There’s some genuinely fascinating rumors that point to a bolder and more ambitious Nintendo, as we may see in the near future.
Nash Weedle seems to have been talking about Metroid Prime 5 for some time now. And no, we aren’t confused here.
As far back as February of last year, Nash Weedle has been claiming that Metroid Prime 4 and Metroid Prime 5 are being developed at the same time. Subsequently, some of the things that Retro Studios are making on Metroid Prime 4 will be carrying over on Metroid Prime 5.
Nash Weedle mentioned in February 2024 that Metroid Prime 5 is planned for release in 2027, and will be a Switch 2 exclusive. He also claimed that it will have vertical exploration with altered gravity mechanics.
That takes us to today, where Nash Weedle lays out an interesting development timeline for these games that is itself a throwback of sorts.
So some of you may be old enough to remember that Metroid Prime2: Echoes originally released on the Gamecube in 2004. However, it reappeared on the Wii in 2009, as part of their New Play Control! series. This version of the game switched around the controls to use the Wii Remote and Nunchuk combo.
This came two years after the Wii game Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, which was designed from the ground up to use the Wii Remote and Nunchuk. As Nash Weedle explained, both these games were developed for the Wii at the same time.
As we have already seen, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond will make use of the Switch’s control scheme, including gyro aiming. But on the Switch 2, it will also take full advantage of the Joy-Con’s mouse mode.
Nash Weedle claims that Metroid Prime 5 will make full use of the Switch 2’s control options. So, Retro Studios is actively figuring out how to use those features in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond so that they could make full use of the same capabilities in Metroid Prime 5.
If this rumor is true, it certainly raises interesting possibilities. Nintendo has shown in the Speed Golf mini-game in Switch 2 Welcome Tour that the Joy-Cons can still use its accelerometers and gyroscopes to recognize tilt motions even in mouse mode.
So, what if Metroid Prime 5 has 6DOF gameplay, using the Joy-Cons in this way? We could certainly see Samus being able to navigate in new ways in ball mode like this. Maybe we can even navigate Samus’ gunship for the first time in-game.
It’s these kinds of things that the Switch 2 seems capable of enabling. Maybe it would take the next Metroid Prime for us to see a developer really take advantage of what it has that is genuinely unique.
