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Nintendo Promises To Meet Strong Demand for Metroid Prime Remastered Physical Copies

Vena

Moderator

Nintendo has promised that it will meet the massive demand for Metroid Prime Remastered. This remaster was shadowdropped digitally earlier in February, right at the conclusion of the February 2023 Nintendo Direct. This shocked many fans, with the game managing to become one of the highest selling games for the Switch's eShop. The trailer also promised a physical release on February 22, which many fans were eager to get their hands on to play, or double dip to play it both physically and digitally. The physical release of Metroid Prime Remastered came with a couple of unexpected problems, however.


The day of release saw many fans having issues finding copies available for purchase at local retailers like Best Buy and GameStop. On top of that, Amazon orders for Metroid Prime Remastered were also delayed. Reportedly, some retailers like GameStop had only ordered enough to cover the physical pre-orders that fans had placed in-store, with only a handful of copies available to sell to people who walked in, all copies selling out very quickly to boot. In response to this, Nintendo provided a statement that indicated that the publisher will try to meet the remaster's massive physical demand.

I think we can expect some decent numbers for this remaster when we eventually get Nintendo's financial reports.
 
Wario64 has been sharing links so retailers have more stock already.



It makes sense for Nintendo to get this game out there as much as possible. They want to promote it ahead of Prime 4.
 
Hopefully Nintendo sees the opportunity to finally grow the franchise with Prime 4 riding this hype wave. Metroid has always sold such a criminally low amount of copies relative to its quality.
 
Great to see the demand for more Metroid in the west. In Hong Kong, it appears that there are still plenty of stock to go around:
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This is from the 2000Fun 遊戲店 site. It's a small retailer chain in HK, but it has a visual stock indicator that I believe is quite helpful. Most other retailers just use Facebook as their platform which makes it more difficult to check the stock, especially when they don't post updates and you need to inquire directly. Based on those that do have online storefronts though, it seems like Metroid Prime isn't selling out like crazy unlike the west. It's a bit of a shame, but this also means people who want a physical copy can order the HK version if they're willing to pay the shipping cost.

Really hope the remaster can sell at least 2 million worldwide. Honestly, it deserves to sell even more than Dread in my opinion. Metroid Prime needs to reclaim its title as the best-selling Metroid title!
 
This high demand is a great sign. Metroid Prime 4 could absolutely sell over 5M.
 
I hope the Remaster can cross 1mil within the end of March, so we get some reliable official number around early May, by Nintendo
 
I'm glad it's [apparently] selling well. I had to get my copy from Japan cause it's impossible to get locally, but I'll double dip once (if) it's available here.
 
Went to multiple stores until I found it. I grabbed two copies of Prime remastered(the other for a work friend who didn't feel like driving around on his day off). It's ridiculous that a Nintendo first party title is this hard to find. Also, F those scalpers charging double on ebay. Nintendo realllllly underestimated the demand for this title.

I hope the Remaster can cross 1mil within the end of March, so we get some reliable official number around early May, by Nintendo
I hope the sales encourage Nintendo to give Prime 2 and 3 the same polish. There's rumors floating around that those two won't have as much work done on them since the first Prime was the iconic title.
 
They might as well release Prime 4 as the launch title of their next console. The IP is gaining traction and I think if Prime 4 is good then it will hit a new high for the franchise.
 
Hoping Prime 4 on Switch 2 gets the BotW boom the series deserves.
the game design has to be something that resonates. so far, MP-style gameplay has yet to show a "high" ceiling, and that's if you include games that were kinda inspired by it like stuff like some Arkane games
 
This high demand is a great sign. Metroid Prime 4 could absolutely sell over 5M.
I would guess that to be the internal goal for MP4 as well. I imagine Dread was expected to do 1.5-2.5M, with MP4 being 4-5M. Going above 5M would put it at current Kirby tier and a solid tier above Fire Emblem.
 
It would have been cool if Nintendo put in a “Save file of Metroid Dread unlocks something small in Metroid Prime Remastered and vice versa” type of deal.

I could see Dread gaining some sales from that.

Still…awesome seeing MPR do so well in its first 4 weeks. Here’s to Metroid!
 
I'd be surprised if it didn't hit 1 million by next quarter, especially with the 40 dollar pricetag.

As for Prime 4, it's hard to say until we see a trailer, but I'd expect anywhere from 3-5 million on it. Maaaaaybe upwards of 6 million if it's an amazing, earthshattering game like Elden Ring or BOTW, but that's impossible to expect as of now.
 
I'd be surprised if it didn't hit 1 million by next quarter, especially with the 40 dollar pricetag.

As for Prime 4, it's hard to say until we see a trailer, but I'd expect anywhere from 3-5 million on it. Maaaaaybe upwards of 6 million if it's an amazing, earthshattering game like Elden Ring or BOTW, but that's impossible to expect as of now.
The "problem" is the back and forth mechanism, it is a non negligible part of what makes Metroid, well, Metroid. At least to the series fans. So unless they find a way to make this mechanism much more mass-market friendly, there is a definite ceiling on what the series can do, imo.
 
The "problem" is the back and forth mechanism, it is a non negligible part of what makes Metroid, well, Metroid. At least to the series fans. So unless they find a way to make this mechanism much more mass-market friendly, there is a definite ceiling on what the series can do, imo.
Yeah, and dark, slow-paced sci-fi space shooters are not exactly popular as is. The series is just not gonna have a BOTW-style breakout unless they radically reimagine it - a far more radical reimagining than even BOTW was. Which is fine, not every flagship Nintendo series has to sell Mario/Zelda numbers, but I remember people saying 3 million for Dread was disappointing, even though it was the best selling game in the series after 35 years and even on the GBA, a popular system with over 80 million users, 2D Metroid struggled to break a million.

Still, I think unless it's a total disaster somehow, Prime 4 will be the best selling Metroid game. Definitely the best selling Prime at least.
 
Yeah, and dark, slow-paced sci-fi space shooters are not exactly popular as is. The series is just not gonna have a BOTW-style breakout unless they radically reimagine it - a far more radical reimagining than even BOTW was. Which is fine, not every flagship Nintendo series has to sell Mario/Zelda numbers, but I remember people saying 3 million for Dread was disappointing, even though it was the best selling game in the series after 35 years and even on the GBA, a popular system with over 80 million users, 2D Metroid struggled to break a million.

Still, I think unless it's a total disaster somehow, Prime 4 will be the best selling Metroid game. Definitely the best selling Prime at least.
Yeah, I heard a friend on Discord say this and I was... left incredulous to say the least. Dread is the best selling game in the series and has almost certainly crossed the elusive 3 million line the series had never been able to achieve per release. This is especially impressive after Samus Returns previously only sold 500k, in addition to the game being $60 in an age where many indie Metroidvanias (or search action games) are like half that.

I think the thing is that Metroid is a franchise near and dear to a lot of people's hearts, and while it's impact on gaming in general cannot be understated, it's sales have never really been able to seemingly reflect that. And that's before factoring in long wait times and missteps such as Other M and Federation Force. Actually, I think that also plays a big factor: 2010-2016 was probably the worst time to be a Metroid fan, as Other M was so derided that the series took a hiatus and it's future was uncertain, and the silence was broken with... Federation Force, which isn't a bad game IMO, but one of the most poorly timed games I've ever seen. And then there's AM2R and it's sudden takedown (we know the reason why now, but we didn't back then).

Now compare that to 2017-2023, which is arguably the best time to be a Metroid fan. Nintendo clearly wanted (and still wants) to boost Metroid's profile with the Switch, from Prime 4's announcement to Dread finally being a thing to all the mainline 2D games being available on one console. But I think with Metroid back to form, people want to see it grow more and more - not just so they can get new games, but to potentially prevent more droughts like the one they experienced before. And there's really no better opportunity for it to do so than now.

Does this series have a ceiling? Probably. It's premise and gameplay ain't exactly made for mass market appeal, but that doesn't mean it can't perform well enough to continue existing. Especially with how radically different it is from Nintendo's other big dogs. And hell, Bayonetta has a spinoff coming out despite sellign even less.

That's just my opinion on all this, though. Could be wrong.
 
The "problem" is the back and forth mechanism, it is a non negligible part of what makes Metroid, well, Metroid. At least to the series fans. So unless they find a way to make this mechanism much more mass-market friendly, there is a definite ceiling on what the series can do, imo.
I would argue they have already done this with Dread, which is secretly a linear gamewhich loops around itself and that eventually kinda opens up. The way it strategically closes doors behind you and gently pushes you down the critical path is really amazing. I'd say it played no small part in the success of that game.
 
Yeah, I heard a friend on Discord say this and I was... left incredulous to say the least. Dread is the best selling game in the series and has almost certainly crossed the elusive 3 million line the series had never been able to achieve per release. This is especially impressive after Samus Returns previously only sold 500k, in addition to the game being $60 in an age where many indie Metroidvanias (or search action games) are like half that.

I think the thing is that Metroid is a franchise near and dear to a lot of people's hearts, and while it's impact on gaming in general cannot be understated, it's sales have never really been able to seemingly reflect that. And that's before factoring in long wait times and missteps such as Other M and Federation Force. Actually, I think that also plays a big factor: 2010-2016 was probably the worst time to be a Metroid fan, as Other M was so derided that the series took a hiatus and it's future was uncertain, and the silence was broken with... Federation Force, which isn't a bad game IMO, but one of the most poorly timed games I've ever seen. And then there's AM2R and it's sudden takedown (we know the reason why now, but we didn't back then).

Now compare that to 2017-2023, which is arguably the best time to be a Metroid fan. Nintendo clearly wanted (and still wants) to boost Metroid's profile with the Switch, from Prime 4's announcement to Dread finally being a thing to all the mainline 2D games being available on one console. But I think with Metroid back to form, people want to see it grow more and more - not just so they can get new games, but to potentially prevent more droughts like the one they experienced before. And there's really no better opportunity for it to do so than now.

Does this series have a ceiling? Probably. It's premise and gameplay ain't exactly made for mass market appeal, but that doesn't mean it can't perform well enough to continue existing. Especially with how radically different it is from Nintendo's other big dogs. And hell, Bayonetta has a spinoff coming out despite sellign even less.

That's just my opinion on all this, though. Could be wrong.
Yeah, Metroid is a popular series among enthusiast Nintendo fans but has virtually no cultural footprint in mainstream pop culture outside of Smash. It doesn’t help that the series isn’t very popular in Japan, which is a huge market for Nintendo to say the least.

I think though Nintendo knows Metroid is a series that brings them critical clout in the way big film studios occasionally fund prestige projects, though that could be an issue as game costs go up and Metroid stays in the same sales tier.
 
The "problem" is the back and forth mechanism, it is a non negligible part of what makes Metroid, well, Metroid. At least to the series fans. So unless they find a way to make this mechanism much more mass-market friendly, there is a definite ceiling on what the series can do, imo.
I don't think that's really the problem. Metroid has basically diminished backtracking in it's mainline games since Fusion, and the Prime games have had less backtracking with each subsequent entry. Fusion was almost entirely linear, Dread ushered players down a specific path, Prime 2 went a Majora's Mask route and had players focus on individual areas for exploration rather than consistently asking them to backtrack, and Prime 3 is also almost entirely linear. And those games are very well received by fans.

None of this is even to mention series like Resident Evil or the Souls games which are either inspired by Metroid or are very similar in their backtracking. And those games are way more popular.

The problem with Metroid is frankly just that there are too many smaller problems that add up. The 2D games have been getting harder and more action oriented as they've gone on, not less. Its 3D iteration, which was its real chance to break out, is a first person shooter, which has never resonated with Nintendo audiences the way third person games have. And while Nintendo does have a mature adventure series that caters to adults moreso than just a nonspecific general audience in Zelda, Zelda is a hero-fantasy that basically plays up the power fantasy aspect to 11. Metroid starts out as alien, bleak, and maybe even a little depressive, and requires players to earn even a semblance of power. Nintendo has also worked hard to make sure Zelda caters to all audiences since its inception, whereas even with big marketing pushes it's kind of obvious Nintendo is making Metroid for Metroid fans and maybe on the hope of picking up a bit of the 20+ crowd at this point. I know people hate this kind of argument, but honestly, it just doesn't seem like a series catered to Nintendos audience well, and it doesn't have the popularity to be picked up by other audiences.

That being said, I think the idea that the ceiling is that close to where the series has already been is very dependent on what criteria we're using. People seem to forget that if Dread hits 4m, which is pretty likely at this point, that means it would have outsold every 2D Metroidvania ever except what, Hollow Knight? That's a pretty big accomplishment, and I think a 3D first person game could go even farther than that.
 
Prime 3 has quite a bit of backtracking. It may feel more linear as the worlds are individualized, but you had to make a bunch of trips back and forth between Bryyo, Elysia, Space Frigate, and PHW.

It actually masks the backtracking nicely because going back feels like it opens up more of a very different region and it's more immediately obvious. The backtracking is also how the world stories are individually told as you find the lore of what happened on Bryyo and Elysia as you unlock more of it over time.

The story is also much more structured. And I think that is actually the main evolution aside from increased linearity or "defined path" to help people avoid getting lost. Dread is the most structured in a compelling way with an excellent villain hanging over Samus with an amazing fight to end it.

Prime's final villain is entirely easy to overlook in any build up if you don't scan anything. You just fight a blob for some reason.
 
I can't speak to Souls games but RE games' backtracking and exploration is much more minimized than Metroid, especially past the PS1 titles and their remakes. Just anecdotally, I've known way more people who bounce off Metroid because of its maze-like gameplay but are totally into RE.
 
I know we are a small group buying Nintendo games here in Costa Rica... but the game is sold out everywhere here!!!!!
 
I would also say that the boss fights (at least in Fusion and Super) are...pretty "un-Nintendo". What I mean by that is, not only are they difficult in that they can be pretty tanky, but there are quite a few times where it feels like you can't avoid damage or react to the boss's moves. The water/snake boss in Fusion moves so quickly and can be hard to dodge, especially under water. Ridley in Super felt like it took a hundred missiles to the mouth and never stopped pogo-sticking around on his tail the entire fight. The fights kind of feel more akin to bullet hell shooters compared to the tighter Mario or even Zelda boss fights that are not only slower paced, but choreograph their movements more clearly and have larger openings.

I'm not saying that Metroid fights should be more like Mario/Zelda, but I think it would help if they were more fun, back-and-forth, and had less moments where you feel like you can't avoid getting hit. Nightmare in Fusion is also very frustrating to fight because of the way he closes in on you. I would also add that before MSR and Dread, aiming in 2D Metroids is also quite difficult. Having to use L/R to aim diagonally and trying to hit small enemies with what feels like pellet sized attacks for much of the early game is difficult.

Maybe they can also have Samus start out with a few more powers early in the game or even make a better aiming system. That or make her starting shot bigger so enemies are easier to hit in the early game. They could also take the BOTW approach and give Samus all (or most) of her abilities early on and make the game more organic (less colored doors and more natural puzzles & environments) with a focus on exploration, filling out the map, and investigations.

Super also had a few moments where I was completely stumped and I had felt like I had no way forward, despite super bombing every room (also during the quicksand area-which btw felt almost impossible to get out of). And I don't think backtracking is necessary for a Metroid game. Because ultimately, when you get a cool power, you want to use it. I don't see how running back to an older area and unlocking a door or jumping higher/running faster to reach a room that seems to only have a missile/energy power up is satisfying. I think you either go linear like Fusion/Dread and put situations where newly acquired powers can be tested/played with immediately or you go BOTW and give all the necessary powers early to facilitate exploration.

I'm just spit balling here. I definitely enjoyed Super and Metroid (the only 2 Metroids I've played) and I know some or most of what I've discussed may not apply to the Prime series, but I think focusing Metroid to be a series about exploring planets/worlds/areas in space on your own terms with the powers you have at your disposal is the way forward. Slowly getting individual power ups (some of which feel like should have been accessible at the start) and then having players run back to old areas to "key-unlock" (ala old 3D Zelda) will keep the series from "breaking out", I feel.

I mean as a huge Zelda fan, I would say there were quite a few elements and aspects of the old 3D Zelda games that were Metroidvania-like. You slowly get new items/powers over time that get you through a main area/dungeon, but also allow you to optionally backtrack and unlock secret (sometimes required) areas (bomb-able walls, far off switches, etc). Not that these things were all bad and not that I think only gaining meaningful new power ups (aka NOT the Champion abilities in BOTW) throughout the game is the way to go, but I think Samus's baseline power level and moves et at the start of the games can be quite a bit more expansive.

As a final example, after playing the first Steamworld Dig, I felt that all but the final ability should've been part of the base moveset (Metroid never was that bad and every power up certainly is more impactful). Seriously, the majority of powers in that game make you move more quickly, mine more quickly, use less resources, hold more resources, etc.
 
I can't speak to Souls games but RE games' backtracking and exploration is much more minimized than Metroid, especially past the PS1 titles and their remakes. Just anecdotally, I've known way more people who bounce off Metroid because of its maze-like gameplay but are totally into RE.
I can say with certainty that REmake 2 has more backtracking than any Metroid game in decades, and that's the most popular Resident Evil title in years. I just don't think that's the only piece of the puzzle. I'm not denying it is or could be a piece, but I do think that Metroid is just a case of having a multitude of things working against it that add up, rather than "too difficult" or "too much navigation" when we've seen other games get popular with similar traits.
 
I would also say that the boss fights (at least in Fusion and Super) are...pretty "un-Nintendo". What I mean by that is, not only are they difficult in that they can be pretty tanky, but there are quite a few times where it feels like you can't avoid damage or react to the boss's moves. The water/snake boss in Fusion moves so quickly and can be hard to dodge, especially under water. Ridley in Super felt like it took a hundred missiles to the mouth and never stopped pogo-sticking around on his tail the entire fight. The fights kind of feel more akin to bullet hell shooters compared to the tighter Mario or even Zelda boss fights that are not only slower paced, but choreograph their movements more clearly and have larger openings.

I'm not saying that Metroid fights should be more like Mario/Zelda, but I think it would help if they were more fun, back-and-forth, and had less moments where you feel like you can't avoid getting hit. Nightmare in Fusion is also very frustrating to fight because of the way he closes in on you. I would also add that before MSR and Dread, aiming in 2D Metroids is also quite difficult. Having to use L/R to aim diagonally and trying to hit small enemies with what feels like pellet sized attacks for much of the early game is difficult.
In Metroid Dread not a single bossfight has moments like this, where you feel like you can't avoid getting hit. Every attack can be predicted thanks to certain visual cues and can be dodged or parried accordingly.
Metroid Dread quickly became the best selling Metroid game for a reason. Most "issues" with the franchise that are being mentioned here aren't really present in that game.
 
In Metroid Dread not a single bossfight has moments like this, where you feel like you can't avoid getting hit. Every attack can be predicted thanks to certain visual cues and can be dodged or parried accordingly.
Metroid Dread quickly became the best selling Metroid game for a reason. Most "issues" with the franchise that are being mentioned here aren't really present in that game.
Great to hear. I've actually got Dread sitting on my shelf (purchased it day one), but I wanted to play 1-4 first.
 
Despite the lack of physical stock, Metroid Prime Remastered is already the second best-selling game on Amazon.com in 2023, trailing only Zelda TOTK.
 
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