The dates.
The evidence.

SOURCE REGISTER

Primary sources first.

1. PrimaryNintendo Japan — Dread Report 4

   Japanese story recaps read: original → II → Super → Fusion → Dread; Zero Mission and Samus Returns identified as remakes. This five-part arc is not a declaration that Prime or Other M is non-canon.

2. PrimaryNintendo Japan — original Metroid story

   The original Zebes operation is explicitly in Cosmic Calendar 20X5. Keep the placeholder year; do not turn it into 2005 or an estimated Gregorian year.

3. PrimaryNintendo Japan — Prime Remastered story

   Official backstory and Tallon IV premise; 20X5 in its backstory belongs to the earlier Zebes incident, not automatically to the entire Tallon IV mission.

4. PrimaryNintendo — Prime Trilogy instruction booklet

   Actual manual text inspected: printed p.33 / PDF p.18 says Corruption begins six months after Aether, and the Valhalla was attacked about four months before that briefing. Trilogy contains three adventures, not a fourth sequel.

5. Primary interviewNST developers — Hunters chronology interview

   March 2, 2006 interview with director Masamichi Abe and engineer Colin Reed: Hunters fits between Prime and Echoes. No fixed month interval is supplied.

6. PrimaryNintendo Japan — Federation Force

   Japanese story caption explicitly gives 20X6. Blast Ball is described as Federation troop training and is included as a mode and former standalone demo.

7. PrimaryNintendo — Federation Force story interval

   UK story says several years after Phaaze while giving 20X6. Japanese page gives 20X6 without that interval. Preserve the attributed wording; do not compute one year from symbolic X dates.

8. Primary interviewNintendo developers — Japanese Famitsu interview

   December 29, 2025 Japanese answer directly read: after Super, before Fusion; Samus crosses spacetime into another dimension. Does not specify before/after Other M. Sylux flashbacks are identified as earlier events, not a second game.

9. PrimaryNintendo — Prime 4: Beyond, Switch 2 Edition

   Official released game and enhanced edition. Viewros setting; edition is not a sequel to the Switch release.

10. SecondaryPrime 4 reveal — opening year cross-check

    Reports the official reveal’s Cosmic Year 20X9 opening card. Secondary cross-check; final-game intro has not been independently frame-audited here.

11. PrimaryNintendo — Other M creator discussion

    Official creator interview about Samus’s dramatic history and the game’s production; not an exact calendar date.

12. SecondaryOther M story placement cross-check

    Bottle Ship story after Super and before Fusion; no exact elapsed months assumed.

13. PrimaryNintendo — Dread story

    Samus investigates ZDR following the X crisis. No exact Fusion-to-Dread gap supplied.

14. PrimaryNintendo — Ravenous announcement

    September 11, 2026 official announcement: January 28, 2027 release. Release date is not a fictional date.

15. PrimaryNintendo — Ravenous official game listing

    Ambush on an unfamiliar moon and newly awakened Metroid instincts. Supports an estimated post-Dread reading; no exact fictional interval or completed story inspected.

16. PrimaryNintendo — Zero Mission

    Officially called a retelling of the original mission; includes the expanded suitless escape. Historic Wii U purchase offer is no longer available.

17. PrimaryNintendo Japan — Samus Returns

    Official remake of II and SR388 mission. Historic 3DS eShop sales have ended; information page is not a current download promise.

18. PrimaryNintendo — Prime Pinball

    Multi Mission gathers artifacts and culminates against Metroid Prime. Treat as a stylized rendition at Prime’s story position, not a new invasion after Hunters.

19. SecondaryHunters: First Hunt — demo inventory

    Pack-in demonstration released before the complete game. No independent dated mission established.

20. PrimaryKodansha — Metroid volume 1

    Live publisher record read: Nintendo original credit, November 21, 2003, ISBN 9784063491432; original serialization January–July 2003 issues. No trial/interior control exposed.

21. PrimaryKodansha — Metroid volume 2

    Live publisher record read: final volume, May 21, 2004, ISBN 9784063491722; August 2003–May 2004 magazine issues. No full interior read.

22. SecondaryMetroid manga — origin/mission coverage

    Bibliographic prequel premise. Fan-hosted translations are not represented as publisher-authorized full reading access. Precise chapter boundaries and ages remain open.

23. Primary archive / inaccessibleNintendo — historic e-comic landing page

    Search-indexed official page advertises first two chapters and Kodansha continuation. Historic Flash reader could not be inspected; first two chapters are a presentation of the manga, not new missions.

24. PrimaryKodansha — Samus & Joey

    Live publisher inventory: three volumes, Nintendo original credit, digital reissue, legal first-chapter preview. Not a five-volume series.

25. PrimaryKodansha — Samus & Joey volume 1 legal preview

    Actually viewed contents and printed pp.4–7. Printed p.5 recalls defeat of Zebesian Pirates and Mother Brain but names no game/year; pp.6–7 show Joey and renewed pirate danger. Contents lists Fusion special story at p.175. The backup interior is outside the pages inspected.

26. PrimaryKodansha — Samus & Joey volume 1 edition

    June 4, 2003 paperback; January 28, 2022 electronic reissue. Publisher’s Kindle control resolved to search; actual matching Kindle volume listing then verified, rather than using the search URL as a product.

27. SecondarySamus & Joey and EX — serial bibliography

    Identifies original series, separate EX sequel and Fusion bonus. Also identifies Episode of Aether and early manga. Full serial interiors not inspected.

28. SecondaryMetroid printed-media checklist

    Inventory lead for Nintendo Power adaptations, Wanpakku guide-manga, Shounen Oh gag manga and three Valiant shorts. Bibliography is not an interior date audit.

29. Secondary archival indexDreamwave Prime comic — issue labels

    Search-indexed wrapper lists chapters in Nintendo Power #164, #165 and #166. Resolves conflicting #164–167 reference; no full copyrighted comic interior claimed read.

30. Primary bibliographyNational Diet Library — Zebes Invasion Order

    Official library record for Futabasha’s 1986 branching gamebook; ISBN 9784575760163. No interior accessible in this audit.

31. Secondary retailerCaptain N — Valiant comic inventory

    Five-issue licensed series, with Samus in Videoland. Listing is an edition record, not a promise of full reading access. Issue/backup time gaps not inspected.

32. Secondary bibliographyGrand Comics Database — Captain N #5

    Issue/story record cross-check for the five-issue run and Samus material; guidebook pages and backup stories still need interior review.

33. PrimaryNintendo — The Subspace Emissary

    Explicit Smash narrative setting; no placement in Samus’s Galactic Federation history.

34. PrimaryNintendo / Smash — World of Light trailer

    Official Smash channel narrative trailer. Campaign retained as a crossover, not a later Metroid mission.

35. Primary interviewCreative-team interview — Past is Prologue

    Creative-team interview read directly: Coyne recalls Nintendo briefing the team that the origin manga was canon. Describes Sakamoto’s scene requests; links Coyne’s own alternate reel. Recollection does not remove interior-inspection gaps.

36. Primary interviewDirector interview — Japanese Super Metroid commercial

    Director Yasuo Kanemaki describes the official live-action commercial’s research-facility scenes and its connection to the game opening. Not a new post-Super adventure.

37. Retail editionAmazon US — Dread edition

    Actual listing title checked: Metroid Dread (Nintendo Switch).

38. Retail editionAmazon US — Prime Remastered edition

    Actual listing title checked: Metroid Prime Remastered — Nintendo Switch.

39. Retail editionAmazon Japan — Samus & Joey Kindle volume 1

    Japanese volume 1 matched to Kodansha and its Kindle listing; contains the listed Fusion backup, not the entire three-volume run.

40. SecondaryEarly Prime sequence — current chronology cross-check

    Prime 1–3, Hunters and Federation Force are identified before II; Japanese developer interview directly supplies the separate Prime 4 interval.

41. SecondaryCorruption — one-month recovery cross-check

    Secondary account of the in-game one-month recovery after Norion. This is not a direct frame inspection.

42. PrimaryNintendo — Hunters official game record

    Corresponding DS title record; historic Wii U eShop purchase offer is not current.

43. PrimaryNintendo Japan — Other M official edition record

    Corresponding Wii U edition of the Wii adventure. Historic eShop offer is not a current availability claim.

44. Retail editionAmazon US — Prime Trilogy collector edition

    Actual title checked: Prime Trilogy Collector’s Edition; official Wii compilation contains Prime, Echoes and Corruption. Condition and included packaging vary.

45. Retail editionAmazon US — Other M, Wii

    Actual listing identifies Other M on Wii, pre-played/CIB. Do not promise a sealed copy or unchanged seller condition.

46. Retail editionAmazon US — Hunters, DS

    Actual listing identifies full Hunters on Nintendo DS, pre-played/game only. This is not the First Hunt demo.