ConnexionThe 10 Best Metroid Games
Since 1986 the Metroid series has gone from 2D to 3D (and back to 2D) and to consoles and portables, with plenty of Samus appearances and cameos in other games along the way. It’s responsible for co-creating the Metroidvania genre, leading to games like Hollow Knight and Ori and the Blind Forest and dozens more. And hey, it's even dabbled in pinball and soccer.
With Metroid Prime 4: Beyond on the way, it’s the perfect time to look back on this incredible series. Here are what we consider the top 10 Metroid games, judged by the all-important factors of level and map design, progression, innovation, and lasting legacy.
10. Metroid 2: Return of Samus
These days, one of the most basic functions expected of a Metroidvania game is map screen that slowly reveals itself as you explore its maze-like network of corridors and hidden rooms. But back in 1991, when Metroid 2: Return of Samus arrived on the Nintendo Game Boy, that wasn’t exactly standard practice yet. That makes Metroid 2 feel a bit on the obtuse side, especially since its main focus is sending Samus to SR388 on a planet-wide quest to hunt down every last Metroid left with no real way to track their locations.
But if you persevered and played along with your own hand drawn map (or one tucked inside an issue of Nintendo Power) you were rewarded with a pocket-sized Metroid game complete with all of Samus’ signature moves and weapons from the NES game, even if the benefits of portability also meant playing on a fuzzy little puke-green Game Boy screen. Still, from its big character sprites, tense chiptune music, and lonely, claustrophobic setting, there’s something really special about Metroid 2. And for people wishing Metroid 2 had a few more modern features, 2017’s excellent 3DS remake from MercurySteam totally delivers on that front, but hey, we’ll talk about that one more in a bit.
9. Metroid
Inspired by the 1979 sci-fi film Alien as well as previous Nintendo hits like Super Mario Bros and The Legend of Zelda, the original Metroid game was unlike anything else at the time. Sure there had been tons of space shooters and platforming games released by the time Metroid arrived in 1986, but none of them had ever brought so many elements of those genres together in the same place, complete with a huge map with horizontally and vertically scrolling screens. What made Metroid especially unique at the time was the way its protagonist Samus controlled and explored through unique power-ups, like the ability to turn into a ball and explore hidden tunnels, or the “screw attack” jump that allowed you to rapidly flip up walls and corridors, tearing through ugly space monsters along the way.
It also established grotesque creature villains like Kraid, Ridley, and Mother Brain, all of whom continued to show up in Metroid games for decades to come. And it concluded with one of the most clever NES game ending sequences ever: a frantic escape from a ticking time bomb after defeating the game’s main boss. And perhaps one of the coolest surprises was its multiple endings, several of which revealed that bounty hunter Samus Aran was a woman the entire time, a concept that was pretty uncommon for video games in the mid ‘80s. So much of what makes modern Metroid games so incredible can be traced back to the revolutionary original NES game, and the same can be said for the entire Metroidvania genre as a whole.
8. Metroid: Samus Returns
Metroid: Samus Returns took all of the promise of the original Game Boy game Metroid: Return of Samus and completely rebuilt it from the ground up and presented it in full color, glasses-free 3D, complete with totally overhauled graphics, newly remade music, and a much improved combat system that gave Samus an uppercut style melee attack to knock back enemies between bursts of arm cannon blasts and morph ball bombs.
It’s still ultimately a remake of a fairly one-note Metroid game, but finally having a map (viewable at all times thanks to the 3DS’ second screen,) snappy, fluid player movement, and offensive options against adversaries makes Samus Returns feel distinctly like its own thing. After Team Ninja’s wobbly and unsatisfying Metroid: Other M in 2010, fans were justified in worrying that another outside developer handling the Metroid franchise wouldn’t exactly lead to the best results, but MercurySteam proved it had what it takes to make a very good Metroid game. And, eventually, it would even make a great one.
7. Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
While nowhere near as revolutionary as its predecessor, Metroid Prime 2 is a rock solid sequel that introduces a really cool light and dark parallel dimension mechanic; a classic Nintendo gameplay trope established in The Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past’s light and dark worlds that allows you to explore alternate versions of the same levels to hunt for power-ups and suit upgrades that help you better survive in each one. With that concept Prime 2 also introduced Dark Samus, a character that sounds exactly like what you’d expect: a dark, evil version of Samus, which unsurprisingly turned out to be really cool. So cool, in fact, that Dark Samus went on to become an assist trophy and eventually a fully playable character in the Smash Bros. games.
Prime 2 also introduced a pretty barebones Metroid multiplayer mode that felt like a response to the success of games like Halo at the time, and while four different colored versions of Samus strafing in circles while they shoot at each other might not seem like the most interesting thing to do in a Metroid game, it was somehow entertaining enough to work in short bursts between trying to one hundred percent the main campaign.
6. Metroid Fusion
After an eight year hiatus from Metroid games (the series skipped over the entire Nintendo 64 generation, after all) the year 2002 brought us two new entries in the series across the GameCube and the Game Boy Advance, the latter of which was a classic 2D sidescrolling Metroid game with gorgeous pixel art and an endlessly replayable campaign. Metroid Fusion built on all of the excellent gameplay established in the SNES classic Super Metroid, and although it didn’t quite hit the same highs, it’s still a very awesome game on its own, held back only by its slightly more linear exploration and overly talky commanding officer character, Adam Malkovich.
Still, Metroid Fusion immediately stood on its own as a tight, briskly paced Metroid game that instantly became a huge hit with the speedrunning community thanks largely to its multiple ending unlocks that appear depending on completion time and percentage finished. Samus came back in a big way in 2002 and reminded people that Metroid was here to stay as one of the best video game franchises ever created.
5. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
By 2007, the Metroid series had gone 2D, 3D, had touch screen controls, and had become a rumble pack-infused pinball game, so obviously the natural next step was a Nintendo Wii motion and pointer controlled game, as was tradition at the time. Luckily, Metroid Prime 3 largely avoided many of the frustrations and pratfalls that several other franchise sequels stumbled on during the awkward "waggle era" of gaming that we’ve largely moved on from as a species. And while some of the motion control implementation in Prime 3 felt a little finicky at times, pointing a Wii remote at the screen to blast away at enemies was immensely satisfying.
Better than that, though, Prime 3 also capped off the excellent Prime trilogy with a more beautiful and breathtaking world that added more verticality and cool new traversal methods, along with “hyper mode” which gave Samus the option to go full on attack frenzy at the expense of her health. Metroid Prime 3 was a fantastic send off for the Prime franchise at the time when none of us had any idea it wouldn’t get a sequel for eighteen years. Unless, of course, you count the 3DS game Metroid Prime: Federation Force... which we definitely won’t, even if it did tease Metroid Prime 4 in its secret ending. True story.
4. Metroid: Zero Mission
The second Metroid game on the Game Boy Advance is also a remake of the first Metroid game ever released, with a stunning new 16-bit pixel art overhaul, taking notes from Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion to improve the original NES game in just about every conceivable way. Every boss fight feels bigger and better, the improved soundtrack rocks, and hey, there’s even an actual map now! And if you ever get nostalgic for the original, it’s unlockable here, too.
On top of that, multiple difficulty options made their way to Zero Mission, along with new cutscenes, a time attack mode, and a gallery of images that you can uncover by performing specific criteria. While the original NES game was revolutionary at the time and still has its charm today, Zero Mission is truly the best way to experience the game that started it all for the Metroid series.
3. Metroid Dread
While the remake Samus Returns for the 3DS was MercurySteam’s first effort at a Metroid game, Metroid Dread was a totally original adventure that added a whole new twist, creating one of the most tense and exhilarating Metroid experiences to date. Being constantly hunted by E.M.M.I, the fast, hulking, and intelligent killer robots ready to end Samus’ mission in seconds, meant that the typical explore-at-your-own-pace gameplay of the traditional Metroid mission was frequently replaced with tense and dangerous urgency.
MercurySteam also took the melee combat and parrying system from Samus Returns and improved it, making close quarters fights feel better than ever, which, with the snappier controls and increased player speed, allows Metroid Dread to go pound-for-pound with the best modern Metroidvanias. Dread is also the toughest game in the series since the original NES Metroid, but manages to never feel cheap or padded thanks to its brilliant map design and liberal checkpoint system. In an ideal world, MercurySteam is giving us a new 2D Metroid every few years while Retro Studios continues to make 3D Prime games, giving us the best of both worlds for this legendary series.
2. Metroid Prime
On the N64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Super Mario 64, and Donkey Kong 64 all proved that once 2D Nintendo franchises could successfully make the jump to 3D, but unfortunately, this era didn’t involve a brand new 3D Metroid game, or really, any new Metroid game at all. But in 2002, Retro Studios did the unthinkable: it successfully transformed the classic feel of Super Metroid into a stunning, atmospheric, and revolutionary first-person action platforming game with fantastic shooting mechanics and an incredible world to explore. From seeing small drops of condensation build around Samus’ visor to the first time we stepped into the icy Phendrana Drifts as the camera panned out and the piano music swelled, we knew we were experiencing something magical.
Everything from morph ball exploration to suit upgrades and an ever evolving arsenal of weaponry and traversal tools made their way into our hands in Metroid Prime after the franchise had been largely dormant for eight years. Boss fights and explosive set pieces brought the series to epic new heights, setting the stage for future Metroid Prime games for years to come. At the time, standard first person shooters were a dime a dozen, but there was really nothing like Metroid Prime. Not only that, but twenty years later, Prime still holds up well, as proven by the Nintendo Switch release of Metroid Prime Remastered.
1. Super Metroid
Almost three decades later and after a wide variety of experimentation across various genres, perspectives, and control methods, Super Metroid still remains the greatest Metroid game of all time. In fact, Super Metroid set the bar so high that the team behind it couldn’t figure out how to top it during the entire Nintendo 64 era, so the Metroid series just took that generation off like it was a victory lap. Super Metroid still feels amazing and is still enjoyed by new players and hardcore speedrunning obsessives alike.
But why? Well, it's perfectly paced and has some of the most rewarding exploration, meticulously crafted level design, pulse pounding music, and some of the best looking pixel art of all time. Like several of its most successful Super Nintendo contemporaries, it took everything that worked in the previous NES installment and improved it, making one of the greatest and most iconic sidescrolling action games ever made. Super Metroid helped define both the future of the series and the genre as a whole. It’s a master class in game design and one that both indie and triple-A game developers have been citing as an inspiration for nearly thirty years now. It’s not only the best Metroid game, it’s one of the best video games ever made.
And there you have it, the top 10 Metroid games leading up to the launch of the highly anticipated Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. Once the new instalment releases it will join a lineup of fifteen games with Metroid in the title, all of which I made sure to give a nod to in this article, even if only ten of them made the list. So what’s your favorite Metroid game ever made? Which game do you wish made the list or got bumped higher or lower? Are you a diehard defender of Metroid: Other M or Federation Force? Did you play hundreds of hours of the Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt demo when the Nintendo DS launched like I did? Morph ball bomb into the comments below and tell me all about it.
