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"Prime" redirects here. For the game, see Metroid Prime (game).

The Metroid Prime series refers to several 3D adventure games in the Metroid series, which are played as "first-person adventures" rather than from a third-person perspective. The series is a canon, contained story^[1] set between the original Metroid (and its remake) and Metroid II: Return of Samus (and its remake).

Prime trilogy

The core series consists of three first-person games developed by Retro Studios and published by Nintendo. The storylines of the games in the Prime series ultimately center on the highly-mutagenic substance Phazon. The games included in the Prime trilogy are:

• Metroid Prime
• Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
• Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

A demo for Metroid Prime 2: Echoes was also given out exclusively by Nintendo, under the title Metroid Prime 2: Echoes Bonus Disc. It included videos, a demo of the game with a remixed room layout, and an up-to-date timeline of the games in the series.

A comic for Metroid Prime in Nintendo Power was released, as well as Metroid Prime: Episode of Aether, a Metroid Prime 2: Echoes manga.

The first two games in the Prime series were ported to the Wii and featured remapped controls for the Wii Remote and Nunchuk as part of the New Play Control! series. They are New Play Control! Metroid Prime and New Play Control! Metroid Prime 2: Echoes.

A compilation of all three titles was released in North America, Canada and Europe in 2009, the original two being enhanced with Wii controls and all of the features found in the New Play Control! releases. This title was long rumored to be in production by fans after Corruption was released. The re-release is called Metroid Prime Trilogy and includes new features such as improved graphics and motion aiming.^[2]

Following years of rumors, a remaster of the first game, titled Metroid Prime Remastered, was announced and released worldwide for Nintendo Switch on February 8, 2023. Changes from previous releases include enhanced visuals and new control schemes. Its development was handled by Retro Studios with assistance from a few other companies.

Other Prime games

In addition to the core trilogy, other games bearing the Prime name have been released. Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt, a demo game, and its final release, Metroid Prime Hunters, were developed by Nintendo Software Technology and are first person games on the Nintendo DS. Hunters is officially part of the Prime series and takes place between the first two Prime games. Another game, Metroid Prime Pinball, contains several locales and bosses from the original Metroid Prime played in a Pinball style, also for Nintendo DS.

Another entry into the Prime series, Metroid Prime: Federation Force, was revealed at E3 2015 and centers on a group of Federation Marines called the Federation Force, and is set within the Metroid Prime universe.^[3] The title was released in 2016 for the Nintendo 3DS. Previously a game called "Blast Ball" was teased in an earlier E3 showing and sparked many critics to comment on the similarity of the HUD style to the Prime series. It was later revealed in the Federation Force trailer that Blast Ball was another mode playable in the game, in which players battle in groups to shoot a large ball into the opposing team's goal.

A fourth entry in the series, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, was confirmed as in development on June 13, 2017.^[4] It will be released for the Nintendo Switch beyond 2017, and was not being developed by Retro Studios, unlike the first three. On January 25 2019, Nintendo released a three-minute video which announced that development on the game was completely restarting, with Retro Studios now taking over from the still-unconfirmed original developer.^[5] The game was finally released on December 4, 2025.

Canonicity

Yoshio Sakamoto, the producer of the 2D Metroid series, had considered making the Prime series a gaiden (side story), but felt that would be a cop-out.^[6] With Tanabe's help, he inserted its chronological placement between Metroid/Metroid: Zero Mission and Metroid II/Metroid: Samus Returns.

The series was eventually fully confirmed to be canon to the series with Metroid: Samus Returns, as Samus fights Proteus Ridley as the true final boss of the game, the latter of whom is sporting cybernetics in an allusion to his role as Meta Ridley/Omega Ridley in the Prime series.

In an interview with Revogamers in 2010, Sakamoto explicitly stated that the Prime series is part of the Metroid timeline.^[7] A 2021 interview with him reiterated this point, while emphasizing that the Prime series is a contained sub-series with a small number references to it in the traditional-style Metroid games.^[8]

Trivia

• Interestingly, each of the home console games have at least one glitch that can corrupt the player's game and force them to start over. All of these are based on leaving a specific room before completing its puzzle, and these rooms are all located in the last regular area of the respective game. The bugs were all fixed in a later revision of the game.
  • Metroid Prime - In the Elite Research room in the Phazon Mines, after defeating the Phazon Elite, the Artifact of Warrior will appear. If the player leaves the room, it will disappear.
  • Metroid Prime 2: Echoes - In the Main Research room in the Sanctuary Fortress, should Samus, for any reason, leave the room before destroying all the sonic emitters, the door will be locked permanently and she will not be able to continue unless she resets or performs a Kip Dash.
  • Metroid Prime 3: Corruption - In the Mine Lift room on the Pirate Homeworld, if Samus uses a Spinner and leaves the room before using the other one, both will be inactive and the lift cannot be dropped.
• In the video game Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate, occasionally when being notified of updates, it will transition to a map of the eponymous Blackgate Prison's current area, have the room the player is currently in flash, and then move to a new room (or area, if the new objective point is in a different area from the player's current location) and then zoom in on the new location objective and flash, similar to the objective marker in the Prime series. This similarity is reinforced in the Deluxe Edition of the same game, which uses the same map design that was used for the Prime series. This is because Armature Studios, the company that made the game, included developers that formerly worked for Retro Studios, including those who had previously worked on the Prime games such as Mark Pacini (the director for Metroid Prime 3: Corruption), Todd Keller (art director), and Jack Mathews (principal technology engineer).
  • In addition, part of the game also had the Detective Mode function in a similar manner to the Scan Visor.

Gallery

The three NTSC covers for the Metroid Prime trilogy.

Japanese covers of the mainline trilogy.

References