We’re finally getting Metroid Prime 4 this December 4. Just one month away! And at long last, after so many bland, obfuscatory or bike-obsessed trailers, Nintendo has released footage that makes my heart happy.
I did a double-take just now when looking through old Metroid Prime 4 trailers to remember what we’ve been shown before upon seeing that the stamp on its “First Look” trailer says “8 years ago.” But yes, it really has been that long since the return of Samus’s 3D adventures was first teased during E3 2017. Nearly a decade later, and following a tumultuous time of being scrapped and changing developers at least once, it really seems to be finally happening. And this latest trailer really captures what it is that makes me love this series so much.
See! What fun! And that Akira slide for extra lols. The bike still looks like utter crap, though.
Of course this isn’t the first time we’re seeing many of these elements. Back in March, Nintendo showed off three minutes of footage of the new game during a Direct. But oh my god, it seemed to go out of its way to make it look as slow and dreary as possible.
Then came last month’s completely daft motorbike trailer, which had the game looking like some sort of 2005 vehicular MMO. And again, the pacing, the editing of the footage, was so atrocious that it looked unlike anything I’d want from a Metroid Prime. Seriously, look how abysmally it just stops mid-sequence, as if thrown together in a mad hurry:
But this new trailer has me pushing so many of these concerns slightly aside, after seeing a game that shows the pure joy of Metroid Prime‘s first-person exploration, combat, and scanning just like it ought to be.
Of course, this gives us no clue if the game will actually be any good. We’ve a month to wait to find that out, albeit after dodging the inevitable leaks a week before release given this is coming out for both the Switch and the Switch 2. But my hopes are raised.