The Metroid Prime 4: Beyond gameplay shown in yesterday’s trailer was most definitely captured on the original Nintendo Switch, new information revealed in a new technical analysis suggests.
Following the release of the game’s first proper trailer, Nintendo World Report took a look at the game’s resolution and framerate, revealing that all the gameplay sequences featured in it ran at 720p resolution, effectively confirming how they were captured on the current Switch and not on its more capable successor launching next year. While the resolution is low for today’s standards, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond’s framerate is already looking great, as the sequences shown in the trailer all ran at solid 60 frames per second, except the sequence where Samus transforms into her ball form, which led to a very short framerate drop. As the game is still months away from release, things may change in the final version, so there’s no guarantee that it will indeed target 720p resolution in docked mode.
Besides resolution and framerate, Nintendo World Report took a good look at Metroid Prime 4: Beyond’s other visual features, including the pre-baked lighting system which manages to look great in most situations. The gameplay sequences shown in the trailer, however, are not enough to see if the game will feature some sort of real-time ambient occlusion, as there are multiple elements that provide contradicting information.
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond launches on Nintendo Switch in 2025 worldwide.
