One of the most beloved franchises in the entire history of Nintendo is Metroid. Its gameplay style of exploring to fill out a map, gathering new powers, and then backtracking to access new areas of the map eventually spawned an entire genre built off that formula. Eventually, it was taken to a 3D environment when Metroid Prime was released on GameCube. Loved by fans and critics, it’s a favorite in the entire franchise. Despite this, Prime has been kind of forgotten without a new game in the series since Metroid Prime 3, and the announced Metroid Prime 4 is still nowhere to be seen.
On Wednesday, to the surprise of pretty much everyone, a remaster of Metroid Prime was suddenly stealth launched to the Nintendo eShop. Announced during a Nintendo Direct, Metroid Prime: Remastered is a new way to experience the game with new controls and cleaner graphics. While most fans were probably expecting and hoping to see Metroid Prime 4 get shown off during this Nintendo Direct, they will happily take a new way to experience a long-time favorite like Metroid Prime.
It’s not often that an absolute classic like this gets stealth dropped as an eShop title, but we’ll happily reap the rewards until we finally hear something new about Metroid Prime 4.