Nintendo knows we all want Metroid Wii U. In a recent and wide-reaching interview with Kotaku, Nintendo of America topper Reggie Fils-Aime has said as much. But there’s a reason the company didn’t announce a new Metroid at E3 2015, part of which is obviously that the game simply isn’t ready yet. In addition, Reggie stepped up to speak for those of us who are voiceless: He put in a good word for Metroid Prime: Federation Force, the upcoming Metroid spinoff that has some of the worst parts of the gaming community bitching.

Nintendo Will Give Us Metroid When It’s Good And Ready

Metroid Wii U rather dramatically did not appear at E3 2015, and we instead got the pretty meh trailer for Federation Force, a co-op 3DS game being developed by Next Level Games, who made the excellent Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon. The game doesn’t have Samus in it, nor is it a single-player adventure, but even from the trailer you can still see that the Metroid influence is obvious. Nevertheless, entitled people are circulating a petition to get the game cancelled just because it isn’t Metroid Wii U. Unbelievable.

In Reggie’s interview with Kotaku bossman Stephen Totilo, he addressed the issue head-on, and he wasn’t mincing words:

Here’s what I would state: we know what our fans want. We will also push the envelope in developing something that we know is high-quality and that we know will deliver in the marketplace. The best example I can give you of this, and I think you will appreciate it, is The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. Remember when that art style was first shown. The uproar from the Zelda community was intensely negative. If there had been social media then, there probably would have been a petition to make that game go away. […] So, the game is developed, becomes one of the most beloved games of all time, one of the most highly-rated games of all time, so I use that example to say: ‘We know what we’re doing, trust us, play the game and then we can have a conversation.’

And Reggie’s right. Metroid Prime: Federation Force may or may not be amazing, but hating it just because it isn’t familiar is just ridiculous. Let’s wait until we actually play the game before we throw stones, mmkay? Mmkay.

The juicier tidbits, though, involve Metroid Wii U—or rather the next real Metroid game, since we have no idea whether the thing will hit Wii U at all or just skip to the Nintendo NX. Basically, Nintendo doesn’t want to show the game until it’s almost ready to launch—possibly because they got burned with Zelda Wii U. Here’s Reggie:

Look, we know that the fans want a straight Samus Aran game. We also know that the best way to launch a game like that is to surprise and delight them, to give them a launch date, in an environment like this let them play it vs. what other companies do which is to announce a project that you may not see for five, six years.

I’m trying really hard not to interpret that last part as meaning that it’ll be five or six years until we see a new Metroid. In fact, I don’t think that’s what Reggie means. He just means he’s not on board with announcing stuff ages before it actually comes out. So they won’t. They’ll announce Metroid, like, six months to a year before release. They want to surprise and shock. Well, it sounds like a good strategy… except that they certainly shocked and surprised us this year.

Metroid Wii U or Metroid NX will come out when Nintendo is good and ready, so get waitin’!