The first reviews of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond are in, and the results are a relief. It's not the best Nintendo Switch game ever made, but Retro Studios' long-in-development latest avoided catastrophe with positive reviews. A day before launch, it sits at an aggregate score of 80 on Metacritic and 82 on OpenCritic. Metroid Prime 4 is the perfect game to cap off the Nintendo Switch era, bookending what was started by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Metroid Prime 4's launch pays off one of the earliest announcements made during the Switch era, tying up a loose end that has been hanging over Nintendo for eight years. It's also a signifier of how the Switch really breathed new life back into Nintendo itself and many of its dormant franchises, proving that the future is not as bleak as it once seemed for them. Although the Switch 2 Edition of this game will be the best way to play it, Metroid Prime 4 is a fitting swan song for the original Switch.

Metroid Prime 4's release has been a long time coming

I still remember the moment it was announced

I was at E3 2017 when Metroid Prime 4 was first announced, and I remember the moment vividly. As that year's Nintendo Direct aired, I was watching it in the press room with other DualShockers writers and journalists from around the industry. When Metroid Prime 4 was revealed, the entire room erupted into cheering, and I could feel the Los Angeles Convention Center shake as people waiting in line in the expo halls also celebrated.

Little did we know that this would be the start of a long time. Although Nintendo likely planned for Metroid Prime 4 to be out much sooner when it was revealed, a mid-development reboot and studio sweep meant we'd be waiting the entire console's life cycle to play it. Weirdly, Metroid Prime 4 coming out now is making me nostalgic for the earliest years of the Switch's lifespan and allowing me to uncover memories I haven't thought about in years.

In a lot of ways, Metroid Prime 4 has been a throughline of the entire Nintendo Switch generation for me. The potential for this game popping back up gave me a reason to be invested in each new Nintendo Direct. It made me take note of Metroid Dread more than I may have otherwise. I was fully bought into Nintendo's actions across one of its most innovative console generations yet.

Much like Hollow Knight: Silksong, the lack of information surrounding Metroid Prime 4 gave it this legendary, infamous status. The hope that I'd get some sort of new information or news about the game to pay off that E3 2017 moment I can still recall kept me invested throughout a console generation. Ironically, Metroid Prime 4 is coming out as a cross-generation title several months into the Switch 2's lifespan, but that doesn't change how I feel about it.

Nintendo has given some of its less popular franchises a chance this generation

Metroid Prime 4 is a perfect example of that

Beyond the more objective fact that Metroid Prime 4's release is delivering on an early-generation promise from Nintendo, there's also a more abstract reason it's a fitting game for Nintendo to wrap up this console generation with. That's the fact that it's a revival of a once-dormant franchise, breathing new life into it on one of Nintendo's most popular consoles.

While we got some great Super Mario Bros and The Legend of Zelda games over the course of this generation, I do think this approach is an underdiscussed secret to Nintendo's success this console generation. While it felt like Nintendo primarily focused on its proven popular franchises during the Wii and Wii U generation, any and all Nintendo franchises had the chance to achieve that status on Switch.

Across the Nintendo Switch's eight-year lifespan, we've seen new games in series like Metroid, Animal Crossing, Fire Emblem, Yoshi, Luigi's Mansion, Clubhouse Games, Paper Mario, Pikmin, Pokemon Snap, Famicom Detective Club, Advance Wars, and more releases, and become the most successful games in their respective series. If you had told me that a new Animal Crossing game would be the Switch's second-best-selling title in 2017, I probably wouldn't have believed you.

Over the course of the Switch console generation, Nintendo found success by investing in and utilizing its vast back catalog of franchises. It took B- and C-tier franchises and began setting them up so they could one day be spoken of in the same breath as Mario or Zelda. Metroid Prime 4 is an example of Nintendo giving the Metroid Prime series that treatment. Hopefully, we don't have to wait eight more years for the next one.

Metroid Prime 4 is finally here, and I couldn't be happier

Ending the Nintendo Switch generation on a positive note

There are technically some more first-party Nintendo Switch games on the way: Rhythm Heaven Groove and Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream launch next year. That said, those titles are much more niche than Metroid Prime 4, while still playing into the trend of Nintendo reviving some of its older franchises. Even though it's not as critically acclaimed as some other games released for Switch, I will always consider Metroid Prime 4 to be a very important release for the console.

Although both games are technically cross-generation titles, I'll consider the Nintendo Switch era to have started with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and ended with Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. It may be the end of an era for the original Switch, but hopefully, it's the start of a new one for Switch 2 and the Metroid Prime series at large.