“John loves it”
I wouldn’t have gone out of my way to make a John Cena Metroid connection, but it’s there! You might recall this pre-launch event to promote the Switch five years ago, that involved at least one celebrity: John Cena included. Well it turns out that other than being a general Nintendo fan, he was also a Metroid fanatic. According to games writer and former WWE producer Dan Ryckert, Cena was all about the series.
During the event in 2017, it’s reported that Cena “repeatedly” told Nintendo reps that he wished the company would make another 2D Metroid. Ryckert, who had access to WWE talent during his tenure with them, notes that once Metroid Dread actually came out years later, Nintendo sent it to him. Apparently Cena’s camp told Nintendo “John loves it.” Former Nintendo host and Nintendo PR manager Krysta Yang corroborated the John Cena Metroid story on Twitter, noting that Cena talked about the series at the event.
As this John Cena Metroid tale points out, it’s hard to believe it’s been five years since the Switch came out, given that it’s still going strong. But after all this time it’s still around, and we got multiple 2D Metroid games in that timespan (don’t forget that the 3DS hosted Samus Returns later in 2017!). I assume given the good sales figures for Metroid Dread (comparatively, stacked up against the rest of the series), we’ll see another 2D Metroid eventually.
And there’s Metroid Prime 4, which totally still exists right?!
