Overview
- The 200-plus-page hardcover from Piggyback releases in late October and compiles concept art, storyboards, full-game maps, and commentary from Retro Studios and producer Kensuke Tanabe.
- Tanabe confirms Retro pitched entirely new cutscenes for Metroid Prime Remastered, but he kept the GameCube sequences to preserve gameplay-relevant information.
- The book details frequent creative friction between Nintendo and Retro, with Nintendo retaining final say, illustrated by debates over Meta Ridley, Morph Ball transitions, and design philosophy.
- Retro’s proposals to add a bounty system and mission-based structure to Metroid Prime 3 to broaden appeal after Echoes’ weaker sales were rejected for lacking fresh innovation.
- New context ties the trilogy’s direction to Dark Samus concepts from a 100% ending and explains how the 2018–2023 remaster rekindled Nintendo’s collaboration with Retro, leading to the studio taking over Metroid Prime 4 in 2019.