by majormitch
Over the years, I have written a number of lists ranking the entries in various video game franchises I have played a lot of. With the addition of tier lists to Giant Bomb, I am going to slowly but surely redo those lists in tier form! This is for a few reasons. First, I always wanted these lists to be tier lists anyway: my rankings regularly have to split incredibly thin hairs, and the ability to group games that are essentially equal into the same tier feels more accurate. Second, it makes it easier to include more games from each series, including ones I haven't played in their own tier. Third, it gives me a chance to re-evaluate and update these lists, some of which are quite old. One last important note about these tier lists: since I can't comment on games individually in this format, I will simply make some notes on any games that need it here in the intro section.
First up, Metroid! I have played almost every Metroid game, and still have a large fondness for it despite its up and down quality recently. As always, I will add new entries over time as needed, and this list is based on my personal, subjective preferences alone.
List notes:
This list was last updated on March 19, 2026.
If AM2R had a wiki page, I would place it in A tier. Easily my favorite version of Metroid II, and just a great Metroid game in general.
Metroid Prime and Super Metroid are equally the best Metroid games to me, and best represent everything I love the series for.
The original Metroid is dated in some ways today, but it's impressive how much of the series' DNA was there from the start.
I think I have a higher opinion of Prime 2 than most, and a lower opinion of Dread than most. The former has a cohesive world almost on par with Prime 1, and is one of the densest worlds that I enjoy exploring. The latter was a bit too linear for my tastes, as there is not much room to explore in Dread until near the end. I also didn't care for the EMMI sections. It controls great and has some killer boss fights though.
If I was more of a pinball guy, Prime Pinball could be higher. But I am not. Don't tell Jerf.
The other games at the bottom: Prime 4 was hugely disappointing (and pretty boring), Prime Hunters I barely remember anything about other than it also being boring, and Other M is a wreck in all sorts of way :(
I do plan to play Federation Force / Blast Ball eventually.
