It's Now Been Three Years Since Metroid Prime 4's Development Was Scrapped And Restarted

While I like Metroid, I am much more worried about Donkey Kong.

I want Retro Studios to finish the next 2D Donkey Kong game, made especially for Switch, but at this rate, maybe the Switch won't have neither Metroid Prime 4 nor the third Donkey Kong game by Retro.

Minimum 4 years, no?

@victordamazio Third Donkey Kong Game? Have I missed one? The only DK game on Switch (except for the SNES online) is Tropical Freeze isnt it?

I think this will be a launch title for the next Nintendo console.

@sanderev probably a duel release like BOTW

What is Metroid Prime 4 was Splatoon 3 all along, and what we’re about to witness is the birth of Metroid SLIME!?

…What about that?

That's enough time to not-have new clip to show.🙃

@Bunkerneath Retro has 2 DK games (Returns and Tropical Freeze), some people thought before the Prime 4 restart perhaps they'd be releasing a 3rd one to make a trilogy like how Rare did the SNES DKC trilogy.

I'm just hungry for a Nintendo Direct! A small virus that's been doing the rounds might also have had a small impact on the development time.

@Bunkerneath The first is Donkey Kong Country Returns for the Wii.

Which also needs a port for Switch.

@OnlyItsMeReid Yeah, or a Switch release with a free "upgrade" for the next gen. (Like so many XBOX Series games). I think the next console will be backward compatible with Switch games.

Everyone gets mad about crunch, yet meticulously accounts for and calls out the timeline of a game’s development? Could be just me, but seems counterintuitive. I know we’re all excited, but I say let the game cook for as long as needed without any added pressures. When they’re ready to show something I’m sure they will 🙃

That being said updates here & there from Nintendo could help appease the public, lending some transparency. It’s a balance.

Just save it for the next machine at this point, or cross release at least. Either way I’m just happy it’s coming, if it takes another 3 years then it takes another 3 years.

The best Donkey Kong game is Tropical Freeze, screw nostalgia, Retro Studios surpassed Rare.

However, in 5 years, Rare released 3 DK games for SNES, 3 DK games for Game Boy, one 3D DK game for N64, all while working in a bunch of other projects, meanwhile, Retro Studios only delivered 2 DK games, one for the Wii with a port for 3DS, one for Wii U with a port for Switch, and they didn't deliver anything else aside for some work on Mario Kart 7.

Quality beats quantity, but quality with quantity beats quality without quantity, this is why old Rare is still better than Retro.

Switch U launch title would be where I would let out my guessing fart

Nintendo Gaming fans when they find out games take time to make

I still have this pre-ordered from Amazon. Back when Amazon still did game discounts. One of these days the order will be fulfilled. haha.

@sanderev this is one of the rare occasions that you and I agree, but I would add that I think it will be cross-gen, much like Breath of the Wild was.

Not sure I’d have filed this under ‘News’

Maybe we'll see it in the June or September Direct?

@Medic_Alert,

I remember the E3 reveal for "Beyond good and evil 2", the game just seems to have vanished, bit like Metroid prime 4.

With E3 cancelled, I do hope Nintendo will still have their big summer direct. I don't think we will see it any earlier than then

I doubt we see Metroid Prime 4 again until 2024 possibly 2025

@victordamazio Retro’s DKC games are masterpieces. They’re some of my favorite games (haven’t played through Returns yet but still). I don’t care about Metroid Prime, but I think that for now, it’s more important.

But after it comes out, I’ll be waiting for a new action packed DK game.

Hopefully they show us something about it at E3 or give us the Metroid Prime Trilogy in HD for 2022.

@NinChocolate yeah. They’ve got it wrong. 2019 was three years ago. Game was announced as cancelled in 2018

@johnvboy
Michel Ancel leaving Ubisoft means Beyond Good and Evil 2 is all but dead.

Metroid Prime 4 is actually alive and in development - though we'll probably get that rumored Metroid Prime 1 remaster/remake before hand.

@westman98,

Hope so, been a long time since Prime 3, must be a game for the next generation Switch, which would be better to be honest.

And this is why they haven't really revealed games too far ahead of launch anymore in recent years. And that's probably a good idea to begin with just to temper expectations.

I think it will be out on the successors successor

Metroid Prime 2024.

What I actually wonder is: What were Retro Studios doing all the years before they started working on Metroid Prime 4???

Watch if we get an update and they say they're still working on it people will be upset

I reckon the original Metroid Prime 4 was actually Metroid Dread, I suspect that was the original plan, then when they realised people's expectations were for a proper Prime experience, they pretended to can the game and start again, when they were actually just starting the prime game out of fear of retribution. I may be wrong, but the timing of Dread just seems to fit that theory.

Until we see something just assume it’s vapourware

Pikmin 4 says hold my beer.🍺

@Bunkerneath

1. Donkey Kong Country Returns (Wii, 3DS)

2. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (Wii U, Switch)

3. [HOPEFULLY IN DEVELOPMENT SOMEWHERE]

@chipia I'm glad someone else has been wondering this, too. It's been a solid 8 years since Tropical Freeze came out on the Wii U. I find it hard to believe that they were just sitting there twiddling their thumbs in that amount of time.

Games like "Kirby and the Forgotten Land" hould show you, that Nintendo can show and release a game out of nowhere.

Just ask someones uncle who has a Neighbour that read in an article about a guy having an uncle who heard a rumor about someones uncle working at Nintendo, where there are alot of uncles 😂😂😂

@sanderev The next console has to be backwards compatible, and all moving forward, especially if we are moving to an all digital future.

This will release alongside the new Nintendo system I 2024-25. It will be the game to sale the new systems to start.

I mean, I want them to take as long as they absolutely need. As much as I would love some new information, if they aren't ready to show anything off, so be it. I don't want the MP crunch all over again.

Down the road (after MP4’s eventual release), I hope we get to see more of the cancelled MP4 that was in development before Retro took the reigns. I’m genuinely curious to see why it was scrapped. Was it design choices? Weird controls? Crappy frame rate? I hope to see NL post an article on that.

@Thumbsofsteel Yeah it really makes me wonder how bad it could have been if Nintendo was just like "Yeah you guys had your chance, this is terrible. Bring it back to Retro." I also wonder what studio was working on it where Nintendo thought they were somewhat comparable to Retro.

Yea, crazy how long it's been. Hoping we get some info this year. Not expecting the game for a couple more years though.

For me I want an update on Pikmin 4. That excites me way more than MP4.

We're talking about Nintendo. They won't risk another teaser after the first failure. It'll be announced 3 months before it's release

people need to have patience nintendo alrdy stated in last years e3 that prime 4 development is going well so i rather them take their time so the game comes out amazing with no bugs or glitches not like some games that were rushed out by a certain devs(cough)taketwo(cough).

@StarPoint the last studio that was working on prime 4 before being hand over to retro was namco.

This game's announcement was the reason I decided to get a Switch in the first place.

At least I got my Metroid dose on Dread. I can wait as long as they take for my second Metroid dose. Makes me wonder if they'll make amiibo figures for Prime 4.

Problem is they gave it to Retro studios so expect another up to 3 more years before you hear or see anything.

I think we’ll finally see something this year. As for when it’ll release? I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s this year or 5 years from now. Who knows?

At least we aren't still asking Reggie for Mother 3...wait, are we?

The problem isn't that games take time to make, it's that publishers/developers announce games at the beginning of said time. If your game hasn't gone gold, I don't want to hear about it.

Don't rush them. Nintendo games are years in development. SO HUSH!

3 years since the "starting again" on Metroid Prime 4 announcement is nothing compared to the 8 years without a game release milestone Retro Studios will reach in 3 weeks time.

14th February 2014 is when they released Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze on Wii U. There has been the grand sum of diddly squat since then.

Now, I love Retro Studios as much as the next DK/Metroid fan, but that is an embarrassing milestone on the horizon, and fills me with nervous anxiety over the state of Metroid Prime 4 and whatever trainwrecks they abandoned between now and then...

I don't expect a gameplay trailer for another two years

Breath of the Wild was delayed one year to make the Switch port and release both versions at the same time. Metroid Prime 4 might share the same fate.

I think they will hold this game for Switch's successor. Makes more sense and could make money.

With that said: I hope not! I have been waiting for this game since I got my Switch in 2017!

And a new Donkey Kong game. Why hasn't Retro (or anybody else) continued the trilogy?! But oh yeah now we have another freaking Kirby game. Bleah.

The prime 4 announcement was solely there to ensure Samus returns on 3DS didn't get a negative reception, like federation Force did. I'm sure the game kinda exists in some form now, but it barely existed when it was announced.

Metroid prime 1, 2, 3 port or remaster.

So the game will be cross generation very likely, I doubt Nintendo will wait longer than June to unveil the next generation Switch. This is good news though because it would mean it will be fully backwards compatible.

Metroid Dread was first announced in the June 2005 issue of Game Informer. So by this logic we should see Prime 4 in another 11 years?

@PhhhCough I would love for them to remaster the Trilogy but with optional pointer controls.

I expect to see Prime 4 in action some time this year, and I feel the game will be treated just as Metroid Dread. There won't be much separation between first gameplay footage and release date. Depending on when this year Prime 4 is shown impacts my release expectation. If it's June (usual E3 time frame) or earlier, then Prime 4 releases later this year. If it's the last Direct of the year, I'm thinking no later than late Summer 2023. Prime 4 won't be a holiday game.

I don't want to entertain beyond 2023 as that comes with more expectations that I just don't feel the game will meet for me personally, and I'm not too confident in this game already as someone who thoroughly enjoyed Federation Force. I haven't been starved for a new Prime game since Corruption, being that won't be good enough.

@Medic_Alert no it’s not because that game has been cancelled metroid is still in development

This is not going to be a switch title, but a release title for new nintendo harware for sure, may also have a VR feature.

@delt75 They cancelled mine.

@Jokerwolf Switch doesn't have the sensor bar for pointer controls.

@mattcoz They don't need it because of the gyro, but the action would still be considered pointing lol.

@Jokerwolf Gyro controls don't even come close to matching the sensor bar.

@mattcoz they just keep changing the placeholder date on my order.

@mattcoz I agree but that is how they would have to implement it.

i have complete faith on Retro Studios, with the profissionals of the highest degree they are hiring, Metroid Prime 4 is gonna be a masterpiece(you can't rush a masterpiece).

@Medic_Alert Nintendo is gonna release a remaster/port of Metroid Prime Trilogy when Metroid Prime 4 is 1 year/6 months close to the release of the game.

Nintendo should have choose Retro Studios first, istead of choosing another developer and caning the game and making us wait a eternity for the game.

@Medic_Alert since Metroid Prime follow a very clear story line, it sense for Nintendo to release Metroid Prime Trilogy on Switch, to remember everyone about plot elements on the game before Metroid Prime 4 release, not everyone played/remembered the Metroid Prime series.

I think we are in for a longer wait then we anticipated. The sales of Metroid Dread should help continue the series but I believe it will not be until 2024 boy do I hope I am wrong😡🤬