If you were a bit let down by the new Metroid game, Metroid Prime: Federation Force not being a mainline Metroid offering that puts Samus on a new space pirate-hunting, planet-mapping adventure, you may find some reassurance from the producer of Metroid Prime: Federation Force, Kensuke Tanabe.
Tanabe has stated that he’s not involved with potential 2D Metroid projects that could be coming from the series’ usual producer, Yoshio Sakamoto, but he has his own ideas about where to take the Metroid Prime interquel series next, should Nintendo green-light a new mainline Metroid Prime game. Tanabe recalls an epilogue scene from 2007’s Metroid Prime 3: Corruption on Wii, which saw Samus being chased by a mysterious ship as she warps away. Apparently, this was the start of a concrete plan to continue the Metroid Prime saga past its apparent conclusion with Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, with Tanabe confirming the fan theory that the ship is being piloted by Sylux, one of the bounty hunters from 2006 DS offshoot, Metroid Prime: Hunters.
Sylux was characterized in Metroid Prime: Hunters as having an intense hatred for the Galactic Federation, as well as Samus Aran, whom Sylux views as being a puppet of the Federation. Tanabe also referred to Sylux as a male, despite Nintendo’s websites and marketing referring to the character as gender-neutral, interestingly. Clearly, this character has a backstory that the Big N has a template laid out for eventually diving into.
Tanabe states that he has an idea for a mainline Metroid Prime 4, which would involve the vendetta of Sylux against the Galactic Federation, and how Samus would get caught up in it. Tanabe views Metroid Prime: Federation Force as a stepping stone towards this mainline Metroid Prime game, since it will allow Nintendo and Next Level Games to flesh out the Galactic Federation more, giving them the necessary backstory that they would need to incorporate a character like Sylux as a core threat in a Metroid Prime 4.
On the negative side however, Tanabe does bluntly state that Nintendo has not green-lit a Metroid Prime 4, meaning that it’s unlikely that the game would end up releasing for Wii U. Instead, it’s far more likely that the hypothetical Metroid Prime 4 would come to Nintendo’s upcoming ‘new concept’ game platform, currently code-named the Nintendo NX. Nintendo will not be speaking about the NX at all until 2016 however, likely placing it for a final public release in 2017, at the earliest.
Metroid Prime: Federation Force launches for Nintendo 3DS at some point in 2016. Keep rallying Eggplante for all news and updates on the Metroid series.