Retro Studios' Mysterious Music RPG: A Lost Chapter in Development History

Retro Studios are a company that gained a huge popularity because of their work done on Donkey Kong Country and Metroid Prime series. However, between the release of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (DKCTF) and Metroid Prime Remastered, the studio decided to take on a rather ill-advised project – A Music RPG based on singing mechanics.

What was the cancelled Retro Studios Music RPG?

Some sources claim the project was a Music RPG in which singing was an essential part of the game. A victim of vaporware, this game could not come to fully-fledged production for years and was eventually canned by Nintendo.

Why Was It Cancelled?

It was reported that the Music RPG encountered a variety of developmental challenges and essentially it was not able to progress. When the project stopped going forward, Nintendo decided to gain back the focus of Retro Studios on remastering the entire Metroid Prime series as a way of remodifying pipelines of production with the addition of support from other studios.

After Music RPG Metroid RPG back Metroid Prime Remastered

Retro Studio had to master Metroid Prime which in turn helped reconstruct the game into an essential training for the studio. It enabled them to acquire additional outsourcing knowledge and enhance the production function. More importantly it paved way for their work in Metroid Prime 4 after Bandai Namco fell through on their attempt at it.

Where are Metroid Prime 2 & 3 Remasters?

Yet, what Retro Studios started by trying to remake the whole trilogy, they were able to finish only the first part of Metroid Prime. As developers shifted their focus to Metroid Prime 4, the fortunes of a remastered version of Prime 2 and 3 have not been clearly defined.

Final Thoughts

Retro Studios’ experience shows that even the best rated studios can stumble in original IPs due to lack of experience in other genres. Though the game titled Music RPG was never developed enough to be published, it proved invaluable for Retro’s present and further work. With Metroid Prime 4 underway, enthusiasts can only speculate about other concealed games which were in development at the studio at some point.