There are many traditions in video games that go far beyond story and delve deep into the gameplay elements of a franchise. For example, Mario many times has to go and save Princess Peach or a new land that’s in trouble (much like in Thousand-Year Door!). Then, you have FPS or third-person shooters that are typically broken up into missions for you to focus on. In the case of games featuring Samus Aran, those titles follow a pattern of the bounty hunter losing all but her basic abilities and then regaining them over time. That’s what happened in Metroid Dread, and the formula seems to still work.
One of the team members behind Metroid Dread, José Luis Márquez, talked with GameReactor recently and noted how this was an important part of the gameplay flow for a basic reason:
“In the case of Metroids, yes, it has to be like that. You can’t start the game without losing things. It’s mandatory. Otherwise, I think you would be disappointed. It’s like, what? You get everything from the beginning? It can’t be!”
Not to mention, having the various weapons Samus has at the beginning would kill the progression in some ways, as it would open up all parts of the world instantly versus getting access to them over time. Plus, there are traditionally new weapons that arrive in each game, so getting them after a while is a thrill. We’re all still hoping that Metroid Prime 4 will release soon…maybe even getting announced at the next Nintendo Direct…
