The Developers Of Metroid: Samus Returns Noted Nintendo Has Made Them Better

Metroid: Samus Returns is arriving for Nintendo 3DS in just a few days, and while we're still working on the review, things are looking good for the return of the space heroine. Just ask MercurySteam, the developer behind that game.

The team, which previously worked with Konami on the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow franchise, recently spoke with GamesIndustry International about its experience on the project, with head Enric Alvarez noting that Nintendo has actually helped it grow in terms of development. "We are the only studio, ever, to have made a Castlevania and also a Metroid. And there is not going to be another one, I can tell you that," he noted.

He also added, "It is an incredible achievement for a Spanish studio. Nintendo is a one-of-a-kind publisher that make one-of-a-kind games. They're special. They are unique. They care about games. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that after two years, 80 or 90% of all the conversations we've had were about stuff that gamers care about. Only the remaining 10 or 20% were about business or usual publishing stuff. That ratio is unique to Nintendo. When you deal with them at a close distance, you understand why they are who they are. I'm not going to lie to you; they are extremely demanding. They require the very best constantly, all the time, and beyond. But it's been a great experience.

"We've worked in the past with other publishers, with Codemasters, with Konami, and they were very different experiences. We had a great experience with Konami, but Nintendo is another thing. There are many, many Nintendo fans who don't like any other games except for their games. Now I fully understand why that is.

"It has been a pleasure, we have learnt a lot. Honestly, they have made us a better developer."

The team is hard at work on its own game, Raiders of the Broken Planet, which is set to go into beta very soon, but Dave Cox, producer at MercurySteam, did note that the team is open to collaborations in the future. "We need to do those work-for-hire [projects] because we still need to pay the bills. We are talking to publishers here [at Gamescom] about projects. But at the same time, when you have a success like we had with Castlevania, it makes us reinvest into something else. But we're still a work-for-hire studio, fundamentally."

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Metroid: Samus Returns releases on September 15th for Nintendo 3DS. Currently, Amazon Prime members can save 20% when they pre-order.