It wasn't long ago that the Metroid fans feared they'd never see another traditional entry in the series again. Metroid: Other M and Metroid Prime: Federation Force both failed to provide the style of gameplay the series was known for (and it failed to meet sales expectations as well). Fortunately, Nintendo revealed that two new Metroid games were coming during E3 2017, but one of those games still never made it to store shelves. Four years later, fans still have yet to see any footage of Metroid Prime 4 even though a brand new game called Metroid Dread was just announced and is releasing in October.
The Metroid series has become an iconic staple in Nintendo's catalog since the original NES like Mario or Zelda. Despite this, the Metroid games have struggled to find an audience beyond a small yet dedicated following. It's mostly because of these hardcore fans and its representation in Super Smash Bros. that the franchise has managed to survive for as long as it has, but there seems to be something of a turning point lately. Within the span of 4 years, three Metroid titles have been announced and the fanbase has been extremely excited for each of them.
Metroid: Samus Returns marked the official revival of the franchise when it dropped on the 3DS in 2017, but Metroid Prime 4 was the title fans were truly ready for. By the time these games were announced, the Switch had already taken off and Nintendo fans were looking forward to what this new device was capable of. Samus Returns ended up being a great game, but it was a remake and some gamers skipped it because of this. However, there's still no footage of Metroid Prime 4 shown to the public at all, whereas Metroid Dread was just revealed and is set to release this fall.
Ideally, whenever a game is revealed to be in development, it's no more than a year or two before some footage of the title's progress is shown off. However, Metroid Prime 4's development was restarted, which is why it's still not out yet. In early 2019, Nintendo informed the community that the development of the title was failing to meet its expectations for unexplained reasons and that the title was being scrapped and restarted. Retro Studios partnered up with Nintendo to restart the project and the game has been in development ever since. Luckily, Nintendo stated during its E3 Direct that Metroid Prime 4 is still being worked on.
Ironically, Metroid Dread has been in the works for many years. Nintendo followed its direct with live footage of the titles it revealed as well as a brief interview detailing the history of Metroid Dread's announcement. Yoshio Sakamoto explained that the idea was explored on the Nintendo DS, but the team felt that the system's limitations were too great to bring their visions to life so the idea was scrapped. Multiple leaks at the time claimed the game existed which turned Metroid Dread into an urban legend of sorts among gamers, so it's amazing to see that the title is finally here. Still, it's strange to think that Metroid Dread is finally releasing before the now comparatively evasive Metroid Prime 4.
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