Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, Every Possible Fact, Leaks, Details, Rumours and News

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is an exclusive first-person action-adventure game for the Nintendo Switch, developed by Retro Studios and published by Nintendo. The game was first announced at E3 2017 and was initially being developed by Bandai Namco Studios. However, in January 2019, Nintendo revealed that Retro Studios had taken over development. Kensuke Tanabe, the producer of the previous Metroid Prime games, has returned to work on this installment. The highly anticipated Prime 4: Beyond is set to launch in 2025.

We'll be looking at the big and small details in this trailer that really stood out in the game.

 
1. Samus's Gunship 

Samus's gunship looks exactly the same as the one used in Metroid Prime 3. All they did was change the color. 

 
2. Samus's Suit

In the trailer, after Samus Aaron projects herself from her ship and does a superhero landing, you can observe the suit design used in Metroid Prime 2 and 3. 
 
Putting them side by side, you can see that there are some differences. Her bodily proportions look more human; her shoulders aren't as comically wide, though they are still wide here. Her head seems to be as small. Basically, it looks like they made her to be more human, at least from what we can tell from the armor, because we don't know what she looks like under this armor yet. 

3. Heads-Up Display 

In the heads-up display, we first noticed that the health bar isn't just one straight line; it appears to have little cells, which is an interesting creative decision, and on the top right corner.

The map returns, and it looks like the same exact map we've seen in previous Metroid Prime games. The only difference now is that instead of being orange, it becomes blue.
 
Who's to say whether it will be color-coded depending on what region she's in? I remember in Metroid Prime 2, that region would turn from orange to dark purple whenever she was in the dark, so maybe the same thing will happen here. What's interesting about the map is that it has a compass. I kind of feel that something like this isn't too necessary, except that there will be certain objectives you'll have to follow by knowing only which direction to go. I'm looking forward to seeing if the compass is implemented in any clever ways. 

4. Missile Launcher 

If you paid attention to the trailer, you'd notice a picture of a missile on the D-pad. The D-pad is often used for switching visors, so this is a pretty significant change. I imagined the rest of these slots would probably be filled with super missiles, ice missiles, and seeker missiles. 

5. Radar 

Moving on to the final thing in the HUD, we have radar. Along with her danger-indicating exclamation point, I like it's more discrete placement on the HUD; it doesn't take up too much room, but there are new elements that my guys have noticed. 

The enemies are marked with red dots but change to orange X's when you lock them, which is just a little touch. Also, allies like the Galactic Federation shooter are now indicated with green dots.
 

6. Space pirate ships 

I also noticed that the space pirate ships are the same exact ones from Metroid Prime 3, but they don't appear to have any kind of phase on them, which is kind of a good thing because the planet phase is destroyed; theoretically, all the phase is gone, so why would it still be here on the ship?

7. Space pirate design 

As for the space pirates, they are colored purple and green, kind of like in the original Metroid Prime game, but they have the pointy armor from Metroid Prime 2 and 3. I really like the space pirate design; they are a perfect blend of the new and old, but let's be real. The Metroid Prime 3 is 17 years old, so it's a blend of really old and slightly old.

Additional Details 

When Samus goes into her morph ball in the federation research facility, we see a number of things, like a space pirate playing a game of breach and clear with some galactic federation troopers and scientists running away from the impending attack. It looks like they are hiding some sort of device, and it wouldn't surprise if this is something that the space is after.
 
There's a scene showing the energy tank, so the energy tank is confirmed for Metroid 4. 

 
Who is Sylux?

If you don't know who this guy is, he made his introduction. In the Metroid Prime series, he was a sort of rival to Samus, and he was also teased at the end of Metroid Prime 3 following Samus's ship, so they really left us hanging. nearly two decades. 

What makes Sylux important?

Honestly speaking, we don't know. Sylux is what you call a blank slate; there's not much story behind him beyond his weapons and abilities. 
 
He made his debut in 2006's Metroid Hunters on the Nintendo DS. He has fought Samus a couple of times and got beaten up by the game's boss. 
As stated in the Metroid Prime Hunter strategy guide and his trophy in Super Smash Bros. Pro, he holds an intense hatred for the galactic federation as well as Samus for working with them. That can safely be applied by his introduction in Prime Hunters, where he takes down the federation. Sylux gender is quite unknown in the game; the character was referred to as an it.
His hatred for the galactic federation could serve a purpose as an effective narrative for the game.
 
Sylux has a conflict with Samus over working with the federation. The conflict between the pair may be beyond the federation, as rumors have it that Sylux is Samus younger brother, Solomon, who, according to a Nintendo Power article, was reported missing during the space pirate attack on her home colony when she was 6 years old, but that was deemed not canon in the Zero Mission prequel manga from magazine Z, so I think we can safely throw that theory away. 
 
Interestingly, Sylux looks more human in Prime 4 than he did in Hunters. Although the sound he makes when he enters the scene doesn't sound very human,.
 
He was also featured at the very end of the federation force, hijacking a Galactic Federation research facility to hatch a metroid.
 

Will Metroid Prime 4 be played on the Nintendo Switch 2?

Ever since the new. gameplay trailer dropped in the last Nintendo Direct, many people have speculated that the game here isn't running on a regular Nintendo Switch but instead on the upcoming Switch 2, because the game looks so good and runs so well. It isn't possible for something as beautifully grandiose as this to run on underpowered switch hardware, right?
 
Well, to put it bluntly, I completely disagree with this notion for several reasons, the first of which is that the developers at Retro Studios have already proven they can make a high-fidelity game for Switch with Metroid Prime remastered.
 
Seriously, I wonder if people have forgotten about this game, because if they did remember it, they wouldn't be questioning how good Prime 4 looks.
 
Most of everything we see in this trailer has already been achieved in prime remastered: a smooth frame rate, intense article effects, you name it.
 
I never doubted for a second that Retro Studios would be able to utilize the switch's power to its full extent, but of course it comes with some compromises also apparent in the trailer, such as low-poly Rubble Water that doesn't appear to be running at 60 FPS and, of course, the game's resolution.
 
If the trailer was uploaded at 4K or something, then I would think it's running on Switch 2, but no, it's 1080p on YouTube, albeit a poorly compressed 1080p. Still, I don't doubt that the game itself is running at sub-1080p, like Prime Remastered, which ran at 900p. It still looked really good, though, and it's important to note that with a proper display, most games look way better when connected to your TV through the native hardware than they do on a compressed YouTube video, at least in my experience. So I'm sure Metroid Prime 4 Beyond will look good no matter what resolution it's at. 
 
Let's not forget the most important hint: that this game is running on the Nintendo Switch. the fact that the trailer and the title of the video literally have the words Nintendo Switch in there with the description saying it will be released on Nintendo Switch in 2025, so you can argue all day that the switch can't handle Metroid Prime 4, but in the end it's coming to that platform, be it exclusive cross-gen or what have you. 
 
People often say that just because the trailer says it's coming to Switch doesn't mean it was running on Switch hardware, and to that, I say you might actually be right; it's probably running on a Switch development kit or a PC meant to simulate how the game will look on the Nintendo Switch.
 
I can look at both sides of an argument, and I know that gameplay footage in any trailer tends to not be final as it's still undergoing polish and optimization. It might end up looking better upon release, or they might have to make some visual downgrades to get the game running better. 
 
I remember Bayonetta 3 in particular having a trailer where the cutscenes ran at 60 frames per second, which did not translate into the final game. I'm just saying visual downgrades are a possibility with any game, from its marketing to the release cycle, so maybe the same thing could happen to Metroid Prime 4.
 
worse comes to worse. Maybe Retro Studios has to bring the frame rate down to 30 FPS on the current switch in favor of 60 FPS on switch 2. That's not something I'm realistically predicting; I'm just thinking of an example because I believe Retro Studios has spent the last 5 and 1/2 years making the switch version of Metroid Prime 4 their top priority, ensuring it looks and runs the best it can. It's still unconfirmed if there will be a switch version of this game, but I'm sure it'll look better through some backward compatibility enhancements on Switch 2, even though that wasn't the focus for the development team. Either way, we will surely find out more about Metroid Prime 4 Beyond next year.
 
If you really think the switch can't handle a game like this, then play Metroid Prime remastered; it uses the same engine as Prime 4, and it is extremely impressive.