20 Video Game Reveals That Shocked the World
11. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond
Metroid fans sure were put through the wringer after the release of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption in 2007.
For one, 2010's prequel Metroid: Other M was widely pilloried for its questionable depiction of protagonist Samus, and just when it seemed like Nintendo was about to announce a new Metroid Prime in 2015, they instead revealed a widely-panned 3DS spin-off, Metroid Prime: Federation Force.
But fans' prayers were finally answered two years later at E3 2017, when Nintendo confirmed that Metroid Prime 4 was indeed now in development for the Switch.
Given that almost a full decade had passed since the last mainline Metroid game and the franchise historically hadn't been a major seller, Metroid Prime 4 never felt guaranteed until that very moment.
And even then, Metroid Prime 4 had quite the rocky journey to players, with original developer Bandai Namco Studios being replaced with Retro Studios in 2019, at which point development reportedly restarted from scratch.
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond finally released last December, more than 18 years after Metroid Prime 3, to broadly positive reviews, even if most critics and fans agreed it was something of a step down from the original Prime trilogy.