Nintendo is catching some flak from gamers after seemingly locking a major feature behind a paywall in Metroid Prime 4.

Although the latest title in the series launched to a respectable 80% score on Metacritic last week, it hasn’t completely escaped criticism. Many reviewers found fault with the desert hub world, which tasks players with riding a bike between linear missions and smashing green crystals along the way.

Reviewer SkillUp described these sections as ‘unspeakably awful’ and a ‘barren wasteland of boredom and disappointment’. Those are pretty strong words that resonate with other gamers, with an X user suggesting one way that the desert hub could be improved. “I genuinely think the desert would have been at least 3x better if they had put some BANGING music behind it. But it just feels so…vapid,” they write.

Those who boot up the game will find the desert areas do have some ambient music, but it’s fairly low-key and doesn’t incite the level of excitement that racing across the dunes on a dirtbike should. However, it’s actually possible to change this music to something more exciting – you’ll just need to purchase a £25 amiibo accessory to do so.

As per the amiibo’s description on Nintendo’s Japanese site, tapping this accessory to your Switch device grants the ability to ‘change the background music when riding Viola in Solvalei’. The only other way to access this feature is by completing the main story of Metroid Prime 4, by which point players won’t need to return to the desert area again since the title has no New Game+ mode.

However, some other Reddit users were quick to defend Nintendo’s practice here, with one user commenting: “Would you be happy if the music didn’t exist at all? Do you want everything unlocked from the start? Do you just need to be mad at Nintendo? There are many reasons to hate what Nintendo does but this isn’t one of them.”

Another commenter concurs, saying: “It unlocks after you beat the game. Don’t want it earlier, don’t buy the amiibo. Simple.”

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is available now for both Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 consoles. The Vi-O-La amiibo is listed for £24.99 on Nintendo’s official store.