On August 19, legendary developer Masahiro Sakurai is hosting a Nintendo Direct all aboutKirby Air Riders, the legacy sequel to 2003’sKirby Air Ride, a GameCube classic. Sakurai created both theKirbyandSuper Smash Bros.franchises, and will likely have some very interesting insight intoAir Riders, a game thatNintendo claims is ahead of its time. But the Pink Puffball stepping into the spotlight at this time has me wondering what’s happening withMetroid Prime 4: Beyond.
Kirby Air Riderswas revealedalongside the Nintendo Switch 2 in April, with its release window set for 2025. The Direct will almost certainly put an exact date down for its launch, but it almost feels likeMetroid Prime 4– which is also slated for release sometime this year – is getting stepped over. In contrast toMetroid Prime 4,Kirby Air Ridersonly had a single trailer prior to the Direct, and if it’s already gearing up for release, it’s got me worried about the state of Samus' next adventure.
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Has Disappeared Again
I Thought We Were Approaching The Finish Line
Nintendo’s Switch 2 strategy has been strangeso far, and the continued mystery surroundingMetroid Prime 4only adds to the confusion. The first-personMetroidgame’s long, troubled development is infamous, but when the Switch 2 made its big debut in April,it felt likeBeyondwas well on its way to release. Following the Switch 2 Direct,Metroid Prime 4was featured prominently in the follow-up Nintendo Treehouse Live streams.
There were gameplay demonstrations showing offMetroid Prime 4’s early missions, but the game has been practically dormant since. Nintendo has hosted five more Directs since the one revealing the Switch 2, with theKirby Air RidersDirect being the sixth. To be fair,Metroidhas no place in most, if not all, of these –Mario Kart WorldandDonkey Kong Bananzagot their own, one was a Pokémon Presents, and it doesn’t belong in therecent Indie World showcase.
Metroid Primealso doesn’t really qualify for thePartner Showcase in July, since it focused on publishing partners, and Nintendo publishes the Retro Studios-developed series. It’s still odd, however, forMetroid Prime 4to seemingly be gearing up for its launch lead-up marketing with the Switch 2, only to disappear again. We know quite a lot about the game, yetits release date hasn’t been announced.Kirby Air Riders, on the other hand, is still mysterious, but will likely have its release date set at the Direct on August 19.
I Hope Metroid Prime 4 Doesn’t Get Delayed Again
I’ve Waited So Long
Kirby Air Riderscould simply be ready first, and that’s why it will receive its own Direct ahead ofMetroid Prime 4. I hope I’m reading too much into it, butMetroid Prime 4having so much gameplay shown off months ago, only to have its promotional material stopped, doesn’t feel like a good omen. The worst-case scenario is thatBeyondgets delayed again, butits Switch 2 version gameplay looked so promisingin April.
A delay wouldn’t be the end of the world, but with the game’s protracted development, it would call into question its potential to deliver. TheMetroid Primetrilogy is beloved, and followingMetroid Dreadand the remaster of the originalPrimeon the Switch, the legendary series has a lot of momentum going into the Switch 2 era. It could potentially bode ill for the series' future ifMetroid Prime 4: Beyondcan’t deliver, but we won’t know anything more untilKirby Air Ridershas its time in the sun first.
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond
Metroid Prime 4 is the long-awaited sequel to 2007’s Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. Initially developed by Bandai Namco, the original development studio, Retro Studios, returned to work on the title after Nintendo rebooted development in 2019. The game is still slated for release on the Nintendo Switch.
