Aspiring Pokémon trainers might want to watch out, as a fan’s ROM hack replaces Pokémon FireRed’s starter Pokémon with the dreaded Ridley, Omega Metroid, and Barrier X from the Metroid series. Just like in the original Pokémon Red and Blue, 2004’s FireRed and LeafGreen for the Nintendo Gameboy Advance offered players a choice between three adorable starter Pokémon, each with various abilities and evolutionary stages that allow them to grow stronger over time. The choice of which critter to start a player’s journey into the Kanto region served as a sort of difficulty setting, as the fiery Charmander, plant-like Bulbasaur, and water-based Squirtle varied in effectiveness against Pokémon FireRed’s initial bosses.      

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Meanwhile, Metroid features its own ecosystem of different monsters for players to interact with, except series protagonist Samus Aran is usually tasked with killing or evading them instead of capturing them in little capsules. Interestingly enough, the franchise’s titular Metroids act somewhat like a Pokémon species by slowly evolving from tiny, jellyfish-like parasites to nightmarish mutants that often serve as sub-bosses throughout Samus’ missions. Additionally, a clone of recurring foe Ridley underwent something similar in the infamous 2010 Wii prequel Metroid: Other M, growing from a cute little bird-like creature into the fearsome dragon that caused Samus no shortage of grief and trauma throughout the game’s events.

Yesterday, Twitter user and nerd artist GuilhermeRM_art posted images of his Metroid and Pokémon crossover ROM hack of Pokémon FireRed that reimagines Samus as a Pokémon trainer – with Ridley, Omega Metroid, and Barrier X as her starters. Each one of these notorious Metroid bosses has three different evolutions, all pulled from various enemies throughout the Metroid series. GuilhermeRM_art even posted some screenshots of the three Metroid starters in battle, facing off against fellow monsters like Mother Brain and sporting some ironically cute nicknames.

Both Metroid and Pokémon are going through significant milestones in 2021. For Pokémon, the long-running monster-wrangling RPG franchise is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, resulting in several big events and game announcements like the Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl remakes and the open-world Pokémon Legends: Arceus. Meanwhile, Metroid fans are finally getting the series’ first 2D installment in nearly 20 years with Metroid Dread, a prequel to the 2002 GBA hit Metroid Fusion that is set to launch on the Switch next month.     

It’s not clear which of the Metroid bosses carry which of the three starter Pokémon types in GuilhermeRM_art’s Pokémon FireRed ROM hack, but having Samus utilize her greatest foes in her journey to become the Kanto League’s greatest Pokémon trainer is certainly an amusing and terrifying concept. Any rival trainers might wish to think twice before pitting their freshly captured Pikachu against the dreaded Ridley or Omega Metroid.   

Source: GuilhermeRM_art/Twitter (1, 2)

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J. Brodie Shirey
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J. Brodie Shirey is just a simple man trying to make his way in the universe, but aren’t we all? He currently lives in York, Pennsylvania. He is a big comic book, video game, and science fiction fan, and likes writing articles for ScreenRant or scripts for some of his crazy TV show ideas.

A graduate from York County School of Technology, he’s self-published several books on Amazon, and once won 1st place at a regional computer fair for a CGI animated short. He might post it on Youtube someday. He hopes that working for this site will be his first step into the larger universe of online writing, since Megazord technology hasn’t been invented yet and he doesn’t seem to have any Force powers. You can check out his work at The Uncanny Fox, purchase his books on Amazon.com, see his posted scripts on Script Revolution, or see his portfolio here or here. He can also be followed on Twitter @FoxUncanny.

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