In its statement, Nintendo said that Metroid Prime 2: Echoes and Pikmin 2 were included in the “Nintendo GameCube – Nintendo Classics” image by accident on its part. Since then, the image has been removed.

“We recently provided a retailer with an image of Nintendo GameCube – Nintendo Classics titles that incorrectly included games that are not planned for release at this time,” said Nintendo of America. “The image has been removed, and we apologize for any confusion.”

The Nintendo GameCube Classics were introduced alongside the launch of the Switch 2, and can be accessed through a subscription to the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack service.

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes was noted as being an interesting potential addition to the service, since the company was rumoured to have been working on a remaster of the title since as far back as 2023. These reports started to surface just months after the release of Metroid Prime Remastered. According to Giant Bomb’s Jeff Grubb, Nintendo has been planning to remaster the second and third games at some point. Due to this, some believed that Nintendo hadn’t yet brought Metroid Prime 2: Echoes to its online service to sell more copies of the eventual remaster.

None of the GameCube Metroid games are currently available on the service. However, older titles like the original Metroid, Super Metroid, and even Metroid Fusion are available.

Metroid Prime fans can check out our review of the latest entry—Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. The title was released just last month on Nintendo Switch and Switch 2.

As for Pikmin, Nintendo had started teasing something for the franchise with an animated trailer back in October. However, few details have been revealed aside from the fact that the trailer was created completely in-house by Nintendo Pictures. The teaser was largely focused on a baby left alone in a room by its mother and being confused when its pacifier popped out. While the teaser released on YouTube at the time had invisible forces at play, another version released through the Nintendo Today smartphone app confirmed that Pikmin were the source of the baby’s adventure.

The last entry in the series was Pikmin 4, whose producer had also noted that we wouldn’t have to wait too long to see a new release. “We’ll try not to let everyone wait,” he said in a 2023 interview.

Pikmin 4 was released in 2023, and has sold more than 3 million copies. It introduced a host of new elements to the franchise, including a new space dog named Otachi.

That’s as per journalist Jeff Grubb, who recently took to Twitter to double down on past claims regarding the same. In June last year, Grubb leaked that Nintendo has Metroid Prime Remastered primed for release for the Nintendo Switch, and that though it would be launching as a standalone game, the company intended to bring Metroid Prime 2: Echoes and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption to the platform down the line as well.

Interestingly, at the time, Grubb mentioned that unlike the original game, Metroid Prime 2 and 3’s Switch re-releases would not be major overhauled remasters but would instead be launched as much more conservative upgrades featuring updated controls. Based on his latest tweet, it would seem like that’s still very much the plan.

Of course, Nintendo’s plans for unannounced games are always hard to nail down, and leaks related to the company have frequently been proven false time and again, so for now, it’d be best to tread with caution here. Fans of Metroid, however, will certainly be hoping that the full Prime trilogy does indeed become available on the Switch before the launch of Metroid Prime 4 (whenever that happens).

In our review of Metroid Prime Remastered, we awarded it a score of 9/10, saying, “Metroid Prime Remastered is the best way to play one of the best games ever made.” Read the full review through here.

Correct. https://t.co/ojMzuRohp5

— Grubb (@JeffGrubb) February 13, 2023

This one comes from journalist Jeff Grubb, who claimed in a recent episode of his Giant Bomb show Grubbsnax (spotted and transcribed by VGC) that Metroid Prime Trilogy is in fact real. According to Grubb, development on the trilogy’s remaster is done, but Nintendo is holding on to it nonetheless, and not quite ready to send it out into the world just yet.

And why exactly is that the case? According to Grubb, whether or not Nintendo releases Metroid Prime Trilogy in the next year or so depends on a number of factors. For starters, the quality assurance of development in particular that has been impacted quite a bit due to the COVID pandemic, while Grubb also says that Nintendo wants to hold on to the trilogy until Metroid Prime 4 is much closer to launch.

This is, of course, not the first time we’ve heard something along these lines. All the way back in early 2019, it was claimed that development on Metroid Prime Trilogy had already wrapped up.

In related news, former Metroid Prime designer Michael Wikan claimed earlier this year that porting the entire trilogy to the Switch would be a “herculean” effort, in particular due to the fact that Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is built entirely around motion controls. Read more on that through here.

Regardless of whether or not Metroid Prime Trilogy ever sees the light of day, series fans still have plenty else to look forward to, with Metroid Dread launching this October and Metroid Prime 4 also in the works.

Blood Stained Sanctuary – Cave Story

The Blood Stained Sanctuary is truly the toughest challenge that Cave Story has to offer. It has three sections filled with death spikes, falling blocks and respawning Butes. By the time you get to the end of the third section, it’s a battle with the first boss Heavy Press. But wait, there’s more! You then proceed down a passage to face the toughest boss in the game, Ballos with his four phases. Now make sure you do all of that in one go or you have to start from the beginning.

Orange Ocean – Kirby Super Star

Kirby Super Star is easily one of the best games made. No question. But Orange Ocean, a level in Revenge of Meta Knight, is kind of annoying. It starts off with Kirby underwater and the game auto-scrolls, which is an immediate tilter. Not only is Kirby slower and unable to use most abilities but you also have to dodge cannon fire. Just make sure you don’t die to the auto-scrolling (because obviously there’s a section where that can happen).

Metal Gear Solid 2 –  Metal Gear Ray followed by a battle with Solidus Snake

Raiden goes through a lot of tough battles in Metal Gear Solid 2, but the toughest is certainly the wave of Metal Gear Rays that appear out of nowhere to attack the hero at the end of the game, weakening him for his confrontation with the conniving Solidus Snake. And what a finale it’s as Raiden finally gets his revenge on Solidus who killed his parents,