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A lone bounty hunter returns to the planet where her legend began — Nintendo's remake of the original Metroid, and the game that gave the series back its teeth.

About

Samus Aran lands on Zebes with a single order: hunt the Space Pirates, break the Mother Brain. Metroid: Zero Mission is Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance retelling of the first Metroid, built by Nintendo R&D1 and released on February 9, 2004, and it is remembered for rebuilding a sparse 1986 map into a larger world of hidden passages and new areas, then sending the hunter back out stripped of her power suit in its infamous final act.

The game belongs to the Metroidvania genre it helped define in modern form: explore, grow stronger, open the way forward. A launch title for a generation of Game Boy Advance players and the series’ chronological beginning, it stands beside the original as Samus’s origin — and as the reason players still argue over which version of Zebes they love more.

Genre
Metroidvania (Being verified: one source so far)
Developer
Nintendo R&D1 (Being verified: one source so far)
Publisher
Nintendo

Reviews

Metacritic

89/100

Critic score

Metacritic (opens in a new tab)

IGN

9/10

Harris, Craig · February 6, 2004

IGN (opens in a new tab)

GameSpot

8.5/10

Kasavin, Greg · March 5, 2004

GameSpot (opens in a new tab)

Each score is shown on its own scale and links to its source. Vigapedia never averages scores.

Releases

Platform Release date Region Edition Media
Game Boy Advance February 9, 2004 NA
Physical (Nintendo)