Nintendo has done the impossible: release a Metroid Prime 4 trailer that actually looks good, and coincidentally includes the Akira slide

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is likely my most-awaited game at this moment, but that’s been independent of Nintendo’s promotional strategies. Initial glimpses just didn’t convey the essence of the sequel fans have anticipated for nearly two decades, yet today Nintendo has at last released a trailer that showcases all the elements that truly shine in the Metroid franchise.

The latest trailer revisits several scenes we’ve encountered in earlier previews, but it also presents new environments, adversaries, and skills. We witness Samus confronting formidable-looking strongholds, traversing vast terrains and subterranean catacombs, battling strange extraterrestrial enemies, and employing powers to access new areas, all wrapped in an aura of mystery and fascination that envelops the entire quest. It even features mid-battle scanning!

Essentially, we’ve at last received a trailer that appears to grasp why fans appreciate Metroid. I might be placing an excessive amount of expectations on the details of marketing here, yet the initial trailers since the game’s revival earlier this year didn’t seem to capture the essence. Initially, we were shown a story-driven perspective detailing the fundamental aspects, which I suppose was a reasonable opening to potential new enthusiasts, but there wasn’t much there to engage with.

However, the main issue was the September trailer, which displayed a plethora of lackluster action and a concerning emphasis on a vehicle traversing through what appeared to be an open-world region. Today’s trailer corrects the missteps of that vehicle reveal, portraying Samus’s mode of transportation as stylish as it ought to be, complete with a necessary Akira slide to cinch it all together.

There remains uncertainty over whether Prime 4 can meet nearly two decades of enthusiasm, but this trailer has rekindled my inner 14-year-old Metroid devotee, taking me back to those exhilarating levels first ignited by the teaser of that grand space conflict in May. We shall soon discover if Nintendo and Retro are capable of delivering.

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Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is presently situated in Missouri. He has been covering games (with sporadic excursions into the realms of anime and professional wrestling) since 2015, initially as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His passion for gaming ignited somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and nowadays you can typically find him dividing his leisure time between classic gaming, the latest major action-adventure game, or a long trek in American Truck Simulator.