Hirokazu ‘Hip’ Tanaka, sometimes known as Chip Tanaka thanks to his pioneering work on 8 and 16-bit chiptunes, has said that the original Metroid’s ending theme came about due to one older member on the team in particular.
39 years ago, well before Silksongmania reached its peak, the first Metroid quietly birthed an entire subgenre. To celebrate the classic game’s birthday, game composer Tanaka, who also worked on everything from Tetris and Mario to Earthbound and Pokemon, recalled a pretty sweet moment.
“The final debugging stage of Metroid’s development was quite memorable for me,” he recently tweeted. “We had one staff member that was older than us, and wasn’t an active member of the production team. All of the other staff gathered in one room; we were watching and rooting for him to clear the game. I composed the ending theme specifically because I wanted him to feel deeply moved after completing the game. This is a true story.”
メトロイドの開発で印象的だったのは最後のデバッグ。スタッフの1人は歳も離れてて制作の現役ではなかった。一つの部屋で彼がゲームクリアーできるのをスタッフみんなで見守り応援した。エンディング曲はその1人にとにかくクリアーして感動して欲しい、という想いで作曲した。これ、まじ話。 pic.twitter.com/fqzQu1YR99August 6, 2025
“I think people who have played the game understand, but even if you manage to rush through defeating Mother Brain, the escape sequence is surprisingly tough, lol,” Tanaka continued. “The alarm is loud, it makes you feel overwhelmed, and you end up falling. For the sake of one debugger, the we kept switching to a bigger monitor and making the sounds louder and louder, creating such an amazing atmosphere. All of the staff was having so much fun debugging.” (Good spot, Automaton.)
We’ll next see Samus and probably hear some remixed versions of Tanaka’s beats in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, due sometimes this year on the Switch 2. Or maybe it depends who you ask. The London Underground was adamant the shooter was “OUT NOW”.
Here’s some other upcoming Switch 2 games.