Nintendo Explains Metroid Prime 4 Open World Hub Design

Nintendo has explained the reasoning behind keeping Metroid Prime 4: Beyond's controversial open world hub design, despite recognizing that player attitudes toward open-world games had shifted during the game's lengthy development cycle.

The development team revealed that backtracking on the design was not feasible because the project had already been rebooted once before, and making further changes would have caused additional delays. The hub was originally designed as a compromise to balance Nintendo's experimental open-world ambitions with the franchise's traditional exploration-focused gameplay.

The interview also disclosed that development was initially handled by Bandai Namco before being restarted in January 2019 with Retro Studios, the original developers of the Prime trilogy.

The Metroid Prime 4: Beyond development team addressed the game's polarizing hub area in a recent interview. The hub features a motorbike that players ride through a desert environment, which drew criticism for feeling aimless.

Nintendo explained that the design originated from early development discussions influenced by the success of open-world titles. The team noted that player demand for an open-world Metroid experience was high at the project's start.

However, a fundamental conflict existed between open-world design and Metroid's core identity. As Nintendo stated: "Metroid's core element of 'increasing the amount of explorable areas by unlocking powers' is not very compatible with the 'freedom to go anywhere from the beginning' of open worlds."

The solution was a limited hub area that could be freely explored, connecting to other areas in the game. The motorbike was intended to provide a satisfying movement option that would "mitigate the tension from exploration, and pace the whole game."

The game's 18-year development journey significantly impacted design decisions. Metroid Prime 4 was first announced at E3 2017, with Bandai Namco initially handling development.

Development faced a major setback in January 2019 when Nintendo determined the project had "fallen short of expectations." This led to a complete reboot with Retro Studios returning to helm the project.

By the time the team recognized that player impressions toward open-world games had changed, the game had already taken much longer than expected to complete. The previous reboot made further design changes unfeasible.

Nintendo stated: "Development had already been reset once before... so backtracking development again was out of the question, and we resolved to move forward with our original vision."

The team also made deliberate choices to avoid incorporating modern gaming trends. Nintendo noted that while shooting and action games had evolved with increased speeds, taking in those changes "would have made it difficult to construct the tempo of an adventure game."

The concept of Samus gaining psychic abilities predated the Retro Studios reboot. This mechanic originated as a solution for why Samus could now control the Charge Beam's directional shot.

After Retro Studios took over development, Nintendo requested the studio implement additional gameplay features that expanded on this psychic power set. This suggests the psychic abilities became a more central mechanic under Retro's direction.

The development approach prioritized maintaining the franchise's identity over chasing trends. Nintendo concluded that the game is "pretty much divorced from the changing of times," emphasizing their commitment to the series' core design principles.

Despite the controversy surrounding the hub design, the game launched to mostly positive reviews, with IGN scoring it 8/10 and calling it "an excellent, if relatively uneven, revival that reaches heights worthy of the Metroid name in its best moments."