Skip to main content

Switch ports for Persona 5, Metroid Prime, and A Link to the Past may be coming

A couple of Nintendo classics and a modern Japanese RPG hit may be headed to the Nintendo Switch in the near future. Best Buy’s internal system looks to have leaked the existence of the Metroid Prime Trilogy, Persona 5, and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past for Nintendo Switch.

Best Buy’s leaks initially started making the rounds when an Imgur user posted them. Eventually, popular leaker Wario64 caught wind and had multiple employees verify the existence of these three SKUs (stock keeping unit) in Best Buy’s internal system. He also published screenshots that were different than the ones previously shared, at the least confirming that multiple employees are seeing these products in the system.

Recommended Videos

There’s a teaser website for Persona 5 S live right now and it wouldn’t be farfetched to think that “S” stands for the Switch version of the game. The site says that more information will arrive on April 25. The full remake of The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening for Nintendo Switch was revealed in February and, soon after, a notable leaker shared that another 2D Zelda game would be coming to the Nintendo eShop this year. Nintendo Life shared that the source has been inconsistent in the past, but this new leak of a Switch version of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past adds a bit more credence to the person’s claims. The third leak in this bunch comes as more of a major surprise.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

Things have been very quiet for the Metroid Prime series and the last update on Metroid Prime 4, shared in January, sadly confirmed that Nintendo wasn’t happy with the game’s development up until that point. In the video update, a Nintendo executive explained that development was essentially starting over completely. The good news, though, is that the game’s producer, Kensuke Tanabe, is working with Retro Studios, the team responsible for the original trilogy, to get things back on track. Bringing a remastered version of the Metroid Prime Trilogy, which last appeared on the Wii, to the Switch would be a way to salve the wounds of those fans hurt by the realization that Metroid Prime 4 is very far from being a finished project. Nintendo did say it was preparing at least one unannounced title for 2019 that would release after April and that “fans would be delighted to know.”

The SKUs for Persona 5, Metroid Prime Trilogy, and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past have all been removed from the Best Buy internal system and Nintendo is notorious for not commenting on rumors and leaks, but antennas will surely go up if the company announces an April Nintendo Direct.

Charles Singletary Jr.
I'm a Birmingham, AL raised author, journalist, and gaming enthusiast currently residing in San Antonio, TX. My work has…
Metroid Prime Remastered makes one of the best games of all time even better
Samus stares up at Meta Ridley in Metroid Prime Remastered.

After countless rumors and years of disappointment as those leaks failed to materialize, Metroid Prime Remastered is finally a reality. Though its existence may not have come at a shock at this point, Nintendo’s surprise shadow launch of it following this week’s Direct showcase certainly caught fans off guard. Shortly after the presentation wrapped up, I was unexpectedly revisiting my favorite video game of all time with all of its creative glory intact.

As its name implies, Metroid Prime Remastered isn’t a total overhaul of the Nintendo GameCube classic. Every second from the first-person adventure game unfolds exactly as you remember it, from its thrilling opening aboard an abandoned space frigate to its mournful trek through Phendrana Drifts. The visuals have been modernized and a new control layout makes it play like a modern shooter, but those are the only real changes you’ll find through the adventure.

Read more
Don’t expect Zelda’s $70 price to become the new Switch standard, says Nintendo
Link looks at his hand in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom will be Nintendo's first Switch game to be priced at $70. News that Tears of the Kingdom, a sequel to one of the bestselling and most critically acclaimed titles on the system, will have an increased price compared to its predecessor came as a surprise over three-and-a-half years after its announcement. It also raised questions about what the future of pricing for Nintendo games will be, especially as Sony, Microsoft, and third-party publishers all upped the cost of their new games in recent years. 
While Nintendo will release Tears of Kingdom at $70, a spokesperson for the company tells Digital Trends that this will not always be the case for its first-party games going forward. 
"No," the spokesperson said when Digital Trends asked if this is a new standard. "We determine the suggested retail price for any Nintendo product on a case-by-case basis." 
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – Official Trailer #2
To get more insight into the price shift, I spoke to Omdia Principal Analyst George Jijiashvili, who explains what has caused the price of games to go up in recent years and how Tears of the Kingdom demonstrates that Nintendo will "remain flexible about first-party title pricing." Ultimately, Nintendo fans are finally starting to feel the impact of inflation that's been sweeping across the game industry, even if it's only "on a case-by-case basis" for now.
The price is right
Nintendo claims that not every one of its significant first-party game will be $70, and we can actually already see that in action. Preorders just went live for Pikmin 4, which launches on July 21, after Tears of the Kingdom, and it only costs $60. Still, Zelda's price tag indicates that going forward, Nintendo will at least consider raising the price of its most anticipated games to $70. But why start with Tears of the Kingdom?  
When asked why it chose Tears of the Kingdom as its first $70 Nintendo Switch game, a Nintendo spokesperson simply reiterated that the company will "determine the suggested retail price for any Nintendo product on a case-by-case basis." Still, it's a surprising choice for Nintendo to make that pricing change to just one exclusive game almost six years into the Switch's life span. Jijiashvili thinks the choice to do this with Tears of the Kingdom was a pretty apparent one for Nintendo, although it won't apply to everything going forward.
"If you are going to make a game $70, it's going to be the follow-up to one of your most critically acclaimed and bestselling games ever," Jijiashvili tells Digital Trends. "I don’t think that this means that $70 will become the standard price for all major Nintendo releases. It's worth noting that Metroid Prime Remastered is priced at $40. It's clear that Nintendo will remain flexible about first-party title pricing."

It makes basic financial sense for Nintendo to ask for a little bit more for a game it knows will be one of the biggest releases of 2023. But what factors in the game industry and world's economy at large caused Nintendo to make this decision? 
Priced Out
For more than a decade, people got comfortable with AAA video games being priced at $60. Of course, there were occasional exceptions to this rule, but it was seen as an industry standard until the dawn of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. Publisher 2K was one of the first to announce a price increase, and companies like EA, Sony, and Microsoft have all followed suit. Jijiashvili chalks this up to inflation-related pressure on game publishers.
"The games industry has already been experiencing a lot of inflationary pressure," he explains. "AAA games are much more expensive to make now than they used to be, but prices have actually been declining in inflation-adjusted terms -- if prices had risen with inflation since 1990, they would now be over $90. On top of that, we’ve had a big burst of general inflation, meaning that publishers are looking at big increases in everything from salaries to tools. It’s going to be really hard for most publishers to avoid passing on all those extra costs at some point."
Jijiashvili provided us with a graphic created by Omdia that "shows what the typical price points for each generation would look like if you adjusted for inflation." As you can see, the inflation-adjusted prices are only exponentially growing, and the big game pricing shifts the graph highlights were all technically not even enough to keep up with inflation when they happened. 

Read more
Metroid Prime Remastered just surprise launched on Nintendo Switch
Samus Aran stands tall in Metroid Prime Remastered.

A remastered edition of Metroid Prime was just surprise announced via February's Nintendo Direct. Even more shocking is the news that Metroid Prime Remastered is available to download via the Switch eShop today.

Nintendo Direct 2.8.2023 - Nintendo Switch

Read more