| This article is written from the Real Life point of view |  |
The subject of this article was created by Metroid fans.
It is not considered an official Nintendo-licensed part of the Metroid franchise. All story elements are non-canon.
Shinesparkers is a fan website best known for hosting interviews with developers of the Metroid series, providing news and reviews for the games, a podcast, and their Community Spotlights, in which they share content created by their staff and the franchise's fan community.
The site was launched in May 2009 by Darren initially as a home for the fan community, Nintendo Online, but was redesigned to its current direction in August of the following year. After a hiatus in 2015, the site was relaunched in 2017 ahead of the release of Metroid: Samus Returns.
The website's name is derived from the Shinespark move and its logo from the Speed Booster symbol itself.
One of Shinesparkers' most famous creations is Harmony of a Hunter, an album of remixes made in celebration of the Metroid 25th anniversary.
Interviews[]
Shinesparkers is also well known for their interviews with Metroid development steam. In 2018, it published interviews with Jack Mathews, Clark Wen and Hirokazu Tanaka, and written features by Sonny Santa Maria and Sammy Hall. In 2019, it published an interview with Idzuki Kouji. In 2020, the site launched a podcast with Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze artist Eric Kozlowsky, AM2R creator DoctorM64 and Samus Aran's Metroid: Other M voice actress Jessica Erin Martin as featured guests, and published an interview with Richard Vorodi.
Shinesparkers published interviews with Kynan Pearson and Lawrence Schwedler in 2021, and Lenka Volfová, Bryan Walker, Micky Coyne and Patrick English in 2022. Mathews, Pearson and Schwedler also made appearances on the podcast in 2022, and Walker, Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang in 2023. In the same year, Shinesparkers interviewed Bruce Hunt, Nathan McGuinness, Matthew Nightingale, LeRoy Strauss and Yasuo Kanemaki.
Prior to 2017, Shinesparkers interviewed Tommy Tallarico, Gene Kohler, Mike Sneath, Timothy Patrick Miller and Nate Bihldorf. Their notable Community Spotlights include Lee Garasich, Grant Henry, the Metroid Database and AM2R composer Torby Brand.