Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Nintendo Switch 2 Edition looks destined to be worth the wait, but it’s been a long road. Revealed to be in development at E3 2017, we later learned that its progress had “not reached the standards” Nintendo had sought, resulting in Retro Studios restarting the game’s creation with producer Kensuke Tanabe. It then re-emerged as Metroid Prime 4: Beyond last June, which we now know will receive a souped-up Nintendo Switch 2 Edition. That’s it for the quick recap. Phew.
It’s easy to see why Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is being treated to a cross-generation release on the portable home console’s successor. When docked in TV Mode, the game can run in Quality Mode at 60 frames per second in 4K resolution, or Performance Mode, where it is 120 frames per second in 1080p resolution. Undocked in Handheld Mode, your options are 60 frames per second in 1080p or 120 frames per second in 720p. Throw in HDR support, and, while these numbers may not mean much to the average consumer, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Nintendo Switch 2 Edition is an early breathtaking graphical showcase for what the hardware can achieve.
That was the immediate impact that I had when playing it. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Nintendo Switch 2 Edition looks incredible, and it is the technical capability that I had hoped for from Nintendo’s next console. The game also needs to play well, of course, but in Retro Studios we trust.
The demo build playable at the Nintendo Switch 2 Experience: London event was the game’s thrilling opening section. You can see a complete playthrough in the Nintendo Treehouse: Live coverage, running in Quality Mode at 60 frames per second in 4K resolution, no less.
“It is Cosmic Year 20X9. Determined to defeat Samus and the Galactic Federation, Sylux and his army of Space Pirates launched a series of attacks on Federation Research Facilities. It is believed the Space Pirates are being controlled by Metroids that have the ability to fuse with other life-forms and control their minds,” the game’s opening summary explains. “Now, on Planet Tanamaar in the Desolan System, another Federation Research Facility is being attacked. Galactic Federation HQ received the distress call and dispatched Samus who was on a reconnaissance mission nearby.”
Planet Tanamaar has become a warzone. The Galactic Federation is doing its best to hold the Space Pirates back, but they’re losing ground. Landing behind enemy lines, Samus Aran leads a counterattack to make sure that a sensitive artifact remains secure. Protecting it is your main goal, and your progression in this opening area is far more linear in design. Tutorials teach newcomers and lapsed bounty hunters about your Scan Visor, Morph Ball mode, or using your Arm Cannon to unlock doors. The opening was otherwise exciting, cinematic and a perfect tease for what is to come.
The event staff encouraged me to experiment with switching between using dual Joy-Con 2 input and mouse control with the right Joy-Con 2. Even as someone who is predominantly a console-oriented gamer – a MacBook Pro is certainly never in danger of turning me into a PC gamer – the mouse control astounded me. Used to playing first-person shooters with sticks, the accuracy and fluidity that mouse control with the Joy-Con 2 allowed surpassed my expectations to the point I now can’t imagine playing without it.
The boss battle with the Metroid-infused Aberax easily demonstrated why. Double jumping and using the Morph Ball to dodge its shockwave attacks, the precision that the mouse control granted helped me to target weak points across its chest with missiles and Charge Beam blasts. Aberax toppled, Sylux appears flanked by two Metroids and Space Pirates. Samus dodges his shot but it strikes the artifact, causing it to react and send out a purple-infused pulse that knocks everyone off their feet. And with that, the demo concludes.
I can assume that this relates to how Samus is “unexpectedly transported” to the planet Viewros where she is granted Psychic Abilities, but we’ll have to wait for the full game to discover the answers to that. Playing Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Nintendo Switch 2 Edition not only has me excited for what’s in store, but for the potential that the new hardware is demonstrating so early on. The graphical fidelity the console can achieve is the level that I had hoped for, but the mouse control with the Joy-Con 2 is something that I would have never expected to have clicked with me so well. Let’s hope that it is an input method that is widely adopted as more games continue to be announced for the console.
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Nintendo Switch 2 Edition will be released at retail and digitally on the Nintendo eShop for Nintendo Switch 2 worldwide in 2025.
