Metroid

About

Metroid refers to a series of Sci-Fi Action-Adventure video games created by Nintendo, starting with the game Metroid for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Since the series’ creation, it has received a large online following, with a large gathering on a number of websites.

History

The original Metroid game was originally released on the N.E.S. on August 15, 1987, (shown below, left), and garnered critical acclaim, due to unique gameplay, as well as being one of the first video games to feature a female protagonist. A sequel, Metroid II: Return of Samus (shown below, right), was released on August 26, 1991 for the Nintendo Game Boy, and was the first game in the series to be released on handheld.

A third game in the series, titled Super Metroid (shown below, left), was released on the Super N.E.S. on March 19, 1994 in America, and was later followed by Metroid Fusion (shown below, right) on Game Boy Advance on November 17, 2002. A remake of the original N.E.S. game, titled Metroid: Zero Mission, was also released for the Game Boy Advance on February 9, 2004.

A spin-off series, known as the Prime series, was developed by Retro Studios, beginning with Metroid Prime (shown below, left), which was released on the Gamecube on November 17, 2002, coinciding with Metroid Fusion. Unlike previous games, the game featured a 3D universe, shown from First-Person perspective. A sequel, titled Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (shown below, right), was released on the Gamecube on November 15, 2004, and was followed by spin-off titled Metroid Prime Pinball, which was released for the Nintendo DS on October 24, 2005.

Another game in the Prime series, Metroid Prime Hunters, was released on Nintendo DS on March 20, 2006, and was followed by the third game in the core Prime series, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (shown below, left), which was released for Wii on August 27, 2007. A trilogy pack for the core Prime series, simply titled Metroid Prime: Trilogy, was released for Wii on August 24, 2009. The next game in the series, titled Metroid: Other M (shown below, right), was also released for Wii on August 31, 2010, and was developed by Team Ninja.

Online Relevance

The Metroid series has garnered a large online following since it’s original creation. The series has a large presence on many sites, for example Tumblr^[1], Reddit^[2], 4chan’s /v/ videogame board^[3], Fanpop^[4], FanFiction.net^[5] and DeviantART^[6]. Sites such as the Metroid wiki^[7] and TV Tropes^[8] holds information on the series. There is also numerous fansites, such as Metroid Recon^[9], Metroid HQ^[10], Metroid Database^[11] and ShineSparkers^[12]. The Metroid Facebook page also has over 21,000 likes^[13].

Notable Sub-Memes

Y Can’t Metroid Crawl? / PaulyU

“Y Can’t Metroid Crawl?” is a question uttered by Miiverse user PaulyU, while asking for help to get through the Wii U Virtual Console release of Super Metroid. Due to the many mistakes made by Pauly within his questions, he received popularity online with many fans striving to help him to complete the game through Miiverse.

Horny Samus

Horny Samus refers to a series of Advice Animal style Image Macros featuring series heroine Samus Aran. The series focuses on a series of Double-entendre style jokes and pick-up lines, featured over an image of a perverted Samus.

Remember Me? / MBD

MBD (Mysterious Black Dude) is a meme arising from an E3 2009 trailer for Metroid: Other M in which a mysterious man greets Samus, asking her if she remembers him. The scene became notable online, due to the fact that the character had never been featured in a Metroid game before Other M