Where has Metroid Dread been shoved and why?

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Where has Metroid Dread been shoved and why?

Submitted by Stephen Munn on June 12, 2007 – 10:00 pm6 Comments

Those who were watching Nintendo closely at E3 2005 noticed an interesting title on the schedule of games to be shown, particularly over at GameInformer. That title was Metroid Dread, which was referred to as a side-scrolling Metroid title like Metroid Fusion. For some reason it did not appear at E3. Two years later, there is still no announcement from Nintendo as to what this was or where it went. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the game and wondering what’s up, but Nintendo’s not responding to my inquiries, and I don’t trust Wikipedia enough to assume the entry there is accurate, so I’m resorting to speculation.

Based on the timing of the almost-appearance, I think Metroid Dread is going to appear at last, and in one place we never expected a Nintendo DS game to appear: on the Wii.

I’m going to go out on a limb and say, what if Nintendo releases Metroid Dread either as an original download for play on the Wii, or as a free game that you can send to your DS from the retail disc of Metroid Prime 3. Sales of Metroid Prime and Prime 2 were very weak on the Gamecube, and Nintendo’s going to do whatever they can to improve sales for Prime 3, which has undoubtedly sucked a lot of money away in its development as the most elaborate Wii game they’ve produced (Twilight Princess doesn’t count as it’s a Gamecube game). Bundling a DS game on the disc or as a downloadable bonus for those who buy the disc (and also as a launch title for the original games download service) would definitely sell more than a few copies.

The timing and extent of the delay are what lead me to believe it has something to do with the Wii. This has all the hallmarks of a system shift or a new technology adjustment, just like what happened with Twilight Princess.

Here’s hoping we’ll hear something, anything at all on Metroid Dread at this year’s expo. Anyone else care to tread on Dread?

http://www.routermall.com used cisco

“what if Nintendo releases Metroid Dread either as an original download for play on the Wii”

I think my brain just melted.

That would be amazing. 1500 wii points sounds about right.
http://www.fourhman.com Joe

Maybe as new Wii Ware, yeah.

But unless there’s a fundamental change in how the DS stores data, Metroid Dread would be a pretty crappy DS downloadable, nowhere near as big as Fusion. Since you’d lose your game once you turn off the DS.

The way around that (as mentioned elsewhere) is to launch some kind of content-sharing functionality between the DS and Wii, where floating games like Download-Dread could be shifted back and forth between the the DS (for play) and the Wii (for saving). And that just seems too cumbersome for a substantial game along the lines of Metroid Fusion.

I mean, it takes forever to download a damn demo from their in-store kiosks… imagine the lag on getting an entire game. They’d have to split it up by levels (which kills the explore-at-will nature of Metroid). None of this sounds like it matches with Nintendo’s Apple-esque ease-of-use company zeitgeist these days.

Although, if you’re talking including Metroid Dread DS as a free physical DS gamepak along with Metroid Corruption, then you’ve got something… particularly if they include SOME kind of connectivity between the two. More likely though, Nintendo will just sell it separately.
TheBrain

I’d rather they just release it on DS. I like handy map screens. Although it would be cool on the Wii if it were a 2D game with a 3D look, that would be sweet.
TheBrain

What worries me though is that it is probably canceled as it doesn’t take this long to develop a 2D game unless they are using a really small team.
http://www.pressthebuttons.com MattG

I’m still not convinced it every really existed. Sure, I like to believe that Nintendo is or was considering a new 2D Metroid adventure and it’s probably more likely than not, but where on Earth did people get the Dread title? Where did people get the information about this game that supposedly exists but nobody has seen? And if a game that everyone knows is coming turns out to have never existed, does it make a sound?
Mark A

The game was indeed on a official Nintendo list of games to be shown at E3 2005. The problem with the idea of this releasing alongside MP3 (in 2 months?!) is, both Metroid Fusion and Zero mission were both shown in some form at E3 over a year before their actual release. Either an E3 2007 announcement (if it happens) won’t show up till 2008, or Nintendo has changed their strategy drastically. And getting it free is doubtful, this is the company that’s charging $5 for virtual NES games. I still hold out hope for a release though, not just because 2-d Metroid is my favorite pastime, but because Nintendo has never failed to milk a franchise for all it’s worth. Continuously. Forever.