Written for saxophone quartet (soprano, alto, tenor, baritone), this is my take on the theme for Brinstar, the first level of the NES game Metroid (and the first of the whole franchise when it debuted in 1986). This is the first time I've done a Metroid song.

The first installment in the Metroid series, it was originally released in Japan for the Family Computer Disk System in August 1986. North America received a release in August 1987 on the Nintendo Entertainment System, with the European release following in January 1988. Set on the planet Zebes, the story follows Samus Aran as she attempts to retrieve the predatory Metroid organisms that were stolen by Space Pirates, who plan to replicate the Metroids by exposing them to beta rays and then use them as biological weapons to destroy Samus and all who oppose them.

The game was developed by Nintendo Research & Development 1 (Nintendo R&D1) and Intelligent Systems. It was produced by Gunpei Yokoi, directed by Satoru Okada and Masao Yamamoto, and scored by Hirokazu Tanaka. It pioneered the Metroidvania genre, focusing on exploration and searching for power-ups used to reach previously inaccessible areas. Its varied endings for fast completion times made it an early popular title for speedrunning. It was also lauded for being one of the first video games to showcase a female protagonist.

Metroid was both a critical and commercial success. Reviewers praised its graphics, soundtrack, and tight controls. Nintendo Power ranked it 11th on their list of the best games for a Nintendo console. On Top 100 Games lists, it was ranked 7th by Game Informer and 69th by Electronic Gaming Monthly. The game has been rereleased multiple times onto other Nintendo systems, such as the Game Boy Advance in 2004, the Wii, Wii U and 3DS via the Virtual Console service, and the Nintendo Switch via the Nintendo Classics service. An enhanced remake of Metroid featuring updated visuals and gameplay, Metroid: Zero Mission, was released for the Game Boy Advance in 2004.

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Original music composed by Hirokazu Tanaka
Information provided by Wikipedia and all sources thereof used to write the article.
This arrangement © me and me alone; credit goes to the arrangers of all scores that helped me figure out this one.
Metroid (franchise) © Nintendo, Nintendo R&D 1, Intelligent Systems Co., Ltd., et al

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Song I attempted: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVTzg2kvNaQ (original NES OST)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mBrHS02Mjg (this version by the 8-Bit Big Band)

Full game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhnWKcO1byU

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UPDATE: Now in scraps.