With the recent announcement thatMetroid Prime 4: Beyond is due for release next year, it’s worth taking a closer look at the team working on it.
Nintendoannounced back in 2019 that it had decided to “restart development from the beginning” for Metroid Prime 4, with producerKensuke Tanabecalling inRetro Studiosto take over the project from its original developer.
Although Nintendo and Retro Studios have remained tight-lipped on the game’s development to date, VGC analysis gives some idea of the staff who have been contributing to the game’s development.
Since this analysis deals with public-facing information, there are some caveats. The nature of non-disclosure agreements means it’s currently unclear if Metroid Prime 4 is the only game Retro Studios is currently working on, so there’s always the possibility that some of the staff listed below are working on something top secret.
Some of the staff listed may also have left Retro Studios since they last updated their employment history. However, everyone listed was at least listed as working at Retro within the past couple of years, meaning they will almost certainly have contributed to the development of Metroid Prime 4. This list also doesn’t include staff from other Nintendo departments likely to be contributing to the game.
Some notable previous appointments were already reported on VGC. Back when it was announced that the game’s development was restarting and moving to Retro Studios, VGC analysis found that around half of the full-time developers who worked on Metroid Prime 3were still at Retro at the time.
Later that year, Retroappointed veteran Halo creative Kyle Hefleyas the studio’s new lead character artist.
Hefley is a vastly experienced character modeller who has worked on more than 20 titles, including Call of Duty: Black Ops and Sleeping Dogs. Most relevant for Hefley’s role at Retro, however, was his nine years atMicrosoft’s343 Industries.
Hefley acted as senior character modeller for theHaloseries and modelled many of the armoured super soldiers and alien warriors that appeared in Halo 4, Halo 5 and the upcomingHalo Infinite, including Halo 5’s Master Chief.
In 2020, Stephen Dupree, the lead designer of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze,returned to Retro Studiosafter a two-year absence, during which he helped design platformer New Super Lucky’s Tale.
The designer had previously contributed to the creation of Wii title Donkey Kong Country Returns at Retro, as well as Mario Kart 7 forNintendo 3DS.
Dupreewas soon joined by another Super Lucky’s Tale designer, Mark Capers, who had previously acted as a designer forEpicMickey and its sequel.
Indeed, our analysis shows that a number of veterans from Epic Mickey developer Junction Point Studios moved to Retro Studios following its closure in 2013.
Further reading
Other notable appointments included Call of Duty: Black Ops veteran Bharathwaj ‘Bat’ Nandakumar,who joined Retro in 2020as lead engineer, having most recently served the same role for thePCversion ofCall of Duty: Black Ops 4.
The programmer had spent a decade atActivisionworking across every Black Ops instalment to date and specialises in online, tools and gameplay programming.
Shortly after this,Retro hired Jon Marcella, who joined as an environment designer following a decade atSony’s Santa Monica studio, where he also worked on 2013’sGod of WarAscension and 2010’s God of War III.
