Nintendo was interested in remastering the Metroid Prime Trilogy after Retro Studios had set a high bar with the remaster of the first game.
Less than two years ago, Reset Era member Belmont had correctly revealed details regarding the Metroid Prime remake as well as plans for a remake of the entire trilogy by Nintendo and developer Retro Studios. However, he added that this was the plan prior to the studio getting the development of Metroid Prime 4 back from Namco.
With Retro Studios back at the helm of the development of Metroid Prime 4, the developer was no longer able to work on remasters for Metroid Prime 2 and 3. Therefore, the new plan became for the studio to simply finish up the remaster of the first game, after which Nintendo would contract out work for the other two games to be done by other studios. The Metroid Prime remake would hence serve to establish the visual bar and style for other studios to follow.
The Reset Era member stated that he was unaware of whether this is still the plan or if work on Metroid Prime 2 and 3 remasters has even begun. According to him, Retro Studios had just finished up work on the Metroid Prime remaster a few weeks prior to his post on September 24, 2021.
He had also clarified that prior rumors regarding Nintendo and Retro Studios having already finished development of all three remasters were untrue. Similarly, he had clarified that rumors regarding Retro Studios secretly putting together a demo to take development of Metroid Prime 4 away from Namco were also entirely false. He added that this wasn’t how the relationship between Retro and Nintendo of Japan worked.
With regards to the Metroid Prime remaster, Belmont had stated that it was designed from the beginning as a full asset remake of the original Metroid Prime Trilogy. Now that the game is available, we know that this part of his information was indeed correct. According to him, Nintendo didn’t want them making any changes to the design. The console maker wanted a 1:1 remake of the original game, with new art built to modern standards. It came down to Retro Studios even reusing the original collision meshes and simply replacing the art. Nintendo didn’t want to make any changes to the level design of the classic. Therefore, the project was never at any point considered a simple remaster of the original, and was always planned to be a full remake.
