Things You Wish You Knew About Metroid Prime 4: Beyond (Before Playing It)
For fans of the Metroid Prime series, 2025 has been a long time coming. First announced at E3 in 2017, Metroid Prime 4 has been through a very long and sometimes difficult development cycle. Luckily, despite the long wait, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is finally here and it's been worth the wait.
Although Nintendo released a remaster of the original Metroid Prime for the Nintendo Switch, for some reason the other games in the series did not. Metroid Prime Hunters, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, and Metroid Prime: Federation Force are not currently available on Switch or Switch 2. For fans, this makes these games much more difficult to play unless you already have older hardware and games.
This spoiler-free guide should give new players enough information about the Metroid Prime franchise to get them started on Metroid Prime 4: Beyond.
Metroid Prime Timeline – When does Metroid Prime 4: Beyond take place?
The Metroid Prime series is a sub-series of the iconic Metroid franchise. The biggest difference between the Metroid franchise and the Metroid Prime series is that all Metroid Prime games are first-person adventures, as opposed to the side-scrolling Metroid games. Another difference is that the Metroid Prime series takes place between the events of the first Metroid game (1986/1987), which was remade as Metroid Zero Mission (2004), and Metroid II: Return of Samus (1991/1992), which was remade as Metroid: Samus Returns (2017).
Samus Aran
The franchise stars galactic bounty hunter Samus Aran as she travels the vast galaxy, rooting out evil space pirates and other forms of corruption. Samus Aran usually wears a Power Suit, which upgrades throughout each game. To navigate unobtrusive spaces, Samus transforms into a Morph Ball. Her main firepower comes from her arm cannon, which can fire a variety of energy beams and missiles.
Galactic Federation
The Galactic Federation is sort of the Starfleet of the Metroid universe. Their goal is to maintain law and order throughout the galaxy, and they are often on the front lines fighting space pirates. Samus Aran once worked for the Galactic Federation, but has since gone it alone. Even though Samus has left the Galactic Federation, she is still often hired by them to carry out various missions.
Metroid Prime Series
Metroid Prime retains the same iconic gameplay that the Metroid franchise was famous for. Often games inspired by this style of gameplay are called “Metroidvanias”, a portmanteau of the names Metroid and Castlevania, two franchises often associated with the beginnings of this style of gameplay. Gameplay is designed to have the player explore vast areas, often reaching a certain checkpoint that requires a unique item or weapon to continue, resulting in backtracking and attempting to find new routes or using new items/weapons to access previously inaccessible areas.
However, the Metroid Prime series brings this style of gameplay into full 3D, allowing gamers to experience the adventure through Samus' eyes, which Nintendo has dubbed a “first-person adventure.”
Knowing your surroundings
Samus Aran is more than just a bounty hunter who shoots first and asks questions later. Her Power Suit's scanning visor is designed to scan and obtain information about virtually every object, environment, and creature in the Metroid Prime series. This provides players with some additional information, including some tips on how to approach an enemy or area. Players will definitely want to take the time to do all the scanning.
Metroids
Metroids are a jellyfish-like life form that are known to drain energy from their prey. There are many different variations of Metroids throughout the franchise. Often the game's antagonists use Metroid for some evil purpose.
Sylux
Sylux was first introduced in the Nintendo DS game Metroid Prime Hunters (2006). Like Samus Aran, he is a former Galactic Federation soldier and now a bounty hunter. However, the two are at odds with each other. There have been two short Easter eggs for Cylux since Metroid Prime Hunters. His ship, the Delano 7, can be seen in the ending of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, and Cylux appears in the ending of Metroid Prime: Federation Force.
In Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, Sylux returns as the main antagonist.
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond
This brings us to Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. The final installment in the Metroid Prime series, taking place after the events of Metroid Prime: Federation Force (2016). Samus will end up on the planet Viuros. She will come face to face with fellow bounty hunter Sylux.
Further Considerations
Like many of Nintendo's big games, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond has plenty of amiibo available to help enhance your experience. In Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Series you can find Sylux, Samus and Samus, and V-O-La. Old Metroid amiibo will also provide some functionality in the new game.
The excellent Metroid Prime 1-3: A Visual Retrospective: The Official Art and Making of Metroid Prime 1-3 is available for purchase at Piggyback. The book was developed in collaboration with Nintendo and Retro Studios to provide a behind-the-scenes look at the trilogy.
Time for the future
We hope this guide will help new bounty hunters gain enough knowledge to dive into Samus Aran's latest adventure. However, if you need a little more advice, we recommend playing Metroid Prime Remastered which is currently available on Nintendo Switch. Also be sure to check out our Metroid Prime 4: Beyond review.
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond available now on Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2.
