Before E3 2015 kicked off in earnest, the We Got This Covered team hunkered down to pinpoint the games we wanted to see announced during the course of this year’s trade show. Among the usual suspects – read: Red Dead Redemption 2 and Half-Life 3 – was an all-new entry in the Metroid Prime series. Since the tepid release of Other M, fans of the esteemed franchise have been left wanting for a bona fide console experience set in the sci-fi universe.
With the Wii U effectively on life support, Series Producer Kensuke Tanabe hinted that the latest installment in the Metroid series may be released for the still-unrevealed Nintendo NX console.
[zerggaming]Speaking to Eurogamer, here’s what Tanabe had to share on the matter:
If we started for Wii U now, it would likely take three years or so. So it would likely now be on Nintendo’s NX console. It’s a long time but it would need to include a lot of content, which would take a lot of work on the development side.
…I’m the producer of the Metroid Prime series, and [Metroid series co-creator] Yoshio Sakamoto is the one in charge of Metroid itself. I’m not sure when he’s planning on making such an announcement so I can’t speak for him. I’m not thinking about anything like that [partnering with another studio] right now. We have nothing to announce on working with any specific team.
If this revised approach pans out, it would likely mean that The Legend of Zelda – which remains committed to the flailing console – will act as one of the last first-party titles released for the Wii U. Furthermore, it gives the creative team a prolonged development window to truly push the boundaries of the franchise and, hopefully, make up for lost time.
Could it be that Nintendo is massaging a brand new Metroid Prime game into an Nintendo NX launch game? Time will tell.