In short, Metroid Prime 4 is likely a long way out. And by then, who knows if the Nintendo Switch will even be Nintendo’s go-to platform? Perhaps, then, we’ll see Metroid Prime 4 in 2023 - although 2024 is more likely. If Metroid Prime 4 had been in development since 2017 and Nintendo pulled the plug in early 2020, that may suggest that the company had a three-year development cycle in mind. Sometimes the series goes eight years without an entry sometimes it gets two entries in a single year. There’s no pattern to Metroid release times.

Where does that leave Metroid Prime 4’s release date? The series timeline up until this point doesn’t necessarily help that much. Fans can see how the game differs from the 2D versions of Metroid and experience different kinds of action-packed gameplay through a first-person shooter lens and Samus' various visors.This is good news for longtime fans, as Retro Studios developed the first three Metroid Prime games, all of which fell somewhere between “well-received” and “beloved.” But it’s also potentially bad news, since it means that a game with at least three years of development time had to jettison all progress and start again. With Metroid Prime Remastered now available for digital download on the Nintendo Switch, fans can experience the critically-acclaimed classic in brilliant new graphics. This dedication means the team will be giving their all into the gameplay and exploration of Metroid Prime 4.

Instead of continuing a game they weren't proud of, they poured time and effort into a remaster of a classic game that brought Metroid into the first-person shooter genre.

While fans were disappointed with the initial delay of Metroid Prime 4, the team at Retro Studios has clearly put in effort learning and understanding why the original Metroid Prime is so beloved by the gaming community as a whole. The release of Metroid Prime Remastered highlights the important fact that the new team at Retro Studios has experience developing a game in the Metroid Prime universe.

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