The amiibo figures being released for Metroid Dread will provide permanent upgrades to players’ health and missile capacity.
A listing for the $30 Metroid Dread amiibo double pack on GameStop reveals what the Samus and E.M.M.I. figures do when users scan them while playing.
The Samus amiibo will provide players with an extra energy tank, which increases their maximum health by 100. This will be a one-time only upgrade.
After this, players can tap the Samus amiibo once a day to top up their health, getting them out of trouble if Samus is close to death.
Meanwhile, the amiibo of E.M.M.I. (the robotic creature Samus faces in the Metroid Dread trailer) gives Samus a Missile+ tank, which increases the missile capacity by 10. Again, this is a one-time upgrade.
Once it’s been applied, players can then tap the E.M.M.I. amiibo again to replenish their missiles once per day.
Nintendo‘s amiibo features recently drew some criticism when it was revealed that the Skyward Sword HD figure, which features Zelda and a Loftwing, can be used to activate travel from the surface to the sky whenever players want, instead of having to visit certain locations as in the Wii original.
Some players have expressed disappointment in this, arguing that fast travel is a ‘quality of life improvement’ that should be part of the remaster as standard instead of something locked behind a figure that’s sold separately.
Nintendo officially announced Metroid Dread during its E3 2021 Nintendo Direct on Tuesday – 16 years after the long-rumoured instalment was first reported by the media.
Once again co-developed by Mercury Steam (Samus Returns), Dread will continue hero Samus’ story after Metroid Fusion, exploring a strange new planet alone and hunted by the ominous E.M.M.I.
“We’ve finally announced a brand-new instalment in the 2D Metroid series, Metroid Dread,” said Metroid series producer Yoshio Sakamoto during a Nintendo Treehouse live stream on Tuesday.
“Continuing the saga that began in 1986 with Metroid and continued through Metroid II, Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion, this is the first new story and new episode for 19 years.”
He added: “The series has chronicled the uncanny relationship between Metroid and the heroine Samus, but this game will make and end to that story arc.”
