Talk:Metroid Ravenous

Confirmation of MercurySteam as developer?

Has there been an actual source that confirmed this yet? It's pretty clear the game uses the same engine as the MS titles, but since they were co-developed by Nintendo, and MS recently laid off huge numbers of staff, it's possible Nintendo split with them at some point. MS having a really poor reputation for worker abuse and mismanagement, which was confirmed to affect Dread, also points to the possibility of them being less involved here. ~2026-47922-10 (talk) 18:34, 10 September 2026 (UTC)

That's a good point. I thought we had a source (Polygon) saying MercurySteam is the dev but looking at it it actually only says "Given how Ravenous looks incredibly similar to Dread's aesthetics and gameplay, it is safe to assume MercurySteam is the team behind the new title". Looking around today, there is news that MercurySteam "appears to confirm" it is the developer (Eurogamer) but that's also not exactly watertight... Popcornfud (talk) 02:21, 11 September 2026 (UTC)

Delineation between "Main" and "Prime" series games.

I'm seeing a few pages have some contention on how/if to delineate the 2D and Prime titles when referring to "Metroid ___ is the Xth title in the Metroid series". An official interview on Nintendo's website with the series's creative lead Yoshio Sakamoto includes a note about the matter:

"The series is broadly split into two: the Metroid series, made up of side-scrolling action games, and the Metroid Prime series, made up of first-person adventure games." https://www.nintendo.com/ph/interview/a7lq/index.html

A number of other official Nintendo sources refer to the "Metroid Prime series" and "Metroid series" as distinct entities. While these games are confirmed to take place in the same universe, they have significantly different design philosophies, creative leads, and goals. With that in mind, I think it would make the most sense to refer to this title as the "sixth title in the Metroid series" or "2D Metroid series". ~2026-47922-10 (talk) 20:40, 16 September 2026 (UTC)

The problem with this kind of thing is that it gets into diminishing returns. When you have a video game series that runs for years, with various sequels and spin-offs, it gets more and more complicated to explain to the reader that this is the Xth instalment, or the Yth instalment in the Z sub-series, etc etc. It clutters up the prose.

You also end up with conflicting sources, with one source describing X game as one thing and another source as another. Bear in mind also that Wikipedia prefers secondary sources over primary sources, so it's not as simple as pointing to the Nintendo source and saying that one beats all the others. Popcornfud (talk) 04:21, 17 September 2026 (UTC)

I can see the logic in simply omitting the line entirely. Might be more of a "Main Metroid Article" problem. Just feel it's clearly a matter with enough confusion surrounding it to be worth breaking down somewhere. ~2026-47922-10 (talk) 22:02, 17 September 2026 (UTC)

If you can find a reliable secondary source (eg something like IGN or GameSpot) that clearly explains it, we could use it. Nintendo.com is a primary source so not ideal. Popcornfud (talk) 01:22, 18 September 2026 (UTC)

I appreciate you walking me through this! I've assembled a list of quotes and sources from various publications both quoting Nintendo staff and independently writing about the franchise. Would it be better to share that here, or on the main Metroid talk page, then reference that discussion if a consensus is formed? It's a hefty bit of text too so I'm worried about posting a huge wall of words. ~2026-50489-24 (talk) 18:33, 18 September 2026 (UTC)

Posting it here is probably fine. Popcornfud (talk) 02:29, 19 September 2026 (UTC)

Thanks for guiding me! I tried to be thorough here; apologies if this could be formatted better but I couldn't get spacing to work...

Quotes from Nintendo personnel:

Yoshio Sakamoto - 2017

https://gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2017/06/18/samus-returns-39-developers-on-bringing-back-2d-metroid-and-why-mercurysteam-is-developing

Interviewer: "Whether by way of story or mechanics, is this leading into Metroid Prime 4 in any way?"

Yoshio Sakamoto: "No, there is no connection. The Metroid Prime series and the 2D Metroid - they're both obviously Metroid, but they're not connected in that way."

Yoshio Sakamoto - 2010

https://www.engadget.com/2010-03-12-interview-metroid-other-m-producer-yoshio-sakamoto.html

Interviewer: "Retro obviously produced the Metroid Prime series; very successful, very influential. Do you consider this a reboot of the series after Metroid Prime? Is this [i]the[/i] direction for future Metroids or just another direction?

Yoshio Sakamoto: "I actually didn't have a lot of input on the Prime series."

(Later): "There are some points in Other M that are going to feel a bit like the Prime series [...] what we're really trying to do is bring the ease of play you found in the 2D series forward. But certainly Prime was a very cool series and we've taken some notes there."

"[...] a lot of the core Metroid series team at Nintendo, they've been working most recently on the GBA Metroid series."

"Team Ninja [...] had some more recent console experience than the core Metroid team at Nintendo."

Shinya Takahashi and Shigeru Miyamoto - 2014

https://kotaku.com/nintendo-is-planning-a-future-for-both-2d-and-3d-metroi-1590142491

(corrorborated by GameSpot here):

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/nintendo-hopes-to-share-2d-and-3d-metroid-news-in-the-near-future/1100-6420482/

Shinya Takahashi:

"So it has been a while since we released the last one and we're having discussions internally about what we can do next. So at this point we have two different types of Metroid games. We have the Prime style of Metroid game and we have the more traditional style of Metroid game. We feel that we do need to take care of both of these styles of play. And the hope is that at some point in the near future we'll be able to share something about them."

Interviewer: "[...] which of the two styles do you guys like better? The 2D or Metroid Prime?"

Shinya Takahashi: "I like them both. They both have a different style of appeal."

Shigeru Miyamoto: "I have the New Super Mario Bros series [for 2D], so I like Prime. I think there's still a lot of new things that could be done with the Prime series."

From publication NintendoLife (most common result for reporting on the series):

https://www.nintendolife.com/features/metroid-dread-has-plenty-of-other-ms-dna-and-thats-no-bad-thing

Author Richard DiCicco:

"As the fifth and apparently final entry in the 2D ‘arc’ of the series, Dread is infatuated with the franchise’s history, taking plenty of inspiration from its narrative predecessor, 2002's Metroid Fusion."

"It [Other M] would blend the styles of 2D Metroid and Metroid Prime together...]

"While Sakamoto stepped aside for the popular first-person spin-off Metroid Prime and its sequels, he was instrumental to the franchise’s 2D games in the 2000s."

https://www.nintendolife.com/guides/metroid-games-you-need-to-play-before-metroid-dread

Author Ryan Craddock:

"After 19 years away, the Metroid series is finally returning to its roots with a brand new entry into its mainline 2D series. Metroid Dread will be the fifth game in the beloved franchise's core lineup[...]"

"[...]it's even been confirmed that the game [Dread] 'concludes the five-part saga[...]'"

"Metroid's Mainline Games In Chronological Order"

"As we mentioned above, Metroid Dread will be the fifth entry in the franchise's main series of games."

"[...]Metroid II: Return of Samus picks things up after the events of the first game (and also after the events of the Metroid Prime series[...])"

"[...]Super Metroid is often regarded as the best of the 2D Metroid games, and therefore the best of the series which Dread will fall into. The original Metroid Prime is also a fan favorite, but we're talking 2D games here[...]"

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2021/07/video_the_complete_story_of_the_metroid_series

Author Liam Doolan:

"As soon as Nintendo announced Metroid Dread - the fifth and final entry in the original Metroid story arc, we all had similar thoughts about revisiting the older entries in the series in some way or form."

"Not only does he cover the games you might want to know about leading into Metroid Dread, but he also touches on other entries such as the Metroid Prime series, and even Other M." ~2026-50489-24 (talk) 15:09, 21 September 2026 (UTC)