Alexander Brandon Is Working With Retro Studios

Retro Studios is one of Nintendo’s first-party developers and, in my opinion, they’re inarguably one of Nintendo’s best. Since releasing Metroid Prime for the Nintendo GameCube in 2002, Retro’s projects have stirred excitement, and fans are eager to see what’s next. While it hasn’t been unveiled yet, we may have learned who’s composing music for it: Alexander Brandon.

ALEXANDER BRANDON IS WORKING WITH RETRO STUDIOS

Brandon announced the news via a Facebook post, which can be seen in its entirety below:

Brandon, amongst the many titles he’s scored, is likely best known for his contributions to the Deus Ex and Unreal games. His most recent work was for Torment: Tides of Numenera, which launched this past February. Incidentally, while this doesn’t necessarily imply anything, Brandon is a professed Metroid fan. Back in 2002, he even interviewed the man whose work inspired him: Hip Tanaka.

Retro Studios helmed the Metroid Prime trilogy, with the first two gracing the GameCube and the third releasing for the Wii. Prime (mostly) successfully translated the beloved side-scrolling series into a third-person shooter while keeping its core values intact. Retro later retrofitted the two GameCube Primes to work with the Wii Remote. All three titles were then bundled together here as Metroid Prime Trilogy.

After the Prime trilogy concluded, Retro began work on another cherished Nintendo property: Donkey Kong. Donkey Kong Country Returns and Tropical Freeze continued its series’ legacy of highly-refined platforming. The latter also, notably, brought in David Wise, the primary musician behind the original Donkey Kong Country and its sequel.

Furthermore, Retro also assisted with the development of Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D and Mario Kart 7, both for the Nintendo 3DS.

As one of Nintendo’s top-tier teams, their fans (including myself) look forward to seeing if Retro is revisiting Metroid or Donkey Kong, or if it’s something else entirely. As Tropical Freeze launched in 2014, we’re about due to see Retro Studios’ current project. Personally, I’m betting on an E3 reveal.