Metroid Dread

About

Metroid Dread is a video game in Nintendo's Metroid series. The game takes place after the events of the Game Boy Advance entry Metroid Fusion and was released on the Nintendo Switch console on October 8th, 2021. Notably, Metroid Dread was a rumored title for the fifth entry in the main Metroid series.

History

2005 Metroid Dread Rumors

In a June 2005 issue of Game Informer, Metroid Dread was announced as a new Metroid title for the Nintendo DS.^[5] It was said to be a side-scroller following the events of Metroid Fusion. IGN further supported these rumors that September, reporting that the game was in early development.

On March 13th, 2015, YouTuber^[6] LSuperSonicQ posted a video explaining the rumors around Metroid Dread (shown below).

E3 2021

Metroid Dread was announced during Nintendo's E3 2021 conference on June 15th, 2021, with a trailer^[1] (shown below) showing off side-scrolling gameplay similar to previous entries, including Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion, the latter to which Dread is a sequel according to Nintendo's^[2] website. The announcement largely confirmed the 16-year-old rumors about the next Metroid game.

On the same day, a video describing the game's production process was uploaded to the Nintendo YouTube^[7] channel (shown below).

Release & Reception

Early reviews for Metroid Dread were positive. On October 6th, IGN posted a review to YouTube giving the game a score of 9/10 (shown below). On October 8th, Metroid Dread released worldwide. The game gained further widespread critical acclaim, with an average critics score of 89/100 and user score of 8.7/10 on Metacritic^[8] as of October 13th.

Nintendo's $60 Game Vs. Sony's $60 Game

On October 12th, Twitter users began posting memes using the snowclone phrase "Nintendo's $60 game vs. X" to negatively compare Metroid Dread to equally priced Sony Playstation. An image of Metroid Dread is posted next to the compared property. The meme claims that Dread is worse than any given full-price PlayStation game for a number of factors, mostly the graphics. The meme quickly became ironic, inspiring users to compare Metroid Dread's price to unrelated things (examples shown below, left and right).

Online Presence

The game's announcement quickly inspired fan art and sketches online depicting Samus' new suit shown off in the game's trailer, notable for being red and blue, similar to the blue armor from Metroid Fusion (fan art examples from Twitter^[3][4] shown below).

Search Interest

External References