When Nintendo closed out its latest Direct presentation with the full reveal of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, the world got a little louder as fans celebrated the glorious return of one of the company’s most revered franchises. FinallyAfter its initial announcement in 2017, Prime 4 is scheduled to launch in 2025, and it’s shaping up to be spectacular.
Although an overwhelming majority reacted to the trailer with excitement and anticipation, some also felt disappointed, citing the game’s similarities to previous Prime installments, both in terms of visuals and gameplay.
Here’s the thing: I get it. I really do. After 7 (or, if you’re like me, 18) years of waiting, our imaginations are probably starting to get the better of us, and after games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and even Super Mario Bros. Wonder shows just how far Nintendo is willing to deviate from the tried-and-true formula, it’s only natural to assume that Prime 4 would also mark a significant evolution for a series that began in 2002.
Now, I’m not saying that developers should rest on their laurels and settle for the bare minimum; experimenting, pushing the limits and meeting player expectations is always a good thing. But with Prime 4, I think it’s important that we examine our own expectations and understand what this game actually is.
Let’s look at development time to start. There’s no doubt in my mind that Prime 4 was announced far too early, and few people would object. These days, many Nintendo first-party games are revealed and released in just a few months, but almost two years after Prime 4 was announced in June 2017, Nintendo’s Shinya Takahashi confirmed that development would be restarted from scratch at Retro Studios.
So let’s break this down. If development began in January 2019, that means the Prime 4 has had about five years to bake so far (much of which has likely also been affected by pandemic restrictions in 2020 and 2021). 20 years ago this seemed very unusual, but for big budget titles on 8th and 9th generation consoles this is considered the norm. The only difference with Prime 4 is that we fans knew it all along (good luck with The Elder Scrolls VI, Bethesda).
I know a lot of people are probably reading this and thinking something like: “Well, it’s not OUR problem, isn’t it? – and you would be right. What I want to illustrate, however, is that when a game becomes a known entity and is then kept under a veil of secrecy (e.g. seven years, be careful), it is incredibly easy for expectations to become inflated. This has happened to me several times.
It’s also impossible to avoid growing speculation that Prime 4 might actually skip the Switch altogether and launch its successor. An understandable conclusion, certainly, but nevertheless unfounded. Nintendo has always called Prime 4 a Switch game, including it in its regular lineups during financial updates. Now, I know companies like to embellish information or resort to misinformation from time to time, but outright lying about what platform Prime 4 would launch on? No, I never bought that. Prime 4 feels like a Switch game because it East A. Even if it ends up being cross-gen, the Switch 2 version will simply be a shinier version of what we have here.
Aside from that, it’s important to consider that Prime 4 is, in fact, the fourth mainline entry in an ongoing narrative. When you look at franchises like Zelda or Mario, these games (for the most part) rarely put numbers in their titles, essentially giving developers a blank canvas on which to work their magic. Prime 4 is the continuation of a story that ended on a huge cliffhanger in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, with Federation Force providing only a few tantalizing hints at what might happen in the future.
The thing is, this isn’t a reboot or radical overhaul of the Prime series; it’s simply the next chapter, just like Halo 4, just like Uncharted 4, just like Gears 4. Heck, just like Pikmin 4! And I think we can all agree, as good as they are, that none of these games have done anything particularly groundbreaking over previous entries. Again, it comes down to expectations and what we think we expect from the next game versus what it will actually be.
Finally, I want to highlight the visuals, in particular. It’s clear to me that Metroid Prime Remastered was a bit of a testing ground for Prime 4. Looking at the two side by side (which I did in fact), there is a noticeable improvement with the latter, but it shows. that technology applied to Metroid Prime was likely reused for Prime 4. With that in mind, you’d be forgiven for thinking: “Oh, well, Prime 4 looks like the first game”. But I would say go back and watch the footage of the original trilogy on GameCube and Wii and I think you’ll be surprised at how far Retro Studios has come.
Metroid Prime 4 won’t be the franchise’s “Breath of the Wild moment”, and that’s fine – we shouldn’t expect it to be. What we can hope for is an exciting journey into the fourth main installment of one of the most famous Nintendo franchises of all time. 2025 can’t come soon enough.