Metroid Prime’s Iconic Logo Took Creator 53 Revisions To Get Just Right

But while the game and its logo are fondly remembered today, Wornell talked about how frustrating it was to create, explaining that it took 53 different iterations to finally get one that Nintendo and the game’s developers approved.

“There were times where I wanted to blow my brains out, yeah,” joked Wornell. “And you know, to be fair, 53 versions, yes there were 53 versions, but some of those versions were a blue ball, or a red ball, or a red ball with the ‘S’, or a red ball without the ‘S’. Right around probably version…30, I was getting a little tired of it, but, uh, you know, it was a big title at the time. There were a lot of people looking at this. So…I understand why there were so many versions of the logo, from start to finish. You want to get it right, you know, it’s important.”

He also explained that he was personally very excited about Metroid Prime at the time, which helped him push through some of the stress and frustration of designing the logo.

“It was a big game. It was interesting to me. I played Metroid way back in ‘86 on the NES and so you know that was a game to definitely ‘geek out’ over.”

After Metroid Prime, Wornell would go on to create the logos for Metroid Prime 2, Metroid Fusion, and Metroid Prime Hunters. And according to Wornell, these were easier to design. As for if it ever stops being rewarding to see your logo show up in big trailers or used inside of beloved games, Wornell admitted it never gets old.

“Yeah, it’s always cool. It’s always cool.”