Metroid Prime producer says the game “could be called a miracle”, talks clashes between Nintendo and Retro

Metroid Prime ended up as one of the most acclaimed Nintendo games of all time, but the path getting there was far from easy. Series producer Kensuke Tanabe recently opened up about the game’s development and working with Retro Studios in the upcoming Metroid Prime 1-3: A Visual Retrospective book.

As we’ve previously heard, Retro Studios was initially working on several games that were mostly scrapped. The company shifted all of its focus into creating a Metroid game following a visit from Shigeru Miyamoto.

Tanabe said in the book, as passed along by IGN:

“Metroid Prime was not a project that was originally planned. It was a title that came about by chance, as a result of Mr. Miyamoto clarifying the direction Retro should take… In a way it could be called a miracle.”

Regarding the relationship between Nintendo and Retro, Tanabe went on to say:

“…Nintendo retained the final decision-making authority, there were many instances early on where our approaches to the specifications did not align, leading to disagreements. Retro often explained, ‘This is how Western studios approach and think about game development.’ To help them understand our perspective, I told them, ‘Yes, but the game we are making now is a Nintendo game, and this is Retro’s first time working on one. I’ve been working on Nintendo games my whole career, so I believe I have the most experience in making Nintendo games. So please trust me first.'”

Tanabe also mentioned that “Nintendo developers have learned from Mr. Miyamoto that the appearance of enemy characters should be designed based on functionality.” However, it “had not yet been articulated quite so concisely” and “it took time for us to convey the concept clearly to Retro.”

Despite the above, there were clashes between Nintendo and Retro. Tanabe mentioned one instance involving the Meta Ridley battle in which the two sides “couldn’t find common ground”. While the meeting started in the morning, things dragged on, and when it was over “the sun was setting.”

One idea that Retro did push across was for the morph ball rolling, which changes the perspective to third-person from first-person. According to Tanabe, Retro proposed the animation transition here. But while the team also brought up a skip feature to reduce the time it takes to morph, “Mr. Miyamoto directed that it should be unskippable, as it was one of the opportunities to view Samus in third-person.”

Metroid Prime 1-3: A Visual Retrospective comes out on October 29, 2025 and you can grab it at a slight discount here.

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