Yeah, I'd definitely say Returns and Dread made good on the promise that Prime introduced into the series, by giving us another look at just how different these crazy bird folk can be. And hell, thanks to the Elysia excursion, we at least can determine there's female Chozo SOMEWHERE out there in the universe!
That said, as much as I love the Chozo, I do hope at least the Prime side continues to explore the various races we know, introduce a few more and continue to grow the setting. Like c'mon. Sylux is one thing, but what about the likes of the Kriken Empire? You mean to tell me there's ONE race that would actually get the Pirates and Federation to squash the beef for five seconds in order to eliminate a mutual, deadly adversary, and nobody wants to talk about them...?
I like that you bring up female Chozo, as I'd really love to see one be an actual character, at some point in the series! It's pretty widely known at this point, but there's a mysterious figure looming overhead in Chozo Archives 08, and recently, it was brought to my attention that
the figure in question has an Arm Cannon. This is particularly noteworthy, considering Samus and Raven Beak are two of the only characters in the series shown to wield them, with one of the visuals in Dread strongly implying that the reason Samus can use the Arm Cannon at all is
because of her Raven Beak / Mawkin genes. Now, if I'm being honest, I don't
entirely like that lore contribution, but regardless, the implication is there, and it contextualizes the Arm Cannon as something only a small minority of Chozo (or those with Chozo DNA) are capable of wielding.
I went off on a bit of a tangent there, but to tie everything together: the mysterious figure in Chozo Archives 08 is not only significant, but also very likely to be Chozo. They probably escaped ZDR on one of the Hanubia ships, and
I hope it ends up being a cool female Chozo. I just think it'd be neat! I don't think she necessarily needs to be genetically related to Raven Beak, but perhaps she was a member of the Mawkin tribe that didn't fall victim to the X. Better yet: she's from another tribe entirely, and she's been monitoring the situation on ZDR from a distance, for whatever reason we'll come to find out. It's fun to speculate, but we won't get any concrete answers until Metroid 6, and that's still years out (hopefully not 19 years). In the meantime: yes, the esteemed Prime lore... !
I'll be honest: Prime Hunters lore represents something of a gap for me. I didn't actually play it for the first time until last year, and just didn't enjoy it, unfortunately. I guess I'm
sorta glad I went through it? Never confronted the final boss, though. I left off just before that. I know Sylux is set to be a big deal in Prime 4, but Hunters gave me no real info on him. He's just a multiplayer skin that shows up to shoot at you, same as all the other generic blokes.
Still, you're totally right: the lore
potential there is very much apparent. I do genuinely respect what the devs of Hunters and Corruption opted to do, in introducing some new, interesting looking species, and further fleshing out the Metroid universe. The 2D games are very tunnel vision-y, focused entirely on telling one, specific story (mostly involving Samus herself, and the aftermath of her mission to SR388), which works just fine for that saga, but I'm really glad the Prime subseries has far more of a desire to make the universe feel richer, more alive, and better rounded. Every planet has its own story, from Tallon IV, to Aether, to Bryyo, and so on.
I had to Google the Kriken Empire, but whoa, they sound really cool! Bring us more lore, Retro,
bring us more lore. Give me obscure lore. Give me lore that answers questions nobody else asks. Tell me about the
Monks of Grondheim! What species do they belong to? Is Grondheim a city? A planet? Something else? Why do they place value on crystal formations? Are the crystals used for religious purposes, since they're monks? What is the nature of their relationship to the Space Pirates? Do they work together out of necessity, or are the monks genuinely thankful for the Pirates, and their continued conflict against the Federation? The name "Grondheim" sounds Norse. Any significance there? The questions are endless, and they're all highly valuable to ask. I haven't even gone into the
Ylla, or the
N'kren. I'd be here for days, and this post is already too long.
my.nintendo.com
That sucks, man! I hope you come across them eventually, but it's a shame we can't just check the website, and simply place an order for store pickup. I don't think there's any shame in holding onto your passions, no matter how old ya get. I already have all the Metroid related amiibo, and will end up getting any future ones they decide to release. I'm not in the habit of accumulating a mountain of plastic junk, but the plastic junk I do allow myself to own is stuff I think is genuinely pretty cool.
