Metroid Retrospective

There is a holy trinity of Nintendo video game series, all three of which debuted in Japan within one year of each other: Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, and Metroid. Each one of these original games changed the video game industry forever, and for the better. And each has spawned a healthy franchise with many critically and financially successful sequels, prequels, and interquels. Today we look back at the third member of the trinity, Metroid, since today marks its 26th anniversary. Metroid was first released on August 6, 1986.

Although it debuted around the same time, Metroid has fewer games in its canon than The Legend of Zelda and Super Mario. In fact, the franchise at one point went eight years without a game, hard to imagine in today's video game industry, which is suffering from a serious case of sequelitis. The franchise has a total of 11 games, not including the compilation Metroid Prime: Trilogy. Of the 11 games, ten are related to a central storyline. This is yet another departure from Zelda and Mario, which either feature a story spanning generations or, in the case of Mario, very little story at all. In Metroid it is always the same story arc, and it is always the same heroine.

The Metroid series follows the adventures of bounty hunter Samus Aran, including her encounters with parasitic organisms called Metroids, and with her perennial enemies, the Space Pirates.

Age of Exploration

The first three games in the series: Metroid, Metroid II: Return of Samus, and Super Metroid.

Although it's arguably the weakest in the series, the first Metroid game proved to be the most influential. It masterfully combined the platform mechanics that had made Super Mario Bros. a breakout hit with the open-ended exploration and upgrade system that Nintendo used in The Legend of Zelda. Mix that with the cold, empty, and terrifying atmosphere of the movie Alien and you've got Metroid. And although Metroid didn't invent non-linear action-adventure gameplay, it certainly pushed the genre forward. Metroid was the first game to feature a password system that allowed players to save their progress, and one of the first games to make use of multiple endings, three of which reveal that the hero Samus Aran is actually -- gasp! -- a woman. The revelation that Samus was a woman is probably the greatest video game surprise of all time, but it also had an important effect on the industry. At a time when female video game characters were mostly damsels in distress, Samus destroyed the status quo, and paved the way for heroes like Jill Valentine, Lara Croft, and Jade from Beyond Good & Evil.

Metroid for the NES

Next came the first handheld Metroid game, Metroid II, which built on the foundation of its predecessor and added a few new functions, including a battery save. Although Metroid II is the second game in the series, it's actually sixth in the Metroid timeline. It takes place after Metroid Prime 3 and before Super Metroid, the masterpiece of the franchise.

Ah, Super Metroid. Like its SNES cousin, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Super Metroid didn't do anything revolutionary; it simple perfected the formula. With amazing level design, epic boss battles, superior graphics, precise controls, and an emotionally powerful story, Super Metroid has it all. It's the best game in the series, and one of the two best games on the Super Nintendo.

Prime Time

The Metroid Prime trilogy

After Super Metroid debuted in 1994, fans waited for the next installment of the franchise. And waited. And waited. The N64 came and went. And still they waited. Finally, in 2002, fans got what they wanted: not one, but two new Metroid games. One for Nintendo's newest handheld, the Game Boy Advance, and one for its newest console, the Gamecube. But wait a minute. The Gamecube title, Metroid Prime, wasn't developed exclusively by Nintendo, nor was it a third-person action-adventure game. It actually looked more like a first-person shooter. When Metroid Prime was showcased by Nintendo at E3 2001, the reaction from fans and critics was mixed at best.

Metroid shifts to a first-person point of view.

Thankfully, Nintendo and Retro Studios (the new kid on the block) stayed the course, and released a game that somehow, miraculously, managed to transition Metroid from 2D to 3D and third-person to first-person all at once. How well was Metroid Prime received, only one year after some critics and fans suggested abandoning the project altogether? It currently rests comfortably as the sixth best reviewed game of all time on GameRankings.com. Metroid Prime was followed by two sequels and a spin-off for Nintendo DS called Metroid Prime: Hunters.

Potent Portables

Along with Metroid Prime, Nintendo released a handheld Metroid game in 2002: Metroid Fusion. Developed by Nintendo Research & Development 1, the same team that worked on Super Metroid, Fusion closely resembles the first three Metroid games, although it is more linear than its predecessors. Players who own both Fusion and Prime can unlock special features, including an emulated version of the original Metroid.

Metroid Fusion, 2002

Although it received critical acclaim, Fusion was surpassed two years later by Zero Mission, a retelling of the events of Metroid. Even though it is based on the events of the inaugural game, Zero Mission plays a lot more like Super Metroid. Storytelling is also improved: the original story was rewritten to reveal more of Samus' backstory, and new cut-scenes added.

To Be Continued...

The most recent Metroid game was the underrated and over-abused Metroid: Other M, an excellent addition to the franchise that explores Samus' personality like never before. Other M was a collaborative effort between Team Ninja (Ninja Gaiden, Dead or Alive) and series' co-creator Yoshio Sakamoto. That was two years ago. What does Nintendo have in store for Metroid? So far, the video game company hasn't announced any plans to develop a Metroid game for either the 3DS or the upcoming Wii U, but I suspect one is already being developed, probably by Retro Studios.

Samus deserves an encore.