While Nintendo is known for its family-friendly franchises like Mario, Kirby, and Zelda, the Metroid series stands out for its darker tone. This series, starting on the NES and spanning across various Nintendo consoles, introduced the popular Metroidvania genre. Emphasizing exploration and acquiring new abilities, Metroid has a dedicated fan base, even though it’s not a flagship series for Nintendo.
Unlike many Nintendo games, Metroid places a significant emphasis on its storyline. The later games, especially in the Prime series, delve deeper into storytelling.
With a history dating back to the ’80s, spanning multiple platforms, and featuring non-linear continuity between entries, Metroid’s timeline can be complex to follow. To help fans understand the full story of Samus, here is the complete Metroid series in both release date and chronological order.
All Metroid games in release order
New Metroid games are released with considerable gaps between them, with some older games being remade along the way. Here is a list of all Metroid games released to date.
- Metroid (1986)
- Metroid 2: Return of Samus (1991)
- Super Metroid (1994)
- Metroid Fusion (2002)
- Metroid Prime (2002)
- Metroid: Zero Mission (2004)
- Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (2004)
- Metroid Prime Pinball (2005)
- Metroid Prime Hunters (2006)
- Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (2007)
- Metroid: Other M (2010)
- Metroid Prime: Federation Force (2016)
- Metroid: Samus Returns (2017)
- Metroid Dread (2021)
- Metroid Prime Remastered (2023)
All Metroid games in chronological order
Metroid quickly introduced timeline complexities and subseries that don’t follow a linear progression. Samus remains a consistent character throughout, with each game adding layers to the overall lore. Here is the complete saga of Samus in chronological order, with remakes and remasters replacing the original versions for convenience.
- Metroid Zero Mission
- Metroid Prime
- Metroid Prime: Hunters
- Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
- Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
- Metroid Prime: Federation Force
- Metroid: Samus Returns
- Super Metroid
- Metroid: Other M
- Metroid Fusion
- Metroid Dread
