Experiencing Metroid Prime 4 with Mouselook and 120fps Feels Incredible — Almost Like It Should Be Illegal

Amid the flurry of new experiences presented during the Nintendo Switch 2 gameplay reveal, one showcase caught my attention. It wasn’t an unfamiliar novelty but rather a familiar friend: Metroid Prime 4: Beyond.

The demo I tried felt like a nostalgic nod to longtime fans of the series, offering a glimpse into a part of the game that’s quite straightforward. It seems to highlight content from the very start, before our heroine Samus Aran has kitted out her power suit with those promising new telekinetic abilities.

During a segment that felt straight from a sci-fi thriller, Samus wielded her classic gadgets—arm cannon, missiles, scanner, morph ball, and bombs. It’s a setup we know too well. At first glance, Metroid Prime 4 seems like a logical continuation of its predecessors. Yet, based on other trailers, we know there’s more beneath this surface, teasing new skills and mechanics. But those novel elements were absent in this particular hands-on.

Retro Studios and Nintendo likely chose this part of the game on purpose. It’s fast-paced, uncomplicated, and lets players focus on grasping the Metroid Prime essence in its new home—the Switch 2 hardware.

The first thing the Nintendo rep beside me mentioned was performance: “This is running at 120 frames per second.” It’s a departure from Nintendo’s norm, prioritizing performance specs, but once you see the game in action, the reason is clear.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, on the Nintendo Switch 2, feels like a significant upgrade for a game initially built for noticeably weaker hardware. Running in full HD, or even at 4K but at 60fps, the game is fluid and impressive at a striking 120fps. In essence, it outshines what the original Switch could manage, at least according to the streams, since the original wasn’t available for a side-by-side comparison. The silky frame rate stands out the most, feeling somewhat foreign for Nintendo but undeniably captivating.

Now, about the Joy-Con controls. As explained in my previous review of the Switch 2 and its intriguing Welcome Tour mini-games, the most remarkable novelty is using your Joy-Con like a PC mouse. Imagine resting one of them on a surface—be it your thigh or a dedicated mat—and voila! You have a mouse.

Other games at the reveal, like Civilization 7, also incorporate these mouse controls, but Metroid Prime is particularly well-suited. Although it’s a metroidvania at heart, Prime plays out from a first-person perspective, benefiting immensely from this feature.

The way Metroid Prime 4 incorporates these mouse controls is simply genius. There’s no need for cumbersome menus or activating features—you just do it. You can still use both Joy-Cons like a regular controller, keeping that classic series feel. But set the right Joy-Con down, and boom, you’re in mouse mode. The transition is as smooth as the action itself.

Anyone familiar with first-person shooters using a mouse will appreciate how well this works. The game responds perfectly, feeling intuitive and precise. The real magic? This seamless switch between styles.

The part I played in Prime 4 was heavy on action, light on puzzle-solving, but it showed me how versatile the controls are. Within minutes, I found a rhythm—using the controller for exploration and then switching to the mouse for shooting, especially during intense combat.

Once I faced a boss, traditional controls took a backseat. The boss, with its glaring weak points, required precision that only mouse controls could provide, making the fight far more efficient for me than for those sticking with classic controls.

Blending this with the game’s incredible frame rate almost feels like cheating—it’s that remarkable. For a Nintendo game, this level of polished performance felt like luxury, addressing core concerns about the original Switch’s limitations. This demo is promising for the future, hinting at a generation of games that prioritize performance without compromising graphics.

With Metroid Prime 4 aiming to launch later this year, it might land on the original Switch too. But if you can manage, and you’re sold on the experience, there’s really only one place you’d want to dive deep into Beyond—on the Switch 2. That’s exactly what a next-generation upgrade should be.