What 1994 Super Nintendo game is the third main entry in the Metroid series?

The 1994 Super Nintendo game that is the third main entry in the Metroid series is Super Metroid.

Nintendo and Intelligent Systems developed Super Metroid for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It follows the original Metroid and 1991’s Metroid II: Return of Samus, which is why the opening presentation also refers to it as “Metroid 3.”

The story sends bounty hunter Samus Aran back to Zebes after the Space Pirate Ridley steals the infant Metroid that Samus delivered to the Ceres space colony. Exploration, backtracking, hidden upgrades, and an interconnected map became central to the game’s design.

Super Metroid is often credited, alongside Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, with establishing the modern “Metroidvania” style. Players sometimes confuse the series’ numbered chronology with release order: Metroid Prime was released later, but it is a first-person side story set earlier in the fictional timeline.