10 Thoroughly Mistreated Video Game Franchises

Metroid is one of Nintendo's biggest franchises, but it doesn't get treated like it.

Sure, we finally got Metroid Dread in 2021, but the series has gone through a lot of ups and downs. While most games are critically acclaimed, so few come out that a lot of people just kind of forget about the series until that next release.

Being a Metroid fan is frustrating beyond belief. You have the fantastic 2D games and the Prime series that reinvented what Metroid could be, and then you have Other M which had some weird design choices and a story that was the definition of character assassination for poor Samus.

Want a new Prime game? Too bad, have a spin-off with Metroid Prime on it that actually has nothing to do with Samus and doesn't have the gameplay of the original. Want a new 2D game? Have some remakes while they spend two decades trying to make Dread. Still want Metroid Prime 4? Well, they restarted development, you'll have to wait even longer.

It's a series that should be bigger than it is, but with some baffling decisions, the series has been held back from its full potential.