To celebrate the addition of Metroid Fusion to the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack, fans were treated to a never-before-seen HD version and a Director's Cut of the game's original commercial for the Game Boy Advance. Earlier in February, a Nintendo Direct hailed the addition of several Game Boy and Game Boy Advance games for subscribers. Weeks later, Metroid Fusion was announced as the next game for NSO's Expansion Pack, following the surprise shadowdrop of Metroid Prime Remastered. With the addition of the acclaimed Metroid Fusion to the service, the director of one of the game's old commercials provided fans with an HD remaster and director's cut of this promo.
Metroid Fusion was a more horror-based affair than other games, thanks to its heavier emphasis on atmosphere and player vulnerability. This is evident with the X-Parasite and SA-X, pitting this unstoppable Samus duplicate against a weakened Samus Aran. When it was released on the GBA in 2002, the original commercial played into this, being a mixture of live-action and CGI. Fan community site Shinesparkers recently got into contact with the commercial's director, Bruce Hunt of RadicalMedia, who provided these commercials to them, as the Director's cut had never been aired on TV before either.
This Metroid Fusion commercial starts with various enemies breaking out and being let loose inside a laboratory, rendered in 3D CGI. From there, Samus begins her attack, shooting power beams and missiles from her cannon to defeat these enemies. It then shows Samus in her Fusion suit, who is played in live-action, where she absorbs the enemies which were disguised as X-Parasites thanks to her Metroid DNA implant.
After surveying the damage, she is then confronted by her evil X-Parasite counterpart, the iconic SA-X, complete with the same chilling blank-eyed green visor that players see in-game. She's then forced to fight it off, and after she fires her cannon, it cuts to the game's logo and some footage inside a Game Boy Advance. The Director's Cut provided shows additional shots, a different music arrangement, and a dramatic voiceover, along with the omission of the game's rating. Fans were in awe of this commercial, some getting nostalgic while others commented on how well the commercial managed to capture the game's tense atmosphere.
The Metroid series is currently having a revitalized renaissance, where following the release of 2021's Metroid Dread, all five mainline games are now available on Switch. It's safe to say Nintendo is getting more confident with the Metroid series, releasing both Metroid Prime Remastered and Fusion within such a short timeframe.
Metroid Fusion releases on March 9 for Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack.
