Every Metroid Prime Game, Ranked

In 2002, Nintendo released Metroid Prime on Nintendo GameCube. This reinvention of the Metroid series shifted things to a first-person perspective while still keeping intact all of the puzzle-solving, past-paced action, and rich world-building seen in the franchise up until this point. The result was a monumental success for Nintendo, leading to Metroid Prime becoming one of the most acclaimed games in history. Naturally, Nintendo would follow up on this success by establishing Metroid Prime as a new sub-series in the larger Metroid saga and would release multiple sequels and spin-offs in the years ahead.

As of this week, there have now been seven different Metroid Prime games in total, culminating in the long-awaited Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. With this in mind, there is no better time to rank every Metroid Prime game that has come about so far from worst to best.

7. Metroid Prime Pinball

Metroid Prime Pinball is a Metroid-themed pinball game that centers around Samus bouncing around various stages in her Morph Ball form. While there’s not a lot to say about it, this is still a very solid pinball title that was perfectly suited to the Nintendo DS. Although it’s good, Metroid Prime Pinball is more of a novelty and has very little in common with what makes a Metroid game a Metroid game. As a result, it sits at the bottom of this ranking.

6. Metroid Prime: Federation Force

Metroid Prime: Federation Force has been maligned by Nintendo fans essentially since it was revealed. I don’t particularly blame them, either, as the final game is one that’s not good and doesn’t ever feel like a Metroid Prime game. Still, I can see the vision that Nintendo had for this project. A multiplayer, level-based shooter on Nintendo 3DS is something that could have worked out quite well. Unfortunately, the levels themselves were often more annoying than fun, and its use of the Metroid IP was underwhelming, to say the least.

5. Metroid Prime: Hunters

Metroid Prime’s first transition to a handheld platform, Hunters is more or less a great distillation of the series in a more bite-sized fashion. It also serves as the first game to introduce Sylux, who would go on to become a throughline baddie in the entire Metroid Prime saga. Outside of its single-player element, Hunters is one of the few games in the series to incorporate a multiplayer mode, which was surprisingly quite fun. While it doesn’t hold a candle to the home console entries, Hunters is still a good game made even more enjoyable if you have friends to experience its multiplayer with.

4. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond

Yes, the newest Metroid Prime game, that of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, is the weakest of the mainline games. That’s not to say that Metroid Prime 4 is bad, because it absolutely isn’t. Retro Studios again crafts a gorgeous world that is a ton of fun to explore and incorporates some spectacular boss fights. What keeps it below the original Metroid Prime trilogy is its poor story and the incorporation of open-world areas that feel much too empty. In spite of its drawbacks, there are a lot of great elements in Metroid Prime 4 that provide Retro a great base to build on in future games.

3. Metroid Prime 2: Echoes

I’ve lovingly referred to Metroid Prime 2 as a “Metroidvania game for sickos” for quite some time, and I still stand by this description. Metroid Prime 2 is a strong game through and through, but it’s also by far the most complex entry in the entire series. The advent of the light and dark worlds in Echoes leads to the game being incredibly confusing at times, especially in its later stages. Despite this, it still tells one of the more fascinating stories in all of Metroid that culminates in an incredibly memorable ending. Even if you might need a guide to help you get through Metroid Prime 2, this is still one of the high points of the series.

2. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption makes some stark changes when compared to the games that preceded it, but they more often than not work out well. The ability to travel to multiple planets provided a bit more variety throughout the game, as does the implementation of Samus’s ship, which can acquire new upgrades and abilities that aid in combat and puzzles. Samus’s own “corruption” throughout the game results in some truly awesome additions, particularly to combat. And as a game on Wii, its motion controls offered the best control scheme yet for a Metroid Prime title, so much so that the first two entries later got this same treatment with Metroid Prime Trilogy. Metroid Prime 3 might be a bit more linear than the others, but most of its departures from the first two games were for the better.

1. Metroid Prime

While there have been many different Metroid Prime games that have come about over the past 23 years, none of them have been able to top the first installment. Metroid Prime remains a masterclass in level design, as its interconnected nature helps build a more cohesive world than perhaps any other video game. Its atmosphere, music, and art direction are all also top-notch and result in environments that feel unlike any other. Gameplay-wise, many of the core mechanics and systems of the franchise were also established here and rarely changed in future games, which speaks to just how well they were implemented from the jump.

Metroid Prime isn’t just the best game in its own series, it’s one of the most influential and polished titles to ever come about from Nintendo. Perhaps one day, a new Metroid Prime game will come about that bests it, but that has yet to occur.

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