Nintendo Switch Leak Reveals Canceled Game From the Studio Behind Metroid Prime

While all eyes are focused on the impending launch of Nintendo Switch 2, in a pretty strange turn of events, a sizable leak has revealed a handful of canceled games for the original Switch. Nintendo usually keeps a pretty tight lid on these kinds of things, so it’s unusual to see — especially considering it comes from the renowned creators of Metroid Prime, Retro Studios.

The leak comes from a new post on the r/GamingLeaksandRumors subreddit, where user capitalggamer shared titles of games that could be found on a Nintendo Switch devkit. For anyone who doesn’t know, a devkit is specialized hardware used exclusively by developers — with the tools to build, test, and debug games. Here’s what was found on the devkit:

• Old Splatoon 2 debug builds
• Rime (2017 game from Tequila Works)
• Unreleased LEGO Civilization game
• Unreleased Ridge Racer prototype
• Unreleased Retro Studios game (Project Harmony)
• ARMS debug build

It’s important to have some skepticism here, as the user doesn’t explicitly source where these leaks came from. However, there is some proof here to give validity to everything, specifically for the cancelled Retro Studios game, which was called Harmony. We have a couple of screenshots, but more importantly a gameplay clip of an in-development build.

In it, a pixie-like character, presumably Harmony, summons a variety of different creatures with unique abilities that she can ride. While it’s just a small glimpse, it does line up with rumors back in January that Retro was, at one point, working on a “music RPG.” This would presumably be what the studio was working on before Metroid Prime 4 was rebooted in 2019, and it was announced Retro would be developing that. Before that, Retro’s last game was Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze in 2014, and Metroid Prime 4 was originally being handled by Bandai Namco. Harmony would have been a brand-new IP for Nintendo if it’d seen the light of day, but obviously we don’t know what kind of troubles the project might have seen before Retro shifted back to Metroid.

Of course, Bandai Namco is also behind the legendary racing franchise Ridge Racer, and footage of that prototype game has also come out. User Jesse Young on X posted a two-minute video of the prototype in action and subsequently thanked a user named MrPinball64 from the Rare Gaming Dump servers on Discord.

While it’s certainly early footage, it looks authentic enough to be real, and considering Bandai Namco’s close relationship with Nintendo, it’s not unreasonable to think a Ridge Racer would have been in development. Bandai has co-developed a few games with Nintendo in recent years, including Pokkén Tournament DX, Mario Sports Superstars, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

The last time we saw a new console game from the series was with 2012’s Ridge Racer Unbounded. Even though it’s not a full comeback, last week’s Switch 2 reveal did announce that Arcade Archives 2 Ridge Racer (a port of the original PS1 game) would be coming to the system on its launch day.

It’s a shame there’s no footage of the cancelled LEGO Civilization, as it’d be fascinating to see what kind of art style that game went for. There’s no word on why that game was canceled, but typically we haven’t seen a lot of strategy games done with the LEGO brand — and with this year’s release of Civilization VII, the focus might have shifted onto that project in terms of resources and time.

While it’s only a tiny glimpse, it’s still great to see anything of these games at all. It’s the kind of thing that we’d easily have never known existed at all, and especially impactful to see what Retro was working on for all those years the studio was so quiet.