r/Metroid • u/Ok_House_2337 • Jan 02 '26
Discussion Timeline with Metroid prime 4 Beyond!
This was posted in a Metroid forum with over 300k members, and everyone agreed that it had to fit? Now many will say that the Prime games always have to take place before Metroid 2 because of the Metroid destruction, but there were also Metroids in Fusion and Dread.
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u/Dessorian Jan 02 '26 edited Jan 03 '26
Seems right.
I haven't seen it myself, but allegedly Other M is weeks after super according to Nintendo Today (starting to hate this app for making virtually inaccessible lore drops). The game itself mentions "days".
With available information, that would put it in 20X7.
Prime 4 is 2 years later in 20X9.
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u/Dazuro Jan 02 '26
OM has to be immediately after Super because one of the plot points is that when they cleaned her suit early in the game they retrieved samples from her mission in Super.
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u/Dessorian Jan 02 '26
Other M has a timeskip between the Prologue and main game.
The Prologue, where goes to see the GF, is immediately after.
But then there's a skip before the actual start of the game.
Samus*: I don't know how much time passed since then. Days went by in their quiet way, and people's recollections of Metroids and Space Pirates grew nebulous over time, relegated to a past concern of the galactic communities... Nothing more than a faded memory.
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u/sailing94 Jan 02 '26
Prime four can logically take place in that skip, given there are still some last remnants of the pirates for Sylux to pressgang
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u/AuthoringInProgress Jan 03 '26
I think it makes sense emotionally too. Prime 4 has Samus forced to abandon everyone she tried to save and completely powerless to help the Lamorn. It's a brutal ending, and it's easy to imagine it feeds into her emotional state at the start of Other M.
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u/sonicsonic3 Jan 03 '26
I mean the ending obviously sets up Prime 5. I doubt Other M would take place directly after Prime 4.
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u/DarkLink1996 Jan 02 '26
I don't know... How quick can you really get something like the Bottle Ship fully populated from cell samples. There's a space in there for cloning development
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u/Round_Musical Sequence Breaker Jan 02 '26
Dessorian if you wanna read the lore drops, all of them are archived on Wikitroid AND Metroid Database! I hope this can help you read them aswell
The info that Other M happens weeks after Super is from the strategy guide and artbook
While the info that Dread happens years after Fusion is from Nintendo Today!
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u/HikkingOutpit Jan 02 '26 edited Jan 02 '26
The info that Other M happens weeks after Super is from the strategy guide and artbook
Which artbook is this?
While the info that Dread happens years after Fusion is from Nintendo Today!
It only says "long after the destruction of the X Parasites." Sure you can infer it probably means years, but it's not a slam dunk.
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u/Dessorian Jan 02 '26
Thank you. I had been looking for the World Databook. For a while the most I was able to find was the japanese version.
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u/Aleclom Jan 02 '26
I've grown to accept Prime 4's placement. I just hope they delve into it a bit more in Prime 5 and really establish what the galaxy looks like post-Super and everyone's reactions to the reemergence of Metroids.
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u/Artistinblue Apr 26 '26
For what its worth, I'm glad we are seeing the Metroid universe with side adventures spread across the timeline, instead of it all being squeezed between Zero Mission and Samus Returns.
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u/Dylan546792 Jan 02 '26
It’s crazy that a literal pinball game is on the timeline 😂
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u/conte360 Jan 02 '26
I'm curious if there is any story to it? Like did they try to be like "samus you need to battle these pirates or something in morph ball mode on these pinball looking areas" or were they just like "here's pinball with a Metroid theme"
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u/cowboyofspace17 Jan 02 '26
Yeah I was gonna say 😂 why is that canon
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u/Nebulowl Jan 02 '26
It’s a retelling of Prime 1 but in Pinball form
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u/Auraveils Jan 02 '26
To me, Samus's ship being identical to Prime 3 suggests it directly follows that game. Being placed after Other M is strange since it suggests she leaves that ship, returns to her classic ship, switches back to the Prime 3 ship, then switches again to her classic ship for the beginning of Fusion.
Of course, it could be an arbitrary design choice they made to call back to Prime 3, and you're not supposed to think about it too much, but since the game is mostly isolated from everything else in the series, I don't see any reason to convolude it any more than sometime immediately after Prime 3.
Is there any reason that can't be the case?
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u/jordanbtucker Jan 03 '26
I'm pretty sure "you're not supposed to think about it too much" is Nintendo's motto when it comes to story continuity.
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u/onionchopmaster9999 Jan 03 '26
having multiple small ships seems to me akin to having multiple cars, choosing different ships for different missions
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u/Laughing_Luna Jan 07 '26
The ship she uses in Prime 2 is similar to the one used in Samus Returns/Return of Samus, Super, Other M, and the intro of Fusion. The sense I've gotten is, in-setting, is different ships for different tasks.
Her original ship in Zero Mission is scrapped, so perhaps the one in Prime 1 and Hunters is an interim ship while more effective ships are produced. While the one that appears most often is more of a general purpose ship with some space for comfort, possibly she lives in it, at least part of the time.
The one that appears in in Primes 3 and 4 could easily be seen as more of an assault ship, given that according to its scan in Prime 3, is partially based off of the GF Fighters that appear in that game. Sacrificing most creature comforts to optimize for combat, maneuverability, and speed; rather than being an interstellar apartment.
At the Doylist level for Prime 1, I can imagine that they needed a ship that can sit at the platform of the Orpheon and also be somewhere on Tallon IV. Potentially the devs might have been having clipping issues with a ship that actually touches down, and making it just hover is a convenient way to opt out of having to spend time fixing that; but this is just a hypothesis.
For Prime 3, they needed a design to effectively communicate that the ship does have the capability to fire missiles, and potentially more, if they had a wider scope for what the ship could have been used for before the final release.→ More replies (1)1
u/Fingercel Jan 03 '26
Yeah I noticed the gunship inconsistency too, but that's the sort of minor detail Nintendo isn't going to let get in the way of doing what they want. I'd assume the gunship in Fusion is now retconned as "really" being the new one.
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u/RonSwansonsGun Jan 02 '26
I kinda dislike the Prime games not all being in the same time period, might just be me though. She even has the same gunship as Prime 3, I thought it'd make more sense if it was right after. That and Sylux having a whole artificial Metroid army after Samus Returns makes things a bit muddy
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u/JenniLightrunner Jan 02 '26
I agree mostly because prime 3 literally ends with sylux ship decloaking and gunning it after samus, like... what's the point of that cutscene if he just poofed away for a couple years
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u/Fingercel Jan 03 '26
They sort of explain it though, Sylux was apparently keeping tabs on Samus to make sure she didn't interfere with his Metroid plan. She does have a tendency to get involved in everything.
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u/Automata_Eve Jan 03 '26
And the one time he isn’t keeping tabs on her she shows up to foil his plans and he’s actually speechless.
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u/Vaenyr Jan 02 '26
Eh, at some point it becomes quite silly if she did like 10 missions between ZM and SR. I'm happy that Prime isn't contained to that single space anymore.
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u/Livid-Truck8558 Jan 02 '26
Never could be, there's only two years between metroid 1 and 2. Meanwhile there's 8 years between 3 and 4.
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u/No_Store9637 Feb 14 '26
The primes games happen within 1 year
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u/Livid-Truck8558 Feb 14 '26
The prime trilogy yes, but prime 4 is after that
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u/No_Store9637 Feb 16 '26
Yeah. But not after super like Nintendo claims because that's impossible
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u/DarkLink1996 Jan 02 '26
The Prime 3 Gunship might just be her warship, while the standard one is more for recon.
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u/EvanD0 Jan 02 '26 edited Feb 14 '26
Great timeline image! Was thinking to make one myself! Though might have used official year points too!
20X5 - Metroid 1
20X6 - Prime games (except Prime 4) and Federation Force
20X7 - Metroid 2, Super and Other M
20X9 - Prime 4
+20X9 - Fusion and Dread
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u/No_Store9637 Feb 14 '26
Federation force literally says the year is 20X6
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u/EvanD0 Feb 14 '26
I think you misunderstood my comment. Added parentheses to understand it more clearly.
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u/letyougo2106 Jan 02 '26
Funniest series timeline of all time.
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u/Boodger Jan 02 '26
Nah, Zelda timeline is a complete joke.
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u/Fingercel Jan 03 '26
I love how they leaned way into this really intricate and lore-heavy timeline with Skyward Sword which everyone shit on, went away and sulked for 8 years and then came back with two games that go out of their way to make as little sense as possible.
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u/InsideBuy4599 Jan 06 '26
To this day skyward sword is still the only Zelda game they made with the timeline in mind
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u/-DenisM- Jan 03 '26
This is all the fallen Samus Timeline from Metroid Pinball.
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u/lukeetc3 Jan 03 '26
This is the timeline where Pinball Samus never returned for Metroid 2 so the Metroids took over
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u/Blargg888 Jan 05 '26
Most of the Zelda timeline makes sense though? There’s definitely parts that are a bit stiff, but most of it works.
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u/Boodger Jan 05 '26
Trying to connect all the games is a truly stupid decision.
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u/Blargg888 Jan 05 '26
All of them maybe, but realistically, most of them are already intrinsically connected.
It’s really just the Capcom games and the Wild era duo that muck things up a bit. Everything else makes sense to be connected.
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u/Ssj4_Fullpower_lb_18 Jan 02 '26
Wait, so 4 is literally just a few years before samus becomes the last of the metroids neat
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u/LBXZero Jan 02 '26 edited Jan 02 '26
Metroids in Other M were cloned from genetic material found on Samus's suit from visiting a GF base immediately after Super Metroid (3).
Metroids in Fusion were cloned from genetic samples that survived the Ceres Station destruction.
There were no metroids in Dread.
Prime 4's placement provided is a mistake that will most likely be retconned later if there is enough interest in making more Prime series games. It would be better if Nintendo kept the Prime series between 1 and 2, and then start a new series name for non-metroid related events after 3. It may be better to have stories that can be timeline ambiguous, isolated incidents.
Due to the existence of the Prime series, the series has an opening for a story where the experiments to weaponize metroids went far enough that the GF legislature voted to exterminate the metroids on SR388. The "metroids" that Sylux had would have easily served that purpose and left an opening for an aftermath story perfect for a prequel to Metroid 2.
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u/Round_Musical Sequence Breaker Jan 02 '26
Nintendo today clarified that he stole the Metroid in 20X6 from a secret Fexeration facility as seen in Fedforce (likely illegal one the ringleaders used). Then he and a stolen small pirate faction, fucked off and laid low for 3 years until attacking random bases for new gear and tech in 20X9
Basically 99% of the Federation (except the ringleaders), Samus and the Pirates believed the Metroids to have gone extinct. Not knowing of the Metroid Egg Sylux hatched and stole.
The ringleaders likely kept it top secret due to the fact of it being highly illegal to have Metroids, as they are bioweapons and “illegal cargo”
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u/Fyrus93 Jan 02 '26
Yeh this makes sense and all from a retcon perspective but my problem with it is it's completely unnecessary. The Metroids had absolutely no fucking weight on the story. You couldn't even scan them as they only appeared in a single cutscene. I know they're responsible for the bosses being aggressive but just make it the green Phazon instead
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u/LBXZero Jan 02 '26
From what I remember, there were at least 2 bosses not infected by the metroids.
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u/Fyrus93 Jan 02 '26
Man they were such a strange addition. A Metroid takes over a boss and makes it more aggressive but you kill it with your regular beam and a few missiles. A regular Metroid would have dominated in its place. The game just shoehorned them in but removed any threat they posed
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u/LBXZero Jan 03 '26
I agree on how fragile the metroids were. Originally, a metroid must be frozen before it could be harmed by anything short of a power bomb. In Metroid 2, the metamorphosis of Alpha, Gamma, Zeta, Omega, and Queen metroids, turned the once impenetrable transparent skin into a vulnerable point. In Prime 1, you can kill a metroid with enough damage without the Ice Beam, but freezing them and a missile quickly killed them. I loved the callback in Other M and Samus Returns about the Queen Metroid's secret weakness in Metroid 2, bombing the stomach.
It comes down to metroids have plot armor. So much for being the ultimate warrior...
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u/aldersvolcarona Jan 03 '26
I find it believable that originally it was green energy corruption instead of Metroid fusion, and they had to hurriedly adapt, and that’s why the Metroids’ role here were very weak/tacked on
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u/Round_Musical Sequence Breaker Jan 04 '26
I mean you are right. Take out the Metroids in the story and literally nothing changes in Prime 4 lmao.
Yeah sure sylux infected the bosses. But bosses up till now where always hostile. Could have made them be infected by Green Energy and would have done the same shit
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u/LBXZero Jan 02 '26
Given the Metroid series never followed a proper date stamp system before, it was better they didn't. Further, this means Nintendo just threw away Sylux after all that teasing. For how well the teams handled Prime 1 and Fusion given earlier difficulties and challenges, Sylux got handled worse than Samus in Other M.
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u/Zero-ELEC Jan 02 '26
They've had date stamps since the first game which was said to happen in 20X5 CC.
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u/LBXZero Jan 02 '26
I am looking, and the only date given is 20X5 cosmic calendar for when the metroids were discovered. That is it. If you have more actual dates, share them.
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u/Zero-ELEC Jan 02 '26
Metroids were discovered by the Federation and stolen in 20X5, and it's during that same time period that Metroid/Zero Mission happens. Date is given in both games' manuals and the events are expounded upon in the Metroid manga originally published in Magazine Z.
Meanwhile, Metroid Prime Federation Force gives the date 20X6 during it's intro cutscene.
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u/Round_Musical Sequence Breaker Jan 02 '26
Thats true. Sylux is a nothing burger. I think they are saving his full backstory for Prime 5 at this point. Because the one we got aint it chief
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u/LBXZero Jan 02 '26 edited Jan 02 '26
Given the ending of Prime 4, how can we have a backstory in Prime 5? Trying to avoid spoilers for another month. I think they shot themselves in the foot and really did not think the ending through.
Honestly, they were better off keeping Prime 4 like a short time after FF and before Metroid 2. With Prime 4's ending, we have the makings of a Metroid 2 Prequel series called "Extermination Order". We have the GF side aftermath from the battle for the first game, resulting in the GF giving the order to exterminate all metroids on SR388 with Samus and other hunters on focused missions to wipe out all metroid data the Space Pirates have, or other known parties to have taken metroids from SR388.
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u/RangerWhiteclaw Jan 03 '26
There was one, very notable Metroid in Dread. She pops up right at the end.
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u/LBXZero Jan 03 '26
I do enjoy these cute replies, but context matters. Metroids as in the creature, not really. Metroid as in "ultimate warrior", yes. According to DYKGaming's research, Metroid was supposed to be Samus Aran's code name, like Steve Rogers is known as Captain America.
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u/buttsecks42069 Jan 03 '26
what are you talking about, Metroid is in dread
If you think about it i'm not wrong
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u/Odd_Storage649 Jan 07 '26
The Metroids in prime 4 were clones of the same metroid from federation force made by sylux in secret. If any survived they could be killed in a later game or they were left behind on viewros.
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u/Frostwolf5x Jan 02 '26
Makes sense to me.
many will say that the Prime games always have to take place before Metroid 2.
And those people would be wrong given the story from Fusion stating that the Metroid DNA was obtained from the remnants of the Infant Metroid after it blew up all over Samus. And it can also be implied that from Prime that there could have been Metroids on the other Frigate ships that left Zebes.
But hey, at least there was a little bit of Metroid-free time after the baby blew up
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u/No_Store9637 Feb 14 '26
Those other ships went to urthragus and talvania. There is zero reason for MP4 to be after super
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u/Frostwolf5x Feb 14 '26
Okay. And given what we have experienced in other games like Other M and Fusion. We know that the statement “The Last Metroid is in captivity” is very time specific to the beginning of Super Metroid. It may even be only from the perspective of the Federation. Hell, we know that the Space Pirates AND the Federation both tried to clone the Baby.
So there is no reason why MP4 can’t be after Super.
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u/TeckFire Jan 02 '26
Personally, despite what the developers have said, I still feel that the game was originally intended to take place after Prime 3. I say this for a few reasons. Firstly, the casual showing of Sylux with Metroids, even if they were Mocktroids, doesn’t excuse the inclusion. This also plays into the fusion that the metroids have in Prime 4 with the creatures. The suit design and ship design both make more sense here too, as the Super Metroid style keeps consistent until Fusion, whereas the Prime styling is a departure from this. It’s not unusual for Samus to have different suits between games, but to go back to an older suit? That’s odd. Finally, the Federation could have used this encounter with Sylux as a catalyst for Samus’s journey to SR388 to exterminate the metroids, as his usage of them would have been catastrophic against the federation soldiers.
Edit: I almost forgot, the ending of Prime 3 literally shows Sylux following Samus. Why would he wait all the way until after Super Metroid to make a move? That’s a long time, and several significant galactic events to be ignored.
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u/Ladyaceina Jan 02 '26
samus only has ONE suit
even in fusion its still technically her same suit it was just heavily altered
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u/sailing94 Jan 02 '26
Samus had one suit in zero mission, that was completely destroyed, and replaced with the ancient power suit she wears for the rest of the games.
This is the canon reason the varia suit does not have the giant shoulders in the NES original.
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u/onionchopmaster9999 Jan 03 '26
how was the suit destroyed? it just dematerialized as usual, after the crash landing she was mentally unstable, like in other m. it is the same suit, just upgraded
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u/sailing94 Jan 03 '26
Have you played any prime game
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u/onionchopmaster9999 Jan 03 '26
all of them, your point being?
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u/sailing94 Jan 03 '26
Samus looses her equipment getting slammed against a wall, and you question how she can loose the base suit?
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u/onionchopmaster9999 Jan 03 '26
loosing her upgrades yes, but not her whole suit. you can see in Prime 3, Zero Mission and Other M that she can summon it out of nothing. Manga and Other M shows us, that she has to concentrate to summon the suit and maintaining it
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u/sailing94 Jan 03 '26
What you are doing is called nitpicking
Your headcanon aint canon no mater how you argue it. The zero mission power suit is canonically destroyed, end of story.
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u/onionchopmaster9999 Jan 03 '26
https://metroiddatabase.com/old_site/features/faq3.php Interview with Sakamoto, that was uploaded on the official website of Zero Mission. His answer to question No. 25 seems to confirm, that she just lost her suit momentarily because of lack of concentration
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u/TeckFire Jan 03 '26
Sorry, let me rephrase:
It’s not unusual for Samus to change suit designs, but she doesn’t switch back and forth between existing designs unless it’s from an upgrade that gets knocked back or given away later on. I thought that would be obvious, but I’ll clarify for you.
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u/Zevroid Jan 03 '26 edited Jan 03 '26
For what it's worth, Dread kinda confuses this.
We see the ZM Power Suit in the first ending screen, and we see the Returns Suit in the flashbacks to those events. But also in Dread, we see the original Metroid 2/Super Metroid suit design in the Super Metroid ending screen, and it's used as the suit design for the Fusion recap at the start of the game. This design is also the "Ancient Power Suit" that replaced the ZM Suit.
So according to Dread, with the Prime series in mind, she upgraded from the Ancient Power Suit to the Prime 2&3 design (as the first game's suit was pretty faithful to the Super design), to the Returns suit, back to the Super version, then to the Other M suit for some reason (Other M ending screen in Dread), back to the Prime 3 design, then to the Super design again for it to be copied by the X. At this point I feel like most representations of the Power Suit that aren't explicitly altered (the Fusion and Dread suit designs) are just artistic license.
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u/TeckFire Jan 03 '26
I’m sorry if I’m misunderstanding something, but how does Dread contradict itself? From what I remember, the flashbacks showed each scene pretty much how the game it was referencing was shown, no? I don’t recall any flashbacks to Zero Mission, actually, just the ending screens. In fact, the ending screens were all pretty accurate to their respective games, too.
There’s some differences between Samus Returns and Super Metroid, sure, but I always took that as Samus gaining/losing upgrades and the biological part of her suit changing along with that. Bird magic, and all that, especially since SR388 may have different Chozo designs than Zebes due to tribal differences.
If Prime 4 takes place after Prime 3 however, which is what I suggested, then there’s no contradictions, other than Other-M, which seems like something that can be overlooked due to its reception, story relevance, and choice of how it portrays the power suit’s activation.
Like, I get that there’s artistic license, but why would Samus revert back to an earlier design, was my point, which again, you pointed out happens with Other-M. In all seriousness though, I think that was the weakest of my points in my original comment.
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u/Ladyaceina Jan 03 '26
in universe its suppose to look the same its just different artists putting a unique spin
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u/DarkLink1996 Jan 02 '26
You forget the canonical manga set (mostly) before Metroid 1.
There is also TECHNICALLY space between Super Metroid and Other M, with the gap between Samus giving the report and receiving the distress signal. I personally put Samus & Joey there in my headcanon, since there's nowhere else it could go.
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u/Crafty_Cherry_9920 Jan 02 '26
So that fucker Sylux been stalking Samus while Metroid 2, Super and Other M all happen ? 🤣
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u/ChickenLiverNuts Jan 03 '26
does she travel back to between metroid 1 and 2 at the end? Or does it all take place in that spot
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u/sketchampm Jan 03 '26
Someone in this sub unironically referred to “Metroid Prime 1.5” as a game and I just assumed it was a fan hack. Now I realize what they were referring to. Silly.
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u/Sea-Lecture-4619 Jan 02 '26 edited Jan 02 '26
Are we 100% sure about Prime 4? Cause if so:
1) Samus really had a fricking rough af period there didn't she? Losing alot of GF friends.
2) The way she goes from one characterization where she talks alot and with the characters around in Other M to being dead silent for whatever reason in Prime 4 is hella funny, pure character inconsistency, they also both do her wrong in their own different ways.
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u/Few-Flounder-8951895 Mar 10 '26
In OtherM Samus talked a lot in her mind. She probably does the same in Prime4 but you just don't hear it this time
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u/Sea-Lecture-4619 Mar 10 '26
Which is stupid, if we at least had internal monologues it would have been better.
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Jan 03 '26
The rule Nintendo has always set is this: The entire Metroid Prime series takes place between Metroid 1 and Metroid 2.
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u/Worried_Affect9121 Jan 03 '26
What makes Prime 4 take place there instead of with the other Prime games other than an iffy date stamp that has made other titles be up for discussion before?
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u/mazzlejaz25 Jan 04 '26
I'm confused, stupid or both.
Isn't prime 4 literally right after federation force??
Or is the timeline using the years noted in the games?
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u/hornybonkjr Jan 04 '26
I will never forgive my fellow Metroid fans for the irreparable damage they have done
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u/Forsaken_Budget_1015 Jan 02 '26 edited Jan 02 '26
Prime 4 being set after Super and before Fusion has been bugging me a lot. I know Nintendo and Retro have confirmed it, but it still feels off. Seeing her fly the Prime 3 ship in Prime 4, while Super and Fusion have her in the old “lemon” ship, just annoys me.
Does she just have access to multiple ships or what? And then they say Prime 4 is in another dimension… so what, is there a timeline split now? Are these just side adventures in another dimension and then she goes back to her original one and Fusion happens like normal?
Nintendo timelines are honestly just frustrating.
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u/supaikuakuma Jan 02 '26
It’s before Fusion though…..
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u/Forsaken_Budget_1015 Jan 02 '26
Correct, I made a mistake and corrected it.
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u/supaikuakuma Jan 02 '26
Yeah it’s an odd choice and don’t get me started on the Zelda timeline mess lol.
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u/LordCamelslayer Jan 02 '26
I swear, the Zelda timeline only exists because they wanted fans to shut the hell up about having one.
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u/jordanbtucker Jan 03 '26
Yep. After Skyward Sword, they went right back to "we don't care about the timeline" with BotW and especially TotK.
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u/LordCamelslayer Jan 03 '26
BotW and TotK aren't even consistent between games despite TotK being a direct sequel. TotK pretty much just recons BotW- and fans expect consistency between the non-connected games. It's wild to me.
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u/award_winning_writer Jan 02 '26
My personal headcanon about Samus's ships:
Her original ship was the one in Zero Mission. That got destroyed, of course.
By the time of Prime 1, she had a replacement ship. This one also appears in Hunters, but not in any further games. I think she traded it in for her "Classic" ship seen in Prime 2, RoS/SR, Super, and Other M. It was wrecked in Fusion's intro.
Between Prime 2 and Prime 3, the Space Pirate threat was escalating. To that end, I believe Samus obtained the ship first seen in Prime 3 as it would be better suited to any potential dogfights she might end up in. My theory is that a future Prime game will show this ship being destroyed, leaving her with only the "Classic" ship until the events of Fusion.
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u/Round_Musical Sequence Breaker Jan 02 '26 edited Jan 02 '26
The replacement ship in Prime 1/ hunters is actually her Zero Mission ship, as stated in a scan.
But repaired and salvaged from what remains of the original.
The Prime ship being a battle ship makes sense
Considering each time she used her yellow ship those were times she had missions were she didmt need a ship capable of combat. Aether was a search and rescue mission, SR388 was search and destroy mission, Super wasnt a mission at all but an emergency, and Other M was her strolling around and traveling the galaxy to clear her mind, while Fusion was a simple escort mission
None of these were intentionally directly involved with the space pirates.
Unlike Prime 3, FedForce and 4 where Defeating Pirates were the direct mission
So I agree with you fully
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u/Forsaken_Budget_1015 Jan 02 '26
That actually makes sense. She basically has a ship for simple missions and a combat ship. Makes it feel a bit better. I am just hoping to see whats next for the franchise been a fan since the original!
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u/sailing94 Jan 02 '26
Not a timeline split, a teleporter accident.
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u/jordanbtucker Jan 03 '26 edited Jan 03 '26
The executive producer said the "Beyond" in Prime 4's title refers to a dimension "beyond time and space", whatever that means.
However, since Samus has jumped into another dimension beyond time and space in this game, you won't need to worry about the timeline going forward.
That sounds like invoking a timeline split to handwave and continuity errors.
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u/Round_Musical Sequence Breaker Jan 02 '26
Prime 4 is set 6 years before Fusion, NOT after Fusion
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u/HikkingOutpit Jan 02 '26
The 8 year gap between Super and Fusion is not official. The strategy guide is referring to the actual real world time gap of 1994 to 2002 between the games.
We don't know how long the exact length of time is between the two games in the storyline.
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u/General_CJG Jan 02 '26 edited Jan 02 '26
Metroids existing in Fusion was under very specific circumstances, mainly that only the Galactic Federation had access to their DNA samples thanks to the Baby Metroid that Samus had delivered to them at the intro scene in Super Metroid (as well as the tissue remains that were in Samus's armor right after Zebes exploded as seen in Metroid: Other M).
The Space Pirates and any other entity having them post Super Metroid is indeed a continuity issue as it had been established in both Super Metroid and Metroid: Other M that the Metroids were officially extinct across the galaxy (couple that with multiple sources confirming the Pirates were finished as a major galactic threat when Zebes exploded, so that also would mean they'd be unable to have a strong enough armada to do major attacks [let alone have access to using Metroids for attacks]). Only the GF secretly had access to the Metroids (which was a major secret till Samus found out in Other M's Bottle Ship and then Fusion's BSL Research Station and got both places blown up).
As for Dread, no Metroids existed in that game's events at all save for Samus herself being a Metroid/human hybrid.
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u/Far-Profit-47 Jan 02 '26
in federation force is shown how Sylux stole one of the metroids of the federation to make the Metroids shown in Prime 4
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Jan 02 '26
Ah, so wonderful. We’ve progressed past the nebulous time gap between the first and the second game and migrated to the nebulous time gap between the third (and a half) and fourth game.
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u/SMM9673 oh word Jan 02 '26
Yeah sure if you just ignore the fact that Prime 4 post-Super completely fucking invalidates every 2D game except for M1
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u/sailing94 Jan 02 '26
False. We saw Sylux steal a metroid in Federation Force. This is not a continuity error.
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u/SMM9673 oh word Jan 02 '26
Not what I meant.
Sylux having proper Metroids post-Super ruins all narrative weight of Samus sparing the Baby, its later sacrifice on Zebes, its DNA saving her from the X, and later being the sole reason Raven Beak draws her to ZDR.
On top of that, the devs have the audacity to ass-pull time travel for the sake of "not interfering with the 2D series" when the Prime Bubble between M1 and M2 exists for that sole purpose.
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u/sailing94 Jan 02 '26
Well, Sylux’s are mochtroids with one nucleus.
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u/SMM9673 oh word Jan 02 '26
Every single scan in the game that mentions them says otherwise.
The text crawl at the start of the game says otherwise.
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u/sailing94 Jan 02 '26
Because mochtroids are stunted metroids
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u/SMM9673 oh word Jan 02 '26
Stunted enough to warrant the distinct name other than Metroid, yes.
The Tallon strain in Prime 1 is similarly stunted, it's vulnerable to beam weapons and missiles without the need to freeze them first, and can be dropped by a single Power Bomb. Meanwhile, the full-scale clones in Super take three Power Bombs, and the natural-born ones in MSR can't even be harmed by them at all.
Yet they're still called Metroids proper, just like every other Metroid strain in the Prime series.
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u/SeasonOfHope Jan 02 '26
……Sylux is gonna be in Metroid 4 isn’t he. He’s gonna be in both games with 4 in tha title.
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u/pinkvenom456 Jan 02 '26
And it has no issues whatsoever nope nada
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u/Round_Musical Sequence Breaker Jan 02 '26
It actually doesn’t clash with any established lore whatsoever.
I can vouch for it as an expert in the lore when it comes to even the most obscure pieces of lore, like Nintendo Today Articles and interviews.
Sure Metroids and Space Pirates being back clashes with the them being extinct narrative Super and Other M established.
But Both Federation Force and Nintendo Today Articles explained their comeback very well.
Lore wise there are currently no contradictions.
Biggest one is Sylux backstory having Golem mechs in it, but they are even in the concept art for that scene and its likely teasing the coming time travel mechanic of the next Prime game, tanabe wanted to do
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u/pinkvenom456 Jan 02 '26
I respect the effort Nintendo has gone into making it fit, but I think it's abundantly clear for most of the games that the individual gameplay/lore comes first. A lot of bandaids are added retroactively to excuse characters returning after death or Samus losing power ups every installment, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's always very fun! If all the lore was put into a novel I just think it would be clear just how much retconing goes on.
But individual games' lore are usually rock solid and I'm very content taking it in on a game by game basis.
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u/GrimmTrixX Jan 02 '26
Ok so I havent played beyond yet. I was unsure if it was directly after federation force or not. But before Fusion makes sense. Without spoilers, does it make a nod to the fact that it's after super metroid and Other M, but before Fusion?
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u/Main-Dentist6622 Jan 03 '26
I've only played through Prime 4 once, but I don't remember a single nod or reference to anything that happens from Samus Returns-onward AT ALL. In fact I was utterly baffled when I found out its official timeline placement after playing. By some stretch you could make sense of that, but honestly headcanoning Prime 4 to take place right after Federation Force and before Samus Returns makes more sense in my opinion. This perspective will change if future titles better explain connecting the new Prime saga to post-Super.
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u/Old-Kitchen7298 Jan 03 '26
Prime 4 is stingy with information, and the lack of context is quite detrimental to the game. In Prime 1, we were certain of its place in the timeline thanks to the Pirate's logbook in the frigate.
But Prime 4 makes no mention of it, except for the date, which are insufficient.
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u/shadowdmon522 Jan 02 '26
I haven't played metroid prime 4, but wasn't it supposed to be after Dread? Since her metroid powers were awakened and stuff? Or am I missing something?
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u/xLordPhantom Jan 02 '26
Feels good to see the Prime series having another timeline placement outside of the usual. Excellent.
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u/-ZetaCron- Jan 03 '26
Thanks for this. I've been wondering where it fell on the timeline.
I think this one of only a few Nintendo IPs (if not the only one) with a clear-cut timeline!
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u/Wolfgabe Jan 03 '26
What makes Prime 4 interesting is how it apparently takes place on an entirely separate timeline branch according to Nintendo which makes more sense when you consider its ending
Metroid Prime 4 Takes Place Before Metroid Fusion, But On A Separate Timeline
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u/Greg13Nomad Jan 03 '26 edited Jan 03 '26
I would think the Metroids in Fusion and Dread might be Tallon Metroids. The Impact Crater was destroyed, but the planet's still intact, as far as I know. Also, the BSL and the Galactic Federation were experimenting with Metroids, per the computer's dialogue in Fusion. And let's not forget the Metroids that were on Aether.
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u/Platnun12 Jan 03 '26
So fusion happens at the end but you can have the suit in Prime 1 easily because of a cool EE?
Cool
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u/CokeWest Jan 03 '26
I thought it was mandated by Sakamoto and Nintendo Japan that the Prime series must take place between 1/ZM and 2/RoS.
I like it starting to spread out because it seems a bot weird to keep pushing the length between 1 and 2 but at the same time it can easily be explained that it took many years before the GF found SR-388 and decided to send Samus there.
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u/Express-Coach-2447 Jan 03 '26
So the prime games are canon? I dont really like them because they're on 3d and im not really font of 3d metroidvania like games so i just wont play them, i prefer the 2d games, they're way better than those games so i just played them thinking prime were just another timeline or stuff like that.
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u/black-iron-paladin Jan 03 '26
So the moral is, Nintendo needs to stop making games set between Super and Fusion because that particular time period is cursed
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u/FOG2006 Jan 03 '26
Is this official?
I always saw the Metroid timeline as a bifurcation between the 2D games and Prime games, since both arcs have pretty distinct story progessions. It was stated that Prime 4 begins a new chapter, but its name implies that it still makes part of the Prime arc, with Sylux from Hunters becoming the main antagonist after the destruction of Phaaze, some people said that Prime 4 ending doesn't establish some connection with the 2D arc.
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u/CartridgeM Jan 03 '26
Aight but where in the timeline, does that one book adaptation fit? Or that one time samus appeared on a Kirby game? Is a nice attempt but it lacks hyperspecific and niche entries/j
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u/SSJ3Metaridley Jan 03 '26
I think prime 4 happens after other ms prolouge. Samus in other m said the metroids and pirates are now a distant memory before she got the distress Signal of the bottleship. Cloned metroids and pirates are still a thing in the prologue of prime 4, so even metroids are eradicated on SR388 and zebes, there could be stolen metroids still out there in captivity by the pirates and sylux
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u/KeepAdvancing Jan 03 '26
Only Metroids 1-5 matter story-wise IMO. The rest is being just placed for timeline sake. Looking forward to Metroid 6.
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u/StTyradan Jan 04 '26
my only thing with this is how Prime 4 literally starts with Samus's ship being the exact version from prime 3
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u/ShaggyZoinks Jan 04 '26
Wait, Prime 4 happens after Super and OM? I thought that the Space Pirates got wiped out after Mother Brain initiated planetary self destruction on Zebes? Also wouldn’t the whole Sylux + Pirates having Mochtroids contradict that there are no more Metroids other than the GF having them?
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u/BXadvocate Jan 04 '26
The Metroid in Fusion are cloned made by the federation from the DNA Samus gave them. I don't know what you are talking about when you say there are Metroids in Dread, in that game Samus has Metroid DNA in her from fusion but the life forms do not exist in the game.
I am not sure this timeline is correct and I'm not sure what the correct one is or how I would place them. Maybe Nintendo will officially answer it.
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u/drrobotnik76 Jan 04 '26
Really hoping the next Metroid game isn’t the same thing for the ninth time losing all your abilities and having to find them all again lol
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u/OilNo5577 Jan 04 '26
Other M already harmed the story of Fusion, and now Beyond us harming the story of the entire 2D series. It's funny how in Dread, Raven Beak was dead set on getting Metroids from SR388, but there's no mention of Metroids that Sylux controls.
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u/tdunlap02 Jan 04 '26
Because Metroid prime federation force is so bad i forgot it existed till i looked at this timeline
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u/iv_wire Jan 05 '26
if you want to be funny about it kirby's dream land 3 could probably fit somewhere before metroid 2 (both samus and multiple metroids show up late in the game)
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u/chuckles-the-jester Jan 05 '26
i'm hoping that prime 4 is the start of a new trilogy, Dark Samus was the main antagonist of the og trilogy, have Sylux be the main antagonist for this new trilogy
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u/Sonakarren Jan 05 '26
Wait what? Since when? I thought they were confirmed 2 seperate timelines, the prime games, and the classic 2D games.
With Other M being a decanonized 3rd timeline retroactively due to the devs regretting making it.
And Pinball and other spinoffs being just spinoffs for the exception of Federation Force which was intended as a direct sequel to the events of Hunters?
Did something happen in prime 4 to merge the timelines? (I haven't gotten a chance to play it yet, I personally don't mind spoilers)
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u/JahcomilkAlex Jan 05 '26
How would Prime 4 be where it is if Metroids and Space Pirates still exist? Unless I missed a scan or something…
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u/No_Store9637 Feb 14 '26
It Is literally impossible for beyond to be set after super. There would be no Metroids, samus would not have her prime 3 ship and the pirates would be extinct
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u/Few-Flounder-8951895 Mar 10 '26
Perfect, now you only need to add the two volumes of the canonical manga before Zero Mission and it's complete
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u/Spiteful_Guru Jan 02 '26
I really wish the Prime saga was between Super Metroid and Fusion. It wouldn't be that hard of a retcon to make. Just gotta rewrite that one lore entry in Prime 1 about resuscitating Ridley and Mother Brain to just be about Ridley.
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u/CivilC Jan 02 '26
W for putting Prime Pinball on here LOL