Reception
| Game | GameRankings | Metacritic |
|---|---|---|
| Metroid (GBA re-release) | 62% | 58% |
| Metroid II: Return of Samus | 80% | — |
| Super Metroid | 96% | — |
| Metroid Fusion | 91% | 92% |
| Metroid Prime | 96% | 97% |
| Metroid: Zero Mission | 90% | 89% |
| Metroid Prime 2: Echoes | 92% | 92% |
| Metroid Prime Pinball | 81% | 79% |
| Metroid Prime Hunters | 84% | 85% |
| Metroid Prime 3: Corruption | 90% | 90% |
| Metroid Prime: Trilogy | 92% | 91% |
| Metroid: Other M | 79% | 79% |
The series has been highly praised by critics, being ranked by IGN as the eighth best franchise ever. In 2001, Electronic Gaming Monthly chose Super Metroid as the best game ever. The Metroid games have since appeared in other "best game" lists, with all games released up to 2005 included in a Nintendo Power "Top 200 Nintendo Games list", Prime in the IGN top 100, Metroid, Super Metroid, Prime and Echoes in a list by GameFAQs users; Metroid and Super Metroid in Game Informer's list; and Prime and Super Metroid in Edge's list. The series has been influential in many other games, including Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. The games have also sold very well, with Super Metroid, Metroid Fusion, Metroid Prime, and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption exceeding one million copies sold. Other characters from the Metroid series have also received their own share of acclaim. Ridley was the number two most requested Nintendo character by IGN and number one by the fans to be added as a playable character to the Super Smash Bros. series and Mother Brain has been commonly ranked among the all-time best video game bosses.
The original Metroid has been described as being boosted by its "eerie" music, adding a "sense of mystery and exploration" to the game by making the game "moody and atmospheric". IGN praised the well timed music that helped add suspense to the experience. GameSpot described Super Metroid as better than the original "in literally every conceivable way", Metroid Fusion was noted for its "understated score" which fit the mood of the adventure and its excellent stereo sound effects, making it an uncommonly good Game Boy Advance sound experience. Metroid Prime was considered one of the best games ever made upon its release, winning Game of the Year from various publications and websites. IGN called the aural experience with Metroid Prime 2: Echoes "mesmerizing". Music from Metroid has been frequently re-released as part of "best of" video game music releases. Metroid Prime's soundtrack was called the best sound design on the GameCube. The sound effects were also noted for a high degree of accuracy and blending with the soundtrack. On the popular video game music site OverClocked ReMix, Super Metroid is the tied for the tenth most remixed video game, with Metroid tied for twenty-fifth.
Sales of Metroid games in Japan have typically been lower than in the United States. In particular, the first two installments of the Metroid Prime series did not sell well in Japan, though it should be noted that Japanese gamers tend to have an aversion to first-person shooters in general as it causes many Japanese players motion sickness. In its first day of release in Japan, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption sold 20,000 copies, and it was the fifth bestselling game during its debut week in Japan, selling 32,388 units, ranking it behind Ryū ga Gotoku Kenzan!, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Wii Fit, and Gundam Musou Special. Furthermore, Metroid: Other M was the third best-selling video game in Japan during its week of release with 45,398 copies sold, ranking it behind Wii Party and Monster Hunter Diary: Poka Poka Airu Village. It sold an additional 11,239 copies the following week.
Read more about this topic: Metroid Series
Famous quotes containing the word reception:
“But in the reception of metaphysical formula, all depends, as regards their actual and ulterior result, on the pre-existent qualities of that soil of human nature into which they fall—the company they find already present there, on their admission into the house of thought.”
—Walter Pater (1839–1894)
“Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody’s face but their own; which is the chief reason for that kind of reception it meets in the world, and that so very few are offended with it.”
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)
“To the United States the Third World often takes the form of a black woman who has been made pregnant in a moment of passion and who shows up one day in the reception room on the forty-ninth floor threatening to make a scene. The lawyers pay the woman off; sometimes uniformed guards accompany her to the elevators.”
—Lewis H. Lapham (b. 1935)