Metroid: Ranking All Main Games From Worst To Best

Whilst Nintendo have given Pokémon fans a great year with both GO and Sun & Moon, 2016 was also the 30th anniversary to one of their most iconic and oldest franchises: Metroid.

Debuting on the NES, the original game introduced everyone to the space bounty hunter Samus Aran as she took on the space pirates while also protecting the galaxy.

As well as being one of the first games to feature a lead female character, the series also gave birth to the Metroidvania sub-genre, which has been used ever since, recently used in independent titles including Guacamelee and Axiom Verge.

With that being said, the only thing that we have seen this year to celebrate the series was the spin-off, Metroid Prime: Federation Force on the 3DS, and with so much attention being given to Pokémon, I thought that we could celebrate Metroid's big birthday.

As well as looking at some of the best (and some of the worst) titles within the mainline series, I also want to explore the history behind some of these titles and the impact that they may of had in the video game industry throughout the past thirty years.

After Retro Studios wrapped the Metroid Prime trilogy on the Wii with high critical praise, Team Ninja decided to take on the challenge to produce a follow up to the classic Super Metroid game. From the same studio behind Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden, the team took the series back to it's platforming roots while also making Samus Aran a much more dramatic character.

The story follows Samus as she locates a distress signal known as Baby's Cry after the events of Super Metroid. When she finds that the signal has come from a spaceship, Samus finds the stranded Galactic Federation 07th Platoon onboard and helps them escape.

Throughout the adventure, players are also given flashbacks to our heroine's earlier days as she trained alongside some of the platoon and how she became one of the most talented bounty hunters in the galaxy.

Despite this exploration into the character and trying to go back to the series' roots gameplay-wise, it unfortunately failed to meet it's targeted sales and was seen as a financial failure, despite the mixed opinions from critics. This would set in motion an unknown future for the series and would see a six year hiatus before fans received a disappointing spin-off on the 3DS in the form of Metroid Prime: Federation Force.