At the end of January, fans of Samus and her space bounty hunter adventures took in a collective deep breath in anticipation for a video tweet Nintendo sent out with an update regarding Metroid Prime 4’s development. Was this the long-awaited game play trailer we assumed was coming at The Game Awards in December? News about where the fourth game in the series is taking Samus? Confirmation of the November 29, 2019 release date? 

Sadly, Shinya Takahashi, Senior Managing Executive Officer at Nintendo swallowed a hard pill and told fans that the development of Metroid Prime 4 wasn’t going as planned and was being completely restarted. The silver lining of the announcement is that Retro Studios, who brought us the original Metroid Prime Trilogy, is taking over development. 

With development restarting and a long road to the release date, what does this hole in the schedule mean for the series at large, the Nintendo Switch and our favorite bounty hunter?

Metroid Prime 4 Out — Metroid Prime Trilogy In? 

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Senior Editor at Game Informer, Imran Khan, shared some insider knowledge after the video update was released. According to Khan, Metroid Prime Trilogy has been ready to be released on the Switch has been completed for some time and, confirming the rumors heard around The Game Awards, was supposed to be announced during the December show. 

With high expectations dashed, we are sure that Nintendo has plans to announce the trilogy’s Switch release in the near future. Nintendo has always been very poised and practiced in its schedule and presentation. All the planning that went into the update on Metroid Prime 4’s development surely included some behind-the-scenes shuffling of release windows to help stave off disappointment for fans. 

Samus Returns…to the Nintendo Switch? 

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With the black hole-sized gap in the schedule for the foreseeable future, will Nintendo reach deeper into its bag of tricks, passed the Metroid Prime Trilogy to some more vintage classics? Many of the handheld games could be re-released in a retro-bundle (similar to some of MegaMan’s recent outings) that could help satiate fans as they wait for more Metroid Prime 4 news.

A Disturbance in the Force?

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With a major player in Nintendo’s announced lineup of games coming down the pipe out, will we see a good majority of the schedule shifting to accommodate? This year, we’re being treated to games from the Yoshi series, Animal Crossing, a threequel to Luigi’s Mansion and the 2019 Pokémon game; but does Nintendo have any surprise releases up its sleeve? 

Do you have any theories about what Nintendo has planned for 2019 with the release pushed back for Metroid Prim 4? Let us know!