Ever wondered what kind of appearance famed bounty hunter Samus Aran would sport if she'd been designed by Hanna-Barbera instead of Nintendo? Allow famed UK artist Wil Overton — formerly of Super Play and Rare fame — to show you.
He's produced this amazing piece of artwork which is now available for order on Red Bubble. Such is the authenticity of this image that we can practically smell the amusing storylines, witty one-liners and slapstick physical comedy.
For those of you who aren't aware, Overton started his career drawing covers for UK anime and video game magazines back in the '90s before joining legendary studio Rare and working on titles like Perfect Dark Zero and Jetpac Refuelled. He's since gone freelance and now runs the rather excellent Dinkybox online toy store and publishes his own comic, Smart Bomb.
[source redbubble.com]
Comments (43)
I think metroid would be better off targeted at an older age group
Still a cool picture though
Haha, if only!!! I so would watch that. Closest thing we got to a Metroid cartoon was this: Mother Brain
Freaky.
I dig it. Well done.
all good except the baby metroid with eyes and a mouth. that is just stupid
You know in every episode there would be the moment where the badguy of the week starts to get the uperhand so Samus then stands up defiantly says something like " It's time to, POWER UP!" with some kind of hand gesture/pose. then there would be a short animation of her armour appearing on her.
@LexKitteh

Mother Brain's boyfriend
Ah, who can forget Samus and the Metroid Busters! All those memories from 1989, or was it '92? Good times!
Pardon me but the art looks like Hanna-Barbera around the year 1970.
@LexKitteh At least she made an effort with eye-shadow and a bit of lippy.
Still better than Other M. Okay, that was too easy. In seriousness, this is hilariously spot-on for a corny, nostalgic animated series. I do love how it looks.
I miss Super Play...
@argol228 I think that's kind of the point...
@DinoFett Which is what we said in the news piece...
I like it! That little Metroid sidekick would definately of been a thing had there been such a show.
Its odd that pretty much every big name Nintendo franchise has had at least some kind of cartoon, besides Metroid and Star Fox. It'd be awesome to one day see Metroid on TV, or even as a live action movie...
@Damo the baby metroid comment? or the power up comment. if it is the power up comment, I meant that in a good way. it would be like Power rangers
if you meant the baby metroid. lets just say that Dragy the Dragon from Skyrim Adventures with the Dovahkids is a less stupid cute/comic relief mascot concept
@argol228 The baby Metroid. To quote Wil Overton himself:
"Characters you’d never heard of, pesky kids getting into trouble all the time and a comedy Metroid."
@Damo it's the face ok. get rid of the face and it would be fine.
Dam that's gorgeous.
I think watching a Metroid cartoon would be awesome! I can just imagine the thrills of watching Samus destroy aliens each week!
Hay Huston Armstrong... youv puton on a bit of waght there havent you? lol
That would be so awesome! The only problem I see is if it ever happen the way the picture is that Nintendo might feel like then need to include those characters in the next Metroid back in the day. It really could've affected how the series has turned out to this very day so no thanks but you can release that now and I'll gladly watch!
Totally inaccurate. Where's the Anthony Higgs that has to rhyme every time he opens his mouth?
Strange, I had heard Wil Overton was stopping doing art, including one of the special edition covers for the History of Japanese Game Development Book Kickstarter, who had to get someone else in to do the art, which was a big disappointment. Maybe it's because this is very different from his usual art style?
I love Metroid games and i would totally watch that cartoon if it was real...
on another note... I would really love to see some hype on a new Metroid game instead of Smash Bros plastered everywhere every time i open the interwebs...
@DinoFett - I couldnt decide if it were 68 or 72 so I suppose 70 is spot on.
Thats a great picture, very Herculoids. Ild watch it. I think it might be time to bring my Thundar avatar back.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Dstk7-Tzr7s
I love it!
If that came up on teefury I'd buy it.
OH GOD, MY EYEEEEEES!!!
@Frapp Good grief - someone who remembers Smart Bomb!! There will be an #2 soon but I let it lie for the longest time while I tried to learn how to draw better.
...No.
@ChessboardMan It's true. I came to the decision last year that I really didn't want to do this stuff anymore but I guess I just needed a break. Unfortunately the Kickstarter book came at the wrong time and I had to pull out. Nobody's fault but my own.
i'd watch that for a dollar!
i would SO Watch a saturday morning metroid cartoon(or animie)
id half like to see these characters used in some form of full game of Metroid Blast (Nintendo Land) iv been thinking about it for ages now how I personally would like a "Super Metroid Blast" with a full story mode (like typical Metroid) only with the addition of co-op (and a online death match mabe..) I just think it'd be fun and thes charicters could give you Order's / Quest's and such lol like it will ever happen eniway -_-
Still smokin' hot!
I'm not even a Metroid fan, but as WiiULoveSquid said, I dig this poster.
@argol228 I agree. The Metroid's face is throwing me off. Not that I don't think a kid's show wouldn't do that, but it doesn't work.
Old man of the hills Wil "FuSoYa" Overton?! His art rocks, loved Worldy Bloke, and that Nintendo mashup for the final Nintendo Gamer...ah, I miss Super Play/N64/NGC/NGamer/Nintendo Gamer!
@Damo I'd love to hear Wil Overton's take on the details of the characters and overall feel of the world etc.. If he thought that far, but having spent any time on the piece I'm sure he did and had names and relationship ideas for them all. Fun stuff. Nintendo should run with it and produce twelve episodes.
If I were some one in the industry, I would pitch this art for a show that takes place long before the first NES videogame.
@rjejr
If you want to go back to the olden days of Hanna-Barbera, this cartoon would have fit better during the Banana Splits show. Just after 'Danger Island'.
@DinoFett - I have to say, as much as I enjoyed the Banana Splits show as a kid, and still have most of the theme song memorized, I think Metroid deserves it's own 30 minute tv show, even if that 30 minutes is broken up into 2 or 3 shorter segments, like Space Ghost before he went coast to coast. (Nobody remembers Dino Boy but I can imagine Kirby filling in nicely.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJ6qpulpmnc
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