Set on the planet Zebes, the story follows Samus Aran as she attempts to retrieve the parasitic Metroid organisms that were stolen by Space Pirates, who plan to replicate the Metroids by exposing them to beta rays and then use them as biological weapons to destroy Samus and all who oppose them.

North America received a release in August 1987 on the Nintendo Entertainment System in the Game Pak ROM cartridge format, with the European release following in January 1988. The first installment in the Metroid series, it was originally released in Japan for the Family Computer Disk System peripheral in August 1986.

Metroid is an action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo.