Metroid Dread Announced

Finally, after all these years, we're getting Metroid Dread. The title should sound familiar to any Metroid fan, because it has been brought up by Yoshio Sakamoto in the past, where originally this was going to be a Nintendo DS game made by the same team that had developed Metroid Fusion and Metroid: Zero Mission for the GameBoy Advance. But this wasn't meant to be...

Now, over 15 years, one Metroid: Other M and one remake of Metroid II - Return of Samus later, the next real chapter in the Metroid storyline will be happening, made by MercurySteam, the same team behind the excellent Samus Returns. And this shows, because this feels very, very similar to the Nintendo 3DS title, just now in HD. It almost makes you hope that they might port Metroid: Samus Returns over to the Nintendo Switch afterwards...

But there's a lot making it over from that game, not just the controls, the Melee Counter or the Aeion abilities, which will be used slightly differently this time. Mainly, the new planet ZDR feels very reminiscent of the Chozo areas from SR388, both visually and in tone. There are even small Diggernaut-like enemies to fight (which can be destroyed with a Melee Counter).

Well, it's probably best to watch some of the video materials from Nintendo first, before you keep reading:

• Trailer
• Development History
• Treehouse #1
• Treehouse #2

As for a sequel to Metroid Fusion, it was always clear that Samus might have to face the Galactic Federation somehow. And Samus Returns then also teased an entirely different storyline with one of its hidden secrets. Now, Metroid Dread seemingly brings both of this together.

As for the Galactic Federation, Samus appears to wear a new suit made by them, where it looks quite similar to the P.E.D. from Metroid Prime 3: Corruption in design, but it also has some vibes from the Fusion Suit, which was made by the Galactic Federation as well. She doesn't have her signature Morph Ball ability in the early game, where instead she gets to perform the new sliding technique to quickly go through small gaps.

And there's also the "Spider Magnet" to latch on to special magnetic surface, which are rendered in blue and replace the Spider Ball in a manner that is a lot more convenient to use, but also more restrictive. In Samus Returns there were slimy surfaces to prevent you from using the Spider Ball everywhere and now it's the other way around, where there are these magnetic surfaces to allow you to use the ability only on them. Though, it's possible that the classic Spider Ball might return as an upgrade later on.

The other big thing are the "E.M.M.I.", deadly research robots owned by the Galactic Federation, which are hunting Samus for some reason. Similar to the SA-X in Metroid Fusion and the Space Pirates during the Zero Suit section of Metroid: Zero Mission, you will have to run and hide from these enemies, because you can't kill them yet, unless you obtain the temporary Omega Cannon upgrade. The "Omega Cannon" was also a super weapon in Metroid Prime Hunters, but here it's primarily used to destroy obstacles and the E.M.M.I., where after a successful hit it will be depleted.

How does a new suit seemingly made by the Galactic Federation fit together with these killing machines? We don't know yet... But they feel somewhat similar to the Diggernaut from Samus Returns in design, as well as the Torizos from Super Metroid, where they are like an agile mix of the two and the "Excelion Star Corporation" might have experimented with Chozo technology here. And this would also explain how the Galactic Federation ended up making Samus' new suit.

Design-wise Nintendo and MercurySteam were also taking inspirations from Portal, Alien and Red Planet. Visually, the E.M.M.I. are quite similar to the robots from Portal, while their killing move is very reminiscent of the Xenomorph's impaling jaw. Well, Metroid always took inspiration from Alien, where the latter might even be intended as an homage. What might not be intended is practically copying the robot from the 2000 movie Red Planet, where the robot even had a similar name, "AMEE", and ZDR even gets teased as a red planet, like Mars. Copyright infringement incoming?

Anyway, if you're not a fan of the "stealth" sections from the GameBoy Advance Metroid games, then you will probably dread this in Metroid Dread as well. But it seems like Sakamoto is a big fan of this idea, so much that it apparently hindered the development of this title for 15 years. He hasn't said why the development of Metrid Dread got abandoned twice before, except for mentioning technical limitations, where it might be that the sophisticated A.I. of the E.M.M.I. was something that simply could not be achieved on the Nintendo DS.

What's also new to the lore is the planet "ZDR", which similar to SR388 was once inhabited by the Chozo with at least one of them being still there, judging by the brief trailer footage that we saw. It's all very reminiscent of the environments from Samus Returns, but we might be dealing with the more militaristic and hostile faction of the Chozo that has been teased in that game. They might even be responsible for turning the E.M.M.I. against Samus...

The E.M.M.I. also make these chirping noises, which sound very much like the background music from Metroid II - Return of Samus, where this kind be another hint at a connection to the Chozo. It also adds an eerie vibe to Samus Returns with this, where that music might now cause you to feel uneasy.

But that's all speculation for now and we will have to wait and see how the story actually turns out. It's very exciting to finally learn what happens after Metroid Fusion, however. This is really going into the unknown.

Update: Nintendo has shared some more details about the story, where the Galactic Federation has received a message about the X-parasite still being alive on ZDR. They've sent a unit of seven E.M.M.I. to the planet, but then lost the signal, where Samus now has to investigate. The E.M.M.I. are also equipped with DNA extractors, where a reason why they are hunting Samus could be that they want to get her Metroid DNA.

The game will launch together with a Special Edition and a pair of cool-looking amiibo, where those don't unlock a new game mode this time, only cheats for replenishing health and missiles once per day, so Nintendo might have learned their lesson here. Update: you're also getting an extra Energy Tanks and a Missile capacity upgrade by scanning them for the first time, so they are not entirely optional, if you want everything in the game.

The release date is October 8th.

Nintendo Direct E3 2021 Roundup

Now, that's one satisfying Nintendo Direct, if you're a Zelda and Metroid fan. It's probably not the hype machine that many have wanted, but it was very much on par with my predictions from two weeks ago. There was a new trailer for the Breath of the Wild sequel, the first DLC for Age of Calamity, the next Super Smash Bros. Ultimate challenger and even a new 2D Metroid title, called Metroid Dread.

Let's go over all of these topics briefly, with follow-up posts about the bigger topics coming later today and tomorrow.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate x Tekken

Well, that was actually one of the biggest surprises of the Nintendo Direct. Just earlier today a completely different character had been "leaked", where I was mentally getting ready for that, but then Kazuya came and stole the show.

This certainly wasn't one of the wildly speculated characters, mostly because we already got the Heihachi Mii outfit together with Min Min earlier in this Fighters Pass. Why didn't they save this Mii costume for Kazuya? Well, it feels like a weird decision, but this certainly shifted the speculation scene away from Tekken, though getting another Bandai Namco character after all their work for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate seemed always likely. It's just that people were expecting a Dark Souls or Tales Of character instead.

It's another classic fighting game rep after Ryu, Ken and Terry, where this inclusion is absolutely well deserved and it's glorious to see all these fighting game icons coming together in Smash. But at the same time it's somewhat boring, where this is not a fighter for me personally. The trailer was funny, though, especially when he dropped Min Min and Kirby. And it was really smart to start with Ganondorf to tease all the Zelda fans right away.

Metroid Dread

Well, here is our 2021 title, Nintendo game of the year. It's good to see something in the quality of Metroid: Samus Returns on the Nintendo Switch, but I already dread the game (pun intended) for its E.M.M.I. enemies, just like I dreaded being hunted by the SA-X in Metroid Fusion or the Space Pirates in Metroid: Zero Mission.

But the game looks very cool overall and there will be a follow-up post coming up!

Age of Calamity – Pulse of the Ancients

As expected, we got out first look at the first DLC wave for Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity and it's even coming out later this week. The content isn't really what was expected, though, where there really is only one new character and it's not Robbie or Purah, but a playable Guardian. And Link gets the "flail" made out of Guardian parts.

The only expected thing here was the Master Cycle Zero, but even that came as a surprise, because like the Sheikah Slate, this doesn't get used by Link this time, but by Zelda. It does make sense, though, and was a cool surprise. More on this topic later this week.

35th Anniversary of Zelda

This was easily the biggest disappointment of the Nintendo Direct. I didn't expect them to say much about the 35th Anniversary, mainly because the focus will be still on Skyward Sword HD and Age of Calamity for now, but Aonuma downright confirmed that they don't have any major plans for the 35th Anniversary. There will only be another Game & Watch thing for Zelda, which is basically just copying one of the things they did for the 35th Anniversary of Super Smash Bros. – lame! It doesn't even have the actual Zelda Game & Watch game for some reason...

Well, anyway, maybe Nintendo wants to focus on Metroid's anniversary for a change? That would be something... Maybe they could do a Game & Watch system for it? And it seems like Aonuma's team is too busy with the sequel to Breath of the Wild to deal with anything else. Speaking of...

The Legend of Zelda: Uhm... Skyward Sword for Real?

They saved the best for last with a new trailer for the sequel to Breath of the Wild, without revealing its actual title or release date, just a generic 2022. This should tell us that the game most likely won't be released before E3 2022.

But the trailer was a surprising change of direction from the first one in 2019.. quite literally. The game seeks out to be what Skyward Sword could have been with its new expansive sky world, which is really cool. There will probably multiple posts coming up about this new trailer, so stay tuned!

About Skyward Sword HD... nothing new here was announced yet, so the remaster really might only offer the new control scheme and the teleportation amiibo as new features and nothing else. But let's wait for Treehouse to show it.

Link's Awakening: 10 More Secret Seashells

Link's Awakening was always a curious, little game, which inspired you to turn every stone on the island Koholint, just in case there might be something hidden underneath, mainly one of the Secret Seashells. Some of them, as well as some of the Pieces of Heart, were hidden rather devilishly in the GameBoy original, where you never really could be sure that there's nothing for you to find, unless you checked or you had one of those beautiful game guides.

Now, the 2019 remake of Link's Awakening for Nintendo Switch added on top of those collectibles quite strongly, where GREZZO did a really good job of satisfying some of those over 20 year old suspicions. If you thought in the GameBoy original that there should have been a Secret Seashell under that conspicuously placed rock near the waterfall, then chances are that you might finally find something there in the remake. Plus, the remake also added its fair share of ridiculous hiding spots, which are rather hard to find, if you keep the new Seashell Sensor deactivated, like a true hero (otherwise most of it is a no-brainer anyway).

But nothing is ever perfect and while replaying the remake just recently, there were a series of locations that still struck me as empty and with that as a missed opportunity for another Secret Seashell or as an alternative for some of the rather obscure additions. So, here is a list of the top 10 locations for even more Secret Seashells, more or less in chronological order.

 

Mysterious Woods

If you get tricked by the ominous racoon, it will place you in a similar looking area of the forest. There's a tree surrounded by bushes, just like the one near the racoon, and then there's a single bush surrounded by holes.

Both of these spots look rather suspicious, but there is nothing to find here and absolutely no reason to ever return to this place. Or even go there in the first place, since you can just avoid the racoon's magic.

 

Behind Mr. Write's House

In the northwest corner of the Goponga Swamp area you can find this interesting rock formation behind the house of the pen pal enthusiast. But while it looks interesting, there is nothing underneath... Curiously, there is a new Secret Seashell slightly to the east of this area, which feels a lot more random and is probably quite tough to find, unless you use the Seashell Sensor or go there with BowWow.

 

Koholint Prairie

Below Manbo's Pond there is this small section of a forest closed off by rocks, where there's a suspicious, little corner in the trees. But nothing is there...

On the GameBoy this was a spot crossed quite often, because of its simpler teleportation system. You could only use Manbo's Mambo to go to Manbo's Pond and then the nearest teleporter was the one to the south, in the Ukuku Prairie. So, you ended up going through this small area of woods quite often. In the remake however, you might not even look at it once, since there is no reason to ever go there.

Cemetery

This used to be a very curious, but surprisingly unrewarding place on the GameBoy. Well, there is a Piece of Heart under one of the tombstones, but you could also access this one from the cave entrance at the Koholint Prairie to the west and thus avoid the graveyard completely.

And that's probably why they've put the Color Dungeon there in Link's Awakening DX for the GameBoy Color, but the remake didn't really touch this place at all. An interesting hiding spot would certainly have been the tombstone that spawns the one and only Giant Ghini in the entire game. This always was such a curious find in the game, which didn't really lead to anything...

The Monkey

Another weird one-time "enemy" occurrence in the game is the monkey at the Toronbo Shores, who keeps throwing coconuts and even bombs at you. You can scare him off by dashing into the palm tree he sits on, where this would have been the perfect opportunity to unveil another Secret Seashell.

The Spider Hole

Last, but not least of the weird spots with enemies that are nowhere else to be found in the entire game is the hole south of Kanalet Castle, where one-eyes spiders, so called "Beetles", keep coming out of it. Why? Just why? Well, the remake could have offered some resolution by letting you drop a bomb in there for a Secret Seashell, but it didn't... Instead it's just a creepy hole forever.

Town Tool Shop

Okay, this doesn't really count as a hiding spot and might seem like a "cheap" addition to this list, but every other main attraction on Koholint Island – the Trendy Game, the Fishing Pond, the Rapid Race and the Chamber Dungeon – all offer you at least one Piece of Heart, Secret Seashell and Chamber Stone. Except for the Town Tool Shop, which doesn't have a Secret Seashell. And it kind of makes sense to offer one there after the Piece of Heart for 400 Rupees.

Level 5

There are simply not many Secret Seashells hidden in dungeons and the ones that are got put in treasure chests. One new feature of some of the dungeons on Koholint is that you can now dig inside them, which would have been a possibility to hide some stuff there as well. There are variety of spots that could have worked for this, but the most obvious one is probably the one dead end inside the Catfish's Maw, as seen above.

Well, a problem would have been that this requires the player to search through all the dungeons again, in case he or she still misses a Secret Seashell somewhere. So, that's probably why GREZZO didn't went with this, despite making some of the dungeons compatible with your shovel.

Ancient Ruins

While there already is a Secret Seashell hidden in this area, it couldn't have hurt to add another, like in this suspicious dead end next to the pillar, which is blocking the way to the Southern Face Shrine. That's really it, but there are probably a number of player who have dug there at least once in the hopes of finding something, both on the GameBoy and the Nintendo Switch.

Path to the Eagle's Tower

On your way through the east-most part of the Tal Tal Mountain Range, there is this weird little part outside of the caves, where you can go down a set of staircases for no real reason. It's just there. Nothing to see or find. So, maybe burying a Secret Seashell here would have been a good idea as well.

The Reward

Well, this brings us to a total of 60 Secret Seashells and naturally this needs to be rewarded somehow, ideally not by another Chamber Stone... But a possibility would have been upgrading your sword once more by adding the "Great Spin (Attack)", similar to A Link Between Worlds, but maybe not as overpowered.

Replaying Link's Awakening on Nintendo Switch

As a 35th Anniversary present to myself, I decided play through the remake of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening another time. It was actually the first time on my own Nintendo Switch, where this has been on my list from the start and now felt like the perfect time to get back into this gem. And I finished it yesterday, just in time for the original game's own anniversary in Japan today (released on June 6th, 1993).

This is such an amazing "feel good" title from start to finish, where there is simply no dull moment. It looks great, it sounds great and it plays great. And there is always a great variety of things to collect and to do, especially around the first two thirds of the game. Given, this is mainly due to its more linear nature and how it uses items to gradually open up the overworld step by step.

I'm normally an advocate of the less linear Zelda games, because having more freedom usually offers more fun, where I was mostly happy with what A Link Between Worlds and Breath of the Wild have been doing. But Link's Awakening is pretty good at offering just the right amount of freedom at every step that I never feel like I'm getting guided or gated. Plus, it has that satisfying use of backtracking, where all the early dungeon items open up paths and secrets in a multitude of locations.

The remake also gives you a lot more to do between the dungeons with its additional Heart Pieces, Secret Seashells, the Chamber Dungeon, and the mini-games, especially the Trendy Game. Both it and the Chamber Dungeon offer something new after each dungeon, where I personally enjoy these stops quite a lot.

The Chamber Dungeon is also more fun and interesting if you do it step-by-step. You can even do some self-imposed challenges here, like using all the (new) chambers from a specific dungeon. This way things turn more into a puzzle and you can't just rely on the easiest chambers. I had already completed all the challenges twice so far and the solutions, while sometimes similar, turn out different every time. In some cases even quite drastically.

With the Chamber Dungeon you also get quite the big extension in the post-game or just before the final boss with Dampés special challenges. Those can take a while, where I'm actually still in the middle of those, but I enjoy the process of dungeon-crafting and then shopping for new Chamber Stones in the Mabe Village shop. It's padding and busywork, but fully optional, unless you want to truly 100% the game, and if you like the Chamber Dungeon it's really where you make the most out of it.

Of course nothing is ever perfect and there a couple of gripes that I have with the remake, despite all its improvements, which I have already explained in my review and during my original playthrough. But the following issues / nitpicks are the ones that still annoyed me quite a bit while replaying the remake:

• It activates the "get item" message every time you pick up a Guardian Acorn or a Piece of Power, which happens quite often. These messages also have a small delay to them, so you can't skip them right away, which makes this even more annoying. Ideally, it would only show these the first time you find them, similar to the apples.
• There is no teleporter at the exit of the long cave going into the Tal Tal Mountain Range, even though you have to go up there a couple of times...
• There are chests with Secret Medicines in the last three dungeons, where you will have to put it back if you already own one. This was better in the DX version and ideally those chests would contain some of the Chamber Stones instead.

Sadly, the game never got a real update, only one to fix a glitch with Marin, despite there being so much potential. The Chamber Dungeon alone would have been an amazing hook for some new content. So, there are some regrets here, but overall it doesn't diminish the lovely experience that this remake offers.

It's so good that I probably won't wait all that long until playing through the remake again, next time in Hero Mode.

PS: ← ← ← ↑ → → → ↑

Nintendo Direct E3 2021 Predictions

Nintendo keeps it compact this year for the E3 2021, but that's better than nothing. On June 15th, 6PM CEST, they will start things off with a 40 minutes long Nintendo Direct about upcoming Nintendo Switch titles. Then a "Nintendo Treehouse: Live" event will showcase some gameplay for about three hours. (Source: Twitter)

That's really it, but the online E3 event ends on that date anyway. Nintendo wants to save the best for last, it seems. But with that there isn't much room, so don't expect anything extensive, like with Breath of the Wild in 2016. In any case, let's go over some potential topics of interest for Hyrule Blog.

The New Super Nintendo Switch Plus Pro U Deluxe?

Well, if you follow any Nintendo news at all, you will have noticed the rumors about an upgraded Nintendo Switch model coming 2021 with 4K upscaling, improved hardware, improved dock, etc.

And it seems like this will already be showcased before E3, maybe even as early as tomorrow. And if a "Nintendo Switch Plus" or whatever it may be called truly were to happen this year, then this would make sense. The E3 Nintendo Direct only has 40 minutes, where they will want to focus on the games and the games alone, so it's best to get this right out of the way and then put the focus on the new games. And if any other publisher already were to present their "Nintendo Switch Plus" software at E3, then Nintendo's presentation would be too late.

More on this topic once this is actually happening...

The Sequel to Breath of the Wild?

In the Nintendo Direct from earlier this year, Aonuma said that we can expect news about this title later in 2021. And E3 is arguably the best place to do so, where it's likely that we'll at least get a new trailer.

However, with only 40 minutes of a Nintendo Direct and only three hours of Nintendo Treehouse: Live, it doesn't really feel like it might become a big part of the showcase. After all, Breath of the Wild got an entire E3 dedicated to itself. While the sequel might not get as much promotion, since this is only a sequel and it a lot of it will be already familiar from the first game, it's probably not something that will be processed next to many other titles, like Splatoon 3 or even Skyward Sword HD.

It's more likely that the sequel to Breath of the Wild might get its own dedicated showcase later this year or even next year. In any case, don't expect a 2021 release just yet. We're still getting another filler year with Skyward Sword HD and the DLC for Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, where both of this will most likely part of the Treehouse gameplay presentation. Speaking of...

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity – Pulse of the Ancients

We got the Expansion Pass bonus last week for Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, but we still don't know what exactly the upcoming first DLC wave will entail. This will probably be shown at E3 and then released later this month.

It's likely that the first DLC will focus on Robbie and Purah, but we have yet to see them in action, where the Nintendo Treehouse: Live showcase will be the perfect opportunity to get more into the first DLC, where they can present the new character(s) and weapon types, while taking on the "Ancient Lab Challenges".

Skyward Sword HD

While the upcoming Skyward Sword HD probably won't be a big topic in the Nintendo Direct, since they've already announced this title and its merchandise, it could be that there's still one new, big feature that they haven't shown yet. This could be something like a new dungeon, e.g. a trial cave, or maybe even expanded night-time exploration. Something more interesting.

With all certainty they will play the remaster during the Treehouse stream, so they can show us in person how the new controls work and so on. This might even be the place where they show a new feature.

35th Anniversary of The Legend of Zelda

This is where they have to announce things, right? Right...? Well, not necessarily... Since Skyward Sword HD doesn't seem to be tied to the 35th Anniversary so far (much like Twilight Princess HD in 2016), they might wait until after July before they announce more for Zelda overall. This could even finally lead to a dedicated Zelda Direct after all these years...

If we're truly getting The Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess HD on the Nintendo Switch as well, as part of the 35th Anniversary, it's probably best to wait with such an announcement until after the release of Skyward Sword HD anyway, to not steal any attention. However, we still could see some other related announcements at E3, for example a new top-down game based on Link's Awakening, like a dungeon builder, a multiplayer title, remakes of the Oracle games (maybe not those yet) and so on...

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: The Final Challengers

With all certainty one of the upcoming two Challenger Packs for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will get a reveal trailer at E3 and might even be released soon after, since this is somewhat overdue. The other could also be revealed as well, similar to Hero and Banjo at E3 2019.

Since Sakurai has stressed the fact that these will be the last two fighters in a recent column, we really shouldn't expect more here, though it would be nice to get a bonus Echo Fighter and some additional stages to fill some gaps.

In any case the identity of the final two fighters will already be very exciting, where there are still a lot of possibilities. Maybe Bandai Namco finally gets another fighter after all this time and effort, where Dark Souls seems like the most popular candidate. And let's not dismiss the possibility of getting a Sword & Shield Pokémon, like Cinderace. Or we could be really getting the Master Chief, as arguably the most iconic rep from Microsoft.

I'm personally hoping for the Doom Slayer instead, as well as for Dixie Kong (with a Tropical Freeze stage), while a newcomer from Zelda would also be awesome, where the Champions would be my most wanted here. But the latter is a lot to ask and I'm already quite satisfied with the DLC, so I'm not expecting too much.

Metroid

As for Metroid, it's probably best not to expect anything about Metroid Prime in general, whether if it's a first real trailer for Metroid Prime 4 or a Metroid Prime Trilogy HD announcement. Both would certainly be awesome, however, and a new Metroid Prime could even be used to showcase the new Nintendo Switch hardware. If there's one Nintendo game series to push graphics, it's this one.

Otherwise we could see the announcement of a new 2D Metroid on Nintendo Switch, following Metroid: Samus Returns from four years ago. This could be a remake of Super Metroid or even the long-awaited Metroid 5.

Got the F4F Majora's Mask

Got this today as a birthday present! Really nice surprise. It's the First 4 Figures PVC Majora's Mask, which you can also mount on a wall, much like Link did in A Link Between Worlds. This is the simpler version without any LED stuff, which I personally prefer, but the metal stand looks cheap, where it would have been nice, if F4F came up with something better here as well. But the mask itself looks really good and is very detailed, I like it a lot.

Anyway, this is my first First 4 Figures figure... from the Zelda collection at least, since I also own the one of Samus Aran (see here).

Age of Calamity: Expansion Pass Bonus Released

Today the Prototype Ancient Short Sword and the Prototype Ancient Soldier Gear became available in Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. This was already part of last week's update, but you can now actually obtain the Expansion Pass, which then unlocks these items. We still don't know on what day the first DLC wave will release in June and what exactly it will contain, where this might get announced at E3. We'll see.

Returning to this game after more than three months feels kind of weird. Normally we get these DLCs when the games are still fresh, but here there has been a significant gap, where many people probably have moved on to other games.

I left off in a state where the only thing left to do was leveling characters and building weapons, where I'm not even sure what's what anymore. This will take a little bit of time to get back into it, especially with what weapon seals I was planning to use for everyone... But as long as there aren't any new challenges to overcome, I probably won't bother.

And the new items of course aren't a real incentive to return to the game yet. I was never a big fan of the Ancient Helmet, because it looks so dorky, especially with that long hair. The Prototype Ancient Cuirass looks cool, though.

The Prototype Ancient Short Sword seems very basic on first glance. It has a base attack value of 36, which is half of what other weapons might offer, and it comes with an Attack Speed++ seal on it, which is nothing out of the ordinary, unlike the Training Sword for example. However, from what I've seen, this weapon has its own tier, where it grows quickly to over 160 damage, which is quite significant and ridiculously good for something that you can get right at the start of the game. So, it's definitely a weapon you want to hold on to in any case...

Ideally, at the end of the DLC, they'll add something where you can get the Lucky Ladle, Training Sword and this Prototype Ancient Short Sword, so you can get these items again. But for now you just want to save them in case they remain a one-time deal, so press that L stick.

It also seems that the DLC will offer some stronger weapons for what's to come and with that it's also possible that the first DLC wave will include the other ancient weapons and armor pieces from Breath of the Wild, including the real Ancient Short Sword, where it will even surpass this one and make it obsolete. But for now this is a good weapon. Maybe even too good. It's basically how the Master Sword should have developed, which even had the same base attack value.