Metroid Dread: What you need to know before you play

Metroid Dread: What you lot need to know earlier yous play

(Prototype credit: Nintendo)

At that place wasn't much time betwixt Metroid Dread'southward initial annunciation and its full release — four months, to be verbal. Without any warning, Nintendo announced a make-new side-scrolling Metroid game at E3 2021, and it chop-chop became one of the year's most anticipated games. Now that Metroid Dread is here, we tin say that it'due south an first-class showcase for the Nintendo Switch OLED, and an even improve game in its ain right.

There's simply 1 problem: Metroid Dread is a sequel to a game that came out 19 years ago.

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We're not kidding. While we've had a handful of Metroid games since and then, Metroid Fusion in 2002 was the last side-scrolling Metroid game to motion the story forward. Every bit such, you might not remember what happened last fourth dimension around; some younger Nintendo fans had probably not even been born nonetheless.

Luckily, equally story-driven games go, Metroid is a fairly comprehensible series. While there's an ambitious narrative happening in the groundwork, most Metroid games put exploration and atmosphere first and foremost, and tell simple stories with but a few major plot points. Metroid Dread, however, has the franchise's nigh comprehensive story yet, tying in elements from near every previous Metroid game.

Whether yous've been away from the serial for a while, or want to jump in for the first time, I've compiled a list of general Metroid Dread tips, equally well as a primer on the story so far.

Metroid gameplay basics

Metroid Dread, like most previous Metroid games, is a side-scrolling action/take a chance game with a big focus on open up-concluded exploration. Every bit you make your way beyond the dangerous Planet ZDR and uncover more of the map, you'll unlock various upgrades that help you attain previously inaccessible areas —a double spring, for example, or armor that lets you withstand high temperatures. This genre of game is known as a Metroidvania. (No points for guessing the names of the ii series that pioneered it.)

Metroid games mostly have tough boss fights, but the room-by-room exploration isn't likewise hard. As such, if yous have any facility with side-scrollers, you can just dive into Metroid Dread and pick upwardly the basics as you become. My only words of wisdom are equally follows:

Salve optional upgrades for later on. They're easier to obtain with late-game gear
If you don't know where to go next, just wait for rooms on your map you oasis't explored
There's no shortcut to beating bosses. Merely learn their patterns and be ready for multiple attempts
Utilize missiles, bombs or annihilation else at your disposal with abandon. They're like shooting fish in a barrel to furnish

Beyond that, mastering a Metroid game is simply a matter of mapping out your surround.

Metroid: The story and so far

While every Metroid game is part of the same continuity (well, maybe non Metroid Prime Pinball), the series by and large has ii branches — the principal branch, which comprises all the side-scrollers, and the Prime number branch, which comprises all the first-person shooters. In that location is definitely some overlap betwixt the mainline and Prime narratives, but Metroid Dread mostly concerns itself with the former.

Things kicked off with Metroid for the NES (remade as Metroid: Nil Mission on GBA), which introduced us to series protagonist Samus Aran. Samus is a bounty hunter who was raised past a mysterious spacefaring race chosen the Chozo. In her showtime hazard, the Galactic Federation sends Samus to hunt down a group of space pirates on the planet Zebes. There, she encounters Metroids: a race of deadly alien predators.

In Metroid II: Return of Samus on the Game Boy (remade every bit Metroid: Samus Returns on 3DS), Samus journeys to the planet SR388 to hunt downward the remaining Metroids. She succeeds, but spares a infant Metroid that believes Samus is its mother.

Super Metroid on the SNES continued the story, with Samus returning to Zebes to tackle the Infinite Pirates once again. When recurring villain Mother Brain threatens Samus'southward life, the baby Metroid sacrifices itself to rescue the bounty hunter.

Matters became even more complicated in Metroid Fusion for GBA. A deadly organism called an X Parasite infects Samus. To save the bounty hunter, Galactic Federation scientists inject her with Metroid Dna. Every bit it turns out, the ancient Chozo created Metroids specifically to hunt X Parasites, and now Samus has to finish the job. She does so, and it seems as though both the Metroids and the Ten Parasites are gone from the milky way.

After a xix-year hiatus, Metroid Dread continues the story. And, since it provides a handy recap before the first level, that's really all y'all need to know if you want to dive into the series. You can currently play Metroid and Super Metroid via the Nintendo Switch Online service; some of the other games are a bit hard to hunt down.

Is it worth playing Metroid Dread?

Metroid Dread is one of the finest Nintendo exclusives in years, rewarding fans' patience with a challenging and brilliantly designed hazard. If you're a returning fan, this is what yous've been waiting for. And if you're a newcomer, it's a perfect identify to give the series a endeavor.

If you enjoy Metroid Dread, I'd recommend checking out Super Metroid next. (The original Metroid is a trivial crude effectually the edges.) Afterward that, Samus Returns is a good bet for 3DS owners — just expert luck tracking down the rest of the series.

Marshall Honorof is a senior editor for Tom's Guide, overseeing the site'southward coverage of gaming hardware and software. He comes from a science writing groundwork, having studied paleomammalogy, biological anthropology, and the history of scientific discipline and technology. Afterward hours, y'all can find him practicing taekwondo or doing deep dives on classic sci-fi.