Metroid Musing: Which Prime Game Will Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Take the Most Inspiration From?

After 18 years since the last mainline Metroid Prime release, Metroid Prime 4, now titled Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, is finally releasing this year! While many Metroid fans, like myself, are excited to play a brand new entry in the series, with almost no information known about the game (other than the gameplay reveal trailer), there is plenty of room for speculation on how this latest title will be designed. While the team at Retro Studios could, and very may well be, designing something completely different from the original Prime Trilogy, there is also a chance that inspiration could be taken from previous entries in the series. In my opinion, I think that the two most likely entries to serve as inspiration are Metroid Prime (the original GCN game) and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

So, for starters, why these two games? After all, there’s a pretty big entry not among those two: Metroid Prime 2: Echoes! While this could be entirely off the mark (as Pikmin 4 was greatly inspired by Pikmin 2, not 1 or 3), the first Metroid Prime is, without a doubt, the most iconic and well received game in the trilogy. On the opposite side of the coin, Metroid Prime 3 Corruption is the most recent game in the trilogy, and Beyond will be building off of what that game left behind (at least in terms of story). Echoes, then, is left in an odd position, being a beloved fan favorite, but with markedly less room for impact on the fourth game. It is, when going off of critical scores, neither the most well received game in the trilogy, nor is it the most recent game in the series. For those reasons, I believe that the likelihood of Metroid Prime 4 Beyond taking inspiration more from the first and third games in the trilogy are more likely.

With that in mind, which of these two games has the most potential for Beyond to take inspiration from? Let’s start with the one that started it all; Metroid Prime. Between the two, it has the most classically “Metroid” design philosophy, both in atmosphere and in map/level design. If Retro Studios wants Beyond to not only be a return to the series, but an introduction to the general public about Metroid, taking more inspiration from this first game would be a very smart choice. Additionally, Metroid Prime Remastered is already available on the Nintendo Switch, so players would already be able to tell if this would be a title they are interested in. As for Corruption, while it’s gameplay and presentation is not as classically “Metroid” as the first game, it’s cinematic flair and more straightforward (yet still Metroidvania) level design could be seen as more beginner friendly. Being able to successfully introduce as many players as possible to Metroid is, most likely, a primary goal of Retro Studios, so making their base game design structured around more straightforward elements could be useful. This wouldn’t mean that the game itself is simpler, but just that the game has new players in mind, even if not the focus.

But what do you think? Is Metroid Prime the undisputed best choice for inspiration, or should it be Corruption taking the center spotlight? Or do you think Echoes is the best option, or should there be almost no inspiration at all? Let us know in the comments below what you think, or follow us at one of our socials and discuss it with us!

SZ

Hey everyone! You can call me SZ or Pikmineer; both are good! I’ve been a Metroid fan since 2019, and my first game in the series was, surprisingly Metroid on NES! What started as just playing a random NES game in the middle of the night turned into my favorite media franchise… crazy how those things happen!

I’m a lover of all things fiction; whether it’s a good book, an intense game, or the newest anime, you can bet I’m looking forward to it. My favorite franchises are Metroid (obviously), Pikmin (obviously), and Persona!