For quite some time now, the Metroid series has not been one of Nintendo's strongest IPs, noticeably lacking regular releases. The most recent game in the franchise to release was the Metroid 2 remake Metroid: Samus Returns on the Nintendo 3DS back in 2017. Aside from the core Metroid series, Metroid Prime has been rather dormant as well, with fans waiting almost 4 years since Metroid Prime 4's announcement at E3 2017.

Despite what seems to be a troubled development process over at Retro Studios, with development for the game completely restarting development in 2019, some fans have had their hopes up for a Metroid Prime trilogy to release on the Switch. These hopes have been largely fueled my rumors and supposed leaks, with no official announcements or hints from Nintendo or its partners, but now, some fans seem to be harassing one of the series' former developers.

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Fans may remember that earlier this week, former Retro Studios developer and lead designer of all 3 Metroid Prime titles Michael Wikan commented on the prospect of a Metroid Prime trilogy, stating that it would take a "herculean effort" to make it happen. Reportedly, some fans hadn't taken the comment very well, and proceeded to barrage Wikan with abusive messages online.

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The news comes by way of the Metroid fan-site Shinesparkers, which shared the message of Wikan receiving harassment via social media. While details were not revealed, Shinesparkers urged the community to be on their best behavior, saying "The Metroid community is better than this, please be kind." Of course, it's worth noting that the former game designer never actually stated that a remastered trilogy of any sort will never happen, but simply expressed doubt due to a variety of factors. These include the fact that Retro Studios would need to "brute force" hard code any Metroid Prime remaster or re-release, as the game developer no longer has the appropriate tools to do so easily.

However, Wikan did state that the first 2 Metroid Prime titles would likely be easier to port to the Switch, since they have already been ported over to the Nintendo Wii, though Metroid Prime 3: Corruption would take more effort as the game was designed for the Wii's motion controls. The recent announcement of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD has shown that Switch ports of motion control-heavy Wii games are possible, but it isn't currently known how much work it has taken to rework the game's controls.

Regardless, fans continue to look towards the upcoming all-virtual E3 experience in June, where Nintendo is expected to make a plethora of announcements. Among news on the Metroid series, fans hope to learn more about Splatoon 3, the sequel to Breath of the Wild, and even the heavily rumored Nintendo Switch pro console revision.

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Source: Shinesparkers