Although there was near-unanimous praise for this remaster, there was some criticism for the fact that the developers of the original Metroid Prime were only credited as the "original Nintendo GameCube and Wii version development staff", and not by their individual names.
The game was announced in a surprise release on Feb 8, 2023, initially only available as a digital download; a physical cartridge edition was almost immediately announced to become available a month later. There were some hints that the game may have already been completed in 2021, but that Nintendo was unsure what to do with it, given that it is a remaster of a 20-year-old game with a (presumably) limited target audience. This, in turn, fueled speculation that Nintendo may have originally intended to release it digitally only, but that they decided otherwise at the last moment, when the finished product generated a favorable buzz. The physical version turned out to be so popular that it sold out almost immediately, and the combination of cartridge versions and digital downloads eventually performed beyond expectations, selling over a million copies within 2 months. An industry insider subsequently claimed that both Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (2004) and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (2007) would also be ported to the Switch in the period leading up to the release of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond (2025).
Nintendo gave the development of the original Metroid Prime to the US-based Retro Studios, in part due to the fact that the Metroid series, while being incredibly popular in the United States, never sold as well in Japan. Retro also created the two sequels, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (2004) and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (2007)), as well as this remaster. Although development of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond (2025) was originally given to Bandai Namco Studios, the studio was unable to meet Nintendo's standards, so the project ended up back at Retro Studios as well.
Metroid Prime and its two sequels (Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (2004) and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (2007)) take place between the original Metoroido (1986) and Metoroido II Return of Samus (1991) (or their respective remakes, Metroid: Zero Mission (2004) and Metroid: Samus Returns (2017)). Although series creator Yoshio Sakamoto initially called the Prime series 'gaiden' (sidestory) games, they are considered to be a "contained subsaga" and a canon (official) part of the Metroid timeline.
This game has a very similar opening to Super Metroid (1994). In both games, Samus goes to a space station after receiving a distress call, finds that something had gone horribly wrong, fights a boss, escapes the station as it self-destructs, and follows Ridley to a nearby planet.