30 Years On, And This Iconic Metroid Art Lives Again 1
Image: @RetroGamer_Daz

If you grew up in the UK around the time of the SNES, then you'll almost certainly be familiar with the amazing Super Play magazine.

With its mix of talented writers, focus on import releases and adoration of Japanese culture, it became one of the most beloved publications of the '90s – and each of its issues had bespoke cover artwork by the legendary Wil Overton.

Overton still works in the games industry (he's currently employed at Rare), and his anime-style artwork is still in high demand; for example, he recently illustrated the covers of Bitmap Books' Super Famicom, Game Boy and PC Engine box art compendiums. He also created an entirely new cover for Super Play's one-off revival in 2017.

Now, Retro Gamer magazine – which has featured Overton's art on its covers in the past – has dug into the Super Play archives to resurrect one of the artist's most iconic pieces of work, which originally graced the cover of the magazine back in June 1994.

Retro Gamer is owned by Future, the IP holder of Super Play, and that will have no doubt made it easier for the magazine to re-use this incredible piece of artwork.

The bad news is that this cover is exclusive to subscribers, so you can't simply march into your local WH Smiths to pick one up.

Even so, it's really cool that a piece of magazine history is being honoured in this way, and we'd love to see more of this kind of thing.

Retro Gamer recently celebrated its 20th anniversary.