"My goal was to create a modern update to the visor that honors the legacy of Metroid Prime"
The BEST change in Metroid Prime Remastered makes the original UNPLAYABLE
After five years of relative silence, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond finally resurfaced during this summer's Nintendo Direct. The gorgeous trailer set the tone with moody music, hostile new settings and plenty of space pirates for intergalactic bounty hunter Samus Aran to blast into oblivion. In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday, Retro Studios lead UI artist Jon Wofford detailed the process behind the modernized redesign of Samus' HUD — the view the player will see through her visor for large parts of the game.
"Metroid Prime 4 has been a dream project, and my favorite part has been designing, creating and animating Samus' HUD," Wofford wrote. "I learned a lot during MPR [Metroid Prime Remastered], and I hope it shows. Check out my art station for a deeper dive!" Wofford's post concludes with a link to said ArtStation, which has tons of screenshots and brief descriptions from the artist about the process involved in each UI decision, as well as shout-outs from Wofford to his collaborators "Jordan Johnson, whose UI technology enables all of it, and to Nina Morris, for her great work on scans, plus his "fantastic art director, Jhony Ljungstedt, for his clear vision and leadership."
In an ArtStation caption on a screenshot of the HUD screen from the trailer, Wofford explained that his "goal was to create a modern update to the visor that honors the legacy of Metroid Prime." The result is a more minimalist line art style compared to how the HUD looked in Metroid Prime Remastered (although since it was a remaster, it was an update to the look of the HUD that didn't change its technical layout).
