No Metroid Prime sequel for Wii U says series producer

It's fair to say that, when word got round that Nintendo would be unveiling a Metroid sequel as part of its E3 presentation, fans were expecting something a little bit more dramatic than Metroid Prime: Federation Force.

A multiplayer shooter being developed exclusively for the 3DS, Federation Force isn't necessarily a bad game, but it certainly isn't the major, full-blown sequel many were hoping for. And given that it's a full five years since the release of the spinoff Metroid: Other M, and nearly eight years since the release of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, it's fair to say that fans of the franchise have been waiting for a long time already.

According to Metroid Prime producer Kensuke Tanabe, a sequel to his hit series isn't due anytime soon, either - in fact, he's told Eurogamer that a Metroid Prime sequel will miss the Wii U altogether.

"If we started for Wii U now, it would likely take three years or so. So it would likely now be on Nintendo's NX console," Tanabe said. "It's a long time but it would need to include a lot of content, which would take a lot of work on the development side."

So it doesn't appear that a Metroid Prime sequel's being put together on the quiet, which means that we won't see a further entry in that particular series until at least 2018 - placing it firmly in the viscinity of Nintendo's NX console, which it plans to formally unveil next year.

None of this is to say that Nintendo doesn't have some sort of Metroid sequel tucked up its sleeve, though. Next year marks the franchise's 30th anniversary, and it would seem like a terrible missed opportunity if the Big N didn't come up with something to mark it - a 2.5D return to the platforming action of old, perhaps? As long as it's not something along the lines of a Metroid Maker, we should get along just fine.

Eurogamer