Purists might argue that the 2D Super Metroid for SNES was the superior game, but it was Metroid Prime for Nintendo’s GameCube that fully realized the series’ goals of isolation and exploration.
Without a snippet of dialog — but plenty of lost scriptures to scan along the walls — and with scarce guidance, Samus must regain her powers and figure out what happened to the planet on which she crash-landed. Though several Metroid games have followed, using the same style of 3D combat, none of them have upheld the series’ gloomy tone as well as Prime did.