Metroid Prime 4

[TedEH]

I wonder if it would change very many people's perspectives if they knew how many games got half made or even mostly-made and then cancelled when faced with the "delay or release very broken" question. Or cancelled sometimes for stupid-er reasons. I ain't sayin' it's a wise move, but it happens.

I worked on something once that was around a week away from being released when suddenly the IP owner clued in what we were making, went "you know, this product doesn't make a whole lot of sense competitively, does it?" and just canned it, seemingly on a whim, despite it being basically done already.

Edit:
I guess to loop it back around - I can't help but wonder if the time it's taken to get Prime 4 is a result of an actual long dev time, or if this has been cancelled and resurrected a number of times. I could definitely imagine them building the game, deciding "this sucks" or "we don't want this right now", binning it, then trying again later. If it was anything other than Nintendo first-party I'd be very concerned about such a long dev time.

 

[brector]

Hell, Nintendo cancelled Star Fox 2 for SNES. Which was finished, but they were afraid it would compete with N64 game sales

 

[Demiurge]

To @TedEH's point (the quote system isn't working for me), Prime 4 was announced with Bandai-Namco attached in 2017 and whatever they were doing on it got scrapped and the project was moved back to Retro. So there's an explanation of the delay for the past several years. It would be interesting to know if anything was attempted in the decade after 3. Given 3's ending, there was clearly a plan for more.

 

[lattjeful]

I guess to loop it back around - I can't help but wonder if the time it's taken to get Prime 4 is a result of an actual long dev time, or if this has been cancelled and resurrected a number of times. I could definitely imagine them building the game, deciding "this sucks" or "we don't want this right now", binning it, then trying again later. If it was anything other than Nintendo first-party I'd be very concerned about such a long dev time.

It was publicly rebooted at least once, when it changed hands from Bandai Namco to Retro.

Honestly, I think Nintendo doing that teaser all those years ago is the only reason we're even seeing MP4. I bet if they had used their current strategy of waiting to announce a game until it's close to completion, it would have been quietly canned because we wouldn't even know about the project. Not until a game journalist says that "Bandai Namco was working on a Metroid Prime game for Switch," in 2030 or whatever.

 

[Cannibalcricket]

How funny will it be that the second iteration of the Switch will release and Prime 4 gets bumped back again? Is this just a carrot on a string forever? At this point I wouldn't be surprised.

 

[BlackMastodon]

All signs and leaks are pointing to backwards compatibility of games and hardware for the Switch 2.

If they get an update it'll be free, but there's just no way they're going to release a new version.

Not caught up with the thread yet but just wanted to chime in to that these are a pretty bold ask in today's economy. I can't see the reusing the Joycons or making the compatible on the Switch 2/Advance with all the negative attention they got from stick drift. Plus I just assume there isn't a business on earth that would give any convenience away for free, so I doubt that wouldn't make you buy some kind of HD Upgrade or something.

 

[StevenC]

Not caught up with the thread yet but just wanted to chime in to that these are a pretty bold ask in today's economy. I can't see the reusing the Joycons or making the compatible on the Switch 2/Advance with all the negative attention they got from stick drift. Plus I just assume there isn't a business on earth that would give any convenience away for free, so I doubt that wouldn't make you buy some kind of HD Upgrade or something.

The Switch 2 is supposedly having the Joy Cons redesigned. What that entails as yet is unclear exactly, but likely the rail connectors and hopefully the drift. Nintendo just announced some Joy Con charging adapters that imply that they'll be able to connect to the Switch 2 at least wirelessly to play games, but not connect physically to the new rail system.

How funny will it be that the second iteration of the Switch will release and Prime 4 gets bumped back again? Is this just a carrot on a string forever? At this point I wouldn't be surprised.

Unlikely considering Nintendo hasn't delayed a game significantly in years. They announced 2025 for Prime 4 and I'm confident it'll come out then. TotK got delayed from "2022" to "May 2023" so and that's the biggest one we've seen, but also it was worth it. Particularly if Nintendo is planning this as a launch title in late 2025 for Switch 2, I don't really see it being delayed.

 

[Cannibalcricket]

Meh, just kind of lost excitment for Prime 4 with all this talk of new systems and how they will or won't run this or that. I probably won't buy the new system (for myself I'm sure the kids will want it) because there isn't much else I like or am that interested in. I guess I am more hopeful they will remaster Prime 2 at this point and I can just step back and watch my kids have fun on the new stuff that comes out. Maybe they will come out with another handheld standalone like the 3DS, which I enjoyed very much. As for the console wars and all the pissing contest that entails I hope it continues to be a font of crazy new things pushing the bounds of game play and what draws people together. I was born with a Nintendo controller in my hands and will never forget how it felt finding warp pipes in mario or shooting at that that stupid dog in duck hunt. Slaying Mother Brain for the first time and all that good stuff. With Prime 4 on the horizon for so long I've had kids and bought a house. It could be the best game ever, and I hope it is great. The real problem is I've gotten old and disinterested, so whatever happens I'll be watching from the passenger seat while the kiddos have fun. Maybe jumping on as player 2 when they invite me.