Everything Metroid Prime 4 Locks Behind Amiibo

Some Metroid Prime 4: Beyond features will only be available to players who own all three of the game’s special Amiibo figurines, marking up the price of unlocking everything the game has to offer by well over 100 percent of the game’s purchase price. None of the special features unlocked by the Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Amiibo are essential to gameplay, but fans should know what they’re missing out on by not buying them.

Arriving more than 18 years and three console generations after Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, the release date for Metroid Prime 4 is set for December 4 on Nintendo Switch and Switch 2. Players will once again get to step inside the armored suit of Samus Aran, this time butting heads with rival bounty hunter Sylux as she hones her psychic powers and rides across the wilderness of planet Viewros on her motorcycle, Vi-O-La.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Reveals New Gameplay Details For Samus’s Motorcycle

Nintendo quietly reveals more gameplay details for Samus’ new motorcycle in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, which was previously seen in the trailer.

All Metroid Amiibo and Prices on Nintendo Shop

Samus & Vi-O-La – Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Series – $39.99
Samus – Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Series – $29.99
Sylux – Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Series – $29.99
Metroid Dread 2-Pack (Samus and E.M.M.I.) – $29.99
Samus – Super Smash Bros. Series – $19.99
Zero Suit Samus – Super Smash Bros. Series – $19.99
Dark Samus – Super Smash Bros. Series – Unavailable
Ridley – Super Smash Bros. Series – Unavailable
Samus – Metroid: Samus Returns Series – Unavaialble
Metroid – Metroid: Returns Series – Unavailable
Samus – Metroid Series – Unavailable

While the franchise’s longstanding popularity and the gap between games easily make Metroid Prime 4 one of Nintendo’s most anticipated titles for the Switch 2 in the console’s first year, there are some features that players will only be able to unlock by using the three Amiibo figures created for use with the game: Samus, Sylux, and Samus & Vi-O-La. As detailed on the official Nintendo website, half of these features are centered around Samus’ Metroid Prime 4 motorcycle, as the Samus & Vi-O-La Amiibo will allow players to change Vi-O-La’s color, check its total mileage with each touch of the figurine, and increase the speed of its energy boost regeneration once per day. Additionally, one of the new solo Samus Amiibo’s features will allow players to change the background music when riding the motorcycle.

Additionally, the Samus Amiibo grants players a more functional power that can only be used once per day, allowing her to create an energy shield that blocks up to 99 damage, and activating this power will also restore her health tank to full. Conversely, the Sylux Amiibo may be the least functional of all, although it includes some fun-sounding immersive features, allowing players to hear a random line of dialogue from the character every time it is tapped and, once players have completed the game, letting them view a movie of events that unfold throughout the course of the game. Along with the features of the newly released figures, touching several older Metroid or Metroid-related Super Smash Bros. Amiibo to the console will cause a game sound to play randomly.

None of the previous mainline games in the Metroid Prime series included Amiibo support, although some other games in the Metroid franchise have had special features unlocked by the figurines. For example, Metroid Dread players could use any Samus Amiibo to refill 100 HP or other Metroid characters to restock 15 missiles. In Metroid: Samus Returns for the 3DS, certain Amiibo figurines could unlock missile, reserve energy, or Aeion energy tanks. Additionally, any Metroid Amiibo unlocked an in-game tool that made locating Metroids easier, along with granting players a special Metroid Fusion suit for Samus to wear. Amiibo in the Metroid line have had special functions in plenty of other games as well, including Mario Party 10, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and Bayonetta 2.

Metroid Prime 4 Beyond Samus Aran Galactic Federation Trooper Fire

While the special Amiibo figures released for Metroid Prime 4 don’t hold back anything essential to gameplay, they are expensive when compared to the game itself. Buying all three new figures will cost players about $100, while the game itself is selling for $59.99 on Switch and $69.99 on Switch 2. Many Amiibo saw a price increase earlier this year, and with the Samus & Vi-O-La figurines priced at $39.99 and the other two at $29.99 each, the special features associated with them may go unused by a large portion of the fan base.