Even with the Nintendo Switch 2 coming out in just a few weeks, there are some key pieces of software that’ll come to both the Switch 2 and the OG Switch this year that many people are looking forward to. The biggest of them is Metroid Prime 4. The game has been teased since 2017 and has had to undergo a bunch of work behind the scenes. However, things are finally looking up, and this title could be something special. Yet, that’s not the only game with Samus Aran that we might see come to pass on the console, as Nintendo has made a curious move with the series trademarks.
Specifically, as noted by ChiZai Watch, the trademarks for Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and Hunters have been renewed. The question is, what does this mean?
On the surface, it could mean less than nothing. As multiple sites have noted, the trademark system can expire. That means that companies like Nintendo have to go and file to renew them, or else they’ll lose them. It’s a tedious process, to be sure, but it’s better than the alternative of someone grabbing the name the moment it hits the market and then doing something to potentially harm the franchise you’ve built up for decades.
The other potential option here is that the games could be released onto the Nintendo Switch 2 in the near future. How would that work? The most likely option is through remasters. We already have the original game in the series in remastered form on the OG Switch, and many have been waiting for the 2nd and 3rd titles to join it. In fact, there were rumors for YEARS on the original Switch that Nintendo was just going to drop the entire trilogy as a remaster and build up to the 4th entry. Yet, that didn’t happen, and we only got the first game in the trilogy.
As for the DS spinoff, that would be a different kind of remaster, as that would play a bit differently on a console than it did the handheld. Still, Nintendo has done that kind of thing in the past, so it wouldn’t be the most difficult thing ever.
Either way, it would behoove Nintendo to do a lot to build up to the release of the next game, as the return of Samus is a big deal for many gamers. Hopefully, we’ll get answers to this new mystery soon enough.
