Is the next Metroid Prime game going to become a classic like The Prime Trilogy? We think so.
So, it’s been seven years since we first saw that Matroid Prime 4 logo. It’s hard to believe what the fans of the series had to endure. First we didn’t see or hear anything about the latest Prime game after the tease. And then, after two years of waiting, Nintendo dropped an atomic bomb on waiting gamers. The work of the original developer was scrapped and given to Retro Studios, the creator of the first three games in the series. It meant the fans would have to wait years before the next update on the game.
And boy we were patient and forgiving. I remember seeing comments under the development update video, which is when we found out the game’s development has been restarted. And everybody in the comments said, that they’re ok with waiting longer, as long as we get a great game eventually. Nintendo is an odd company, which often takes too much money out of our wallets, but I love their transparency. They said they’re sorry, and that they want for us to have a fantastic title. And we accepted this apology. It was a nice moment of mutual respect.
And now, seven years after the reveal trailer and five years after the update video we finally got a trailer for this game in the last Nintendo Direct presentation. The last couple of years were amazing for the Metroid fans and this trailer was a real jewel.
What is Metroid?
Before we get to talk about this trailer and the game itself, I think we should adress the series as a whole, since I feel, there are many players, who are just entering the world of Metroid. I’ll keep it pretty much spoiler free and just cover the basics. Metroid follows a character of Samus Aran, a Galactic Federation bounty hunter, who mainly fights the faction of space pirates, with a few exceptions in some games. There are five main series 2D games at the moment, with Metroid Dread being the last one in it.
Metroid Prime, on the other hand, is a trilogy of first person 3D games, which takes place between the first and the second game in the main 2D series. The games are something between a shooter and an exploration game. Each of them see Samus being thrown into a map, divided into regions, which the player, through gathering new abilities, can unlock and explore. In the mean time Samus takes on a lot of adversaries and bosses. That’s the main way of playing most of the games in the series, actually, but here we get to experience it in a first person perspective.
I guess many newcomers to the series will wonder if they should visit the first three games before trying on Metroid Prime 4. Shortly, yes, its gonna get you the best experience and understanding of the story. And while we recently got a fantastic remaster of the first Prime game, we are still only able to play the second and third game on either GameCube of Wii consoles. That is a big problem, but it is easily solvabale. Nintendo just needs to release the two games on the Switch. And I think they will. There was a similar situation with the release of the Pikmin 4, another Nintendo series. The first three games were released on the system before the fourth one hit the store shelves. And I would be quite surprised if Nintendo wouldn’t give the same treatment to the Prime trilogy.
What we saw in the trailer?
Now, for the main event. We saw a few interesting thing in the trailer for Matroid Prime 4: Beyond. First of all. The game seems to be playing a lot like previous games in the series. On one hand, I wanted the game to feel much more fresh, but on the other, it would suggest the game will be as entertaining as the first three. In the trailer you can immidiately see it’s the people who worked on the Prime games for years. So after all, maybe it is a good thing they are going back to the roots, and expand on what worked the best so far in these games.
One thing I can say for sure, the game looks freaking incredible. It’s just hard to believe, that it will release on a seven years old handheld system. Prime games were always known for their beautiful graphics, pushing their systems to their limits, and Beyond seems to continue this trend. It will be breathtakingly pretty, I’m sure. Well, at least, for a Nintendo title.
Gameplay wise it is, as I said, a spiritual succesor to the previous games. Seasoned fans should feel right at home with the new controls, and the newcomers will get a similar experience that they got in the Metroid Prime: Remastered. It could be a bit different experience of course, I’m only describing what I saw in the couple of seconds of an actual gameplay, but I don’t think it will venture far from anything we’ve seen in the series so far.
Story seems to be focusing on the space pirates fighting the federation forces, with a mysterious antagonist, that we can see in the trailer. Hardcore fans already know exactly who that is, but I won’t spoil the fun for the fresh players. Anyone who wants to know who it is, can easily check it online. In the video Samus is thrown into a battle between the two factions, in what seems to be a research facility. I would assume its going on early in the game’s story, since that’s how a lot of Metroid games start. The trailer features some staple abilities of Samus, like morphing into a ball, using rockets and a scanner and more. We also get a glimpse of, what could be the planet on which the action will take place, in the final seconds of the trailer.
The game will be released on the Switch. That certain. I believe we will also see it on the Switch successor, which should arrive sometime next year. This game is also releasing next year, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see it being a cross-gen release, similar to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which released on the Wii U and Switch. It would make sense to get it to both systems. The Switch has a gigantic player base, which had to be taken into consideration, with a game that needs to make a lot of money, since it definetly took a lot of it to develop in these difficult conditions. Maybe we could see a definitive edition of some kind later on with the new Nintendo console. It seems likely. The good news for Nintendo is that both Metroid Dread and Metroid Prime: Remastered sold very well on the Switch. Which gives them hope for good sales numbers of the newest game. It would be also good news for us, the players, because it would mean more Metroid games to play in the future.
I have high hopes for the Metroid Prime 4. It has an extremely difficult task of pleasing the veteran fans and new gamers. I strongly believe Retro Studios will give us another classic, which will be on our minds and tongues for years to come.
