About

Myles MacKenzie is an NPC companion character in the 2025 video game Metroid Prime 4: Beyond who acts as a guide for the protagonist Samus, offering tips and suggestions to the player. The character, depicted as an operative in yellow armor who wears thick glasses, was revealed in mid-November 2025 as early previews were released online. MacKenzie received largely negative reactions from journalists, many of whom compared the NPC's dialogue and humor to that heard in modern Marvel movies (known as "Millennial Writing") and suggested that Metroid games are all about exploration and a sense of discovery, which MacKenzie arguably hurts.

Some hopeful fans and previewers found the backlash towards MacKenzie to be overblown, claiming he was easily ignored and hypothesizing that he would only be truly present in the game for the first 45 minutes or so as a sort of tutorial, as the character is purportedly relegated to talking with Samus through a communication device after a certain point. The character inspired memes and discussions online as he went viral in late 2025.

Origin

On November 14th, 2025, game journalists began releasing hands-on impressions for preview builds of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond in preparation for the Nintendo game's December 4th release date. A megathread collecting these previews was posted to the /r/Metroid^[1] subreddit that day, garnering over 460 upvotes in four days.

While the reactions to the game itself were largely positive, multiple journalists highlighted an NPC character named Myles MacKenzie in a critical light, including IGN,^[2] Nintendo Life^[3] and EuroGamer.^[4]

About MacKenzie, IGN wrote:

Well, while playing over an hour of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond on Nintendo Switch 2, I discovered a seemingly major component that’s been completely absent from any footage we’ve seen so far: an extraordinarily talkative companion who’s constantly spewing unwanted hints, quippy jokes, and cries for help, breaking the isolated, atmospheric themes Metroid is known for.

His name is Myles MacKenzie, a specialist from the Galactic Federation stranded with Samus on the planet Viewros. Myles tagged along for a significant chunk of my play session, and the way Retro Studios has implemented this NPC companion is far and away my biggest concern about Prime 4 after my time with it […]

I started to get a sinking feeling. In one turn, Samus not only gained an unwanted companion, that companion also instantly started chiming in on what I should be doing, like Atreus to Kratos in God of War, or Aloy to… Aloy in Horizon. The next 20 minutes of my demo ranged from mildly annoying to downright infuriating, as Myles constantly bombarded me with either awkward attempts at quippy humor […] Unwelcome hints that directly defy Metroid’s spirit of exploration and discovery […]

And he’d scream whenever an enemy popped out of the ground suddenly. I promise I’m not cherrypicking here – I was in complete disbelief at how Myles was constantly talking during gameplay, to the point where I dug around the settings menu to see if I could tone it down. The only option I found was to mute voice acting entirely

IGN then released a video reviewing the preview on YouTube^[5] on November 14th, in which they talk about and feature footage of MacKenzie at the 5:53 timestamp, garnering over 155,000 views in four days.

Spread

Word of Myles MacKenzie's presence in Metroid Prime 4 spread online over the following days in mid-November 2025, inspiring backlash from journalists and fans of Metroid in general. On the other hand, some suggested that the outrage was overblown and that people should wait until they play the game to see how the character's presence plays out.

On November 14th, 2025, Nintendo game reviewer Arlo posted a video to YouTube^[6] about the Metroid Prime 4 preview in which he is critical of MacKenzie, comparing his style of comedy to Marvel characters and generally claiming that the character is annoying, garnering over 257,000 views in four days.

Later that day, X^[7] user @coopercooperco posted a screenshot of MacKenzie, writing, "Finding out Metroid Prime 4 has a bumbling, comic relief sidekick that looks like this. It has never been more over," garnering over 6,400 likes in four days.

Shortly after, X^[8] user @CanadianAniGuy posted a meme about the backlash towards MacKenzie, depicting him getting rocks thrown at him, followed by Samus standing up to defend him, similarly to the Excuse Me, He Asked For No Pickles memes, garnering over 5,400 likes in four days.

That same day, Redditor BigHailFan posted a Kids Scared of Rabbit meme to the /r/Metroid^[9] labelling the rabbit "human interaction" and the scared kids "Metroid fans," suggesting that fans are being too critical of not only Myles' inclusion, but the inclusion of other NPC companion characters in the game, garnering over 3,100 upvotes in four days.

On November 15th, 2025, X^[10] user @NintyPrime posted a screenshot of MacKenzie, writing, "This is a Myles McKenzie appreciation post. I got your back, bro," gaining over 2,300 likes in three days.

That day, GameRant^[11] published a piece by Nick Rodriguez about MacKenzie titled, "I Played Metroid Prime 4, and I'm Not Worried About Samus' 'Annoying' Sidekick," reading:

I certainly didn't feel like he was talking "constantly," as other previewers have alleged: he's only featured in a portion of the preview, and Samus leaves him to explore and solve puzzles on her own for extended periods. While I'd be lying if I said Mackenzie's dialog meaningfully enhanced my time with the game, I also can't call it a death sentence. It's perhaps not a glowing commendation for Mackenzie, but when I think of my time with Metroid Prime 4, he really doesn't come to my mind one way or the other. He's just not that impactful, and the rest of the game, from its combat to its atmosphere and soundtrack, come across as powerfully as ever. One talkative side character doesn't diminish that, in my view.

On November 16th, 2025, Redditor GoldenLugia16 made a post to the /r/Metroid^[12] subreddit defending MacKenzie that gained over 140 upvotes and 125 comments in two days, writing:

Yes, the Marvel humor is strong with him. Yes, hes very talkative. Yes, I understand having other people around Samus compromises the isolation factor and atmosphere. But it DOES NOT BOTHER ME. I am still as hyped for Prime 4 as I was before the gameplay dropped. Come at me if you want, I dont care. But I am not bothered. Its not that big of a deal.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References