Metroid Prime 4: Beyond

Notes Unused AudioSome unused music and cutscene audio, but mostly dialogue. So, so much dialogue. Unused Base Camp ConversationsOut of 77 total base camp conversations, a whopping 60 go unused. Might wanna grab some popcorn for this one. Unused Text & Text FilesWeird text that's never used in-game, with some blank text files on the side. Unused Scan DataThere's over 200 scan labels that never get used in-game. Naturally, they need their own page.

Prototype Omega Griever#

To do: Once it's possible to rip animations, upload all the animations for this model.

A model internally labeled "prototypeV1_omegaGriever" can be found in the files for the boss arena in Great Mines, likely being an early model for the Omega Griever boss that's fought in the same area. Interestingly, this model is fully rigged and even appears to have some animation labels listed in its CHPR file, though it's unknown if the model still has any proper animation data leftover. The SMDL file for this model also has a material that's meant for it, though this appears to simply be a gray default material leftover from the program it was made in.

Samus's Hidden Face#

To do: Upload the cutscene facial animations (it's currently not possible to rip animations directly from the game files, so footage of cutscenes with her visor removed in-game will work for now).

Even though Samus's visor is always kept completely opaque in the final game, removing the visor on her full-body models reveals that her face is fully modeled in all of her suits. Some cutscenes even appear to have animations for Samus's face, but her opaque visor hides her face and results in these animations never being visible in-game. This suggests that Samus's visor was initially transparent before being changed later in development (though since a vast majority of the in-game cutscenes don't animate her face at all, this choice probably wasn't made that late in development), though the reason for why her visor was made opaque in the first place remains unknown.

Note that Samus's face is only modeled in the full-body suits meant for cutscenes, the suits used during gameplay do not model her face at all. Additionally, Samus's face reflection in the UI (the one seen when opening the pause menu or near a bright flash, among other scenarios) is not the same as the unseen ones in her suit models, as the model for the UI's face reflection only has Samus's face and nothing else.

Unused Video#

Alongside all the other videos in FrontEnd.pak is this series of test patterns, which was likely used as a placeholder cinematic or test of some kind during development. Interestingly, the metadata for this odd video references a libavcodec version made in November 2018 ("Lavc58.35.100"), while the other videos' metadata references a libavcodec version made in October 2024 ("Lavc61.22.100"). It's also the only video file encoded in the WebM format, as every other video in the game is encoded in the MP4 format (not that it really matters, since the final game stores all videos as "FMV0" files). These discrepancies could point to this video being made much earlier in development than the others and may point to it being made to test the FMV0 format introduced in Metroid Prime Remastered, with that game allegedly being completed in 2021 before being released in 2023.

Regional Differences#

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: Look for any other notable regional differences.

For unknown reasons, a decent number of the NPCs' unsubtitled grunts were given proper subtitles in the Canadian French localization. In a fairly bizarre twist, Canadian French is actually the only localization that has proper subtitles for these lines, as the lines remain unsubtitled in every other language (including the European French localization). The fact that none of the studios that worked on the game are based in a French-speaking region of Canada (while the Canadian studio Next Level Games is credited as a support studio, they're based in the English-speaking city of Vancouver) only adds to this decision's strangeness, as there isn't any clear reason why Canadian French of all languages would get this sort of special treatment.

To make this even weirder, some of the Canadian-French exclusive subtitles are for labels that go completely unused in the final game. This could indicate that the Canadian French localization was based on an earlier version of the game than the other localizations, though that wouldn't really explain why no other language gave subtitles to any of these lines (used or unused).

Revisional Differences#

Version 1.1.0#

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: Get the pre- and post-patch versions of the changed text and sound files that aren't already on this page. Also, go through the patch files and look for any other undocumented changes.

This page or section needs more audio. There's a whole lotta words here, but not enough audio. Please fix this. Specifically: Upload the changed music tracks mentioned in "undocumented changes".

Released on December 3, 2025.²

Official Patch Notes:

• Amiibo functionality can now be accessed from the pause menu.
• Vibration was added to cutscenes.
• The conditions for unlocking certain cinematics in the gallery was changed from "Acquire 100% of all inventory items" to "Beat the game on any difficulty".
• An option to upgrade to the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition was added to the title screen menu in the Nintendo Switch version. This occurs only when the Switch version is being played on a Switch 2.
• AI difficulty for some enemies was adjusted for the Hard mode difficulty.
• The classification for Brazil was changed from 12 to 14.
• Various fixes.

Undocumented Changes:

• A line from VUE-995 that incorrectly referred to Tokabi as "Sergeant" instead of "Corporal" was replaced with an alternate take that used his correct rank (interestingly, this same mistake also occurs in an unused Base Camp conversation between Duke and Armstrong). This change did not affect the associated subtitle for this line, as it already referred to Tokabi with the correct rank of "Corporal".

• Several lines with noticeable audio issues were replaced.

• One of Tokabi's lines in Ice Belt was replaced with an alternate take, likely so the pitch and tone would better match the line that plays immediately after it. Note that even though they use nearly-identical takes in the unpatched base game, the follow-up line here is not the same as the "lower levels" line that was also fixed in the patch (though that line does sometimes play immediately after this changed line).

• One of Duke's lines in Flare Pool had a filter effect over it, causing him to sound like he was speaking to Samus over the radio when he wasn't supposed to be doing that. Unlike the previous patched lines (which all simply patched each line's respective audio file), the "corrected" line was added as a unique audio file and the file that calls the audio was changed to call the new file instead. While this would make sense if another file called the audio, the now-patched file was the only file in the whole game that called the audio, causing the original line to remain in the files but go unused.

• The title theme and credits theme were each replaced with an ever-so-slightly different mix of the respective track (though oddly, the original mix for each track still remains in the files).
• A music/ambience track in Flare Pool (specifically the one that plays in the Volcano Heart after defeating Pheneros) was added.
• Some sound effects were tweaked slightly.
• Some of the text was adjusted to fix typos.

Platform Differences#

The Nintendo Switch 2 version has the following additional features:

• There are two different resolution and frame rate options:
  • 4K at 60FPS or 1080p at 120Hz (with compatible TVs) while docked.
  • Full 1080p at 60FPS or 720p upscaled to 1080p at 120Hz while in handheld mode.
• Mouse support with the Joy-Con 2.
• HDR support on Switch 2 display and compatible TVs.
• Faster load times.

References#