Metroid was born in 1986 on Famicom Disk System, the fruit of a collaboration between Nintendo R&D1 and producer Gunpei Yokoi. The franchise immediately laid down its foundations: a solitary heroine, hostile planets to explore freely, and progression through the acquisition of powers. Samus Aran, a bounty hunter in powered armor, became one of the most iconic characters in video games - and one of the first female protagonists in the history of the medium.
The series codified, alongside Castlevania, the "Metroidvania" genre: non-linear exploration, backtracking, locked doors unlocked by new abilities. Super Metroid (1994, Super Nintendo) remains to this day the benchmark of the genre, regularly cited as one of the best games ever made. The Metroid Prime trilogy (2002-2007, GameCube/Wii) transposed the formula into a first-person FPS with resounding critical success, signed by Retro Studios.
After a long absence, Metroid Dread (2021, Switch) marked the return of classic 2D, developed by MercurySteam - a Spanish studio already at the helm of Metroid: Samus Returns (2017). Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, released in December 2025 on Switch, relaunched the Prime branch after nearly twenty years of absence, even though its critical reception proved mixed.
Games in the Metroid franchise