Following its release earlier this month,Metroid Dreadhas been showered with praise, as many have called it one of the bestMetroidgames ever made, adding that it’s breathed new life into the seemingly dormant franchise.Metroidfever seems to be sweeping the gaming landscape, and those who’ve finished the new entry are excitedly waiting for more news on the upcomingMetroid Prime 4. Unfortunately, whileMetroid Dreadis a success in just about every aspect,Metroid Prime 4isn’t guaranteed to be one as well.
While there’s certainly a lot inPrime 4’s favor, however, there seems to be an equal number of things for fans to be cautious about. The success ofMetroid Dreadseems to have caused many people to forget and that there’s still so much mystery surrounding the next entry in the series. This isn’t to say that fans shouldn’t be excited forMetroid Prime 4, quite the opposite, but that they’re going to be two completely different games. Everyone is rooting forMetroid Prime 4to be a success, and hopefully it is, butMetroid Dread’s successis unlikely to influence its development in any meaningful, positive way.
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MercurySteam and Retro Studios
Both MercurySteam and Retro Studios have worked on other successfulMetroidgames in the past, making them the perfect companies to handle the new generation of games. After the success that wasMetroid: Samus Returnson the 3DS, MercurySteam seemed like the obvious pick forNintendo to have make a new 2DMetroidtitle. It’s clear that choosing the studio was the right choice, asMetroid Dreadtook a lot of the ideas introduced in theMetroid 2remake and explored them further in the new title.
Retro Studios also is a great pick for continuing the franchise’s first-person entries, as the studio created the originalMetroid Primetrilogy in its early days. That said, while the studio successfully translated the gameplay of the original 2DMetroidgames into 3D space fortheMetroid Primegames, it hasn’t touched anythingMetroid-related in over 10 years. That doesn’t mean that Retro Studios is incapable of making another entry in the franchise, but that its recent work, while good, doesn’t reflect the first-person puzzle/action gameplay that the series is known for.
What’s more, a lot of the key personnel whoworked on theMetroid Primeseriesare no longer with Retro Studios. Mark Pacini, the director of all three titles, left the company in 2008, leaving Kensuke Tanabe to directMetroid Prime 4. That itself isn’t a huge red flag, as Tanabe has been a producer on the rest of the franchise, but the general changing of staff at Retro means that the upcoming game isn’t guaranteed to be cut from the same cloth as the originals.
RELATED:The Difference Between Metroid Prime 4 and Metroid Dread Explained
It’s no secret that bothMetroid DreadandMetroid Prime 4have had their fair share of development issues. After it was revealed at E3 2021,Metroid Dread’s producer Yoshio Sakamotowas interviewed about the lengthy development process of the game, detailing that it spanned 15 years. That doesn’t mean that it was in constant production for that amount of time, but that it was off and on before truly picking up steam and being entirely greenlit. The development of the game itself wasn’t necessarily troubled, however, as the issues withMetroid Dreadwere mainly due to the technical limitations of Nintendo’s hardware hampering the vision of the project.Metroid Prime 4, on the other hand, seems to be a different story.
Metroid Prime 4was announced in 2017, but there wasn’t much to show. A teaser logo was all that Nintendo had to offer for its announcement, alongside the fact that Bandai Namco would be developing the game. The following year, Nintendo claimed that development was going well, but didn’t showcase the game.Metroid Prime 4wasn’t mentioned again until late 2019, when it was announced that development on the project was being restarted with Retro Studios taking the reigns of the franchise back from Bandai Namco.
Nintendo addressed the project by saying that development was going well once morebefore the reveal ofMetroid Dreadduring this year’s E3, but there still hasn’t been any significant update on the game since Retro Studios started its work. There’s nothing to suggest that there have been any major issues with the game’s development following its reset, however the complete silence surrounding it, paired with the fact that much of the originalMetroid Primeteam is no longer with the studio, has given fans a reason to be cautious.
As a result of the differences between the two companies and where they currently sit in terms ofMetroidexperience, it’s hard to say thatMetroid Dread’s success would influenceMetroid Prime 4in any significant way. Additionally, ifdevelopment forMetroid Prime 4started in 2019, by the timeDread wasreleased in 2021, Retro Studios should be well out of the design phase on its project meaning thatPrime 4wouldn’t be mechanically influenced byMetroid Dreadat all if development is going as well as Nintendo claims.
There’s plenty working inMetroid Prime 4’s favor, as it seems like excitement for the franchise is at an all-time high, but expectations may have been setimpossibly high byMetroid Dread. There’s nothing to indicate thatPrime 4will be anything other than a successful release, but it’s important to remember thatMetroid Dreadwill likely have very little bearing on howPrime 4has been developed.
Metroid Dreadis available now for Nintendo Switch.
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