Famiboards

Metroid Dread is here, and while it remains to be seen how it will do, at this point I think we must at the very least confess that Nintendo have done everything in their power to make Metroid the big hit the series should perhaps always have been but has never gotten to be:

• Making a new one
• Making a new good one
• Giving it a hell of a concerted marketing push
• Putting it on a system where there is an actual install base and audience for this kind of game
• Even associating it with the launch of a new flagship hardware model

In the past, Metroid has underperformed, but every single time you could point to some or the other extenuating circumstance to explain that - coming on a system with poor install base (Metroid Prime, Prime 2); coming on a system where the audience type doesn't match the kind of game Metroid is (Prime 3); coming out on a system when it is in decline and/or successor systems are already announced/out (Super, Zero Mission, Samus Returns); or just flat out making a poorly received game (Other M).

I sincerely hope Dread is the breakout moment this series needs - early indications are really encouraging! But at this point, the ball is entirely in the market's court. Nintendo have done their part now - above and beyond, to be honest.

Let's just hope the market responds.