What Metroid games are there?
Seventeen releases in forty years: seven in the 2D line, nine under the Prime name, and Other M.
Counted by releases, not reissues: the side-scrolling line that began on a floppy disk, the first-person line Retro Studios built in Texas, and one third-person experiment between them. Compilations and remasters are listed where they belong in the Prime count.
THE 2D LINE
Side-scrolling · 1986 to 2021Metroid · 1986
Famicom Disk System, then NES. Zebes, Mother Brain, and the formula itself. About 2.73 million copies on NES.
Metroid II: Return of Samus · 1991
Game Boy. The extermination mission to SR388, the Metroid life cycle, and the baby. 1.72 million.
Super Metroid · 1994
SNES. The landmark: one planet, no instructions, a rescue that runs both ways. 1.42 million, and a permanent place on best-ever lists.
Metroid Fusion · 2002
Game Boy Advance. The X parasites, the SA-X, and a computer named Adam giving the orders. 1.39 million.
Metroid: Zero Mission · 2004
Game Boy Advance. The 1986 game rebuilt, with a stealth epilogue played out of the suit.
Metroid: Samus Returns · 2017
Nintendo 3DS. MercurySteam’s remake of Metroid II, with the melee counter.
Metroid Dread · 2021
Switch. The end of the Samus-and-Metroid saga, fifteen years in the making. 3.07 million: the series’ best seller.
Metroid Ravenous · announced
Switch 2, announced for January 28, 2027. MercurySteam again: the 2D line continues past Dread.
THE PRIME LINE
First-person · 2002 to 2025Metroid Prime · 2002
GameCube. Retro Studios, Austin. 2.84 million and a shelf of Game of the Year awards; the best seller until Dread.
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes · 2004
GameCube. Aether split in two, Dark Samus introduced, the difficulty turned up. 1.10 million.
Metroid Prime Pinball · 2005
DS. Fuse Games. Samus is the ball.
Metroid Prime Hunters · 2006
DS. Nintendo Software Technology. Six rival hunters and online play; Sylux enters the story here. 1.08 million.
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption · 2007
Wii. Motion aiming, several planets, the Phazon arc closes. 1.41 million.
Metroid Prime: Trilogy · 2009
Wii. The three Retro games in a steelbook, withdrawn from shipment in January 2010.
Metroid Prime: Federation Force · 2016
3DS. Next Level Games. Co-op missions without Samus in the lead; a commercial failure.
Metroid Prime Remastered · 2023
Switch. The 2002 game rebuilt in HD; announced and released the same day.
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond · 2025
Switch and Switch 2. Planet Viewros, Sylux, psychic powers, and a motorcycle. Past a million copies combined within its first month.
Metroid: Other M · 2010
Wii. Team Ninja and Sakamoto: third-person, story-first, and the most contested game in the series. It stands outside both lines.