Metroid Dreadis approaching rapidly. After a sudden reveal at Nintendo’s E3 2021 Direct, the public was shocked to learn that an all-newMetroidgame was headed to Nintendo Switch in a mere four months. By now, three of those four months have passed, and the game’s marketing cycle has been rolling the entire time. Any Nintendo fan paying attention to the company’s official channels can speak confidently about howDreadis the latest chronological game in the 2D portion of theMetroidfranchise. Taking place afterMetroid 1,Samus Returns,Super, andFusion,Metroid Dreadis the shocking continuation of a sagaMetroidfans thought they would never see the end of.
They had plenty of reasons to believe so. Nintendo’s track record withMetroidgames has been mostly good, but after thefailure ofMetroid: Other M, theMetroidfranchise had been essentially put on hold. Aside from a couple of spin-off appearances and a mini-game inNintendo Landfor the Wii U,Metroidhas not received a proper continuation in a long time. Furthermore, the project title “Metroid Dread” has been publically known for over a decade, but nothing ever came of it. WithDreadnow inbound andMetroid Prime 4lurking in the background, it seems like Nintendo has gotten over its apprehensions and started to care about theMetroidfranchise again.
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Nintendo’s Marketing for Metroid Dread
The intensity at which Nintendo has been marketingMetroid Dreaddeserves emphasis. There has been what amounts to a complete series recap going on on Nintendo’s official Twitter account, bringing followers up to speed on the lore of the 2D games. Nintendo wants everyone to be on the same page when it comes toMetroid Dread. Not only that but there have been a surprising number of trailers released for the game over the summer. These trailers have gone overDread’s various weapons, abilities, situations, and even a rather sizeable chunk of the story.
This push was evident rightMetroid Dread’s reveal at the E3 Direct. Immediately,Dreadwas revealed to have multiple associated amiibos coming at lunch, featuring Samus Aran and one of hernew robotic foes, the EMMI. After that, the Nintendo Treehouse live stream used to demo upcoming Switch games had two long segments showing the beginning ofMetroid Dread. There’s really no other way to frame this: Nintendo is pushingMetroid Dreadas hard as it possibly can. It wants the title to succeed, and it has every reason to do so.
Now Is the Right Time to Push Metroid Dread
It seems that Nintendo has finally put its odd relationship with theMetroidfranchise behind it, and this can only benefit the games and their fans.Metroidhas always been more popular in North American territories andnot sold particularly well in Japan. Because of that, it always received a lower priority what it came to Nintendo assigning development. For a while betweenMetroid FusionandMetroid: Other M, the American game developer Retro Studios handled development on majorMetroidgames instead of Nintendo itself. There still appears to be an effort to keepMetroidas an outsourced series, but that is primarily to ensure the games come out as well as possible.
WithMetroid Dreadreleasing in a few weeks, the stage will be set forMetroid Prime 4. Nintendo is clearly listening to fan demands when it comes to developing both of these games, and it wants to see theMetroidseries come back to life and be successful as its fan base.DreadandPrime 4have a lot of potential, and Nintendo needs to make sure that it backs both fronts to reap the most from Metroid. This is a time of deliberate revival, and with any luck,Metroid Dreadwill ensure the effort is a success.
Metroid Dreadwill release Jul 10, 2025, exclusively on the Nintendo Switch.
