Only played a short while but it's great to be able to play this game that I have had a tumultuous time with before launch. When it was announced at E3 2021 it was the only game Nintendo announced then that I was really excited for, Waroware was neat but not too exciting, I don't play multiplayer games so MP Superstars was nothing for me and while Dread looked very good I I never played a 2D Metroid game before and needed a little more convincing (put a pin in this one though). I had also never played an AW game but am a really big Fire Emblem fan so I was happy to redeem a voucher on it, since I thought it was good value for money at £42 (what one voucher is worth here approximately) rather than the £45-50 the physical version would have cost.
I thiiiink I redeemed the voucher in around September or so, which was only a few months before the game was due to launch in December. But of course it didn't, which was a bit surprising as it had been over 2 years since Nintendo delayed a game (Animal Crossing was the previous one I think at E3 2019) and all the other aforementioned E3 announcements hit their dates fine and AW was the last one with ostensibly the longest time to iron out any issues. But delayed it was, and a new date was confirmed fairly quickly for April, and it's not like my preorder was cancelled or anything so I was disappointed but not too frustrated.
Then March came, not long after the February Direct where the game briefly featured and had its April release date confirmed after a few murmurings of another delay, and it was indefinitely delayed. As a result, all preorders were cancelled and refunds issued, at least on the e-Shop. Yet I didn't 'buy' the game technically, I still had it preordered based on the voucher I redeemed in September 2021, and my order was cancelled still of course yet I got nothing, no voucher returned and no e-Shop credit either. I was furious when I realised this I think understandably.
So I contacted Nintendo UK customer support and thankfully they were understanding after I emailed them a respectful but still strongly worded summary of the situation, I was out of pocket for a really unusual last minute delay of a game that was already delayed once with no new release timeframe confirmed at all. I think what made it interesting is that I do not recall a single thread or even a comment on Era or even here of anyone in the same boat as me, I think a mix of how the vouchers were not available in the US, the fact that it isn't releasing in Japan and how few people in the one region that could've been in my situation actually preordered the game. Nintendo UK did give me a voucher, thankfully, but did stress that this was 'a one time gesture of goodwill' which I didn't really appreciate as a comment but I considered it fair recompense. So I used it on Metroid Dread (told you we'd be coming back to that) and I have since completed it, Fusion, Super and Samus Returns.
Fast-forward a year nearly and it of course came back, which I never really doubted considering how late, late it was delayed, and I of course did the smart thing and redeemed a voucher on it
Rant over. Just was a fun time leading up to this long overdue launch for me.