Everyone knows that Nintendo like’s to take their time making games, but even by their standards, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond has been a long time coming. As it’s finally expected to release this year, it’s easily one of our most-anticipated games, not least because of the impending announcement and release of the Nintendo Switch 2…
Metroid Prime 4 was first announced back at E3 2017 but the project did not progress as well as expected, Nintendo taking the drastic measure of restarting the project in 2019 with series producer Kensuke Tanabe reuniting with Retro Studios, who had first revitalised the Metroid series in the early 2000s with the original Metroid Prime on GameCube.
After 2019, Nintendo kept very, very quiet about Metroid Prime 4 until they were ready to do a whole new game announcement and reveal last June. In the intervening years, there was the popular launch of Metroid Dread in 2022, as well as Metroid Prime Remastered in early 2023 to keep fans of the series engaged.
So, what can we expect from Metroid Prime 4: Beyond? Well, the brief snippets of gameplay in last year’s re-reveal featured the classic Metroid Prime morph ball mode, locking onto enemies during combat, and spooky alien environments with a haunting synth-y soundtrack. Given that it’s now 17 years on from Metroid Prime 3’s release, it’s no surprise that the game looks significantly more expansive than what was possible on the Nintendo Wii, with some much larger environments and more dynamic AI running around and battling. There was a glimpse of returning antagonist and rival bounty hunter Sylux, who comes with Metroids in tow. Samus will have her bounty hunting hands full!
As exciting as Metroid Prime 4 is in its own right, perhaps what’s more intriguing about the game is how it can and will tie in with the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2. We’re publishing this Most Wanted on what is reportedly the eve of the Nintendo Switch 2’s announcement, and given that there’s no release date for Metroid Prime 4 just yet, it’s easy to speculate that this will be a cross-gen release that makes the most of both Switch and Switch 2, taking on the role that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild had for the transition from Wii U to Switch.
That could be a pretty hefty burden to put on Samus Aran’s shoulders – Breath of the Wild had an attach rate of over 100% to the Switch in the early days of that console’s release – but the Switch 2’s launch will be rather different when Nintendo has confirmed backward compatibility. There’s less pressure to be a must-buy exclusive because of that, and there’s as-yet-unconfirmed rumblings of some other more mainstream games, as well.
