Persistent rumors in late 2017 suggested that Bandai Namco Entertainment is developing the game with assistance from Nintendo. ![]() An earnings report released by Nintendo on Jlisted the game's release date as "TBA", underneath the upcoming Pokémon RPG for Switch, the release date of which was given as "2018 or later". VentureBeat initially quoted Charlie Schibetta, Nintendo of America's corporate communications director, saying that Metroid Prime 4 would be released in 2018, before retracting that statement and clarifying he meant "2018 and beyond". The release date was given by Bill Trinen after E3 as "beyond 2017". The game was announced on the same day as Metroid: Samus Returns, which was released on September 15, 2017. And of course see a little more of Samus." Sylux was later seen in the secret ending of Federation Force, forcibly causing a Metroid Egg to hatch. I would like to cross the two over in the future. We've done a story based on the Hunters, and this time around we're doing a story on the Galactic Federation. In terms of story, Tanabe desired to further explore the background of Sylux, the anti- Galactic Federation Bounty Hunter from Metroid Prime Hunters, who he confirmed was the pilot of the mysterious spacecraft at the end of Corruption: "Personally I'd like to create a story centring around Sylux and Samus. Tanabe suggested that a fourth game might be set on a single planet and feature a time-shifting mechanic. While nothing is known yet of the game's plot, Tanabe had revealed some of his ideas for a future Metroid Prime game in an interview regarding Metroid Prime: Federation Force in 2015. For instance, I think I can come up with some unique ideas using the Morph Ball, which is a specific skill of Samus." Speaking to Kotaku in 2009 after the release of Metroid Prime Trilogy, Tanabe hinted at future Prime installments, and the potential to expand upon the multiplayer mode in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes: "We will keep considering multiplayer for the Prime series. The game's original incarnation was described as "return to the first-person adventure roots of the original Metroid Prime game and introduc a new storyline that ties together the events of the Metroid Prime universe and takes the storyline in new directions," though it is unclear whether these plans have changed with the game's development being restructured. ![]() In January of 2019, it was announced through the Nintendo Switch news system that the game's development was not living up to the standards of the series, and so development had been restarted from scratch with Retro Studios working under Tanabe instead. But it also leaves us wondering whether this is meant to be the start of a big year for the franchise or simply an appeasement as the publisher moves on to other things as the six-year-old Switch enters its twilight years? All we can do is what we’ve been doing: wait and see.The game was originally developed by a "talented new development team" led by Kensuke Tanabe, the longtime producer of the Prime series. Metroid Prime Remastered is certainly good news, and Nintendo fans are rightfully elated. Metroid Dread, a new 2D installment not tied to the Prime series, released in 2021, but that was put together by MercurySteam, the talented developers behind Metroid II remake Samus Returns. There’s no doubt Metroid Prime 4 was affected by this global crisis. ![]() The Covid-19 pandemic shut down virtually every office on the planet, forcing game studios to work remotely and pushing back release dates. With safer hands working on the project, it seemed like Metroid Prime 4 was finally on track, but that’s become increasingly harder to tell when we’ve not heard anything new about the project since 2019. Originally, development was delegated to Bandai Namco Studios, who worked on the title until at least 2019, when Nintendo revealed that the project had restarted in-house, with Retro Studios back at the helm of the series it first spearheaded in 2002. Years of silence and at least one false start in development later and Nintendo still hasn’t delivered the game. The first entry since Metroid Prime 3: Corruption wrapped the original trilogy in 2007, part four had been a long time coming and couldn’t get here soon enough. ![]() At last, we’d get a continuation of the GameCube series that introduced an entire generation of gamers to Samus Aran and her dangerous sci-fi world. Nintendo brought down the house during its E3 2017 Direct presentation with the announcement that Metroid Prime 4 was on the way.
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