What is Metroid's Correct Chronological Order? | CBR - CBR - Comic Book Resources

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With 11 installments in Nintendo's science fiction video game series Metroid -- not counting remakes and pinball spinoffs -- the franchise has one of the more chronologically convoluted timelines among Nintendo's iconic properties. The upcoming Metroid Dread is coming out in time to help the franchise celebrate its 35th anniversary, concluding the overarching story as Samus Aran faces the ravenous parasites menacing the Galactic Federation.

Ahead of Metroid Dread's launch, here is the proper chronological order of the Metroid game series, from the start of Samus' journey to her final showdown against the Metroids, and all the side stories in between.

Metroid/Metroid: Zero Mission

Appropriately, the original 1986 Metroid game for the Nintendo Entertainment System, along with its 2004 enhanced remake Metroid: Zero Mission for the Game Boy Advance, remains the earliest game chronologically in the franchise to date. The game follows bounty hunter Samus Aran as she traveled to the Planet Zebes to recover the parasitic Metroids from Space Pirates seeking to use them as bioweapons.

More than simply update the technical presentation and refine the gameplay, Zero Mission would expand the game's story and show more of Samus' background. One of the more notable additions to the remake was the inclusion of a segment where Samus' Power Suit was destroyed, forcing Zero Suit Samus to undergo trials to earn the formidable Chozo Suit by the game's end.

Metroid Prime

2002's Metroid Prime, for the GameCube, was a groundbreaking shift for the franchise, moving from the 2D, side-scrolling perspective the franchise had since its beginning and taking the action and exploration to a first-person perspective. The entire Metroid Prime trilogy is set in between the original Metroid and its 1991 sequel Metroid II: Return of Samus though some sources initially placed the game after the events of 1994's Super Metroid until later installments and Nintendo's official chronology placed it much earlier.

Metroid Prime Hunters

Set in between the first and second Metroid Prime games, 2006's Metroid Prime Hunters for the Nintendo DS saw Samus investigate a telepathic signal emanating from the Alimbic Cluster. Along the way, Samus encounters a group of rival bounty hunters, competing amongst themselves to attain the purported secret weapon or destroy it before it falls into the wrong hands. While set in the middle of the Metroid Prime trilogy, developer NST observed that Hunters was more of a side story that didn't directly impact the main trilogy's tale.

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes

After investigating the strange, meteoric substance Phazon, Samus' interstellar conflict with the sinister Dark Samus continued in 2004's Metroid Prime 2: Echoes for the GameCube. Echoes had Samus travel between her world and the alternate dimension Aether, battling Space Pirates and the Luminoth, invading from Aether, along the way as Samus learned more about Phazon.

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

The Metroid Prime trilogy, and its epic feud Samus and Dark Samus and their respective connection to Phazon, came to a conclusion with 2007's Metroid Prime 3: Corruption for the Nintendo Wii. Enduring the corrosive effects of Dark Samus' Phazon-based attacks, Samus has her final showdown with her doppelgänger and army of indoctrinated Space Pirates while searching for a way to cure herself of the Phazon's corruption.

Metroid Prime: Federation Force

The last brand-new Metroid game released ahead of Metroid Dread is 2016's Metroid Prime: Federation Force for the Nintendo 3DS. Set after the Metroid Prime trilogy, Federation Force doesn't follow Samus at all but rather a set of soldiers working for the Galactic Federation who track down Space Pirates attempting to rebuild their criminal empire after being freed from Dark Samus' mind control.

Metroid II: Return of Samus/Samus Returns

The direct sequel to the 1986 original game, 1991's Metroid II was retroactively made to be set much later in the franchise's storyline after the entire Metroid Prime trilogy. After research teams sent to investigate the Metroids' home planet of SR388 disappear without a trace, the Galactic Federation dispatches Samus to learn what went wrong. There, Samus discovers and battles Queen Metroid after which an infant Metroid hatches and imprints on Samus as its mother.

Metroid II received an enhanced remake for the 3DS in 2017, titled Metroid: Samus Returns. In addition to updating the technical presentation by over 25 years to take full advantage of the 3DS hardware capabilities and refine its gameplay, Samus Returns reveals what became of the Chozo race and its own Metroid-fueled downfall.

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Super Metroid

Widely hailed as the greatest game in the entire franchise, 1994's Super Metroid for the SNES takes place shortly after Metroid II, with Samus still accompanied by the infant Metroid who sees her as its mother. Taking on Mother Brain for the fate of the Zebes System, Super Metroid ends with the Metroid larva playing a pivotal, if sacrificial, role in saving the day.

Metroid: Other M

One of the more divisive entries in the franchise, 2010's Metroid: Other M for Wii opens with Samus still visibly haunted by the infant Metroid sacrificing its life for her in the final battle against Mother Brain. Throughout the game, Samus must investigate an abandoned space station with her former commanding officer, Adam Malkovich, as she learns more about the Metroids and Space Pirate leader Ridley.

Metroid Fusion

For nearly 20 years, the game furthest along in Metroid's narrative chronology was 2002's Metroid Fusion for the GBA. As Samus oversees the Galactic Federation of the Metroid home planet SR388, she is infected by a strange parasite that leads to changes to her biochemistry and abilities ahead of a showdown against the Omega Metroid while she faces another doppelgänger in the formidable SA-X.

Metroid Dread

While Nintendo has kept details about this year's Metroid Dread for Nintendo Switch under wraps, the game is reportedly set after the events of Metroid Fusion and is set to definitively conclude Samus' longstanding with the Metroids by the game's end. After Galactic Federation robots vanish hunting the X parasites, Samus is dispatched, setting the stage for an epic showdown.

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Sam Stone is a 10th level pop culture guru living just outside of Washington, DC who knows an unreasonable amount about The Beatles. You can follow him on Twitter @samstoneshow and ask him about Nintendo, pop punk, and Star Trek.