Nintendo originally announced the game in 2017, with
Kensuke Tanabe returning as producer. However, unlike the previous three installments in the series, the game would not be developed by Retro Studios but at Bandai Namco Studios. Despite regular updates that the game's development was going well, Nintendo announced in 2019 that it had scrapped the early version, as Bandai had been unable to meet Nintendo's standards. Development was subsequently moved back to Retro Studios, to be started over from scratch and aiming for a late 2020 release.
