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Games

Nintendo Just Made The ‘Metroid’ Hard Mode Controversy Way More Confusing

It turns out there are two hard modes: one unlocked by amiibo, one that's not. What?
Image courtesy of Nintendo

A few weeks back, Nintendo announced amiibo released alongside Metroid: Samus Returns, a 3DS remake of Metroid II, would unlock content exclusive to the amiibo. There would be no way to unlock it without amiibo. Amiibo unlocks aren't new, but the feature that really bothered people was a harder difficulty mode.

It was reasonable to wonder if Nintendo might find a way to address this before the game's release next month. They have! Sort of. But in doing so, the company made things even more confusing. US Gamer recently attended a hands-on event for Metroid: Samus Returns, where the company explained there is a harder difficulty mode for people who don't buy the amiibo, but it's not the same as the one unlocked by the amiibo. The amiibo-gated mode is even harder.

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In other words: two different hard modes, one of which requires buying a plastic toy.

Nintendo, you're screwing this up! For no good reason!

In a reasonable world, the amiibo would unlock the mode immediately, rather than requiring players to complete a task, like beating the game, to have it open up. But since this is Nintendo we're talking about, it's extremely convoluted for reasons no one can explain, making everyone frustrated at a game they'll buy anyway.

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