Metroid
Developed by Yoshio Sakamoto and Gunpei Yokoi.
The core elements of Metroid include:
Exploration with a focus on guided non-linearity and utility-gated exploration and progression.
Additional gameplay mechanics include FPS mechanics.
The Metroid series can be categorized as:
Metroid (2D)
Metroid Prime
Metroid Prime
A series of 3D Metroid games developed by Retro Studies that utilizes FPS mechanics.
Games
Metroid Prime
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
Metroid Prime (2002)
Samus Aran intercepts a distress signal from the Space Pirate frigate Orpheon, whose crew have been slaughtered by the Pirates' own genetically modified, experimental subjects, using a mysterious radioactive substance called Phazon. At the ship's core, she battles with the Parasite Queen, a giant version of the tiny parasites aboard the ship. The Parasite Queen is defeated and falls into the ship's reactor core, initiating the destruction of the ship. While Samus is escaping from the frigate, she encounters a cybernetic version of Ridley called Meta Ridley, who also escapes. During her escape, an explosion damages Samus' suit, causing some of her abilities to malfunction. Samus escapes the frigate and chases Ridley in her gunship towards the nearby planet Tallon IV.
After landing in the Tallon Overworld, Samus explores nearby areas of Tallon IV and discovers ruins of an ancient Chozo settlement. As she explores the ruins, she learns that the Chozo on the planet had been killed off by the Phazon infesting the planet, which originated from a meteor that impacted on the planet many years ago. After regaining her lost abilities in the ruins, as well as defeating a mutated plant creature that was poisoning the local water supply, Samus finds her way to the Magmoor Caverns, a series of magma-filled tunnels, which are used by the Space Pirates as a source of geothermal power. Following the tunnels, Samus travels to the Phendrana Drifts, a cold, mountainous region which is home to another ancient Chozo ruin and a Space Pirate research laboratory used to study the Metroids. After obtaining new abilities, Samus explores the wreckage of the crashed Orpheon and then infiltrates the Phazon Mines, where she learns the outcome of the Phazon experimentation project, including the Metroid Prime, a creature that had come to Tallon IV with the meteor. Advancing deeper into the mines, Samus fights her way through the Phazon-enhanced Space Pirates and obtains the Phazon Suit after defeating the monstrous Omega Pirate.
At some point, Samus discovers the Artifact Temple that the Chozo built to contain the Metroid Prime and to stop the Phazon from spreading over the planet. To gain access to the meteor's Impact Crater, Samus must collect and unite the 12 Chozo artifacts. As Samus returns to the temple with the artifacts, Meta Ridley appears and attacks her. Samus defeats Ridley and enters the Impact Crater, where she finds the Metroid Prime. After she defeats it, the Metroid Prime absorbs Samus' Phazon Suit and explodes. Samus escapes the collapsing crater and leaves Tallon IV in her ship.
Post-Credit Scene: back inside the Impact Crater, Phazon Suit arm reaches out from the Phazon puddle of Metroid Prime’s remains, and an eye opens and looks around from the back of its hand.
Metroid Prime was re-released as part of Metroid Prime: Trilogy which adds features first implemented in Metroid Prime: Corruption such as motion controls and updated graphics.
F.A.Q.
Reward for Collecting 75% to 99% of Log Book Scans: collecting 75% to 99% of log book scans results in the ending scene extending to show a close-up of Samus's unmasked face, she then enters her Gunship and departs from Tallon IV.
Reward for Collecting 100% of Log Book Scans: collecting all log book scans (100%) unlocks the Post-Credit scene after the Mission Final screen.
MP2: Echoes (2004)
Samus is called by the Galactic Federation to investigate the planet of Aether after the Federation lost contact with the Marines who had crash landed on the planet after encountering Space Pirates.
While looking for the Marines near Aether, Samus' ship is damaged by severe lightning storms from the planet. Said storms have caused electromagnetic interference that prevented the Marines from communicating with the Federation. Samus finds the troops dead and surrounded by hive creatures called Splinters. The deceased Marines suddenly rise and attack her, apparently possessed, and she fights them off. Samus then encounters her evil doppelgänger, Dark Samus, for the first time, and after a small skirmish Dark Samus jumps through a portal. Samus decides to follow her through it and ends up on Dark Aether, a vile trans-dimensional duplicate of Aether, where she is attacked by a group of dark creatures called Ing, who capture Samus and after stealing the weapons from her suit, throw her back through the portal.
Upon returning to Aether, Samus learns that the Marines were attacked and killed by Ing-possessed Splinters, and decides to enter a nearby alien temple structure to look for clues. When she reaches the structure, she meets U-Mos, the last remaining sentinel of the Luminoth, an alien race that have fought against the Ing for decades. They are now on the verge of defeat. He tells Samus that after a meteor struck Aether, the impact was so devastating, it created "Dark Aether", from which the Ing spawned. He also tells Samus that the Ing have taken virtually all of the Light of Aether, the entire collective planetary energy for Aether that keeps the planet stable, and begs her to retrieve it, for if either world gains control over all of this energy, the other will perish. To reclaim the parts of Aether's energy taken by the Ing, she makes use of an energy transfer module.
Samus goes to 3 regions—the Agon Wastes, a parched, rocky, desert wasteland region; Torvus Bog, a drenched swamp area that houses a partially submerged hydrosubstation; and the Sanctuary Fortress, a highly advanced cliffside fortress built by the Luminoth filled with corrupted robots that serves as the Ing hive in Dark Aether—to retrieve the Light of Aether and return it to the Luminoth temples. Samus fights Space Pirates, Dark Samus, and monstrous Ing guardians on her mission. After Samus retrieves 3 pieces of the Light of Aether, she collects 9 Sky Temple keys and enters the Ing's Sky Temple to facee the Emperor Ing, the strongest Ing who guards the remaining Light of Aether. Samus defeats the creature and retrieves the last remaining energy, causing Dark Aether to become critically unstable and begin to collapse; however, her path out of the temple's gateway is blocked by a horribly altered and unstable Dark Samus. After defeating her foe in the final battle, Samus is surrounded by a group of Warrior Ing desperate to save their world and their lives; she escapes to Aether through a newly revealed portal just before Dark Aether and the Ing disappear forever.
Returning to U-Mos, Samus finds that the Luminoth were in a state of hibernation but have now awakened. After a brief celebration, Samus leaves Aether in her repaired gunship.
Post-Credit Scene: Dark Samus is shown reforming herself above Aether.
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes was re-released as part of Metroid Prime: Trilogy which adds features first implemented in Metroid Prime: Corruption such as motion controls and updated graphics.
F.A.Q.
Reward for Collecting 75% to 99% of Upgrades: collecting 75% to 99% of all upgrades results in the ending scene extending to show Samus removing her Varia Suit to show her Zero Suit before boarding her gunship.
Reward for Collecting 100% of Upgrades: collecting all upgrades (100%) unlocks the Post-Credit scene after the Mission Final screen.
MP3: Corruption (2007)
6 months after Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, Fleet Admiral Castor Dane, the commander of the Galactic Federation flagship GFS Olympus, calls for a meeting with Samus Aran and 3 other bounty hunters—Rundas, Ghor, and Gandrayda. The bounty hunters receive orders to clear a virus from several organic supercomputers called "Aurora Units" (AU), located throughout the galaxy. The meeting ends abruptly when Space Pirates attack the Federation fleet. Samus and the other bounty hunters are deployed to the planet Norion, where the Space Pirates are concentrating an attack on the main Federation base. While suppressing the attack, Samus learns that a Phazon meteoroid, called a Leviathan Seed, will soon collide into Norion. Samus and the other bounty hunters attempt to activate the base's defense systems, when they are suddenly attacked by Dark Samus. With the other bounty hunters knocked out, a severely wounded Samus manages to activate the system just in time to destroy the Leviathan Seed before she falls unconscious.
A month later, Samus awakens aboard Olympus, where she learns that Dark Samus' Phazon-based attacks have corrupted her. The Federation equips her suit with a Phazon Enhancement Device (PED) that enables her to harness the Phazon energy within herself. She is informed that her fellow bounty hunters, also corrupted with Phazon and equipped with PEDs, have gone missing during their missions to investigate several planets embedded with Leviathan Seeds. Samus is first sent to the planet Bryyo and later Elysia to determine what happened to her missing comrades. She soon discovers that both planets and their inhabitants are slowly being corrupted by the Leviathan Seeds and that she must destroy the seeds to reverse this. Samus encounters heavy resistance from the Space Pirates, Phazon-corrupted monstrosities, and her fellow bounty hunters who have been corrupted by Dark Samus.
Throughout her mission, which eventually takes her to the Space Pirate homeworld, Samus slowly becomes further corrupted by Phazon. She manages to stop the Space Pirate assault with the assistance of the Federation troops. After stealing a Leviathan battleship, Samus and the Federation fleet use it to create a wormhole that leads to the planet Phaaze, the origin of all Phazon. Samus travels to the planet's core, where she finally defeats Dark Samus and then the corrupted Aurora Unit 313. As a result, Dark Samus is obliterated, and Phaaze explodes, possibly rendering all Phazon in the galaxy inert. The Federation fleet escapes Phaaze's destruction, but loses contact with Samus in the process. Samus eventually appears in her gunship, and reports that the mission is accomplished before flying off into space.
Samus returns to Elysia, where she mourns the loss of her fellow bounty hunters.
Post-Credit Scene: Samus is seen flying into hyperspace, with Sylux's spaceship following her.
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption was re-released as part of Metroid Prime: Trilogy along with Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes.
F.A.Q.
Reward for Collecting 75% to 99% of Upgrades: collecting 75% to 99% of all upgrades results in the ending scene extending to show Samus returning to Elysia, where she mourns the loss of her fellow bounty hunters.
Reward for Collecting 100% of Upgrades: collecting all upgrades (100%) unlocks the Post-Credit scene after the Mission Final screen.
Metroid (2D)
The 2D Metroid games tell one unified story starting from Metroid up to Metroid Dread while the Metroid Prime Trilogy takes place between Metroid and Metroid II.
Games
Metroid (1987)
An enhanced remake Metroid: Zero Mission was released on the GBA which adds additional items, areas, mini-bosses, difficulty levels, and a rewritten story that explores Samus’ past. An additional gameplay segment has the player control Samus without her Power Suit where she utilizes a weak pistol that briefly stuns enemies as her only weapon.
Metroid II: Return of Samus (1991)
An enhanced remake Metroid: Samus Returns was released on the 3DS and adds updated graphics, updated controls and user interface, as well as new gameplay features and areas.
Super Metroid (1994)
Metroid: Fusion (2002)
Metroid Dread (2021)