Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze's Cute Metroid Cameo Remained Hidden For Four Years

Scree! Sharp-eyed Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze players have caught a couple of Metroid references in the game since its 2014 release on the Wii U. Now we have footage of a particularly elusive intergalactic specimen: A Metroid hunting for prey underwater.

Twitter user Shane Marchis uploaded a still picture of the shy Metroid to his Twitter account yesterday evening. Apparently Tropical Freeze fans knew about the cameo—or so some of them scoff—but pictures like Shane's seemingly haven't been shared often on social media, if at all.

GameXplain has a video of the Metroid in motion, and it also includes instructions on what you need to do if you want to catch sight of the little beast. Travel to world 4-3 (Amiss Abyss), an underwater level brimming with bioluminescent flora. The Metroid's lair is in the water just past the first checkpoint, but it's too shy to make an appearance right away. You need to swim a considerable distance from the hotspot, then swing back around. If you do everything correctly, a flurry of fish will rise from the background and scatter while a Metroid follows in leisurely pursuit.

As GameXplain points out, the Metroid isn't the only series Easter egg left behind by Retro (the studio previously responsible for the celebrated Metroid Prime series). You can also find Samus' gunship caught up in the boughs of a tree in one of the early stages. Maybe the bounty hunter was chasing after the rogue underwater Metroid and everything went wrong somehow. Even Samus isn't immune to bad days.

The Metroid's not the only difficult thing to find in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. This game's brimming with secrets and hidden items. Visit our Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze guide for help finding them all.