Metroid Prime 3 includes a sneaky mention of the next 2D sidescroller: Metroid Dread...

Metroid Dread, a 2D Sidescrolling Metroid adventure for the DS has been rumoured since June 2005. The closest thing we got to an official announcement was Official Nintendo Magazine saying that the game existed. Since then, hardly anything about the game has been said about the game. Until now.

Metroid Prime 3 suggests that not only the game is real, but that we may see it sooner than we think. A scan in the game says:

"Experiment status report update: Metroid project 'Dread' is nearing the final stages of completion."

So, the question that remains is this: Is this a real hint as to the progress of Dread, or is it some sort of joke that Retro put in to tease us fans? I hope for the former.