We’re reexploring a rumor from two years ago as it had correctly predicted the eventual release of Metroid Prime Remastered. If the rest of this rumor holds true, then Retro Studios really has been spending the past few years on Metroid Prime 4.

 The original post from Resetera is lengthy and also includes tangential details about other leakers and rumors. For the sake of brevity we will summarize the rumor ourselves, but you can read the post as transcribed to Reddit here.

After Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, which originally released in 2014 to the Wii U, Retro Studios was assigned an unannounced project. That project may have also been for the Wii U because it was cancelled before Nintendo tapped Retro to work on Metroid Prime.

Retro Studios was assigned to make remake Metroid Prime Trilogy. This was not intended to be a remake in the same way Electronic Arts produced the Dead Space Remake. The original games would be recreated on a 1:1 level, even reusing assets like the collision meshes. The only upgrade would be to the games’ visuals. Retro got to work on the first Metroid Prime.

Since this remake didn’t require help from Retro Studios’ game design staff, they were then sent off to work with Namco on Metroid Prime 4. Namco’s staff was having trouble producing levels for Metroid Prime 4, so Retro Studios were brought in, initially to help. Nintendo eventually decided to give Metroid Prime 4 to Retro Studios completely, because they saw the quality work the studio did on their remake of the first Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime 4.

This change would also necessitate a change to how Nintendo approached their Metroid Prime Trilogy plans. They decided to have Retro Studios finish Metroid Prime Remastered, and then work full scale on Metroid Prime 4. Metroid Prime 2: Echoes and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption still have their own remasters on the way. These will now be made by other studios, using the quality of Metroid Prime Remastered as a benchmark.

As many gamers have pointed out, Metroid Prime Remastered is somewhat incorrectly named. Retro Studios did more than what is expected of a remaster, which is just upgrading the graphics of an older game but still have it run on newer platforms or upgraded hardware.

Metroid Prime Remastered really is closer in quality to Dead Space Remake. While Retro Studios did not change the fundamental game, the additions in textures, geometry, lighting and others, come with improved physics that materially change the gameplay, and even new control schemes.

This suggests Metroid Prime 4 is an even more advanced game, that leverages the full power of the Tegra variant SOC in the Switch. If this rumor holds true, Nintendo sat on releasing Metroid Prime Remastered for an additional two years. While it’s possible some of that time was spent polishing the game, it suggests that Retro has also spent a lot of years working on Metroid Prime 4. While that game seems to have been in limbo since its announcement in 2017, this should renew hope that not only is the game coming, but it will be great when it finally arrives.