"Metroid Prime 4" will be available on Switch and its successors on December 4, 2025, only a few months away. Although only a few trailers and actual footage have been released so far, Nintendo is obviously still hiding a lot of core information. Although the official has not announced the next step of information disclosure plan, its marketing materials seem to have inadvertently revealed key clues.
The game packaging box exposed in Japanese retail channels is suspected to be the final version of the design. Although the front design is nothing new, the text on the back hints that Samus Alain’s journey will not only span space, but also travel through time.
Translation of the text on the back of the box: "With the hope placed on you and new power,...returned home from the unknown planet. After being transported to the unknown planet Velos at the other end of time and space, Samus Alan must use his newly acquired power to open a path and return to his original world."
Fans of the series pointed out that the clear statement of "time and space" confirms that the game will contain time travel elements. Although it may seem bizarre at first, the development team has actually been working on this concept for over ten years.
As early as ten years ago, in an interview with Eurogamer, "Metroid Prime" series producer Gai Sakamoto expressed his hope to "focus on the timeline and implement changes." There are precedents for the previous creative ideas of this series that took more than ten years to realize, so it seems more and more reasonable for Samus to embark on a time travel journey in 2020.