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The opening shot of the commercial.
Iron Woman[1][2] is the North American commercial for Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. It was part of Nintendo's Who Are You? marketing campaign in 2004. Versions with German and Spanish voiceover for the German and Latin American markets were also produced.
The commercial was also named Two Separate Worlds: One Shadow, One Light on Nintendo.com, and it was an unlockable feature on the Metroid Prime 2 Echoes Website, which referred to it as the Metroid Television Broadcast.
The commercial can be viewed in English here: [1], in Spanish here: [2] and in German here: [3]
Synopsis[]
The live-action commercial features Samus Aran, or a woman that strongly resembles her, dressed in black. She is seen walking through an alley lit by staggered oerhead lights, with electronic dance music playing. Near the end of the commercial, faint lyrics can be heard in the song. The song's name is unknown and was composed exclusively for the commercial.
As Samus moves, pieces of the Varia Suit begin to materialize onto her body, with the camera shots moving to focus on her legs, backside and torso. At one point, as she passes through the light, her suit disappears off the front of her body, and then reappears when she steps back into the darkness.
As the suit fully materializes, Samus stops, and aims her Arm Cannon forward as the camera pans to her side and the words "who are you?" appear onscreen. A female narrator then speaks as gameplay footage is shown: "Two separate worlds: one shadow, one light. Where the difference between life and death is a few inches of metal. Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, only for Nintendo GameCube. Rated T for Teen." This narration is reused in a commercial for a sweepstakes with WWE, featuring Rob Van Dam.
The Varia Suit in this commercial does not cover Samus's midriff.
Metroid Prime 2 Echoes Website[]
"A video broadcast emanating from the planet Aether has been received by Earth scientists and decoded for viewing. Launch the video transmission to review the decoded footage."
Production[]
Iron Woman was produced through Leo Burnett Worldwide, an advertising agency that has worked with Nintendo on multiple commercials for their games, including other Metroid titles. It was shot in an alley in Los Angeles, California.[3] The visual effects for Iron Woman were handled by the now defunct Asylum Visual Effects, which was directed by Nathan McGuinness. They were enlisted by Leo Burnett, with whom they had an existing relationship, and they had a team in place from prior productions.[3]
Nintendo informed the production team of the Light and Dark World concept in Echoes, but not much more than that. Therefore, McGuinness made use of lighting to convey the atmosphere of the game, with the setting being a dark alley only lit in certain places (like the Safe Zones in Echoes). The light setup was tested at the Asylum studio before filming commenced. Production in total lasted about a month.[3]
Samus was portrayed in the commercial by Melissa Keller, who McGuinness chose at first sight. Her walk was inspired by gameplay footage McGuinness had reviewed. With regard to the music, the song was written for Iron Woman exclusively and is not available publicly.[3]
An incomplete version of Iron Woman was shown to the press by Reggie Fils-Aimé at the Nintendo Enthusiast Summit in 2004.[1] It won a Telly Award in 2005.[4]
Credits[]
VFX Supervisor: Nathan McGuinness
Creative: Bill Stone
Producer: Jodi Fisher
Director of Production: Dariusz Wolski
Samus Aran: Melissa Keller
Gallery[]
![The AOL article about this commercial.[5]](/wiki/File:Two_Separate_Worlds_One_Shadow,_One_Light_-_AOL_article.png "Two Separate Worlds One Shadow, One Light - AOL article.png (39 KB)")
References[]
- ^ a b Nuyens, Jason (2004-11-10). Nintendo Enthusiast Summit 2004 - Page 1. Nsidr. Nsidr Media. Archived from the original on May 7, 2020. Retrieved on 2022-08-21.
- ^ Metts, Jonathan (2004-11-07). Reggie Speaks. Nintendo World Report. NINTENDO WORLD REPORT, LLC. Archived from the original on September 12, 2014. Retrieved on 2022-08-21.
- ^ a b c d Shinesparkers. Interview: Nathan McGuinness. April 22, 2023. Retrieved April 22, 2023.
- ^ Iron Woman. The Telly Awards. Archived from the original on August 21, 2022. Retrieved on 2022-08-21.
- ^ Nintendo spot shows off Samus' new look. AOL Games. America Online, Inc.. Archived from the original on December 13, 2004. Retrieved on 2022-08-21.