10 Industry-Defining Video Games That Are Nowhere To Be Seen

The Metroid series is one half of the two pioneers of the "Metroidvania" genre, and having something named after you is usually a pretty good indication of quality. The protagonist, Samus, is an iconic character in gaming history, and the revelation of her female gender under that suit remains one of the most shocking moments in gaming. As such, she has seen crossover into other titles, most notably Super Smash Bros.

At its most basic, this series is about exploration; finding power-ups, a certain part of the level said power-up allows access to, and then a smattering of bosses. Incarnations of Metroid games have progressed from side-scrolling to being first-person, although the core exploration mechanic always remained.

Unlike Castlevania though, there have been considerably fewer titles released. Whilst the older Game Boy era games are fondly remembered, and the Metroid Prime trilogy for GameCube are some of the best on the console, the most recent instalment (Other M in 2010) gathered a far more mixed response. Although the core gameplay which made it so successful was still present, fans took issue with Samus' characterisation, restrictions on power-ups and the odd controlling mechanism which required moving in 3D space with a D-pad. 

In spite of this, there are still many fans who would love a sequel, and Nintendo have never exactly been shy about revisiting their franchises, have they?