Ready? Let's charge up our Arm Cannons, replenish our Missiles, and head out...
Despite the undue hate it has been subjected to following release, Metroid Prime: Federation Force is a very impressive, polished and playable package. The only real grumble we had was that during online play, the lack of voice chat became maddening, and the game's built-in chat function was an inadequate substitute.
That aside, Next Level Games treated the franchise with the respect it deserves while successfully bringing co-op multiplayer to the Prime universe, albeit in a form that didn't please hardcore fans starved for 'proper' Metroid content in the mid-2010s. You don't get to play as Samus; this game is all about the unknown soldier, the average marine who signed up for military service in the Galactic Federation.
Once you've accepted what Federation Force is rather than what it isn't, it becomes a much easier game to enjoy and a thoroughly decent Metroid spin-off.
For some fans, the less said about Metroid: Other M, the better. In some quarters, Team Ninja's 2010 take on a Metroid game is regarded as a mess of 2D and 3D ideas; a game that introduced a load of flashy fluff to disguise a very linear experience, and one which feels against the 'spirit' of Metroid. The blend of 2D platforming and 3D combat didn't click with many, and neither did the single Wiimote-on-its-side control scheme.
We'd be lying if we said we didn't enjoy it, though, and even though it's a long way from the classic entries in the series (which is most of them, to be fair), we don't think Other M deserves the vitriol it often gets. It tried some things, many of which didn't work, but it certainly wasn't just 'more of the same' - we respect it for that.
Series-best box art in Japan, too.
Metroid Prime: Hunters was Nintendo's attempt to squeeze the 3D first-person Metroid Prime gameplay onto your DS, and it was a pretty good one, all told.
It takes place between the events of the first two games in the Prime series and sees Samus investigating the Alimbic Cluster to find and recover artefacts scattered throughout the solar system. Meanwhile, she's hunted by six other bounty hunters vying for her blood.
These days it feels rather limited, but on a DS in 2006, with three other players huddled around for some single-card multiplayer, this felt like a little piece of magic.
Given her handy Morph Ball ability, Samus is up there with Kirby as a Prime (see what we did there?) candidate for a pinball game.
Coming as Fuse Games' second Nintendo-themed pinball offering, 2005's Metroid Prime Pinball was as solid a spin(ball)-off as you could hope for, and dual screens of the DS felt like a great fit for the inventive Metroid-themed tables within.
It also came packaged with a 'Rumble Pak' which slotted in the GBA slot on your DS 'Phat' or DS Lite and added some subtle feedback as you pinged Samus around the table. Flippin' fun and no mistake.
While it set the template of the series and pioneered the delicate mix of exploration and gradual empowerment, the original Metroid can be tough to return to these days, even if you played it back in the day.
The audio and atmosphere it conjures remain incredible, but control refinements and quality-of-life features we're used to are largely absent from the Famicom Disk System/NES original and, as with many a NES game, going back without the right mindset and context can be jarring. Perhaps its biggest issue, though, is the existence of the fantastic Game Boy Advance remake, Metroid: Zero Mission, which is truly the best way to experience Samus' first adventure.
The original has its charms, so it's absolutely worth (re)visiting Zebes. You just need to dig deeper to find them than you once did.
Metroid II: Return of Samus expands on the NES original nicely. There's still no map for its giant world, which isn’t necessarily a problem due to this game’s linearity, although it can be an issue if you put it down for a while and don’t remember where you got to. There's a decent amount of exploration and hidden items, and the hunt to find and kill the 39 Metroids is fairly fun.
Although nowhere near as refined as the 2D masterpiece that is Super Metroid, Metroid II arguably holds up better than the original NES entry and is still worth playing. Of course, the 3DS remake is almost definitely the best way to play the first return of Samus these days, but the original still has a lo-fi charm of its own.
After 18 years of waiting, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond manages to replicate that magical sense of discovery from the GameCube original while pushing the series in some incredible new directions. Separating the main biomes with a vast open world sounds ridiculous on paper, but the slick traversal provided by Vi-O-La makes exploration more satisfying than ever.
Combine this with the stunning art direction, ferocious new boss characters, and a surprisingly endearing squad of Federation troopers, and to our mind Beyond is quite possibly the boldest, most well-realised Metroid game to date. The long wait was more than worth it. Welcome back, Samus.
The Game Boy sequel to the original Metroid on NES was remarkable back in the day, but if there was ever a perfect candidate for a remake in Nintendo’s back catalogue, that was the one. MercurySteam did a fabulous job updating Metroid II’s mechanics for the 21st century, giving a whole new audience the chance to experience an important chapter in the series’ story.
Handy additions like the map were joined with a new melee attack which introduced a delicate balance of risk versus reward, and the result was one of the best games on the system. It was no surprise that Nintendo partnered with the developer on Metroid Dread.
Introducing Wii Remote control into Retro's Prime template, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption was an excellent conclusion to the trilogy (well, until the next entry turned up 18 years later to make it a quadrilogy a tetralogy four), a series that proved Samus could not only survive the jump into 3D first-person shooting, but absolutely flourish in that genre.
Originally planned as a Wii launch title, but pushed to August 2007 (a delay? For a Metroid Prime game? Inconceivable!), Prime 3: Corruption as a separate release was subsequently rendered a tad redundant with the launch of the entire trilogy on one glorious disc, but this is still a cracking shooter on its own.
