Metroid Prime 4 Discussion - My Excitement is Immeasurable, and my Day is Improved
Metroid Prime 4 Discussion: My Excitement is Immeasurable, and my Day is Improved
Intro
With the latest Nintendo Direct behind us and another one coming soon for the upcoming Switch 2, Nintendo has quiet the year in front of them as they prepare to launch then successor to the Switch. Which I have to say, is something that doesn’t feel right to say. What with about eight years passing since the Switch first launched, and being jaded by… One. Too. Many. “SWITCH PRO/2 INFO LEAK OR COMING OUT THIS YEAR! (Not Clickbate!)” Posts pretty much all over the internet! Its nice to see actual information come out for the new system, and it has me excited to see what Nintendo is cooking up for the next generation.
But, that’s not the only thing that I’m excited for, in fact I’d argue, I’m more excited for this than I am a new system. And that of course is Metroid Prime 4. A game that has also had its fair share of “leaks,” and annoying clickbait videos, but now that we’re actually getting proper information on it, I can’t help but to be excited! Which is what I want to talk about in this post, talking about my excitement, some speculation, but not much, and what else I hope for in the future for this franchise.
Personal History
Now I might have mentioned this before in a previous post, but I’m a huge fan of the Metroid franchise! I’ve played most games multiple times, Super Metroid, Metroid Dread, and Metroid Prime 2 are my favorites in the franchise, with Super Metroid also being one of my favorite games of all time. Metroid Fusion and Prime 3 were my first time playing these games, and I even main Samus in Smash Ultimate. In short, I’m a big fan, and seeing as I was born in the 2000s, I would wind up growing up during the Metroid drought during the 2010s where barley little new Metroid stuff was coming out around that time.
A lot of that is because of Metroid: Other M, but that mess needs its own post to describe why Nintendo said no to Metroid up until 2016. Technically a year longer if you don’t count Federation Force. But after that we got Metroid Samus Returns for the 3DS, and Metroid Prime 4 was revealed for the Switch, and later we finally got the announcement and release of Metroid Dread. And now finally, eight years later, we can start to look forward for Metroid Prime 4 Beyond!
A Look into Metroid Prime 4
In 2024, we wound up getting the announcement video for Metroid Prime 4 during a Nintendo Direct. While it is funny that you can go on YouTube now and look up “Metroid Prime 4 announcement trailer” on YouTube and get two different videos, this announcement was awesome! To get this get re-announced actually getting to see the gameplay, and even get a release year was a refreshing site to see for this game. Especially with the game looking as good as it does, the graphics look slick and highly detailed, the gameplay looks unmistakably how a Prime game should. Samus looks awesome in game and hey, say what you want about Federation Force, I’m happy to see that the teaser they had at the end of the game for Sylux is being continued for this game, especially since Metroid Prime 3 teased that at the end of that game.
That brings us to this week and the last Nintendo Direct we just got, where we got a new look into the game proper, seeing bits of the Planet Viewros, it looking to be a jungle world, though I’m sure we’ll run into different biomes for us to explore in the game. This video really showed how good the game looked, with high detailed models, nice looking particle effects, some nice lighting, Dread and Prime Remaster already looked good on the system, PR especially, but I think we might be looking at probably the best looking game on the Switch, at least graphics wises.
The gameplay looks good too! One of the things I wanted to see more of that I just didn’t get in the first trailer was more of the gameplay and movement. We got some stuff with the morph ball and scanning, but a lot of it was more cinematic movements. In this video, we see some proper combat, seeing Samus fire off her hand cannon, dodging enemy attacks and even firing missiles at an enemy. It looks very similar but more updated style of Prime 1’s movement and combat, at least from what I can tell. Though the stand out part of the gameplay was the introduction of psychic abilities! This includes doing things like opening doors and moving objects and my favorite, controlling the trajectory of her beam, with the video showing an example of Samus firing a charge shot, then controlling it as it flies through three enemies and killing them at the same time! Which is such a cool idea! It kind of reminds me of a reverse bullet time like Max Payne, or more accurately the remote baterang from the Arkham games.
One last thing I wanted to point out with this video is the music, one of my favorite parts of Metroid is the music, with the series having plenty of ear worms, from the original Metroid theme to the many different biome themes. And the Prime series, pictures more ethereal sounding music, especially with the uses of choirs in the music since that was something they could actually use in the games going to GameCube. And so far, the music is following that same note, with it sounding really nice. And unfortunately, that’s about it of what we got from the video, we got some talk of the story, but mainly just the basic outline of something happening on this planet between space and time, so it’s Samus’ job to un-fuck the situation the planet is in. And unfortunately no release date, it’s still said to come out this year, but nothing definitive. Which is a massive kick to the nuts for me. On the bright side, we did get a tease for a new suit in the game which looks awesome! Like the Varia suit already looks great, but they were seriously cooking with this suit design. It makes me excited to see any other suits we might get.
My Thoughts & Speculation
So far, color me impressed! Not just because we’re getting news on the game, but because it looks good so far! It gets me super excited for the game and I can’t wait to see more of it if we get more to see more of it, but even if we did, I might just wind up avoiding the new information. As just like with Dread when that was coming out, when I knew that was a definite buy for me, I wound up avoiding news to go in a blind as I possibly could. So I might do something similar with Prime 4.
Now as for speculation, I have some thoughts on what is going to happen. I believe the area in the first trailer will probably be a tutorial/beginning set piece area very similar to something like Prime 1 and 3. And I say Prime 1 because that game started with Samus landing on the station and beginning her mission there, and moving through an area that seems to be under attack. So it’s cool to have a section like that here as fans get introduced to Sylux, the Space Pirates and Sylux’s Metroids. And then as we finish the beginning stage, we get teleported to Veiwros to begin the game proper. And since the second video mentions, “The threads intertwining space and time,” maybe we even get sent back in time to the past. Which would be kind of cool if we had a Link to the Past styled exploration system similar to the dark dimension in Prime 2. I can already see some time based puzzled you’d have to do to get something like an E Tank or something.
As for Sylux my guess with him is that he’s going to be similar to how Dark Samus was in Prime 2, where we’ll have to fight him at certain points in the game as we explore the world and work to stop whatever he’s doing with the Metroids, which would be pretty cool to see as some of my favorite fights in the Prime games is against the more humanoid enemies, like with Dark Samus in Prime 2, and the Hunters in Prime 3. I also wonder how the psychic abilities are going to work in the exploration of the world, like how is the backtracking game going to work as you unlock more and more psychic abilities to use on different parts of the world. I personally could see some sort of target game with the tracking shot where you have to hit certain targets and only then will an item be open for you to get.
The next and main thing I wanted to talk about was, when is this game going to come out and is it going to be a Switch 2 exclusive? Because I’ve already stated how good the game looks, it potentially looking too good for the poor little Switch. And it’s likely that they could use this as a launch title for the Switch 2 which would most likely launch some time in the Fall, likely before Thanksgiving to fit in for Christmas shopping. On one hand, I kind hope it doesn’t become an exclusive, since then I wouldn’t have to worry about getting a game console and game, something that is becoming an increasing problem what with scalpers jumping in and trying to raise the price on certain items. But on the other hand, it does make me want to get my hands on a Switch 2 if it’s a launch title.
Which is something I don’t really try to do, as when I got my PS5, I waited until their was at least five games I wanted to play before locking in the my purchase for the system. Though with how much I love the Metroid franchise, I don’t think even the added price of a console would stop me from getting my hands on the game. Of course it could also be a cross platform game similar to Breath of the Wild, with it having a version for the Wii U and the then new Switch (Does anyone remember the Wii U? I actually liked that console, had some fun games on it). And after all Metroid Prime Remastered was a Switch game and that game looks fairly close to Prime 4 graphics wise.
Who really knows what’s going to happen with this game and its release, we may get more information in the Switch 2 Direct next week, which is what I’m hoping for, but as long as its released sometime this year, I’ll be a happy camper. And if for some ungodly reason we don’t get this year, the only thing I ask for is Metroid Prime 2 Remastered. At least give the fans something to hold them over if the game gets moved forward!
Conclusion
In conclusion, I’m highly excited for Prime 4, its a game that I’ve been waiting eight years for, I was in high school when I first got my Switch in 2018, and now I’m in college (Oh my god I think I just felt my back aching!), while waiting for a new Metroid game to come out. And thankfully, we did get some stuff, what with the excellent Metroid Dread and Metroid Prime Remastered coming to the Switch! Thank god we got these games in Prime 4’s place while people wondered if the game was canceled or not, could you believe if this was the only new Metroid game we got on the system? Sounds like a nightmare. And with Prime 4 getting closer and closer, I’m going to be looking into doing dedicated reviews for each of the mainline Metroid games, from the original Metroid on the NES, to Super, then Prime, Other M, Dread, and finally Prime 4! At least if all goes well and I’m able to finally get out a post on this damned blog! If only I had more time to work on this stuff… (agony, agony) But anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading, and I hope your just as excited for Metroid Prime 4 as much as I am!
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