Samus has been all over the galaxy, answering distress calls everywhere from overrun space stations to giant baby bottles.
Her contemporaries (Mario and Link) have had huge shake-ups in their respective series, much needed to avoid fatigue and bring something fresh. Where does Samus need to go from here?
Earth.
Samus needs to land on planet Earth and defend it from invading aliens.
That’s how this series can mature and raise the stakes all in one fell swoop. It’s great that she’s a solitary and silent hero, and I know the Metroid series is lauded for its isolation and atmosphere. But…
We can’t just keep fighting Ridley and Space Pirates over and over, acting surprised when the Metroid race is not extinct (again).
The entire game doesn’t have to be set on Earth, either. She can speed off in her gunship to stop a planetary attack from being launched—that kind of thing!
I don’t expect a monumental shift like this to occur in Metroid Prime 4, because that wouldn’t be a logical way to proceed after the trilogy. However, the Metroid franchise will need to take a big step sooner or later.
Although this series of games was born at the same time that most of Nintendo’s IP were created in the NES era, Metroid titles always sell surprisingly low compared to their peers. The Big N needs to shake things up and attract mainstream attention to this series, or it will probably always exist in a state of sales flux with long periods between sequels.
Metroid could also benefit from dropping the “Metroid” name. It’s weird to have a franchise named after a common enemy (like Goomba Odyssey or Bokoblin of the Wild) and only serves to box in the developers’ creativity.
But now I’m just talkin’ crazy.
Scott
Latest posts by Scott (see all)
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- TBC 031: Metroid: Dread - 11/26/2021
