Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@Giancarlothomaz I’m sorry but how does this suggest Metroid Prime 4 is finished or near finished? Developers are always recruiting roles for various reasons during development.

@FragRed near finished and now Retro Studios is hiring for a new game with a bugdet with 10 milions dolars

@FragRed @Giancarlothomaz
It could indicate development is nearing the final stretch. When a game gets close to completion more and more staff are done with their specific job and can be pulled away to start on a new project. When enough staff have been pulled away and that new project begins in earnest, they start hiring as needed.

However. This is no guarantee. It could be they always had a separate skeleton crew working on another game. We just don't know.

If I had to guess though, I'm leaning toward it being an indicator development is in the final year stretch.

@Giancarlothomaz @JaxonH Okay so where would this leave that rumoured remaster/remake? They wouldn’t have 2 Metroid Primes release in the same year… right?

@FragRed Nintendo could release the rumored Metroid Prime trilogy remaster/Metroid Prime remake/remaster 6 months apart and then at the end of the year release Metroid Prime 4, ending the Switch generation.@Slashfuture i might add, if Nintendo finaly reveal Metroid Prime 4 in the first Nintendo Direct of this year, Metroid Prime 4 could be the focus of Nintendo for they Nintendo E3 2023 Direct presentation with a Treehouse segment or severals dedicated to the game.

@FragRed Well nothing came of all those rumours about Wind Waker HD/Twilight Princess HD releasing before TotK so maybe the same happens with Prime.

@FragRed
I would guess no.

Obviously we're speculating here, but I would think remaster in 2023 with Prime 4 in 2024. Though it is possible if the remake releases early enough in 2023, Prime 4 could come as an October/November release to capitalize on the holidays. But I'd expext an 8-14 month gap, maybe 6 depending on the timing.

@Grumblevolcano Yeah that’s true though Zelda games are standalone whereas Metroid Prime games aren’t so it would be a harder sell to get people on board with something that has 4 in the title if they haven’t played the first 3 games.

@JaxonH That’s a good point, and if Prime 4 is next year it would line up with the idea it could be a cross platform launch title for the Switch successor, depending when it all releases.

@FragRed I know that but the rumours transitioned to just Prime 1 which doesn't make sense if they were going down the route that the prior games were essential to play beforehand. If they aren't doing anything with Prime 2 and 3, I'd guess they'd cover any essential prior info about the Prime franchise in the intro much like how the intro of Metroid Dread recapped the events of Metroid Fusion (Fusion still isn't on the Switch even now). Hence they could have a situation where if Prime 4 released in Fall/Holiday 2023 then Prime 1 could release in 2024/2025 as part of a "we're still supporting the Switch during some of the Switch 2's lifespan" much like 3DS support in March 2017 - March 2019.

I think Fall/Holiday 2023 for Prime remaster(s) if real and Fall/Holiday 2024 for Prime 4 would be more likely though. Prime 4 not being a launch title for Switch 2 but still a crossgen swansong for Switch.

I tend to think that the Metroid Prime remaster will be just the first game and it'll come in October this year.

Clearly Prime 4 isn't expected this year. That's a game that dual launches with the next Nintendo console. It should be really well suited to that "BoTW" role because it's a game pitched squarely at "core gamers" who will be the early adopters anyway. It's also going to be a graphically impressive game that will be good to contrast the difference between Switch and "Switch 2".

So there's room in the schedule for a Prime remaster. As stupid as it sounds I think they'll aim for October for the remaster because however tenuous the connection they'll feel that they can market a dark moody game around Halloween.

@StuTwo
While I do think MP4 will be dual release (at least, more likely to be than not), I don't think it can be the Zelda of that system. Even assuming it sells double that of Dread and hits 6 million, that's still a drop in the bucket compared to Zelda BotW which is marching on toward 30m sold by end of this generation.

I also don't think it'll contrast the next system's power well as a cross gen release. If it were Switch 2 exclusive I'd agree, but if cross-gen, it's gonna basically look the same across both versions. One might run at DLSS 4k, or offer 1080p 60fps. But aside from Digital Foundry nerds picking apart side by side comparisons, it's not really going to be a good showcase game.

I think it would be a fantastic showcase game as a Switch 2 exclusive, since people wouldn't have a frame of reference and Retro always makes good looking games. But as long as a Switch version releases, it'll make the Switch 2 version less impressive by comparison.

@Grumblevolcano That’s a good point about the recap intro though I feel most people who aren’t die hard fans will just ignore the game simply because it has a 4 in the title. They aren’t going to be aware of any recap. And with that being said, given the time it’s been in development including the total restart by a new studio, it’s not gonna sell that well even by Metroid standards. Just my opinion. I feel they’d do better not numbering the game.

@JaxonH i see, this could indicate a trailer or a teaser for Metroid Prime 4 is possible, if the game is in his final stages of development and Nintendo could be planing it release for a octobre/novembre release, you know very well Metroid is a franchise that dont sell like a Pokemon/Mario, the max, Metroid Prime 4 could sell is 5/6 milions units, despite Metroid been a franchise know for it high quality releases.

@Giancarlothomaz
It's what I'm expecting. A reliable leaker who's been 100% thus far says we're getting Prime news soon. I suspect in the next Direct.

@FragRed Nintendo's said since 2017 that Metroid Prime 4 is just a tentative title, it could become the final title or it could be something different. Both outcomes have their advantages and disadvantages like for example without the 4 is more newcomer friendly meanwhile with the 4 makes its mainline status clear (it's not a spinoff like Federation Force).

@Grumblevolcano I think calling it something other than Prime 4 is a good idea, and hopefully Nintendo does give it a different name should they not release a remaster collection beforehand. The rumours that it’s just a remake of the first game does make me scratch my head. Who would have even be the studio making it? Surely not Retro if they are doing the new game and it would be weird for Bandai Namco to be the ones as they are apparently the ones Nintendo cancelled the first attempt at Prime 4

@Grumblevolcano Yeah I could see Switch 2 being a Spring 2024 release alongside a 3D Mario and a new Mario Kart, with Prime 4 and a top down Zelda in time for Holiday 2024. Maybe swap Mario Kart and Zelda.

@JaxonH I definitely agree it won’t be the game that shows all the “Switch 2” can do - it’ll be too much tied to the old generation for that.

But it’ll pose the question “this game that you’ve waited eagerly for for so long… do you really want to play it in 30fps with slightly finicky performance or do you want to play it in 60fps with 4k DLSS?”. That’ll do it for many people.

I’d also guess that the Metroid audience overlaps almost entirely with the early adopter audience - more so than Zelda. That is to say that even though it’s a smaller series there’s a higher proportion of those fans who will want it day 1 on the most powerful hardware.

In many ways it’s the anti “NSMBU”.

@StuTwo we dont know how Metroid Prime 4 is gonna play/look on Nintendo Switch, the game could have the best graphics of the system(since we know Retro Studios is really good at taking advantance of hardware power, look at how pretty Metroid Prime is 20 years after it release, Metroid Prime 4 could be the same on Nintendo Switch, unless Nintendo decide to use Metroid Prime 4 to showcase the Switch sucessor full graphical/techinal power), imagine how beatiful a 4K 60fps Metroid game would look at a next gen Nintendo hardware @Grumblevolcano every game in the subseries Metroid Prime, have the same of the game followed by a subtitle, Metroid Prime 4 is just a temporary name for the game, it final name will be, Metroid Prime 4[insert subtitle here] just like Metroid Prime 3, full title is Metroid Prime 3 Corruption, Nintendo will follow a similar naming scheme with Metroid Prime 4.

Metroid Prime 4: The Waiting