The Metroid logo, as seen in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.
The Metroid (メトロイド Metoroido) games are a series of video games produced by Nintendo. One of the company's most successful franchises, the series spans through several Nintendo systems, with the first game, Metroid, released in 1986 for the Nintendo Entertainment System.
The Metroid games chronicle the missions of bounty hunter Samus Aran in a science fiction setting which has some similarites to the Alien movies. Central plot elements are the Metroid organisms and the Space Pirates which try to exploit the Metroids' powers. The gameplay combines adventure based on exploration and item-gathering with platformer and shooter dynamics. The Metroid games are famous for their nonlinear gameplay, where you can complete a game with a fraction of the items available in the game.
As of July 2007, 10 games in the series have been released. This includes four main games (Metroid, Metroid II: Return of Samus, Super Metroid, and Metroid Fusion), a Classic NES Series port and remake of Metroid (Metroid: Zero Mission), a spin-off Nintendo DS game (Metroid Prime Pinball), a first-person adventure game, with wireless and online multiplayer (Metroid Prime: Hunters), and the Prime trilogy (Metroid Prime, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.)