Nintendo has reconfirmed that Metroid Prime 4 is still slated to launch before the end of the year. They also revealed that it will be playable alongside other Nintendo Switch 2 games (Mario Kart World, Donkey Kong Bananza, Street Fighter 6 Years 1-2 Fighters Edition, Hades II, Borderlands 4, and Elden Ring Tarnished Edition) during Fan Expo Canada in Toronto, Ontario. The expo runs from Thursday, August 21, to Sunday, August 24, essentially at the same time as Gamescom, at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
It's definitely great news for all those gamers who have been waiting eight long years for Metroid Prime 4, ever since it was announced in June 2017. Its troubled history is well-known: Nintendo had initially handed development to Bandai Namco, only to change their mind and bring it back to historic developer Retro Studios. That inevitably affected the release timeline.
Between Nintendo's confirmation and the recent listing on the South Korean rating board (the GRAC), there's good reason to believe Metroid Prime 4 won't be delayed again. If that's the case, a release date announcement could be forthcoming.
Meanwhile, our Nathan Birch was able to go hands-on with the game during the Nintendo Switch 2 reveal event:
The Metroid Prime 4: Beyond demo on offer at the Nintendo Switch 2 event was relatively brief, essentially consisting of the game’s intro and its first boss battle. The demo opens with Samus touching down in the middle of a pitched battle between the Federation Force and those pesky Space Pirates on the remote planet of Tenmaar. For this section of the game, the usual lonely tone of Metroid games is cast aside in favor of lots of action and general activity, as a larger conflict unfolds all around you.
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond probably won’t change how most fans feel about the series. It’s more of a good thing that we haven’t got a fresh dose of in a long time, and make no mistake, this is going to be the most playable, technically-sound version of Metroid Prime to date. A few easily-tweakable issues aside, the mouse controls work, and 120fps on a Nintendo console is a real thing that’s actually happening. I still have a lot more I need to play, but it seems like Metroid Prime fans have a rewarding bounty coming their way.
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