It’s been a long time since the Metroid Prime trailer dropped back in 2017, but the Metroid Prime 4 release date has finally been leaked by global eCommerce giants, Amazon.
From the first Metroid game on the NES right through to Metroid Prime 3: Corruption on the Wii, Samus Aran continues to hold the accolade of the baddest femme fatale in the galaxy. With kick-ass moves that make the Master Chief look like Bambi and a cosplay following like no other, Samus is one undoubtedly one of Nintendo’s best-ever characters.
But why has it taken so long for us to find out about the Metroid Prime 4 release date? Come to think of it, what will Metroid Prime 4 even be like?
Luckily for you, we live and breathe Nintendo here at Retro Dodo. Check out everything we know about the new game including the Metroid Prime 4 release date information below!
Everything We Know About Metroid Prime 4
What Is Metroid Prime?
Metroid Prime follows the Story of Samus Aran, a bounty hunter who travels the galaxy kicking ass and taking names. When she’s not dealing with Metroids or battling Meta Ridley, she’s exploring uncharted territories and pumping aliens full of plasma.
The arm-cannon kind, not blood.
The Metroid Prime trilogy first started back on the GameCube in 2002. It’s one of the best GameCube games of all time and hardly ever left my Cube back in the day.
Metroid Prime was the first 3D Samus game produced by Nintendo and featured stunning alien planet levels with some of the biggest enemies I’ve ever seen.
Played from a first-person-view through Samus’ helmet, players explore space crafts, underworld dungeons, and dingy uninhabited overworlds in a quest to power up Samus’s suit while battling space pirates and escaping the clutches of evil.
What did I tell you; Samus is a badass!
Some of you may have played as Samus on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, or any other Smash Bros. game for that matter. She’s a firm Nintendo fixture that, for some reason, seems to get less attention than Mario and Link.
Thankfully, that looks as though it’s about to change.
Who Is Making Metroid Prime 4?
Nintendo has revealed that Retro Studios is currently making Metroid Prime 4.
The Retro Studios team that worked on the first three Metroid Prime games has been working on developing the new title for a number of months now. They have even appointed new members of staff for specific roles.
The team has also hired Halo lead character designer Kyle Hefley for the new title. This makes sense as the two games do have very similar feels to them and follow a similar gameplay pattern.
Initially, word on the bounty hunter street was that Bandai Namco had a part to play in the game’s development. Retro Studios claimed to have no involvement in Metroid Prime 4 at first, adding to the confusion and mystery surrounding this title.
There’s no wonder we had no idea about the Metroid Prime 4 release date for so long!
Which Consoles Will Metroid Prime 4 Be Available On?
If the Metroid Prime 4 release date stays the same, then it’s safe to say that this could be one of the first titles on the Nintendo Switch Pro. While it would be great to play a new Metroid Prime game on the existing Switch, Samus would look super-slick in 4K.
It’s unknown whether Switch Pro games will receive Switch releases akin to the Wii/GameCube Twilight Princess release. If Metroid Prime does release on the Nintendo Switch 2, however, then it might be a title that Nintendo uses to sell the new console. This would be especially true if BOTW2 drops on the old Switch before the new Prime game release date.
When Is Metroid Prime 4 Coming Out?
The Metroid Prime 4 release date is set for Monday 2 January, 2023.
We’re sorry to break the news to all the readers hoping for a 2021 release, but there it is. Amazon has leaked the supposed release date to a customer who pre-ordered the game back in 2017.
Talk about being ahead of the game!
This means that the fourth game in the canon will be releasing 21 years after the first title came out on the GameCube and 16 years after the last instalment in the Metroid Prime series.
Nintendo and Amazon have yet to comment on the date leak. This could be because it’s nonesense, or it could be because Shigeru Miyamoto is giving Jeff Bezos a verbal whipping for the mistake.
Let’s look at that date – Monday 2nd January 2023. This could well be a place holder as it’s almost two years away from the date the tweet was posted. But still, there are a few factors that prove interesting about this advertised Metroid Prime 4 release date.
Firstly, how many games do you know of that are released on a Monday? They usually drop towards the end of the week, giving gamers a chance to play them over the weekend.
Secondly, placeholders for albums, games, or films usually use the 30th or the 31st of the month, not the 2nd. What’s more, developers usually use June or December as halfway points through the year; they don’t tend to use January.
What New Features Will Metroid Prime 4 Have?
Metroid Prime games boast a cracking multiplayer mode much like the multiplayer-madness experienced in Goldeneye 007. You can bet that the Metroid Prime 4 release date will be accompanied by gamers buying Nintendo Online subscriptions in order to battle friends across the internet.
We’d like to see a couch co-op mode too for friends who still play together in the same room. This might be a bit tricky while Covid still rules the roost, but hopefully things will go back to normal one day.
Obviously, the new Metroid Prime title will have better graphics than the previous three instalments, and the Joycon motion controls would be great for using Samus’s grappling hook.
DLC plays a huge part in game releases these days too. Gamers want more for their money, and are willing to spend more money on DLC to get it… which doesn’t really make sense.
We expect Nintendo to follow the pattern used on BOTW and Pokemon Sword/Shield and introduce DLC to keep fans coming back to Metroid Prime 4 once the game drops.
How Much Will Metroid Prime 4 Cost?
Various sources cite Amazon pre-orders being priced at $60, though Amazon currently has no stock available to order for us to check this against. UK retailer Argos is listing the game at £49.99, which equates to around $61.10, so that’s pretty similar.
That would put the game 25% cheaper than BOTW when it released but on a par with other comparable game releases. If the title does drop on the Nintendo Switch Pro, then we can expect the 4K version to be more expensive.
What do you think of the leaked Metroid Prime 4 release date? Will you be putting your name down for a copy, or are you sticking to kicking ass with Samus on Smash Bros?
Join the conversation over on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!
Seb Santabarbara has bought every Nintendo console that has ever been released in his 31 years on Planet Earth. His favourite game franchise is Zelda, and he’s patiently waiting for Banjo-Kazooie to come back to the fold. When he’s not playing games, he’s travelling the world in his self-converted camper van.
