Nintendo fans got their first BIG wake-up call in a awhile on Tuesday, and it was pleasant one to say the very least. During Nintendo’s E3 2017 Spotlight Presentation, the company officially confirmed that the highly desired title “Metroid Prime 4” is now in development! The announcement itself quickly became arguably the best announcement out of E3 2017, and it didn’t even feature any gameplay!
Metroid Prime 3 launched on the Nintendo Wii almost a decade ago, and while the story pretty much ended on a sort of cliff-hanger, Nintendo, until now, has shown no signs of continuing the series. Since 2007, we’ve seen very few new Metroid entries “Metroid: The Other M” which also launched on the Nintendo Wii, was a mediocre title at best, but definitely was not one of the more beloved modern Metroid titles. The entire Metroid Prime franchise also saw a trilogy package release on the Wii, with “Metroid: Federation Force” recently launching on the Nintendo 3DS last year.
With Metroid Prime 4 now officially confirmed to be in development, many are probably wondering when we could realistically expect this title to launch. Well, I hate to say it, but even a early 2019 launch might be a bit too soon. Nintendo’s Bill Trinen recently confirmed that the title would not be developed by Retro Studio’s, but instead, will be developed by en entirely new development team despite the development still to be overseen by series producer, Kensuke Tanabe.
With all of this in mind, it could be a very long time until we see even a glimpse of footage for Metroid Prime 4. Personally, I wouldn’t even count out the possibility of the title being present on Nintendo’s NEXT generation console, but it seems the company is set on releasing this title on the Nintendo Switch. With that said, it is very likely that the game has been in the works for awhile now, but the company has just been awaiting the perfect time to announce it to us. Either way, I’m willing to wait as long as it takes. Let’s hope for another 10/10 1st party entry from Nintendo!
