worth a watch, BeatEmUps 's take on all this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3gqa7ptEAM

I think he makes some really good points, about why people are disappointed by the game.

Finally started playing a couple days ago, made it through Fury Green and Volt Forge and into the big ol' desert.

First impressions are all over the place really. The soundtrack and audio design are fantastic, though I think it gets a bit too noisy in combat rooms. The visuals are absolutely amazing, jaw-dropping stuff constantly. This is my favorite-looking game of 2025.

The motorcycle stuff I felt very iffy about when it was revealed, and even more iffy when people started giving their opinions on the game and this was a common point of criticism. Having just gotten in and played around in the desert for a bit... um, a good bit... I'm having fun I admit. Samus on a bike is just too cool. I thought my love for driving motorcycles in videogames had stayed with GTA: San Andreas in my teenage years, but nah, it's still here lol.

On the other controversial thing, MacKenzie, I despised him at first. It's not so much having a companion who talks to you as much as it is how much his dialogue really sounds like MCU writing, also in that he talks so much... I was cringing all the time he was on my screen, it ruined the atmosphere for me. I just wished he was quieter, and you know what, it seems I got my wish, because he's barely said a thing since I got to Volt Forge. If it stays like this I'll be okay. The game's got amazing atmosphere when he's not ruining it.

I think the main shortcoming really is just the level design. It's linear and easy to the point where it feels like you are watching the game more than playing it. This feels like a playable tech demo – the kind of amazing visuals you dream of, but you know a real game with actual levels and deep gameplay could never look like that. So they actually made a whole game like that!

So yeah, I'm still processing each thing as it comes, but I'm enjoying the game for what it is: an audiovisual experience. A great one at that.

I have a Switch 2 and I'm about to purchase MP4 & the physical versions are currently much cheaper than digital.

Switch 1 physical : £31.61 / Switch 2 physical : £44.99 (Amazon)
Switch 1 digital: £49.99 / Switch 2 digital : £58.99

The Switch 1 physical + S2 edition download patch seems like the best value at £39.63.

The only downside that occurs to me is that maybe a Switch 3 will be backwards compatible with S2 cartridges but not S1...

Are there any other downsides to going this route over the others that I'm not considering?

Not that I can see really, seems like a good way to save a few bucks.

Let us know what you think of the game!

Thanks, will do. 

Another argument for gamers to hope that physical sticks around, it's like a third cheaper in this instance & will also have resale value. 

A ton of insights from producer Tanabe on the game's development:

https://www.gonintendo.com/contents/56832-metroid-prime-4-beyond-s-producer-offers-an-extremely-deep-dive-into-the-game-s

• development began with just one interpreter on the team
• Retro Studios had over 100 internal staff involved
• three employees from Next Level Games also helped
• a significant amount of work was outsource for art and cutscene production, bringing in 300 people
• Nintendo first communicated the game’s overall structure, setting, and world view to Retro
• Retro Studios then created specifications, concept art, level design blueprints, and experimental prototypes
• Nintendo then reviews and approved these, providing modification instructions
• after Nintendo’s approval, Retro Studios translates this content into actual data and code
• various creative ideas proposed by Retro Studios are also developed using this process
• Retro Studios is responsible for all outsourcing, supervision, and delivery management
• Nintendo held 3 separate meetings for three topics: “Game Design Supervision Report from Nintendo,” “Art Supervision Report,” and “Progress Management.”
• Nintendo held 1 Zoom meeting with Retro Studios each week, each lasting several hours
• during the pandemic, employees from both companies worked from home
• after the pandemic, Nintendo travelled to Retro several times a year for intensive meetings
• following Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s success and request from fans for an open-world Metroid, Tanabe decided to see if such an approach could be used for the next Prime game
• the open world idea paved the way for Samus’ motorcycle in Beyond
• Tanabe worried that fans might think he was copying the motorcycle DLC in Breath of the Wild, which he says was not the case
• Tanabe pushed ahead with the motorcycle idea as he thought it would “look incredibly cool”
• Vi-O-La was chosen as the bike name due to Tanabe wanting to use a musical influence, as he’s a fan of playing guitar
• the color scheme of each area (including the vibrancy of the sky) was deliberately planned and matched to make it easier for players to remember, while also stirring up emotions players should experience at different stages of the journey
• during the development of Metroid Prime Hunters, Tanabe specifically requested that Sylux’s backstory not be completely fleshed out, as he wanted to explore that idea in a future Metroid title
• Metroid Prime 4: Beyond was conceived as the “first installment of the Sylux Saga”
• Tanabe says that if visor scanning text is too long, players won’t read it, so they generally try to keep the results to no more than 3 lines at a time
• Tanabe had a personal obsession to ensure that line breaks never occur within the middle of words, and to neatly fit each line within the border of the display window, which was influenced by the novelist Natsuhiko Kyogoku
• scan text had to conceal the truth of the “great tragedy” while gradually weaving in keywords that players could understand, and a lot of effort was put into this aspect
• Tanabe originally planned to write the scan text himself, but then it was decided they should outsource to a professional writer
• unfortunately the professional writer didn’t work out, so Tanabe tackled the project, and he says he felt rushed in doing so
• Nintendo is responsible for all the music composition, while Retro Studios is responsible for the sound effects and voice acting
• with the main theme, the goal was to convey Samus’ feelings during the battle on Viewros
• all the music was created from Samus’ perspective
• each boss has its own unique background music
• in most areas of the game the initial routes are more linear, which is more conducive to telling the story of the area itself and the Federation soldiers within it
• Nintendo says the structure isn’t as intricately interwoven as in previous entries
• Tanabe says he hardly plays games, but watches movies quite often
• when making a game, Tanabe focuses on “how to create emotional fluctuations for the player” and how to make “Wow Moments”
• with Beyond, Tanabe wanted to leave players hesitant and conflicted up to the very last moment before pressing the A button to end the game
• Tanabe anticipated some negative reactions to the game’s end, but he says he’s more likely to be impressed by movies that leave a lasting impression, like a thorn in your side, so he aimed to achieve that in Metroid
• the devs planned several events that would have deepened the bond with the Galactic Federation members, but had to cut them due to time constraints, which Tanabe really regrets

It shows. He's not a good movie-maker though.

Tanabe's input was a lot larger then I expected.

It's not really a good idea to have someone with such large directional control physically removed so far from the team that actually makes it. (US-Japan).

Edit: This also makes me wonder about a Prime5. I think Tanabe needs to take a step back.

He will; he's announced he's retiring and Prime 4 was his last game, so somebody else will have to produce the next one.

Hasn't he also announced his successor, being another Japanese guy? And he said Prime 4 was the "first chapter of the Sylux Saga", all of which says to me his influence will very much spread into future games even if he's not involved directly anymore.

I've no ill will towards him but I do feel he's taken the Metroid Prime series in the wrong direction. Prime 1 and 2 were great. Hunters and 3 were starting to show signs of the series turning into something very different from the core identity of the Metroid franchise, but 3 was still great in spite of those things. Then we got Federation Force, and now Prime 4... and yeah, the series seems to be centered more and more on "cool" and "cinematic" elements, and the Galactic Federation is getting more and more attention with each entry despite how little anyone continues to care for them.

Strangely enough for a guy who "rarely plays games but watches movies often", I don't think any of the Metroid Prime games had good storylines at all, and they got worse the more narrative-driven got. These games excel at interesting world-building and lore, learning about the history of the places you explore, but not so much the actual story of what happens during the games. Prime 2 had the best balance in my opinion, giving you just enough of a story to care about whilst not too much for the weak writing to get in the way. None of the Prime games come close to the narrative quality of Fusion and Dread in my opinion, or even the subtle storytelling of Super Metroid.