Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Trailer Shows Off Akira Slide & Motorbike Gameplay On Switch 2

Metroid Prime 4 is right around the corner after being teased since 2017, and Samus Aran is drifting smoother than ever with her slick new motorbike. Ahead of the long-delayed game's December 4th launch, Nintendo has dropped another trailer, this time showcasing the Switch 2 version of the game at a super-clean 4K 60 FPS and showing more gameplay peeks of the previously-teased motorcycle, verifying that the bike includes combat and drifting rather than just being a slightly-prettier/faster way to go from Point A to Point B as skeptics originally feared. At the tail-end of the trailer, we even see Samus pull off the above-pictured Akira slide.


While Metroid Prime 4 is also coming to Nintendo Switch and has some visual restrictions that give that away, it's important not to understate just how much work is going into the project as a whole and how great the graphics are. While the Nintendo Switch version of the game will be limited to 720p and controller input, the Switch 2 version of the game will be capable of targeting either 4K 60 FPS or 1080p 120 FPS depending on whether you pick Quality or Performance Mode. Additionally, the Switch 2 version of the game will support mouse input through either the use of a sideways Joy-Con or actually plugging in a dedicated mouse, a move sure to delight FPS fans who know the joy of 120 Hz mouse input and perhaps enjoyed Metroid Prime Remastered on Yuzu with mouse input.

Not only is the game looking to be the most gorgeous Metroid project yet (though Dread also looked especially gorgeous when played on an OLED display), some reports indicate that it may actually be Nintendo's most expensive production ever. That long development cycle including a full restart when the game went from Bandai Namco back to series veterans Retro Studios seems to have racked up a development budget of about $100 million USD, if a report from industry insider Reece Reilly is to be believed. While that is undoubtedly a high number, it is important to clarify that Nintendo's development budgets aren't quite as well-documented as other studios, and AAA development from other studios has long reached those budgets and higher, thanks to them targeting more powerful hardware each generation. At least that budget is more reasonable than the billions going into the open-world, ray-traced Grand Theft Auto 6.

Image Credit: Nintendo