The existence of ’Metroid Dread’, the oft-rumoured traditional 2D Metroid sidescroller, has been acknowledged by series director Yoshio Sakamoto.

In an interview with Kotaku’s Stephen Totilo behind the scenes at E3, Sakamoto was queried as to whether the recently-announced ‘Other M’ was in fact the outcome of the ‘Dread’ project. His response was that “[we’re] very familiar with that game…no this is different.” When pressed further on the existence of Metroid Dread, Sakamoto replied that “The day may come when Dread hits the stores, but this one is something that’s completely different. This is other M.” Sakamoto has directed every 2D Metroid game for Nintendo, except for Metroid II, and supervised the production of the Prime series with American studio Retro. He is currently collaborating with Team Ninja for the development of ’Other M’.

Little is known about Metroid Dread, but it was assumed by fans to be a return to the original side-scrolling adventure style of Super Metroid, likely in development for the DS despite repeated denial by Nintendo. The rumour has been around for years, and with a whole heap of new services made available by Nintendo since then, such as WiiWare, the game may not necessarily be a retail handheld title.

Source: Kotaku