Metroid Dread

Nintendo Switch
Release Date: October 8th

Surprised there wasn't a thread for this already. First 2D Metroid sequel in 19 years. Didn't think I'd ever see a Metroid 5 but here we are. Samus is sent to a planet called ZDR to stop a resurgence of X Parasites, thought to be extinct, after a team of the Galactic Federation's near-unbeatable EMMI robots failed to return from there. Samus is sent there by herself since she's the only Galactic Federation fighter with X Parasite Immunity.

So basically the Metroid 2 plot plus the Fusion plot. However, I think there will be more to it than that. It's worth noting that this will probably continue the "evil Chozo" story hinted at in the Samus Returns best ending, with a splinter group of the Chozo turning to totalitarianism. It may also follow up on the story Fusion started, with Samus being at-odds with the Galactic Federation itself.

A story where Samus has to contend with not only evil Chozo, but also her own employers, is entirely new ground for the series and it could make for a hell of a time. Online speculation is that the "X Parasite" mission is a completely fabricated one so that the Galactic Federation could isolate Samus on some off-grid planet and get rid of her. I hope that this really does end up being the storyline of the game. Does this mean the death-robots in the trailer are the "EMMI robots" the Federation sent to the planet to begin with, laying in wait to ambush Samus? It's also possible that they've been infected by X Parasites, which would be a much less-interesting story so let's hope not. And where do the Chozos figure in?

I'm also hoping for new Metroid types that we've never seen before. Aside from a one-time exception, the series has never expanded on the Original/Alpha/Gamma/Zeta/Omega/Queen set for the Metroids themselves. I'd love to see some new designs, like Omicron, Sigma, or maybe even a King Metroid. If the evil Chozo faction really is going to come into play here, then there really needs to be some new Metroid designs. The whole thing about that faction was that they were fooling with Metroid genetics against the wishes of the other Chozo.

Official trailer:



A bunch of annoying people playing the game:





Development history:



Some worthwhile speculation on the story that I largely agree with:


Artwork from the Samus Returns ending that was likely hinting at what to expect in this game:

Caliane said:

other M killed my trust in their ability to make a Metroid game.

so yeah, we'll see.

metroidvania's have had alot of indie development as well. pure classic metroid, or have they learned anything from the competition?

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Other M's devs have had nothing to do with further Metroid games, IIRC.

This one shares devs with Samus Returns, the remake of Metroid 2 from a few years ago. Looks like it'll play largely the same, too. Which is unfortunate for me, because I didn't really like SR. However this looks a lot more interesting to me because it's new material, while SR was a remake of one of my most beloved childhood games.

I'm just glad they finally found a way to get past Metroid Fusion instead of just doing more remakes and prequels (all of the Primes and main series games since then were remakes or prequels). Other M took place right before Fusion, for instance. It was like they didn't know how to continue the story post-Fusion, probably because Samus was fused to her suit and whatnot.

Caliane said:

Prime games are very different games. but pretty fantastic in their own rights.

insane soundtracks. some great level design. some really revolutionary world building, etc for the time. crazy attention to detail in some stuff. like the reflections of samus's face on her visor, and seeing her hand in the xray visor.
Nintendo is shit with the lore as well. Rare killed it with the space pirates, etc. ("we initially had a bounty collection system designed, nintendo shot it down, and was confused by it. Samus wouldn't do that". it was then we realized they didn't know what a bounty hunter was")

should def play just for history's sake. I'm not entirely sure how each holds up in terms of gameplay etc, admittedly. especially now with games they've influenced.

like, when Prime came out, the obvious issue was there. how can you possibly make a 3d metroid?
turn the game on, and the title screen hits. oh. holy shit. Its the most Metroid thing ever.

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This part of Metroid Prime's title screen music is one of the most amazing and memorable tracks I've ever heard in a game. I actually remember where I was when I first heard it. I was about to go in for a 13 hour work shift at a warehouse and had like one hour to play before I headed out, I was eating some shrimp, and I had some kind of cold that was giving me awful tonsilitis. And man, when that music came on, it was a moment. Felt like you were really in the next generation of Metroid after 8 years of waiting.

Caliane said:

I do think Zero mission is better then super metroid.

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Zero Mission is really good, but OG Metroid's world is a little too limited for me. ZM does a lot to expand on it, but it's still an extremely short and basic game IMO. It doesn't feel like an advancement on Super Metroid.

I'm probably completely alone on this, but I liked Fusion more than ZM and actually would put Fusion second behind Super for the 2D Metroids. I'd even go so far as to say I'd rather replay Fusion right now than Super or ZM. Though this may be because I've played Super to death. I'm 90% sure I've beaten Super Metroid more times than any other game. It's in the 20's, maybe the 30's.

Caeden said:

I could never afford a pc. I had to scrape mowing lawns, feeding dogs, helping bale hay, etc to afford a SNES and ALTTP back in 92? I think the first PC game I played was Need For Speed then Diablo 2 along with some FPS of the day. That’s how long I went with before I got a pc capable of games. So I played the shit out of any SNES game I got.

A lot of the shit Nintendo does hits me square in the feels. I still remember my grandmother staying up late with me to watch me finish zelda and super Metroid. I also remember her telling me this crap has too much reading about FF2 (4).

Metroid Dread is almost a system seller if it just makes me feel a tiny bit like I’m 13 again. I played the shit out of Axiom Verge for that reason.

Time to pick up Metroid Prime somehow. May have it on my hacked WiiU. That came out when I was in grad school and I barely had time to do anything.

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I'm the same way. A lot of these old games I remember staying up late with my mom watching me play them. She'd sit there for hours watching those games intently, and I didn't realize at the time how special that actually was. Very few people will do that just to share an experience with you. The last time she watched me play anything was in 2015 when she spent a couple days playing Bloodborne with me and it was a great callback to old times. Before that, the last time was probably Metroid Prime 2 in 2004.

Dread would be a system seller for me if I didn't have a Switch already. Just because the story looks like it'll actually be a worthy Metroid story, full of creep factor.

Caliane said:

it was built for the gamecube though. 1 and 2. 3 was for the wii. and the nunchuck..
the pacing is slow and deliberate. its fine on controller.

trilogy remaster for the wii. all 3 were redone for the nunchuck.

Trilogy is apparently not coming to the switch. so, dunno. is a wiiU best option, or pc emulation?

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I had the MP Trilogy steelbook for ages and sold it in 2018 because I was 99% sure they'd announce an MPT Switch version in the near future after the MP4 announcement. Well, yeah, that didn't go anywhere. I guess I'll have to re-buy it. I made the same mistake with Xenoblade Chronicles X, sold my Wii U copy since I was sure a Switch version would be announced, and it didn't happen. So I gotta re-buy that too.

MP Trilogy is awesome for what it is, but I seem to recall it having an issue with the title screen themes...like it'd skip the MP1 title screen music that I linked above, or something. Also I preferred the Gamecube controls to the Wii controls. But hey, at this point, I'll deal with that just to be able to play these again.

Since MP Trilogy doesn't seem to be getting a Switch release and the Wii version is wildly overpriced, I started looking into Gamecube copies of MP1 and 2 (I'm not that into 3). And man, the Gamecube versions are wildly overpriced now too. It's absolutely nuts. Plus you may or may not need a Gamecube controller for the Wii to even play them, dunno. I wish there were a virtual console version of them at least. I'm not seeing any good way to replay them and have it be cost-effective.

I kinda regret selling my copies of MP1 and MP2 back in 2010 for $10 each on Amazon. Not because I could have gotten like $60 to $80 for them now, but because $10 x2 wasn't worth it for such good games.