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50 free Metroid trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Metroid is the Nintendo series that taught games to feel lonely. Since 1986, bounty hunter Samus Aran has explored hostile planets with no companions, few words and a map that only opens up as she earns new powers, and the formula became so influential that an entire genre, the Metroidvania, carries its name. These 50 questions span the whole saga: the NES original and its female-protagonist twist, the Game Boy sequel whose planet was named after a motorcycle, Super Metroid's humming composer, Retro Studios' first-person Prime trilogy, the controversial Other M, MercurySteam's Samus Returns and Dread, and 2025's long-delayed Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. Expect questions on planets, bosses, studios, composers, cancelled projects and the stray facts only fans know, like the electronic duo Nintendo nearly hired and the pinball game where Samus's gunship first appeared. Every answer is cited to a page we checked, with a short explanation so you learn something even when you miss. Play it solo or print it for a game night.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who is the bounty hunter the player controls across the Metroid series?
Samus Aran
Samus has protected the galaxy from Space Pirates and Metroids across four decades of games.
Q 02The series title is a portmanteau of 'metro' and which other word?
Android
'Metro' nods to the first game's mostly underground setting and the android half to its robot-like heroine.
Q 03On which console did the first Metroid reach North America in August 1987?
NES
Japan had received it a year earlier on the Famicom Disk System.
Q 04Which Texas studio developed Metroid Prime for the GameCube?
Retro Studios
Shigeru Miyamoto suggested the project after visiting Retro's Austin office in 2000.
Q 05Which Spanish studio developed Samus Returns and Metroid Dread?
MercurySteam
Sakamoto was impressed by their Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate and asked them to remake Metroid II.
Q 06The villain Ridley was named in recognition of the director of which 1979 film?
Alien
Sakamoto called Ridley Scott's film a 'huge influence', and H. R. Giger's creature designs shaped the look too.
Q 07Samus's rolling ball ability was originally called what in the first game?
Maru Mari
It means 'round ball' in Japanese and was renamed the Morph Ball in Super Metroid.
Q 08The surname 'Aran' was taken from the birth name of which footballer?
Pelé
Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pelé, lent his name to gaming's most famous bounty hunter.
Q 09Samus's unsuited look was partly based on which actress as Ellen Ripley?
Sigourney Weaver
Kim Basinger's film roles were the other stated inspiration for her look.
Q 10Who headed Nintendo R&D1 and produced both Metroid and Metroid II?
Gunpei Yokoi
Yokoi also created the Game Boy, the handheld that hosted Metroid II.
Q 11Who composed the eerie score of the original Metroid?
Hirokazu Tanaka
Tanaka wanted no distinction between music and sound effects, saving the main theme until Mother Brain fell.
Q 12Which composer hummed up Super Metroid themes while riding his motorcycle to work?
Kenji Yamamoto
Yamamoto went on to score the Metroid Prime trilogy, reusing his Super Metroid motifs as a 'present' for fans.
Q 13Which studio handled Super Metroid's programming alongside Nintendo R&D1?
Intelligent Systems
Intelligent Systems had also co-developed the original Metroid.
Q 21In Echoes, which peaceful race protects its planet's 'Light' energy from the Ing?
Luminoth
The Ing came from an alternate dimension created when a meteor strike split the planet's energy.
Q 22Under what title was Metroid Prime 2 released in Japan in 2005?
Dark Echoes
It reached Japan in May 2005, months after the rest of the world.
Q 23Hypermode in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption ends after how many seconds?
25
It trades an energy tank for temporary invincibility, and letting it overfill risks a non-standard game over.
Q 24In Corruption, Samus destroys which planet to render the mutagen inert everywhere?
Q 14On which planet are the original Metroid and Super Metroid set?
Zebes
Samus flees the planet before it explodes at the end of Super Metroid.
Q 15Which planet is the Metroids' homeworld, visited in Metroid II?
SR388
Samus exterminates the species there, sparing only one newly hatched infant.
Q 16The Metroid homeworld's name was inspired by which motorcycle?
Yamaha SR400
Director Hiroji Kiyotake revealed the origin in a 2004 Nintendo Dream interview.
Q 17How many Metroids must Samus exterminate in Metroid II?
47
A counter tracks how many remain; killing them all lowers the lava so Samus can go deeper.
Q 18On which planet does Metroid Prime take place?
Tallon IV
A meteor seeded the planet with a mutagen and wiped out its Chozo colony fifty years before Samus arrived.
Q 19What is the mutagen the Space Pirates exploit in Metroid Prime?
Phazon
It arrived on a meteor and corrupts any organism it touches, Samus included by the third game.
Q 20Metroid Prime 2: Echoes is set on which planet split into light and dark worlds?
Aether
The dark half's caustic air forces Samus to hop between safe zones.
Phaaze
Blowing it up also permanently finished off Dark Samus, who had corrupted Samus at the start of the game.
Q 25Metroid Prime was first planned in which perspective before Miyamoto intervened?
Third-person
Camera trouble on Rare's Jet Force Gemini helped convince Miyamoto that first-person would work better.
Q 26Which English electronic duo was asked to score Metroid Prime before Nintendo halted it?
Autechre
Nintendo's in-house composer ended up scoring the game, weaving in themes from the older entries.
Q 27Which studio first developed Metroid Prime 4 before Nintendo restarted the project?
Bandai Namco Studios
Nintendo announced the restart under the original Prime developers in 2019, and Beyond finally arrived in December 2025.
Q 28Which rogue hunter with a grudge against Samus is the rival in Prime 4: Beyond?
Sylux
Sylux accidentally damages an artifact that teleports everyone to the planet Viewros.
Q 29What is the name of Samus's motorcycle in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond?
Vi-O-La
It carries her across the hub region Sol Valley and can boost and fend off enemies.
Q 30In Metroid Fusion, Samus nicknames her ship's computer after whom?
Adam
The name honours her former commanding officer Adam Malkovich, whose consciousness the computer turns out to hold.