History Trivia / Metroid

** [[http://archive.is/Fzbrw A Metroid comic]] helmed by Franchise/ArchieComics was pitched in the early 2010s by ''[[ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog Archie Sonic]]'' artist Steven Butler, but was passed over in favor of Creator/IanFlynn's ''ComicBook/MegaMan''.

* CreatorsOddball: ''Metroid'' is much DarkerAndEdgier than many of Nintendo's other franchises, featuring bleaker aesthetics and darker themes such as genocide.

** A handful of rooms in ''Super Metroid'', such as "Noob Bridge" in Green Brinstar, and "Mount Doom" in Black Maridia.

** There's one character in ''Videogame/MetroidOtherM'' who has several for his different appearances.

** Before ''Other M'' the Baby Metroid was usually just called "the hatchling".
*** In America, anyway; in Japan, the Baby Metroid was always called just that, "the Baby Metroid".
** The Super Metroid "the hatchling" grows into is known as "Big Metroid" and "The Giant Anomaly"
* FranchiseKiller: ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM'' had put the franchise on hold from 2010 to at least 2015, due to lower-than-expected sales and the controversy surrounding it. However, there had already been a larger hiatus between entries in the series; see [[VideoGame/SuperMetroid 1994]] and [[VideoGame/MetroidFusion 20]][[VideoGame/MetroidPrime 02]]. When the series finally did get [[VideoGame/MetroidPrimeFederationForce a new entry]], it didn't star Samus Aran, possibly because they were still trying to figure out how to characterize her in a way that would be more accepted by fans. [[HesBack And then]] [[VideoGame/MetroidSamusReturns finally....]]
* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: For years, ''Metroid II'' would not see another release. [[SubvertedTrope That is]], until the Nintendo eShop for UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS came and Nintendo released it!

** The appearance of the Varia Suit in ''Metroid II'' and onwards is the result of the Game Boy's lack of color. In the original NES game the Varia Suit was denoted by a change in color of Samus' suit but since the Game Boy didn't have enough color to differentiate, the suit itself became physically different after obtained in ''Metroid II''. The larger shoulders became the trademark of the Varia from then onwards. The re-release of ''Metroid'' on the NES even uses it for the cartridge art.
** With ''Metroid 1'', the iconic Morph Ball came into being because the programmers had trouble making an animation of Samus crawling through small passageways. Thus, they made do with a much simpler animation of a rolling ball.
** ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime'', like ''Resident Evil'', hides loading times behind the doors. The doors simply won't open until the next room is loaded. During normal gameplay you usually won't notice this unless you listen to your Gamecube or Wii's disc drive suddenly spin up as you approach or shoot the door.
* StockSoundEffect: Present in both ''Super Metroid'' and ''Zero Mission''. Both games make use of a roar originally used in Universal's 1957 film ''The Land Unknown'' for the Tyrannosaurus. Kraid uses this roar in both games, while Crocomire and Phantoon share it with him in ''Super Metroid''.
** Due to CriticalResearchFailure on ''Did You Know Gaming's'' behalf, the roar shared between Crocomire, Kraid, and Phantoon in ''Super Metroid'' has been misatributed to [[{{Franchise/Godzilla}} Titanosaurus]].
** Also present in ''Super Metroid'' is [[{{Franchise/Godzilla}} Anguirus]]' roar used for both Draygon and Ridley.

** The concept of Samus being a woman wasn't used until the last minute when some of the developers thought it would be cool to surprise players that beat the game fast enough would get to see Samus' true gender.
** The Varia Suit was mistranslated from Barrier Suit, the Japanese equivalent. The American developers kept the Varia name probably because it sounded better and to keep the names consistent throughout the series, as well as potentially being short for "Variable Suit", pertaining to its abilities to handle many different types of environments from various planets.
** The title of the franchise, Metroid, was something else entirely during development of the first game. It was originally going to be called Space Hunters.
* UrbanLegendOfZelda: Many minor ones, but here are some of the most major:
** The belief that the infamous [[ClassicCheatCode Justin Bailey]] code had an actual meaning, instead of being just a random result of password calculations.
** Replica Justin Bailey codes in ''Metroid II'' and ''Super Metroid''. This eventually resulted in fan-made {{Game Mod}}s in honor of the fruitless searching.

** Kraid was going to appear in ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime'' and there was even a model ready to be used, but due to time constraints, he was cut out. Contrary to popular belief, however, he was ''not'' cut in favor of the Omega Pirate, who was conceived ''before'' Kraid was for ''Prime''.

** [[http://archive.is/Fzbrw There was almost a Metroid comic]] helmed by Franchise/ArchieComics but it didn't get greenlit

* YouKeepUsingThatWord: On a meta level, "bounty hunter"; Samus was never intended by anyone at Nintendo to actually hunt criminals. When you really break it down, she's more like a [[ComicBook/DeathsHead freelance peacekeeping agent]], in it for justice and righteousness rather than greed or paying the bills (but still has to). When Retro Studios offered to include a sidequest where Samus hunted bounties for money, Nintendo shot down the idea immediately. [[LighterAndSofter Not that this is really problematic]]; the only real friction comes from ValuesDissonance (bounty hunting is perfectly accepted in the US, legal but highly frowned upon in the Philippines, and highly illegal everywhere else). A more exact title would be "paramilitary contractor", with the closest thing to a bounty being her negotiated paycheck.

** Also present in ''Super Metroid'' is [[Franchise/Godzilla Anguirus]]' roar used for both Draygon and Ridley.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: The series has lukewarm reception in its home country, but has always received far more popularity in the US to the point that [[VideoGame/MetroidIIReturnOfSamus the first sequel]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glCZdc4yniQ was advertised in Japan]] as being a follow-up to "the outstandingly popular action game in America". Later, Nintendo would hire Western developers to create major installments, [[Creator/RetroStudios one of which]] proceeded to create [[VideoGame/MetroidPrimeTrilogy some of the most well-acclaimed games in the series]] and another that also created the aforementioned ''Castlevania: Lords of Shadow'' games. Most entries release in the U.S. before Japan to cater to this fanbase, and some of them have English voice-overs even in the Japanese releases.
*** Samus herself fits this trope. In the US, she's considered one of Nintendo's "Big Four" characters, trailing only [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]], [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Pikachu]], and [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Link]] in popularity. In Japan, she is probably behind any given ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' protagonist. This has ultimately led to a long-standing joke that main character Samus, being blonde and blue-eyed, was ''obviously'' an American character.

** Kraid was going to appear in ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime'' and there was even a model ready to be used, but due to time constraints, he was cut out.

* NoobBridge

* FranchiseKiller: ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM'' had put the franchise on hold from 2010 to at least 2015, due to lower-than-expected sales and the controversy surrounding it. However, there had already been a larger hiatus between entries in the series; see [[VideoGame/SuperMetroid 1994]] and [[VideoGame/MetroidFusion 20]][[VideoGame/MetroidPrime 02]]. When the series finally did get [[VideoGame/MetroidPrimeFederationForce a new entry]], it didn't star Samus Aran, possibly because they were still trying to figure out how to characterize her in a way that would be more accepted by fans. [[HesBack And]] [[AndTheFandomRejoiced then]] [[VideoGame/MetroidSamusReturns finally....]]

** ''VideoGame/{{Metroid Prime}}'', like ''Resident Evil'', hides loading times behind the doors. The doors simply won't open until the next room is loaded. During normal gameplay you usually won't notice this unless you listen to your Gamecube or Wii's disc drive suddenly spin up as you approach or shoot the door

* FranchiseKiller: ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM'' had put the franchise on hold from 2010 to at least 2015, due to lower-than-expected sales and the controversy surrounding it. However, there had already been a larger hiatus between entries in the series; see [[VideoGame/SuperMetroid 1994]] and [[VideoGame/MetroidFusion 20]][[VideoGame/MetroidPrime 02]]. When the series finally did get [[VideoGame/MetroidPrimeFederationForce a new entry]], it didn't star Samus Aran, possibly because they were still trying to figure out how to characterize her in a way that would be more accepted by fans.

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: For years, ''Metroid II'' would not see another release. [[SubvertedTrope That is]], until the Nintendo eShop for {{Nintendo 3DS}} came and Nintendo released it!

** [[http://archive.is/Fzbrw There was almost a Metroid comic]] helmed by {{Archie Comics}} but it didn't get greenlit

** The appearance of the Varia Suit in ''Super Metroid'' and onwards is the result of the Game Boy's lack of color. In the original NES game the Varia Suit was denoted by a change in color of Samus' suit but since the Game Boy didn't have enough color to differentiate, the suit itself became physically different after obtained in ''Metroid II''. The larger shoulders became the trademark of the Varia from then onwards. The re-release of ''Metroid'' on the NES even uses it for the cartridge art.

* YouKeepUsingThatWord: On a meta level, "bounty hunter"; Samus was never intended by anyone at Nintendo to actually hunt bounties. When you really break it down, she's a space superhero, in it for justice and righteousness rather than greed or paying the bills. When Retro Studios offered to include a sidequest where Samus hunted bounties for money, Nintendo shot down the idea immediately. [[LighterAndSofter Not that this is really problematic]]; the only real friction comes from ValuesDissonance (bounty hunting is perfectly accepted in the US, legal but highly frowned upon in the Philippines, and highly illegal everywhere else).

** [[http://archive.is/Fzbrw There was almost a Metroid comic]] helmed by {{Archie Comics]] but it didn't get greenlit

* FanNickname: a handful of rooms in ''Super Metroid'', such as "Noob Bridge" in Green Brinstar, and "Mount Doom" in Black Maridia.
** Shockness Monster/Serris in Fusion.

* SerendipityWritesThePlot: The appearance of the Varia Suit in ''Super Metroid'' and onwards is the result of the Game Boy's lack of color. In the original NES game the Varia Suit was denoted by a change in color of Samus' suit but since the Game Boy didn't have enough color to differentiate, the suit itself became physically different after obtained in ''Metroid II''. The larger shoulders became the trademark of the Varia from then onwards. The re-release of ''Metroid'' on the NES even uses it for the cartridge art.
** With Metroid 1, the iconic Morph Ball came into being because the programmers had trouble making an animation of Samus crawling through small passageways. Thus, they made do with a much simpler animation of a rolling ball.
** VideoGame/{{Metroid Prime}}, like Resident Evil, hides loading times behind the doors. The doors simply won't open until the next room is loaded. During normal gameplay you usually won't notice this unless you listen to your Gamecube or Wii's disc drive suddenly spin up as you approach or shoot the door
* ThrowItIn: The concept of Samus being a woman wasn't used until the last minute when some of the developers thought it would be cool to surprise players that beat the game fast enough would get to see Samus' true gender.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Kraid was going to appear in ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime'' and there was even a model ready to be used, but due to time constraints, he was cut out.