Nintendo seems determined to make Metroid Dread a success. Metroid has never been its best-selling or most verbose first-party franchise, but its fanbase is just as - if not more - dedicated than fans of Super Mario or The Legend of Zelda. However, Dread appears to be getting more social media attention than even Zelda for their shared 35th anniversaries, including an overview trailer released on September 10 that outlines some of Samus' new abilities and foes.
Metroid Dread takes the bounty hunter to Planet ZDR, a brand-new locale completely divorced from the two primary planets visited throughout the mainline 2D platformer saga so far: Zebes and SR388. Even so, Nintendo revealed Kraid is returning in Metroid Dread, which means developer MercurySteam isn't afraid to dip into the series' lore. While Dread's focus should be on unique threats to keep things fresh, it would also be interesting to see the game toy with the tradition of returning bosses using more obscure beasts like Fusion's Yakuza.
Metroid Fusion's Menagerie of Bosses
Metroid Fusion is officially considered "Metroid 4," and is the immediate predecessor to Dread. Despite releasing back in 2002 on the Game Boy Advance, Fusion will undoubtedly have the most connections to the upcoming Switch game as a result. In Fusion, Samus is infected by an organism called the X Parasite; considered so dangerous by the ancient Chozo people that they created Metroids with the sole purpose of killing the X.
What makes the X Parasite nefarious is its ability to assimilate a host's traits and create a near-perfect duplicate of them. Though Samus is saved via a vaccine made from Metroid DNA, the infection spreads throughout the Biologic Space Laboratories (BSL) research station and litters it with threats that were once considered harmless natural research specimens. The larger Core-X variants steal power-ups from Samus' arsenal and mainly take the form of boss monsters - including the infamous SA-X mimicing Samus in her Varia Suit.
Some of the Core-X bosses that Samus battles mimic creatures from prior Metroid games. For example, she receives the Morph Ball ability from Arachnus, a Metroid 2 boss; and the Screw Attack from Ridley, whose frozen corpse was being held in BSL's sub-zero containment. Some were also retroactively given roles in Samus' prior adventures, notably Nightmare: A gravity-bending biomechanical creature built by the Federation who would appear again in Fusion's prequel, Metroid: Other M. However, there are many more bosses from Fusion which have yet to appear in any other form as of yet.
Why Yakuza Could Return in Metroid Dread
Among the X-infected creatures exclusive to Metroid Fusion thus far are Zazabi, a cycloptic amoeba-looking foe that leaps high in the air to consume its prey; and Serris, a serpentine monster reminiscent of Super Metroid's Botwoon mini-boss that also dashes through the water using a Speed Booster. However, one of the most well-known is Yakuza, a massive spider-like beast that takes over the BLS reactor silo and prevents Samus from turning the station's power back on.
Yakuza is generally seen as one of the more difficult bosses in Fusion, with erratic movements as it crawls down the back wall, fireballs, and later use of Samus' Space Jump ability when reduced to only a head. Fire-breathing spiders are an idea regularly visited in Japanese culture thanks to a yokai called Jorogumo that also partially inspired Monster Hunter Rise's Rakna-Kadaki, so it wouldn't be farfetched for MercurySteam to revisit Yakuza on what could be its home planet.
Metroid Dread appears to have a lot of bosses for Samus to fight, with the September 10 trailer highlighting a number of beasts inhabiting Planet ZDR alongside a mysterious Chozo warrior and the relentless E.M.M.I. robots. Whether or not the developer is interested in bringing back more than Kraid, fans would no doubt get a kick out of learning more about the natural habitat for some smaller bosses like Yakuza.
Metroid Dread releases October 8, 2021 for Nintendo Switch.
