'Metroid Prime 4' Gets a Release Date After Years of Troubled Development

Metroid Prime 4 is alive. During today’s Nintendo Direct event, the institution revealed that the highly anticipated sequel, present called Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, is headed to Switch adjacent year.

It’s been astir 7 years since Nintendo archetypal announced the crippled during 2017’s E3 lawsuit with developer Bandai Namco attached. At the time, Metroid Prime 4 was expected to adjacent a decade-long spread betwixt itself and the 2007 Wii crippled Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. Other titles successful the wide franchise, including Metroid: Other M, which got a lukewarm reception, and a remaster of Metroid Prime, had dropped successful the meantime, but nary had satiated the tendency for a caller afloat Metroid release. Metroid Prime 4 was intended to bash that—until it disappeared.

Years into development, the full task was scrapped and started again from scratch successful 2019 aft it failed to deed “the standards we question successful a sequel to the Metroid Prime series,” Nintendo said astatine the time. Retro Studios, the series’ archetypal developer, was brought connected committee for this 2nd changeable astatine Samus Aran’s return, but aft their enactment began quality astir the game’s improvement was scant.

In summation to revealing that Metroid Prime 4: Beyond volition beryllium disposable for Switch immoderate clip successful 2025, Nintendo released gameplay footage that includes Samus scanning aliens, shooting everything successful sight, and turning into a bully neat small ball—the classics, arsenic it were. Few different details were fixed arsenic the crippled closed retired today’s Nintendo Direct, which besides included quality of a caller Legend of Zelda game, but it felt similar a deluge aft the 5 years of accusation drought that preceded it.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond appears to beryllium arriving adjacent the extremity of the existent Switch’s lifecycle. News astir the console’s successor is expected with each caller Nintendo event, but truthful acold determination has been none. Still, Metroid fans are acceptable to invited Samus back. Or, arsenic 1 idiosyncratic enactment it connected X with a screenshot of a 2018 receipt: “My preorder yet means something!”