Metroid Ravenous: what is known, what is not

Metroid Ravenous was announced on 9 September 2026, the day before this was written, in a Nintendo Direct. It is a new side-on Metroid for Nintendo Switch 2, which makes it the next entry in the line that Super Metroid defined in 1994, and Nintendo's UK page says as much: "Metroid Ravenous, the latest game in the 2D Metroid series, is coming to Nintendo Switch 2." That is the relationship this article rests on. It is not a numbered sequel to Super Metroid and no official page says which earlier game its story follows; it is the newest game in the same series and the same perspective. What follows is the publisher, the stated date on every official page it was stated on, the prices in three regions, the ratings already on record in three regions, what the pages say the game is, the one credit Nintendo has not given, and what to weigh before pre-ordering. Every fact carries the page it came from, and every page was read on 10 September 2026.

The window, quoted

Nintendo of America's press release, datelined "REDMOND, Wash., September 09, 2026" and distributed by Business Wire, ends its Metroid paragraph with the sentence this article exists to record: "Both the standard and special editions launch Jan. 28, 2027, and pre-orders begin later today." The same release describes the game as "an intense new 2D action adventure" and, together with the new Kirby game, as "coming exclusively to Nintendo Switch 2".

Where	Region or storefront	What it says, verbatim
Nintendo of America press release, 9 September 2026	US, corporate	"launch Jan. 28, 2027"
Nintendo store page	US	"January 28, 2027"; availability "Pre-order" and "Coming soon"
Nintendo Direct news page, "Nintendo Direct – 09/09/2026"	UK	"Coming January 28th, 2027"
Nintendo game page	UK	"Release date: 28/01/2027"
Nintendo game page	Japan	"2027年1月28日（木）", that is Thursday 28 January 2027
amiibo pages, Samus (Metroid Suit) and Chozo Statue	US	"January 28, 2027"

One date, five storefront pages and one press release, all published within a day of each other, and no earlier window to compare against because the game was not announced before the Direct. Dates move. A date stated the day a game is revealed is a plan, four and a half months out as we write, and if it changes the pages above will change before anything else does. The dataset row carries 28 January 2027 as Nintendo's statement, not as a record.

Publisher, platform, and the credit that is missing

Every official page names Nintendo as publisher: "Publisher Nintendo" on the UK page, "softwarePublisher: Nintendo" in the US store page's data, and only 任天堂 on the Japanese page. Every official page names one platform, Nintendo Switch 2, and the press release says "exclusively". No page mentions the original Switch.

The developer is a different matter. The US store page has a developer field, and on 10 September 2026 it is empty. The UK page has no developer line. The Japanese page names no studio. The press release does not say who is making the game. Press coverage has filled the gap: Nintendo Life's game page lists the developer as MercurySteam, and Gamereactor's 9 September article says MercurySteam is the studio, but names no Nintendo statement that says so. MercurySteam's own site, read the same day, lists Metroid Dread and Metroid: Samus Returns among its games and does not mention Metroid Ravenous at all. So the developer credit in this article, and in the dataset, reads as it should: not named by the publisher, credited to MercurySteam by the press. If Nintendo's pages gain a developer line, the row will be corrected against them.

What the official pages say it is

The US store description is three sentences, and they are the whole official premise: "Take control of Samus Aran, a renowned bounty hunter ambushed by unknown attackers and marooned on an unfamiliar moon. Gather your arsenal, navigate a maze of corridors, hunt down powerful bosses, and use your newly awakened Metroid instincts to devour your foes. You'll need to strike quickly and aggressively with beams, missiles, and more—lest you become the enemy's next meal." The page's headline, which we paraphrase because it is written as an exclamation, is that the game is about eating or being eaten.

The UK page, which flags its text as "provided by the publisher", is more specific about the systems. The set-up: "After her ship crash lands on a moon, Samus Aran is ambushed by a mysterious group of assassins. Severely wounded from the attack, the bounty hunter must now navigate an underground world and gain new abilities to find her way back to the surface." The central mechanic: "To survive this hostile environment, Samus must use her latent Metroid powers to regain energy by feeding on her prey. Stun enemies by countering their attacks, then act fast to drain their energy." The bosses: "The five Space Ninjas who ambushed Samus lie in wait for her throughout this labyrinthian world. Face them in thrilling one-on-one battles where you'll get up close and personal with these assassins and their powerful weaponry."

The Japanese page adds two details the English pages do not carry, in our translation. It describes Metroids as artificial floating life forms that absorb the energy of their prey, and says the Space Ninjas are a group who fanatically believe they gain the power of anyone they defeat and eat, which is why they stand in Samus's way. And it says that in the Space Ninja battles the viewpoint moves to a position diagonally behind Samus, so the one-on-one fights are not framed the way the side-on exploration is. The UK page's categories are "Action, Adventure, Shooter"; the US page's structured data lists "Single player" and the play modes "TV mode", "Tabletop mode", "Handheld mode". Under features the US page lists amiibo, surround sound in linear PCM, and, on compatible televisions, "HDR output" and "120 Hz output". No page gives a resolution or a frame-rate target beyond that 120 Hz line.

Readers of the Super Metroid article will recognise the shape. That game's whole design, as covered there, was a single connected map that opens as Samus gains abilities, with bosses guarding the abilities. The publisher's description of Ravenous is the same shape with a second economy laid over it: energy comes from feeding on enemies after a counter, and the five bosses are hunters of the same kind. Whether that is a light garnish or a real change to how the game is played cannot be known from four paragraphs of store copy, and this article does not claim to know.

Prices and editions, by storefront

Item	US (Nintendo store)	Japan (Nintendo, tax included)	UK (Nintendo)
Digital	$59.99	7,980 yen	not displayed on the page read
Physical standard	$69.99	8,980 yen	not displayed
Special Edition	$119.99	not listed on the game page	not displayed
amiibo, each	no price shown	"オープン価格", open price	not listed

The US Special Edition page describes the bundle as "the physical version of the game, a SteelBook® case, and the Samus (Metroid Suit) – Metroid Ravenous Series amiibo figure", and the amiibo's own page says "Included with Metroid Ravenous: Special Edition." The press release says the amiibo line "will release with individual Samus and Chozo Statue figures at launch", and the Chozo Statue page describes the figure as "the Chozo Statue in its iconic pose with knees raised and its palms extended forward". What any of the three figures does in the game is not stated anywhere: the US store page says "Details about amiibo™ functionality will arrive at a later date." The UK page renders its price from a template that, on the day we read it, showed the placeholder and no number, which is why the UK column is empty rather than guessed.

Two things the store pages do not say about the physical edition are worth naming. Neither the physical page nor the Special Edition page says whether the cartridge is a full game card or a game-key card, and neither states a file size for the physical version; the 20.2 GB figure is from the digital page.

Three ratings, three regions

Region	Body	Rating shown	Descriptors
US	ESRB (as shown on the Nintendo store page)	Teen	"Animated Blood, Violence"
UK and Europe	PEGI (Nintendo UK page)	PEGI 12	"Violence"
Japan	CERO (Nintendo Japan page)	CERO B	ages 12 and up

The three boards land in the same place, a teenage rating with violence as the reason, which is consistent with a game whose publisher-written premise is draining and devouring enemies. We could not find a rating record for the game on the ESRB's own site on 10 September 2026; the Teen rating and its two descriptors above are as displayed on Nintendo's US store page, and the descriptors are quoted from it.

What is known and what is not

Known, with the source	Not known on 10 September 2026
Publisher Nintendo; platform Nintendo Switch 2 only (every page; "exclusively", press release)	The developer; Nintendo's pages name none, the press credits MercurySteam, and the studio's site is silent
Stated date 28 January 2027 on six official pages and one release	Where the story sits relative to earlier Metroid games; no page says
Prices: $59.99 digital, $69.99 physical, $119.99 Special Edition (US store); 7,980 and 8,980 yen (Japan)	The UK price; the page showed a template placeholder
ESRB Teen, PEGI 12, CERO B (the three store pages)	An ESRB certificate page; none found on esrb.org
Single player; TV, tabletop and handheld modes; HDR and 120 Hz on compatible TVs (US store data)	Resolution, frame-rate targets, or any performance figure
Three amiibo, two sold separately and one bundled (press release, amiibo pages)	What the amiibo do, and what they cost
20.2 GB for the digital version (US store)	Whether the physical version is a full game card; how long the game is

Before you pre-order

The date is a statement. Nintendo has said 28 January 2027 in one release and on five storefront pages inside a day of the reveal, and that is all a date can be four and a half months out. This site's own name comes from a marketing campaign, covered in the blast processing article, and that story's lesson applies to every announcement: a claim is a claim until the product ships.
Know what the Special Edition buys. Per the US page it is the physical game, a SteelBook case and one amiibo whose function is unannounced, for $50 more than the physical standard and $60 more than the digital. The press release describes that figure only as bundled; the Samus and Chozo Statue figures have their own amiibo pages, each dated January 28, 2027 and each without a price.
No developer has been named. If the studio matters to you, and for a series with this history it may, wait for Nintendo's page to fill in the field rather than relying on press credits.
The rating is settled and mild. Teen, PEGI 12 and CERO B all point the same way, with violence as the descriptor; the publisher's own premise involves eating enemies, so the animated-blood descriptor is not a surprise.
One player, one console. Every page lists single player and Switch 2 only, and the press release says exclusive. There is no original-Switch version on any page read.
If you have played Super Metroid, the map-and-abilities structure the publisher describes is the one you know. Read that article for what the 1994 game did first; what Ravenous adds is, so far, three paragraphs of publisher copy and a camera that moves for the boss fights.

The row in the dataset

The dataset lists Metroid Ravenous with the publisher Nintendo, a developer field reading "Not named by publisher; press credits MercurySteam", a first release of 28 January 2027 on Nintendo Switch 2, the genre action-adventure and the era upcoming, with Nintendo's US store page as the source URL. It is the second row whose date is in the future, after Marvel's Wolverine, and the first whose developer cell records an absence rather than a name. The Super Metroid row it follows lists Nintendo R&D1, Nintendo and 19 March 1994 from Nintendo Life's game page. When Nintendo names the studio, or when the date passes, the row will be checked against the same pages and corrected.