Topic: Metroid Prime 4: The Long(er) Wait

@Spoony_Tech

It's almost guaranteed to run on the current platform. They're not gonna be in a hurry to move on from what may end up being their most successful home console ever. Especially given that Nintendo don't focus on graphics as much. I can genuinely see them introducing a Switch Pro and making this generation last 8 years.

@Octane It came out early 2014 but remember it was ready in 2013. They just didn't want it to drown in the holiday game. Chances are it was done well before that and most of the people on the project were moved to something else.

@Slowdive You're not connecting how them hiring people as proof it's far along in development.

Logically the development of the game (re)started last year so it's obviously it's awhile till it comes out.

@Slowdive Conversely, there's also 'openings' for important things like Boss/AI Designer, Concept Artist, etc. Lead Graphics has been 'open' since April 2019....
It doesn't really mean much.

The big clue will come when Retro advertises a vacancy for a new cleaner.

It will obviously mean the last cleaner was fired after being caught trying to leak the finished game ahead of launch.

@gcunit I would assume that the game would more likely be delayed again since they are hiring a new cleaner due to the old one being fired for spilling disinfectant on the hard drive losing all the work being done.

It's when we see an advert for "blond caucasian girl wanted, must be capable of wearing a helmet for long durations at PR events" we know they are nearly done.

This game is not coming out till 2022 at the earliest. They don't even need it for next year. Just give us the Prime Trilogy and I'm good till 2022!

Sort of like how you're not going to restart an entire project with a different developer.

@Slowdive Depends. Is it a fulltime job? I doubt it. Playtesting during development isn't uncommon either. This doesn't mean it's coming out next year. They restarted 1.5 years ago. It's going to take a while.

@Slowdive there's literally nothing to suggest it's coming out next year or early the year after. It seems silly to suggest a release window when there's nothing to basis that assumption on.

Did Nate the Hate cover this in his recent podcast or something. Slowdive recycles nates material like they're his own takes and that nates conclusions are indisputable evidence about the future.

@DarthNocturnal I'd be genuinely excited to finally play Prime Pinball.

...I really want Prime Hunters Multiplayer to be a thing again though. The multiplayer in the original was one of the best online multiplayer experiences on the DS. Of course, it played better than most Switch online titles... so that won't happen.

@jump There's the fact that we know a successful prototype was shown off prior to January 2019, meaning development started in some manner no later than mid-2018, possibly as early as early-2018 depending on how long it took for them to announce the restart. So that means early-2022 is around 3.5-4 years of development time, or the typical end to a development window. Combine that with testers being hired, and I'd say sometime in 2022 is the planned release date, or at the earliest Holiday 2021.

@link3710 what prototype?

Other M was pretty good, but it's gonna be hard to translate it to regular controls. It would be for the better, cause it could be quite awkward at times.

I'm still hoping we get a proper third person Metroid one day...

@DarthNocturnal All DS and Wii online games had a large cheating problem. I remember the days of things such as cheaters spamming infinite items in Mario Kart Wii.

@DarthNocturnal Yeah, I guess that makes sense!

@jump Apparently Retro showed Nintendo a prototype that impressed them enough that they handed it over to them when development restarted. We know nothing about what it was they made though.

@link3710 you got a link to that? I remember them saying Retro was chosen to work on this as they had worked on the original (even though the actual team are gone now) rather than an impressive prototype.

@jump https://gonintendo.com/stories/327310-rumor-details-on-metroi...

Looks like it was just rumors, not an official interview.

I assume everything Bamco worked on for MP4 was discarded. From my perspective, development for MP4 officially didn't begin until January 2019 when Nintendo broadcasted the apology. The game is years away, folks. Late 2022 at the earliest.