Well, I didn’t see that coming…

On January 25, 2019, Nintendo published a development update for Metroid Prime 4 indicating that development will “restart from the beginning” with a different studio: Retro Studios. That’s about all the recap I’ll give, I urge you to check out their full development update.

I’m torn on this. On the one hand, I’m immensely disappointed that I’m likely to wait until 2022 to get my hands on it; if I’m being optimistic. On the other hand, this means we could be in for a much higher quality experience than we would have otherwise received. I remember yelling aloud when I saw the logo during e3 2017, and with this update, the year and a half we’ve already waited is effectively a wash. We’re back to square one. Now, I can’t be all negative about it because at least we know we’re going to get Metroid again. This is in no way as dire a situation for us Metroid fans as we’ve experienced in the past.

Now, about the development change. I think the fact that Nintendo is willing to start over for Metroid should give fans hope. It signals that they are uncompromising in their commitment to making Metroid Prime a quality product. They must understand the legacy they have to uphold. I’ve seen some concerns floating around that Retro Studios “isn’t the same as they were.” True. Though, I’d be curious to see what development team is the same roughly 15 years later. Furthermore, if Nintendo scrapped a project and is moving it to Retro, they must have some faith in that studio’s ability to deliver; otherwise they’re taking a huge risk. Imagine the “outrage” if Nintendo were to start over, to the disappointment of many, then 4 years later deliver a lackluster game. If anything, they’ve put themselves in a position where Metroid Prime 4 pretty much has to be stellar. I’ll admit, in the back of my mind there’s some concern about Retro still being up to the task. I’ve often wondered if standout games were a product of the right people at the right time. I still hold Metroid Prime (the first one) in such high regard; it’s probably still my favorite game of all time, so I do have to keep my expectations in check.

All said, I applaud Nintendo for the transparency in their decision to let us know what happened to Metroid Prime 4. Even more than that, I’m thankful they have enough respect for the fans of the series to deliver a quality product, even if it’s quite a financial blow for them to take. I’d wager other companies would have either released the game followed by a deluge of patches or retool the game. Here’s to waiting 4 more years. In the meantime, I’ll have to push Metroid onto my hype backburner or the wait is going to feel like an eternity.