Richard Kain

I was feeling less apathy this week. The boost in enthusiasm is much appreciated. I also appreciated Cheapy being on top of that Toys-R-Us story. Not only did he know what it was about when the talking point came up, but he had additional information to flesh out the discussion that hasn't been brought up in the general press. Very informative.

When is Metroid 4 scheduled to be released? I haven't even heard it officially announced yet.

Oh, we have no release date. In fact, all we really have is a teaser trailer. And not one particularly rich in detail, either.

All the same, Nintendo does not make announcements like this one for games that they don't intend to follow through on. So Metroid Prime 4 is happening. It will be on the Switch. And given the Switch's current trajectory, it will most likely be pretty popular here in the West. (where the Metroid series has been considerably more successful) The Prime spin-off series was very popular here in the U.S., so the fourth instalment is likely to sell.

And as we saw with the popularity of Zelda, a critically and commercially successful title can drive sales of amiibo figures. This includes already existing figures, so long as they tie into the game in question. The two recent Metroid-themed amiibo are the first of their kind. All other Metroid-related amiibo have been part of the Smash Brothers line. So these two in particular will see their demand skyrocket when Metroid Prime 4 releases. (whenever that may eventually be, could be a while) If you want to get these as cheaply as possible, you can hope for decent restocks, and then buy after the release date for Metroid Prime 4 has been announced. Just be sure that you don't wait until after the release date has come and gone. Once Prime 4 is on store shelves, it will be too late.

I'm wondering if the same will happen to these. 

It's hard to say. Metroid has a rabid and devoted fan-base. But it also has a small fan-base. For as well-regarded as the series is, it has never been as popular or had as strong sales as most of their other mainstays. No Metroid title has ever sold as much as even the most modest Mario Kart entry. And the series has always been notoriously unpopular in Japan. Samus has just never seemed to catch on in Nintendo's home country, not exactly sure why.

So there will be small but vocal contingent of fans who are going to go after these amiibo HARD. Expect the early runs to sell out. But these things aren't store exclusive, so they will likely get additional print runs. Once the hardcore Metroid fans are satisfied, it is likely that the rest of the stock will sit on shelves. It all depends on whether or not that satisfaction point is reached before or after Nintendo cuts off production.

Of course, you can expect demand to spike again whenever Metroid Prime 4 lands. By that point, the Switch will have an even larger install base, so I would expect the rush on Metroid-themed amiibo to be huge for Prime 4. I would definitely try to pick this set up before that point.

toys r us seems to have the metroid 2 pack available for shipping and pickup at most stores near me.

Much obliged. I was able to secure an order for pickup at a Toys R Us that will be on my travel route later this evening. Not exactly my first choice, but the Target I stopped by at earlier this morning, as well as the Best Buy that I visited when they opened, were both out. It sounded like they got very little in the way of stock. And the two Toys R Us stores that I usually go to were also out. This one seems to be pretty popular.

Also, I was getting more than a little tired of waiting on Amazon.

As far as their dismissive attitude towards Octopath Traveler, they are not the guys who play those kind-of games. JRPGs are generally not their type of games. I can personally relate because I don't play anything JRPG, and when I saw the trailer for it in the Nintendo Direct, I thought it looked nice but I knew it was a game that I would never play. The CAG panel would rather play a new shooter, or a new racer. That is their genre.

Yes, I get this. I don't want to bust their chops too much over this sort of thing. Some games are not for some people, that's just how it works. I certainly don't expect them to play every game, especially not games that they would not find personally entertaining.

It's more the dismissive attitude that they took in the show that put me off. While personal taste is far more significant in dealing with which games you personally want to play, they are putting on an audio show, and they have an audience. And their audience is going to have a broader range of tastes, simply by being a diverse and eclectic group of people.

I brought up Octopath Traveler as a specific example, but it wasn't the only title they showed a distinct lack of interest or concern over. They were also very dismissive of the Metroid release. They spent more time discussing how they felt the 3DS was no longer relevant than they did discussing the game itself. And they knew nothing about the game either. They looked up details on the title in the middle of the show, and only then found out that it was a re-make of Metroid II: The Return of Samus for the original GameBoy. That kind of embarrassment could have been easily avoided with a quick review of the show outline ahead of time, and 30 seconds of internet research on what the heck this new Metroid thing is. The game was announced months ago, and all of the early reviews have been very positive. I would expect anyone who follows the industry to have at least that level of knowledge, even if they've never played the game.

I mean, is it really so much to expect someone on a podcast to briefly review the talking points before the show starts? These types of foibles seem to be cropping up more frequently on the Cagcast. This is what I mean when I say I'm not feeling as much enthusiasm.