Metroid is a series of action-adventure video games made by Nintendo. In these games, players control Samus Aran, a bounty hunter who fights Space Pirates and stops them from using dangerous creatures called Metroids. The games mix the jumping and running from Super Mario Bros. with the exploring from The Legend of Zelda. They take place in a science fiction world and let players explore in different ways. Most Metroid games are side-scrolling, while some 3D games use a first-person view. Players fight alien enemies and collect power-ups as they move through the game world, and there are few other characters in the games.
The first Metroid game was made by Nintendo R&D1 and released in 1986 for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Metroid II: Return of Samus came out in 1991 for the Game Boy. Super Metroid, released in 1994 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, added more power-ups and a more detailed story. After a break, the first 3D Metroid game, Metroid Prime, was made by Retro Studios and released in 2002 for the GameCube, along with Metroid Fusion for the Game Boy Advance. These were followed by Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (2004) and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (2007) for the Wii.
Metroid: Other M (2010), made by Team Ninja for the Wii, received lower reviews. After another break, MercurySteam remade Metroid II: Return of Samus as Metroid: Samus Returns (2017) for the Nintendo 3DS. This was followed by Metroid Dread (2021) for the Nintendo Switch. After a long development period, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond was released in 2025 for the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2.
By 2012, the Metroid series had sold more than 17.44 million copies. It has been called one of the best game series by many publications, and several Metroid games are listed among the greatest games ever made. The series appears in other Nintendo media, such as the Super Smash Bros. games. Other media include music, comics, and manga. Early Metroid games, along with the 1997 Konami game Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, helped create the Metroidvania subgenre, which features games with large, continuously explorable side-scrolling levels. Samus Aran was one of the first well-known female characters in video games.
Gameplay
The Metroid series includes features from shooter, platformer, adventure, survival, and first-person games. The series is known for its non-linear progression, where players explore on their own and control only Samus Aran, with few or no other characters to interact with. Players earn items and power-ups for Samus’s cybernetic suit mainly through exploration, and sometimes by defeating alien creatures in real-time combat using the suit’s arm cannon. Many upgrades allow players to access new areas. A common upgrade is the Morph Ball, which lets Samus curl into a ball, roll into tight spaces, and plant bombs. Another well-known ability is the Shinespark, which allows Samus to charge her Power Suit with energy and run and dash quickly. This power can break certain walls. While not required to finish the games, it helps players reach secret areas and complete tasks out of order, which is important for speedrunning.
The classic Metroid games are 2D side-scrollers, while the Metroid Prime series uses a first-person perspective and first-person shooter mechanics. The 2010 game Other M uses a third-person shooter format.
The original Metroid was inspired by two Nintendo franchises: Mario, which influenced its platform-jumping sections, and The Legend of Zelda, which influenced its non-linear exploration. Metroid was unique for its sense of loneliness and suspense. It was also one of the first games to allow players to move left, right, and back to previously visited areas to find hidden items and paths. Since the late 1990s, the term "Metroidvania" has been used to describe this style of gameplay. Edge magazine called Metroid "the thinking man's shooter," noting that weapons are more about progressing through the game than fighting enemies, with environments presenting bigger challenges than enemies.
The Metroid series is praised for its unique music. Hirokazu "Hip" Tanaka, who composed the original Metroid, aimed to create a score that made players feel like they were encountering a "living creature," blending music and sound effects. The main Metroid theme only plays after defeating Mother Brain, providing a sense of relief. Kenji Yamamoto, who composed Super Metroid, created themes by humming while riding his motorcycle to work. He was asked to compose Metroid Prime’s music to continue the series’ style. The game’s Dolby Pro Logic II surround sound was mixed by a Dolby team member.
Developers from Retro Studios noted that the 6 MB memory limit for sound effects in Metroid Prime was important for creating a high-quality soundtrack, as each sound needed to be clear. Yamamoto used drums, piano, chants, pipe clangs, and electric guitar. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption used the Wii’s increased RAM for better audio. Kenji Yamamoto, who composed Super Metroid and the Prime trilogy, kept the music dark and scary until the end of Metroid Prime 3, when uplifting music played during the credits.
Plot
The Metroid franchise is set in a science fiction world where humans are part of a spacefaring government called the Galactic Federation. Other alien species, such as the Chozo, a bird-like race with advanced technology and bioengineering skills, are also members of the Federation or close allies. The Space Pirates, a group of villains from many alien species, are enemies of the Federation and the Chozo. They are led by Ridley, a dragon-like warlord, and plan to create dangerous weapons using harmful life forms to destroy the Federation and take control of the galaxy.
The Metroids are jellyfish-like creatures that feed on an invisible life energy found in all living things. The Chozo created the Metroids as a weapon to stop a dangerous virus called the "X" that threatened their civilization. Although the Metroids helped eliminate the X, they became a threat themselves when they evolved into more dangerous forms. Many games in the series focus on the efforts of groups like the Space Pirates, the Galactic Federation, and some Chozo members to use the Metroids for their own purposes, leading to conflicts.
The story follows Samus Aran, a bounty hunter who fights the Space Pirates and the Metroids. Samus was raised by the Chozo after her parents were killed in a Space Pirate attack led by Ridley. She worked in the Galactic Federation's military before becoming a bounty hunter, facing enemies like Ridley and Mother Brain, a powerful cybernetic lifeform.
In the original Metroid and its remake, Zero Mission, Samus travels to the planet Zebes to stop the Space Pirates from using the Metroids to make weapons. She defeats Mother Brain, Ridley, and another Space Pirate leader named Kraid.
In Metroid II and its remake, Samus Returns, the Galactic Federation orders Samus to destroy all Metroids on their home planet, SR388. She succeeds in killing the Metroids but saves one baby Metroid, which bonds with her and is taken to a research station. Later, in Super Metroid, Ridley steals the baby Metroid and takes it to Zebes, where the Space Pirates try to clone it. Samus kills Ridley and Mother Brain, who tries to kill her, but the grown Metroid sacrifices itself to save her. Samus destroys Mother Brain and escapes as Zebes explodes. In Metroid: Other M, Samus investigates a derelict research station with a Federation team led by her former commander, Adam Malkovich. They fight bioweapons, including clones of Ridley and the Metroids. A revived Mother Brain, now in a human-like body, tries to unleash the Metroids but is stopped by Samus, who loses Adam in the process. Samus later defeats an entity called Phantoon and destroys the research station.
In Metroid Fusion, Samus joins scientists on SR388, where the X parasites return in the absence of the Metroids. The X infects a research station, and Samus is saved by a vaccine made from the baby Metroid’s cells. She discovers the Federation secretly cloned Metroids and destroys the station to eliminate the X. In Metroid Dread, the Federation sends advanced robots called E.M.M.I. to investigate a planet called ZDR, where X parasites are found. Samus is sent to stop the X and a Chozo criminal named Raven Beak, who wants to use Metroid DNA to create an army.
The Metroid Prime series, made by Retro Studios, is a side story that takes place between Metroid and Metroid II. In Metroid Prime, Samus goes to Tallon IV to stop the Space Pirates from using a dangerous substance called Phazon. She defeats a cybernetic Ridley and purges Phazon from the planet by destroying a Phazon-infected Metroid.
In Metroid Prime Hunters, Samus answers a distress call to the Alimbic Cluster, where she teams up with other bounty hunters, including Sylux, who has a grudge against the Federation and Samus, to fight an entity named Gorea.
In Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, Samus explores Aether, a planet affected by Phazon, which has split the world into "light" and "dark" dimensions. The dark dimension is ruled by the Ing, an evil race. Samus fights Dark Samus, a Metroid Prime that resembles her. In Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Samus and other bounty hunters are sent to stop Dark Samus from spreading Phazon across the galaxy. Samus defeats Dark Samus and avoids being corrupted herself.
In Metroid Prime: Federation Force, Samus is mind-controlled by the Space Pirates. A group of elite soldiers called the Federation Force fights to rescue her and destroy the Pirates.
In Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, set after Super Metroid, Samus helps defend a Galactic Federation facility on Tanamaar from a Space Pirate raid led by Sylux, a rival bounty hunter who uses Metroids to control the Pirates. A mysterious artifact activates, teleporting Samus and Federation soldiers to the planet Viewors. The extinct Lamorn people there prophesize that Samus must plant a seed called Memory Fruit on another planet to preserve their legacy. After reuniting with Federation soldiers, Samus faces Sylux, who is too strong to defeat. Her allies sacrifice themselves so Samus can leave and complete the Lamorn’s task.
Development and history
The main people involved in creating and developing the Metroid series include Satoru Okada, who directed the first Metroid game and started the series; Yoshio Sakamoto, who designed the main character for the first game and directed or supervised most later games; Gunpei Yokoi, who led the R&D1 team and produced the first two games; Makoto Kano, who wrote the story for Metroid, helped design the second game, and produced the third; and Hiroji Kiyotake, who designed characters for the original game.
The original Metroid was an action game for the Family Computer Disk System. It was developed by Nintendo's Research & Development 1 (R&D1) and released in Japan on August 6, 1986. It later came out for the Nintendo Entertainment System in North America in August 1987 and in Europe on January 15, 1988. Satoru Okada directed the game.
Metroid was designed as a shooting game that combined jumping on platforms like in Super Mario Bros. with exploring freely like in The Legend of Zelda. The name "Metroid" is a mix of the words "metro" (like a subway) and "android" (a robot). It was meant to describe the game's underground setting and robot-like main character. During development, one staff member suggested the idea of the main character being a woman, and the team agreed. The game was also influenced by the 1979 movie Alien, and the antagonist in Metroid was named Ridley after the movie's director, Ridley Scott. The game's design was also inspired by the creature artist H. R. Giger, whose style fit the Metroid world.
Metroid II: Return of Samus was released for the Game Boy in 1991 in North America and in 1992 in Japan and Europe. This game helped define Samus Aran's appearance, including her Varia Suit and different weapons.
Because R&D1 was working on another project, Nintendo asked Intelligent Systems to make Super Metroid for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). Development began in late 1991, and the game was released in 1994. Super Metroid added new abilities and a more detailed story than earlier games. It was praised and is considered one of the best SNES games. Yoshio Sakamoto, who designed the first Metroid's character, directed and produced most of the 2D Metroid games after this.
After Super Metroid, no new Metroid games were released for eight years. Nintendo struggled to create a Metroid game for the Nintendo 64. Sakamoto said he did not know how to use the Nintendo 64 controller to move Samus. Another company refused to make a Metroid game for the Nintendo 64 because they felt they could not make a game as good as Super Metroid. Samus appeared in a pinball game on the Virtual Boy and in the fighting game Super Smash Bros. on the Nintendo 64.
In 2000, Nintendo producer Shigeru Miyamoto visited Retro Studios, a new Nintendo company in Texas. He was not interested in their other projects but played a game called Action Adventure, which had a female main character. Miyamoto asked Retro to make a Metroid game for the GameCube. The team stopped working on Action Adventure and began developing Metroid.
Metroid Prime, the first 3D Metroid game, was released in 2002. It used a first-person view, like in some adventure games, but not like a shooter. Nintendo called it a "first-person adventure." Metroid Prime was well-received and sold 2.84 million copies worldwide until Metroid Dread (2021) became more popular.
In 2000, Nintendo also released Metroid Fusion, a 2D game for the Game Boy Advance (GBA). It was made by R&D1 and directed by Sakamoto. The game had gameplay similar to Super Metroid but with more structured missions. The next GBA game was Zero Mission (2004), a remake of the original Metroid. Both games were praised. In 2003, Nintendo merged R&D1 with R&D2.
In 2004, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes was released. It let Samus move between light and dark worlds and was harder than earlier games. In 2005, Metroid Prime Pinball was released for the DS. In 2006, Metroid Prime Hunters, a multiplayer game, came out. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (2007) added motion controls and let Samus explore different planets. By the late 2000s, Nintendo focused on simpler games, and Metroid Prime 3 received little marketing.
The Prime games were later released as a collection called Metroid Prime: Trilogy for the Wii. Nintendo stopped making copies of the discs in 2010 and encouraged people to buy used copies. In the late 2000s, a company called Next Level Games made a Metroid prototype for the Nintendo 3DS but did not get approval. Instead, they made Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon.
During the Wii's time, Nintendo focused on casual players, so the next Metroid game, Metroid: Other M (2010), used simpler controls. It was made by Team Ninja and directed by Sakamoto. The game used a third-person view and focused more on story than exploration. Critics said the game had weak character development and did not match the Metroid style. Other M received poor reviews and was not popular. No major Metroid game was released for seven years after this.
A Metroid mini-game called "Metroid Blast" appeared in Nintendo Land (2012) for the Wii U. It let players control Samus's ship and other characters. Miyamoto said this reflected his ideas for future Metroid games. In 2016, Metroid Prime: Federation Force was released by Next Level. It was criticized for focusing on multiplayer and having a silly tone. Fans asked Nintendo to cancel the game, and it sold poorly.
In the mid-2010s, a Spanish studio called MercurySteam proposed remaking Metroid Fusion. Sakamoto liked their work on Castlevania: Lords of Shadow and asked them to remake Metroid II instead
Reception
Metroid was ranked as the 70th best game overall by Next Generation in 1996 and the 6th best in 1999. In 2008, IGN listed it as the 8th best game franchise. In 2001, Electronic Gaming Monthly named Super Metroid the best game ever. All Metroid games released by 2005 were included in a Nintendo Power top 200 list. Prime was on IGN’s top 100 list, and Metroid, Super Metroid, Prime, and Echoes were listed by GameFAQs users. Metroid and Super Metroid were also on Game Informer’s list, and Prime and Super Metroid were on Edge’s list. The Metroid series has influenced games such as Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.
Samus Aran was recognized by Guinness World Records as "enduringly popular" and as the "first playable human female character in a mainstream video game." However, Toby Masuyo ("Kissy") from Namco’s Alien Sector was introduced one year earlier. Ridley was the second-most requested Nintendo character by IGN and the most popular choice among fans for inclusion in the Super Smash Bros. series. Mother Brain is often named as one of the best video game bosses.
The original Metroid was helped by its "eerie" music, which created a "sense of mystery and exploration" and made the game "moody and atmospheric." IGN praised the music for adding suspense at the right times. GameSpot said Super Metroid was better than the original "in literally every conceivable way." Metroid Fusion was noted for its "understated score," which matched the mood of the adventure, and its excellent stereo sound effects, making it a standout Game Boy Advance experience. Metroid Prime won multiple Game of the Year awards. IGN described the sound experience in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes as "mesmerizing." Music from the Metroid series has been often re-released in "best of" video game music collections. Metroid Prime’s soundtrack was called the best sound design on the GameCube. The sound effects were also noted for being highly accurate and blending well with the music.
Each Metroid game, except for spin-offs and remakes, sold more than one million copies. By September 2012, the series had sold over 17.44 million copies worldwide. Metroid sales in Japan were usually lower than in the United States. In its first week in Japan, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption sold 32,388 units, placing it behind Ryū ga Gotoku Kenzan!, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Wii Fit, and Gundam Musou Special. Metroid: Other M was the third-best-selling video game in Japan during its release week, with 45,398 copies sold, behind Wii Party and Monster Hunter Diary: Poka Poka Airu Village. It sold an additional 11,239 copies the following week.
Legacy
The 1997 Konami game Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and the early Metroid games helped create a subgenre called "Metroidvania." Tom Happ, the creator of the 2015 game Axiom Verge, described Metroidvania games as side-scrolling adventures with large, connected maps instead of separate levels. These games require players to collect items and return to earlier areas. Other well-known Metroidvania games include Cave Story (2004), Shadow Complex (2009), Ori and the Blind Forest (2014), Hollow Knight (2017), and Chasm (2018). The Metroid series is one of a few game series with genres named after them, such as Dark Souls (Soulslike) and Rogue (Roguelike).
In 2016, AM2R, a fan-made remake of Metroid II, was released. Nintendo sent warnings to stop its distribution, claiming it could harm its intellectual property. AM2R was nominated for the Game Awards 2016 but was later removed because Nintendo had not approved its inclusion.
Samus Aran is a playable character in all five Super Smash Bros. games. Starting with Super Smash Bros. Brawl, players can also control Zero Suit Samus, who wears a blue, tight-fitting suit from Zero Mission and the Prime series. Ridley appears in Super Smash Bros. as a background character flying over Zebes. In Super Smash Bros. Melee, he appears as an unlockable trophy and in the game’s opening scene, where he fights Samus at Ceres Space Station. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Ridley is a boss character in two forms. A version of Ridley from Metroid: Other M appears as a boss on the Pyroshpere stage in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. If players defeat him, he joins their team. Due to fan support, Ridley became a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Kraid also appears in Super Smash Bros. Melee as a stage hazard and as an unlockable trophy. Other characters, such as Metroids, Mother Brain, and Dark Samus, appear as trophies or stickers in the Super Smash Bros. series. Dark Samus later became a playable fighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, sharing moves similar to Samus. Many locations from the Metroid series appear as battle stages in Super Smash Bros. games.
Samus has appeared in other Nintendo games, including Super Mario RPG, the NES version of Tetris, Tetris DS, Galactic Pinball, Kirby Super Star, Kirby's Dream Land 3, and WarioWare.
A character resembling a Metroid, called Komayto, appears in Kid Icarus for the NES. The game Kid Icarus: Uprising references the connection between Komayto and Metroids. In Dead or Alive: Dimensions, a stage is based on the arena where Samus fights Ridley in Metroid: Other M, and both characters appear as non-playable figures. Team Ninja’s Yosuke Hayashi explained that Samus was not playable in the game because it would be better for her to focus on her mission rather than fighting in Dead or Alive: Dimensions. The Wii U game Nintendo Land includes a minigame called "Metroid Blast" based on the series. A Samus amiibo figure can be used to unlock a Mii costume inspired by her appearance in Mario Kart 8 and a Samus costume in Super Mario Maker.
In 2020, Nintendo and Epic Games discussed including Samus as a character in Fortnite. Details about the plan were revealed in 2021 through documents from the Epic Games v. Apple case. Other characters like Kratos and Master Chief were added to Fortnite in late 2020, but Samus was not. In 2024, former Fortnite creative director Donald Mustard explained that Nintendo requested Fortnite to be exclusive to the Nintendo Switch, which conflicted with Epic’s policy of keeping Fortnite the same across all platforms. This led to Samus never being added to the game.
A Metroid animated series was planned for the Super Mario Bros. Power Hour, a canceled animation project from the 1980s. Concept art for the series was created, including a version of Samus as a male character. The Power Hour idea was abandoned, and The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! aired in 1989 instead. Mother Brain was the main villain in the TV show Captain N: The Game Master.
Magazines in the United States and Japan have published comics and manga based on Metroid, Super Metroid, Metroid Prime, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, and Metroid: Zero Mission. Samus Aran and other Metroid characters also appeared in Captain N: The Game Master comic books by Valiant Comics. In Japan, a Metroid manga series was published in Monthly Magazine Z starting in November 2003. The series ran for 16 chapters and influenced later Metroid games. Another Metroid manga, Metroid: Samus and Joey, was published in Comic Bom Bom in Japan.
In 2003, two producers tried to make a live-action Metroid movie, but the rights expired. Later, director John Woo acquired the rights, and his studio, Lion Rock Productions, planned to release the film by 2006. The writers included David Greenwalt, who worked on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Grimm. Producer Brad Froxhoven said the movie would explore Samus’ origin story, showing her as a skilled but flawed character seeking redemption. He claimed the film would stay true to the games.
According to Froxhoven, Nintendo was cautious because of the 1993 Super Mario Bros. movie’s failure. Nintendo did not provide details about Samus’ personal life, relationships, or other traits, and was uncomfortable with the film team creating those answers. Froxhoven said Nintendo appreciated the need to develop the franchise further if it were to become a Hollywood film. In 2013, Sakamoto said he would support a Metroid movie directed by Ryuji Kitaura, the director of Other M’s CG scenes, if the concept was strong. In 2025, filmmaker Chris Stuckmann said making a Metroid movie was his dream. Industry insider DanielRPK reported on his Patreon page that a Metroid movie is reportedly in development.