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Pre-Release Metroid Prime 4: Beyond - Pre-Release Discussion Thread (UPDATE: New Trailer)

SmolSam said:
I would rather the franchise die than have a bad producer in charge. Imagine if Sakamoto's replacement decides to appeal better to the Japanese audience, and now the games are about Samus catching cute alien creatures (a la pokemon), and Samus now just wears the zero suit and all in an anime style. I guess it would sell better in Japan at least...
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I have a feeling Nintendo won’t allow this direction to happen lol
 
I could see a game that leans into Samus out of the Varia Suit more, but I doubt it'd be something too extreme of a swerve

maybe a 3D stealth-action game where Samus doesn't have access to her suit or ship or something. she already done that as a segment in a 2D game
 
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Did some more cross-referencing and while we'll have to wait to see the game's credits to know for sure, so far it looks like 6 staff from the original Metroid Prime remain with Retro and are working on Prime 4:

Ryan Powell (Artist on Prime, Senior Staff Artist Prime on 4)
Dax Pallotta (Animator on Prime, Technical Staff Animator on Prime 4)
Stephen Zafros (Animator on Prime, Senior Animator on Prime 4)
Jim Gage (Engineer on Prime, Software Engineer on Prime 4)
Ryan Harris (Production Assistant on Prime, Director of Planning on Prime 4)
Luis Ramirez (Artist on Prime, Senior Artist on Prime 4)

Kinda cool that some of the OG folks are still around and are bringing their knowledge and skills to this newest entry.
 
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curl-6 said:
Did some more cross-referencing and while we'll have to wait to see the game's credits to know for sure, so far it looks like 6 staff from the original Metroid Prime remain with Retro and are working on Prime 4:

Ryan Powell (Artist on Prime, Senior Staff Artist Prime on 4)
Dax Pallotta (Animator on Prime, Technical Staff Animator on Prime 4)
Stephen Zafros (Animator on Prime, Senior Animator on Prime 4)
Jim Gage (Engineer on Prime, Software Engineer on Prime 4)
Ryan Harris (Production Assistant on Prime, Director of Planning on Prime 4)
Luis Ramirez (Artist on Prime, Senior Artist on Prime 4)

Kinda cool that some of the OG folks are still around and are bringing their knowledge and skills to this newest entry.
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Here's everyone that worked on the Trilogy that is Still at Retro. A few have left the studio but not before Prime 4 started production so they'll still likely get a "Special Thanks" credit.

President:
Michael Kelbaugh (Prime 2)

Producer:
Ryan Harris (Prime 2)

Designers:
Russell O'Henly (Prime 2)
Bill Vandervoort (Prime 3)
Jay Fuller (Prime 3)
Brandon Salinas (Prime 3),
Jonathan Delange (Prime 3).

Engineers:
Alex Quinones (Prime 1)
Jim Gage (Prime 1)
Ryan Cornelius (Prime 3)
Andy Hanson (Prime 3)
Jesse Spears (Prime 3)
Aaron Walker (Prime 3).

Artists:
Chuck Crist (Prime 1)
Ryan Powell (Prime 1)
Luis Ramierez (Prime 1)
Teague Schultz (Prime 2)
Sean Horton (Prime 2)
Matt Manchester (Prime 3)
Thomas Robins (Prime 3),
Amanda Rotella (Prime 3).

Animators:
Dax Pallotta (Prime 1)
Stephen Zafros (Prime 1)
Rapheal Perkins (Prime 3).
Will Bate (Prime 3)

Audio:
Scott Petersen (Prime 2)

Operations:
Al Artus (Prime 1)
 
Joe said:
I have to be honest, I don't know why people are so confident there is going to be a Switch 2 version when there isn't even a tiny bit of evidence for one.
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Because that’s the best business decision for the Metroid Prime series growth and Nintendo would want that.
 
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Steve said:
We might be so fucking back chat.

He’s a shareholder in Japan and he’s commentary the questions.



He’s saying: Takahashi-san has a big smile on his face while watching the Metroid Prime footage.
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Wait they have thing going on with investors?

Takahashi said you mfers haven’t seen anything yet!
 
Steve said:
He’s saying: Takahashi-san has a big smile on his face while watching the Metroid Prime footage.
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Takahashi is probably more relieved than any Metroid fan on the planet that he can proudly say this project that he publicly admitted started off as a trainwreck managed to get back on track and is almost at the finish line.
 
They’re just smiling that they think Metroid fans will shut up about revealing Metroid Prime 4 finally.

When in reality. We will now respectfully ask for Metroid 6

👀
 
Steve said:
We might be so fucking back chat.

He’s a shareholder in Japan and he’s commentary the questions.



He’s saying: Takahashi-san has a big smile on his face while watching the Metroid Prime footage.
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is he recapping questions for the current investors meeting? saw some mentions about the switch successor
 
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Steve said:
He’s saying: Takahashi-san has a big smile on his face while watching the Metroid Prime footage.
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Well, I'm sure he is happy to be seeing the game after so many years of waiting.

qvy4p5.jpg
 
TheSpaceBetween said:
Not just Bill but several other designers from Prime 3 are still there so it makes sense that it looks a lot like Corruption
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Hot take, but I'd rather have Beyond resemble Corruption than Prime 1 (I'm sorry, ItWasMeantToBe19). I love both games roughly equally, but I'd be pretty disappointed if we once again got Zebes / Tallon IV type biomes like your typical forest, lava cave, and snow area. I've personally had my fill of those, and I'd prefer to see more alien / creative areas like Sanctuary Fortress, Elysia, the Pirate Homeworld, and Phaaze. Those are simply the peak environments of the Prime series, and there's nothing like them in the 2D games.

I also much prefer Corruption's combat, and I'm hoping they're meaningfully iterating upon it. Please let Samus have a dash or a slide, plus a melee of some sort.
 
Dark Cloud said:
Does anyone think we’ll time travel to a place Samus has been to before? I know there’s thoughts on this game taking place after Super Metroid. Think they’ll make a 2D world into 3D on Prime or go back to an old area from Prime 1-3?
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I think the time travel thing will be limited to huge stretches of time, not a few years
 
Aurc said:
Hot take, but I'd rather have Beyond resemble Corruption than Prime 1 (I'm sorry, ItWasMeantToBe19). I love both games roughly equally, but I'd be pretty disappointed if we once again got Zebes / Tallon IV type biomes like your typical forest, lava cave, and snow area. I've personally had my fill of those, and I'd prefer to see more alien / creative areas like Sanctuary Fortress, Elysia, the Pirate Homeworld, and Phaaze. Those are simply the peak environments of the Prime series, and there's nothing like them in the 2D games.

I also much prefer Corruption's combat, and I'm hoping they're meaningfully iterating upon it. Please let Samus have a dash or a slide, plus a melee of some sort.
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Keep speaking truthbombs my Brother in The Process!
 
I don’t need Prime’s big return to be a greatest hits time travel plot. I’m fine with time travel puzzles, but it doesn’t need to be to past areas of the series. Let retro cook something totally new
 
Aurc said:
Hot take, but I'd rather have Beyond resemble Corruption than Prime 1 (I'm sorry, ItWasMeantToBe19). I love both games roughly equally, but I'd be pretty disappointed if we once again got Zebes / Tallon IV type biomes like your typical forest, lava cave, and snow area. I've personally had my fill of those, and I'd prefer to see more alien / creative areas like Sanctuary Fortress, Elysia, the Pirate Homeworld, and Phaaze. Those are simply the peak environments of the Prime series, and there's nothing like them in the 2D games.

I also much prefer Corruption's combat, and I'm hoping they're meaningfully iterating upon it. Please let Samus have a dash or a slide, plus a melee of some sort.
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I think the game can be Prime 1-esque in structure and still have varied areas that aren't just Super mirrors... That's what I'm expecting from 4, at least.
 
Dark Cloud said:
Does anyone think we’ll time travel to a place Samus has been to before? I know there’s thoughts on this game taking place after Super Metroid. Think they’ll make a 2D world into 3D on Prime or go back to an old area from Prime 1-3?
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It's possible, but unlikely I think. But if we do, it'll look and play way different, kinda like returning to DK Island in Tropical Freeze. I do think there will be at least references to the trilogy though. Maybe the Luminoth could return in some capacity, for example.
 
TheSpaceBetween said:
Old Tenabe interviews from around Federation Force, talking about his ideas for a potential Prime 4. He mentions Sylux and time travel.
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Oh those. Eh, so long as it's a decent chunk of time travel or used in puzzles and not some paradox bullcrap like "You have to send Ridley to kill your parents, Samus, to preserve the timeline!"
 
No one ACTUALLY has issues with Elden Ring, a 2022 game, largely controlling like Demon's Souls, a 2009 game, so Prime 4 controlling and feeling like Prime 1-3 on a base level is not an issue people actually care about. It's a bit faster weapon swings and that's it in terms of game feel.

If anything, that already feels spot on as is.
 
Yeah while I consider Prime 1 to be the most well rounded game of the trilogy overall, (though they're all great) I feel that world design is one area where the series just kept getting better and better.

Don't get me wrong, Tallon IV is iconic, but for me, places like the Sanctuary Fortress, Temple Grounds, Agon Wastes and Torvus Big in Prime 2 were even better, and then Prime 3 upped the ante further still with the likes of Skytown and the Pirate Homeworld.

I can't wait to see what wondrous worlds Prime 4 takes us to.
 
Magic-Man said:
I just hope the areas are more colorful in 4 compared to 2 and 3. IIRC both 2 and 3 have some pretty depressing environments.
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I mean, Prime 2's whole vibe is a dying world so it is pretty intentionally dark, but I thought Prime 3's were quite vibrant, at least in the context of a Wii game with a semi-realistic art style

Skytown-Elysia-Metroid-Prime-3.jpg


Bryyo_fire_corridor.jpg
 
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TheSpaceBetween said:
Here's everyone that worked on the Trilogy that is Still at Retro. A few have left the studio but not before Prime 4 started production so they'll still likely get a "Special Thanks" credit.

President:
Michael Kelbaugh (Prime 2)

Producer:
Ryan Harris (Prime 2)

Designers:
Russell O'Henly (Prime 2)
Bill Vandervoort (Prime 3)
Jay Fuller (Prime 3)
Brandon Salinas (Prime 3),
Jonathan Delange (Prime 3).

Engineers:
Alex Quinones (Prime 1)
Jim Gage (Prime 1)
Ryan Cornelius (Prime 3)
Andy Hanson (Prime 3)
Jesse Spears (Prime 3)
Aaron Walker (Prime 3).

Artists:
Chuck Crist (Prime 1)
Ryan Powell (Prime 1)
Luis Ramierez (Prime 1)
Teague Schultz (Prime 2)
Sean Horton (Prime 2)
Matt Manchester (Prime 3)
Thomas Robins (Prime 3),
Amanda Rotella (Prime 3).

Animators:
Dax Pallotta (Prime 1)
Stephen Zafros (Prime 1)
Rapheal Perkins (Prime 3).
Will Bate (Prime 3)

Audio:
Scott Petersen (Prime 2)

Operations:
Al Artus (Prime 1)
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Reminds me that Armature is now is Zuckeberg hell
 
curl-6 said:
I mean, Prime 2's whole vibe is a dying world so it is pretty intentionally dark, but I thought Prime 3's were quite vibrant, at least within its hardware limitations

Skytown-Elysia-Metroid-Prime-3.jpg


Bryyo_fire_corridor.jpg
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What is it with Wii gen games and the lighting in top screenshot? It makes Wii games age so much worse than gamecube. I think Brawl and TP looked pretty similar.

Everything just looks so depressingly faded on some really pretty architecture.

I'll be forever grateful that the Galaxy games escaped that fate.
 
ohlawd said:
it sucks that Metroid has to change its gameplay to reach new sales heights. new Zelda and God of War play worse than their old styles (TO ME)
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Well technically it had succes when it went from 2D to 3D as the 2D games were falling off in sales, but the first Prime almost reached the numbers the original Metroid did.
 
Vall said:
What is it with Wii gen games and the lighting in top screenshot? It makes Wii games age so much worse than gamecube. I think Brawl and TP looked pretty similar.

Everything just looks so depressingly faded on some really pretty architecture.

I'll be forever grateful that the Galaxy games escaped that fate.
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I think people thought at the time that bloom was the coolest thing ever and made a game look modern. Ironically it might actually be to distance themselves from Gamecube games that they overused it.
 
I feel like a lot of games of that gen, not just Wii games, had way too much bloom for my personal comfort (my eyes are fairly light-sensitive, so my first order of business when buying a new game at the time was to immediately go to settings and turn off bloom if such an option existed). Still quite liked Prime 3's art direction and world design despite that. SkyTown is great, although if I had to compare the two I think I prefer Sanctuary Fortress.
 
Dark Cloud said:
is the story going to be about the Federation being evil? Why is it they have they time travel black hole portal thing? Did they find it? Did they create it? Will they use it for evil?
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Dunno, this would be the ... 3rd or 4th game to show that the Federation is pretty much just like the Space Pirates-lite, but less openly savage and warmongery.

Secret cloning labs for Metroids and other fucked-up creatures, the E.M.M.I. ... and so on.

Even without knowing the plot or any details, i think it's safe to assume that the Federation would use time-travel for the benefits of the Federation and for those benefits only. And they will clearly ignore any negatives as long as the returns from using time-travel are big enough.

SmolSam said:
Well, I'm sure he is happy to be seeing the game after so many years of waiting.

qvy4p5.jpg
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Nintendo should add "Working for us will make you look better with every year" as one of the work-benefits. Aonuma looking good, Koizumi looking good, Takahashi looking good.

I wanna know their secret, i wanna look better the older i get, too.
 
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Metroid is in a better spot than it has been since the early '00s, and there's seldom been more reason for optimism.

As is often the case with Nintendo, a series can only thrive if it has a). an internal Nintendo producer passionate about it, and b). a development team able and willing to take on development.

Sakamoto has had trouble finding people to work on 2D Metroid since Fusion, but has now found the perfect studio in Mercury Steam - people dedicated to and passionate about the series and genre. Dread is amazing and finally made me "get" Metroidvania and I'm not the only one, looking at sales.

Prime, similarly, had 4 releases back-to-back (including Trilogy) when Retro and Tanabe were going at it. With Retro burned out, Tanabe obviously couldn't find a fitting replacement studio (poor NLG, they probably could've done a great job with a better concept and more resources...). Curious what went wrong at Bandai Namco Singapore too.

Modern Nintendo is sparing no expense helping Retro turn into Nintendo Prestige Scifi Land, so it's kinda obvious they're in this for the long haul again.

Aurc said:
I also much prefer Corruption's combat, and I'm hoping they're meaningfully iterating upon it. Please let Samus have a dash or a slide, plus a melee of some sort.
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Yes please! The recent Boomer Shooter trend has shown how to upgrade movement in first person - Doom Eternal alone would be a great inspiration with it's dash and hookshot.
 
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SmolSam said:
Has this been posted here?
-snip-

Now I see why they were always hiring artists
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Could you maybe not share the product of digitally stalking people's LinkedIn profiles? All it leads to is harassment and problems for those involved. Save the information of who is working on this game when it releases and you can read the credits.

@oldpuck made a more detailed thread about why you shouldn't do this sort of thing a while ago that's worth a read: https://famiboards.com/threads/if-you-post-a-developers-name-and-linkedin-in-your-videos-dont.8927/

Just because it's a semi-respected outlet instead of a YouTuber doesn't really change that part.
 
Razgriz said:
Could you maybe not share the product of digitally stalking people's LinkedIn profiles? All it leads to is harassment and problems for those involved. Save the information of who is working on this game when it releases and you can read the credits.

@oldpuck made a more detailed thread about why you shouldn't do this sort of thing a while ago that's worth a read: https://famiboards.com/threads/if-you-post-a-developers-name-and-linkedin-in-your-videos-dont.8927/

Just because it's a semi-respected outlet instead of a YouTuber doesn't really change that part.
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Yeah, sorry. Late, but I deleted my post. I had no idea there were idiots harassing the developers. It's a shame, because these people deserve recognition for their work.
 
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