“The game we are making now is a Nintendo game” – Metroid Prime producer Kensuke Tanabe reveals the tension between retro and creativity in new book

Nintendo and Retro Studios brought Metroid into stunning 3D with 2002's Metroid Prime, rebooting the series in a first-person shooter style through a sometimes challenging but ultimately fruitful relationship between Japanese and Western teams – each with their own unique backgrounds and perspectives. But it hasn't always been smooth sailing for Samus.

This is based on a new book: “Metroid Prime 1-3: A Visual Review,” in which Metroid Prime series producer Kensuke Tanabe provides commentary throughout, sharing his memories and insights from working with American Retro Studios on the Metroid games. For Nintendo, this is a major cross-border cooperation. Retro was developing an entirely standalone first-person game before series producer (and Super Mario and Zelda creator) Shigeru Miyamoto declared it should be a Metroid game. Thus Metroid Prime was born. Tanabe recalled: “Metroid Prime was not an originally planned project. It was a title that came up by chance, the result of Miyamoto-san clarifying the direction that Retro should take… In a way, it can be said to be a miracle.”

Tanabe defined the relationship between Retro Studios and Nintendo as ultimately hierarchical, with Nintendo having the final say. “…Nintendo retained final decision-making authority, and there were many situations early on where our approach to the specification was inconsistent, leading to disagreements. Retro would often explain, 'This is how Western studios approach and think about game development.' To help them understand our perspective, I told them, 'Yes, but the games we're making now are Nintendo games, and this is the first time Retro has made a game. I've been developing Nintendo games my entire career, so I believe I have the most experience making Nintendo games. So trust me first.”

This led to creative tension, and Retro held its ground, apparently unwilling to give in completely to Nintendo. “One day, during a video conference about the Meta Ridley fight, our discussions kept clashing and we couldn't find common ground,” Tanabe continued. “Time passed and by the time the session (which started in the morning) finally ended, the sun had set.”

Tanabe described a retro studio that needed to bring in a set of design philosophies that were unique to Nintendo, such as Shigeru Miyamoto's strong feelings about enemy design beyond bosses. “Many Nintendo developers learned from Mr. Miyamoto that the appearance of enemy characters should be designed based on function… This has not yet been expressed so succinctly. So it took us some time to clearly convey this concept to Retro.”

You can see that the collaboration works well in some cases, for example, Retro wins in the implementation of morph ball rolling. In Metroid Prime, you usually view the game in first-person through Samus' goggles, but for puzzles and tight spaces, Samus can transform into a rolling morph ball, at which point the camera zooms out to third-person. Tanabe said in this regard: “The transition animation from the first-person Morph Ball mode was proposed by Retro… However, Retro also suggested using the skip function to reduce the transformation time, but Mr. Miyamoto instructed that it should be unskippable because it is one of the opportunities to watch Samus from the third-person perspective.”

It seems like Retro pushed really hard to expand the scrolling mechanic, and it ultimately prevailed, which is an example of Nintendo relenting when faced with a good idea. Tanabe said: “Retro also proposed a mechanic for rolling through a half-pipe in Morph Ball mode. Initially, Nintendo was skeptical, questioning whether it would actually be fun. However, Retro responded, 'Please try it first before making a decision.'”

Nintendo series tier list

Nintendo series tier list

The exchange of ideas and the team's willingness to learn from each other ultimately paid off in a game that IGN called a “must-have masterpiece.” For the 2023 remake, I give it a perfect 10/10. Tanabe reflected: “[Metroid Prime Trilogy]was born out of Retro's commitment to maximizing the hardware's potential through expert engineering, incorporating countless ideas to improve game design without compromise, and setting new standards for graphics in Nintendo games.”

Metroid Prime 1-3: A Visual Review launches on October 28, 2025, sharing hundreds of concept art pieces from the Prime remastered trilogy on Gamecube, Wii, and Nintendo Switch. The commentary from Retro Studios is accompanied by Tanabe's frequent notes, as well as text taken from the game's extensive explanatory logs and scans. “Metroid Prime 4” is the latest collaboration between Retro Studios and Nintendo, and is scheduled to launch on Nintendo Switch 1 and Switch 2 on December 4, 2025.

Samuel Claiborn is the managing editor of IGN and is responsible for restoring/destroying ancient arcade and pinball machines in his garage. TCELES B HSUP Follow Him @Samuel_IGN on Twitter.