What is the name of the first Metroid game to feature 3D graphics?

Metroid Prime is the first Metroid game to feature 3D graphics. Released for the Nintendo GameCube in 2002, it transformed the series’ exploration-focused design into a first-person 3D adventure.

Earlier entries, including the original Metroid, Super Metroid, and Metroid Fusion, used primarily two-dimensional graphics and side-scrolling gameplay. Prime preserved the series’ open-ended exploration, environmental puzzles, upgrades, and backtracking while presenting the world through Samus Aran’s visor.

Nintendo described Metroid Prime as a “first-person adventure” rather than a conventional first-person shooter. Combat is important, but scanning, navigation, puzzle-solving, and discovering new routes are equally central to the experience. The Morph Ball remains a notable exception to the viewpoint, using third-person camera angles in enclosed passages.

Metroid Prime launched alongside Metroid Fusion, which returned to the classic 2D format on the Game Boy Advance. That simultaneous release sometimes causes confusion, but Fusion was not the series’ first 3D title. Prime holds that distinction.