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Discussion Simple question: what is the best Metroid game? Why?

What is your favorite Metroid game?

  • Metroid

  • Metroid II: Return of Samus

  • Super Metroid

  • Metroid Prime

  • Metroid Fusion

  • Metroid Prime 2: Echoes

  • Metroid Prime Hunters

  • Metroid Zero Mission

  • Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

  • Metroid: Other M

  • Metroid Prime Federation Force

  • Metroid: Samus Returns

  • Metroid Dread

Results are only viewable after voting.
I'm gonna toss my hat into the ring with two uncontroversial takes and a crazy one.

Best? Dread. It really benefits in most areas from the years of development and industry evolution it has on the other 2D titles, and excels at the action side of Metroid.

Movement is the best it's ever been, and the EMMI are a great take on survival. Exploration isn't the strongest due to the frequent backtrack progression, but not as hampered as I initially feared. Atmosphere takes the biggest hit, but the deep background visuals make up for the weak music. Thematically it's kinda messy, but awesome enough that I'm not as bothered by that as I might normally be.

Combat's also really strong from an objective standpoint, but at least to my tastes I kinda wish it was less of a focus; most of the bosses are good or even great, but the final boss is not. I have two save files at 100% item completion, but still not completed, because of that guy. But on the whole, it's just a really really well-put-together package.

Personal favorite? Echoes. I love Prime, Prime was my first Metroid, but aside from a few areas of backslide, Echoes feels like it takes that foundation and runs with it. I also just love how much it's willing to stray away from the series' established concepts to introduce new ideas, something I think the series is badly in need of more of.

Fantastic atmosphere, great exploration (I particularly appreciate how each areas' layouts feel different to traverse), and a great survival mechanic in the dark world. Combat and bosses are much stronger than the first Prime, while still not being a primary focus, which is ideal for my specific tastes. (Though the Spider Guardian is just. Pain.) 3D Metroid movement is of course very slow-paced and tanky compared to the 2D titles, but playing on Wii Trilogy made it feel better to me, and I generally favor the Prime games' more deliberate pacing anyway. Thematically strong in the light/dark duality, but also kinda shallow with it, I really wish that element had been taken further than just the aesthetics. Its biggest weakness is the overall experience being extremely uneven (at least by Retro's high standards) and has some frustrating valleys amidst the high peaks. But I still love it all the same.

But here's where I might lose some people.

Greatest? I cast my vote in the poll for Metroid II: Return Of Samus. It's a messy, early overall package, but one that I think isn't given its full dues. Movement is a huge step up from NEStroid, but combat is weak and simple. Survival is tough but not unfair, and gimmick-free. Exploration is kinda limited by the linear sequenced world progression, but each area in that sequence is a mini-metroidvania unto itself.

But atmosphere? Unparalleled. IMO even Super doesn't do it as well, having to make concessions with gamey, fourth-wall-breaking stuff like symbol blocks. In Metroid II, so so much of the game's design is geared toward a deep, dark, and oppressive atmosphere, not just working around but using the limitations of the hardware in service of this goal. Both of the remakes fail to capture this, partially by trying to solve problems that this game turned into features. And similarly and most importantly, this is one of the thematically strongest entries, with Fusion as the only close rival. I hope I don't need to tell you why. These two factors are what makes it the greatest in my eyes.

It's also just plain the most important to the trajectory of the entire series; there's a reason all the Prime games are set before this. More than any other entry, (Super included), I think that if you erased Metroid II and replaced it with something else, Metroid would become a completely different series, unrecognizable thematically and in almost every other way from how we know it today.
 
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There are things Super Metroid does so well being one of the first games of its kind that it almost feels unfair to call it the best. I think in reality, it’s tied with Dread. But I put Dread above it for how well it controls.
 
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Here's my top 5:

Dread > Zero Mission > Super > Prime > Fusion

I respect the hell out of what Super Metroid did for the series and gaming as a whole. But there are aspects of the game now that show their age. The GBA titles (Fusion and Zero Mission) really made Samus much more fun to control, and Dread brought that to its peak. I think Fusion fell just a bit short of Super just because of the game's linearity and mission structure. But Zero Mission and Dread both executed on Super's concepts much better.

Prime is a good time but I'm someone who prefers the 2D titles much more. The transition to 3D just lost any sense of agility and makes back tracking a complete pain. In 2D Metroid as you gain more abilities you can use them to really master the game's level design which makes speed running and returning to old areas so fun. With Prime you never feel that much more speedy than when you started the game. So it makes sense Prime rewards item collection instead of finishing the game fast.
 
Super > Zero Mission >= Dread (I haven't played it as many times as the others) > Fusion > Samus Returns > Return of Samus > Metroid

It's still Super. Unrivaled map design in not just the series but the genre, elegant sequence breaking, the only great 2D Metroid soundtrack since the original, fairly timeless art, complex and woefully misunderstood movement mechanics. No victory lap for items, no aggressive railroading, no intrusive stealth sequences. The game that defined and continues to define Metroid and which all others fail to live up to.

Zero Mission is like a distilled Super Metroid that's kind of bad for you and also includes some shitty additives. It's got an interesting place in the series as both the beginner game and the expert game.

Dread is a pretty strong modernization. Music aside, the only thing I can really criticize it for is that the controls are overly complex and hard to learn even as someone who's been playing Metroid for many years. I mean, it's still not Super Metroid and it's still weighed down by the stealth, but they made a proper completely original Metroid game the likes of which hasn't really been seen since Super.

Fusion is a shallower game than most of the others, but it set the trajectory for future entries for better or for worse and I respect what it was doing thematically as a sequel to Super Metroid. Really engaging level design is what's made it age well I think.

I don't like the Prime games as much, but if I had to rank them it'd probably be below Fusion and above Samus Returns. Corruption is notably worse than the other two, I'd like to put Echoes first but realistically Torvus Bog and Sanctuary Fortress can't carry the entire rest of the game to victory.

Samus Returns is the most mediocre and forgettable take on Metroid. There's not much value to this one except to see how much Dread improved on its foundation or morbid curiosity of you like one of the other versions of Metroid II and want to see how little this resembles it.

Metroid II is actually still sort of playable today if you understand how the map and gameplay loop work from playing AM2R (which would probably be top 3 if I were counting it here). I might actually say the GB version was better than Samus Returns if it didn't control like shit, space jump in particular.

The original game is bad.
 
super if you put a gun to my face but really its dread, prime remastered, and super in no particular order
 
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It's 2, Return of Samus. It's "alien", ambiguous, encapsulating of the vibe of being on a hostile alien planet. Prime 1 almost recaptured that feeling but not quite; it opens up a little bit too slowly to feel like you've really made progress until you hit phendra, then you've almost got everything necessary to feel powerful and the later beams and visors just kinda supplement a small variety of enemies.

2 is special in that way, at least to me. It really feels like the only true Metroid since the og in that sense. And it's not a top tier platformer OR metroidvania -- it just feels good to play as an alien bounty hunter. The map, even in the remake, is kind of a mess. The hit boxes are all over, and the perspective is kinda weird for a gb game. But damn if it isn't "Metroid".

I could pick apart all of the other 2D games that came after but why bother. There's a reason it got a much needed remake and Zelda 2 still doesn't.
 
The only one I played through was Super Metroid, on the Switch Online app. I liked it a lot.
 
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I'd say the GBA pair of games are the peak.

Zero Mission is the one Metroid game that was made with low% and speedrunning in mind and it feels so good to pull off or find the hidden map skips in that game. Fusion meanwhile sacrifices non-linearity for a really solid story and probably the best boss design in the franchise. The pixel art is also absolutely gorgeous in both games and sets the tone perfectly. Emulates quite nicely without a filter too, the GBAs oversaturated sprites aren't that bad compared to some other games. Both games also have the best controlling physics; Super and prior had very clunky controls, Samus didn't "feel" very flexible to move around even with upgrades.

By contrast, the GBA games smooth over that problem a lot and Samus feels buttery smooth to control.

The MercurySteam ones are... fine. Samus Returns is overly samey and after a while it runs into problems with how it expects you to hold the 3DS to make use of Samus' abilities. It also had an overreliance on the melee counter because of that.

Dread heavily ramps up the difficulty, but I found the various zones rather uninspired. EMMI were fun but quickly wore out their welcome since they weren't nearly as tension building as the SA-X once you got a few abilities. Some of the bosses are also massive HP sponges in the late game and the final boss, while really fun, is the biggest example of that problem. Dreads late-game combat also goes in a direction I'm really not a fan of - storm missiles are basically your only way to deal damage to the later game bosses. Unlike the other games, where holding charge shots becomes the best damage option, it creates this pretty annoying friction where you have to hold a button to activate your missiles and then hold another to charge them. It's a lot more frustrating.

Leaving out the Prime games here because they are very different from regular Metroid.
 
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Perfectly balanced, as all things should be.
 
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Red Monster said:
How can you say something so controversial and yet so brave?

You’re 100% correct with your order, no notes.
Click to expand...
I wasn't even thinking about it but I guess putting Super last is pretty controversial. I appreciate what Super did for the franchise but for me it suffers from being the least linear and it's controls haven't aged well. I understand why people like it though, I just don't prefer it for the same reasons others do prefer it. None of the Metroid games I've played are bad, but I much prefer the linearity of Dread and Fusion compared to everything else.

Dread was a really incredible experience for me as my first Metroidvania, so it's special in that way. I wouldn't quite say it's underrated considering its reception was really positive, but I think it's a top 5 Nintendo game.
 
I have to be controversial and give my vote to Other M, because that was the first Metroid game to actually interest me and get me into the series, before I started playing virtually every new release from Nintendo. Without Other M, I may not have gotten into Metroid until Dread, or maybe Federation Force. And I still really like the game, despite its reputation. I also thought the clever use of a single Wii Remote and switching orientations to go into first-person view was brilliant. I really wish we could get another story focused, 2.5D Metroid game like it someday, because as much as I now like the other Metroid games I’ve played since, nothing really hits the same as Other M did for me.
 
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Tier 1
  • Super Metroid
  • Metroid Prime
  • Zero Mission
  • Dread

Tier 2
  • Prime 2
  • Prime 3
  • Samus Returns
  • Pinball
Tier 3
  • Fusion
  • Federation Force
  • Metroid
  • Return of Samus
  • Hunters
  • Other M
Despite being Tier 3, Metroid 1 and 2 deserve a lot of respect, given their time of release.
 
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Red Monster said:
How can you say something so controversial and yet so brave?

You’re 100% correct with your order, no notes.
Click to expand...
Metroid as a whole is a big issue where everyone says super is amazing so they paly super and nothing else than they say super is the best.

Serisoly every other game gives it a good run for its money.

It’s a great series in general but super was the one to attain the cult classic status.


Every game super onwards until other M is a masterpiece that are very close in terms of quality.
 
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Yeah, very much so. I respect Super for what it did, but the idea that that's the be-all end-all for Metroid, and everything else is downhill from there, just seems incredibly bleak and reductive to me. It's a good game, but it's not the only good game, and I like that the series isn't trying to just be it again.
 
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