Yesterday’s date, August 6, 2025, marks exactly 39 years since the Japanese release of Nintendo’s classic action-adventure platformer Metroid. Commemorating the anniversary, game composer Hirokazu “Chip” Tanaka, known for his work on numerous Nintendo classics including Super Mario Land, Tetris and Earthbound, shared a heartwarming story about the debugging stage of Metroid and how the ending theme came to be.
In one of his recent X posts, Tanaka reveals that he composed the ending theme in order to impress one staff member that was in charge of debugging. According to the post, during the final stages of debugging, all of the other production members gathered to cheer on the debugger as he played through – and the final theme was made specifically for that moment.
“The final debugging stage of Metroid’s development was quite memorable for me. We had one staff member that was older than us, and wasn’t an active member of the production team. All of the other staff gathered in one room; we were watching and rooting for him to clear the game. I composed the ending theme specifically because I wanted him to feel deeply moved after completing the game. This is a true story.”
He goes on to describe the atmosphere during the debugging session, describing how the whole team enjoyed watching the debugger and supported him throughout the playthrough. He specifically nods to the final battle with Mother Brain and the intense escape sequence. “I think people who have played the game understand, but even if you manage to rush through defeating Mother Brain, the escape sequence is surprisingly tough, lol. The alarm is loud, it makes you feel overwhelmed, and you end up falling. For the sake of one debugger, the we kept switching to a bigger monitor and making the sounds louder and louder, creating such an amazing atmosphere. All of the staff was having so much fun debugging.” As the escape sequence culminated into the ending, all of the team members were greeted by the epic theme, and we’re sure it felt like more than just a personal achievement of a single debugger, but like an accomplishment of the whole team.
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