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Metroid Prime Art Book Reveals Rejected Remaster Cutscenes and Retro’s Path Back to Prime 4

Producer annotations offer rare primary-source insight into Nintendo–Retro decision-making.

Overview

  • Metroid Prime 1–3: A Visual Retrospective, a 210-page hardcover, releases on October 28 with extensive concept art and previously unseen assets.
  • Series producer Kensuke Tanabe writes that Retro proposed entirely new cutscenes for the 2023 Remastered, which he declined to retain gameplay-relevant original scenes.
  • Tanabe details that a 2018 remaster assignment revived collaboration with Retro Studios, leading to Retro taking over Metroid Prime 4 development in 2019.
  • Notes recount Retro’s post–Echoes fatigue and interest in tackling Donkey Kong to boost morale following tight schedules across two consecutive Prime games.
  • The book documents proposed changes for Prime 3, including a bounty system and mission-based structure to broaden appeal, which Nintendo rejected as insufficiently innovative.