One of Nintendo’s lesser-known yet still beloved franchises is Metroid — a series that originally began on the NES, putting us in the shoes of bounty hunter Samus Aran. Now, over 35 years later, fans are eagerly awaiting the next entry in the series, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, which has been in the works for several years.
The Prime series takes the formula introduced in the 2D games and turns it into a 3D, first-person adventure that still very much feels like Metroid, despite the perspective shift. Hype for the next installment in the series has found new life now that the original Metroid Prime is available to play on the Nintendo Switch. While there a lot we don’t know about Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, there are plenty of details we can dig into before release. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is confirmed to be an upcoming Switch game, but will also be the last major Switch 2 release of the year. Power up your visors as we scan the net for every piece of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond data there is.
Release date
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond has been in the making for almost a decade, but the September Nintendo Direct finally gave us the final release date of December 4, 2025.
Platforms
Metroid Prime 4 is still in the works for Nintendo Switch but is also getting a Nintendo Switch 2 Edition. While you can get it on either hardware, the Switch 2 version will have better visuals, frame rates, and control options.
Trailers
Originally revealed during E3 2017, Metroid Prime 4 was shown in the most minuscule capacity possible. Since it was still very early in development at that time, Nintendo only had a logo ready, revealing that the game was in development and pretty much nothing else via its announcement trailer. The trailer had some fancy space-themed “beep boops,” but aside from that, only the title was shown.
While this was an excellent announcement, it was tough to get too overly excited for a game that we knew nothing about. Nonetheless, you can check out its initial E3 2017 announcement trailer above.
It wasn’t until the June Nintendo Direct in 2024 that we saw Metroid Prime 4: Beyond reappear, now bearing the new subtitle. We also finally see the game in action, with Samus blasting some space pirates, rolling around as a morph ball, and encountering a mysterious foe with a pair of Metroids beside them. The game is just as mysterious as before, but at least we know it is real.
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond appeared once again at the March Nintendo Direct, less than a week before the Switch 2 Direct. Given the timing, we all expected this to be when we finally got the release date, but it was not to be. Instead, we did get a beautiful new trailer with some interesting bits of new information. The main planet Samus will be exploring is called Viewros, which is a jungle-like world filled with new and dangerous creatures. After all the gameplay, Samus encounters a mysterious glowing figure who calls her”chosen one.” How this all connects to the wider Metroid universe is still under wraps.
Thanks to a Nintendo Treehouse Live, we see how Metroid Prime 4 opens. The initial text crawl confirms the villain to be Sylux, who is currently attacking a Federation research facility with their space pirates. Samus assumes that mind-controlling Metroids are behind everything, however.
The game will start on planet Tanamaar before Samus is later transported to Viewros. She is called in to retrieve an artifact before the space pirates
Gameplay
We did see a small bit of gameplay in that Direct trailer, but nothing wholly new to the Prime games. It is still a hybrid of first-person shooting, exploration, and scanning. You will still be able to use the morph ball to roll through tight areas, but no other classic or new abilities have been shown just yet.
The second Direct trailer had more gameplay, including the introduction of psychic powers. We see Samus use telekenisis to pull an orb from one area and insert it into another to solve a puzzle, but also slow down time and take direct control of one of her blasts to steer it through multiple enemies. These appear to be one of, if not the, primary new mechanic we will be collecting throughout this quest.
The trailer ends with the tease of a new suit, though it doesn’t hint at what abilities it might give.
After going hands-on with Metroid Prime 4 ourselves, we are much more confident in this game mechanically. While all the shooting, rolling, scanning, and navigating are classic Metroid Prime gameplay, the real reason this entry stands out is because of the mouse controls. As suspected, Metroid Prime 4 allows players to lay one Joy-con on a surface to allow them to aim Samus’ cannon with the same level of precision as a mouse. It was so intuitive and effective that we were able to ignore the lock on function entirely. What is even more impressive is that there’s no menu settings to change control schemes; simply lay one Joy-con down on the table to start using mouse aiming and pick it back up to swap back.
If you’re playing the Switch 2 Edition of Metroid Prime 4, you are in for a treat in either the quality or performance mode. The former can display 4K visuals while docked or 1080p handheld at 60fps while the latter is 1080p docked and 720p handheld but hits 120fps.
Preorder
Now that the release date is set, you can visit the official Nintendo store to preorder either the Switch or Switch 2 version of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond right now. There are no crazy versions or editions, but the Switch 2 copy will cost you $70 compared to the original Switch’s $60 version. Don’t think you can cheat the system, though, because the Upgrade Pack also costs $10, so it all evens out in the end.
