Nintendo had given Retro Studios the task of remastering the Metroid Prime Trilogy after the studio’s unannounced music RPG was canceled.
Kiwi Talkz, a member of gaming enthusiast forum Reset Era, claims to have spoken to a few Retro Studios developers on the relationship between the studio and Nintendo. Based on what they heard, Nintendo’s producers are extremely picky about things involving design and whether the game is ultimately fun to play. Should this not be the case, the company will scrap the project, even if art assets have already been made.
As for the project Retro Studios had been working on between Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze and Metroid Prime Remastered, the Reset Era member was told that it was some kind of music role-playing game, where the main mechanic involved singing.
The aforementioned music RPG project turned out to be a huge disaster. After years of it going nowhere, Nintendo canceled it altogether and put Retro Studios on remastering the Metroid Prime Trilogy. According to the Reset Era member, this was also done in order to help Retro Studios in developing the production pipeline to include outsourcing for assistance. Prior to Metroid Prime Remastered, all of the studio’s games were fully developed internally.
When Nintendo’s plans to have Bandai Namco Entertainment work on Metroid Prime 4 fell through, the project was handed back to Retro Studios. As per the Reset Era member, the studio “patched things up” with producer Kensuke Tanabe, and moved all of its resources to work on the fourth entry. As a result, the development team was only able to remaster the original Metroid Prime.
Even after their discussion with Retro Studios developers, the Reset Era member remains unsure about Nintendo’s plans to remaster Metroid Prime 2 and 3. Previously, Twitter/X insider SamusHunter2 had claimed that the console maker was originally planning a standalone launch for Metroid Prime 2 Remastered in 2024, but it got pushed a couple of time and is now planned for release sometime in 2025, likely between Donkey Kong Country Returns HD and Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Edition.
