Editing Samus (section)

==Games in Which Samus Stars==
* The original NES ''Metroid'', released in '86. This game was one of the first nonlinear platformers, and was incredibly influential, kicking off an entire subgenre. Sadly, it hasn't aged well; the large game world has no in-game map, and this is a real problem because the level design ''sucks''. Long vertical shafts you need to explore look the same as long vertical dead-ends, and other dead-ends are actually covered by invisible walls or indistinguishable destructible blocks. The American version has no save function, instead you use a twenty-four-character password.
** In '03, it received a GBA re-imagining called ''Metroid: Zero Mission'' that implemented elements from later titles of the series. Basically ''Metroid 1'' in ''Fusion's'' engine with the sequence breaking of ''Super'', and therefore way better.
* ''Metroid II: Return of Samus'', for the original grey-brick Game Boy. This one is sort of a black sheep in the franchise and isn't normally thought too highly of, but it has its fans. The AM2R remake has been extremely well received and is frankly a joy to play.
** Was given two remakes. The first was the fanmade ''Another Metroid 2 Remake'' (AM2R) which is amazing in every way. Too bad Nintendo brought the hammer down a day or two after it was released, but its on the internet now, ha ha ha. Got an ''official'' remake not long after in the form of ''Metroid: Samus Returns'' (below) for the 3DS, which probably explains why Nintendo came down so hard on AM2R.
* ''Super Metroid'', released in '94. This one is easily the best and most influential of the bunch. The reasons why it's awesome are too long to list here, so let's just say it's [[Awesome|really fucking badass]] and leave it at that. It's notable for formally introducing the notion of "sequence breaking", where the ostensibly linear game is only made so through the implementation of obstacles that can, with practice, be surmounted prematurely. This is very much by design; the game even features tutorials to teach you some basic sequence breaking techniques (the wall jump and the super jump/shinespark), neither of which is required to complete the game.
* ''Metroid Fusion'', released in '02. This one is a lot [[Tl;dr|wordier]] than previous games, [[Railroading|and also a lot more linear]], sort of running in the face of the "free-form exploration platformer" design principles the series had demonstrated up to that point. [[Skub|This, naturally, caused flame wars]], though it speaks volumes for the series as a whole that you can ''still'' get genuinely lost while searching for hidden powerups. It was the latest chronologically in the timeline for 19 fucking years until Dread was finally brought out of development hell. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXqyCamxx-Q| A very good game, all said an done, look at it.]],
* [[Monty Python|And now for something completely different]]: ''Metroid Prime'' and its sequels. These games keep the exploration premise, but change the skin from that of an action platformer to a first-person-shooter. These were actually made by American developers, which makes sense, given Japan's general distaste for the camera angle - and Metroid was never particularly popular in Japan anyway, which is why Nintendo was more willing to let someone else handle it, which is something they very rarely do with their big franchises. They were generally pretty well-liked in the West, but not so much in Japan. While nowhere near as linear as Fusion, the Prime Trilogy is quite a bit stricter than most Metroid games in terms of exploration. The devs even removed exploits in updated versions to remove sequence breaking opportunities. One thing that is inarguable is that the Metroid Prime trilogy has some of the best music ever composed for video games. The soundtrack is incredibly unique, with very little else like it in video game history, and is one of the only soundtracks that can pull off unironic/100% serious Theremin usage and make it sound amazing. Rock/Metal, Industrial, Electronica, Chiptunes, and Orchestral music are everywhere in games, but the trilogy's soundtrack not only stands out with uniqueness, it's just really beautiful and its great for setting the atmosphere for your games.
** ''Metroid Prime 1'': Plays a lot like ''Super Metroid'' in 3D, right down to having the intro be on a spaceship that explodes followed by running around Pirate-infested Chozo ruins. Introduces Phazon, a living poison that mutates people, and the titular Prime Metroid is the final boss.
** ''Metroid Prime 2'': Samus investigates distress signals from the planet Aether. Immediately her ship gets hit by magic lightning, and she's attacked by [[Daemon|extradimensional invaders looking to use her body as a flesh suit to invade realspace.]] Turns out Aether got split into two dimensions by Phazon, and the two halves are at war, each side [[Warp|draining the energy from the other, obeying different laws of physics, and utterly inhospitable to creatures from the other]]. The light side (realspace) has been [[Grimdark|losing badly]], Samus representing the last hope of the moth-like Luminoth to not get their world shattered and their people viciously eaten by ravenous Ing. All the while Space Pirates are trying to test Metroids, and Dark Samus is running around just [[Troll|fucking with everyone]]. In terms of gameplay, exploration is centers around hunting down the Ing that stole all your gear in both normal Aether and all the cloned rooms in Dark Aether, where the air is toxic but safe zones can slowly regen your health.
** ''Metroid Prime 3: Corruption'': The first game where you get to see the Galactic Federation in any real detail. Phazon has been spreading everywhere, and the Feds have their hands full with Space Pirate raids. They hire four bounty hunters, Samus included, to investigate a series of Phazon-leaking Leviathan Seeds and cull the Space Pirates and their new leader Dark Samus. Naturally, Dark Samus corrupts all four of them and only Samus is able to resist the doppelganger's mind control. Gameplay starts out with you exploring small separate chunks of four different planets, some of which get more interconnected as you get more gear, and trying to balance how much health you spend on Hypermode.
** ''Metroid Prime 4'': After a long, dark content drought plagued by entries such as Federation Force, Nintendo finally unveiled the logo and announced the ongoing development of Metroid Prime: 4 at E3 2017... and virtually nothing else is known about it other than that. Originally under development by Bandai Namco, Nintendo evidently became fed up with them and completely scrubbed their progress and had Retro Studios start over from scratch in 2019. Despite the delays incurred from switching developers and COVID-19, Nintendo did confirm that development is still ongoing as of E3 2021. Should Prime 4 continue off of where Prime 3 left off, it's likely that Sylux, the dark horse bounty hunter introduced in Hunters, would play an antagonistic role against Samus. Given Tanabe's 2015 interview where he stated his intentions for a Sylux-centric story, this is a safe assumption.
** The Prime series also includes two spin offs on the DS. Metroid Prime Pinball, surprisingly for a pinball spin off, is actually very solidly made and seamlessly blends in iconic gameplay elements from the series with excellent pinballage. Metroid Prime Hunters is usually regarded as a rather solid, if short, entry into the series that was one of the first really multiplayer-friendly games on the DS. Pinball is for understandable reasons, not really canon (it is a retelling of Metroid Prime 1), while Hunters neatly stuffs itself in the in-universe two year gap between Prime 1 and 2. Hunters, like the Prime series, added quite a bit of detail to the background of the Metroid universe without explaining too much in depth, maintaining the nebulous mystery that the Metroid setting is known for. It's also unique as being the first Metroid game where characters other than Samus are playable, with the six alien Bounty Hunters introduced in the game being selectable for the Multiplayer modes.
* ''[[Fail|Metroid: Other M]]'', released in '10. [[Skub|It's best not to discuss this one]], as a combination of badly written dialogue, a simplistic yet somehow convoluted story that contradicts itself and prior entries in the series, and a decent gameplay system held back from its full potential by a flawed execution resulted in an even wordier and railroadier game than ''Fusion'' that messed with Samus's characterization and [[Rage|continues to cause flamewars on /v/ to this very day]]. In a series known for its gorgeous and memorable music, Other M also switched to an ''incredibly'' generic orchestral soundtrack. It's not poorly done, the composer did a perfectly competent job - it's just a disappointingly generic addition to the discography of the series. It's like going from excellent home or restaurant cooked meals to ready-to-eat dinners; it's technically competent but it's nothing new or interesting.
* ''Metroid Prime: Federation Force''. This "continuation" of the Prime series features no Samus, no Metroids, no proper exploration, absolutely no shared art style with super-deformed chibi characters, space soccer, a crude attempt to chase the co-op multiplayer shooter train on foot years after it left the station ''for a handheld console rather than the PC'', [[Skub|and one of the most lopsided dislike to like ratios of any video game revealed in E3]]. Five years of frustration and annoyance erupted in a spectacular fashion at its reveal... and it didn't stop there.
**[http://nintendoenthusiast.com/review/metroid-prime-federation-force-review-for-3ds/ Fed Force was confirmed for hardcore suckage] almost immediately upon release, containing stupidity such as "Master Brain", a plot that's little more than another generic "stop the death star knock off" story, 'wat'-worthy moments like [[Derp|Samus being mind controlled by the space pirates]], and slow-as-shit and dreadfully boring gunplay. The game has driven the fandom into despair and rage to degrees that only Command and Conquer fans and [[Tyranid]] players can truly understand. It's like if EA wasn't content with just one lore breaking character defiling series mechanics defying game and instead made another one with an awful art style on top of that. And unlike C&C, Metroid fans don't have mods and fan games to content themselves with as Nintendo is anal retentive to absurd degrees regarding fangames. tl;dr FedForce was a terrible idea that's going to be shat on by the entire fandom and even casuals bewildered that Nintendo would yank the fandom's chains in such a way.
* ''Metroid: Samus Returns''. Revealed in the Nintendo Treehouse portion of E3 2017, The aforementioned Return of Samus remake is 3DS only-with new 2.5 D graphics and added content it is a full reimaging of the series' least played entree. Reviews are coming out pretty positive alongside of fan option so it looks like there may be hope yet that Nintendo as more then a passing interest in the series now. Just like the Prime sub series. Samus Returns was made by a Western Studio with minimal involvement from Sakamoto. This time by a studio in Spain. Reception of the game was much better than both Other M and Federation Force. Proving fan statements that "dark" in the current Japanese entertainment environment means pandering to Otakus with Waifu-bait. While those outside of a tiny island can properly portray a bad ass women from the future. With a very small handful of exceptions. It also introduces a rogue evil faction of Chozo, making them the Dark Mechanicus to the Chozos' Adeptus Mechanicus. Whether if something comes from this remains to be seen. Since Mercury Stream also made Dread this is more or less confirmed. It is also the first time Samus's primary rival Ridley is the final boss. With three phases. Hope you like his theme because you'll be listening to all three variants for a good while.
** Official Nintendo policy and Sakamoto himself more or less deem the remakes(Samus Returns and Zero Mission) as canon over the 8-bit games. Everyone who claims the contrary is lying.
* ''Metroid Dread''. My god, after nearly 20 years the timeline advances! Nintendo pulled back the curtain on this title after briefly mentioning the continued yet clandestine development of Metroid Prime 4 at E3 2021, having been developed by the same studio that handled Metroid: Samus Returns. Its title also betrays that it's the original sequel planned for Fusion (though obviously altered from what it started out as due to the passage of time, both the series and the industry as a whole have grown and changed), released from over a decade and a half of development hell by Sakamoto getting MercurySteam to finally make it a full ass game. Set at an indeterminate time following Metroid Fusion, this entry seems to be doubling down on the survival segments Fusion had by having seven nigh-indestructible Federation robots named E.M.M.I.s relentlessly pursue Samus as she explores the environment. An E.M.M.I is completely impervious to all of Samus's weaponry and can instantly kill her if it manages to catch her, unless she manages one of the two borderline-unhittable counters to break their hold; to take them down, Samus has to find the Control AI (a kind of discount Mother Brain) and kill it, which temporarily powers up her arm cannon into the Omega Cannon. Metroid Dread is stated to be the last game of the story arc between Samus and the Metroids, chronologically at least. Samus investigates a planet suffering an outbreak of the X-Parasites which leads her to battle with an evil Chozo named Raven Beak who betrayed the other Chozo who created the Metroids, wanting to use them as weapons to conquer the galaxy/universe (making him first in the long line of people who wanted to do so). The Metroid DNA infused with Samus means she is in fact the last Metroid. Most shocking of all is that Samus actually talks in one scene in this game.

:Later updates added a one-hit death mode so you can have [[Rage|fun times]] (or have your no-hit run enforced by the game), among other things. The smallest, most pathetic of enemies become just as deadly as an E.M.M.I. bot in this mode, so spatial awareness is a must. Around the same time as this was added the game defied the odds and won something at the notoriously Western IP-biased Game Awards, meaning Dread may have singlehandedly made Nintendo pay more attention to the black sheep of its big properties.