The Complete METROID Timeline Explained!

The Metroid franchise has a sprawling timeline that weaves its sci-fi saga across 11 mainline games. But how does everything tie together?

Metroid Dread marks the conclusion of a story arc dating back 35 years, which takes in the original Metroid, Metroid 2: Return of Samus, Super Metroid, and Metroid Fusion. Hence, y’know, Metroid 5.

But that chronology doesn’t even take into account the Metroid Prime trilogy and its various handheld spin-offs, or even Metroid: Other M. So with Metroid Dread set to expand the canon and conclude Samus’ long-standing mission to exterminate the Metroids, what better time to recap the franchise’s entire story.

The above video breaks down the Metroid franchise's timeline from Samus' iconic confrontation with Mother Brain all the way through to Metroid Fusion and Metroid Dread.

0:00 - Intro
1:15 - Samus' Origins
2:14 - Metroid Zero Mission
4:24 - Metroid Prime
6:50 - Metroid Prime Hunters
7:57 - Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
10:10 - Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
12:25 - Metroid Prime: Federation Force
13:57 - Metroid: Samus Returns
16:15 - Super Metroid
18:20 - Metroid: Other M
20:04 - Metroid Fusion
21:45 - Metroid Dread

[DoshindeReus]

I am so glad Nintendo decided to revitalize Metroid. It's such an awesome franchise

[Misaelito]

I’ve been waiting almost 20 years for a sequel for Fusion and it’s finally almost here

[ProducerX]

That point when the grown baby Metroid saves Samus by biting Mother Brains head is so epic

[FloNess]

The conclusions in Dread are so amazing, beat the game yesterday and I did not see the twists and reveals coming, I really recommend playing dread for some really awesome gameplay and cutscenes

[DreadJoker]

Dread actually brought me to tears. It was such an amazing story and I'm glad I lived long enough to see it.

[ConorElectronic]

My favorite franchise ever. Hyped for Dread and Prime 4

[RealTDragon]

Still can’t believe federation force is a thing.

[kevinvu]

Key note. Metroid fusion does not take notes from other m. Fusion came first but other m is an afterthought interquel

[austinmeyer_]

I’m surprised it took them until super Metroid to diagnosed her with PTSD.

[Nothanks]

I'm only watching this to understand my boyfriend's obsession with Samus

[musictorin]

You skipped a couple important details, such as when you kill Ridley in Super Metroid, that is the end of the original Ridley. Also you did not mention how Ridley was cloned in Other M, or how in Fusion the remains of Ridleys clone were possesed by the X

[Nomname]

Props to the Sylux prediction! You were right!

[GeneralRasp]

Love these timeline videos for franchises that have been around for years.

[blackpowr]

Awesome timeline review and to this day, the best boss battles in Metroid history have to be Metroid Prime 1 and Quadraxis. There's something special about boss fights that require you use every ability you have in your arsenal to defeat them. And the fact that Samus usually gets tons of abilities makes this a difficult and rewarding task. Metroid in general does this better than any other franchise.

[Pwrplus]

"Pulling on narrative threads from Other M" is a pretty disingenuous way to describe Fusion considering it came out 8 years sooner and Other M just aped all of its plot points and did them worse

[Defianceo]

Ridley: *exists*
Samus: how many time do we have to teach you this lesson old man?!

[emeraldvaught]

Dread is amazing! Feel like the plot was a perfect capstone to this winding journey

[canisblack]

Given that you talked about the manga I'm surprised that you didn't comment on the fact that a) that's where it was first revealed that the Chozo were the creators of the Metriods and b) that "Metroid" is the Chozo word for "Ultimate/Peerless Warrior" and the implication that Samus - even without the baby's DNA - has actually earned that title.

[GAZDA_DMM]

No spoilers but Dread's story was very satisfying. Curious where they'll take the 2D franchise from here!

[samquik]

Warning from a long-time Metroid fan: for Dread you only need to worry about like half of this. The info from Other M and the Prime games are not going to be very relevant to its story