Portal: Metroid
| |
| Metroid | |
| Developer | Nintendo |
| Games | List of all games |
| Debut | Metroid (1986) |
| Gallery | GH Gallery |
Metroid is a futuristic action game series that takes place in outer space. It originally consisted of a series of 2-D platforming adventures that helped to spawn a specific type of exploration-based platformer known as a "Metroidvania" game (the name also coming from Castlevania, which had a similar style). There was also a 3-D first-person subseries that started in the 2000s known as Metroid Prime. The games follow the adventures of bounty hunter Samus Aran.
Backstory[edit]
The original Metroid for the NES was produced by Gunpei Yokoi, but was largely the brainchild of the director Yoshio Sakamoto and scenario writer for the first three games, Makoto Kanoh . The first game did poorly in Japan, but became quite popular in America. The game was noticeable as being one the first games to have a password system for resuming gameplay. It also introduced Samus Aran, one of the first major female video game protagonists. Her gender was only revealed if the player beat the game fast enough to unlock an ending wherein Samus revealed what she looked like without her armor.
The second installment was released on the Game Boy five years later. Metroid II: Return of Samus expanded on the first game, despite its limited platform. The story had Samus traveling to SR388 to exterminate all the Metroids. In the game, her gunship was introduced, the Metroids received multiple stages of life, and Samus's arsenal was greatly expanded. In 1994, Super Metroid was released for the Super NES. This game expanded upon the previously explored world of Zebes and the Space Pirates while adding a variety of new abilities and gameplay features that would become staples of the series. The game was tremendously popular and acclaimed as one of the greatest games of the generation.
After this, the Metroid series went quiet for six years. There was no game developed for the Nintendo 64, but in 2000 it was announced that the fledgling company, Retro Studios, would be developing the next Metroid game on the Nintendo Gamecube. A 2-D Metroid game for the Game Boy Advance was also announced. In 2002, Metroid Prime and Metroid Fusion were both released. Whereas Fusion was a continuation of Super Metroid and carried on the 2-D platforming gameplay, Prime took place between the first two Metroid games and acted as the first 3-D game in the series while also bringing a new gameplay style with a first-person perspective into play.
The Prime subseries continued with Metroid Prime 2: Echoes in 2004, and in the same year Metroid Zero Mission was made for the Game Boy Advance as an expanded remake of the original Metroid that added gameplay elements from the later games. Two Prime spinoff games were devloped for the Nintendo DS by other companies: Metroid Prime Pinball and Metroid Prime Hunters, the latter of which added new bounty hunters and multiplayer options for the first time in the series. In 2007, Retro's original Prime trilogy was concluded with Metroid Prime 3: Corruption on the Nintendo Wii. All three games were rereleased in 2009 as Metroid Prime Trilogy, with the first two games being modified with Wii motion controls, although this compilation was suddenly pulled from shelves in 2010.
Nintendo later collaborated with Team Ninja on Metroid: Other M, a title for the Wii that was released in 2010. This game tried to combine elements of 2-D and 3-D gameplay, and it featured a story with full voice-acting which attempted to be deeper than previous entries in the series. The game received mixed critical reception, and its sales were ultimately considered disappointing by Nintendo. The series entered a long hiatus after Other M. A spin-off called Metroid Prime: Federation Force was released for the Nintendo 3DS in 2016. This game featured Federation soldiers animated in an SD style as the main characters and allowed for cooperative multiplayer. This game did not perform well in either a critical or financial sense.
Afterwards, Nintendo began collaborating with a Spanish company called MercurySteam on games that acted as a return to form for the Metroid series. This started with Metroid: Samus Returns, an enhanced remake of the Metroid II series for the Ninendo 3DS. Afterwards, they worked on a new game for the Nintendo Switch called Metroid Dread, which was released in 2021. This finally continued the Metroid storyline past Metroid Fusion and was based on ideas that Sakamoto originally started forming after Fusion was released over a decade prior.
A fourth Metroid Prime game was announced alongside Samus Returns in 2017 without a release date, and since then its status has been filled with uncertainty. It was originally being developed by a different unspecified studio (with Eurogamer claiming that it was being developed by the Japan and Singapore branches of Bandai Namco), but Nintendo was not pleased with their development. In 2019, it was announced that development had reset for Metroid Prime 4 and that it would now be developed by Retro Studios. No information has since been given about a release date, although Retro Studios has since hired talent from other gaming companies for potential key positions for the game through 2020.
Crossovers[edit]
The Metroid series has been represented in Nintendo's crossover fighting series, Super Smash Bros.. Samus has been present as a playable fighter in the first game, and from Brawl onwards, Zero Suit Samus (Samus in a blue jumpsuit rather than her armor) was introduced as an alternate playable character. After appearing as a boss character in several games, Ridley was also added as a playable character for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and Dark Samus was also added as an Echo Fighter of Samus. The series has also featured stages, items, enemies and musical tracks based on the Metroid series, as well as trophies and Assist Trophies of different characters and other elements of the series.