And now, some good news. Readers might remember AM2R, a fan game rerelease that brought Metroid 2 off of the Game Boy and into modern times. It was extremely well received in the short time it was available, wowing critics and the long suffering Metroid faithful alike. Nintendo DMCA'd the project within 48 hours and then announced their own Metroid 2 remake in collaboration with MercurySteam on 3DS later at this year's E3.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhOx-FpEAQk

Today, on the one year anniversary of the game's original release, AM2R developer Milton Guasti has announced on Twitter that he's found a place within the industry proper, working with Moon Studios on the Ori sequel.

https://twitter.com/AM2Rgame/status/894258310022615040

Studio founder Thomas Mahler dropped into a NeoGAF thread to explain the hiring process.

Milton is an incredible talent. We interviewed him and gave him a little test (we require every new hire to do a little test to see if we're a match and to check how the person reacts to feedback, etc.) and he passed that little challenge with flying colors. I was grinning all throughout his pitched level design since it was clear from the first second that he 'gets it'. Last year we hired Chris, one of the level designers for the recent Rayman games and a minute into the call he PM'ed me with "Hire him. Now.", hehe.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps is currently in development for Xbox One and Windows 10. Metroid: Samus Returns will be released on Nintendo 3DS on September 15th.

Quick Take

This is a happy ending to be sure. A person with that much talent and dedication deserves a job making games, and Moon Studios seems to be a perfect fit. Nintendo has given their own Sonic Mania away to team Xbox, even considering that the 3DS Metroid revival was most likely already well into development at the time of AM2R's release. In any case, fans of 2D Metroidvanias have plenty to look forward to in the near future.