Of course, there was no release date given for the game, although some speculated that it could be out in just a year, those rumors were quickly denied by Nintendo. Details on the game were practically non-existent, with not even a developer being confirmed. Tanabe speculated on some possible story and setting elements that an eventual Prime 4 could use, saying that a time-shifting mechanic, along with a focus on Sylux, a previous antagonist of the series, would likely be core to the game.įlash forward two years, and Metroid Prime 4 is finally officially announced via Nintendo's online E3 stream, along with Metroid: Samus Returns, a 2.5D remake of Metroid 2: Return of Samus, made exclusively for the 3DS. In 2015, during an interview centered around the fan-maligned Metroid Prime: Federation Force, Tanabe was grilled once again about any future Metroid Prime plans. While he didn't give any concrete details, he did confirm that they'd be returning to the Prime series, and that he had a particular interest in working on the series' multiplayer component. Upon the release of Metroid Prime Trilogyin 2009, Kensuke Tanabe, the production lead during much of Metroid's history, spoke about his future intentions with the series. But there’s no hard evidence, so hope at your own risk.While it may have been officially announced in 2017, Metroid Prime 4's development may have begun almost ten years earlier. It would be nice to have, and it’s completely believable that Nintendo is working on it. As of right now, the Metroid Prime Trilogy Switch remaster isn’t a thing that exists. The only trouble is, every rumor, no matter how reliable it sounded, has proven to be pure bunkum. Some retailer or other will accidentally list it, or Nintendo will make an oblique Metroid reference, or someone whose uncle totally works at Nintendo, you guys, will claim that it’ll be up for pre-order any day now. The Metroid Prime series originally came out on GameCube and Wii, and while you can buy a digital bundle on the Wii U, there’s no such option on Switch.Įvery few months, there’s some kind of “confirmed leak” that the Metroid Prime Trilogy on Switch is about to get announced. Basically, fans really, really want the first three Metroid Prime games to be remastered and bundled as a Switch release. It’s also worth at least mentioning the Metroid Prime Trilogy Switch remaster here, since it’s been a subject of fevered anticipation for at least as long as the Switch has been around. (The first-person perspective is a hallmark of the Metroid Prime subseries if Retro wanted to make a side-scroller, then it wouldn’t include “Prime” in the title.) Whether Samus will explore one big planet, as in the first game, a planet with light and dark halves, as in the second game, or multiple smaller planets, as in the third game, is anyone’s guess. That means it will be a first-person shooter with the same exploration and gear upgrade elements that you’d expect from any Metroid game. We may not know for years, although it’ll make an interesting postmortem someday.Īt the very least, we can say that Metroid Prime 4 will probably have gameplay similar to the first three Metroid Prime games. Perhaps the original studio was trying something different, and Retro has something more traditional in mind maybe the reverse is true. Even if we did, though, it would likely be material from the first studio’s build, and would therefore have no bearing on the Metroid Prime 4 that fans eventually get to play. It’s difficult to say anything concrete about Metroid Prime 4’s gameplay, since we don’t have any screenshots or footage to work from. You can watch it yourself if you’ve got 42 seconds to spare: We do actually have a short teaser trailer for Metroid Prime 4, although it’s basically just the “Metroid Prime 4” logo materializing out of space. In short, Metroid Prime 4 is likely a long way out. And by then, who knows if the Nintendo Switch will even be Nintendo’s go-to platform? Perhaps, then, we’ll see Metroid Prime 4 in 2023 - although 2024 is more likely. If Metroid Prime 4 had been in development since 2017 and Nintendo pulled the plug in early 2020, that may suggest that the company had a three-year development cycle in mind. Sometimes the series goes eight years without an entry sometimes it gets two entries in a single year. There’s no pattern to Metroid release times. Where does that leave Metroid Prime 4’s release date? The series timeline up until this point doesn’t necessarily help that much. This is good news for longtime fans, as Retro Studios developed the first three Metroid Prime games, all of which fell somewhere between “well-received” and “beloved.” But it’s also potentially bad news, since it means that a game with at least three years of development time had to jettison all progress and start again.
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