Metroid Prime is one of the greatest games ever created. Released for the Nintendo GameCube in 2002, Prime successfuly translated Nintendo's Metroid franchise into the 3D first person space and the atmosphere and art direction made it one of the greatest games on the Purple square. But as we know, the story of its development was rooted in management chaos, development hell... And spite.

We all know Retro Studios, the Texas based Nintendo subsidiary that developed the Metroid Prime series. But it's origins go way beyond just Metroid Prime. In the late 90s, Jeff Spanganberg, after being laid off from Iguana Entertainment (the developers of the Turok series), struck a deal with Nintendo to form a new second party studio named Retro Studios. Retro's marching orders were simple, create edgy, western market oriented games for Nintendo's next home console, the Nintendo GameCube.

Retro immediately got to work on four projects, An action RPG titled Raven Blade, a Football game, a Car combat game ala Twisted Metal, and a rough prototype for an action-adventure game called Metaforce.

As we all know things turned rocky pretty quickly, all four projects were languishing in development hell, and Jeff Spanganberg's constant absence and shady side hustles started to annoy Nintendo, including the highest levels of the company in Kyoto. Up to this point Retro Studios had been under the jurisdiction of Nintendo of America, which was a problem because NOA development execs didn't make games, they only understood game development in vibes and marketing demographics. The whole reason NOA signed Retro was to give the GameCube a "cool western edge" for the young adult audience. But when Nintendo Co., Ltd. In Japan noticed that NOA spent money on starting an ambitious second party in Texas, and has nothing to show for it.

So NCL decided to fly reps from the department that actually makes their best games, Nintendo EAD, led by Shigeru Miyamoto, out to Austin to see what's actually going on over there. Once Miyamoto and his crew arrived at Retro Studios, the results were a bloodbath. EAD hated every project Retro was making, and how they were making them, with none of the major titles coming together at all.

But Miyamoto did see one project he did like, that rough looking Metaforce game Retro devs were making. So Nintendo EAD made the ruthless call, cancel every other project, and turn that Metaforce crap, into a Metroid game.

At first this seems confusing. Nintendo EAD didn't make Metroid, that was Nintendo R&D1's franchise. Miyamoto didn't care about Metroid, didn't know anything about Metroid, didn't even like Metroid. Even Retro Studios staff was like "Bro, don't you hate Metroid?". So it does seem perplexing that Miyamoto would request a new game in a franchise he actually kind of hates... It makes no sense, unless you understand how Nintendo was run back then and who was in charge, then it starts to make perfect sense.

During most of Prime's development, Nintendo was still under the rule of the Infamous Hiroshi Yamauchi, and one of Yamauchi's leadership policies was to pit all of Nintendo's product development departments against each other in order to force them to make the best products, according to former Nintendo developer, Motoi Okamoto. When Miyamoto asked R&D1's Yoshio Sakamoto why they haven't made a Metroid game for Nintendo 64, Sakamoto said that the team didn't know how to translate the series into 3D, especially with the N64's weird ass controller.

Besides, Nintendo R&D1 was already struggling with the one N64 project they did have in development, Sin & Punishment, which they were working on with Treasure. So Miyamoto's decision to give Retro the Metroid franchise was more than likely born out of pure selfishness, his logic being "If we hire this small team in Texas to make Metroid for us, then Yamauchi-san will let EAD keep the franchise!"

In other words, Nintendo EAD put a small, unproven and poorly managed studio in Texas in charge of a 3D Metroid... Just to spite Nintendo R&D1. EAD was basically telling them "If you guys aren't going to make a 3D Metroid, then we will".

So Retro Studios opted to go all in on Metroid Prime with Nintendo EAD taking over production from Nintendo of America, and of course, the game turned out to be a critical and commercial success.

EAD's ambitions of a hostile takeover for Metroid were moot though, as by the time Metroid Prime released, Hiroshi Yamauchi resigned as Nintendo president, replaced by the late Satoru Iwata. Iwata was move away from Yamauchi's toxic warring tribes culture, restructuring Nintendo's Game development operations into a newly shattered EAD (Software Development Groups 1-5 + Tokyo), and the new Software Planning & Development division (SPD) in 2004. Production of the Metroid Prime series was given to SPD Production Group No. 3, led by Kensuke Tanabe, who would oversee all future titles, as well as other western developed Nintendo games.

Are there some sources for all this? Stuff like it being done out of spite or selfishness kinda feels like speculation/headcanon.

It's a mix of both fact and speculation.

Retro Studios initial development troubles under NOA and EAD's brutal audit of the studio are both pretty well documented.

And when you combine that with how Nintendo's development departments were run under Yamauchi, as per Motoi Okamoto's testimony, it's pretty easy to conclude that this was likely the motivation behind Miyamoto having Retro do Metroid Prime.

I dunno, Prime's troubled development is infamous, but it seems a bit of a leap to me to assume a sinister motive, I remain unconvinced.

Admittedly, it may not have been quite to the diablocal degree I described (EAD plotting a hostile takeover of Metroid from R&D1).

But again, given how Nintendo's development departments operated back then, Shigeru Miyamoto changing Retro's Metaforce project into Metorid Prime as a big "take that" move to Takehiro Itzushi (R&D1's GM at the time), doesn't sounds entirely logical.

After all, it makes absolutely no sense for EAD to entrust a bunch of former Turok developers in America with a franchise they don't even produce, unless you analyze it through the lens of Nintendo's internal "warring tribes" culture at the time.

EAD's was likely looking at R&D1's failure to bring their franchises (Metroid, Wars, Fire Emblem) to Nintendo 64 and thought "We brought OUR franchises [Mario, Zelda, Star Fox, Kirby, Donkey Kong] into the 3D, yet R&D1 hasn't!? Pathetic, we shall show them how it's done."

To echo what Curl said: If you’re going to make a post where you detail the development of a video game, you’re going to need to have sources explicitly backing all of your claims. If even one fact is falsified or misconstrued, then that could be enough to completely derail a post like this.

Fun Fact. Reggie walked in on Miyamoto rubbing a naked lubed Bill Trinen and Bill Said Touching is Good. Reggie knew right away this is the perfect tag line for DS. Same thing happened for Wii. This time they walked into Reggies office naked and lubed and said "we would like to play" Reggie knew right away perfect tag line for Wii commercials. Just like OP. Trust me bro.

I think looking at what Western devs were making and saying "ok but what if you put Nintendo characters there" was kind of a Miyamoto thing back then, nothing to do with warring. Do y'all remember Star Fox Adventures?

And that's why it was a big character development moment when the Splatoon devs (a new team of rookies making their first game at Nintendo) asked him to let them use Mario characters, and he mentored them to create their own characters instead, to give Splatoon its own identity.

The difference is that Miyamoto had nothing to do with Metroid. EAD didn't over oversee the franchise back then.

So it makes no sense as to why they would suddenly change Retro's Action-adventure project into a Metroid game, unless you view it through the lens of internal competition.

EAD looked at the demand for a new Metroid, saw R&D1's complete and utter failure to bring the series into 3D, and used Retro Studio's mess at the time to say "We'll do it ourselves".