Beyond Limitations: Metroid Prime 4 on Switch 1 Shows Nintendo Can Still Make Beautiful Games on Its Aging Hardware

by Matt Q 🎮 

Samus Aran touches down on a forsaken alien world. Her visor hums to life, scanning derelict hulls amid swirling sandstorms and lightning blazed skies. Alien flora pulses in iridescent blooms under stylized god rays, Samus' Morph Ball transforms seamlessly, zipping through vents and neon tipped shafts at a silky smooth 60fps. No stutters. No mud. On the original 2017 Switch, eight years into its lifecycle, this feels impossibly fluid, and looks more beautiful than it has any right to. 

Screenshot from Metroid Prime 4 on Switch 1

This is Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, Retro Studios' long-awaited sequel, released December 4, 2025 on both the Nintendo Switch 2 and the original Switch 1.Vast biomes unfold in vibrant, handcrafted iridescent crystalline ruins, proving fun doesn't always demand the latest and greatest next-gen horsepower.

With Switch 2 out since June, how does the Switch 1 version of Prime 4 still dazzle on its creaky silicon? Lower resolutions and textures aside, its stylized art direction, bold colors, and atmospheric mastery seem to overcome pure hardware limitations. 

But considering the development studio, this probably shouldn't be shocking. Retro Studios pulled a similar trick with the original Metroid Prime on the GameCube. Back in the day, Metroid Prime seemed to stretch beyond the limitations of the GameCube hardware, creating a visual experience that went beyond pure hardware horsepower, and took full advantage of every trick in the GameCube's arsenal to create an experience unlike anything Samus had undergone before. 

Metroid Prime on GameCube by Retro Studios - image from Retro Island Gaming

Even with Retro Studios' established pedigree, there was no guarantee Prime 4 would turn out as well as it did. After all, its extended development was filled with well documented struggles. 

Announced in 2017 as a Switch exclusive, a new entry in the Metroid Prime series was initially requested by Nintendo of America, and development was initially given to an external team (reported to be Bandai Namco), while still produced by Kensuke Tanabe (producer of the previous Prime games, and Nintendo's go-to guy for externally developed games). 

Screenshot from Metroid Prime 4 on Switch 1

While there are conflicting stories as to why Retro Studios didn't just handle development from the beginning (after all, they made the first three games in the Prime series), when it became clear that work on Metroid Prime 4 wasn't going well, Nintendo transferred the project to Retro Studios. Unfortunately, Retro had to pretty much start over from scratch, and they didn't have the right team in place to make a Prime game (I'm assuming key staff moved on since the release of Prime 3 back in 2007).

Despite its development challenges, eight years since its announcement, we finally have Metroid Prime 4 in our eager hands, and its a beauty. Seeing it shine on the newly released Switch 2 isn't that surprising, but seeing how well it looks and performs on the aging Switch 1 seems like witchcraft. 

Screenshot of Metroid Prime 4 on Switch 1

But perhaps it shouldn't be so shocking, since Nintendo has done this before with cross-gen releases. Back when the Wii was released, and the GameCube was starting to show its age, Nintendo released The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, which looked incredible on both the GameCube and the Wii. Nintendo opted not to have a major cross-gen game when the Wii-U released (and look how that went), but when they released the Switch in 2017, they launched with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and released it on both Wii-U and Switch.

Screenshots from IGN comparison video of Wii U vs Switch versions of Breath of the Wild

In Metroid Prime 4, however, Retro’s visual mastery shines brightest. Prime 4 rejects photorealism’s trap, embracing bold stylization: painterly skies bleed sunset hues, volumetric fog rolls in thick yet performant layers, iridescent Metroid husks shimmer with hand-tuned bloom. Baked lighting and smart texture work mask the Switch’s limits, with vibrant clarity at 60fps, whether handheld or docked.

Screenshot from Metroid Prime 4 on Switch 1

Gameplay sings in harmony with art, as it plays just as good as it looks. Samus quickly and seamlessly transforms into her Morph Ball, adorned with glowing lights. Her arm cannon clearly and visually displays the currently selected weapon, with flourishes of psychic energy, fire, ice or electricity. Scanning is smooth and intuitive, and provides an added incentive to look everywhere and explore each corner and crevice. 

While the open desert area has been vocally criticized online, its not nearly as bad in practice (I mean, it's a desert for crying out loud. It's got sand, sand, and...more sand. It's not all that bad.) and driving the Samus Cycle around is a nice break from the regular gameplay.

Screenshot of Metroid Prime 4 on Switch 1

Metroid Prime's visual fidelity, and overall quality, on Switch 1 begs the question... did Nintendo really need to release new hardware? 

Outside of the outstanding terra-forming action of Donkey Kong Bonanza, likely impossible on the original Switch, most of the games released on Switch 2 thus far are just ports of modern games already on Xbox and PlayStation. 

Sure, it's nice that Nintendo-only kids get to finally play an ok-looking version of Cyberpunk, but it's not too exciting for the majority of gamers - certainly not a compelling reason to buy a Switch 2.

Despite the graphical shock and awe that tends to accompany brand new consoles, I think some of the most interesting games typically come out at the end of a console's lifecycle, when developers have learned all the tricks and they utilize them to squeeze every last ounce of juice out of them. 

It begs the question: how long can the "end" of a lifecycle be stretched? 

The last high fidelity PlayStation first-party game released on PS4 was God of War Ragnarok in November 2022, two years after the launch of the PS5. 

Screenshot of God of War Ragnarok on PS4

If you count Call of Duty as a first party Xbox title these days, then the recently released Black Ops 7 is available on last gen consoles as well (although you could argue whether it classifies as "fidelity" - it's really more of a cash grab as the Xbox One S version is pretty rough). Possibly one of the most famous end of lifecycle releases was Grand Theft Auto 5 on the Xbox 360 and PS3 It was a megahit at the time, and through next gen updates continues to impress to this day. 

Personally, beyond graphic fidelity, one of my favorite features of the current generation consoles is the 1080p recording feature and the SSD-driven fast resume/ fast loading times. 

Screenshot from Metroid Prime 4 on Switch 1

Certainly the extra graphical detail and ray traced lighting of current gen games looks impressive, but games like Metroid Prime 4 show that you don't need pure horsepower to create incredible looking games.

Check out the video below if you want to see Metroid Prime 4 in action: