Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is a powerful showcase for the Nintendo Switch 2

Never in a million years did I imagine that plot threads left dangling in Metroid Prime Hunters for the Nintendo DS and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption for the Nintendo Wii would ever be resolved. But that’s the lot of a Metroid fan: we learned over the years not to expect.

You can imagine my surprise, then, when I attended the Nintendo Switch 2 hands-on event with press from around the world, to discover Metroid Prime 4. I’d seen the trailers and was aware of its existence, of course, but it felt more like an abstract concept; something intangible, just out of reach, and likely to vanish with the wind if I thought about it for too long.

It’s been 18 years since the last Metroid Prime game, but after getting my clammy hands on the Nintendo Switch 2 Joy-Cons to play the opening to Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, I can confidently say it feels like no time at all has passed.

As a kid obsessed with the Metroid Prime series, I’d often have to endure accusations from friends that the Retro Studios’ trilogy was little more than a Halo ripoff. An entirely superficial view, of course, given that exploration and puzzle solving are the core tenets of the Metroid Prime games. The introductory sequence for Prime 4 does not combat those Halo comparisons.

Within minutes, Samus Aran is piloting her gunship through a vast intergalactic battle. Giant mechs shoot at space pirates and the sky is thick with blaster fire as our hero emerges from her ship into the thick of combat.

It’s an immediately impressive technical showcase for the Nintendo Switch 2. Metroid Prime 4 will of course also be released on the Nintendo Switch, and Retro Studios’ work on the excellent Metroid Prime remaster is enough to convince me the game will look and run beautifully on the original console, but there’s an extra shine on the Switch 2 version that tells me this will be the place to play the long-awaited sequel.

For one thing, I guided Samus through areas filled with enemies and allies shooting at one another and enjoyed a silky smooth 60fps throughout. The smoking ruins of downed ships and biomechanical corpses pop in 4K, as does the crisp, clean HUD of Samus’ visor.

Having not long played the Switch remaster of the first Prime game, I felt immediately at home in Metroid Prime 4. Samus is once again an absolute joy to control, a tangible weight to her movements and a slickness to her arm cannon that allows for much greater freedom.

Without entering a single menu, you can switch between motion controls, twin-stick shooting, or the new Switch 2-exclusive mouse controls on the fly. During my preview, I found the classic lock-on system suitable for firefights with standard space pirate grunts, while the climatic boss battle saw me switch up to motion controls to get more precise hits on the behemoth’s unfortunately conspicuous weak points.

The preview ultimately comes to an end as a scuffle over an ancient artefact transports Samus to a mysterious alien planet where, I’m assuming, she’ll be spending most of her time alone. Kicking off in the heat of battle with a full army on your side is fine for a cinematic opening sequence, but we all know that’s not what Metroid Prime games are really about.

It’s tricky, then, to tell you for sure whether Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is really the game we’ve all been waiting for after just 15 minutes of playtime. But it looks great, plays beautifully, and has that inimitable Retro Studios style. I think it’s fairly safe to say Samus is back.