We could only hope retro goes back to pushing the hardware. Because it and Monolith Soft would be a good 1-2 punch for Nintendo next gen. Wii u lacked games that pushed the hardware, many casual gamers still think it's not stronger than ps3/Xbox . NX needs good graphical games to take off.

If ur talking in terms of output, Retro has not slowed down.

Metroid Prime 2-Nov 2004

Metroid Prime 3-Aug 2007

DKC Returns-Nov 2010

Tropical Freeze-Feb 2014

They having been releasing a game every 3 years give or take a few months for a decade now. In between releases they help work on smaller stuff, I believe they helped with Prime Hunters which released in 2006 then they ported Prime/Prime 2 to Wii for Prime Trilogy, they helped out with Mario Kart 7 in 2011 and helped with the port of DKC Returns 3D in 2013.

That's what people forget:

Monolith at his first attempt made the game that Square failed to do for 10 years: a big  and epic HD RPG with an amazing world.

And with less budget and less people. Their developping skills are fantastic.

This. For them there was no excuse. They went all on the Wii U.

Dude..Imagine both of them pushing hardware with big games along with a new 3D Mario, a new Zelda, and, possibly, a new Metroid on NX in the future? Though I guess it depends on what Retro wants to do or is doing right now. They've been trying to hire these past couple of years so something's up. 

That pretty sums it up, yeah.

Retro built a name for themselves as a studio who pushed hardware limits to create epic adventures that provided a more serious counterpoint to EAD's usual fare, and could stand toe-to-toe with the big guns of Playstation and Xbox.

Recently, they've strayed from this foundation by playing it too safe, while Monolith has usurped their position as the first party studio who pushes boundaries.

This seems like an incredible reach to me. Retro has been assigned one single project that was considered "too safe," and Monolith has produced a single game that pushes the boundaries of the hardware, and now we're ready to declare that Retro has gone astray and Monolith has somehow usurped this title?

As someone playing through X currently, I think what Monolith's done is certainly impressive, but this entire thread feels like a knee jerk reaction at best. One game does not a trend make. If Monolith continues to push the boundaries like they've done with Xenoblade X, and Retro continues to produce less ambitious titles, then yes, this would have some merit. But this is one, single game for both sides; Tropical Freeze for Retro and X for Monolith.

(to clarify, this isn't to say anything bad about the original Xenoblade Chronicles, just that it didn't push the limitations of the hardware in the same way the Prime games or X did)

Maybe recently, but overall, the Prime games still keep Retro ahead of Monolith as the better studio.

Really kind of puts shit in perspective I'd say. You didn't even get into how each of the companies were able to utilize the gamepad. ;)

**(doesn´t have to be metroid)** THIS.

So many metroid fans hate DK because Retro choose DK for wii U instead of Samus.