Chronologically, Metroid Prime Hunters takes place in the Metroid series after Metroid Prime and before Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. In the adventure mode, one plays as the primary bounty hunter Samus Aran. In the introduction to the game, Galactic Federation empaths receive a strange telepathic message stating that the key to the "ultimate power" resides in the Alimbic solar system. The Federation commissions Samus Aran, the renowned bounty hunter, to investigate and retrieve (or neutralize) this power. Despite the efforts of the Galactic Federation to encrypt the message, six other bounty hunters picked up the broadcast, proceeding to the system to claim the power as their own.