The surprise launch of Metroid Prime Remastered during the February 2023 Nintendo Direct found the delight of many, especially after its existence had been rumoured for so long. But while the game’s release was certainly appreciated, it’s now belong to fire for significant exclusions in its credits.
As a couple of Metroid Prime‘s developers have noted, no-one from the original Retro Studios team that built the game shows up within the game’s closing scroll. Instead, a little note appears, following a brief credit for the Remastered team.
It reads: ‘Based on the work of Metroid Prime (Original Nintendo GameCube and Wii Versions) development staff.’
Given the remaster is basically just a visual refresh from the original work, with a few new tweaks towards the control scheme among other small features, the exclusion of the original developers makes little sense. Without the work they do, Remastered would have no foundation.
‘While many studios did amazing focus on the remaster, I’m disappointed Metroid Prime‘s Remaster does not include the full original game credits,’ Zoid Kirsch, Senior Gameplay Engineer on Metroid Prime wrote on Twitter, after discovering the loan omission.
‘I worked with so many amazing people on the game and everyone’s name should be contained in the remaster, not just a single card such as this.’
Jack Matthews, Tech Add Metroid Prime, shared harsher words.
‘This can be a travesty,’ he wrote on Twitter. ‘Not only in my credit (even though most of my code was probably replaced), however for people whose code and work are largely unchanged, like Mark HH, Steve McCrea, all the uprezzed art and ideas, the game design. Shameful.’
Nintendo has yet to reply to the talk, and it’s unknown when the uproar will result in an update for the game. In any case, it’s clear the existing Metroid Prime credits aren’t adequate. Developers deserve recognition for their work, no matter royalty structures and other complications.
In recent years, this issue has become more prominent – most recently associated with HBO’s The Last of Us. Following the launch from the show, original game co-creator Bruce Straley spoke out about not credited for the television series, despite his contributions to the narrative from the game, that has been adapted wholesale by the HBO writing team.
Recent game remasters including Shadow of the Colossus and Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy also featured similar omissions, with the work of original developers being paved over and forgotten. In an era where remasters and remakes are actually commonplace, this practice must change.
The outcry over Metroid Prime Remastered should be a lesson for the future: credit developers for their work.
