Michael Kelbaugh

This article is about the real-life CEO of Retro Studios. For the in-universe Galactic Federation Marine named after him, see [.
thumb|250px|Kelbaugh in his office at Retro Studios.
Michael Kelbaugh is the President and CEO of Retro Studios in Austin, Texas. In this capacity, Kelbaugh is also the Executive Producer of the Metroid Prime series. He appeared in the Developer's Voice featurette promoting the Metroid Prime Trilogy compilation on Wii.
==Early career==
Kelbaugh served in the U.S. Navy from 1983 to 1989, managing communications for the United States Naval Special Warfare Command and the USS Pledge (MSO-492). He joined Nintendo of America in 1988 and became Director of Business Development.
By early 2000, Kelbaugh was involved in nearly all of Nintendo's bigger first- and second-party releases, working to manage and remove bugs for the QA cycle before the games shipped to retail. Even as recently as 2002, he was still overseeing testing at Nintendo's American headquarters as Testing Director for the recently released Metroid Prime.
Kelbaugh had previously worked on the original Donkey Kong Country series while he was employed at Nintendo of America. However, he is uncredited in the first game.
==Metroid Prime series==
Prime's release marked a turning point for developer Retro Studios, and with Nintendo's backing, they were able to make two sequels, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, and later Metroid Prime 4: Beyond and Metroid Prime Remastered. In April 2003, Kelbaugh was appointed the new president of Retro Studios, succeeding Steve Barcia, and began overseeing the rest of Retro's work on the Prime franchise. Kelbaugh assisted in the composition of Corruption's music, playing bass.https://web.archive.org/web/20090228072301/http://www.music4games.net/Features_Display.aspx?id=174
Michael Kelbaugh appears on a list of deceased Federation Marines in the G.F.S. Valhalla trailer video that was shown in the Metroid Prime 3: Corruption Preview. The body appears in-game in the Ventilation Shaft.
===GameSpot interview===
Transcribed from this video.
==Trivia==
*Kelbaugh disliked Jack Mathews' first design for the Dark Visor, due to the "trails" it had, which looked 16 bit to him.Kiwi Talkz. "#116 - Jack Mathews Interview (Metroid Prime Trilogy, Prototypes, Business, Armature Studios etc.)". YouTube. November 26, 2021. Retrieved June 8, 2022. (starts at 23:16)
==Gallery==
Screens feature-36592.jpeg|Kelbaugh with an Echoes standee.
EGM_187_interview_page_2.jpg|Interview with Kelbaugh, Mark Pacini and Frank Lafuente in Electronic Gaming Monthly #187 (January 2005).
EGM_187_interview_page_3.jpg
File:MPT Japan.png|This copy of Trilogy signed by numerous Retro Studios artists, Kelbaugh included, was auctioned off on Amazon, with all proceeds being donated to relief efforts for the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.
==External links==
*Kelbaugh on LinkedIn
*Kelbaugh on MobyGames
*Kelbaugh on IMDb
*Interview with Computer and Video Games
==References==
Category:Retro Studios employees
Category:Producers