E3 has come and gone, and it was filled with plenty of big reveals, shocking announcements, and exciting gameplay showcases. Among the titles, Metroid Dread may have been the most surprising. The first all-new 2D Metroid game in nineteen years will release in October. Fans appear to be quite excited about it, as Metroid Dread has sky-rocketed to the top of Amazon's Best Sellers list.
The development story of Metroid Dread is quite astonishing, as the name Metroid Dread first appeared way back in 2005 as a DS title and possible sequel to Metroid Fusion. But the game went completely dark until its shocking reveal during Nintendo's E3 Direct, and its return announcement could be partially why its pre-order sales are so impressive so far.
The digital expo made for a different setup this year, but E3 2021 still gave fans some winning games to be excited about. Whether it be the massive list of AAA titles from the Microsoft and Bethesda show, big games like Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy from third-party showcases, or Nintendo's Direct itself, Metroid Dread had plenty of competition. Yet, currently at the time of writing this article, Metroid Dread is the number one best-selling video game on Amazon US and UK, and top 10 in Japan.
Nintendo, in fact, is dominating the top 10 with many games that were featured at E3, including Mario Golf Super Rush, Mario Party Superstars, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD, the sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Warioware: Get It Together!, and Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp (all Amazon US numbers). The first new non-Nintendo game to crack the list is Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart. But still, it is the mysterious and exciting Metroid Dread that is atop the list.
Along with the game itself, Metroid Dread Special Edition and Amiibos are also seeing high numbers of pre-orders. However, there is a concern among fans that bots are scooping up the items. Scalpers are already selling the special edition version of Metroid Dread online for more than double the price. So some could wonder if the Amazon sales are being boosted thanks at least partially to this.
The Metroid games have long been beloved by Nintendo fans. However, the sales of those games do not always follow suit. While Mario, Zelda, Super Smash Bros., Animal Crossing, and others often put up massive sales numbers for The Big N, the highest selling game in the Metroid series is Metroid Prime on the GameCube at under three million, and the average for the series is only about 1.65 million per game. That could change with Metroid Dread.
Because the Nintendo Switch has sold so well, Switch software continues to break records, and because the Metroid-like/Metroidvania series is very popular right now, Metroid Dread has the chance to do quite well. It could even become one of the best selling in the franchise--and the early Amazon pre-order numbers show that.
Metroid Dread will release on October 8 exclusively for Nintendo Switch.