Despite being developed by Retro Studios — the studio behind the original trilogy as well as the 2023 remake — for nearly seven years, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is a game which I’ve been a tad bit skeptical about since its initial gameplay reveal back in June 2024.

- From the first trailer, it looked like nothing more than your standard Metroid Prime game. Nothing shiny, interesting, or new. Simply more of the same. (And, maybe this is personal taste, but “Metroid Prime 4: Beyond” doesn’t sound like a very inspired name. “Metroid Prime Beyond” would’ve been cool, though I suppose the “4” is important in clarifying that this is THE Metroid Prime 4. Also, I’m not a fan of the logo either. Looks very poorly made… IDK what it is about it.)

- Following several months of silence, Nintendo then drops a new trailer featuring a shin, new mechanic: the “Psychic” ability. But… what was so special about this mechanic? It’s hard to say. The trailer showed nothing more than a surface-level tutorial of the feature.

- Across all three Nintendo Directs from this year, we have seen nothing more than (i) a reveal for the NS2 Edition of the game, and (ii) a (seemingly) hastily slapped together trailer showing off Samus riding a bike in an open-world desert setting.

- And on top of all of this? Metroid Prime 4 is being shoved after the peak holiday purchasing season, overshadowed by other new and shiny games like Kirby Air Riders and Pokémon Legends Z-A.

What’s going on with Metroid Prime 4: Beyond? Releasing so soon after Kirby, there really won’t be much time to market the game (and Nintendo typically saves marketing for the final stretch preceding a game’s launch). It almost seems as though Nintendo doesn’t have a lot of confidence in it, despite coming from such gaming series with such a consistently prestigious reputation (look at the MC scores of the original trilogy: These were the highest rated Nintendo games of that generation).

No. Metroid fans are in panic mode. Probably because they know that this title will still sell in the 3-4 million range and they want someone to blame for that. The reality is that Metroid is a thinking game and a lot of gamers just don’t have the time or energy to invest in that level of exploration. It’s partly why those of us who enjoy it do enjoy it. It is very heady. It isn’t uncommon for movies, books, and games that require a certain amount of investment on the part of the viewer to not hit as hard as the next popcorn flick or pick up and play Mario.

To be honest, Metroid fans are looking desperate (maybe not here, but over in Musk-land) and it isn’t a good look. We all need to practice a bit of Samus’ stoicism and just relax.

No. Fanbases are usually morons. Mountains out of anthills. I like Metroid games but not going to take a fanbase seriously who put put petitions to cancel a 3DS game. We live in an era where every fanbase it outraged by the latest game in a series or latest re-release for trivial stupid ass reasons. The game will be fine and will be great. End of story.

Like all games ,I'll wait to see what the reviews say, but I'm assuming I'll be picking it up for Christmas. I'm not worried about it at all. Hopefully Retro isn't in a toxic crunch right now trying to finish it, and that's why they don't have time to show more.

They are most certainly not in a toxic crunch lol. Modern-day Nintendo doesn’t crunch studios, especially not games with a 7y dev cycle. Game has likely been done for a while. That said, why am I a little concerned about MP4B? There are two games that come to mind: Endless Ocean Luminous and M&L:BS. Both hotly anticipated releases with sketchy reveal-to-release cycles which confirmed suspicions on quality.

I would always be skeptical of a game that takes this long in production and changes studios midway trough because "they wanted a diferent direction". I think the sensible thing to do in these cases is to keep your own expectations in check. If it turns out amazing, thats great, but I just wouldnt expect it. And yeah, I kind agree that the trailer wasnt particularly exciting at all, but it wasnt disastrous or anything. Game could be just fine, Metroid fans are just too over the top imo, like if the game isnt the best game ever theyd hate it

This is solid advice. Very level-headed!

Well, it's obviously had a lot of trouble. If it hadn't, it would have released years ago. But that's not always an indictment on the final product. We'll just have to wait and see.

I don't think so. It'll probably be the best selling metroid game.

You gotta keep in mind that the Metroid series isn't a huge seller. Nintendo isn't talking about it much because it isn't a huge game for them. It's big to Metroid fans, who are overrepresented on gaming forums like this one. But, not to the general gaming public. It isn't going to move the needle for Nintendo. So, a lack of info and marketing doesn't really mean anything, IMO.