Raven Blade
Retro Studios built a dark GameCube action RPG around a legendary sword, then Nintendo cancelled it and moved the team onto Metroid Prime.
Quick facts
- Existence state
- Never Born
- Peak stage
- working prototype
- Research confidence
- high
- Last verified
What it was
A cancelled fantasy action role-playing game developed by Retro Studios for Nintendo GameCube.
A knight carrying the Raven Blade would cross a ruined world of demons and dragons in a large third-person adventure.
Existence timeline
Retro begins one of its first GameCube productions.
The team develops combat, environments and fantasy creatures.
Nintendo presents Raven Blade in non-playable footage.
Nintendo assesses Retro's troubled project slate.
Nintendo ends Raven Blade and reduces the team.
Former developers retain designs and production history.
Why it ended
Nintendo cancelled the project in July 2001 so Retro could consolidate staff and finish Metroid Prime.
Last confirmed trace
Prototype assets, an E3 video, design work and former developer records preserve the cancelled production.
What it left behind
Raven Blade's cancellation helped concentrate the studio that would establish the modern Metroid Prime series.
How we classified it
The proposed archive unit never reached ordinary public access in the form being documented.
The strongest verified milestone maps to working_prototype under Arrival Score V1.
Sources & verification
Last reviewed 2026-08-01. Sources are linked so readers can inspect the evidence directly.