Metroid Prime 4: Beyond

After the wait of a literal lifetime the latest instalment in the Metroid Prime series, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond (MP4), was finally released on Nintendo Switch 2 on 4 December 2025. Your crew has played MP4 to the end and has a lot to say about it. Please note that this article contains very heavy spoilers, and we highly recommend you play through MP4 first.

Let’s get straight into it. It’s been 18 years since Metroid Prime 3: Corruption released on the Nintendo Wii, 8 years since MP4 was announced for the original Nintendo Switch, and 6 years since Nintendo announced that MP4 would be restarting development with Retro Studios at the lead. Has the wait been worth it?

Jonathan - One hundred percent, yes!

Johnny – Do Metroids hate the cold? Yes, it was definitely worth the wait!

What were your initial impressions when you booted up the MP4 start menu?

Jonathan – It felt like an event! MP4 was the first game I bought and played with my brand new Nintendo Switch 2, so it felt extra special. It was hard to grasp the fact that MP4 was actually real, and in my hands ready to play. The title screen and music is so polished, and the use of purple took me back to my Gamecube days, where the series began.

Johnny - It was such a thrill to finally boot up the game in my own living room! Even though I had watched the introductory cut scene and played through the tutorial level on planet Tanamaar at PAX AUS 2025 in October, I literally re-started the game two or three times on the day of its release in December last year just so I could fully relish the 'beginning' of this new, first-person perspective adventure.

How did you feel about MP4 being a cross generational game for the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2?

Jonathan – Ideally, I would have liked for MP4 to release on the original Nintendo Switch years ago. It was a long wait! Nevertheless, it feels special as a Switch 2 launch window game, and it’s safe to say the Switch 2 version of the game looks outstanding not just in comparison to the Nintendo Switch version, but also the other Switch 2 launch window games like Kirby Air Riders and Donkey Kong Bananza.

Johnny - I think it would have been very cynical of Nintendo to have locked this game to the Switch 2 so early in the generation. They would have justifiably taken a lot of criticism for doing so. In any event, some of Nintendo's best first-party titles have been cross-gen: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was released on the GameCube and the Wii; Breath of the Wild released on both the WiiU and the original Nintendo Switch - MP4 is in good company!

Did the sound and visuals live up to your expectation as a Switch 2 game, and a sequel to the Metroid Prime trilogy in general?

Jonathan – Yes, completely. MP4’s visuals are, to me, one of its strongest features. Everything on screen looks absolutely beautiful and meticulously crafted, from the eye catching sheen of Samus’s cherry-red, gun-metal grey and peach coloured power armour with psychic purple energy coursing through it, to the bold takes on common biomes Samus explores from start to finish. The purple petals blowing in the wind in Fury Green, or the lightning flashing in the distant storm in the Sol Valley spring to mind. I mentioned this on our podcast special about MP4, but even just watching a parade of leaf insects scurry their way over a knot of vines above me as I made my way through Fury Green made me realise that Retro Studios had, once again, put so much love and care into creating an immersive, visually outstanding world to play in.

Johnny - Does Samus splat crazy-looking aliens with her power beam and ask questions later? Yes, of course! While this isn't a perfect game (we'll come to the game's flaws soon enough), I don't think anyone can argue that it doesn't sound and look absolutely beautiful! The sound design, epic score, visuals – particularly the environments and character models – help make the game feel like a natural sequel to Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, which released on the Wii way back in 2007!

What did you choose between Quality Mode and Performance Mode, and why?

Jonathan – I played in Quality Mode (4K resolution, 60 frames per second) for my entire playthrough and haven’t actually tested Performance Mode! I was very happy that I did, as 60 FPS is enough for me and I wanted to experience MP4 in the highest resolution possible.

Johnny - I've only tried Quality Mode so far! I mostly play 8-bit and 16-bit games, so I'm probably one of the worst people to ask about graphics and frame rates, etc. Nevertheless, I think it's awesome that Nintendo and Retro Studios made the decision to give the player the choice.

Did you use mouse controls or traditional controls?

Jonathan – Traditional controls on my Switch 1 pro controller all the way. I sampled the mouse controls at PAX AUS 2025 and absolutely hated them. The mouse controls just don’t feel intuitive to me at all. 

Johnny - I've enjoyed using the mouse controls in a few different Switch 2 games, including MP4, but even so I played through most of the game with my Switch 2 pro controller, which admittedly did feel more comfortable especially in some of the more hectic boss battles that occur during the final third of the game.

MP4 has a very distinct tone and is a melting pot of psychedelic, heavy metal, naturalistic and post-apocalyptic themes. How did you find the tone of MP4 compared to previous Metroid Prime games?

Jonathan – I loved it. Retro Studios was all in with the psychedelic vibe in particular. There are moments in the game that made me feel like I was in nirvana, like the first time Samus acquires her psychic powers. I think the use of purple as a predominant colour works really well with Samus’ suit, and making it part of her primary beam weapon (the Psychic Beam) and even the afterglow of her morph ball, or how she summons morph ball bombs and hurls them at specific targets during puzzles, creates a strong identity for the game as a whole.

Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoy that Metroid games historically have a heavy sci-fi tone that focuses on fear, tension and isolation that comes with experiencing an alien planet. Metroid games however do often mix in a sense of the wonder in Samus’ surrounds and what she discovers, and I feel that sense of wonder was dialled up to 11 in MP4 and permeates the story and gameplay mechanics through MP4. Whether it’s in the frequent cut scenes with the Lamorn who guides you, Chatoyant Vooloon, on entering a new area for the first time such as the Great Mines, or simply wandering through your ‘home base’ in Fury Green and viewing the lore of defeated bosses in areas like the Sanctum of the Guardians, I felt like the developers at Retro Studios made me as the player experience a sense of wonder consistently throughout the game that remained until the ending credits, and it was that sense of wonder which made a lasting impression on me.

Johnny - MP4 really does make for a fitting addition to the Metroid Prime series. Although the game does indeed have its own unique, distinct tone, the game makes lots of subtle nods to previous entries in the series. The ammunition system for example feels very reminiscent of Samus' dark & light beam weapon from Metroid Prime 2: Echoes while the tutorial level on Tanamaar feels like a condensed version of the action on planet Norion from the very start of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.

A significant addition of MP4 is how Samus’s psychic powers become integrated into the gameplay. Did you enjoy this?

Jonathan – Thoroughly. I think with any videogame in general, if that game can make you feel that the buttons you are pressing on a controller connect well with the gameplay you experience on screen, then you as a player become more immersed in that game. The actions you perform as Samus using her psychic powers are often pretty simple, such as using the Psychic Lasso to pull the shields off from Psi Bots, or using your Psychic Visor to carve out a particular shape or image. For me however, I found those moments immersed me even more in the game than simply scanning objects in the original Metroid Prime and it’s modern-day remaster.

Johnny - Is Kraid a big fat, green reptile? (Apologies People of Perth and Beyond...these are getting out of hand!). Yes, I think the the psychic powers, particularly the Control Beam and Psychic Bomb, were very well implemented and have added an interesting new dimension to the range of abilities that Samus has acquired over the course of the series. Some of the "psychic powers" however do feel a bit like false advertising; "Psychic Boots" you say? Perhaps Retro Studios went a little over the top labelling almost all the upgrades as "psychic"?

Do you think that MP4 retains the ‘core’ elements of the Metroid Prime franchise as a Metroidvania game, namely first-person perspective combat and exploration, puzzle solving, ability-gated progression, atmospheric story-telling, and complex boss encounters.

Jonathan – Without a doubt, yes. Certainly, MP4 experiments with new gameplay elements, like Breath of the Wild style ‘shrines’ located throughout Sol Valley, among other things. For me though, my expectations of what core elements make a Metroid Prime game enjoyable were well in tact and comprise the majority of the game’s running time. I still frequently experienced tense combat without the combat turning into a traditional first person shooter (although there are moments where Samus is swamped, which make for very tense encounters), puzzles which demand use of visor scanning and your various powers to solve, and light platforming elements in both Samus’ standard form and morph ball mode. Gosh that transition to and from Samu’s morph ball is seamless isn’t it? I never felt like MP4 turned into a hardcore shooter, or lacked well-crafted puzzles, or that the atmospheric story-telling had been dropped. The boss fights were actually a cut above what I had seen in previous instalments, being far more complex, multi-layered and visually impactful than those in Metroid Prime and the 2023 remaster. Wait until you take on the final boss!

Johnny - Definitely! While I can appreciate that MP4 is one of the most linear entries in the entire series and the game would have surely benefited from the ability to unlock some fast travel or hidden routes between the different environments, the Metroid Prime games have generally been much more linear than the 2D entries, so Retro Studio's approach seems overall consistent with the Metroidvania genre. The morph ball mode and scan visor were particularly well implemented in this game - one of the reasons it took me such a long time to complete the game is that I became obsessed with scanning everything in the environment and reading all the detailed entries for all the weird and wonderful flora and fauna Samus encounters on Viewros.

The Lamorn Neuro Bike Mark VII (Vi-O-La) and the expansive traversal and exploration across the Sol Valley are both new and significant elements introduced in MP4, making it very distinct from previous Metroid Prime entries. What were your thoughts on both?

Jonathan – Vi-O-La was a shock when it was revealed in one of the later game trailers and I’ve seen it get a lot of hate online, but I actually really love what Retro Studios did with Vi-O-La, especially with how Vi-O-La is introduced to you as a player and how well Vi-O-La controls in the Sol Valley.

Johnny - I feel that Vi-O-La and Sol Valley were cool additions to the Metroid Prime series. Retro Studios would have probably received a lot of (justifiable) criticism if this sequel had just been a re-hash of the original Metroid Prime game with better graphics. When I first obtained Vi-O-La I rode around the Volt Forge and Sol Valley like a maniac for hours before getting on with reaching the next main objective in the game. It reminded me a bit of sailing Link's dragon boat across the great ocean in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, which I can appreciate is not everyone's cup of tea but which is still one of my fondest gaming experiences of all time.

What were your favourite power ups in the game, and why?

Jonathan – Ooooh, that Psychic Boost Ball power is very cool, isn’t it? I always find it somewhat ridiculous, and more so also ridiculously fun, that you can boost up and down half-pipes and other hand-crafted areas like a pro-skate boarder using the Psychic Boost ball. It also just looks and feel incredible to launch off Psychic Boost Rails along these someone invisible rails in the air. The more Retro Studios can implement with the Morph Ball, the better!

I also have to give a shout out to the Thunder Shot, specifically the upgrade Super Thunder Shot. It was awesome and satisfying enough that firing the Thunder Shot causes enemies to shake in an electrifying paralysis and causes a chain lightning effect, but once fully upgraded the Super Thunder Shot turns into a full-on Ghost Busters style proton pack which eviscerates everything in sight. I felt invincible with that weapon!

Johnny - Hey! That's two favourites Jon! (I'm not sure you've been 'authorised' for two favs! Don't worry I'm cringeing too People of Perth and Beyond...). It was easily the Control Beam for me! This took me right back to solving all the remote control Batarang puzzles in the Batman Arkham games. Good times!

What were your favourite areas in the game, and why?

Jonathan – Volt Forge made a tremendous impression on me and is one of the more outstanding areas in any 2D or 3D Metroid game to date, period. I think Retro Studios had a stroke of genius making it the second major destination Samus’ visits on Sol Valley because it contrasts so well to the previous area, being the more peaceful and nature-based Fury Green. I’m not sure exactly what it is, but the design of Volt Forge as a gothic-style motor bike factory surrounded by a lightning storm that interplays with the level design was a very novel and inspired location. Rolling out to the power generators in Morph Ball mode surrounded by lightning strikes was an absolute visual feast. And the Volt Forge soundtrack? My goodness chef’s kiss.

I also have to give a very close second place to The Great Mines. I’ll never forget the way Samus enters it for the first time – via her Spider Ball mode along this golden track across a great chasm in Sol Valley – or how the level design throughout makes use of the Spider Ball which is still one of my favourite power ups in any Metroid game. It also felt a bit like a self-contained Metroid game, with Samus delving deeper and deeper down, although this time hunted by swarms of Grievers on regular occasions which made the whole level even more tense and exciting.

Johnny - All the areas of the game you visit to obtain Master Teleporter Keys are amazing. However, my favourite area in the game was hands down the Ice Belt. For reference, I thoroughly enjoyed the Phendrana Drifts in the original Metriod Prime (and its 2023 remaster) but Retro Studios really outdid themselves with the Ice Belt. As I mentioned in our recent, spoiler-filled discussion about MP4 (with special guest, Jemma from Pure Nintendo), I was really impressed by the dramatic change of environment that takes place when Samus restores power to the Ice Belt's abandoned Lamorn research facility. Also, I have to shout out the excellent use of the Lamorn research tapes (scanned in the Ice Belt facility) as a story-telling device and how Retro Studios masterfully revealed the tragic downfall of the Lamorn and their eventual transformation into the vicious Grievers.

What were the biggest highlights for the game, and why?

Jonathan - Acquiring Vi-O-La was sick, but even better than that was the training levels that came straight after. The music and Tron-like presentation in those levels made me feel like I had transcended space and time itself, and just made the feeling of acquiring and learning to use Vi-O-La all the more epic. I legitimately play the Vi-O-La track from MP4 on speakers now whenever I do house chores!

The escape sequence at the end of Flare Pool to get to the escape pod was my second. Every Metroid fan knows that any game in the series will have a nerve-wracking, time sensitive escape sequence baked into the adventure at some point, and it was extremely fitting to have that at the Flare Pool right after an epic boss fight.  

Johnny - There were so many highlights that it's very hard to single out one or two. However, thinking back to my playthrough of the game, I really enjoyed and looked forward to each of  the encounters with the faux Sylux (aka robots with a Sylux skin) and then eventually (at the end of the game) the epic fight with the real deal Sylux, who the player discovers has been juicing up on green energy for the entire duration of Samus' adventures on Viewros. All the fights with Sylux were exciting and creative in their own right while still feeling like a subtle tribute to the Dark Samus battles of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. 

The final battle with Sylux, which included segments that relied on the player's ability to work seamlessly with Samus' newfound Galactic Federation (GF) Trooper allies, was intense! I am almost certain that I will re-play MP4 again sometime in the not-too-distant future, so that I can experience the final encounter with Sylux at a time of day or night that is not 3:00AM – too many of my MP4 sessions ended in the wee hours! To be fair I probably needed to explore more of Sol Valley earlier in the game and obtain more missile expansions and those much-needed energy tanks before attempting to take on the last few bosses in the game. Phenoros, I'm talking about you in particular, you cheeky scamp!

Was there anything about MP4 that you didn’t like or could have been done better?

Jonathan – There were a couple of things for me.

The requirement to completely fill up the Altar of Legacy with green energy crystals towards the end of the game became a real drag. By the time I was ready to face the final boss, the Altar of Legacy was just over half full, so I spent over an hour just driving around the Sol Valley with Vi-O-La to hunt for crystals. Doing that absolutely took some of the joy out of traversing the Sol Valley for sure, and made the final stretch of the game drag out.

I was also disappointed that the final location, the Chrono Tower, wasn’t a fully crafted level like the Great Mines or Lava Pool, especially as there had been a lot of story focus on building up your anticipation on reaching it with Samus and her companions.

Johnny – If I have a few nitpicks regarding the game, it's to do with Samus' trooper allies and the absence of her long-time adversaries, the Space Pirates from most of the game. By and large, I really liked the addition of GF troopers to the game: my favourite was easily the sharp-shooter, Reger Tokabi first encountered in the Ice Belt. I absolutely loved his role in the grand finale of the game where all the GF troopers risk life and limb to prevent Sylux from preventing Samus' escape with the Lamorn memory fruit. I may have even gotten a little bit teary-eyed when his dog tags were hung on the tree grown from the memory fruit in the final cut scene of the game (what a softy Johnny!). My only quibble with the troopers – I honestly didn't even mind Myles Mackenzie that much and his occasional interruption when I was meandering for too long in the Sol Valley – is that I think it would have been much more immersive if one of the characters encountered had a medic capability and that Samus didn't have to spend so much of that final boss fight healing her GF comrades to avoid a game over screen (Samus even needed to 'heal' her robot pal, VUE-995; that feels like a job for Myles to me!). Anyway, who in their right mind assigns the medic role to the member of the squad with the most powerful offensive capabilities?! 

My other criticism of the game is the complete absence of Samus' Space Pirate adversaries following the initial battle on Tanamaar. Having a few of the Space Pirates appear during the adventure on Viewros might have helped to flesh out Sylux' story as the new leader of the Space Pirates and would have at the least given the game some more enemy variety (not to take anything away from the ferocious Grievers and the multitude of Psy-bots that try to slow down Samus). Also, being a long time fan of the Metriod lore, Nintendo and Retro Studios please in a future game give us some backstory on how Sylux becomes the new apex of the Space Pirate organisation. There's a certain space dragon who surely didn't take that sitting down (or is that perched)? Although I enjoyed the bonus cut scene (unlocked by the scanning the Sylux Amiibo once the game is completed or alternatively finishing the game with 100 % scan and item collection rate) that shed a little bit of light on the albeit petty rationale for Sylux's emnity towards Samus, I think there's definitely room to flesh out his backstory.

Are there any final thoughts you would like to share with the People of Perth and Beyond, including long-term Metroid Prime fans and gamers who are new to the series alike?

Jonathan – the Metroid Prime series is truly a unique genre of games, and MP4 Beyond is even more unique. It makes for a superb, sci-fi and psychic themed first-person action platformer game experience in it’s own right, and a unique top-tier experience among the Nintendo Switch 2’s other launch window titles. While not perfect, it did not disappoint and the wait was absolutely worth it. 

Johnny - If you already own a Switch or Switch 2 (or are thinking of picking one up in the near future), I highly recommend giving this game a go! Indeed it's not a perfect game. It has clearly emerged from a period of development hell (it wasn't the first game to do so & sadly probably won't be the last!) but despite all that Nintendo and Retro Studios have delivered an overwhelmingly enjoyable experience and a sci-fi adventure that is worthy of the Metroid name.

Hungry for more MP4 goodness? Check our our MP4 special episode with Jemma from Pure Nintendo if you haven't already!

--- Jonathan and Johnny @PGC