History Franchise / Metroid

--->'''[[Videogame/KidIcarus Pit]]''': So what's the story behind him and Samus?

** The original Famicom Disk System version of the first game's Escape theme and subsequent arrangements in future games don't have it, but the NES version features a slight expansion that includes [[RecurringRiff a recurring six-note melody]] from the ''VideoGame/KidIcarus'' soundtrack.

* ''Galactic Pinball'' (UsefulNotes/VirtualBoy [[DigitalPinballTable Pinball game]] wherein you could play a short ShootEmUp segment using Samus's gunship if you meet the right conditions on a stage)

* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: The major military force in the series setting is the Galactic Federation Army, with the English versions of the ''Prime'' games adding a Marine Corps. In ''Metroid Prime 2'', the ranks of the deceased Federation Troopers on Aether show the Marine Corps uses a mix of army, marine, and naval ranks. Specialist is an army-exclusive enlisted rank, ranks exclusive to Marines are Lance Corporal and Gunnery Sergeant, and the officer ranks are all naval based with Lieutenant Commander, Commander, and Captain (as in, a senior officer one rank below flag officer level; the Captain rank in a non-naval branch would be a junior officer). This confusion doesn't exist in the Japanese versions of the ''Prime'' games as the "Marine Corps" doesn't exist in them: all of the Federation's military falls under the Army.

''Metroid'' is a series of games produced by Creator/{{Nintendo}} that began in the 1980s, and is best known for being the TropeMaker for the exploratory {{Metroidvania}} genre. They star the armored BountyHunter Samus Aran, with most installments revolving around her interactions with dangerous energy leeches called Metroids and her quest to annihilate the SpacePirates that plague the galaxy and killed both her human birth parents and [[InterspeciesAdoption adoptive bird-like Chozo]] family. Creator/GunpeiYokoi (the mind behind Nintendo's early portable gaming hardware like the UsefulNotes/GameAndWatch and UsefulNotes/GameBoy) and Creator/YoshioSakamoto (who would go on to produce the ''VideoGame/WarioWare'' and ''VideoGame/RhythmHeaven'' series) are often the most credited for the franchise's creation.[[note]]To paraphrase Website/TheOtherWiki, the core creative team that birthed the series consisted of Satoru Okada (created the basic concept of the series as being the "anti-''[[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]]''"), Yoshio Sakamoto (character designer who was "forcefully asked to participate" in the creation of the first game, only to become the overseer of the franchise going forward), Makoto Kano (scenario writer), Hiroji Kiyotake (character designer), and Gunpei Yokoi (who headed the R&D1 division and thus served as the producer).[[/note]]

The original Metroid was [[VideoGameRemake remade]] for the Game Boy Advance a year later as ''[[VideoGame/MetroidZeroMission Zero Mission]]''. ''Zero Mission'' was less open ended than the original at first glance but allowed siginificant SequenceBreaking and added a new epilogue that expanded on our heroine's backstory for the first time in-game, revealing that the Space Pirate homeworld of Zebes not only used to be occupied by the Chozo, but was also where Samus spent her formative years. Meanwhile, the 3D installments would become a franchise in their own right, overseen by Kensuke Tanabe (who had previously worked on the ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' and ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' series) with varying levels of input from Sakamoto. ''Prime'' was succeeded by ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime2Echoes'' ([=GameCube=]) and ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime3Corruption'' (Platform/{{Wii}}), which continued and concluded the first game's Phazon storyline, with only a brief aside for a handheld adventure via ''VideoGame/MetroidPrimeHunters'' (UsefulNotes/NintendoDS). [[TrilogyCreep Or so it seemed]], until another spin-off game (''VideoGame/MetroidPrimeFederationForce'' for the UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS) released in 2016 to lay the foundation for ''Metroid Prime 4'', which was announced the following year. ''Prime 4'' was initially victim to a TroubledProduction, and currently has no given release window. Tropes exclusive to this sub-series [[VideoGame/MetroidPrimeTrilogy belong here]].

The ''Metroid'' franchise is somewhat unusual among Creator/{{Nintendo}}'s library for its substantial continuity, and holds the honor of being one of the first {{Platform|Game}}er franchises to showcase an explicit overarching story. Case in point, the [[VideoGame/{{Metroid1}} first game]], released in 1986 on the [[UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem NES]], deals with Samus's assault on the Space Pirate base on Zebes, where she first encounters the Metroids. After defeating the Space Pirates' leader, Mother Brain, Samus is dispatched in the (UsefulNotes/GameBoy) sequel, ''VideoGame/MetroidIIReturnOfSamus'' (1991), to hunt down and exterminate the species on their home world. The end of this game segues directly into (UsefulNotes/SuperNES) ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'' (1994), where the final larval Metroid is stolen by Space Pirates who take it to a rebuilt base on Zebes.

The series lay dormant for years afterward, skipping the UsefulNotes/{{Nintendo 64}} entirely (outside Samus being a fighter in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros''), primarily because series director Yoshio Sakamoto had [[ToughActToFollow no idea how to follow up]] ''Super Metroid'', which decades later is still regarded as one of the best games in the genre. It didn't help that the other creative force behind the series, Gunpei Yokoi, was no longer available, having left Nintendo following the debacle that was the UsefulNotes/VirtualBoy. As the lead designer of Nintendo's most notorious flop, he took responsibility for it and left the company of his own volition.[[note]]Though to be fair, he was planning to leave Nintendo regardless. The Virtual Boy just meant that he found himself doing so on a sour note.[[/note]] Tragically, he was killed in a traffic accident shortly after in 1997, robbing the game industry of one of its greatest creators.

Come the TurnOfTheMillennium, however, the ''Metroid'' series would not only make its return, but also find itself branching in two different directions. One path would continue to follow the franchise's side-scrolling roots and lean into its ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' inspirations, showcased with the release of ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion'' (UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance) in 2002. In it, the Metroid home world had become overrun by shape-shifting X parasites that the Metroids had actually been keeping in check before [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Samus drove them to extinction]]. After a life-threatening run-in with one of these parasites, Samus finds her life saved by a vaccine containing what remained of the infant Metroid from ''Super''. The resulting mission to contain the x parasites on a nearby research station resulted in the most linear but dynamic game in the series up to that point.

At the same time, Nintendo had made the controversial decision to move the series to 3D on the [[UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube GameCube]], with American Creator/RetroStudios at the helm. ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime'' emerged as an unusual [[FirstPersonShooter FPS]]-adventure title, [[AnachronicOrder set between the first and second games]]. While the shift to becoming an FPS was [[ItWillNeverCatchOn initially met with confusion and doubt from fans]], and raised concerns that Nintendo was merely trying to leverage the series to compete with Microsoft's ''VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved'' (which was shaping up to be a Big Deal, even during development), the result won fans over and received much critical acclaim, including "Game Of The Year" awards from many publications. Most of the maze like tunnel game play from ''Super Metroid'' was retained, and reviewers found new content to make up for what wasn't kept in transition.

The original Metroid was [[VideoGameRemake remade]] for the Game Boy Advance a year later as ''[[VideoGame/MetroidZeroMission Zero Mission]]''. ''Zero Mission'' was less open ended than the original at first glance but allowed siginificant SequenceBreaking and added a new epilogue that expanded on our heroine's backstory for the first time in-game, revealing that the Space Pirate homeworld of Zebes not only used to be occupied by the Chozo, but was also where Samus spent her formative years. Meanwhile, the 3D installments would become a franchise in their own right, overseen by Kensuke Tanabe (who had previously worked on the ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' and ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' series) with varying levels of input from Sakamoto. ''Prime'' was succeeded by ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime2Echoes'' ([=GameCube=]) and ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime3Corruption'' (UsefulNotes/{{Wii}}), which continued and concluded the first game's Phazon storyline, with only a brief aside for a handheld adventure via ''VideoGame/MetroidPrimeHunters'' (UsefulNotes/NintendoDS). [[TrilogyCreep Or so it seemed]], until another spin-off game (''VideoGame/MetroidPrimeFederationForce'' for the UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS) released in 2016 to lay the foundation for ''Metroid Prime 4'', which was announced the following year. ''Prime 4'' was initially victim to a TroubledProduction, and currently has no given release window. Tropes exclusive to this sub-series [[VideoGame/MetroidPrimeTrilogy belong here]].

After ''Corruption'', Sakamoto would give 3D a try himself with 2010's ''[[VideoGame/MetroidOtherM Other M]]'' (Wii), an {{Interquel}} taking place between ''Super'' and ''Fusion'' which attempted to combine gameplay elements from both the 2D games and the ''Prime'' series, and forwent the franchise's usual use of StoryBreadcrumbs in favor of a heavier focus on story and more linear progression than even ''Fusion''. It was developed by the unusual combination of what remained of the in-house team responsible for the ''Metroid'' series[[note]](after the release of ''Zero Mission'', Nintendo's R&D studios -- which included the 2D ''Metroid'' team -- had been restructured to serve a supervisory role over external projects rather than create their own)[[/note]] and Creator/KoeiTecmo's [[VideoGame/DeadOrAlive Team]] [[VideoGame/NinjaGaiden Ninja]] studio. The final product was poorly-received by fans, causing the franchise to take a brief hiatus until the release of the aforementioned ''Federation Force''. 2017 would see the mainline series return to 2D (well, now TwoAndAHalfD), with Sakamoto's team now working alongside Creator/MercurySteam for ''[[VideoGame/MetroidSamusReturns Samus Returns]]'', a remake of ''Metroid II'' for UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS. ''Samus Returns'', like ''Zero Mission'', added additional story content: this time setting up vital plot details for 2021's ''VideoGame/MetroidDread'' for the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, the long-awaited sequel to ''Fusion'' that had [[SavedFromDevelopmentHell gone in and out of production for the past two decades]]. Concluding the storyline revolving around our heroine's relationship with the eponymous creatures, the game sees Samus investigating the far-off planet ZDR for any remnants of X parasites, only to find herself attacked by a mysterious Chozo warrior and hunted down by seemingly defective Federation robots in the process.

* ''[[VideoGame/{{Metroid1}} Metroid]]'' ([[UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem NES]], 1986): The wicked Space Pirates have stolen a Metroid from Federation researchers, and it is up to Samus Aran to track them down to Planet Zebes and foil their plans to weaponize the energy-feeding organisms.
** ''VideoGame/MetroidZeroMission'' (UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance, 2004; [[VideoGameRemake remake]])
* ''VideoGame/MetroidIIReturnOfSamus'' (UsefulNotes/GameBoy, 1991): Faced with a potential disaster from the Metroids, the Federation sends Samus to their origin world of Planet [=SR388=] on a mission to curtail any threat the Metroids may pose by completely exterminating the entire species.
** ''VideoGame/MetroidSamusReturns'' (UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS, 2017; [[VideoGameRemake remake]])
* ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'' ([[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem Super NES]], 1994): One lone Metroid larva survives from [=SR388=], which Samus turns over to Federation scientists, only for the Space Pirates to abduct it and restart their plans to weaponize the Metroids on Zebes.

* ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM'' (UsefulNotes/NintendoWii, 2010): An interquel between ''Super Metroid'' and ''Fusion'', this game sees Samus join forces with old friends from her days as a Federation soldier to investigate a derelict space station, the "Bottle Ship."
* ''VideoGame/MetroidDread'' (UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, 2021): The X-Parasites, thought to be eradicated, appear to have survived on the remote planet of ZDR. Samus departs to finish off the X, while also contending with implacable killing machines known as the E.M.M.I[=s=].

* ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime'' ([[UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube GameCube]], 2002): Taking place between the first two games, Samus investigates the remote planet of Tallon IV, where the Space Pirates have set up a base in the hopes of harnessing a new -- and lethal -- energy known as Phazon.
** ''VideoGame/MetroidPrimePinball'' (UsefulNotes/NintendoDS, 2005; [[DigitalPinballTable pinball adaptation]])
** [[/index]]''Metroid Prime Remastered'' (UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, 2023; UpdatedRerelease)[[index]]

* ''VideoGame/FatalFrame'' (Features the Zero Suit as an unlockable outfit in both ''Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse'' and ''Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water'')

* ''VideoGame/KirbysDreamLand3'': (The "Iceberg 2" mission requires you to destroy several Metroids for Samus Aran)

* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' series (Features Samus, Zero Suit Samus, Ridley, and Dark Samus as playable characters, along with various other kinds of ''Metroid'' content in the form of stages, items, trophies, etc.)

* ''VideoGame/DeadOrAlive: Dimensions'' (includes a ''Metroid''-based stage location)
* ''Galactic Pinball'' (UsefulNotes/VirtualBoy [[DigitalPinballTable pinball game]] wherein you could play a short ShootEmUp segment using Samus's gunship if you meet the right conditions on a stage)
* ''VideoGame/KirbysDreamLand3'': The "Iceberg 2" mission requires you to destroy several Metroids for Samus Aran.
* ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter4 Ultimate'' (features both the Varia Suit and Zero Suit as DLC costumes)

* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' series

** And the SpacePirates are... Well, pirates. InSpace.

* FanService: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O69x87ahasA Your reward for finishing the game with 100% completion in most games.]]

* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: The major military force in the series setting is the Galactic Federation Army, with the English versions of the ''Prime'' games adding a "Marine Corps" (that doesn't really exist in Japanese; every Federation serviceman is considered part of the Army there). In ''Metroid Prime 2'', the ranks of the deceased Federation Troopers on Aether show the Marine Corps uses a mix of army, marine, and naval ranks. Specialist is an army-exclusive enlisted rank, ranks exclusive to Marines are Lance Corporal and Gunnery Sergeant, and the officer ranks are all naval based with Lieutenant Commander, Commander, and Captain (as in, a senior officer one rank below flag officer level; the Captain rank in a non-naval branch would be a junior officer).

* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: The major military force in the series setting is the Galactic Federation Army, with the English versions of the ''Prime'' games adding a "Marine Corps" (that doesn't really exist in Japanese; every Federation serviceman is considered part of the Army there). In ''Metroid Prime 2'', the ranks of the deceased Federation Troopers on Aether show the Marine Corps uses a mix of army, marine, and naval ranks. Specialist is an army-exclusive enlisted rank, ranks exclusive to Marines are Lance Corporal and Gunnery Sergeant, and the officer ranks are all naval based with Lieutenant Commander, Commander, and Captain (as in, a senior officer one rank below flag officer level; the Captain rank in an army would be a junior officer).

* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: The major military force in the series setting is the Galactic Federation Army, with the English versions of the ''Prime'' games adding a "Marine Corps" (that doesn't really exist in Japanese; every Federation serviceman is considered part of the Army there). In ''Metroid Prime 2'', the ranks of the deceased Federation Troopers on Aether show the Marine Corps uses a mix of marine and naval ranks. Ranks exclusive to Marines are Lance Corporal and Gunnery Sergeant, while ranks exclusive to the Navy are Lieutenant Commander, Commander, and Captain (as in, a senior officer one rank below flag officer level; the Captain rank in an army would be a junior officer).

* SpaceMarine: Introduced in the ''Prime'' games as the Galactic Federation Marine Corps (GFMC), while the Federation Army was first mentioned in the ''Zero Mission'' manual and properly introduced in ''Other M'' on-screen for the first time. Both are [[BadassArmy capable]], just [[OvershadowedByAwesome not as good as Samus.]]

* SpacePolice: The first armed organization formed by the Galactic Federation to deal specifically with the threat of the Space Pirates, known as the "Federation Police." Despite the name, the Police are actually closer to military police or a gendarmerie as opposed to the popular image of a civilian beat cop[[note]]interestingly, this was how [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness the first game's manual depicted the police, as a sort of space cop with a badge]][[/note]]: Both the ''Metroid II'' manual and the ''Samus Returns'' intro cutscene refer to Federation Police personnel as "soldiers," and a panel in the manga also shows them wearing military-style fatigues/camouflage while on a mission to capture a local Pirate leader. After she left the Chozo's care, Samus herself served in the Federation Police and became part of an elite squad (as shown in the ''Captain N'' comic and the manga) before she resigned to become an independent bounty hunter.

** Acid Worm in Zero Mission, Elephant Bird and Yakuza in Fusion, Torizo in Super, Arachnus in Metroid II (averted in AM2R and Samus Returns)...

** Samus is the only human to appear in the series with a name that isn't immediately recognizable in modern language(it's actually Greek in origin, the name of a 3rd century Macedonian poet). Even her parents are named "Rodney" and "Virginia" in the manga.