“Following some consternation yesterday about neither the Switch nor Switch 2 versions of Metroid Prime 4 (Dec. 4) making Nintendo’s million-seller list for the period ending Dec 31, a Nintendo rep confirmed to me today that the combined sales of those 2 versions have in fact passed a million copies,” confirmed Totilo on BlueSky.

While the company hasn’t offered any more insights into its sales performance, having sold a million copies in less than a month is still quite an impressive feat for an entry in the Metroid series—a franchise largely considered to be quite niche among Nintendo’s other offerings despite critical acclaim.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond was released in December, and is the first game in the Prime sub-series since 2007’s Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. The story revolves around Samus Aran once again being called on by the Galactic Federation to take on Space Pirates on planet Tanamaar in the Desolan System. However, things take a turn when Samus finds herself transported to planet Viewros and equipped with a new slate of psychic abilities.

Much like the previous Metroid Prime games, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond offers a mix of first-person shooter gameplay, puzzle-solving and exploration. Much of the story is also told through the environments, with Samus needing to use her scanner to get details on the planet’s backstory.

For more details about Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, check out our review. Also take a look at how its open-world hub design was influenced by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The title was developed by Retro Studios working alongside quite a few other companies. You can check out the full list of the 21 different studios here.

This reveal comes on the heels of Nintendo’s recent quarterly earnings report, where the company confirmed that it had sold over 17 million units of the Switch 2. The quarter itself accounted for 7.01 million sales of the console. The original Switch, on the other hand, has now become Nintendo’s best-selling console ever with over 155 million units sold and beating out the Nintendo DS’s 154.02 million lifetime sales. On the software side of things, the company had confirmed that it had sold 17.31 million units.

Nintendo is currently getting ready for its upcoming Direct, which will focus on third-party games. While not too many details have been revealed about the Partner Showcase, taking place at 6 AM PST, rumors have indicated that we might get to see Black Myth: Wukong announced for a Switch 2 release. Other games that might potentially make an appearance include FromSoftware’s The Duskbloods, and Capcom’s Monster Hunter Wilds.

Following some consternation yesterday about neither the Switch nor Switch 2 versions of Metroid Prime 4 (Dec. 4) making Nintendo's million-seller list for the period ending Dec 31, a Nintendo rep confirmed to me today that the combined sales of those 2 versions have in fact passed a million copies

— Stephen Totilo (@stephentotilo.bsky.social) 2026-02-04T20:52:40.254Z

Taking a closer look at software sales for the month of December, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 took the lead, with Battlefield 6 being ranked third. Other titles in the best-seller charts for the month are a mix of newer games like Donkey Kong Bananza and older titles like Grand Theft Auto 5, Minecraft and Red Dead Redemption 2.

While other console makers might have started struggling with console sales last year, Nintendo has been doing quite well with the release of the Switch 2. Piscatella had confirmed, the Switch 2 ended up being the best-selling console of the year in the US, with the country accounting for 4.4 million units. Along with this, the new console is also noted as selling faster than the original Switch from back in 2017.

As he noted, the Switch 2’s hardware sales single-handedly managed to offset industry-wide downward trends in console hardware sales. Sony’s PS5 ranked second for the period. The Switch 2 has also been described by Piscatella as being the “fastest selling video game console hardware platform” in history so far.

While things might be going well for Nintendo for the time being, research firm Niko Partners has predicted that the company will end up raising the price of the Switch 2 thanks to the worldwide memory shortages affecting manufacturing. The firm noted that, while the Switch 2 is priced competitively when compared to PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo might have to bring its latest console in line with its competitors to maintain profitability.

In the meantime, Battlefield Studios has been working hard on creating and testing more content for the upcoming second season of Battlefield 6. While it hasn’t yet revealed too many details aside from its February 17 launch date, the developers provided a few hints about what kind of content we can expect when Season 2 of Battlefield 6 is kicked off.

Among the new content coming to the game is a brand new map, dubbed Contagion, that will also feature its own unique gameplay mechanics. No details have been provided about these mechanics, aside from vague hints about players needing to use equipment to interact with them, a soldier wearing a gas mask in the teaser trailer, and the fact that the map’s name implies some sort of contagious infection will be involved.

Battlefield 6 is available on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. For more details, check out our review from back when it first came out.

2025 Top 20 Best-Selling Premium Games – U.S. (Dollar Sales, Physical and Digital from digital data sharing publishers, excludes add-on content)

— Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2026-01-22T14:00:07.506Z

December 2025 Top 20 Best-Selling Premium Games – U.S. (Dollar Sales, Physical and Digital from digital data sharing publishers, excludes add-on content)

— Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2026-01-22T14:00:07.505Z

Though the title was announced back in 2017, it had likely been in development even before that. However, it garnered significant attention when Nintendo announced a reboot to development in 2019 with Retro Studios now in charge.

However, the developers noted that the success Nintendo saw with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild played a big role in defining the game structure of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. This was despite the Metroid franchise’s traditional structure, where players would gradually find new ways of exploring, opening the world up further. They pointed out that this structure would be counter-intuitive to having an open-world game like Breath of the Wild. Ultimately, the hub area was a compromise between Nintendo and the team to mix in both styles of level design.

“At the start of the project, perhaps due to the influence of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, we saw a lot of comments on the internet saying ‘we want to play an open-world Metroid’,” said the developers. “However, Metroid’s core element of ‘increasing the amount of explorable areas by unlocking powers’ is not very compatible with the ‘freedom to go anywhere from the beginning’ of open worlds. Thus, we thought to design a limited area that could be freely explored, and have that be a hub that could connect to other areas. Then we thought that if one could move around on the bike in a satisfying way in that area, it could be a segment that mitigates the tension from exploration, and paces the whole game.”

The fact that attitudes towards open-world games had changed since all the way back when Metroid Prime 4: Beyond was first announced was a major sticking point, however, because the title went through a long and arduous development cycle. Since development had already seen at least one reboot, “backtracking development again was out of the question, and we resolved to move forward with our original vision,” said the developers.

“During this time, shooting games and action games went through evolutions, with an increase in game speed in particular, but taking in those changes would have made it difficult to construct the tempo of an adventure game, so we actively chose not to take them into account. Therefore, I think this game is pretty much divorced from the changing of times.”

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is available on the Nintendo Switch and the Switch 2. For more details, check out our review.

The cut dialogue doesn’t really include any plot critical. Rather, they largely lean on the jokier side of things, with characters discussing roast beasts, and how much VUE-995 can bench press. These dialogues were likely cut out of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond because they didn’t quite fit the overall tone of the game. All in all, as caught by VideoGamesChronicle, the cut dialogue amounts to around 30 minutes in length.

It is worth noting that the Metroid Prime series has traditionally been quite well-regarded thanks in large part to its focus on exploration, and the isolation that a player can often feel in the shoes of protagonist Samus Aran as they uncover the deep plot threads in the games. While the first three titles have all been critically acclaimed, the most recent entry has the lowest aggregated Metacritic score of the series so far.

Our own review for Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, which you can check out here, also noted the chatter between NPCs as being a major negative point of the game. In our review, we wrote about understanding the usefulness of helping characters that might be stuck on some puzzles. However, the lack of any way to disable the NPC chatter was a major issue, especially since this chatter has the tendency to minimise the themes of isolation and general atmosphere of the game.

The development of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond has also been a rather gargantuan undertaking if its credits list is anything to go by. As discovered when the title came out earlier this month, the credits list 21 different studios for their work on the game, including primary developer Retro Studios. Among the teams credited in the game are Virtuos, Territory Studio, Waterproof, Red Hot CG, and AMC Studios.

The long list of studios having worked on the game should come as no surprise, since Metroid Prime 4: Beyond was first officially unveiled all the way back in 2017. At the time, rather than traditional franchise developer Retro Studios, the title was noted as being developed by Bandai Namco Studios based out of Japan and Singapore. The title subsequently changed hands since then, with development having been restarted under Retro Studios back in 2019.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond takes Samus Aran on a brand new adventure on the planet Viewros, where they must fight for survival against a number of enemies, including rival bounty hunter Sylux. The first-person gameplay focuses on a mix of action, platforming, puzzle-solving, and exploration, and Samus can once more scan the environment around her to discover more of the story as the game progresses. The title is available on Nintendo Switch and Switch 2.

There was, of course, always that possibility – this is a game that was announced in 2017, rebooted development entirely in 2019, swapping out the original developers for the custodians of the original trilogy Retro Studios, and then spent an additional six years in development, across a whole pandemic and a generational transition. The development was so prolonged and protracted, it’s no shock it would reflect in the final product.

And it does reflect in the final product. Metroid Prime 4 is almost baffling, because it simultaneously feels like it is too slavishly adhering to the format and template of the original game, without taking into account the more than two decades of game design evolution and development that have followed since, while also feeling like it’s not doing enough to be like Metroid Prime. It feels too much like Metroid Prime and not enough like Metroid Prime in all the wrong places, and the end result is a game that can feel frustratingly held back.

"Retro Studios made the absolutely correct decision to prioritize 60fps gameplay for this game even on the Switch as a baseline, which then allowed them more overhead to push things further on the Switch 2."

Which feels particularly galling, because to be honest, there is a lot that this game does right. More than anything else, this game is the tech showcase that Nintendo players may have been looking for. It’s a beautiful, gorgeous game, thanks to Retro’s typical smart blend of leveraging the tech available to them with art and stylization. On the Switch 2, which is where I played, this game runs at 4K and 60fps (which honestly feels shocking), or 1080p and a blistering 120 fps.

That it can achieve this is, of course, down to the fact that at its core, this game is a game made for the original Switch. Retro Studios made the absolutely correct decision to prioritize 60fps gameplay for this game even on the Switch as a baseline, which then allowed them more overhead to push things further on the Switch 2. The game’s Switch roots can often be visible if you squint – the geometry in particular can be extremely simplistic, and some areas of the game, such as the by-now infamous desert hub world, can look jarringly sparse and ugly compared to the rest of the game.

But on the whole, the game’s great art style does wonders to cover for any technical weaknesses the game may have. This should come as no surprise to anyone at all – this is what Metroid Prime has always been known for, and Prime 4 Beyond continues that legacy. It also doubles down on all the great embellishments with the presentation and immersion that these types of games are known for – charge up your arm cannon in a darkened room and release fire, and the flash of light causes Samus’ face to reflect in her visor.

Raindrops slowly trickle down her visor, and her cannon. Steam fogs up her vision. In every way possible, Metroid Prime 4 places you firmly in Samus’ power suit and behind her visor, truly immersing you in the setting and in her character.

"The problem, like I said, comes down to how the game feels the rest of the times. Before I talk about that, I want to talk about the first of the game’s major problems, the level design."

Another area where the game deserves credit is the control options it offers. You get dual analog, gyro assist, and the new signature control scheme offered by this game, joycon mouse controls. The Dual analog and gyro assist work pretty much identically to how they did in 2023’s Metroid Prime Remastered, which is to say, both are excellent and have great game feel. As for the mouse controls, they are sublime. Their implementation is completely seamless, because at any point while playing the game, you can choose to turn one of your joycons sideways, and the game automatically switches to mouse controls.

These mouse controls are great, and probably the best showcase for the otherwise neglected feature the Switch 2 has had since its launch earlier this year. They also allow for the gameplay to feel a lot faster and more dynamic than it otherwise does, because you are able to move, strafe, and aim a lot more freely and spontaneously than you are otherwise.

The problem, like I said, comes down to how the game feels the rest of the times. Before I talk about that, I want to talk about the first of the game’s major problems – the level design. The design is largely streamlined and simplified, mostly linear and funnelling you forward through its levels and environments, without the kind of sprawl and maze like traversal you would find in the original Metroid Prime.

A part of the issue here is the game’s structure. Beyond is structured like an old Zelda game, with a central hub area and multiple biomes you can enter from it, completing their central “dungeon” to gather an item for progress. This, of course, prevents the game from having the kind of global sprawl and design that Metroid Prime had. However, even with this style of design, Beyond could have done a lot better – Prime 2: Echoes, for example, also similarly broke down into three independent areas, the difference being that the design of each of those areas was significantly better than most, if not all, of the regions within Beyond.

I honestly don’t begrudge Retro the decision to make the game with this structure – it is what helps them keep things manageable for players who may be new or daunted by the prospect of a game with backtracking – but I would have liked them to do a much better job with it than they did.

The level design here is not bad. It’s fine. It’s good a lot of the times. But it rarely, if ever, becomes more than that. You can even be playing through the game and enjoying a lot of it, but no part of it sticks with you like the Phendrana Drifts in the original Metroid Prime.

Another problem I often have with the game is its insistence on companions and NPC chatter. Now, to be honest, this issue isn’t as prevalent as I had feared going into the game – you usually get a chattering companion for a small section of an area once you enter it and rescue them, and after that they occasionally chime in to tell you what should be doing. But to me, the problem is that any prevalence of this problem is too much.  Prime in particular, is about isolation and atmosphere, which are both qualities that take a backseat when you have an NPC character telling you how to solve a puzzle, or that there is a crack in the wall you should be examining, or that you just walked by a door with something interesting.

"Prime 4 is not that bad, but the presence of this at all is a problem."

This is the exact thing modern Sony games are criticized for NPC characters telling you what to do the second you entered a new room or encounter, without even giving you the chance to look around and figure things out for yourself. Prime 4 is not that bad, but the presence of this at all is a problem.

I understand considerations around helping players who may feel stuck, so I don’t really take any issue with them deciding to implement the feature, but my complaint is the same as it was for any other game that did this – at least let me turn this off, or, if nothing else, give me the option to not engage with NPC chatter, so I can just try and figure things out myself, and fall back on them for hints should I need those. Naughty Dog solved this problem more than a decade ago with Uncharted and The Last of Us. It boggles the mind that other studios consistently miss the boat on this.

One thing about the game that I think does deserve credit is the sound design and soundtrack. This, again, is not a surprise – Prime  games, more often than not, have incredible music, including ambient soundtracks, and that remains true in this game as well.

The sound design, as well, is fantastic, and contributes so much to the incredible sense of immersion. The audiovisual presentation aspects of this game pull their weight so well when it comes to delivering on a next generation realization of Metroid Prime… it’s honestly a shame to see the actual design decisions made with the title not do their part as well.

"After nearly 20 years since the last Prime game, a lot has happened in the world of game design, but Prime 4 barely seems to acknowledge that."

Because, yeah, ultimately, there is so much the game does do well that it is, frustratingly, not a total write off. There’s a lot Prime 4 does that is great, which makes it that much more frustrating that there is so much more it completely drops the ball on.

After nearly 20 years since the last Prime game, a lot has happened in the world of game design, but Prime 4 barely seems to acknowledge that. Even that would have been okay with me – just more Metroid Prime would be great! I love Metroid Prime, I would gladly take more of it. But it has to be good, and Prime 4 very often misses the mark, at least when it comes to things that matter most, such as the level design and traversal.

My hope is that this game is what it is due to the unique circumstances of its development. Hopefully, Retro will be allowed to put out a follow up, and hopefully, that follow up will be a lot less confused and conflicted, and a lot more cohesive with its overall vision and design. Until then, Prime 4 is what we have – the worst of the four mainline Prime games.

This game was reviewed on the Nintendo Switch 2.

It is worth noting that, while many of the studios listed in the credits were likely teams specialising in supporting the development of major titles, others seem to be more specialised. Red Hot CG, for instance, is a development team that focuses primarily on the art assets that games need. The studio has credits across quite a few major releases, including Destiny 2, Horizon Forbidden West, Valorant, and even Starfield, among many others.

Keywords Studios, on the other hand, is a larger support studio that has several other listed studios under its overall banner, including GameSim and Smoking Gun Interactive.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond has been in development for quite some time. The title was originally unveiled all the way back in 2017. At the time, the title was noted as not being made with traditional Metroid Prime franchise developer Retro Studios. Rather, at the time, it was being made by Bandai Namco Studios based out of Japan and Singapore. Since then, however, quite a few things changed for the title, and its development had been confirmed as having been restarted under Retro Studios back in 2019.

The title once more puts players in the armour of Samus Aran who is stuck on the planet Viewros and must fight for survival against a variety of foes, including rival bounty hunter Sylux. Keeping to series tradition, the first-person gameplay of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond offers a heavy mix of exploration, platforming, puzzle solving, and action. To aid players, Samus is once more equipped with the ability to scan objects in the environment which can then help her unravel the overall story of the title.

The newest entry in the Metroid Prime franchise is also bringing with it some new features, like psychic powers that can be used throughout the game. Along with this, Samus will also have access to the Vi-0-La bike to travel around the game’s various environments.

Releasing on both Switch and Switch 2, the version of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond on the more recent console will feature quite a few unique features, like the ability to use the Joy-Con 2 controller as a mouse, more closely mimicking the gameplay of traditional PC-based shooters.

For more details about Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, here are 15 things you need to know. Also check out what has changed since Metroid Prime 3.

Studios credited with work on Metroid Prime 4: Beyond:

• Retro Studios
• Next Level Games
• Virtuos
• Territory Studio
• Waterproof
• Keywords Studios
• Liquid Development
• Volta
• AMC Studio
• GameSim
• Smoking Gun Interactive
• Forge Studios
• Red Hot CG
• Original Force
• Devoted Studios
• Room 8 Studio
• Next Gen Dreams
• Mock Science
• Cup of Tea
• Formosa Interactive
• House of Moves

You’re on Planet Viewros

Answering a desperate Galactic Federation distress call, Samus Aran descends onto the uncharted planet of Viewros – a world currently under siege by her archrival, Sylux. Its surface is a patchwork of radically distinct biomes: lush jungles pulsing with alien plantlife, colossal war factories, thunderstruck ruins, frozen laboratories, and volcanic industrial hubs. Viewros is both hostile and hypnotic, with secrets tied to long-lost civilisation Lamorn nestled within. As Samus investigates, the planet’s varied terrain forms the backdrop to a campaign of exploration, infiltration, and cosmic gunplay,

Wheel-and-Spoke Overworld Design

Viewros revolves around a central desert hub known as Sol Valley, a scorched expanse connecting all its major biomes. Only a small group of reporters have explored the valley first-hand, but Nintendo’s gameplay deep dive showcases its roadless sightlines and environmental barrenness. One concern, perhaps, is that an area this exposed risks diluting the Prime series’ mysterious atmosphere – but until you experience it for yourself, Sol Valley remains an intriguing wildcard.

Vi-O-La Bike Traversal

Still, crossing Sol Valley is made dramatically more efficient thanks to the Vi-O-La Bike – a summonable two-wheeler that Samus rides across the sand. It’s agile, capable of tight turns, smashing energy crystals, and even mid-drift combat attacks. Samus can lock onto enemies while mounted, weaving between rolling drones and rocky constructs with a flash of motocross flair. Crucially, the bike can be summoned in any biome where there’s room to accelerate, expanding its traversal potential to moment-to-moment decisions rather than fixed to set pieces.

Scanning is Central to Progression

Samus’ scan visor is the visual key which unlocks Viewros’ information warchest, highlighting objects, devices, enemies, devices, flora, fauna, environmental clues, and anything relevant to navigation. Scanning isn’t optional – it’s a core mechanic which reveals how to open routes, manipulate machinery, interpret energy flow, and understand what befell the Lamorn. Much of Beyond’s storytelling is delivered environmentally, with scanning the backbone in how you read the world.

New Power: Psychic and Telekinetic Combat Ability

Samus’ suit now channels a violet-hued psychic energy that reshapes her armour and arsenal. Projectiles can curve mid-air under mental direction, beams can lock onto multi-angle trajectories, and Psychic Gloves allow her to seize, shove, and redirect environmental hazards and enemy mobs. These powers give her a new combat identity, centring less on pure firepower and more on control, accuracy, and spatial dominance.

New Power: Verticality and Traversal Through Psychic Tech

Psychic abilities don’t stop at combat. They introduce an entirely new layer of verticality to Viewros: violet trackways sling Samus through the air in Morph Ball form; stretchable psychic “threads” attach to anchor points, functioning like telekinetic grapples; environmental puzzles revolve around shifting energy conduits, rotating machinery, and guiding motes to unlock ancient Lamorn systems. These additions elevate Beyond’s traversal into something more kinetic, aerial, and puzzle-driven.

Galactic Federation Troopers Need Rescue

Just like Samus, numerous Galactic Federation Troopers were scattered across Viewros during Sylax’s assault, each now transmitting distress signals from deep within the planet’s hazardous biomes. As you explore, you’ll track down these lost operatives and pull them out of crises.

Some will briefly fight alongside Samus, with several holding upgrades which they’ll pass on. This means rescues are embedded directly into progression – they’re not to be treated as optional detours.

Trooper Companions Come With a Warning

The most discussed example so far is Myles McKenzie, a bespeckled engineer you’ll encounter early on. Presenting Samus with a missile upgrade demonstrates his gratitude is immediate, but unfortunately so is his commentary. His quips, hints, and sarcastic asides run counter to Beyond’s atmospheric tone, creating an uncomfortable tension between Samus’ silence and his banal chatter. If Myles represents the approach to be taken by the rest of the rescued troopers, there’s a genuine risk that portions of the game will feel over-explained or, worse, annoying.

Sylux Takes Centre Stage

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond positions Sylux as the architect of the Viewros invasion. He’s a calculating force, a powerful, masked, bounty hunter with deep-seated hatred for the Federation. Footage highlights his advanced tech and weaponry – likely stolen from the Federation’s research – his command over specialised drones, and a near-equal footing with Samus as a skilled warrior and marksman. No longer a throwaway fixture, Sylux uses his vendetta against Samus to shape Viewros’ planet-wide conflict. Not much else is known about him, so we’ll need to wait and see just how engaging he is as an adversary.

Expanded Combat Fluidity

Beyond psychic powers, Nintendo isn’t introducing sweeping changes to Samus’ ability in Beyond. However, gameplay demos do emphasise a shift in fluidity: Samus moves faster, aims more responsively, and transitions between abilities – bodied form to Morph Ball, for instance – much more seamlessly. Her streamlined movements all contribute to a combat style that’s crisp, modern, and readable. Beyond’s battling mixes mobility, verticality, scanning strategy, environmental manipulation, and intense firepower into a smooth rhythm beyond what fans may have expected.

Dialled Up Boss Battles

Early footage showcases Samus’ clash with Aberex, a plant-like enemy which shifts shield position, ejects violent shockwaves, and transforms mid-fight via a power-up. Mechanic-wise, you’ll need to be extremely adept – alternating weak point targeting, using the Morph Ball for evasion, and blasting the Control Beam with precision to best them. As far as tutorial bosses go, Aberex is a tough one, indicating, perhaps, Metroid Prime 4 is poised to test every skill while utilising every tool and power-up Samus has in her arsenal.

The Lamorn Are The Heart of Viewros’ Mystery

Throughout Samus’ adventure, remnants of the Lamorn civilization loom over everything. Their ruins house energy systems, dormant machinery, and coded glyphs. Their presence isn’t just a background detail – they are woven directly into puzzles, traversal, knowledge, and narrative, and the planet’s underlying architecture. Through scanning, studying, and environmental interaction, you’ll piece together a story that Viewros itself seems eager to conceal.

Exploration is “Wide-Linear”, not Open World

Beyond’s structure has been described as “wide” rather than “open”, with regions offering multiple paths, hidden zones, and branching exploration, but progress exuding platforming flavour in its requirement to revisit areas once the right tools and upgrades have been acquired. The Sol Valley itself allows large-scale navigation, whereas each biome feels handcrafted, layered, and laced with secrets which reward curiosity. There’s freedom yet, kept at arm’s length by thinly-veiled boundaries.

Significant Visual Overhaul

Beyond features a fresh visual aesthetic which moves away from photorealism towards a more memorable, unique, almost 70s sci-fi appearance. Suggesting that more powerful hardware drives the game’s art style, Metroid Prime 4 shimmers with dense foliage, shines with bioluminescent spores, and dynamically reflects an armour’s sheen. These changes serve to heighten immersion through mood rather than pure fidelity.

SWITCH 2 TECH DETAILS

That said, if you’re playing Metroid Prime 4: Beyond on Switch 2 you’ll experience superior performance: reports indicate up to 120fps at 1080p when docked in performance mode, while a separate quality mode suggests 4K resolution at 60fps. Also, the Switch 2 version benefits from HDR support, improved texture models, and sharp environmental detail. Whether higher frame rates or picture quality, the Switch 2 version is set to support the game’s fluid movement via smooth camera motion and clearer aiming. Worth mentioning however: core gameplay pillars remain unchanged on both the Switch and Switch 2 versions.

Return to Isolation Over Scale

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption pushed Samus into the heart of an intergalactic battle; conflict filled with Federation soldiers, squad-based objectives, and endless comms chatter. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond pivots sharply in the opposite direction, restoring explorative isolation where Samus is left to interpret threats across a hostile planet largely without backup. This shift isn’t just tonal, but a redefinition of pace and progression – now, Samus is more exposed than reinforced.

Hypermode Replaced by New Combat Identity

Phazon Hypermode was the defining combat mechanic in Metroid Prime 3, giving Samus devastating attack capability via a rising corruption meter. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, instead, abandons this framework altogether by introducing psychic and telekinetic ability. It’s a shift towards interplay, mobility, and fluidity, relying on reading the environment rather than keeping an eye on depleting resources. It’s a cleaner, perhaps fairer, system, more in-line with modern action game design. You’ll master a new toolset rather than base Samus’ strength on self-destruction.

New Psychic-Driven Puzzle Design

Beyond’s psychic ability redefines combat, but Samus’ newfound telekinesis influences Metroid Prime 4’s puzzle design too: lifting objects, redirecting energy beams, shifting orbs of light to power ancient machinery, are all ways to manipulate the environment with mental control. These mechanics weave into traversal and progression, whereas Metroid Prime 3’s puzzle-led progression was built around traditional tools: scanning terminals, using the grapple lasso, and timed platforming challenges – purposeful at the time but lacking modern-day tactility.

Risk Versus Reward Mechanics

Based on current information, Beyond’s psychic-imbued combat and traversal don’t introduce any health-draining properties. Here, it seems the intention is to encourage you to express yourself through Samus’ arsenal and moveset, allowing for higher control without survival mechanics. With its identity built around Hypermode, Corruption saw Samus’ power come with the risk of death. Without this loop, Beyond eschews risk versus reward, and could feel less punishing overall.

No Permanent Corruption and the Absence of Self-Destruct

In Prime 3: Corruption, over-using Hypermode risked triggering Corrupt Hypermode, a state where failing to vent forced an instant game over. It was a dramatic punishment which sat at the heart of Prime 3’s risk-reward tension. Beyond, so far, has no comparison – its new abilities and systems aren’t tied to any punishment. So, the psychic abilities are reframed as tools instead of hazards. There doesn’t appear to be any looming threat in their overuse either, meaning you’ll feel empowered rather than on edge.

Vehicle Traversal

Beyond introduces Samus to the Vi-O-La bike, a high-speed two-wheeler allowing Samus to tear across Viewros’ vast desert plains while stitching its numerous biomes together quickly. In fact, the Vi-O-La is summonable wherever you have room to accelerate, perhaps changing how you’ll think about momentum throughout exploration. In contrast, Metroid Prime 3 stuck to foot-based traversal, relying on elevators, doors, and other region linking devices. 3 was more deliberate in its room-to-room exploration, while 4 – with its rideable vehicle – injects a newfound dynamism.

Cross-Generational Performance and Controls

Beyond launches across both Nintendo Switch and Switch 2, with a substantial difference between the two. The more powerful hardware can hit framerates of 120fps in performance mode, supporting Samus’ newfound fluidity and speed. Corruption, instead, launched exclusively to the Nintendo Wii, locking into its performance limitations, motion-based controls, and aiming. Beyond’s technical ambitions are realised by modern systems and is scalable across devices, something that’s apparently hindering Corruption’s re-release to current-gen.

Joy-Con Mouse Mode Versus Pointer Aim

On Switch 2, Beyond supports a Joy-Con mouse mode, letting you place a single Joy-Con flat to use as a precision pointer for aiming and scanning. Corruption used the Wii’s infrared pointing for its aiming system – responsive but lacking the near-mouse accuracy of Beyond on the Switch 2. The difference illustrates a progression in sensory controlling, still tactile but now more functional and user-friendly.

Control Fluidity and Movement Speed

In Beyond, you’ll be in command of a far more agile Samus than in Corruption. Her tighter manoeuvring, smoothing transitions, and quick weapon drawing blend seamlessly with psychic-enabled verticality. Corruption will feel slower and more deliberate in comparison, partly due to motion input and the relatively sluggish system activation – Hypermode or Grapple interactions don’t have the snap which Samus executes in Beyond.

Companion Dynamics

Throughout Beyond, you’ll encounter stranded Galactic Federation Troopers scattered across Viewros. Rescuing them can open up shortcuts, grant upgrades, and present assistance during combat encounters. By comparison, narratively, Corruption places Samus as part of a larger assault team but, during moment-to-moment gameplay, solo exploration and mission-based structure dominates. Beyond makes rescuing troopers integral to narrative progression rather than being the backdrop for a wider, overarching setting.

Narrative Tone and Character Interaction

Corruption delivered its narrative through mission briefings, near-neverending dialogue, and voice-acted cutscenes – sequences that framed Samus as part of an organised military push. In contrast, Beyond’s narrative tone appears more grounded through incidental interactions with rescued troopers and environmental storytelling. It’s gameplay that’s quieter and more observational – still isolationist, but at a pace you’ll be able to measure yourself.

Mission Structure and Progression

Prime 3 structures much of its campaign around linear missions – briefings, clear objectives, and inter-planetary assignments. You’ll be guided throughout each region by a tight task list. Beyond appears more free-form, adopting a “wide linear” approach to structure. Progression here is tied to exploration, investigation, and discovery as much as it is about completing objectives – its loop demands you revisit locations, unlocking and expanding influence through ability and equipment upgrades.

Graphical Fidelity and Visual Effects

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond makes immediate use of modern hardware, with richer detail, dense environments, advanced lighting, and particle physics. Even on Switch, the visual polish is notable, while the Switch 2 elevates fidelity and performance further. Metroid Prime 3 landed on the Nintendo Wii, and while impressive at the time, is bound by lower resolutions, simpler textures, shallow shading and light. The difference isn’t subtle – it points to Prime 4 appearing a technical showcase for the still-new Switch 2 platform. There’s no evidence suggesting this was a goal pursued with Prime 3.

Scanning and Visor Integration

Beyond has the scanning loop, but weaves it more tightly into the game’s new psychic interactions and environmental manipulation. Beyond’s visor is more deeply embedded into its gameplay via its relative simplicity compared to Corruption, where switching through a radial menu presented different scanning modes for combat, investigation, or x-ray vision. Visor functionality is solid in both entries, but Beyond compartmentalises its purpose – streamlining its function for more specific use.

Ship Command Mechanic Removed

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption allowed you to summon and control Samus’ gunship remotely, using the Command Visor to manoeuvre the ship, unlock new routes, and fast travel. Beyond, however, appears to keep the gunship strictly as a narrative anchor, focusing instead on biome traversal rather than interplanetary movement. At present, there is no Command Visor equivalent announced, making traversal entirely grounded in the world.

The former is recommended for newcomers to the series, while the latter is for long-time fans. Those who want a more challenging experience can try Hard mode, but they’ll need to clear the game on Normal first. Sadly, you can’t unlock it early with the amiibo, which instead showcases the full version of a movie seen in scattered pieces throughout, without needing 100 percent in scans and item collection.

Launching on December 4th, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond will be playable on Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2. It’s already broken street date with consumers already getting their hands on a copy, so beware of spoilers. Head here for more details on what to expect.

Thanks to various hands-on previews and gameplay, we get a little more up-close and personal with one of them – Myles MacKenzie. An engineer who’s more than a little starstruck by Samus (understandably so), he proceeds to accompany her in the first hour of the game.

The results can be seen in VGC’s gameplay below, as Myles advises opening the map, screeches in terror when wild beasts appear, and more. While the sweeping vistas of Viewros and its mysterious architecture look pretty nice, the tension of monsters ambushing you on the bridge is lowered when Myles shouts out instructions.

Samus eventually leaves Myles behind at a terminal, but not before he reveals that it’s “about to get real nerdy in here.” While the other companions don’t appear to be as annoying, the writing doesn’t exactly inspire much confidence right now.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond launches on December 4th. It will be available for Nintendo Switch 1 and 2, with the latter supporting mouse controls and HDR.