Retro Studios has been shrouded in secrecy ever since their work on Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze for Wii U wrapped up.
While we know that they have now taken over Metroid Prime 4’s development, the developer hasn’t released a new game since the Snowmads invaded Donkey Kong Island and left it in a deep freeze – aside from barrel-blasting their side-scrolling hijinks onto Nintendo Switch.
That had caused some concern within Nintendo’s fanbase. With producer Kensuke Tanabe confirming to IGN that the team was working on a new project in 2014, Retro Studios’ president and CEO Michael Kelbaugh added that it had started development after Tropical Freeze had been completed.
Aside from unconfirmed rumours pointing to Star Fox: Grand Prix, we haven’t had the chance to learn more about what that project was. However, that may have now changed.
ResetEra user WalkurtTXRanger has claimed that the now-cancelled project was an RPG that had used “singing as the main mechanic.”
After working on it for three years, the user states that this alleged project lost direction and, frustrated with the lack of progress, Nintendo “pulled the plug” and shifted the Texas-based developer’s resources over to course-correcting Metroid Prime 4.
“Their game was cancelled. Some kind of RPG involving singing as the main mechanic. Spent three years on it, but could never figure out where to go with it,” WalkurtTXRanger writes. “Nintendo got frustrated and pulled the plug and put them on [Metroid] Prime 4.”
When asked as to how they would know such information, the user added: “I live in Austin, and know people from an animation studio who know the Retro people. Was told this over a few beers. As far as I know, there is no second game. Just Prime 4. I would think concept art will come out at some point. The singing mechanic involved using songs to manipulate the environment.”
Their claim remains unconfirmed at this point in time, and, as to whether we’ll ever learn if it is true is unclear. However, if this has left you with a desire to sing to save the world, at least you can check out the brilliant Wandersong on the Nintendo eShop.
