Nate Bihldorf

Nathan J. "Nate" Bihldorf, also known as Nathan Bihldorff or N8, is the senior vice president of product development and publishing and a former senior localization manager and producer at Nintendo Treehouse, the product development division of Nintendo of America. He is best known for his work on the Mario & Luigi and Paper Mario series, as well as Animal Crossing.
He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1998 with a degree in English with concentration in creative writing. He first worked for Nintendo as a video game tester on The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and later worked at Nintendo Power.
==Involvement with the Metroid series==
As a twelve year old boy, Bihldorf played the original Metroid, and years later shared that he would use the Door Jump glitch to access Hidden Worlds.Nintendo of America (NintendoAmerica). "Nate Bihldorff of the Nintendo Treehouse walks us down memory lane w/ an awesome NES message. What does the NES mean to you? #NESterday" 10 November 2016 8:00 p.m. Tweet. https://twitter.com/nintendoamerica/status/796880130585010176 He did not play Metroid II: Return of Samus until after Super Metroid.Nintendo. "Metroid Dread: Hands-on Impressions & Series Retrospective!". YouTube. September 29, 2021. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
The first Metroid game Bihldorf worked on was Metroid Fusion, for which he was the localization writer. He later recalled how impressed he was by the departure from previous games in terms of story and absorbing X Parasites to replenish energy. He credited the world building in such things as ADAM's briefings and Samus's monologues as setting the foundation for an expanded Metroid universe. Bihldorf was also the localization writer for Metroid: Zero Mission, which he considers to be a perfect game.
Bihldorf wrote much of the Logbook entries and regular scans in Metroid Prime prior to Retro Studios hiring writers for the sequels. He would be sent a prompt and then write an encyclopedic-style entry, citing a scan hint about a cracked wall (likely Brinstone) and a "lore entry about the Chozo ghosts" (likely referring to The Turned or Entrusted One).Interview: Nate Bihldorff. Shinesparkers. February 23, 2011. Retrieved November 27, 2021.
He was also credited in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes for "interpretation/translation and writing", and "public relations and coordination" in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, and he edited text for Metroid Prime Hunters.
In addition to serving as the game's localization writer once again, Bihldorf voiced the Head Quarantine Officer in Metroid: Other M. In his opinion, he sounded like a nerd, but considered it a success since that was what Yoshio Sakamoto wanted. Bihldorf found the process of voicing extensive dialogue for a character challenging, and remarked that he respected voice actors because of it.
During the Nintendo Media Summit in 2010, he gave an interview to GameTrailers.com about the game. He also appeared on the August 30, 2010 episode of Nintendo Week to show the hosts some gameplay of Other M. Bihldorf later recalled being "blown away" when hearing about the concept of Other M, which attempted to blend the series' 2D and 3D gameplay, and was excited for Samus's Special Actions.
Bihldorf gave an interview to Shinesparkers in 2011 about Other M. Regarding negative reception of Other M, Bihldorf stated that American fans and critics who faulted the game's flashback scenes had not read the manga that chronicles Samus Aran's childhood, although said manga was never (officially) localized overseas. He said that Sakamoto is the only person who knows who Samus really is, and understood that his vision for Samus would differ from how fans had perceived her since the beginning of the series. He disagreed with criticism of Samus's monologues as emotionless, as to him they reflected her deep psychological wounds. He considered the controversial scene where Samus's PTSD is triggered at the sight of Ridley's clone to be empowering, since she eventually overcomes her fear and defeats him once more.
On the subject of the game's authorization mechanic, Bihldorf connected Samus's comment in Fusion that she dislikes taking orders to her mission in Other M. He said that because Samus's relationship with Adam Malkovich was complicated, she was confused about his role in her life, and she accepted his command structure in Other M when she would normally have disregarded it. He was eager to learn Adam's fate since playing Fusion, and considered the impact of the baby's death on Samus to be crucial to the arc of Metroid.
Regarding his favorite Metroid game, Bihldorf was unable to choose one. He stated that Super Metroid was the greatest adventure game he had ever played, the original Prime was the most immersive, and Zero Mission was "the most refined Metroid experience out there". He added that he completes them all 100% annually. Bihldorf also admitted to visiting certain fan websites for all Nintendo franchises, including Metroid.
He later assisted in the localization of Metroid Prime: Federation Force and Metroid: Samus Returns and was credited under very special thanks in Metroid Dread. He also gave an interview along with Bill Trinen about Dread to IGN on June 16, 2021, a day after the game was announced, and participated in episode 43 of the Nintendo Power Podcast, which covered the history of the 2D Metroid series.
==Other works==
Bihldorf has localized many other games including WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!. He also voiced Shy Guys in WarioWare: Touched! and the Mario series, as well as Salvatore's "SPLOOSH!" effect in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, and wrote for Animal Crossing.
==External links==
*Interview with Shinesparkers
*Interview with WorthPlaying
*Interview with IGN about Metroid Dread
*Bihldorf on MobyGames
*Bihldorf on IMDb
*Bihldorf on Metacritic
*Bihldorf on Behind the Voice Actors
==References==
Category:Nintendo people
Category:NOA
Category:Localization
Category:Writers
Category:Nintendo Power
Category:Special Thanks