This thread may have been made before. Heck, I may have even made it before but I’m not about to try to use the search functions of VGC. 

Anyway, with Metroid Prime 4 just weeks away I thought it would be a nice opportunity to share your history with the franchise. What was the first Metroid game you played? Do you have a preference for a particular game or style? Any special memories you have of the series, your gameplay sessions, or of watching other people play. In a nutshell, feel free to talk about the series and what it means to you. 

I learned about Samus (and had become familiar with the “S” icon in the background of her character select screen) through Smash Bros Melee at the ripe age of 2yo. That’s all I knew about Metroid until Metroid Prime 4 was teased at E3 2017, when the Nintendo community seemingly exploded over the reveal, alongside Metroid: Samus Returns. From that point onward, I was very curious about the franchise, but never had the chance to play since I only ever wanted to play on Switch until 2019.

Come 2021, Metroid Dread is revealed, but I’m not very interested in video games at this point in my life. So, it wasn’t until Metroid Prime Remastered (with its crazy shadowdrop) when I’d become exposed to the franchise. Only played it one weekend, but it was an incredible experience! Flash forward to January 2024, I finally get around to Metroid Dread, I game which I really enjoyed!! Finally, it’s 2025, and Metroid Prime 4 Beyond is inbound. Whether this’ll be my first 3D Metroid will be based on critical reception (but I’m confident it’ll be received very well).

Followed the franchise since Super, as a result followed the genre ever since.

I started with Fusion. Funny thing is I was not supposed to get it in the first place. I wanted Pokémon FireRed for my 9th birthday, but they ran out of stock at the local store... So my parents just bought the first game they saw. Oh boy, will I be forever grateful for that...

It was such a different game from what I was used to. The tension, the atmosphere, te exploration, the story... I felt in love with all of it. I couldn't put it down despite dying a lot (fuck you Yakuza and Nightmare) and the ocasional moments of light horror/tension.

In the end, it became one of my favourite games ever, one of my most replayed games (I still start new runs to this day) and it turned me into a huge Metroid fan.

The first Metroid game I played was the original on an emulator. Got lost fast. Could never navigate correctly and it was so difficult.

Tried Super Metroid later but found it to also have confusing layout (granted not nearly as confusing as the original) and I never got used to the controls particularly aiming with L and R buttons.

Played Metroid prime for a few hours. Music and atmosphere was absolutely fantastic and it looked better than anything else on the GameCube at the time. But I have never been good at the fist person view and stopped playing after awhile.

Next time I played the series was with the demo Metriod Prime Hunters First hunt, and I really liked this. Even if it was just a Demo I was engulfed and had my blood pumping going for high scores killing Metroids by taping the screen. Prefer the demo to the full game even.

Metroid Prime Hunters is the only Metroid Game I have actually played through. But I do not remember much about it. The different hunters showed up and jumped around. Mostly bought it since I liked the demo, and since I bought it I had to play it right?

Next i tried the spin of pinball game, Metroid Prime Pinball, ironically my absolute favorite game with Metroid in the title. The great music from Metroid Prime made this pinball game borrow some of the atmosphere of the Prime title, giving pinball the extra push needed for it to be great. Really like this game and still play it from time to time.

Late to the party I tried Metroid Zero Mission on GBA. I guess it is fine. But I have come to an understanding that this series might not be for me. Constantly listens to the music from the franchise and I think I would actually really enjoy Dread if I ever get to try it.

I respect Metroid. I just do not like playing it all that much.

Had an SNES as a kid, but my parents never bought Super Metroid so I didn't encounter the series until the Gamecube; this was the first console I bought with my own money, so the first thing I did was look up "best Gamecube games" to see what to buy, and Prime topped most lists.

I knew nothing about the series, so I kinda expected it to be like Halo, and when instead I found a slow, methodical game of navigation and problem solving, I didn't like it much.

Years later, after becoming a more experienced gamer, I went back and revisited it, and going in with different expectations I was hooked and loved it.

After that I picked up Prime 2 and 3 which I also loved, Other M which I hated, then most recently Dread which I had a blast with.

Can't wait for Prime 4, I've been looking forward to it since 2007.

My first Metroid game was Metroid on the NES. I never owned it (you think games are expensive now?) and the password system was quite the pain, even then. So mostly you tried to beat the game in a single sitting. The music, the atmosphere, the amount of information you had to keep in your brain as you navigated this massive maze, was unlike anything I had ever played. The only thing that got close was maybe Pitfall 2, but this was that on steroids.

Next up was Super Metroid, which I found with a buddy the Summer of ‘94 at a video store. I didn’t even know it was coming out. We played all night and beat the game in 16 hours. What a rush. Then when I went to college my roommate had the game and that’s when I began my quest for 100% and ended up becoming (as we all did then) kind of a speed runner before we even knew what that was. You know, so Samus would take off the suit. Haha.

I didn’t buy an N64 because the rep at the mall informed me that no Metroid 64 was in the works so I headed over to Sony land for that gen and had no regrets. I stayed there throughout the PS2’s life until Metroid Prime was released. I bought a GameCube for that one game and if that’s all I ended up liking on the system it would have been worth it.

Metroid Prime was not what I expected. I’ve never been a big FPS fan and I had the same reaction to the change of perspective that we all did for the Cel shading of Link in Wind Waker. But just like that game, a small taste of a demo would change your mind instantly.

The feeling I got playing the original Metroid Prime probably wouldn’t be replicated until the first time I played Breath of the Wild and I’m not sure I’ll ever get that exact amount of awe and wonder from a game again. Even with Metroid Prime 4 my expectations are in check for that to happen.

Metroid Other M was an interesting situation. I was at E3 when it was announced sitting in the Nokia theater with Matt Cassamassina from IGN sitting one row below me. It was absolutely my game of show for that E3 and the highlight of my entire experience. Sadly, the voice acting and item acquisition mechanic were huge letdowns but I still enjoyed my play through for the most part. I just don’t have much interest in going back.

I’ve played the handhelds with Metroid Fusion being…ok. I appreciate that it brought in a lot of younger players to the series as it held your hand throughout the game. Metroid 2 was also pretty forgettable to me (haven’t played the remake) and Zero Mission was a nice Super Metroid skinning of the original.

I haven’t played Pinball, Federation Force or much of Hunters.

Metroid Dread was amazing and (confession time) I still haven’t beaten the last boss (or what I think is the last boss). I got stuck on the boss before the last boss and had to restart and really learn the parry defense and I finally beat that one but didn’t have the energy to learn the next one. I’ll go back eventually.

At this point, though, my eyes are forward on Metroid Prime 4. I wish we had gotten rereleases of Primes 2 and 3 (there’s still time, right?) but Metroid Prime Remastered was enough to get me hyped. I’ll probably take it for one more spin before Prime 4 releases.

This is my favorite time. Those weeks before a new Metroid release where everything is unknown. After this, after we play Prime 4, there is nothing but waiting, waiting to hear word of a sequel. But for now we know…we absolutely know that we’ll be playing a new Metroid title in less than a month. Here’s to hoping it’s another gem in a long line of great games and here’s to hoping that the Switch effect is still a thing. Samus deserves some love.

I’ve got so many pivotal points with the series in my personal history. So before prime and fusion came out my dad had 1, 2, and 3. The earliest memory I have would have been between 6 and 8 playing super Metroid after he bought it from Hollywood video. Could not get any further than Brinstar as I didn’t realize there was a run button and I couldn’t get over the breakable blocks.

My next memory comes from my dad buying me Metroid Prime when I was around 9 or 10 from blockbuster when they sold used games. Another one I couldn’t get too far in as a kid.

I then got Metroid fusion along with Simpson’s hit and run shortly after one of those came out. So Metroid fusion was the first one I actually got pretty far in and completed. It’s funny because I now beat Metroid fusion every year around Christmas time now as part of a tradition.

My final core memory of my formative years of Metroid would be playing Metroid 2 on gameboy and beating it even though the battery function was funky and would save and delete whenever it felt like it. Though it was funny to me because my dad never beat that one, but I did with the funky saving lol.

Needless to say I am super excited for prime 4.

First Metroid i played - Super Metroid (SNES)
Last Metroid i played - Metroid Dread (NSwitch)

I think I was around 10yo when i played Super Metroid for the first time, I didnt know anything about the franchise, I remember my parents got the game cause I loved the cover boxart, with Samus shooting at this mutant dinosaur thing. It looked cool.

Coincidentally I think these 2 games are the best the franchise has to offer. Imma be honest here, im not big on 3D Metroid games. I wasnt a huge fan of the Prime series so im not particularly excited for this new entry, tho im willing to give it a try. Metroid Dread is what I wanna see more of this franchise, only maybe a bit longer cause I felt Dread was a bit on the shorter side.

When I was a child, Metroid 2 came out on Gameboy and then Super Metroid on SNES; I was aware of both, but neither appealed to me at all at the time. I wanted sports games and action.
On N64 in my late teens I might have been interested in Metroid, but Metroid 3D never made it out- so my first and only encounter with Samus was via Smash Bros. (but she was one of my favourite characters there).
I took the GC and Wii years off from Nintendo, but had grown more and more interested in (especially Super)Metroid, hearing so much praise for it, so when I bought the WiiU 2015, one of my first virtual console games was Super Metroid. Then Zero Mission. Liked both a lot.
Dread I bought day one, Metroid Prime Remastered week one as well.
When it comes to ambience, I think Metroid is absolute top tier. And Dread was top tier in movement and combat as well (but was a let-down in the music department, where the other titles are crazy good). However, at one time or another, I always get annoyed with the being stuck and backtracking aspect of Metroid, which does bring down the experience a little bit for me. Still, I would not want to have missed any of these four games.
For Metroid Prime 4 I am somehow not especially hyped, I'll wait for reviews before deciding whether I buy it.