Metroid Prime 4: Beyond: release date window, trailers, gameplay, and more

One of Nintendo’s lesser-known yet still beloved franchises is Metroid — a series that originally began on the NES, putting us in the shoes of bounty hunter Samus Aran. Now, over 35 years later, fans are eagerly awaiting the next entry in the series, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, which has been in the works for several years.

The Prime series takes the formula introduced in the 2D games and turns it into a 3D, first-person adventure that still very much feels like Metroid, despite the perspective shift. Hype for the next installment in the series has found new life now that the original Metroid Prime is available to play on the Nintendo Switch. While there isn’t much we know about Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, there are some small tidbits of information around the internet here and there. It’s possible that Metroid Prime 4 could be one of the headline titles for the Nintendo Switch 2. We’ve scoured as much as we could find to bring you everything we know about Metroid Prime 4.

Release date window

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond got a new release window of 2025 at the June Nintendo Direct and looks like it may finally be the end of this game’s long and troubled development.

Trailers

Announcement trailer

Originally revealed during E3 2017, Metroid Prime 4 was shown in the most minuscule capacity possible. Since it was still very early in development at that time, Nintendo only had a logo ready, revealing that the game was in development and pretty much nothing else via its announcement trailer. The trailer had some fancy space-themed “beep boops,” but aside from that, only the title was shown.

While this was an excellent announcement, it was tough to get too overly excited for a game that we knew nothing about. Nonetheless, you can check out its initial E3 2017 announcement trailer above.

It wasn’t until the June Nintendo Direct in 2024 that we saw Metroid Prime 4: Beyond reappear, now bearing the new subtitle. We also finally see the game in action, with Samus blasting some space pirates, rolling around as a morph ball, and encountering a msyterious foe with a pair of Metroids beside them. The game is just as mysterious as before, but at least we know it is real.

Platforms

As far as we know, Metroid Prime 4 is still in the works for Nintendo Switch, though it wouldn’t be surprising if it turned into a cross-platform release like The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for the GameCube and Wii or Breath of the Wild for the Wii U and Nintendo Switch. Considering Prime 4 won’t be out for a while, it’s logical Nintendo might opt to publish it on whatever device comes out after the Switch.

All we can say is that Prime 4 will be exclusive to a Nintendo platform when it does come out. Sorry, PlayStation and Xbox players.

Gameplay

We did see a small bit of gameplay in that Direct trailer, but nothing wholly new to the Prime games. It is still a hybrid of first-person shooting, exploration, and scanning. You will still be able to use the morph ball to roll through tight areas, but no other classic or new abilities have been shown just yet.

Preorder

Nintendo was ready to show us some of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, but was not confident enough to let us preorder it yet. 2025 is a big window, so once it starts to shrink to a specific date we will have more preorder information for you.