'Backtracking Development Again Was Out of The Question' — Nintendo Says Metroid Prime 4's Open World Hub Was a Victim of The Game's Lengthy Development

Nintendo has said it was unwilling to backtrack connected the plan of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond's arguable unfastened satellite hub contempt seeing "changed" attitudes to open-world games, arsenic the task had already been rebooted erstwhile already.

The Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 blockbuster launched past period to mostly affirmative reviews, but besides a wide swathe of disapproval specifically for its annoying supporting characters and bland open-world godforsaken hub wherever you thrust astir alternatively aimlessly connected a motorbike.

Now, successful an interrogation with Famitsu (translated via ResetEra / Nintendo Everything), the Metroid Prime 4: Beyond improvement squad has revealed that it struggled balancing Nintendo's tendency to experimentation with open-world gameplay with the Metroid series' halfway exploration, and yet had to instrumentality to its archetypal program for the crippled alternatively than hazard delaying it immoderate further.

"At the commencement of the project, possibly owed to the power of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, we saw a batch of comments connected the net saying 'we privation to play an open-world Metroid,'" Nintendo said. (The interrogation does not statement comments from idiosyncratic developers by name.)

"However, Metroid's halfway constituent of 'increasing the magnitude of explorable areas by unlocking powers' is not precise compatible with the 'freedom to spell anyplace from the beginning' of unfastened worlds," Nintendo continued. "Thus we thought to plan a constricted country that could beryllium freely explored, and person that beryllium a hub that could link to different areas. Then we thought that if 1 could determination astir connected the motorcycle successful a satisfying mode successful that area, it could beryllium a conception that mitigates the hostility from exploration, and paces the full game."

In different words, the hub plan seen successful the finished Metroid Prime 4: Beyond was Nintendo's archetypal compromise for including immoderate unfastened satellite elements portion sticking to the franchise's halfway exploration successful its main areas.

"In the end, the crippled took overmuch longer than expected to finish, and we realized that players' impressions toward open-world games had changed," Nintendo added. "That being said, improvement had already been reset erstwhile earlier (when we started again from scratch with Retro Studios) truthful backtracking improvement again was retired of the question, and we resolved to determination guardant with our archetypal vision."

Arriving 18 years aft Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, the past crippled successful Retro Studios' beloved Prime trilogy, Prime 4 was officially announced astatine E3 2017. Initially, Bandai Namco was enactment successful complaint of development, but improvement was rebooted successful January 2019 backmost astatine Retro Studios aft Nintendo decided the game's improvement had fallen abbreviated of expectations.

Nintendo's remark that the open-world hub was portion of its "original vision" for Prime 4 surely suggests it was not Retro Studios' design, though the accusation is that Nintendo lone realized the flaws with it aft the game's improvement was begun anew.

"During this time, shooting games and enactment games went done evolutions, with an summation successful crippled velocity successful particular, but taking successful those changes would person made it hard to conception the tempo of an escapade game, truthful we actively chose to not instrumentality them into account," Nintendo concluded. "Therefore, I deliberation this crippled is beauteous overmuch divorced from the changing of times."

The thought of Samus gaining psychic abilities besides predated Retro Studios' reboot, and originated arsenic an mentation for wherefore she is present capable to power the Charge Beam's directional shot. After Retro took implicit the project, Nintendo said it asked the workplace to instrumentality further gameplay features that expanded connected the thought of Samus gaining a psychic powerfulness set.

"Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is an excellent, if comparatively uneven, revival that reaches heights worthy of the Metroid sanction successful its champion moments," IGN wrote successful our Metroid Prime 4: Beyond review, scoring the crippled 8/10.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You tin scope Tom astatine [email protected] oregon find him connected Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social