Metroid fans lose their minds as Prime 4 returns after 5 years of silence

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond finally received a trailer and release window, much to the delight of fans who worried the game had been quietly canceled.

The Nintendo Direct on June 18, 2024 ended with the shocking news that – seven years after its announcement and five years since the last update from the developers – Metroid Prime 4 is finally approaching launch.

Five-and-a-half years after announcing development on the game was restarting, Nintendo released the first trailer for Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, and fans are unsurprisingly stunned and excited.

Most of the reactions come from shocked Metroid lovers who had given up hope of hearing more about Prime 4 after so long. Among them is a daily Metroid Prime 4 news account which, for nearly 2,000 days, posted the same joke about the lack of news.

Many also posted “Metroid Prime 4 is real” or some variation on it, referencing the concerns that the game had been abandoned.

Metroid Prime 4 was originally announced during E3 2017, just months after the Nintendo Switch’s release. However, in January 2019, Nintendo announced that development on the game had been restarted, saying it had “not reached the standards we seek in a sequel to the Metroid Prime series.”

At that point, development restarted from scratch, this time with Metroid Prime 1-3 developer Retro Studios at the helm, and Nintendo warned not to expect more information for a while.

Still, as time went on, fans became more and more anxious regarding Metroid Prime 4’s fate, with some fearing it had quietly been canceled or faced further development issues.

Following today’s announcement, it’s now clear that Nintendo never forgot about Metroid Prime 4 and was merely giving Retro Studios the time it needed to make the next entry in this beloved series.

While we still don’t know much about Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, this first trailer has fans incredibly excited and optimistic for the franchise’s future.