As of last week, it has been more than 1 year since the release of arguably the biggest Nintendo game of 2021. [Metroid Dread](https://youtu.be/8NjCICl7dDo) has had a tumultuous journey to release, one that I’m sure you are somewhat familiar with following the initial reveal of this game, so instead I’m gonna talk about its developer MercurySteam and how the final game fared.
After trying and failing to get Dread off the ground in the late 2000s, series co-creator Yoshio Sakamoto needed to find a new partner to work with. While working on other first party 3DS titles like Rhythm Heaven Megamix and Tomadachi Life, Sakamoto finally found his answer in the form of the Spain based studio MercurySteam Entertainment. Having experience working on 3DS hardware with Castlevania Mirror of Fate and being huge Metroid fans themselves, a meeting was arranged between MercurySteam and Sakamoto. There, the studio presented their big pitch: a from-the-ground-up remake of Metroid… Fusion.
Sakamoto declined the offer, but he still saw potential in the studio. Fusion didn’t need a remake, let’s be real, but there was another older Metroid game that did: Metroid 2. That game innovated the Metroid series in a lot of key aspects, but its age held it back. And so it was decided, and after 2 years of silent development [Metroid: Samus Returns](https://youtu.be/UhOx-FpEAQk) was announced and released in 2017 to great reviews and modest sales.
Folks like me who went on to 100% Samus Returns got a glimpse of what was to come. After collecting all the item upgrades you unlock a [secret 11th Chozo memory](https://youtu.be/Q1U2-8XsdZk) marked with the red initials “2d/10”, one that featured a rouge Chozo killing his fellow brethren and covering up the incident on Planet SR388. At this point, we knew the Metroid series wasn’t done with us yet. And four years later, Sakamoto and MercurySteam revealed that they were resurrecting Metroid Dread for the Switch.
And it was a massive success, selling over 3 million copies and winning several awards and nominations. Two free updates were released for the game earlier this year: the first added two new difficulty options and the second added a boss rush mode. It’s clear to us and to Nintendo that Metroid is back, and I’m sure this won’t be the last we seen of it. So was this your first Metroid game? Are you interested in checking out the rest of the series after trying this one out? Do you think it hold a candle to the all time greats like Super or Prime?