It’s always hard when a much-loved franchise takes some time off. A couple of remakes aside, it’s been 19 years since we last received an original 20 Metroid adventure with Metroid Fusion back on the GBA, and Metroid Dread’s highly anticipated arrival meant that we simply had to dedicate an issue to our favorite bounty hunter heroine.
In this issue, we’ve got 28 pages of Metroid content dedicated to the franchise’s vast history of titles and associated media. As well as the Ninty Fresh team, we also employed the expertise of some of our friends over at Switch Player Magazine, so a big thank you to Jamie Sharp, .Ash Mercia, and Nate Ellings worth for stepping in!
I’d also like to welcome Abram Buehner as he joins Ninty Fresh from issue 5 as a staff writer, who decided to kick things off in shows topping style with an interview with the incredible Jennifer Hale. Jennifer is a world-record-holding voice actor in games and animation, and the voice of Sarnus in the Metroid Prime series. It’s a truly insightful interview and a big thank you to Jennifer for taking the time to speak with us.
We have a very strong reviews section this issue, with Ninty Fresh even awarding its very first 10/10 Fresh Masterpiece score! We were wondering if it would ever happen. Though it might not be the game you expect …
We’ve got another selection of fabulous retrospectives for you this month: Anna Karasik revisits old friends in the original Anim.al Crossing, Shaun Hughes takes to the streets in GTA: Chinatown Wars, Ben Bulbeck gets tactical as he finally gets to talk about his favorite game of all time with Advance Wars, and Lewis Parker shares his love for unsung N 64 gem Sin & Punishment, perfectly-timed with the upcoming NSO release.
We just had the 25th anniversary of the original release of the Nintendo 64, so that gave me an excuse to reminisce (a little too much) in my N64 retrospective.
Of course, Ninty wouldn’t be what it is without its artwork and we’ve got the incredible work of
@beetlerots adorning our front cover this issue with a stunning action shot of Samus and Ridley. Their art can also be seen throughout the Metroid features, creating a beautiful thematic art style from start to finish.
Finally, we’ve had a couple of shifts in our team that I’d like to mention. Firstly, it’s with deep sadness that 1 must announce that our art director, Jon Doyle, will be leaving us. Jon’s artistic direction has been invaluable since the i11ception of Ninty, and he’ll be sorely missed. Thanks for everything, Jon. Secondly, the reason I’m speaking to you as Editor-in-Chief now is because Shaun Hughes stepped down after issue 4 of NFM. Shaun’s leadership has always been second to none, and he set the quality that we’ve all come to expect. Shaun’s still here in a Deputy Editor role and will continue to be an integral part of the team. Thanks, Shaun for everything you’ve done and continue to do.
Finally, to all of you reading at home, thank you so much for your continued support. It means the world to us, and while you’re still reading, we’ll keep writing.
Stay Safe.
Benjamin Hayhoe
Edi tor-in-Chief

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• Prog Special Genesis – 3rd Edition, 2022
• New Scientist – January 22, 2022