8th 2021. The discussion focuses on content from Nintendo’s own promotional trailers and Metroid Dread reports, and some dream scenarios that they would love to see Samus […]

Our sixteenth episode of the Shinesparkers Podcast is now available! This episode celebrates the 35th anniversary of Metroid, and the team discuss a range of different fan projects created by the Metroid community to mark Metroid’s milestone birthday. The team also share what they got up to on and around the anniversary. Podcast hosted by […]

Our fifteenth episode of the Shinesparkers Podcast is now available! This episode celebrates the release of Harmony of a Hunter Returns, the sixth fan-arrangement album by Shinesparkers. We discuss the project, the history of our albums and share what it’s like to put a project like Harmony of a Hunter Returns, as well as highlighting […]

The fourteenth episode of the Shinesparkers Podcast is now available! This episode focuses on the announcement of Metroid Dread and the team’s initialreactions to the newly announced game. We go on to share our thoughts on what the future of the Metroid series post-Dread could look like as the current story-arc comes to a close. […]

Our thirteenth podcast is now available! This time around we are discussing Metroid randomisers, focusing on the fan efforts within the community and why Nintendo should include them in future titles. We also read out some of your messages from our mailbag! Podcast includes host Amanda, who is joined by Roy and Darren. 00:23 – […]

Our twelth podcast is now available! We kick off 2021 with a discussion on Metroid board games, and how an original game could look, in addition to a Metroid themed game based on existing properites already made, such as Monopoly and Frustration. This podcast features host Amanda, with team members TriforceGuy, RoyboyX and Dalagonash. 1:07 […]

For our eleventh podcast, the team close out 2020 by discussing a year of working on Shinesparkers, and how Metroid has helped them through the challenges of the global pandemic. The team also highlight the tenth anniversary of the community and their favourite features, and highlight some of your comments in our mailbag! This podcast […]

For our tenth podcast, we are joined by Sam Balcomb and Jeff Dodson of Rainfall Films, a company that specialises in production, post-production and audio, and were responsble for the fan film Metroid: The Sky Calls. The movie was created back in 2015 and starred Jessica Chobot and America Young as Samus Aran. To mark […]

For our ninth podcast, we invited sprite comic artist Kabutroid to join us to discuss Planet Zebeth, a long-running series of comics she created seventeen years ago. Kabutroid explains more about her creation, and the team discuss our favourite moments from the comic. We hope you will checkout Planet Zebeth, one of the oldest pieces […]

For our eighth podcast, we are thrilled to be joined by Jessica Martin, who provided the voice of Samus in Metroid: Other M, to celebrate its tenth anniversary! In this feature-length podcast, we asked Jessica many questions, including why she became an actress, her dream roles, and her thoughts on Other M’s reception. The team […]

Our seventh podcast features special guest Orpheon, a Youtuber who creates awesome Metroid focused content, ranging from fun and humorous videos, to serious and informative ones. Orpheon’s branding of chibi-style characters that appear across his videos, and giving voices to the different characters, is what makes him stand out so much, and we are delighted […]

Our sixth episode invites Harmony of a Hunter musician Viking Guitar to chat with us about his contribution to the album, along with some of his work outside of the project, and how he got into music in the first place. This episode also features our host Amanda, and team members Darren and RoyboyX. 00:45 […]

Our fifth episode features Metroid Headquarters founder Elias Thompson, who you may have seen taking part in the Metroid Headquarters Metroid Marathons (MHQThon) over the years. Elias has been a constant support to Shinesparkers throughout our history, and its fantastic to have him on our podcast to share his memories of Metroid Headquarters, his charitable endeavous through MHQthon, his personal projects and his ideas on which planets and environemnts he would like to see Samus revisit in a future Metroid title. This episode also features our Host Amanda, and team members RoyboyX and Darren.

Our fourth episode features special guest DoctorM64, who Metroid fans may recognise as the head of the AM2R (Another Metroid 2 Remake) fan project released back in 2017. Since then, his talents have been recognised by Moon Studios, on the video game Ori and the Will of the Wisps. This episode also features our host Amanda, and team members RoyboyX and Torby Brand.

In our third episode, we speak to former Retro Studios Environment Artist and self-confessed Metroid fan Eric Kozlowsky, who worked at Retro on Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. He shares memories of his time working at the company, his work in the industry and his desires to work on a Metroid title. Be sure to check out this feature length episode with our host Amanda, team member Darren and our brand new team member Dalagonash!

In our second episode, we discuss the future of Metroid and where we would like to see the series go next. We also speak to Harmony of a Hunter and Harmony of Heroes musician Mozzaratti, about his contribution to our albums. Featuring our host Amanda, and team members Darren and RoyboyX

Our first episode of the Shinesparkers podcast focuses on how the team was introduced to the series, and what our favourite games are. Featuring our host Amanda, and team members Darren, RoyboyX and Torby Brand.