Explore and blast baddies on Nintendo 3DS in ‘Metroid: Samus Returns’

By Gabe Gurwin June 13, 2017

Metroid Prime 4 is coming to the Nintendo Switch next year, but fans of Samus Aran will be able to play a game on 3DS quite a bit sooner.

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Metroid: Samus Returns is a remake of the Game Boy-exclusive Metroid II: Return of Samus, built to take full advantage of the portable system’s features.

The game’s official trailer shows a Metroid devouring an alien as Samus’ ship crashes down to the ground of an alien planet — her character model looks very similar to what we’ve seen in Prime and Other M. After investigating the scene, Samus is attacked by a spider-like creature and the action begins. Samus’ missiles and blaster shots look wonderful, even on the 3DS’s aging hardware, and it all appears to be running at a smooth framerate that will make navigating the game’s environment hazard significantly less frustrating.

Samus’ missiles and blaster shots look wonderful, even on the 3DS’s aging hardware

Some cinematic flair also appears to be included in Samus Returns. After damaging an enemy, camera spins around as Samus is knocked on her back before the screen quickly cuts to black. The 2.5D perspective used by some other recent side-scrollers hasn’t always looked as crisp as classic sprite-based artwork, but Nintendo seems to have knocked it out of the park this time around.

Metroid: Samus Returns hits the 3DS family of systems on September 15, and it will come with special Amiibo in addition to supporting previous Samus Amiibo figures. It’s one of several games still coming to the system. Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon will launch in November, while Hey! Pikmin is scheduled to arrive this summer. A version of Fire Emblem Warriors will also be coming to New 3DS and New 2DS systems.

For more coverage of Nintendo’s E3 2017 lineup, as well as the games from publishers like Bethesda, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Sony, and Microsoft, be sure to check out our E3 2017 hub. We also have on-site coverage of games coming all this week.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…

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