Metroid Games

A Little History Lesson

It started in 1986 with an unassuming little title for the NES called Metroid. Remarkable features about this game that made it a hit were the non-linear exploration, a multitude of items to be found, and a female lead character. The game also had a rich storyline placing Samus Aran alone on planet Zebes to defeat a race of metroids, large jellyfish-like creatures that siphon life energy from their prey.

Five years after the original Metroid, Metroid 2: The Return of Samus was released for the Game Boy system. Featuring the same side-scrolling exploration, Metroid 2 put Samus on the metroid's home world of SR-388. Her goal was to seek and eliminate each and every metroid on the planet. She quickly discovered that metroids go through stages of evolution that are increasingly more powerful than the last. New items and abilities were added for Samus to collect, such as the Spider Ball technique that allowed Samus to curl into a sticky ball and roll along walls and ceilings.

Widely regarded as the best to date, Super Metroid was released in 1994 for the Super Nintendo. It expanded Samus' power-up arsenal and added chargeable weapons to the mix. The planet Zebes is once again the location, but due to the superior capabilities of the SNES the world is larger and much more diverse.

Three Dimensions

The only Nintendo system not to have a Metroid game is the Nintendo 64. This is due to internal development teams and politics within the Nintendo Corporation. However, in 2000 the company announced a small development studio based in Texas, Retro Studios, was working on a sequel in the series for the GameCube. The biggest news: Metroid would be 3D.

This sparked quite a lot of debate amongst Metroid fans. Could the popular series be transformed into 3D? Could an external development team pull it off?

Retro struggled, taking fierce heat from Nintendo when early results didn't meet the home office's expectations. The studio cut all its other projects and consolidated its personnel, focusing on polishing the critical project. Every level and every function was exposed to exacting scrutiny and loving craftsmanship.

Defying fans' fears, Metroid Prime managed to preserve as much of the original flavor as possible and went on to become one of the most highly praised games of the GameCube era. A sequel was released two years later, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes.

Nintendo released a side-scrolling game for the Game Boy Advance the same year as Prime. Metroid Fusion picked up where the Super NES title left off. Just two years later, Metroid: Zero Mission was released for the GBA as an enhanced remake/re-telling of the original Metroid story.

New Ideas

The 2005 release of Metroid Prime Pinball for the Nintendo DS put Samus in a very different roll: as a pinball. Many story and graphical elements were borrowed from the Prime series, though the game itself is not part of the storyline.

In development as of 2005 are three new Metroid games. Metroid Prime Hunters, previously released as a demo for the Nintendo DS, is the first multiplayer-centric Metroid game. Few story details are available, but the game will feature 3D graphics, Wi-Fi Multiplayer battles and full touch-screen support. It's set for an early 2006 release.

In the works for the Nintendo Revolution is Metroid Prime 3. The game will take full advantage of the control scheme provided by the Revolution -- full motion sensitive control using a wand-like controller.

And finally, Metroid Dread, a side-scrolling Metroid game, is rumored to be in development for the Nintendo DS. No official confirmation of this has been released from Nintendo, however.