Samus is back! Metroid Prime 4 announced for Nintendo Switch answering fan prayers

Nintendo's fan-favourite Metroid series is making a massive comeback on both Nintendo Switch with the fourth instalment in the Metroid Prime franchise and Nintendo 3DS with Metroid: Samus Returns. Metroid Prime 4 was announced at Nintendo's Spotlight presentation at E3 2017 with a logo, with Samus Returns coming later in a Treehouse livestream.

Developed by Retro Studios, the original Metroid Prime trilogy launched on the Nintendo Gamecube and Wii and transitioned the sci-fi adventure series into 3D for the first time. All three games - particularly the first two entries, Prime and Echoes - are highly regarded and fans have longed for years to play a new game.

You can watch the brief "First Look" teaser above, although aside from the game's title and a short sample clip of Metroid's gorgeous soundtrack, the trailer contains no other information about series heroine Samus Aran's next adventure.

This leaves us without a release date for the game or any idea of how it will play.

Previous Metroid games in the Prime canon adopted a first-person viewpoint while maintaining the series' sandbox design from the classic SNES and NES eras.

The third game, Metroid Prime: Corruption, also introduced motion controls - a feature which could return thanks to the Switch's Joy-Con motion control technology.

Thanks to the Switch's unique hybrid design, Metroid Prime 4 will also become the first full portable Metroid title since 2006's Metroid Prime: Hunters for Nintendo DS.

There has also been no confirmation of a developer at this stage. Retro Studios was expected to announce something at Nintendo's E3 showcase, but it remains to be seen if the developer is returning to the franchise.

The Texan developer's last game, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, launched in 2014 and the team has been silent ever since. Fans will no doubt be hoping that Metroid Prime 4 is in the studio's established hands.

As for Samus Returns, the 3DS title is being made by the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow developer, Mercury Steam, and features a side-scrolling Metroidvania 2D style that, as the name suggests, the franchise helped define.

The game is scheduled to launch on 15 September and hopes to bring back "the feel of the classic adventures, but with improved graphics and new abilities." You can watch the trailer for Metroid: Samus Returns below.

The announcements should assuage those who felt a little wronged by Samus' last outing, 2016's Metroid Prime: Federation Force, which was a Nintendo 3DS spin-off title that swapped the series' labyrinthine space stations and adventure elements and distilled them into a co-op shooter.

The game was poorly received by players and sparked a notable backlash including petitions and campaign to down-vote the game's YouTube reveal trailer.

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