Why I am excited for Metroid: Samus Returns

Depending on the circumstances, I am fine with being wrong. Can’t always be right about things, but much to my shock it turns out Nintendo had two new Metroid games in the works. One, which is coming out soon (September 15th!), is a full reimagining of the Game Boy title Metroid 2 for the 3DS. Metroid Prime 4 for Switch is still to be determined, but I guess the terrible Metroid fanbase* did not deter them after all.

*Fact: I still hate the Metroid fandom and think they are a blight on the series.

So with it’s impending release, I thought it would be best to talk about why I am excited for this new Metroid game.

#1: The last Metroid remake that was made under Sakamoto’s supervision was an amazing game.

Metroid: Samus Returns as mentioned is a remake of Samus’ sole Game Boy outing. This is not the first official remake the Metroid series has seen, however. That honor belongs to Metroid: Zero Mission, a complete remake of the original NES classic for the Game Boy Advance. Fellow Pietriot Grubdog sung his praises for Zero Mission, and I share the same opinion; it is an amazing game, one of Nintendo’s best original titles on the GBA. It took the original NES experience and made it an amazing game for the 21st century.

While Sakamoto is not directing Samus Returns for 3DS, he has gone on record saying he is being hands on in his producer role. The director is someone by the name of Takehiko Hosokawa, who doesn’t have an Wikipedia entry yet. Judging from the footage and playthroughs from NoA Treehouse, he knows what makes a great Metroid game, and with Sakamoto on the producer role, he’s no doubt coaching him like the other legendary Nintendo producers when they get ready to retire.

#2:  It proves when Nintendo gets involved, things get done. This game is being developed by MercurySteam after all.

MercurySteam has talent, the problem is that the talent was not given good direction when it came to them developing Castlevania games. The two Lords of Shadow games and Mirror of Fate for 3DS were a mixture of mediocre to bad, and Mirror of Fate had falling damage in a 2-D Castlevania game. So from Konami to Nintendo, what changed?

Simple, Nintendo. Whatever the prototype Metroid game was that was shown to Sakamoto, it impressed him enough to put MercurySteam in charge of programming the game while the Kyoto team handled the design direction. Strangely enough, MercurySteam wasn’t revealed to be the co-developer of this game until after it was fully revealed during E3 this year. Considering how terrible the Metroid fanbase is, Nintendo probably withheld the identity of MercurySteam so they could avoid the fanbase from going full meltdown towards MercurySteam like they did Next-Level Games.

#3: It proves that the Metroid fanbase is still terrible.

So I was proven wrong about new Metroid games existing, but you know what I wasn’t proven wrong on? Shitheads, like former IGN editor Matt Casamassina via Twitter, still unhappy despite the fact a new Metroid game exists, it’s being released on the 3DS (he casually calls a Speak and Spell… for some reason) and not Switch. Or still trying to push AM2R as the real remake. Seriously, Metroid fans, from the bottom of my heart, fuck you.

And there you have it, why I am hyped for Samus Returns. Looking forward to September 15th!