Metroid Prime Hunters

Metroid Prime Hunters
North American box art
Developer(s)	Nintendo Software Technology
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Director(s)	Masamichi Abe
Producer(s)	Kensuke Tanabe Shigeki Yamashiro Robert Champagne
Designer(s)	Richard Vorodi Wing S. Cho Jonathan Johnson Michael Harrington Chris Donovan
Programmer(s)	Colin Reed Jonathan Johnson
Artist(s)	Michael Harrington
Writer(s)	Richard Vorodi John Layman
Composer(s)	Lawrence Schwedler James Phillipsen
Series	Metroid
Platform(s)	Nintendo DS
Release	NA: March 20, 2006 EU: May 5, 2006 AU: May 23, 2006 JP: June 1, 2006
Genre(s)	Action-adventure, first-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Metroid Prime Hunters is a 2006 action-adventure game developed by Nintendo Software Technology and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS. It was released in North America in March 2006, with other territories later. The story takes place in between the events of Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. Players assume the role of series protagonist Samus Aran, who investigates a mysterious message that originated from the Alimbic Cluster and comes into contact with a legion of bounty hunters.

The game contains more first-person shooter aspects than previous titles in the Metroid Prime series, emphasizing various multiplayer modes with Wi-Fi and voice chat capabilities. It introduced new bounty hunters with unique weapons and alternative forms as well as the ability to travel to different planets with Samus' gunship, concepts later expanded upon in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. Hunters was announced by Nintendo at the 2004 Electronic Entertainment Expo. A pack-in demo version of the game, titled Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt, was included with the Nintendo DS when it launched in November.

Reviews were generally favorable towards the game; praise focused on its gameplay and graphics, while criticism targeted its control scheme. It also received several honors; including an "Editors' Choice" award from IGN, which also named the game the "Best DS Action Game" of 2006, while Nintendo Power gave it awards for "Best Graphics", "Best Shooter/Action Game", and "Best Wi-Fi Functionality". Over 410,000 copies of the game were sold in North America in its first month of release, and it was the fourth best-selling game during its debut month in Japan. Metroid Prime Hunters was re-released on the Wii U's Virtual Console service in Japan in 2015, and in North America and Europe the following year.