Given that Prime 4 is coming out this year, I wonder what the chances are that we'll get a remastered Prime 2 and 3 beforehand?
I'm hopeful, but not holding my breath for it, and I don't think we'll see
both of them beforehand. In Kiwi Talkz interviews, former Retro devs have pointed out a few things worth bearing in mind:
- It's harder to rebuild/alter an existing model than to create a new one from scratch, something they learned the hard way with the mirrored light-world/dark-world rooms in Echoes. So remastering Prime 1 was doubtless a huge pain in the butt on that front, and would similarly take a ton of effort for the other two entries if they go for that same level of rebuilding. If Jeff Grubb was right that they
aren't getting that treatment, just a texture upscale and control updates, then they're more likely to come out sooner, but tbh I'm hoping that info is outdated.
- The Metroids in Remastered looking more opaque is because of some arcane hardware-related issue with how the Switch renders translucent objects, and Prime 2 and 3 both have certain areas that use a lot of that. (Sanctuary Fortress, Skytown, and the Federation areas) So unless they save it for Switch 2 (and Switch 2 is built different enough to avoid the same rendering issue) that's a big thing to figure out. Not insurmountable even on base Switch, as I understand it, but another potential problem nonetheless.
- One guy said Prime 3 would be especially hard to adapt because of the different control scheme. I don't entirely agree with that, since Remastered had three and a half control scheme setups, so starting from a different place seems like it wouldn't affect the outcome that much in the long run, but maybe there is still an issue of how the code is structured differently or something, idk. Another factor worth noting, at least.
- A lot of the work on Remastered was outsourced to other studios, but Retro were still the main ones leading the charge there. And this is a rumor so take it with a saltshaker, but I do remember at least hearing a few months back that it came out that Retro were planning to do 2 and 3 as well, but that was
before being given Prime 4 when the first version of it got canned; so it's kinda uncertain whether they've still been working on those on the side, or if it was an all-hands-on-deck for Prime 4 sort of situation. And if Retro did divert away from those completely, it becomes a question of whether the outsourced studios are able to cover the sequels on their own, how extensive the remastering would be, and how much time and effort would be required from them without Retro's lead in relation to that.
- On the upside, we also have lots of stuff suggesting Prime 1's remaster was done and being sat on for A While before finally releasing, so maybe that stretch of time between when it
actually finished and now is enough to also fit in doing at least one of the sequels, even if probably not both. But again, it's hard to say without knowing how much of the pie chart Prime 4 has taken up, and how much slack the outsource studios have been able to grant.
So yeah, there are a bunch of ways this could go.
- Worst-case: Beyond releases, no sequel re-releases at all. Possible but thankfully not probable.
- Best-case: Echoes Remastered shadowdrop in spring, Corruption Remastered shadowdrop in summer, Beyond in fall. Would be amazing, but I just don't think it's feasible from a production standpoint, and Nintendo isn't that based.
- Second-worst-case: Beyond releases, Echoes and Corruption HD two-pack in a year or two. Wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, but would be disappointing.
- Second-best-case: Echoes Remastered, then Corruption HD, then Beyond. I feel like on account of the generation jump, Corruption can get away with only the textures and stuff being improved, as cool as it would be to get the full remodeling. So if they choose to sacrifice detail for time to get them both out ahead of Beyond, that's probably the best way to do it. I'm still not sure Nintendo would do this, given Pikmin, but this is the option I'd hope for that still feels kinda feasible.
- Middle-of-the-road Actual Predictions, in no particular order:
--- A: Echoes Remastered, then Beyond, then Corruption HD next year.
--- B: Echoes Remastered, then Beyond, then Corruption Remastered in a few years.
--- C: Echoes/Corruption HD two-pack, then Beyond.
--- D: Beyond, then Echoes Remastered in a year and Corruption Remastered a while after that.
It really depends on how much they want to touch up the sequels, and whether Nintendo would want to give them individual releases or stick to the Pikmin two-pack precedent. I am hoping that it's more than the rumor mill suggests, but I'm also reluctant to expect too much until we know for sure. At the end of the day Nintendo wants money, and the sequels don't have the same level of reputation as Prime 1, and even with Prime Remastered they clearly weren't expecting the demand to be as high as it was. Maybe they learned from that and are willing to commit to the sequels more, buuuuut I'm not counting on it.
