Metroid Dread is approaching rapidly. After a sudden reveal at Nintendo's E3 2021 Direct, the public was shocked to learn that an all-new Metroid game 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 how Dread is the latest chronological game in the 2D portion of the Metroid franchise. Taking place after Metroid 1, Samus Returns, Super, and Fusion, Metroid Dread is the shocking continuation of a saga Metroid fans thought they would never see the end of.
They had plenty of reasons to believe so. Nintendo's track record with Metroid games has been mostly good, but after the failure of Metroid: Other M, the Metroid franchise had been essentially put on hold. Aside from a couple of spin-off appearances and a mini-game in Nintendo Land for the Wii U, Metroid has 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. With Dread now inbound and Metroid Prime 4 lurking in the background, it seems like Nintendo has gotten over its apprehensions and started to care about the Metroid franchise again.
Nintendo's Marketing for Metroid Dread
The intensity at which Nintendo has been marketing Metroid Dread deserves 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 to Metroid Dread. Not only that but there have been a surprising number of trailers released for the game over the summer. These trailers have gone over Dread's various weapons, abilities, situations, and even a rather sizeable chunk of the story.
This push was evident right Metroid Dread's reveal at the E3 Direct. Immediately, Dread was revealed to have multiple associated amiibos coming at lunch, featuring Samus Aran and one of her new robotic foes, the EMMI. After that, the Nintendo Treehouse live stream used to demo upcoming Switch games had two long segments showing the beginning of Metroid Dread. There's really no other way to frame this: Nintendo is pushing Metroid Dread as 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 the Metroid franchise behind it, and this can only benefit the games and their fans. Metroid has always been more popular in North American territories and not sold particularly well in Japan. Because of that, it always received a lower priority what it came to Nintendo assigning development. For a while between Metroid Fusion and Metroid: Other M, the American game developer Retro Studios handled development on major Metroid games instead of Nintendo itself. There still appears to be an effort to keep Metroid as an outsourced series, but that is primarily to ensure the games come out as well as possible.
With Metroid Dread releasing in a few weeks, the stage will be set for Metroid Prime 4. Nintendo is clearly listening to fan demands when it comes to developing both of these games, and it wants to see the Metroid series come back to life and be successful as its fan base. Dread and Prime 4 have 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 Dread will ensure the effort is a success.
Metroid Dread will release October 8, 2021, exclusively on the Nintendo Switch.