Metroid Prime 4: Beyond (“MP4”) has had a very long development from its initial announcement in 2017, to its restarting from scratch in 2019, after which we saw nothing from it until the trailer that fully unveiled it in June 2024. In early 2025, we got a second trailer for it and players had the chance to test a demo of the game at various conventions worldwide, before its release on December 4, 2025. This feature is intended as a record of the many crumbs we had of Metroid Prime 4 from announcement to release, and even before.

2007

Following Metroid Prime 3: Corruption’s release, Retro Studios was clear that they intended to take a break from Metroid, although they never closed the door on revisiting it. Corruption ended with a cliffhanger that would go unresolved for more than 18 years: who was that in the ship following Samus in the Secret Ending? Most fans speculated it was Sylux, but there was no hard evidence or confirmation.

2009

In an interview with Kotaku after the release of Metroid Prime Trilogy in 2009, Kensuke Tanabe hinted at further Prime games, and said he wanted to expand upon Metroid Prime 2’s multiplayer mode, perhaps including new functions for the Morph Ball.

In a separate interview as part of the Developer’s Voice featurette for Trilogy on the Nintendo Channel, co-producer Risa Tabata said a new Metroid Prime was possible. On whether Dark Samus or Phazon might make a return despite their eradications in Corruption, she said it was up to the fans.

2015

The announcement of Metroid Prime: Federation Force was met with derision by Metroid fans and gamers alike, with a vocal minority calling for its cancellation. Tanabe-san told Eurogamer that he had ideas for a fourth Metroid Prime which would be set on a single planet and include a time-shifting mechanic. He also said he wanted to explore the history of Sylux, one of the six rival Bounty Hunters from Metroid Prime Hunters who hates the Galactic Federation and Samus Aran by association for unknown reasons. Furthermore, Tanabe confirmed eight years of speculation: that was in fact Sylux in the mysterious ship at the end of Corruption. He confirmed that despite what Tabata-san said, the storylines of Phazon and Dark Samus had concluded and would not be revisited.

2016

Federation Force was released to little fanfare. However, it included a mission in which the titular characters are asked to retrieve Metroid Eggs from a Space Pirate laboratory. This is an optional objective, but doing so unlocks a new secret ending after the credits. In it, a figure breaks into a Galactic Federation research station. They access a locked chamber containing a Metroid Egg and activate a laser that causes it to hatch inside a tank. As the Metroid screeches, the camera, until then from the intruder’s perspective, zooms out to show a pointed shoulder resembling Sylux’s armor. The Environment Artist who designed this cutscene, Logan Foster, confirmed in an ArtStation post that this was Sylux.

2017

At E3 2017, Nintendo announced that MP4 was now in development for Nintendo Switch, and separately announced Metroid: Samus Returns during Treehouse Live. The First Look trailer gave away nothing else.

Afterwards, Bill Trinen stated that MP4 would be released “beyond 2017”, and Retro Studios was not developing it. A Nintendo representative was misquoted as saying it would be released in 2018, before this was clarified to mean “2018 and beyond”. No further information was shared, although late in the year, persistent rumors suggested the “talented new development team” was Bandai Namco Entertainment.

2018

In February 2018, Eurogamer confirmed with multiple sources that Bandai Namco Studios Singapore was developing MP4 in collaboration with Nintendo. After publication, the story was updated to say that the Japanese arm of Bandai Namco had taken over development while Singapore moved onto another project. Among the developers of MP4 were former LucasArts staff that had worked on Star Wars 1313, which was cancelled. One of them said on LinkedIn they were working on an “unannounced IP (first person shooter/adventure exclusive to the Nintendo Switch)”. Nintendo declined to comment.

MP4 was a no-show at E3 2018, with Trinen, Nate Bihldorff and Reggie Fils-Aime assuring fans its development was progressing well and it needed more time to cook, confirming it would not release that year. Reggie explained that it was announced early so fans would know it was eventually coming – perhaps as consolation for Federation Force – and they usually prefer to unveil games six-nine months away from release. In November, Reggie said Nintendo had an internal expectation of when MP4 would be released.

2019

On January 25, 2019, Nintendo uploaded a Development Update on MP4 to their YouTube channel. Producer Shinya Takahashi revealed that the game’s development was not meeting their expectations, and they would be completely restarting production from scratch, with Retro Studios taking over. Therefore, its release would be delayed further. Kensuke Tanabe, the original producer of the Metroid Prime series, was confirmed to be returning as well. Nintendo never confirmed the original development studio, whether it was Bandai Namco or not.

The announcement sent shockwaves through the gaming industry, and the video was trending at #11 on YouTube. Nintendo’s shares dropped by 5% the day after, which some sources attributed to MP4’s delay.

On April 26, Retro Studios announced they were hiring an Art Director, Product Tester, Art Outsourcing Manager, Level 3 IT Engineer, Level 1 Gameplay Engineer, Lead External Environment Artist, Lead Character and Cinematics Artists, Lead Graphics Engineer, Level 1 and 3 Tools Engineers and a Physics Engineer. In their words, they were seeking “a few world-class developers to join the Metroid Prime team on our journey in developing Metroid Prime 4.” Additional jobs were posted throughout the year.

At E3 2019, Tanabe declined to answer a question about MP4 from Eurogamer as he was there to promote Luigi’s Mansion 3.

Jhony Ljungstedt, a veteran of DICE, was hired as the Senior Art Director in early 2020. Bryan Venzen, a VFX Artist, was rehired by Retro after previously working there and has acknowledged working on MP4. In November, the website of Narrative Designer Nicholas Shaw surfaced, on which he self-identified as MP4’s lorekeeper.

2020

2020 saw no news about MP4, so fans turned to new hires at Retro for clues about the game. Many experienced developers, such as James Beech, Nicholas Wilson, Bharathwaj Nandakumar, joined Retro, while Thomas Robins, a designer for Metroid Prime 3, acknowledged working on MP4 before leaving the studio. There were plenty of new developers on the project as well.

In July, Tanabe was interviewed by Video Games Chronicle, and spoke about Nintendo’s philosophy regarding development of games that appeal equally to casual and hardcore players. He said: “Nintendo’s philosophy on game creation is that we don’t ignore casual players in creating our games. This is also true for games such as those in the Metroid Prime series; games that at first glance look like they are only aimed at core gamers.” This led to speculation about how MP4 might be tailored toward casual gamers.

In August, we published an interview with Richard Vorodi, Metroid Prime Hunters’ story designer. Notably, he said this when we asked about Sylux: “We have a great backstory written up for Sylux. There’s a lot of threaded storytelling in there, that made using the character in other games a good fit. I would love to tell you what’s going on under that suit…”

In October, we reported that Retro was hiring Product Testers and a Storyboard Artist. Of note was one of the duties of the Storyboard Artist position: “Help define emotional scenes that will resonate with audiences”, which some sites took as an indication that MP4 had a greater focus on story.

In December, Polygon asked Doug Bowser about MP4, Bayonetta 3 and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (then known as “the sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild”). He declined to share new information about any of them.

2021

In January, Sam Tung and Zachariah Roane joined Retro Studios as Storyboard Artists and later acknowledged their work on the game, some of which was included in the 2024 announcement trailer. More hires were made between February and June, with additional jobs being posted in the fall of 2020. MP4 appeared on Nintendo’s earnings reports with a release date of “TBA”.

Aside from this, the only other crumb we got was a brief mention of MP4 during the Nintendo Direct at E3 2021. Takahashi assured fans that development was going well, and to tide us over, announced Metroid Dread, another legendary and long-awaited game.

2022

In January, Retro tweeted that they were looking for Tools and Technology Engineers to work on MP4.

In February, Retro changed their profile banner on Twitter to concept art featuring a silhouette of Samus. A hiring advertisement with the same image surfaced on ArtStation the next day.

In April, Dylan Jobe tweeted that Retro was looking for a contract writer to join the MP4 development team, with the writer required to write “in-game backstory, world building, general lore, and character breakdowns”, suggesting they would write the scans and Logbook entries. More hires were made, including Adlan Ramly (UI Technical Artist), Taylor Rohrig (Layout Artist), Korri Kopsi (Concept Art Producer) and Jonathan Garcia (Senior Environment Artist).

2023

There were no new developments about MP4 in 2023. Metroid Prime Remastered was shadow-dropped in February, and a Nintendo UK marketing survey released the next month included multiple answers the survey taker could choose for why they bought the remaster. One of them was “It seems like a good way to pass the time until Metroid Prime 4 releases”.

(Image courtesy of @benjicong on Twitter)

2024

We FINALLY got a proper trailer for MP4 at the tail end of the Direct that aired on June 18th, which confirmed the return of Sylux, revealed his work with the Space Pirates, and announced its release date as 2025. Additionally, it revealed the subtitle: Beyond. Multiple Retro developers reacted to the announcement with elation that they could finally show what they were working on.

2025

In the March 25 Nintendo Direct, Nintendo shared another trailer for MP4, revealing the setting of planet Viewros that was shown at the very end of the previous trailer. It also unveiled Samus’s new Psychic Abilities, and a new red and black suit. The game’s box art was revealed afterwards as well.

Another glimpse of MP4 was shown in the April 2 Direct, which confirmed it would receive a Nintendo Switch 2 Edition for that console. The Switch 2 version supports gyro and mouse controls, HDR and 4K or 120 FPS display. The following day, gameplay from the opening sequence of MP4 was shown during Treehouse Live, the same sequence depicted in the 2024 trailer, of the Space Pirate invasion of Planet Tanamaar. Fans noticed a mysterious item being wheeled away during the attack, which was confirmed to be an alien artifact the Federation wanted to protect from the Space Pirates. The demo ended with a fight against the large Space Pirate boss Aberax, which is possessed by a form of Metroid that can take control of a creature’s mind. Upon its death, Sylux makes his grand entrance, and in the ensuing scuffle, shoots the artifact. This envelops the planet in an energy blast, the outcome of which was Samus being sent to Viewros.

This demo of MP4 was playable at various Nintendo Switch 2 Experiences worldwide, Japan Expo in France, Fan Expo Canada in Toronto, Canada, and Gamescom in Cologne, Germany throughout the year. Our former Community Manager Glaedrax had the chance to play it at Japan Expo and shared his impressions on Twitter.

(Image courtesy of Glaedrax)

Throughout May, clips of MP4 were shown on the Nintendo Today! app, which shared the opening cutscene, demos of the mouse controls and Morph Ball, and the Aberax and Sylux introduction cutscenes. In June, an advertisement for MP4 at the Oxford Circus station in London surfaced, erroneously claiming the game was “OUT NOW”, which was later changed to “2025”. In July, it was rated 12 and up in South Korea, in August, it was rated T for Teen by the ESRB, and in September, it was rated 14 and up in Brazil.

During the September 12 Direct, we finally got the answer to the question we’d been asking since 2017: when will MP4 be released? December 4, 2025. This immediately put persistent rumors of a delay to rest. The trailer unveiled the new Vi-O-La bike that Samus will utilize for traversal across Viewros in MP4, which is compatible with the red and black suit, the Vi-O-La Suit. The trailer gave us glimpses of new areas and enemies, and a shot of Sylux levitating with a new suit. At the end, it was revealed that new amiibo of Samus, Samus with Vi-O-La, and Sylux would be released prior to and alongside the game. Preorders were opened the same day.

The following week, Nintendo unveiled a Europe-only Power Bundle for players who preordered MP4, which came with a Samus desk mat, holographic stickers, and a metal keychain. A follower of Shinesparkers who was traveling in Japan sent us a potential back cover for the game, featuring new screenshots of the mysterious Alien Artifact from the opening sequence and a new robotic character. MP4 was announced to be playable at PAX Australia in October, and PowerA announced an exclusive MP4 Switch 2 slim case was coming on October 30th.

In early October, Nintendo Germany shared a video with impressions of MP4 at Gamescom, and near the end of the month, an article in the Japanese magazine Nintendo Dream shared new renders of Sylux and the Lamorn, with spoiler-y details about both. Excerpts released from Metroid Prime 1-3: A Visual Retrospective revealed that it was Retro Studios’ work on Metroid Prime Remastered that led Nintendo to give them MP4 to develop in 2019 after it restarted production. Lastly, unlisted ads were discovered on Nintendo of America’s YouTube channel that show a new boss.

At the time of writing, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is set to release in 41 days. Keep following us for the latest news about it!

Written by: Roy

Header image by: Irene