Rumour: Metroid Prime Switch Remaster Is "Wrapped Up" According To Industry Insider

It’s been reported so often that the insiders do seem genuinely surprised that it hasn’t been announced. That being said… I’ll believe it when I see it. Nintendo only releasing the first one and not the trilogy is a very Nintendo move though.

If it is just the first one, ah great, Nintendo is money grabbing AGAIN, this company is really going down in my eyes

Here we go again…….another ‘industry insider’ making stuff up for attention and ‘likes’

Don't know what to think about it - the original trilogy still holds up pretty well. I actually finished Metroid Prime 2 on the gamecube yesterday - haven't played through it since its release - still a great game and in my opinion superior to Dread.

Please be true…

I want to see what an official remaster would look like, it makes sense to generate hype for Prime 4 as well and off the back of Dread being a success it'd be great for the series.

@RupeeClock but they were all updated to the same scheme in thr Trilogy for the Wii which supported both controller and WiiMote controls - so, attached OR detached Joy Cons (or Pro Pad idk)

People are complaining but for me it depends on the level of the remaster. If we're talking like Advance Wars where they're basically remaking it from the ground up, yeah I'll absolutely pay full price. But it's it's just sharper textures on the same low poly model...nah.

@Damo the phrase ‘throw enough s**t and some sticks’ springs to mind

As much as it is rather devious to release them separately; I would end up being part of the problem and gladly buy all 3 separately as I prefer it to collections. Of course they then could at least offer each at a budget price (haha yeah right!)

Except Metroid Prime is probably the one game I’d gladly kneel down and kiss it’s slippers.

This is very likely true. I don’t mind not including 2 &3. 1 was easily the best game - I rather they put their time & effort into doing a great job with that one. Hopefully it’ll be a bit more than a basic 1080p emulation. And if it doesn’t have the Wii style controls it’s pointless - absolute best FPS controls ever implemented on a console, no question.

@thiz Why, what have they ever done?

To be fair if they went the digital only route and released each one slowly for say £20 a pop I'd be down for that.

I'd be happy with 1 and 2, but I can live without 3. I simply don't feel like replaying the whole thing, that game had an awful pacing in certain areas.

Metroid prime trilogy on wiiu with mclassic is amazing

Maybe we will get a Hunters remake, if they plan on redoing the games one by one.

Yet another full price 'Remaster' of a nostalgic beloved series. Might as well be the motto for Switch.

Being able to play the trilogy on Switch is my #1 wish beside a ports of Persona 3 - 5, but by the fifth or sixth time these stupid rumors made the rounds I told myself to stop thinking about this til I actually hold a copy in my hands... yet I still click on these tweets and articles... it is hopeless.

If true, this side of the holidays would have me set.

@RupeeClock they were mate. The trilogy was motion control only on wii and wiiU. The only prime games that had standard controller support as 1 and 2 on cube.

"Industry insider" is the midst worthless of professions.

Here is a good summary of supposed events regarding all the Metroid Prime trilogy over the years:

2014-2017:
> Retro Studios begins working on a new IP following the launch of Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze on Wii U.
> Retro begins to work on a Switch port of Tropical Freeze.

2018:
> The Switch port of Tropical Freeze is released.
> Development of Retro's new IP goes poorly, so Nintendo cancels it.
> Retro plans to remaster/remake the entire Metroid Prime trilogy on Switch.
> Metroid Prime 4 development is handed to Retro after the previous developers (Bandai Namco) screw up.
> Retro now has less resources to remaster the Prime trilogy, so they focus on remastering Prime 1.
> Around this time, "insiders" begin to hear about plans to remaster the Prime trilogy, so they assume that Metroid Prime Trilogy on Wii is getting remastered/ported to Switch.

2019:
> Nintendo intends to develop and release remasters of the Prime trilogy sequentially, starting with Prime 1 and ending with Prime 3.
> Nintendo begins to search for external 3rd party studio(s) to assist Retro in remastering Prime 2 and 3.

2020:
> Covid-19 pandemic begins.
> Global lockdown measures and work-from-home orders complicate video game development across the world.
> Work on the Prime 1 remaster at Retro continues despite all these complications.

2021:
> Core development for the Prime 1 remaster is completed. It is more ambitious than initially intended - possibly being more of a remake than a remaster.
> Status of the remasters of Prime 2 and 3 is currently unknown ☹️.

Last time someone was saying that the trilogy was ready to go, and Nintendo was just waiting for a good time to release it, now we're finding out that it's just the first game that's ready. Can these industry insiders make up their damn minds already? They are so intent on telling us that this trilogy is happening, but I'm intent on believing that it won't happen until it happens.

Nintendo going to sell a HD GameCube game for $60 in 2022 ***** off Nintendo

I'm willing to pay full price for this since I haven't played a single Prime game (except Hunters) even if it's just Prime 1 for now. Though it sucks for people who already did though.

@HamatoYoshi I was going to say a broken clock is right twice a day, but I like your version better. =)

Regarding the rumour, "insiders" have been saying this on and off for a few years now. Maybe Nintendo are developing something, but I feel like it is pointless listening to these people. Sure, they can't control what Nintendo does; that should be more reason not to bother listening to them. It just leads to frustration when things don't happen.

That’s a shame it’s just the first game. I’ll pass (and remain happy with the original 3) and wait to see if 2 and 3 follow suit.

It's pretty clear that all those rumors of "Nintendo is sitting on a finished Metroid Prime Trilogy HD for Switch" were all bogus misinterpretations of reality.

@RupeeClock yeah you were bang on.
Id love to play the games again with a cladssicontrol scheme. I didnt like the motion controls.

I'd love the Prime Trilogy on Switch. 3 incredible games which I still own, but would love portable copies. Honestly they don't need much of a remaster or upgrade, they still look really good to this day.

Inevitable, but I'll believe it when I see it.

Didn't she tell us it was finished a couple of years ago?

And I bet it'll be 60 bucks too for just the first game. Should be 40, given it's only the first one, and it's a remaster and not a remake.

Initially when it was rumoured it was the trilogy coming, I figured they'd be just the original Wii versions running at 1080p or something. Like the Mario 3D collection. But if it's going to have improved textures and other quality of life improvements and get more work put into them, I'm all for it.

If they could get a game like Skyward Sword, a Wii game, looking better, at 1080p and running at twice the framerate of the original, surely a game like MP1 that already ran at 60FPS on the frigging GC and looking as good as it did for its time would be running at 1080p without problems AND with room to further improve visuals?

I would hope so anyway, especially given how long these have been rumoured to be worked on.

I owned Prime on GameCube and played all of 30mins before getting bored.. after loving Dread I would definitely double dip for Prime on Switch. Would have liked the trilogy but I’ll take the first one to whet the appetite for 4 whenever that arrives. I think it will be a full price release and people need to realise that the price is dictated by the demand, and Nintendo’s full price remakes do sell so they’re clearly priced okay. If you don’t think it’s good value to double dip then don’t.. but Prime 1 didn’t exactly have stellar sales first time round so it’ll be a new game for the majority

Here we go again

@nessisonett for most people I know it’s gonna be a deal breaker not having a trilogy that was already released on the Wii.

@HamatoYoshi No, @Damo is right - if you know the industry, then you know these people have a long track record.

@HamatoYoshi Exactly. There’s no punishment for being wrong. Where’s Star Fox GP? Any of the Switch Pro rumors?

One remaster i would pay full price for. Prime was an awsome game and i dont mind paying for great games. Hell, ive payed full price for crap games in the past.

@andykara2003 Long track record of what? Emily Rogers got one (big) thing right and everything else wrong. There’s a ton of affirmative bias here. Nobody gets punished for the misses.

@Damo time will tell I guess

6months ago:
"It's 110% finished nintendo's just waiting to launch it"
Now:
"oh yeah they just finished it haha yes give me likes"

@andykara2003 a long track record for getting stuff wrong!

After the whole fiasco of "Switch Pro right around the corner!", I'm really not inclined to believe any of these so-called insiders. But hey, you do you.

Rumor: Eastmost Peninsula is the secret

It will be a launch title of the Switch Pro along with the F-Zero x Starfox.

I’ll believe it when I see it, but totally ok with just prime 1. The other two really aren’t that good. Bring on a prime 1 full remaster, I’ll eat it up

Sure, if you say so

@UnseatingKDawg to be fair, the “switch pro” was a tall tale spun completely out of control by online speculation. The insider leaks always pointed to an oled.

I personally believe it will be the trilogy, but they won't confirm its existence until we get a release window for prime 4

is it the same industry insiders that have guaranteed a switch pro for the past three years?

@Spiders @HamatoYoshi They’ll never be 100% right, but as @damo says, they have a higher than average hit rate. That’s what makes them noteworthy among the industry.

@Damo
Unfortunately the internet hive mind only remembers the rumours/leaks that were "wrong". Which includes the ones that are yet to come to pass

Step 1) Download the Metroid Prime Trilogy ISO (only if you own the disc version, of course)
Step 2) Download PrimeHack (Custom Dolphin Emulator for Prime)
Step 3) Download Metroid Prime Trilogy HD Resolution textures
Step 4) Enjoy your Metroid Prime Trilogy Remake with Keyboard/Mouse controls. It was like playing a brand new game, although it made the games a bit too easy 😅

Now that Nintendo is releasing new and exciting again at a good pace, I’m okay with the odd remaster to plug up a gap in the schedule. I’m also hopeful that the vocal criticisms of 3D All Stars’ pricing will persuade them to be more sensible if it’s only Prime 1 they’re re-releasing.

I'd gladly buy Metroid Prime on Switch, as long as it controls the way it was developed. No motion control for me thanks!

I just got the Trilogy on the Wii U's eShop, but this would be cool, all the same.

Remastering and releasing the games at full price one by one instead of doing a trilogy is a very Nintendo thing to do, so I believe this.

Also I called it: https://www.nintendolife.com/forums/nintendo-switch/rumor_new_switch_model_coming_in_september_or_october_with_announcement_soon_new_metroid_on_the_way_this_year?start=1600#reply-1611

They're running out of rumours they now have to rely on reruns. I want new rumours so I can actually get slightly giddy again for a few months before I move on. I remember this rumour the first 8 times around. Getting bored of this one. Maybe it's time to wheel the Switch Pro rumour out again.

I won't pay $60 for a single GC game, Nintendo

@hypercoyote Wow you think you're so smart huh? If we approach with this ignorant thought of yours, then there is no need for any game console?

@KBuckley27 You expect games to be free?

I just played through Prime recently. I need a remaster of Echoes 😂

This is a bummer if true. Echoes is my favorite Metroid game. I'd love to have it on Switch. Prime is great but nowhere near as good as Echoes. Kind of like how Ocarina pales in comparison to Majora's Mask.

Sounds like a complete remaster with the mention of the engine of 1 being reused for 2 and 3.

Hope they're right.
Prime deserves being rebuilt on a more modern chipset.

It might actually be nicer if they do each game individually if Nintendo actually pays them attention they deserve and fully update every aspect of the graphics, sorta like they did with the 3DS remasters of the N64 Zelda games. Of course I hope they don't change too much aside from updating the graphics (Majora 3DS, I'm looking at you...), but I'd happily pay for an OoT3D-esque remake of Prime 1.

Awesome! I bet that game is gonna be released after the Legend of Zelda Anniversary Collection that they all reported was coming this year hehe.
To be honest, I'm taking all rumors as what they are, not worth getting excited about something that's been talked about for years and nothing happens.
If there's an official anouncement, then I'll go crazy.

I'll take Prime if it's more than a simple upres for sure, otherwise I would have preferred the original trilogy in a higher res & frame rate.

I'd happily pay 'full price' for either scenario, because I'm not some entitled f**kwit.

@JokerCK 😂😂😂 Thank you for that

@Damo Can you actually elaborate on what Emily Rogers has got right in the past because I've been following Nintendo since the game boy and I've literally never seen her get anything right. You ask people to explain her track record and so I ask you... what track record?

so many insiders leaks this days, i won't trust anything untill Nintendo confirms the product

Playing Prime without proper pointer controls and the sensor bar? If there's a design flaw on the Switch it's the lack of that feature. I wasn't a fan of having to recalibrate the pointer every 2 minutes while playing Skyward Sword HD (thankfully it didn't hamper the experience that much).

Before releasing or re-releasing a Prime game, they need to come up with a better solution than a virtual pointer system that tends to drift away.

It'll be worth it for the HD, even without 2 and 3. I know I'll buy it.

@RupeeClock it was probably mentioned before (don't have time to dive into the comments looking for the answer), but the Wii versions of Metroid Prime 1 and 2 don't really have motion controls outside flicking the Wiimote to make Samus jump while in Morph Ball, that actually makes Morph Ball Bomb jumpd easier. What they have is the pointer to aim, but you don't waggle the controller to perform actions other that the bomb jump.

Prime 3, however, does use motion controls, but it didn't feel they made the game unplayable or a nuisance.

Way into this if it turns out to be true. I've never gotten into Prime, but I bought the trilogy that was put out for Wii...and then never touched it and sold it later. So a chance to actually get into the series on the Switch sounds great. (Just hope the other games will also be updated.)

Nintendo should just release Metroid Prime 2 and 3 and skip the first one entirely because 1 isn’t a Prime number.

I'll believe it when I see it.

Just release any of them on switch dammit!

@locky-mavo Hunters would be amazing and so would Federation Force. Both easily have more content to make a $60 tag for a remaster more tolerable. After all of the Prime Trilogy HD rumors, it's difficult to find excitement for the potential of just the first Prime being remastered, at likely full price, even if it's my favorite of the three.

Time for Nintendo to drip feed this bad boy for €50-60 a pop. Much better to do that than release all 3 for €60. Now that they know Metroid can do numbers after Dread time to release them all slowly until Prime 4 comes out.

It being the first game more or less depends on if it's just an HD remaster or a full on remake. If it's a remake with the effort put into it on par with say, the Resident Evil 2 REmake, with good graphics (as far as Switch games go), a bit of extra content, and 2 control schemes, one for 'normal' controllers and one for the Joycons where it works like the Wiimote, then yeah, I could see it being justified.

... But if it's just a straight up remaster, unless it's a discounted title at say $40, then yeah it'd be a scam.

All of this implying this is real of course. I'm sure there's still 'industry insiders' that've been saying Bloodborne 2 is just around the corner since 2016.

Please don't do a repeat of Gears of War 1 and only do the first one.

All three of these deserve another chance.

It doesn't seem true to me because the controls wouldn't work with Switch. There's no sensor bar to keep aiming in check and I can't see them changing MP3 to traditional controls, or all three of them to traditional if they started with the coding used for the trilogy

Good thing I don’t trust leakers that hip fire their findings

Cool, what do they say about the Switch Pro?

I predicted Metroid Dread 2-3 E3s ago.

I’m an insider, everybody.

@I-U
I’d also be 100% up for a Federation Force remake. If not then a sequel or something based on Metroid’s Galactic Federation, something akin to Halo ODST or Reach.

@Damo
Wasn't she also one of the people pedalling rumours about the Switch's first year being basically nothing but Wii U ports? Wasn't Splatoon going to be not 2 but an enhanced port? But I guess "plans change" half a year before release.

In 2018 MP4 and MPT HD were supposed to be shown at the VGA. Nintendo announced they're restarting development on MP4 in January 2019. MPT HD was supposedly finished and Nintendo was waiting for the right time to release it. Now MP1 is getting a remake after all these years of teasing MPT HD.
I'm not saying whether it's true or not, just interesting how it goes. I'd assume those "insiders" just looked at the Western-centric VGAs and guessed that Nintendo would show Metroid.

Honestly, lets just wait and see.

So much judging on what we “should” be getting based on rumours on top of rumours.

Metroid Prime (1) is one of greatest games of all time. Whether the entirely trilogy or just a single game comes to Switch is irrelevant.

If this rumour is true, can’t we just be glad that Nintendo / developers are putting time and effort into reviving a 20 year old game series for a new audience?

Metroid Prime will always remain my favourite video game. So much that it reinforced the idea and drive to work in the game industry. So yes, I’ll be excited if it does make it to the Switch. But not for myself.

It’s for the kids who will play this for the first time and don’t have access to a Gamecube.

@andykara2003 @damo I think her average is the about the same as those 4chan "leaks" that get traction every so often — about as good as a broken clock.

Emily has been the source giving credence to every Switch Pro rumor which have not just been false, but have done damage in perception and buyer confidence. Same goes for the "Smash and Splatoon Wii U ports", that certainly damaged the perception of Splatoon 2 and Smash Ultimate.

One mostly correct scoop on the NX has paid for all the misses. Remember female Link? Star Fox Grand Prix? Prime 4 already finished, 2021?

In fact, ArcadeGirl64 has been nuked — we can't even go back and look at the veracity of the rumors that didn't make the media rounds without some internet forensics, but I think the burden of proof should be on the Emily Rogers stans. This is Laura Kate Dale all over again with a better erasing of the past.

@Rin-go Yes, that’s the one. Also “confirming” a lot of Switch Pro rumors, wild speculation on Breath is the Wild (female Link, missing Switch launch), Prime 4 and Trilogy port “finished”, etc.

Considering how much of NintendoLife and others “news” sites are just echoing twitter noise, is it a wonder there’s a vested interest in propping up Emily Rogers as a highly credible insider? She’s not only wrong, but how much damage has she done with the Pro rumors? Splatoon 2 misinformation?

How long can you trot out the “higher than average” narrative without updating the math?

@RupeeClock okay that was a weirdly specific brainfart on my part, I was certain it retained the GC control scheme for multiplayer purposes 😨
I shall recuse myself bebeath a waterfall abd meditate on this.

I have the WiiU digital release of Prime Trilogy. I'd been wanting to play through it again, but prioritised other games as I'd been hoping a Switch release would come. If they are releasing them all separately at full price, I'll stick to the WiiU version

As someone who no longer owns a Wii or WiiU and has never played a Metroid Prime game and only hears great things about it then no joke you know I’ll still pay full price for it!!

Should release this for Christmas to make up for AW being delayed, nothing else of interest to me for Chrimbo!

If it is just the first game, other than changing the settings to 1080p on the emulator, like they did with skyward sword, a 10 second job, what has Nintendo been doing for all this time?

Trilogy would be a day 1 purchase (even though I already have it on Wii). Remastered version of 1 I would definitely buy once it hits $40.

So another remaster with worse controls than is already available, huh?

I mean, it should at least beat out the GameCube version, but the Wii version will still be the definitive version, since the Switch's lack of sensor bar means either they're ditching the motion controls, you'll be forced to use stupid dual analog controls even with the motion controls, or you'll have to re-calibrate the Joycons every half minute or so.

This seems like a lot of effort for a game that has aged pretty gracefully for the console generation it was made in. I’d have to wait and see how much this remaster upgrades the original, because honestly I would have been more than content to play through the original works by Retro Studios.

Weirdly enough, I would be pretty happy with this. I kinda don't feel like playing through Prime 2 and 3 again, but I might be enticed by a better version of Prime 1 (or at least I hope it's at least better than the original after 4+ years)

That... makes no sense (unless they're actually remaking it). They should learn from The Master Chief collection for these releases :/

@Damo
I'm only just seeing it, since I've been reading up on the MPT HD rumours, and "There were ports, so she was partly right" has to be one of the greatest excuses. The launch year was supposed to be full of them, Splatoon an enhanced port, Smash a deluxe version of Wii U and 3DS etc. If we can only tell if these people are right once an official announcement confirms it, then why are we even listening to them?
And you can very much go on forums and see how people will look over credits and job listings to figure out what could release next. Between that and going through Nintendo's line-up of franchises and looking at which franchises had games released 3-5 years ago, on top of hints by devs themselves (like the new direction for Kirby), you can very much guess what games will come to the system.
I'm convinced that if these people have sources, they aren't from Nintendo themselves, otherwise one would assume an almost flawless record, because I'm not believing for a second that a multinational company just changes plans on a whim. They would have to hear about games at the prototype stage and I don't believe any of them have sources at NCL.
I saw a tweet by a NoA employee before E3 2021, which implied she worked on the presentation for at least 6 months, that's how much logistics go into things like that. But "plans change", how convenient.