Metroid Prime 4: Beyond has been a controversial release to be sure. After waiting 18 years for a sequel to Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, the common consensus between the fanbase has been that the new game is simply okay.
One of the major complaints about Metroid Prime 4 is the game’s continued dialogue from its extended cast of Federation soldiers. While the final release has annoyed some fans, a recent datamine has discovered over 40 minutes of dialogue that was cut from the game prior to launch.
Released on YouTube by Bearborg (thanks, VGC), this extended dialogue is largely additional quips from the game’s cast. The majority of the game’s cut dialogue is either jokes or additional background information about the characters.
For example, one of the cut interactions is a conversation between MacKenzie and Armstrong about the gadgets the engineer has made. “When I was a kid I made a huge volcano for the science fair,” MacKenzie explains, “a geologically correct volcano, mind you… when it erupted, I used real magma.” MacKenzie then reveals that his experiment burnt down the school gymnasium.
Another discussion between Armstrong and Duke focuses on the latter’s daughter, offering significantly more depth to the stoic captain than the main game does. In fact, the majority of the game’s cut dialogue fixes one of the major issues with the game’s extended cast: their lack of depth.
While players can’t interact with characters with the “Talk” button in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, they rarely have anything to say of substance in the finished game. The majority of dialogue is a simple quip or basic dialogue about your ongoing mission, but this cut dialogue actually turns the characters into characters instead of chatty, interrupting, talking heads.
It’s a shame, as Metroid Prime 4: Beyond feels rushed in a lot of ways as characters largely exist just to point you in a direction and send you on your way. With these lines, there’s actually something more to Armstrong, Duke, MacKenzie and VUE-995 that could’ve actually benefitted the game.
As one of the major releases for the Nintendo Switch 2, Metroid Prime 4 has been a major dissapointment for long-time fans. Nevertheless, some players are having a great time with the release, and that’s not surprising. While the game does lack a lot of what hardcore fans love about the series, Prime 4 isn’t a bad game, and it’s a great looker on Nintendo’s new handheld. It’s just that it, like its characters, lacks depth.
