The functionality of the two new Metroid Dread amiibo that were announced alongside the upcoming game have been revealed by GameStop. Metroid Dread was unveiled by Nintendo during the company’s Direct presentation at E3 2021 and is set for release on the Switch on October 8, 2021. It is the first new 2D side-scrolling entry in the series in almost 20 years and is set after the events of 2002’s Metroid Fusion. Interestingly, Metroid Fusion was the last 2D side-scrolling entry in the series before Metroid Dread.
The reason behind the almost two-decade release gap between the two connected titles was confirmed by Metroid Dread producer Yoshio Sakamoto in the recent post-E3 Nintendo Treehouse presentation. Sakamoto, who was also chief director for Metroid Fusion, revealed that Metroid Dread was initially planned for the Nintendo DS back in 2005 but was eventually cancelled due to the limitations presented by the technology of the time, which prevented the development team from implementing its vision for the game.
On a pre-order page, GameStop published the details on the functionality of the two new Metroid Dread amiibo, which will be available as a double pack. The page reveals that the Samus amiibo can be used to give players an extra energy tank to increase their health by 100. Players can also tap the amiibo again once a day in order to replenish their health. As for the E.M.M.I. amiibo, it gives Samus a Missile+ tank, which increases her missile capacity by 10. And similarly to the Samus amiibo, the E.M.M.I. can also be tapped again to give Samus some missiles once per day.
While amiibo for other games only give players cosmetic items as rewards, the two for Metroid Dread offer players actual boosts to the player’s stats that directly affect their gameplay experience. This makes the two new amiibo pretty desirable for players. Thankfully, amiibo aren’t single-use items and can still be tapped on other Switch consoles to receive the bonus, so while they may not be able to take full advantage of the daily health and missile replacements, players can simply borrow another person’s Metroid Dread amiibo to get both the health and missile capacity bonuses.
Given their relatively significant bonuses, the new Metroid Dread amiibo double pack may become a required purchase not only for fans of the series but also for players who want to maximize the capabilities of Samus in-game. Hopefully Nintendo is able to produce enough of them to meet demand and overcome scalpers that will inevitably try to take advantage of the new product. Thankfully, amiibo aren’t a brand-new product line so Nintendo may be more capable of producing more of them than other high-demand products.
Metroid Dread is scheduled for release on the Nintendo Switch on October 8, 2021.
Source: GameStop