Metroid Prime 4, especially in comparison toMetroid Dread, is a bit of an odd duck from an outsider’s perspective. In the time sinceMetroid Prime 4’s E3 2017 announcement,Metroid Dreadwas announced, released, has been updated with new modes, and has a Boss Rush mode coming in April. This is due to, as many fans know, a particularly hard development forMetroid Prime 4.
Metroid Prime 4was, at first, reportedly in development by Bandai Namco Studios of Japan and Singapore, not Retro Studios. But, after a silent 2018, Nintendo announced that thedevelopment ofMetroid Prime 4had been restarted under Retro Studios—the creator of the previous games.
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Retro Studios Shares a New Image–Likely of Metroid Prime 4
Because of this,Metroid Prime 4has been incredibly but understandably silent. Since then, Retro Studios has published several job listings for the game on its Twitter profile, but little to nothing else. In fact, all of last year was just a few job listings, with the most recent job listing post being January 2022. However, the Twitter account has done something unique for the first time in years—Retro Studios changed its banner photo to that of something forMetroid Prime.
Nothing can be really seen in the image, except a bunch of blue lighting and asilhouette of Samus. If someone looks closely, it seems that the various blue shadings also showcase some form of mask, but there’s nothing really substantial to be taken from the image—except the posting of the image itself. It is a small flicker of life forMetroid Prime 4,but it is indeed a flicker of life.
After thesuccess ofMetroid Dread, all eyes are onMetroid Prime 4.The timing of this post could also suggest that news is on the way. Fans have been waiting for years, and if this holds true, perhaps fans will learn Prime 4this year.
Metroid Patterns
It’s not as well-defined as the new image, butMetroidhas a particularly unique release schedule. Typically,Metroidgamescome out in clusters with huge gaps in time between. From 2002-2010, 9 Metroid games came out. Nothing released from then to 2016’sFederation Force. Samus Returnsfollowed in 2017. 2018-2020, for obvious reasons, was silent. So, withMetroid Dreadout, it’s not impossible Nintendo holds this pattern and releasesMetroid Prime 4this year or more likely next.
Recently, Nintendo did hold a Direct presentation highlighting several releases in the first half of 2022. In the next few months, especially around the general E3 time, fans will likely learn more about more upcoming titles. This doesn’t mean the latter half of 2022 as a release date forMetroid Prime 4,but as thefall release ofThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2becomes Nintendo’s primary focus, it could be that Nintendo setsMetroid Prime 4up as the next big game within the next year or so. It all remains to be seen, but a flicker of life in a long-silent franchise can only be a good thing.
