Metroid Prime developer Retro Studios once did preliminary work on an XCOM style tactics game set in the Metroid universe.

As observed by Eurogamer, developer Paul Tozer discussed the pitch publicly for the first time on a recent episode of Did You Know Gaming about canceled Metroid games. It was one of several pitches the studio made following the conclusion of its Metroid Prime trilogy.

The game would have been a prequel, following Samus from when she sets out from the Chozo village where she was raised to her eventual decision to become a bounty hunter. This timespan also covers humanity’s first encounter with the Metroids and the Space Pirates. In gameplay terms, Samus would team up with Galactic Federation soldiers, as well as bounty hunters, to fight aliens across various worlds, including Norion, Earth, and Zebes. Players would have used the Wii Remote’s motion controls to direct Samus and her allies.

Tozer says in the video that the project would have been “relatively cheap” as it would have reused assets from the Metroid Prime games. Nevertheless, “higher ups” at Retro rejected the pitch, so it was never brought up for Nintendo.

Retro is returning to the Metroid franchise for Metroid Prime 4, which restarted development in 2019. Retro’s last game was the excellent Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, way back in 2014.