Metroid is an action-adventure game franchise created by Nintendo. The player controls the bounty hunter Samus Aran, who protects the galaxy from Space Pirate (Metroid), Space Pirates and other malevolent forces and their attempts to harness the powe ...

'' is a

video game series This is a list of video game franchises, organized alphabetically. All entries include multiple video games, not counting ports or altered re-releases. 0–9 *''1080° Snowboarding'' *''1942'' *''3D Ultra Minigolf'' *'' 3-D Ultra Pinball'' *''7 ...

published by

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...

and primarily produced by the company's

first-party developer A video game developer is a broad term for a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large ...

s, though second-party

Fuse Games Silverball Studios Limited, formerly known as Fuse Games Limited, was a British video game developer best known for developing pinball games for Nintendo. History Fuse Games Limited era The company was founded in 2002 by Adrian Barritt and Ric ...

and third-party

Team Ninja is a Japanese video game developer, and a division of Koei Tecmo, founded in 1995 as a part of Tecmo. It is founded and formerly led by Tomonobu Itagaki, later by Yosuke Hayashi, and is best known for the ''Ninja Gaiden'' action-adventure game ...

have also developed for the series. It debuted in Japan with on August 6, 1986, and was later released in North America (August 1987) and

PAL Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a colour encoding system for analogue television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...

regions (January 15, 1988). All ''Metroid'' video games have been developed exclusively for Nintendo

video game console A video game console is an electronic device that Input/output, outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can be played with a game controller. These may be home video game console, home consoles, which are generally placed i ...

s and

handhelds A mobile device (or handheld computer) is a computer small enough to hold and operate in the hand. Mobile devices typically have a flat LCD or OLED screen, a touchscreen interface, and digital or physical buttons. They may also have a physical ...

, dating from the

Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in America ...

to the current generation of video game consoles. The franchise consists of eleven video games, the latest of which was released in 2021. Comics, manga adaptations, and

soundtracks A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of ...

have also been released. The series revolves around

Samus Aran is a fictional character and the playable protagonist of the video game series ''Metroid'' by Nintendo. She was created by Japanese video game designer Makoto Kano. She was introduced as a player character in the original 1986 video game ''Me ...

, a bounty hunter who protects the galaxy from the Space Pirates and their attempts to harness the power of fictional organisms, especially the eponymous Metroids. The series' gameplay contains elements from

shooter Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, Bow and arrow, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or Blowgun, blowpipe). Even the acts of launching Flamethrower, flame, artillery, Dart (missile), darts, ha ...

, platforming, and

adventure games An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and/or puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based me ...

. It is known for its non-linear progression and solitary exploration. The 2D ''Metroid'' games are side-scrollers, and the 3D ''

Metroid Prime ''Metroid Prime'' is an action-adventure video game developed by Retro Studios and published by Nintendo for the GameCube. ''Metroid Prime'' is the fifth main installment in the '' Metroid'' franchise and the first game in the series to use 3D c ...

'' series gives the player a

first-person perspective A first-person narrative is a mode of storytelling in which a storyteller recounts events from their own point of view using the first person It may be narrated by a first-person protagonist (or other focal character), first-person re-teller ...

, while '' Other M'' is a

third-person shooter Third-person shooter (TPS) is a subgenre of 3D shooter games in which the gameplay consists primarily of shooting. It is closely related to first-person shooters, but with the player character visible on-screen during play. While 2D shoot 'em ...

with the ability to switch to first-person view. ''Metroid'' is one of Nintendo's most successful franchises, with over 17 million copies sold by September 2012. The games have received varying levels of critical acclaim.

Video games

''Metroid'' series

''Metroid Prime'' series

Soundtracks

Printed media

Comic books

Manga

Notes

References

External links

Official ''Metroid'' website

''Metroid'' comics and manga at the Metroid Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Metroid media

Media Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass el ...

Media lists by video games franchise Mass media by franchise Nintendo-related lists