Metroid Prime

Metroid Prime
Samus Aran, the main character in Metroid Prime, is in a in a big, futuristic-looking powered suit with a helmet. There is a firearm on the right arm and large, bulky, and rounded shoulders, stands on an industrial-like corridor. Atop the image is the Nintendo GameCube logo, and the text "Only for" in the upper left corner. In the bottom of the image, the title "Metroid Prime" in front of an insignia with a stylized "S", the Official Nintendo Seal of Quality, Nintendo's logo, and ESRB's rating of "T".
North American and PAL region box art
Developer(s)Retro Studios
Publisher(s)Nintendo
Director(s)Mark Pacini
Producer(s)
Programmer(s)Mark Johnston
Artist(s)
  • Todd Keller
Composer(s)
SeriesMetroid
Platform(s)
Release
November 18, 2002
  • GameCube
    • NA: November 18, 2002
    • JP: February 28, 2003
    • EU: March 21, 2003
    • AU: April 3, 2003
  • Wii
    • JP: February 19, 2009
Genre(s)Action-adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

Metroid Prime is a 2002 action-adventure game developed by Retro Studios and published by Nintendo for the GameCube. Metroid Prime is the fifth main Metroid game and the first to use 3D computer graphics and a first-person perspective. It was released in North America in November 2002, and in Japan and Europe the following year. Along with the Game Boy Advance game Metroid Fusion, Prime marked the return of the Metroid series after an eight-year hiatus following Super Metroid (1994).

Metroid Prime takes place between the original Metroid and Metroid II: Return of Samus.[1][2] Players control the bounty hunter Samus Aran as she battles the Space Pirates and their biological experiments on the planet Tallon IV. Metroid Prime was a collaboration between Retro in Austin, Texas, and Japanese Nintendo employees, including producers Shigeru Miyamoto and Kensuke Tanabe. Miyamoto suggested the project after visiting Retro's headquarters in 2000. Since exploration takes precedence over combat, Nintendo described the game as a "first-person adventure" rather than a first-person shooter.[3]

Metroid Prime sold more than 2.8 million copies worldwide. It won a number of Game of the Year awards and is regarded by many as one of the greatest video games ever made, remaining one of the highest-rated games on Metacritic.[4]

Metroid Prime was followed by Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (2004) and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (2007), with Metroid Prime 4: Beyond scheduled for 2025. In 2009, an enhanced version of Metroid Prime was released for the Wii in Japan and as part of the Metroid Prime: Trilogy compilation internationally. A remastered version was released on the Nintendo Switch in 2023.

  1. ^ "History". Metroid Zero Mission Official Site (Japanese version). Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved October 1, 2007.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference time was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ IGN Staff (February 23, 2001). "Metroid a First Person Adventure?". IGN. Archived from the original on November 2, 2012. Retrieved July 25, 2011.
  4. ^ "Metroid Prime reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on November 21, 2010. Retrieved September 8, 2006.