Gallery: This NES Console Mod Is The Ultimate Metroid Tribute 

This year marks 29 years since Metroid was released in North America, and to celebrate the occasion fans are paying tribute to the NES classic in a wide range of ways.

Modder Platinumfungi has collaborated with airbrush artist Noel McEwen to craft a one-of-a-kind NES console complete with a Samus sprite which lights up when the system is in use.

Here's Platinumfungi's explanation of the project:

We're both big Metroid fans, and wanted to try and create an art piece that captured the spirit of playing the game. In preparation for this project, I played though Metroid and took note of what stood out the most to me. The final battle through Tourian, and then against Mother Brain, seemed a fitting scene. It's absolute chaos compared to the rest of Zebes, and the first time you get that far you're probably going to die. You just have no idea what to expect. The flurry of enemy fire and the lava hazards create one heck of a final NES boss confrontation.

So, Noel and I sketched out several different ideas and eventually settled on what you see here. All the paint is done an airbrush by hand! The level of detail on this system is second to none. We've tried to include all the elements found in that final area of the game, right down to the platform that Samus is standing on " src="http://platinumfungi.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif" />

The 8-bit pixel cut out in the NES case was done all by hand by myself using a drill, dremel, very small files, sand paper, and a LOT of care and effort.

This system took a tremendous amount of work, but in the end it's my favorite so far!