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| 14 | %% TV Tropes is not the site for collecting "news" rumors. Do not add speculative information and WhatCouldHaveBeen, including possibilities for future works that may or may not get developed, rumors/leaks/datamining about upcoming releases, casting reports not confirmed by Nintendo, Retro Studios or the actor's representatives, upcoming release dates that are subject to change, or comments that are not from official announcements by Nintendo/Retro Studios such as convention panels, expos, and press releases. |
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| 20 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/super_metroid_calendar.png]] |
| 21 | [[caption-width-right:350:''For True Peace In Space...'']] |
| 22 | |
| 23 | ->''"See you next mission!"'' |
| 24 | -->-- '''Samus Aran''' |
| 25 | |
| 26 | ''Metroid'' is a series of games produced by Creator/{{Nintendo}} that began in the 1980s, and is best known for being the TropeMaker for the exploratory {{Metroidvania}} genre. They star the armored BountyHunter Samus Aran, with most installments revolving around her interactions with dangerous energy leeches called Metroids and her quest to annihilate the SpacePirates that plague the galaxy and killed both her human birth parents and [[InterspeciesAdoption adoptive bird-like Chozo]] family. Creator/GunpeiYokoi (the mind behind Nintendo's early portable gaming hardware like the Platform/GameAndWatch and Platform/GameBoy) and Creator/YoshioSakamoto (who would go on to produce the ''VideoGame/WarioWare'' and ''VideoGame/RhythmHeaven'' series) are often the most credited for the franchise's creation.[[note]]To paraphrase Website/TheOtherWiki, the core creative team that birthed the series consisted of Satoru Okada (created the basic concept of the series as being the "anti-''[[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]]''"), Yoshio Sakamoto (character designer who was "forcefully asked to participate" in the creation of the first game, only to become the overseer of the franchise going forward), Makoto Kano (scenario writer), Hiroji Kiyotake (character designer), and Gunpei Yokoi (who headed the R&D1 division and thus served as the producer).[[/note]] |
| 27 | |
| 28 | The ''Metroid'' franchise is somewhat unusual among Creator/{{Nintendo}}'s library for its substantial continuity, and holds the honor of being one of the first {{Platform|Game}}er franchises to showcase an explicit overarching story. Case in point, the [[VideoGame/{{Metroid1}} first game]], released in 1986 on the [[Platform/NintendoEntertainmentSystem NES]], deals with Samus's assault on the Space Pirate base on Zebes, where she first encounters the Metroids. After defeating the Space Pirates' leader, Mother Brain, Samus is dispatched in the (Platform/GameBoy) sequel, ''VideoGame/MetroidIIReturnOfSamus'' (1991), to hunt down and exterminate the species on their home world. The end of this game segues directly into (Platform/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem) ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'' (1994), where the final larval Metroid is stolen by Space Pirates who take it to a rebuilt base on Zebes. |
| 29 | |
| 30 | The series lay dormant for years afterward, skipping the Platform/{{Nintendo 64}} entirely (outside Samus being a fighter in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros''), primarily because series director Yoshio Sakamoto had [[ToughActToFollow no idea how to follow up]] ''Super Metroid'', which decades later is still regarded as one of the best games in the genre. It didn't help that the other creative force behind the series, Gunpei Yokoi, was no longer available, having left Nintendo following the debacle that was the Platform/VirtualBoy. As the lead designer of Nintendo's most notorious flop, he took responsibility for it and left the company of his own volition.[[note]]Though to be fair, he was planning to leave Nintendo regardless. The Virtual Boy just meant that he found himself doing so on a sour note.[[/note]] Tragically, he was killed in a traffic accident shortly after in 1997, robbing the game industry of one of its greatest creators. |
| 31 | |
| 32 | Come the TurnOfTheMillennium, however, the ''Metroid'' series would not only make its return, but also find itself branching in two different directions. One path would continue to follow the franchise's side-scrolling roots and lean into its ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' inspirations, showcased with the release of ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion'' (Platform/GameBoyAdvance) in 2002. In it, the Metroid home world had become overrun by shape-shifting X parasites that the Metroids had actually been keeping in check before [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Samus drove them to extinction]]. After a life-threatening run-in with one of these parasites, Samus finds her life saved by a vaccine containing what remained of the infant Metroid from ''Super''. The resulting mission to contain the x parasites on a nearby research station resulted in the most linear but dynamic game in the series up to that point. |
| 33 | |
| 34 | At the same time, Nintendo had made the controversial decision to move the series to 3D on the [[Platform/NintendoGameCube GameCube]], with American Creator/RetroStudios at the helm. ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime'' emerged as an unusual [[FirstPersonShooter FPS]]-adventure title, [[AnachronicOrder set between the first and second games]]. While the shift to becoming an FPS was [[ItWillNeverCatchOn initially met with confusion and doubt from fans]], and raised concerns that Nintendo was merely trying to leverage the series to compete with Microsoft's ''VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved'' (which was shaping up to be a Big Deal, even during development), the result won fans over and received much critical acclaim, including "Game Of The Year" awards from many publications. Most of the maze like tunnel game play from ''Super Metroid'' was retained, and reviewers found new content to make up for what wasn't kept in transition. |
| 35 | |
| 36 | The original Metroid was [[VideoGameRemake remade]] for the Game Boy Advance a year later as ''[[VideoGame/MetroidZeroMission Zero Mission]]''. ''Zero Mission'' was less open ended than the original at first glance but allowed siginificant SequenceBreaking and added a new epilogue that expanded on our heroine's backstory for the first time in-game, revealing that the Space Pirate homeworld of Zebes not only used to be occupied by the Chozo, but was also where Samus spent her formative years. Meanwhile, the 3D installments would become a franchise in their own right, overseen by Kensuke Tanabe (who had previously worked on the ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' and ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' series) with varying levels of input from Sakamoto. ''Prime'' was succeeded by ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime2Echoes'' ([=GameCube=]) and ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime3Corruption'' (Platform/{{Wii}}), which continued and concluded the first game's Phazon storyline, with only a brief aside for a handheld adventure via ''VideoGame/MetroidPrimeHunters'' (Platform/NintendoDS). [[TrilogyCreep Or so it seemed]], until another spin-off game (''VideoGame/MetroidPrimeFederationForce'' for the Platform/Nintendo3DS) released in 2016 to lay the foundation for ''Metroid Prime 4'', which was announced the following year. ''Prime 4'' was initially victim to a TroubledProduction, and currently has no given release window. Tropes exclusive to this sub-series [[VideoGame/MetroidPrimeTrilogy belong here]]. |
| 37 | |
| 38 | After ''Corruption'', Sakamoto would give 3D a try himself with 2010's ''[[VideoGame/MetroidOtherM Other M]]'' (Wii), an {{Interquel}} taking place between ''Super'' and ''Fusion'' which attempted to combine gameplay elements from both the 2D games and the ''Prime'' series, and forwent the franchise's usual use of StoryBreadcrumbs in favor of a heavier focus on story and more linear progression than even ''Fusion''. It was developed by the unusual combination of what remained of the in-house team responsible for the ''Metroid'' series[[note]](after the release of ''Zero Mission'', Nintendo's R&D studios -- which included the 2D ''Metroid'' team -- had been restructured to serve a supervisory role over external projects rather than create their own)[[/note]] and Creator/KoeiTecmo's [[VideoGame/DeadOrAlive Team]] [[VideoGame/NinjaGaiden Ninja]] studio. The final product was poorly-received by fans, causing the franchise to take a brief hiatus until the release of the aforementioned ''Federation Force''. 2017 would see the mainline series return to 2D (well, now TwoAndAHalfD), with Sakamoto's team now working alongside Creator/MercurySteam for ''[[VideoGame/MetroidSamusReturns Samus Returns]]'', a remake of ''Metroid II'' for Platform/Nintendo3DS. ''Samus Returns'', like ''Zero Mission'', added additional story content: this time setting up vital plot details for 2021's ''VideoGame/MetroidDread'' for the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, the long-awaited sequel to ''Fusion'' that had [[SavedFromDevelopmentHell gone in and out of production for the past two decades]]. Concluding the storyline revolving around our heroine's relationship with the eponymous creatures, the game sees Samus investigating the far-off planet ZDR for any remnants of X parasites, only to find herself attacked by a mysterious Chozo warrior and hunted down by seemingly defective Federation robots in the process. |
| 39 | |
| 40 | Across the entire franchise, a number of characteristic elements have persisted, such as the continuous string of upgrades which Samus acquires over the course of the game, most notably the "Morph Ball" (or "Maru Mari," one of several translation oddities), which allows Samus to roll into the shape of a small ball, for better maneuverability in areas where this shape is more convenient. |
| 41 | |
| 42 | Being the codifier, this is one of the two best known series of the {{Metroidvania}} genre -- ActionAdventure[=/=]{{Platform game}}s with an emphasis on exploring a continuous non-linear world and finding powerups to advance. Technologically, the original ''Metroid'' is noteworthy as one of the first multi-direction scrolling platformers. Its North American release was also the first game to use a password system to save progress. The Japanese release of ''Metroid'' for Nintendo's disc-based system allowed the players to save their progress on the disc; the cartridge-based US system lacked this ability, so the game presented a 24-character password which encoded the state of the game, allowing the player to resume his or her progress later. This also (unintentionally) allowed players to "hack" the game, giving Samus various upgrades upon starting the game if the correct values were put into a password. |
| 43 | |
| 44 | The ending of the original ''Metroid'' is a TomatoSurprise: if the player did sufficiently well, they are then treated to a [[ItWasHisSled stunning-for-its-time revelation]]: Samus Aran's armor is removed, revealing the bounty hunter to be [[SamusIsAGirl a shapely woman (by 8-bit standards)]]. This reveal is also in most of the other games, although no longer a surprise. Those who ReadTheFreakingManual would see that Samus is openly referred to as female by ''Metroid II''. |
| 45 | |
| 46 | Though Samus herself has never appeared on television (except in commercials), Mother Brain was featured as the BigBad of the Nintendo-themed animated series ''[[WesternAnimation/CaptainNTheGameMaster Captain N: The Game Master]]''. (Reportedly, the production staff actually ''didn't know about Samus''); the comic book adaptation introduced her as the SixthRanger[=/=]TheLancer. A live-action feature film based on the franchise was optioned after ''Metroid Prime'' was successful, with ''John Woo'' of all people rumored to direct, [[WhatCouldHaveBeen but appears to have lapsed]]. By the tail end of TheNewTens, however, some in Hollywood have expressed interest in pulling the film out of DevelopmentHell, including Creator/RondaRousey, [[Film/KongSkullIsland Jordan Vogt-Roberts]], and Creator/BrieLarson. Only time will tell if the movie ever gets made. |
| 47 | |
| 48 | [[index]] |
| 49 | [[folder:Games in the series]] |
| 50 | !!!Mainline Games |
| 51 | * ''[[VideoGame/{{Metroid1}} Metroid]]'' ([[Platform/NintendoEntertainmentSystem NES]], 1986): The wicked Space Pirates have stolen a Metroid from Federation researchers, and it is up to Samus Aran to track them down to Planet Zebes and foil their plans to weaponize the energy-feeding organisms. |
| 52 | ** ''VideoGame/MetroidZeroMission'' (Platform/GameBoyAdvance, 2004; [[VideoGameRemake remake]]) |
| 53 | * ''VideoGame/MetroidIIReturnOfSamus'' (Platform/GameBoy, 1991): Faced with a potential disaster from the Metroids, the Federation sends Samus to their origin world of Planet [=SR388=] on a mission to curtail any threat the Metroids may pose by completely exterminating the entire species. |
| 54 | ** ''VideoGame/MetroidSamusReturns'' (Platform/Nintendo3DS, 2017; [[VideoGameRemake remake]]) |
| 55 | * ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'' ([[Platform/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem Super NES]], 1994): One lone Metroid larva survives from [=SR388=], which Samus turns over to Federation scientists, only for the Space Pirates to abduct it and restart their plans to weaponize the Metroids on Zebes. |
| 56 | * ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion'' (Game Boy Advance, 2002): Samus has a life-changing encounter with the mysterious X-Parasites, her life barely saved by a vaccine created from the DNA of their natural predators the Metroids. Now, the X-Parasites have taken over a space station, joined by a powerful parasite controlling her old suit. |
| 57 | * ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM'' (Platform/NintendoWii, 2010): An interquel between ''Super Metroid'' and ''Fusion'', this game sees Samus join forces with old friends from her days as a Federation soldier to investigate a derelict space station, the "Bottle Ship." |
| 58 | * ''VideoGame/MetroidDread'' (Platform/NintendoSwitch, 2021): The X-Parasites, thought to be eradicated, appear to have survived on the remote planet of ZDR. Samus departs to finish off the X, while also contending with implacable killing machines known as the E.M.M.I[=s=]. |
| 59 | [[/index]] |
| 60 | !!!''[[VideoGame/MetroidPrimeTrilogy Metroid Prime]]'' sub-series |
| 61 | [[index]] |
| 62 | * ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime'' ([[Platform/NintendoGameCube GameCube]], 2002): Taking place between the first two games, Samus investigates the remote planet of Tallon IV, where the Space Pirates have set up a base in the hopes of harnessing a new -- and lethal -- energy known as Phazon. |
| 63 | ** ''VideoGame/MetroidPrimePinball'' (Platform/NintendoDS, 2005; [[DigitalPinballTable pinball adaptation]]) |
| 64 | ** [[/index]]''Metroid Prime Remastered'' (Platform/NintendoSwitch, 2023; UpdatedRerelease)[[index]] |
| 65 | * ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime2Echoes'' ([=GameCube=], 2004): Samus travels to a distant planet named Aether in search of a platoon of missing Federation soldiers, but upon making planetfall is attacked by mysterious shadowy creatures and encounters a Phazon based copy of herself, Dark Samus. |
| 66 | * ''VideoGame/MetroidPrimeHunters'' ([=DS=], 2006): An interquel between the first two ''Prime'' games, Samus travels to the Alimbic Cluster to investigate a psychic message alluding to an "Ultimate Power" hidden among the planets and space stations therein. She's not alone, however, as other bounty hunters have come to claim this power for themselves. |
| 67 | * ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime3Corruption'' (Wii, 2007)[[/index]]: All-out war breaks out across the galaxy as the full might of the Space Pirate military, now forcefully subverted and brainwashed by Dark Samus, attacks multiple Federation planets with powerful new Phazon weaponry in an unprecedented show of force. Now, with Federation worlds in peril, Samus sets off to cleanse the galaxy of Phazon's taint once and for all. |
| 68 | * ''Metroid Prime Trilogy'' (Wii, 2009; {{compilation rerelease}})[[index]] |
| 69 | * ''VideoGame/MetroidPrimeFederationForce'' ([=3DS=], 2016)[[/index]]: Still reeling from the aftermath of the Phazon War, the Federation military launches Project Golem, an initiative to form [[MiniMecha mechanized battle walker squads]] to eliminate the Pirate threat once and for all. As the Federation Force deploys to the remote Bermuda System, what starts as a routine survey mission quickly becomes something far more dangerous. |
| 70 | * ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime4'' (UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, TBA)[[index]] |
| 71 | [[/folder]] |
| 72 | |
| 73 | [[folder:Comics and Manga]] |
| 74 | All Comic and Manga adaptations [[https://www.metroid-database.com/old_site/manga/listing.php can be read here.]] |
| 75 | * ''ComicBook/SuperMetroid'' (1994): A loose American adaptation of ''Super Metroid'' released in ''Magazine/NintendoPower'' magazine; while the story itself is non-canon, [[CanonImmigrant some of its characters were integrated into later portrayals]]. |
| 76 | * ''Manga/SuperMetroid'' (1994): A non-canon Japanese adaptation of ''Super Metroid'' done in a [[RapidFireComedy comedic]] {{Yonkoma}} format, released in Shonen Oh! Comics' ''Game Comics'' magazine. |
| 77 | * ''[[Manga/MetroidManga Metroid]]'' (2002): Samus Aran's {{backstory}}, the latter half doubling as an adaptation of ''Metroid Zero Mission''. |
| 78 | * ''Metroid Prime'' (2002): A 24-page depiction of the game's story released in ''Nintendo Power'' magazine. |
| 79 | * ''Manga/MetroidSamusAndJoey'' (2003-2005): A manga series that depicts Samus as a reluctant mentor to a boy named Joey, who wants to be a hero like his father. The final story arc [[NewSeasonNewName had its title changed]] to ''Metroid EX: Samus and Joey''. |
| 80 | ** ''Rebirth of Samus'': A one-shot manga included in the volume one collection of ''Samus and Joey'', depicting the beginning of ''Fusion''. |
| 81 | * ''[[Manga/MetroidPrime2EpisodeOfAether Metroid Prime: Episode of Aether]]'' (2005-2006): An alternate retelling of ''Metroid Prime 2'' written by Hisashi Matsumoto, in which survivors of the doomed Galactic Federation expedition team up with Samus. |
| 82 | [[/folder]] |
| 83 | |
| 84 | [[folder:Miscellaneous]] |
| 85 | * ''Literature/MetroidZebesShinnyuuShirei'' (1986): A {{Gamebook|s}} adaptation of the original ''Metroid''. |
| 86 | * ''Roleplay/BloodOfTheChozo'' (1995): An [[PlayByPostGames interactive online story]] run by Nintendo Power Source. |
| 87 | [[/folder]] |
| 88 | [[/index]] |
| 89 | |
| 90 | [[folder:Other games featuring ''Metroid'' content]] |
| 91 | * ''Franchise/AnimalCrossing'' series |
| 92 | * ''VideoGame/DeadOrAlive: Dimensions'' (Includes a ''Metroid''-based stage location) |
| 93 | * ''VideoGame/FatalFrame'' (Features the Zero Suit as an unlockable outfit in both ''VideoGame/FatalFrameMaskOfTheLunarEclipse'' and ''VideoGame/FatalFrameMaidenOfBlackWater'') |
| 94 | * ''Galactic Pinball'' (Platform/VirtualBoy [[DigitalPinballTable Pinball game]] wherein you could play a short ShootEmUp segment using Samus's gunship if you meet the right conditions on a stage) |
| 95 | * ''VideoGame/KirbysDreamLand3'' (The "Iceberg 2" mission requires you to destroy several Metroids for Samus Aran) |
| 96 | * ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter4 Ultimate'' (Features both the Varia Suit and Zero Suit as DLC costumes) |
| 97 | * ''VideoGame/NESRemix'' series |
| 98 | * ''VideoGame/NintendoLand'' (The ''Metroid Blast'' minigame) |
| 99 | * ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'' (A [[TheCameo cameo]] from Samus in which she states that she is resting up to fight Mother Brain, along with a Samus doll EasterEgg in another location) |
| 100 | * ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' series (Features [[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros64 Samus]], [[VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl Zero Suit Samus]], [[VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate Ridley, and Dark Samus]] as playable characters, along with various other kinds of ''Metroid'' content in the form of stages, items, trophies, etc.) |
| 101 | * Various [[Toys/{{amiibo}} amiibo-compatible]] games have ''Metroid'' costumes and skins available that are unlocked by ''Metroid'' figures[[note]]Two figures of Samus are part of the ''Smash Bros.'' line; while two other versions of Samus, a Metroid, and an E.M.M.I. are part of a ''Metroid'' line of figures.[[/note]] |
| 102 | [[/folder]] |
| 103 | |
| 104 | %%[[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php/BestEpisode/Metroid Vote on the best game here!]] |
| 105 | |
| 106 | %%[[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php/BiggestComplaint/Metroid Also possesses a crowner page for debating what didn't work.]] |
| 107 | |
| 108 | ---- |
| 109 | !!The Metroid series provides examples of: |
| 110 | %% |
| 111 | %% INDIVIDUAL GAME TROPES SHOULD GO ON THAT GAME's PAGE IF IT IS AVAILABLE, THIS INCLUDES THE PRIME GAMES |
| 112 | %% |
| 113 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 114 | |
| 115 | [[folder:#-K]] |
| 116 | * EleventhHourSuperpower: Beginning with ''Super'', most {{Final Boss}}es have a weapon used only against them. |
| 117 | * AbandonedLaboratory: Common to the series, sometimes not so abandoned. ''Fusion'' and ''Other M'' take place in space stations made of these. |
| 118 | * AbnormalAmmo: |
| 119 | ** Samus has been shot at with explosive stingers, [[FireIceLightning lava grenades, super cooled plasma, high density neutrinos]], [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and contaminated water]]. |
| 120 | ** Samus herself has fired plasma, super-cooled plasma, ice, lava grenades, electromagnetic blasts, standard electrical blasts, concentrated light energy, concentrated dark energy, matter/antimatter, sonic booms, ''miniature black holes'', and various other things out of her own beam cannon. And that doesn't account for projectile weapons - missiles, super missiles, ice missiles... |
| 121 | * ActionGirl: One of the earliest video game examples, and ''easily'' one of the most well-known. While she wasn't even close to being the first playable female character by a long shot (a [[http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/inventories/80sheroines.htm Hardcore Gaming 101 article places her as #32]]), what's notable about Samus is that she is the last woman standing of a wave of 1980s video game heroines who managed to survive into modern pop culture and remains quite influential as the star of her own franchise. Most of her fellow female contemporaries have been long forgotten, with the closest comparison to her probably being Athena Asamiya who debuted in ''VideoGame/PsychoSoldier'' (also in 1986), but later migrated to ''Franchise/TheKingOfFighters'' and is now one of many playable fighters in that series lineup. |
| 122 | * AerithAndBob: |
| 123 | ** Several enemies have weird names like "Desgeega" or "Holtz", or portmanteau names like "Crocomire" and "Sidehopper". A seahorse-like enemy in Norfair that spits fire at you? "Dragon". |
| 124 | ** Ridley, the giant Space Dragon/Pirate Commander, who's an example of this trope as he has the completely normal human name of Ridley despite being a [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot Dragon Space Pirate Alien]]. What are the other aliens' names? Kraid, Phantoon... |
| 125 | ** Samus is the only human to appear in the series with a name that isn't immediately recognizable in modern language (it's actually Greek in origin, the name of a 3rd century Macedonian poet). Even her parents are named "Rodney" and "Virginia" in the manga. |
| 126 | * AfterBossRecovery: Many bosses and mini bosses drop tons of health and ammo refills when you beat them. Justified in ''Fusion'' as all the bosses and enemies are made of X Parasites that Samus absorbs to recover health/ammo, so it makes sense that the bigger bosses have more potent X for her to eat. |
| 127 | * AirVentPassageway: Applies to all kinds of ducts/tunnels, with the Morph Ball. Subverted in ''Zero Mission,'' when after [[spoiler:losing her armor]], Samus must crawl through said tunnels, and she's far from the only creature who can use them. |
| 128 | * AllThereInTheManual: The games are easy to understand plotwise on their own, but there's quite a bit of canonical backstory for both ''Zero Mission'' and ''Fusion,'' as well as the entire franchise on the whole, to be found in the manuals and the [[http://www.metroid-database.com/old_site/manga/listing.php?vid=19 two-volume]] [[http://www.metroid-database.com/old_site/manga/listing.php?vid=13 manga.]] Most notably, the fact that the Metroids were created by the Chozo only comes up [[https://metroid.retropixel.net/gallery.php?gallery_id=m4_manual&image_id=21 in the manual]] for ''Fusion'', and wasn't shown or mentioned in-game at all until ''VideoGame/MetroidSamusReturns''. |
| 129 | * AlwaysChaoticEvil: Averted by the space pirates. Samus never encounters one that isn't evil, but she does find various logs and transmissions confirming there are in fact space pirates who have non-evil tendencies. Taking actions or even expressing opinions that reveal these tendencies quickly get them executed. |
| 130 | * AmazonianBeauty: Over six feet tall, clad head to toe in her Power Suit, regularly takes on death-defying missions that would turn away most others, and is known to appear in revealing outfits in the endings of the games. |
| 131 | * AmbidextrousSprite: Averted in all 2-D games after the first; Samus has different sprites for all directions. Interestingly, some differentiated left/right sprites are in the ROM of the original game, but are [[DummiedOut unused]]. |
| 132 | * AnachronicOrder: The first four games were in order, but starting with ''Metroid Prime'' they started releasing {{interquel}}s and [[VideoGameRemake remakes]]. It would take '''19''' years for ''Dread'' to finally pick up where ''Fusion'' left off. |
| 133 | * AntagonistTitle: Played with; Metroids are commonly weaponized by the Space Pirates, but they're only the main antagonist in ''Metroid II'' / ''Samus Returns'', where the mission is specifically to eradicate the species. |
| 134 | * ArchaeologicalArmsRace: Both the Space Pirates and the Galactic Federation reverse-engineer ancient Chozo technology with varying degrees of success. |
| 135 | * ArmCannon: Samus is a type 1, though her arm is not replaced by a cannon, just inside of it instead of holding it. The cannon can open up like a maw to grab things in ''Prime 3'' (it had opened up prior to shoot missiles, that was the first time she used the feature so mundanely). The Space Pirates and Ghor have been seen with type 2, attached to the wrist. |
| 136 | * ApocalypticLog: |
| 137 | ** The ''Prime'' games have the Chozo, Luminoth and Bryyonian lore entries detail the fall of their respective races to Phazon corruption, the Ing and a MagicVersusScience civil war, respectively. |
| 138 | ** Also from the ''Prime'' games, the Space Pirates usually have some logs describing how "the Hunter" (their name for Samus) is rampaging through their installations. |
| 139 | * ArtEvolution: Samus' famous power suit, which grew its distinctive ShouldersOfDoom in ''Metroid II'' when the Game Boy's technical limitations prevented implementing the PowerUpFullColorChange from the original ''Metroid''. For years, this change was treated as a {{Retcon}}, showing the shoulders in flashbacks and the like whenever covering the events of the original game, but ''Zero Mission'' and supplementary issue finally resolved the issue -- Samus ''lost'' the original Power Suit (original design) after the events of the main game, and gained the "Legendary Power Suit" (New Shoulders Included) during her exploration of Chozodia. |
| 140 | * ArtificialBrilliance: In ''Fusion'', once you get the Varia Suit, absorbing cold X will heal you rather than hurting you. After you absorb a few, they'll realize what's happening and start to avoid you. |
| 141 | * ArtisticLicenseMilitary: The major military force in the series setting is the Galactic Federation Army, with the English versions of the ''Prime'' games adding a Marine Corps. In ''Metroid Prime 2'', the ranks of the deceased Federation Troopers on Aether show the Marine Corps uses a mix of army, marine, and naval ranks. Specialist is an army-exclusive enlisted rank[[note]]As of the time the game released. As of 2021, the Specialist rank came into use with the U.S. Space Force for its first four enlisted ranks[[/note]], Lance Corporal and Gunnery Sergeant are Marine-exclusive ranks, and the officer ranks are all naval based with Lieutenant Commander, Commander, and Captain (as in, a senior officer one rank below flag officer level; the Captain rank in a non-naval branch would be a junior officer). This confusion doesn't exist in the Japanese versions of the ''Prime'' games as the "Marine Corps" doesn't exist in them: all of the Federation's military falls under the Army. |
| 142 | * ArtisticLicensePhysics: Rarely shows up in detail since most of the science fiction aspect is reasonably well-thought-out, but becomes '''glaringly''' obvious when it comes to the various destroyed planets. Two of them--[=SR388=] and ZDR--are destroyed, in both cases ''exploding'', once a space station crashes into them. In reality, a space station that was capable of destroying a planet on impact would be too big to orbit said planet in the first place. As for the detonation sequence that destroys Zebes, nothing is ever made of how this was arranged or the resources necessary to do so. |
| 143 | * AsteroidThicket: Used in ''Super'' and ''Fusion'', where something crashes into an asteroid in each. The asteroids look like they're only a few hundred feet across, and tightly packed. |
| 144 | * AttackItsWeakPoint: An ever-increasing number of bosses throughout the series have this. Starting with Mother Brain in the original Metroid (though you have to make the weakpoint yourself by blasting a hole in her glass case), then continuing with all the "mutated" Metroids in ''Metroid 2''. In ''Super Metroid'', Kraid and Crocomire are only vulnerable to shots to the mouth, Phantoon must be shot in the eye, and Draygon must be shot in the belly (or electrocuted with the Grapple Beam). |
| 145 | * AttackOfThe50FootWhatever |
| 146 | ** Kraid in ''Super Metroid'' and ''Zero Mission'' is twice the size of the screen. The FinalBoss of ''Super'' isn't quite as big, but still counts, being about as tall as the screen is. |
| 147 | ** Quadraxis of Metroid Prime 2 is titanic. In fact, it's so large that rather than keeping your distance and shooting it, you have to [[ColossusClimb climb on it with the Spider Ball]] to even reach its weak points. |
| 148 | * {{Backtracking}}: Obtain previously inaccessible power-ups, curb-stomp previously lethal opponents with your new upgrades, and discover brand new shortcuts and secrets -- all by the magic of backtracking through every area of the game at least twice. It is so integral to this series that fans will frequently complain if the developers remove the ability to backtrack, such as in ''Fusion'' and ''Other M''. Even those at least give full access to the game world once Samus is fully upgraded. |
| 149 | * BagOfSpilling |
| 150 | ** Samus never manages to keep her fully powered-up suit between games, though more later entries at least let her hang onto the Varia upgrade. Usually. In games where she keeps the Varia (Excluding the first Prime, see below) it does nothing. |
| 151 | ** The Long Beam has only been an actual powerup in the original game and its remake; every other game gives Samus its effects even if she visibly loses all her other powerups. ''Metroid II'' also starts her off with about 30 missiles, since they're needed to even damage the Metroids she's hunting. |
| 152 | ** Played with in ''Metroid Fusion''. Samus kept all of the weapon upgrades to her power armor. Unfortunately, her power armor was infected with a parasite which is now using all of those weapon upgrades to try to kill her. |
| 153 | ** And in ''Prime''. While trying to escape the ship at the beginning of the game before self destruction, the ship violently rocks to the side, and a small explosion hits her from behind, causing her to slam against the wall, which causes malfunctions with most of her equipment. |
| 154 | *** ''Prime 2'' begins with a fairly well equipped Samus, but is pretty shortly mugged by aliens and has her upgrades stolen from her. The sudden feeling of impotence is felt by both Samus and the player. To recover many of her upgrades she must find her attackers and fight them, one at a time, while they use her own upgrades against her. |
| 155 | *** ''Prime 3'' has Samus simply start off without any of her items from the previous adventure, but she does retain a few of her power ups such as the Space Jump Boots, Morph Ball with its bombs, and her Charge Beam. WordOfGod states that they scrapped the idea of Samus having her powers in the start and then losing them right after since it was getting too predictable and boring. [[invoked]] |
| 156 | ** And again in ''Other M''. Samus has her full arsenal, but is working with the military in this one and needs authorization to use parts of it. Unfortunately this leads into a VoodooShark situation when the restrictions on her weapons shouldn't cover her nonoffensive equipment, and she won't activate gear she has even in life-or-death situations. Thankfully, in one case, the damage she would take as a result of this is mercifully nerfed. |
| 157 | * BallOfLightTransformation: In the 3D games, Samus takes this form inside the [[BeTheBall Morph Ball]], a process that the SpacePirates were [[BodyHorror unable to replicate]]. |
| 158 | * BeTheBall: One major aspect of Samus' suit is the ability to roll up into the ultra-compact Morph Ball. Naturally, she's used as the ball for ''Metroid Prime Pinball''. The ''Samus and Joey'' manga shows that Samus actually curls up into a Morph Ball every once in a while and that she loves the feeling of being a ball, to the point she actually might just prefer it more than being human. |
| 159 | * BeautyIsNeverTarnished: In ''Fusion'' Samus has to have parts of her suit surgically removed and there is absolutely no scarring. There also appears to be no visible changes caused by the infusion of Metroid DNA (or Chozo DNA for that matter). Not so in ''Corruption'', Samus's phazon corruption causes visible breakdowns on her face and she vomits at one point. |
| 160 | * BeePeople: |
| 161 | ** The Zebesian Space Pirates in the manga comics will follow anyone with enough strength or charisma. In a bit of a subversion, their species can't produce "queens", so they look to other species to lead them. On their own, they're TooDumbToLive. A fan theory even says that the Zebesians are Super soldiers bred by the smarter Space Pirates in Prime, and are MADE to be stupid and not question anything. |
| 162 | ** Almost literal with Kihunters. They're physically bee-like in addition to living in hives and having a "king" that commands the rest. |
| 163 | * BerserkButton: If Samus is pointing her arm cannon at you and you just happen to be a member of a race of intergalactic bloodthirsty aliens, ''don't beg for mercy.'' A space pirate tries this in the manga, and an already enraged Samus goes ballistic, reminding him that he was about to ignore the pleas of a little girl they marked for execution. |
| 164 | * BigBad: |
| 165 | ** Mother Brain in ''Metroid'' / ''Zero Mission'' and ''Super Metroid'' [[spoiler:and also ''Other M'' via a clone]]. |
| 166 | ** [[spoiler:Metroid Prime/Dark Samus]] for the ''Prime'' trilogy. |
| 167 | ** [[spoiler:Gorea]] in ''Metroid Prime Hunters''. |
| 168 | ** [[spoiler:Raven Beak]] for ''Dread''. |
| 169 | * BigBoosHaunt: The Chozo Ruins (''Prime'') and the Wrecked Ship (''Super''). |
| 170 | * BigCreepyCrawlies: Many games have giant buglike bosses, but ''Zero Mission'' has the most. |
| 171 | * BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:The eponymous Super Metroid]] in ''Super Metroid'' just before the BigBad lands the killing blow on Samus. [[spoiler:It is the grown up baby Metroid Samus spared, after all.]] |
| 172 | * BioArmor: Samus' power suit appears metal at first glance, but it may actually be organic. In ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion'', the X-Parasites, a species that infects and mimics other organisms, is able to infest and then copy Samus' armor. ''VideoGame/MetroidDread'' [[spoiler:ends with Samus becoming mostly Metroid, and her suit becomes noticeably more organic in appearance]]. |
| 173 | * BiologicalWeaponsSolveEverything: Subverted. The Chozo created the eponymous Metroids as a biological weapon to control the rampant X Parasites on planet SR-388, which could have threatened the entire galaxy if left unchecked. Later, other races discovered the Metroids and the creatures began to spread across the galaxy, proving to be an even worse threat than the X Parasites. Then, when Samus eradicated the Metroids, the X Parasites came back stronger than ever. Further subverted in ''Samus Returns'', as while the Chozo created the Metroids to curb the X Parasite population, they also seemingly did not intend for them to grow beyond their signature larval stage and could no longer control them. This is what led to them being locked away in a bunch of acid. |
| 174 | * BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:''Super Metroid'', ''Other M'', and ''Fusion''.]] |
| 175 | * BodyHorror: |
| 176 | ** The X Parasites in ''Fusion''; Phazon in ''Prime.'' Metroids themselves count, given their habit of turning their victims into desiccated gray husks that turn to powder when touched. In ''Prime'' as well, a vague reference to Space Pirate attempts to replicate the Morph Ball that went horribly, horribly wrong. Special mention goes to ''Prime 3,'' where you can actually see the gradual effects of Phazon corruption on Samus with each Leviathan destroyed. Those eyes could curdle milk. |
| 177 | ** ''Prime 2'' has the Ing, a transdimensional species of dark-matter aliens that can possess and mutate other beings/machines. |
| 178 | * BookEnds: |
| 179 | ** ''Super Metroid'' opens and closes with escapes from structures that are about to blow up. |
| 180 | ** ''Metroid'' and ''Super Metroid'' both take place on Planet Zebes. Samus ventures into the planet, defeats Ridley, Kraid, and Mother Brain, and escapes before the planet blows up. In Super Metroid, the end to the original trilogy, Samus ventures into the planet again, kills Ridley, Kraid, Phantoon [[spoiler:(not)]], Draygon, and Mother Brain, and escapes before the planet (the escape shaft from the original game is part of the route) blows up. ''Fusion'' provides two. The end to the original trilogy had [[spoiler:the super metroid heals and gives you a weapon to defeat the final boss, saving your life. In ''Fusion'', the Metroid's DNA cures Samus of the X-Parasite infection (saving her life), and makes her able to absorb the X to heal her and replenish her supplies (giving her the weapon to eradicate the X).]] Also the ending, in which the SA-X [[spoiler:saves your life, heals you, and gives you the weapon to eradicate the Omega Metroid.]] |
| 181 | ** Also in ''Fusion'', [[spoiler:both the very first boss (Arachnus) and very last boss (Omega Metroid) are from ''Metroid 2'']]. Those two bosses also have the same basic design. Sharp teeth, huge claws, only susceptible to attacks on its belly. The only real exception is that Arachnus can turn into a spiky ball or shoot fireballs, while Omega Metroid is just big enough to stomp you flat. |
| 182 | * BossArenaRecovery: Avoided in the first game, but Zero Mission has the rinkas around Mother Brain occasionally drop health. Notoriously, the boost guardian can destroy all the health dropping pillars in one shot, denying you any recovery in a boss arena that drains your health. |
| 183 | * BrainMonster: |
| 184 | ** In ''VideoGame/{{Metroid|1}}'', the final boss, Mother Brain, is a massive brain in a tank, with a laser shooting eye. It's stated that it started off as an organic computer built by the [[BenevolentPrecursors Chozo]], which took command of the SpacePirates. |
| 185 | ** In ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'', Mother Brain reappears as the final boss, [[spoiler:this time as an "acranial" example, having gained a massive mechanised body]]. |
| 186 | ** The Federation created Aurora Units, introduced in ''Metroid Prime Three Corruption'', although the brain part is not as noticeable, as they are much more mechanical than Mother Brain, as is the monster part, since they are all affable allies of Samus. |
| 187 | ** Master Brain was created by science team operatives in the Bermuda system with then new alien technology they discovered so it could lead the space pirates there while they got back to scientific research. It serves as the main antagonist of ''Videogame/MetroidPrimeFederationForce''. |
| 188 | ** The Central Units from ''Dread'' are visibly based on Mother Brain, especially after their armored shells are destroyed and the brain portions become visible. [[spoiler:Given that they are affiliated with the Mawkin Chozo, it's very likely they are the same model of AI that Mother Brain herself was.]] |
| 189 | * BreathWeapon: Ridley, as he's a Space Dragon. Also Kraid and OneWingedAngel Mother Brain in ''Super Metroid''. In the ''Prime'' series, Sheegoths, the Parasite Queen, and the titular Metroid Prime. |
| 190 | * BrokenBridge: |
| 191 | ** Sometimes intentional to, [[http://www.metroid2002.com at least try to,]] prevent SequenceBreaking. |
| 192 | ** Even after ''seventeen years'', [[SerialEscalation people are still discovering new tricks]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMuXUvnk6Hg&t=14m55s like this.]] |
| 193 | * TheCavalry: |
| 194 | ** Two times, one in ''Super Metroid'' and another in ''Fusion''. In ''Super Metroid'', [[spoiler:Samus was losing in a CurbStompBattle with a OneWingedAngel Mother Brain, after taking a blow from her ultimate attack. Before the job can be finished, the huge Super Metroid that had earlier attacked Samus but decided to spare her on account of it formerly being the baby metroid ''Samus had spared'', zooms in, drains Mother Brain's energy, and then gives it to Samus, restoring her to full health and granting her the [[EleventhHourSuperpower Hyper Beam.]] Then, it dies [[HeroicSacrifice while shielding Samus from Mother Brain's attacks.]] Cue Samus curbstomping Mother Brain.]] |
| 195 | ** And then in ''Fusion'', [[spoiler:Samus had beaten SA-X, plotted the B.S.L. Station on a collision course with SR-388, and was on her way to her ship to escape. But when she gets to the docking bays, the place is a mess, her ship is missing, and there is a huge shedded skin on the floor. Suddenly, an Omega Metroid comes in and screeches at Samus. With one claw swipe, Samus is knocked down to one HP and immobilized. Before the Metroid could kill her, the SA-X appears and blasts its chest with the Ice Beam, but it is defeated by it. However, Samus absorbs its Core-X, which restored her Ice Beam ability, and proceeded to blast the Metroid to dust.]] |
| 196 | * CanonForeigner: Captain Nemo in the old Metroid Manga[=/=]Strategy Guide, and moveset wise, the Zero Laser from ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'' and the "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opkOtApoqqI#38s Chozo Blood Rights]]" ability from ''VideoGame/MarvelUltimateAlliance'' (she was DummiedOut from the latter game, [[WhatCouldHaveBeen however]]). |
| 197 | * CanonImmigrant: |
| 198 | ** Several characters from Benjamin Itoh's Super Metroid comic (published in Nintendo Power) appear in Nintendo's canon manga. Also as in the old comic, Ridley appears to speak English, though this isn't reflected in-game. |
| 199 | ** In the instruction manual for the original Metroid, there is a picture of a Federation council meeting, with what appears to be a Chozo in attendance. As of the 2004 Manga, this has been made canon as well. |
| 200 | * CapRaiser: Tanks, Energy Tanks, Missile Tanks, Power Bomb Tanks, if it make limit number go up, it's a tank. |
| 201 | * CatastrophicCountdown |
| 202 | ** ''Super Metroid'' plays it straight, twice. When Ridley escapes the space colony in the beginning, an announcement claims that the colony's self-destruct has been activated, urging immediate evacuation. Naturally, the whole place starts shaking, steaming, blowing up, and even rocking back and forth quite impressively. Later at the end of the game, the entire planet starts exploding and flooding with acid, because a "Time Bomb" has been activated. This part even reads, "Time Bomb set!" as a nod to the first game |
| 203 | ** ''Other M''. An AI voice announces over an intercom that a self-destruct sequence will detonate in about five or so minutes. For some reason, your escape becomes riddled with burning debris and wreckage. |
| 204 | ** The first game is a bit of an interesting case. While the NES original averts it entirely ("TIME BOMB SET | GET OUT FAST!", plus a countdown, that's it), ''Zero Mission'' retcons in a straight example (the "time bomb" causes explosions and flames well before going off) and an aversion (the Pirate Mothership). |
| 205 | * ChargedAttack: Charge Beam, the beam combos, the Shinespark. |
| 206 | * ChargeMeter: In the ''Prime'' games, discounting ''Hunters'', the arm cannon has a meter to build up when holding down fire. It even has practical purpose when using seeker missiles. |
| 207 | * ChekhovsGunman: [[spoiler:The Etecoons and Dachoras in ''Super'' later save your butt in ''Fusion'', since Samus saved theirs during Super's final countdown.]] |
| 208 | * ChekhovsSkill: Every power-up becomes useful to go to unreachable areas/items. |
| 209 | * ChestMonster: Torizo in ''Super Metroid'' mimics a Chozo Statue early on, and reappears late in the game. One of the X-Cores in ''Metroid Fusion'' also impersonates a Chozo Statue (most likely a Torizo, considering hosts need to be organic), and another Core X impersonates one named Nettori while giving it power over vegetation and the Plasma Beam. |
| 210 | * CliffhangerWall: ''Fusion'' spent 19 years as the final game in the series' timeline, ending with [[spoiler:Samus causing the destruction of the B.S.L. station and the planet SR-388 in order to stop both the Federation's secret cloning research on Metroids, and the spread of the deadly X Parasites]], leaving her future relationship with the Federation unknown beyond an in-universe acknowledgement that she will most likely have to face trial for her actions. During the intervening years between it and the release of ''Dread'', the franchise saw six interquels by way of the ''Metroid Prime'' sub-series (seven, if you count ''Prime 1'''s pinball adaptation) plus ''Other M'', and two remakes. |
| 211 | * ClimaxBoss: Nightmare in ''Fusion''. [[spoiler:Especially after playing ''Other M''.]] |
| 212 | * CollectorOfForms: The X Parasites are shapeshifters that can mimic any lifeform... but they must first absorb DNA from that lifeform. This typically involves infecting a living host, or absorbing the DNA from biomatter (as seen with the Core-X that absorbed Ridley's DNA from his preserved corpse). X Parasites that possess DNA of multiple lifeforms can change between their forms or even [[LegoGenetics combine them into hybrid forms]]. |
| 213 | * ColorCodedForYourConvenience: |
| 214 | ** Doors are colored depending on what weapon the player needs to shoot them with to open. ''Return of Samus'' and ''Fusion'' are the exceptions. (''Return of Samus'' only has Missile Doors, which would be red if the game had color.) |
| 215 | ** In ''Fusion'' the doors '''are''' color-coded, but by security-clearance. Samus needs to find the override controls for each security level to unlock them, after which any beam will do the trick. [[spoiler:This becomes a plot point, as unlocking the controls also allows the X-parasites to spread further through the station.]] |
| 216 | * ComicBookAdaptation: There are ''tons of them''. Two of which are tongue-in-cheek semi-guide books, one is a ''Magazine/NintendoPower'' comic, one is loosely based upon the first ''Metroid Prime'', a prequel manga and a manga based on pre-''Prime 2''. Let's not even get started with Samus and Joey series... |
| 217 | * CompletionMeter: Later games have a percent counter that rises as you collect items. |
| 218 | * {{Conlang}}: The Chozo have their own fictional language, which was first seen inscribed on the sides of Samus' Gunship in mysterious characters that translated directly to English. The language is finally spoken with its own vocabulary in ''Dread'' by the game's Chozo characters [[spoiler:and Samus herself]]. |
| 219 | * ContinuityNod: |
| 220 | ** The remixed music in the latest installments, plus pieces of the original Brinstar and Tourian in ''Super Metroid''. Possibly also parts of Kraid and Ridley's lairs, although Kraid's "Lair" (especially the piece in question) is very far from where it ought to be. ''Super Metroid'''s "Item Room Ambience" is a (particularly odd/creepy) remake of the original ''Metroid'' item room theme. |
| 221 | ** The lower Yellow Door connecting Crateria and Chozodia? Turns out it's part of the Wrecked Ship From ''Super''. |
| 222 | * ConvectionSchmonvection: Averted, in a rare video game example. |
| 223 | ** Without her Varia Suit, Samus can't even get near lava without being burned, and walking into superheated rooms will cause her to take continuous, non-trivial damage. Most Metroid games make the lava dangerous to touch even when the Varia Suit provides resistance to convection; only more powerful armors like the Gravity Suit (in the 2D games) allow her to walk in lava without getting hurt. In ''Fusion,'' she gains a vulnerability to extreme ''cold'' as well, as a side-effect of the Metroids DNA she was injected with, which can be overcome with the Varia. |
| 224 | ** Only two games play ConvectionSchmonvection straight: The original ''Metroid'' and ''Metroid II: Return of Samus'', in which most players can't tell it ''is'' lava until they explore a section of ''Metroid Fusion'' built to simulate the game. |
| 225 | ** ''Super Metroid'' plays this straight in Tourian, the final area of the game, probably because they weren't expecting anyone to get that region without collecting any of the suits. It's also worth noting that not all areas of Norfair (even Lower Norfair) cause damage to the player, but it mostly seems to be dependent on whether there's lava in the region. Naturally, the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3THRhCgCO4 reverse boss order speedrun]] (which contains some truly magnificent platforming) takes full advantage of this. |
| 226 | * CoolStarship: Samus' gunship, all Three of them. The loaner ship she gets from the Federation after totaling her own in ''Fusion's'' opening may count as well. |
| 227 | * CowboyCop: In the manga, Samus herself, as well as her partners Mauk and Kreatz. |
| 228 | * CriticalAnnoyance: ''Dua-dua-dua-dua-dua-dua'' -- few things are better motivation to search for energy. |
| 229 | * CriticalExistenceFailure: As long as that suit has ''just one point of energy'', she'll be okay. |
| 230 | * CuteBruiser: Samus' pet, Pyonchi, is a rabbit-squirrel from her home planet, who has been known to beat the crap out of schoolyard bullies, complete with a sign saying "Play nice." |
| 231 | * CutenessProximity: Samus had this, or more accurately "roundness proximity", often in the gag manga strategy guide for the first game. |
| 232 | * CyberneticsEatYourSoul: |
| 233 | ** For the most part averted, as most characters get along just fine with their cybernetically-enhanced PoweredArmor. |
| 234 | ** Ghor is a special case. Though he's only 6% organic, he's a very nice guy. When he interfaces with computers or his battle armor, though, he becomes aggressive and bloodthirsty. |
| 235 | * DamnYouMuscleMemory: Most gamers familiar with platformers go from left to right out of habit, but the original ''Metroid'' forces you to go ''left'' in the first area to get the Morph Ball and continue... which is FridgeBrilliance, as Metroid was one of the first games featuring a sprawling open ended world. Making players go left was a way to make players realize that this wasn't just some sort of sci-fi ''Mario''/''Pitfall''/Whatever game. Perhaps in homage to this, the path to the right is blocked off entirely at the start of ''Super Metroid'' (until you get the speed booster and/or power bombs) and for the entirety of ''Fusion'', as the only path out of the docking bay is to the left. |
| 236 | * DarkerAndEdgier: While ''Metroid'' itself is already the foremost DarkerAndEdgier alternative to the other Nintendo series, the earliest version of ''Metroid Fusion'' (then just called "Metroid IV") was... [[http://www.unseen64.net/2008/04/08/metroid-iv-fusion-gba-proto-beta/ very unusual.]] It sported a "bladed" logo, a number that looked like it was torn from a claw, a darker color scheme, and a new suit that made Samus look hyper-muscled. The final version is lighthearted in comparison, but it still retains many elements of survival horror due to the ongoing threat of SA-X. |
| 237 | * DeathIsCheap: Ridley has evaded death every time Samus encounters him, from NeverFoundtheBody, to sneakily flying away while the camera isn't looking (we saw your shadow sneaky), [[WeCanRebuildHim to getting a robo upgrade]]. He never actually dies until ''Super'', but when he does, [[spoiler:some TooDumbToLive researchers in ''Other M'' unwittingly CLONE the bastard]]. He even appears as a boss in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'' [[spoiler:FOUR TIMES. As Ridley, as Meta Ridley, and then again for each form in the Great Maze]]. |
| 238 | * DefeatEqualsExplosion: Most bosses in the series will explode. Ridley, on the other hand, only gets this treatment once, in ''Zero Mission''. ''Metroid Prime 3'' subverts this with Ridley; fans noticed Omega Ridley's shadow flying away during his "death" cutscene after a mere FIVE YEARS. |
| 239 | * DepthPerplexion: Justified. Samus can shoot through walls, but only if she has the Wave Beam, which explicitly has the ability to penetrate solid matter. All the special beams barring ice could shoot through walls in ''Return Of Samus'', but everything excepting the wave beam lost this property after that. |
| 240 | * {{Determinator}}: |
| 241 | ** Nothing will stop Samus Aran. And nothing will stop Ridley from trying to take her down. Well, except for his remains being on an exploding planet. Even when [[spoiler:he's cloned, he gets to go after Samus twice before the clone dies]]. |
| 242 | ** [[spoiler:Same with Crocomire, who comes after Samus even after ALL HIS SKIN HAS BURNED OFF. That's right. He tries to attack you as a SKELETON. [[HilarityEnsues And fails miserably.]]]] |
| 243 | ** [[spoiler:Chronologically, Phantoon goes after Samus two games in a row.]] |
| 244 | ** The Space Pirates, although they get their space-faring asses handed to them all too often, never give up their goal of galactic domination. Their penchant for finding Phlebotinum and SealedEvilInACan lying around might support this. |
| 245 | * DestructibleProjectiles: In various games of the series (''Super Metroid'' in particular), certain projectiles can be destroyed for health or Missile refills [[BossArenaRecovery during boss battles]]. |
| 246 | * DestructiveSavior: It seems Samus cannot escape the cold hand of destruction, whether it be a large base or the entire planet. So far, her "kill count" includes Dark Aether, Phaaze, Zebes, [=SR388=] [[spoiler:and ZDR/Tarin]], the third of which wasn't even her fault. Granted, the others were of her own doing, Phaaze because it kept popping out Phazon Leviathans to infect other planets, Dark Aether because it was just '''pure evil incarnate''', and [=SR388=] [[spoiler:and ZDR]] so she could wipe out the X Parasites, but still. Not even space stations are safe, since the Biologic Space Labs orbital station dies with [=SR388=]. And Samus' first order of business on Tallon IV? Blow up the Space Pirate Frigate ''Orpheon''. Doesn't count the five Space Ships/Colonies that blew up with her on board, (although most of those weren't her fault), and her own ship in ''Fusion'''s opening. |
| 247 | * DirectionallySolidPlatforms: Inverted with pitfall blocks that allow going down but not up. |
| 248 | * DoomMagnet: In addition, very few characters with personal connections to Samus ever survive. |
| 249 | ** Guess what happens to the Bottle Ship at the end of the PlayableEpilogue of ''Other M''? The music is even the same as during the escape sequence in ''Super Metroid''. |
| 250 | ** Also, Ceres Space Colony. It wasn't her fault, but it still self-destructed right after she left. And then there's Samus' own ship in the ''Fusion'' prologue, but again, not her fault. She fell into a coma and the ship also collided with an asteroid. This one would've been the end for her had her ship not had an automated emergency system to eject her escape pod. |
| 251 | * DieHardOnAnX: Except when it is on a space station, complete with [[AirVentPassageway air vent escapes]] and everything! |
| 252 | * DisneyDeath: |
| 253 | ** [[spoiler:Ridley in ''Prime'' gets blasted by the Chozo statues into the crater. Obviously he shows up at least 3 more times, though one was due to being cloned.]] |
| 254 | ** [[spoiler:Anthony Higgs acomplished this]] in ''Other M'' with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3arI6eIPXhM&t=284s some clever enemy manipulation.]] |
| 255 | * DoomedByCanon: See ForegoneConclusion. |
| 256 | * DoomedHometown: Samus lives through ''two'' of these, first on [=K-2L=] and then on Zebes. |
| 257 | * DownTheDrain: Maridia, the crashed frigate, Torvus, Sector 4 (AQA). The latter only because the environment is artificial. |
| 258 | * TheDragon: Ridley is a high-ranking member of the Space Pirates under Mother Brain, and is typically the second-to-last boss fought in every game. He also takes the trope to its literal extreme, being a space dragon. |
| 259 | * DumbMuscle: The original Japanese strategy guide was also a manga; Samus was depicted as a trigger-happy [[TheDitz ditz]] with far more strength than smarts. Although the humor here is that the reader never knows she is a female at this point, and the strategy guide never reveals it either, just basically saying at the end that you can "meet the true Samus if you beat the game quick enough." In hindsight, it's hilarious. |
| 260 | * DummiedOut: |
| 261 | ** Two very interesting things were removed at some point from ''Zero Mission''. One was the ability to turn suit upgrades on and off from the pause menu, as in ''Super Metroid''; fans are still wondering why this much-missed feature was taken out. (Cheat codes can turn it back on.) The second was... [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKvTYQSc_VA Crocomire!]] This Super Metroid boss was found in the ROM, with a full set of sprites and some movement code, but nothing else. It's possible to hack him into various rooms. |
| 262 | ** In turn, ''Super Metroid's'' ROM includes some interesting objects that were never used, most notably a "reflector" which would bounce any beam or missile off at a 90-degree angle. A form of this was used by two pirates in Ridley's Lair who act as a miniboss. |
| 263 | ** The first ''Metroid'' game on the NES had unique sprites for Samus that would have avoided the AmbidextrousSprite trope, but those got replaced with the current sprite the game uses currently. |
| 264 | * DungeonBypass: The Shinespark allows flying across whole rooms, even through certain walls. |
| 265 | * EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: |
| 266 | ** The 1986 design for Samus Aran gave "his" suit a large red barrel chest, tubes under both arms, a more "ray gun" barrel on the cannon, a red glove, and red boots. In addition, the artwork for enemies in the NES version of the game differed considerably from the Famicom version. In both, Kraid was a stout, yellow lizard with long green hair. Ridley, however, resembled a cute baby dragon in the Famicom art, and a bizarre horse-mouthed creature with five eyes (three down the forehead) in the NES art. Metroids had a mass of tentacles instead of fangs, making them look more like jellyfish. |
| 267 | ** ''Metroid'' (outside of [[https://metroid.fandom.com/wiki/PlayChoice-10 an obscure arcade machine version]]) and ''Return of Samus'' have no map system whatsoever. ''Super'' was the first to introduce a map, but it only shows the rooms without highlighting any of the doors and paths that connect between them, and also highlights all entered rooms as pink — connections and alternate colors for unique rooms (mainly secret ones) wouldn't come until ''Fusion''. |
| 268 | ** In the first game, Samus can only shoot in three directions — left, right, and up — and can't crouch, leaving Bombs as the only way to defeat short enemies. ''Return of Samus'' would introduce crouching to shoot low and aiming downward when in the air, ''Super'' added the ability to aim in the four main diagonal directions, ''Samus Returns'' upgraded the diagonal aim button into one that locks Samus in place and allows for full 360° aiming, and ''Dread'' allows for that same spread of directions while moving. |
| 269 | ** In ''Metroid'', ''Return of Samus'', and ''Super'', Bombs bounce Samus upwards even when she's not in Morph Ball form, and in ''Super'', Power Bombs bounce Samus like normal Bombs. These were both gone starting with ''Fusion'', though ''Samus Returns'' would briefly see the latter return in a new form as the Spiderspark. |
| 270 | ** The first two games had beam weapons as mutually exclusive items. Picking one up would replace the other and required significant backtracking to get the other in the original game. The second made it slightly better by having multiple locations for each weapon, as well as rooms that had multiple weapons to choose from. |
| 271 | ** ''Super Metroid'' had an item switch function, allowing the player to turn on and off whichever upgrades they wanted. While Wave and Ice could be stacked, the Spazer and Plasma Beams were mutually exclusive. Tricking the game into turning on both led to a number of glitch beams. Furthermore, prior to the 2002 games cementing their names, the Morph Ball and Grapple Beam were respectively referred to as the Morph'''ing''' Ball and Grappl'''ing''' Beam. |
| 272 | ** As for Samus' trademark Varia Suit upgrade, in the original ''Metroid'' it's simply a [[PaletteSwap color swap]] of her original suit. The Varia Suit didn't gain its trademark shoulder pads until ''Metroid II'', where the change in costume had to be conveyed with a proper sprite change because of the Game Boy's graphical limitations. This was both {{Retcon}}ned in ''Zero Mission'' to be due to Samus acquiring a more advanced Power Suit near the end of the game, which does indeed sport the shoulder pads unlike the suit from the rest of the game. |
| 273 | ** Missile doors used to take ''5'' missiles to break the lock. It wasn't until ''Prime'' that this was dropped. |
| 274 | ** Shinesparking in ''Super'' [[CastFromHitPoints costs health to do]], and has a unique attack after impacting a surface where Samus emits two SpeedEchoes off of herself, damaging any enemies they come into contact with. Later games removed the health penalty and the echo projectiles. |
| 275 | ** Samus in the 2D games always has two kinds of jumps - the straight vertical jump, and the somersault she does when moving - but prior to ''Fusion'', these two jumps were entirely separate. ''Fusion'' introduced the ability to turn a vertical jump into a downward somersault by pressing the jump button again while in midair. |
| 276 | ** In the first game and ''Return of Samus'', Samus takes a bit of damage if she's in the location of a breakable block when it reforms. ''Super'' would make it so that the block simply fails to regenerate, while ''Fusion'' and ''Zero Mission'' would add an animation of the block attempting and failing to reform if she's in its spot. |
| 277 | ** The first two games had more Energy Tanks hidden in them than Samus was capable of holding, effectively making any spares a one-time health refill. ''Super'' is the first game where Samus can hold every Energy Tank she comes across. |
| 278 | * EarthShatteringKaboom: If Samus is on a planet, its days are numbered. See also: [[spoiler:Dark Aether at the end of ''Echoes,'' Phaaze at the end of ''Corruption,'' Zebes at the end of ''Super'', [=SR388=] at the end of ''Fusion'', and ZDR at the end of ''Dread''.]] |
| 279 | * EasterEgg: In ''Super Metroid'', if you return to the Surface of Zebes after obtaining the Super Missiles but before descending into lower Brinstar (when it's still raining) and use the bombs and super missiles to go into the cave on the right, you can listen to the "arrival on Zebes" music again. |
| 280 | * ElaborateUndergroundBase: Many games feature at least one ([[DieHardOnAnX or ARE one]]): Tourian (both versions) in Zebes, Phazon Mines in Tallon IV, the flooded chambers of Torvus Bog in Aether, the Pirate Mines in Pirate Homeworld, and the Omega Metroids' territory in [=SR388=]. |
| 281 | * EldritchAbomination: Phaaze is a [[GeniusLoci living, sentient planet]] intent on infecting as much of the galaxy as possible with Phazon, Gorea is a starborn monster capable of assimilating anything and everything thrown at it, and Phantoon is a bizarre [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot alien parasite ghost]] that can fuck with local space-time and looks a fair bit like something out of the Lovecraft playbook. |
| 282 | * EmergencyWeapon: The stun pistol in ''Zero Mission''. |
| 283 | * EmergentGameplay: The open-ended nature of the games, especially the earlier ones, lent themselves very effectively to SequenceBreaking, SpeedRunning, low percent completions, and more. |
| 284 | * EquipmentBasedProgression: The first thing you have to do in the first game is get the Morph Ball so you can roll under a ledge to the right. All ''Metroid'' games make use of this trope. Ironically, the first game's remake, ''Zero Mission'', was the first to have several progression elements not based around new equipment. |
| 285 | * EternalEngine: Tourian, and most of ''Fusion''. |
| 286 | * EvilIsVisceral: Mother Brain and the Aurora Units are [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin big brains in jars]] that do not look very pretty. [[SubvertedTrope The latter aren't evil on their own though]]. Starting from the first game, the Metroids themselves have visible blood vessels of some sort. In the second game, they were given an insectoid life cycle. In the third game, one of them grows really big, letting you see even more organic bits inside of the body. Same goes for Dark Samus in the ''Prime'' series: the more beat-up she gets, the more glowy Phazon innards start showing. And then the same thing starts happening to Samus herself in ''Corruption.'' The Leviathan insides are visceral too. |
| 287 | * EvilDoppelganger: A common theme. SA-X in ''Fusion'' and Dark Samus in ''Prime 2'' and ''Prime 3'' are quite literal doppelgangers, while Raven Beak is more of an EvilCounterpart. |
| 288 | * EvolutionaryRetCon: |
| 289 | ** In the first ''Metroid'', due to graphical limitations, Kraid and Ridley are both the same size as Samus. By the time ''Super Metroid'' came around, Kraid was two rooms high, and Ridley was at least three times the size of Samus. ''Zero Mission'' retcons the ''Super'' design into canon. |
| 290 | ** ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'' also adds a "fake Kraid" that's slightly taller than Samus and much easier to kill outside of the real Kraid's room: this is both a reference to the size difference in the earlier games as well as the fact that the NES game had a fake Kraid somewhere in the area.[[note]]It can be forgiven that many players didn't know about the fake Kraid in the original game, as ''Zero Mission'' removes it entirely, and the fake is not on the much easier route to the real one.[[/note]] |
| 291 | ** Throughout the ''Videogame/MetroidPrime'' series, the Space Pirate models vary greatly, gaining a separating lower jaw and going from two to four eyes. Partially justified due to the fact the Pirates are genetically altering their troops (with varying levels of success) to enable them to conquer the galaxy. |
| 292 | ** It ''Videogame/MetroidPrime2Echoes'' the Metroids of the Prime series are explained as being "Tallon Metroids"; a different breed than the [=SR388=] Metroids encountered in the other games. This explains why the Metroids in the Prime Trilogy can be defeated without freezing them. |
| 293 | * ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: "Choujin-zoku" roughly translates to "bird race". The Chozo are, y'know... |
| 294 | ** There's actually more. "Choujin" is "bird people," which is roughly what the Chozo are. However, "choujin" for "bird people" is phonetically the same as "choujin" for "superhuman." |
| 295 | ** The Metroids as well. "Metroid" is revealed to be Chozodian for "ultimate warrior". In the early games, Metroids were near-invincible, and by far the most dangerous non-boss enemies around. |
| 296 | ** And the SpacePirates are... Well, pirates. In space. |
| 297 | ** Samus' powers aren't safe from this either. The [[SprintShoes Speed Booster]] boosts your speed. The Missile Launcher launches Missiles. The Scan Visor scans things, the Thermal Visor sees heat, the X-Ray Visor sees X-Rays. The Command Visor sends commands. |
| 298 | * EyeOnAStalk: The Zeela, a creature that appears in Kraid's Hideout in the original ''Metroid'' and ''Metroid: Zero Mission'' and the jungle area of Brinstar in ''Super Metroid'', has two eyes on the end of long stalks. |
| 299 | * ExpandedUniverse: Many characters and stories such as Chairman Keaton, Chief Hardy, Old Bird, and Adam Malkovich either made their first appearances, or were first fleshed out, in the Japanese manga and the Nintendo Power ''Super Metroid'' comic. |
| 300 | %% |
| 301 | %% Armstrong Houston has not appeared in any canon material as of this edit. (Jan 26 2019) |
| 302 | %% |
| 303 | * {{Faceship}}: Samus Aran's Gunship has the design of her helmet built on it. |
| 304 | * {{Fanservice}}: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O69x87ahasA Your reward for finishing the game with 100% completion in most games.]] |
| 305 | ** Becomes FanDisservice in ''Super Metroid'' and ''Fusion'' when her armor blows off, leaving her in a skimpy outfit, as it is her death animation. |
| 306 | * TheFederation: The Galactic Federation. |
| 307 | * FlyAtTheCameraEnding: In ''Super Metroid'' and ''Zero Mission''. |
| 308 | * ForceFieldDoor: A staple of the games. Doors that open simply by being shot are handwaved as being set up to keep out unwanted wildlife. Certain fluff scans suggest they don't always succeed. |
| 309 | * ForebodingArchitecture: From the very first game we have "air tubes" which spawn a variety of increasing dangerous flying nuisances. Sometimes the enemies would not spawn, or would spawn later than normal to give you a false sense of security. Each entry in the ''Prime'' trilogy has Metroid storage tanks which inevitably are broken out of except for a rare few in Prime 1 that stay put unless you break them out yourself. |
| 310 | * ForegoneConclusion: Adam Malkovich [[spoiler:sacrificed himself]] in ''Other M''. [[spoiler:Also, Ridley reappeared in that game and died.]] This was known as far back as ''Fusion''. ''Other M'' also explains why [[spoiler:Ridley fell apart so easily when you encounter the body in the freezer in ''Fusion'' and the X Parasite escapes his body. The last we of see Ridley in ''Other M'', is a dried, gray husk after having his life sucked out of him by the Queen Metroid. And the reason the body is never seen breaking down? It's so the above scene in ''Fusion'' can play out. That was never the real Ridley. It was a clone all along.]] |
| 311 | * FreezeRay: A vital tool of the series, both for its creative uses, and for stopping the titular threat. Subverted with ''Prime 3'' and ''Fusion'', which use Ice MISSILES rather than a beam, but otherwise has the same effect. |
| 312 | * FrigidWaterIsHarmless: Played straight for the most part throughout the series, where Samus suffers no ill effects from walking in water in icy locations (minus the gravitational effects) even with the most basic power suit on. Averted somewhat with the [[VideoGame/MetroidFusion Fusion Suit]], as Samus will take damage from merely being in cold areas until she acquires the Varia Suit. |
| 313 | * FrozenFoePlatform: |
| 314 | ** The Ice Beam is the TropeMaker, appearing in the first game, ''VideoGame/Metroid1''. Many areas can only be accessed by freezing enemies, such as the first game's Rippers, and making use of them as platforms before they thaw. It appears in most games. |
| 315 | ** ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion'': Samus uses Ice Missiles to freeze enemies, and needs to do so to progress at all after she gets the missiles. |
| 316 | ** ''VideoGame/MetroidDread'': Samus can freeze enemies with Ice Missiles, and only certain enemies can be used as platforms when frozen, like Sunnaps, instead of dealing CollisionDamage. |
| 317 | * FungusHumongous: |
| 318 | ** Found in a few corridors of Crateria in ''Super Metroid'', yet noticeably absent in Brinstar. |
| 319 | ** The Phazon-irradiated mushrooms in ''Prime'''s Phazon Mines. They're big enough to use as platforms and solid enough to take a blast from a super missile. They're apparently being considered as a food source by the pirates. |
| 320 | ** Mushrooms also appear near the entrance to Tourian in ''Zero Mission'', which is in a section of Brinstar similar to ''Super'''s "green" zone, but otherwise still rocky. |
| 321 | * GalacticSuperpower: The Galactic Federation, which holds authority over hundreds of populated worlds and is the dominant governing & military force in the galaxy. |
| 322 | * GameChanger: ''Metroid: Zero Mission'': Samus destroys Mother Brain and blows up the Space Pirate's base on Zebes, just as she did in the original game. [[spoiler:Then pirate ships ambush her starship and send her crashing back down to the surface, now without a suit, weaponless, and with little hope of escape.]] |
| 323 | * GameMod: ''Super Metroid'' has several. Of the complete overhauls of the game, amongst the best are probably ''Super Metroid Redesign'', ''Golden Dawn'', ''Super Metroid Dependence'', ''Super Metroid Limit'', and ''Metroid Legacy''. Other good ones include ''One Room'', ''T-Metroid'', ''Magma'', and ''Reverse''. Of these hacks, ''Metroid Legacy'' is by far the easiest, being only negligibly more difficult than the original game (there are a couple of segments that require the use of "glitches" like the mockball and the wall jump, but by and large there is very little trickery required to complete it). ''Golden Dawn'' is somewhat more difficult, but still not that difficult. Most of the others are at the very least NintendoHard and often descend gleefully into PlatformHell territory. ''Redesign'', for example, has a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iIYJAtVrv8 segment]] where you are required to go into the toxic regions of Norfair ''without'' the Varia Suit, and must progress rapidly and kill enemies in order to survive. (There is a way to get the Varia Suit before this with SequenceBreaking, but the sequence break is probably even more difficult). Worth special mention is ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Super Metroid Impossible]]'', a "slight" overhaul of the original game that, thanks to the withholding of crucial items and strategic placement of obstacles, brings it up to ''VideoGame/KaizoMarioWorld'' levels of difficulty. It is also worth noting that, while most of these hacks are roughly equal in size to the original game, ''Redesign'' is absolutely gigantic, being maybe three times the size of the original game. ''Redesign'' is also unique among ''Super Metroid'' hacks for significantly altering the original game's physics, which makes playing it a significantly different experience from playing any other ''Metroid'' game. |
| 324 | * GeniusBruiser: Samus and Ridley in addition to being twenty different flavors of bad ass. The character page has more. |
| 325 | * GhostShip: Literally, with the GFS Valhalla from ''Prime 3'', the Wrecked Ship from ''Super'' with the ghost-boss Phantoon, and the Bottle Ship from ''Other M'' to a lesser extent. [[spoiler:Though this one is played more straight in the epilogue, when it gets taken over by Phantoon himself.]] |
| 326 | * GoForTheEye: |
| 327 | ** Unlike in prior games, Mother Brain in ''Zero Mission'' can only be damaged with Missiles to the eye. |
| 328 | ** The Grapple Guardian in ''Echoes'' has to be shot in the eye in its second phase, mainly to make it lower its shield. |
| 329 | * GoodPolicingEvilPolicing: A plot thread of later games is that there's a corrupt faction within the Galactic Federation (who Samus works with, and was once a member of). Contrasted with Samus herself (an umambiguously heroic bounty hunter[[note]]Which is canonically a title for people who freelance for the GF[[/note]]), and the more reasonable troopers and officials Samus works with or for. The English dub of some games muddied this a little by not making it clear that it was only one branch, and gave the impression the entire organisation was corrupt. |
| 330 | * GrandfatherClause: |
| 331 | ** Even in several ''Metroid'' games released long after the original, Samus' missiles tend to cap out at 255, despite that number only arising due to hardware limitations in the original game[[note]]The maximum number of missile expansions actually ended at 230, but the password system could be tweaked to push it to 255[[/note]]. (Later Zelda games quickly did away with the 255 money Cap, for example) It's just always been a part of the series, and let's face it, any more would make 100% Completion even more insane than it already is, never mind how unbalanced it could make the game. |
| 332 | ** Samus' Morph Ball form also came about because of the hardware limitations making the developers unable to get Samus to crouch or crawl. Needless to say that these days, we have the technology, and yet the Morph Ball remains regardless. Its sheer versatility versus regular crawling may be why. |
| 333 | ** Among [[GermansLoveDavidHasselHoff Americans at least]], Metroid is considered one of the Big Three Nintendo franchises (along with Mario and Zelda). Part of this is due to the fact that all three debuted around the same time on the NES. Even though other franchises such as Pokemon or Kirby sell more, Metroid's recognition and historical position among American gamers means that the series continues to hold this status. |
| 334 | * GrapplingHookPistol: Grapple Beam. |
| 335 | * GratuitousJapanese: "Maru Mari" means something akin to "round ball". It's the only item in the original ''Metroid'' to keep its Japanese name in some translated releases. |
| 336 | * GravityIsPurple: The Gravity Suit, a recurring upgrade for Samus, is purple-colored in most games (The ''Prime'' games make it more bluish gray). However, a more literal example of this trope is in ''[[VideoGame/MetroidOtherM Other M]]'', where the Gravity Suit is just a feature of the Varia Suit instead of its own thing. Activating it causes Samus to be surrounded by a purple aura, rendering her immune to all gravitational effects. In addition, in ''Other M'', passages with strong gravity have dark purple walls. |
| 337 | * TheGreatExterminator: Samus is FamedInStory for her crusades in wiping out the eponymous species. She is specifically called in Galactic Federation thanks to this reputation. |
| 338 | * GreekLetterRanks: The Metroid aliens metamorphose through 'stages', not unlike butterflies. From weakest to strongest, the stages are: infant, larval, alpha, gamma, zeta, omega, queen. |
| 339 | * GuideDangIt: |
| 340 | ** HundredPercentCompletion is HARD. Especially in the original and ''II''. |
| 341 | ** ''Fusion'', ''Zero Mission'', and ''Prime 3'' really cut you breaks on this. At a certain point in Prime 3, you can launch exploration probes to the various planets you visit. These probes will report back every collectible you have yet to pick up. There are still a handful of items that reside on a derelict ship that you absolutely need to find yourself but otherwise, it is within reason for everyone who plays the game to get 100% without consulting a third party source. Not present on the first playthroughs, but ''Fusion'' and ''Zero Mission'' will have a timer and an item checklist for each area [[EndgamePlus if you resume play on a completed file]], or start a new game off of the same slot. |
| 342 | * HailfirePeaks: Every zone in ''Fusion'' is "X meets EternalEngine". The original and ''Super'' have a lot of "UndergroundLevel meets X". ''Corruption'' has Bryyo, which has areas themed around DeathMountain, TheHedgeofThorns, LethalLavaLand and SlippySlideyIceWorld respectively. |
| 343 | * HalfHumanHybrid: Samus is a [[TouchedByVorlons genetically augmented human]] with Chozo DNA, and then later receives an anti-X "vaccine" made from Metroid cells, which allows her to eat the X as if she were a Metroid. |
| 344 | * HappilyAdopted: Samus considers the Chozo her "real" family as much as anything, and they certainly don't skimp on the love. Fans who'd grown to associate Samus with this trope were understandably peeved when in ''Other M'' Samus refers to Adam as "the only father figure she'd ever known". |
| 345 | * HardLevelsEasyBosses: ''Zero Mission'' has this on Normal. The final boss gets significantly more challenging if [[spoiler:you've got 100% completion]], but by that point, you're so armed to the teeth anyways, it barely matters. |
| 346 | * HeWhoFightsMonsters: |
| 347 | ** [[spoiler:Samus nearly succumbs to this in the third chapter of the manga. On the planet of Jigrad, she saves a group of slaves from the Space Pirates. When confronted by Samus, the last remaining Space Pirate pleads with her to show mercy. Driven by her memories of her homeworld K-2L being mercilessly razed by the Space Pirates, Samus is about to murder the last Space Pirate in cold blood when the sound of a small girl crying snaps her out of her rage. Shortly thereafter, the small child thanks Samus for saving her, and Samus tells her that she saved her as well from becoming just as much of a merciless killer as the Space Pirates.]] Also, Samus begins to physically, not mentally, resemble Dark Samus as ''Prime 3'' goes on. A non standard Game over has her playing it straight though. |
| 348 | ** [[spoiler:In ''Metroid II'', Samus is charged with the task of eradicating the Metroids once and for all. After destroying the Metroid Queen, Samus finds a newly hatched Metroid. Despite knowing that Metroid is a Chozo word for "ultimate warrior", she refuses to kill a newborn child like Ridley would have done to her years prior. Fitting, then, that in ''Samus Returns'' Ridley happens to turn up as she's about to leave.]] |
| 349 | * HeartContainer: Energy Tanks (represented on the HUD by a colored shape near Samus's Energy meter) are a collectible item that grants Samus 100 extra health on top of the stock 99 Energy that the Power Suit starts with (though they don't visually increase the number above 99, instead refilling the health meter when it goes below 0). |
| 350 | * HeelRealization: The [[spoiler:eponymous Super Metroid]] has one just before it drains all of Samus' energy when it recognizes who she is: [[spoiler:the "mother" it imprinted on when it was Baby Metroid she'd spared in the previous game]]. |
| 351 | * HeinousnessRetcon: |
| 352 | ** Ridley started as one of the many SpacePirates bosses of the original games, and this remained unchanged for a time. There wasn't any connection between him and Samus. However, due partially to his popularity as his role expanded two adaptations rewrote him to give him a [[YouKilledMyFather much more personal connection]]: |
| 353 | ** ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion'': The Japanese exclusive child mode was the first to show Ridley leading the Space Pirate raid that destroyed Samus' home planet and leaving her an orphan. |
| 354 | ** ''Manga/MetroidManga'': Building upon the first example specifically has Ridley murdering Samus's mother, and was the cause of her father's sacrifice. Not only that, many years later Ridley kills Gray Voice, Samus's adoptive parent. The manga is stated as canon, thus later installations such as ''Videogame/MetroidOtherM'' and ''Videogame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' would openly acknowledge Ridley as responsible for leaving Samus an orphan and killing her parents, giving them [[ItsPersonal a deep connection]] for their enmity. |
| 355 | --->'''[[VideoGame/KidIcarus Pit]]''': So what's the story behind him and Samus? |
| 356 | --->'''Palutena''': Ridley killed Samus's parents when she was young. |
| 357 | --->'''Pit:''' [[{{Understatement}} That's messed up!]] |
| 358 | * HeroicMime: In ''Prime 3'', the first voice-acted game in the series, she has no voice acting beyond her usual grunts, on the grounds that Samus talking would be "too creepy." In ''Fusion,'' she monologues a lot, and converses with her computer towards the end. She also does some narration in ''Zero Mission'' and ''Super'', but only the very beginning of each game. Averted as well in ''Other M''. |
| 359 | * HeroicSacrifice: |
| 360 | ** Samus almost attempts one in ''Fusion'' [[spoiler:by detonating the self-destruct charges on BS-L to destroy the X-Parasites aboard; herself included. The AI Adam, however, informs her that doing that would be stupid, as it would not destroy the X on Planet [=SR388=], and only serve to destroy the X's greatest obstacle: Samus. Adam then promptly makes a HeelFaceTurn and decides to help Samus, making a different plan, which destroys all the X in both locations and allows Samus time enough to escape the station.]] |
| 361 | ** Also [[spoiler:Adam Malkovich]] in ''Other M'' and [[spoiler:the Metroid hatchling]] in ''Super Metroid''. |
| 362 | ** Both of Samus' parents sacrifice themselves as well. Her mother does to save Samus, and her father sacrifices himself blowing up the Space Pirates vessel, along with most of their force. Ridley later taunts Samus by revealing that without a ship, he consumed the bodies of the dead humans to stay alive. Including [[KickTheDog her mother]]. |
| 363 | * HeWasRightThereAllAlong: |
| 364 | ** Acid Worm in Zero Mission, Elephant Bird and Yakuza in Fusion, Torizo in Super, Arachnus in Metroid II (averted in [=AM2R=] and Samus Returns)... |
| 365 | ** Averted with Ridley in ''Zero Mission''. He was not even near the planet when Kraid was defeated, only just landing on it when Samus reaches his hideout, and not arriving in his boss room until just as Samus was about to leave with the [[spoiler:Gravity Suit]]. |
| 366 | ** In ''Super Metroid'', Ridley plays this straight, for both encounters. |
| 367 | * HoistByHisOwnPetard: |
| 368 | ** Mother Brain attempts to finish off Samus with the Hyper Beam at the end of ''Super Metroid''. Before dying, the infant Metroid steals it from her and gives it to Samus... |
| 369 | ** ''Zero Mission'' reveals that the reason Tourian is devoid of Space Pirates is because the Metroids they were producing got loose and killed them all. This is the usual result of people trying to use Metroids. One would think the Federation would have noticed this, but apparently [[spoiler:the Ringleaders]] either didn't notice or didn't care. |
| 370 | * HopelessBossFight: |
| 371 | ** The first fight against Ridley in ''Super''; you can sort of win, as he fumbles the hatchling if you hit him enough times, but he still takes off with it after. |
| 372 | ** The ''Super Metroid'' FinalBoss, which can only be won [[spoiler:AFTER the Super Metroid's death]] -- and yes, it's possible to fumble it and LOSE during this fight. And SA-X before ''Metroid Fusion'''s finale. And the Giant Metroid in Super Metroid. |
| 373 | * TheHorde: The Space Pirate Confederation. A smaller but more competent example are The Ing Horde. |
| 374 | * HubLevel: The Main Deck in ''Fusion'' and the Temple grounds in ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime2Echoes''. |
| 375 | * AnIcePerson: Samus, considering all the ice power-ups. She gets this affinity turned around on her in ''Metroid Fusion''; because she has Metroid DNA, cold becomes her greatest weakness. The organism in her old suit, the SA-X, uses her old Ice Beam to devastating effect whenever she bumps into Samus. |
| 376 | * IconicOutfit: |
| 377 | ** ''Metroid II'' introduced the round-shouldered styling of her Power Suit to make the Varia Suit upgrade more readily identifiable with the greyscale graphics, and then ''Super Metroid'' made it the enduring look for her, such that it's her default suit appearance in the majority of her guest appearances in other Nintendo games. |
| 378 | ** The form-fitting Zero Suit under-armor Samus wears was first introduced in ''Zero Mission'', and then the portrayal of Zero Suit Samus in ''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'' made it replace her previous under-armor clothing and jumpsuits in the public consciousness. |
| 379 | * {{Imprinting}}: One of the series' iconic scenes is at the end of ''Metroid II'', where a Metroid hatches and imprints on Samus as its mother (and Samus is at least merciful enough to not kill it). The plots of ''Super'', ''Fusion'', and ''Other M'' all refer back to this scene. |
| 380 | * InCaseOfBossFightBreakGlass: ... well, how else are you going to [[AttackItsWeakPoint Attack Mother Brain's Brain]]? |
| 381 | * InformedAbility: Zigzagged with one specific detail throughout the franchise: the ''VideoGame/MetroidIIReturnOfSamus'' manual specified that Samus's helmet has an [[http://metroid.retropixel.net/gallery.php?gallery_id=m2_manual&image_id=8 "Infrared Ray Scope"]] that allows her to see in the dark, implying it's a standard feature. But this has been very inconsistent throughout the franchise: |
| 382 | ** ''VideoGame/MetroidIIReturnOfSamus'': Even though the very manual tells you that you have night vision, there are pitch black rooms in [=SR388=] where you will have to wander around blindly. |
| 383 | ** ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'': Dark rooms are also pitch black, implying she can't see in them. |
| 384 | ** ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion'': When Samus enters the nocturnal Sector 6, there is a small light circle around her and dimmer surroundings, implying she does have some form of limited night vision ability. |
| 385 | ** ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime'': This would become a gameplay element with the Thermal Visor that does allow for adequate vision in dark areas, except for the fact that Samus has to steal it from a Space Pirate lab as her base suit never had this ability, so it's not standard. |
| 386 | ** ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM'': The Geothermal Power Plant is shrouded in shadow until lava starts flowing into the room, once again showing Samus's night vision is limited. |
| 387 | ** ''VideoGame/MetroidDread'': The parts of Dairon that lack power at first arrival are very dark, yet again demonstrating a lack of night vision on Samus's part. |
| 388 | * InsectoidAliens: The "[[https://metroid.wikia.com/wiki/Ki-Hunter Ki-Hunter]]" pirates of ''Super Metroid'', ''Fusion'', and ''Other M''. The main space pirates seemed to be too but ''Prime'' revealed them to be reptilians in insectoid armor. ''Zero Mission'' pirates are not reptilian but still revealed what their [[ExtraEyes heads look like under the helmet.]] The latter design was prominent in ''Prime 3''. |
| 389 | * InSeriesNickname: To Space Pirates, Samus is "the Hunter" and Dark Samus is (only in Prime 2) "the Dark Hunter". |
| 390 | * {{Interquel}}: All of the games released after ''Fusion'', starting with ''Prime 1'', though their exact placement in the timeline varies. |
| 391 | * InterspeciesAdoption: Samus was raised by the Chozo, who also taught her everything she knows as a bounty hunter. |
| 392 | * IntroducedSpeciesCalamity: The titular creatures are considered to be a dangerous threat to whatever environment (barring cold temperatures) they appear in, being near-unstoppable while consuming the life force of all organisms in their path. Despite this, Metroids are extremely desired by both the Space Pirates and the Galactic Federation for their potential applications, even if it means risking the lives of many to get their hands on even a single one. It is because of these factors that Samus is ordered to wipe out all Metroids from existence lest they fall into the wrong hands and become an invasive species throughout the galaxy. However, it turns out the Metroids were created by the Chozo to combat an even bigger threat to the galaxy known as the X-Parasites. |
| 393 | * ItsPersonal: Just read the manga and you'll see that Samus has quite the bone to pick with the Space Pirates, Ridley, and Mother Brain. |
| 394 | * JokerImmunity: The one time Samus finally kills Ridley in ''Super'', he comes back, despite the fact a planet was blown up under his corpse's feet. Could be a justification for her HeroicBSOD in ''Other M''. She thought he was KilledOffForReal and yet here he is, haunting her again. |
| 395 | * KaizoTrap: Any Core-X that gives you Beam upgrades will shoot even if your hit kills it, so you can wind up [[TakingYouWithMe being taken with it]] if you're low on energy, unless you time your dodge just right so it doesn't bounce off the outer shell because the Core-X turned to stay aligned with you. Or, you know, having more energy than the blast takes away, and using the Core-X to heal afterward. |
| 396 | * KillEnemiesToOpen: The series uses these a lot, usually in the multiple pirate bases you'll have to raid. Also an egregious case of FridgeLogic, because unlocking the door for someone who has just murdered your security team seems like a genuinely awful idea... |
| 397 | * KillItWithIce: The titular monsters, annoying as hell before you get some weapons effective against them. Though not as much with some of their later forms, the games rarely throw those at you. |
| 398 | [[/folder]] |
| 399 | |
| 400 | [[folder:L-Z]] |
| 401 | * LastOfHisKind: ''Super Metroid'' features the last Metroid. Samus herself might even count, given that, although human, she's carrying the DNA of the practically-to-totally extinct Chozo race. |
| 402 | * LateArrivalSpoiler: |
| 403 | ** The opening cutscene of ''Super Metroid'' spoils the endings of ''Metroid'' and ''Metroid II''. |
| 404 | ** The ending of ''Super Metroid'' is spoiled in the opening cutscene of ''Other M''. Then again, it's one of the most iconic games in the series, so odds are a new arrival looking up ''Metroid'' info has already stumbled across it on a message board or something anyway. |
| 405 | ** [[SamusIsAGirl Samus being a girl]] was itself considered a plot twist at the beginning of the series, to the point where the original game's manual outright referred to her as male, in both the Japanese and English versions. At this point it's the only thing some people know about the series, and crossover media such as ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' don't even try to hide it. Hell, ''Zero Mission'' didn't bother hiding it, and it was a remake of the original game. |
| 406 | * LatexSpaceSuit: Zero Suit Samus. |
| 407 | * LavaIsBoilingKoolAid: In the original Metroid, lava was a red palette swap of acid. |
| 408 | * LeaningOnTheFourthWall: The ''Nintendo Power'' comic adaptation of ''Prime'' states at the end that Samus was only on Tallon IV for around 10 hours, which is around the time that a skilled player can beat the game. |
| 409 | * LeftHanging: Some people were a bit annoyed at the lack of [[VideoGame/MetroidDread a sequel]] to ''Fusion'' for over 19 years, in no small part because the ending to that game addressed but didn't resolve a little factoid: [[spoiler:Samus just ''blew the shit'' out of a Federation-owned scientific laboratory, taking a planet and an illegal Metroid cloning project with it. Sure, Samus was getting rid of the new clone Metroids and the X parasites all in one go, but a secret faction within the Federation '''wanted''' to keep both of those around so ''they'' could use 'em as weapons... meaning that Samus is, in all likelihood, ''an outlaw now''.]] The prequel, ''Other M'', also deals with a rogue faction (which may be the same group as in ''Fusion''), but it's still otherwise undeveloped beyond the possible inclusion of a Colonel, a scientist, and a now-dead soldier in their ranks. |
| 410 | * LegacyBossBattle: Ridley, a SpacePirate pterodactyl/dragon-thing, has made an appearance for a boss fight in every game in the franchise except for five (out of fourteen).[[note]]''Metroid II: Return of Samus'', ''Metroid Prime 2: Echoes'', ''Metroid Prime Hunters'', ''Metroid Prime: Federation Force'', and ''Metroid Dread''[[/note]] |
| 411 | * LegoGenetics: Samus is a human being genetically enhanced by Chozo blood. By ''Fusion'', she's also part-Metroid - although [[DownplayedTrope not as blatant as the trope normally implies.]] She doesn't change too much. Her immune system and body regulation have changed, but both could be justified. Still, ''Dread'' has the strengthening of the Metroid genes being a major plot point. |
| 412 | * {{Leitmotif}}: |
| 413 | ** Ridley, ever since ''Super'', has had his own unique boss music based on one of the two boss battle themes used in ''Super'' (he originally shared it with Draygon and the Torizos). Depending on the game, a different remix of the theme will play in every battle with him. Even when fighting [[spoiler:his [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZG-wiA1670k adolescent form]]]] in ''Other M'' you can hear his classic theme stealthily incorporated, especially in the percussion. The song is also sometimes used as a self-destruct escape theme. |
| 414 | ** The SA-X has three distinctive tracks: one for when it's stalking a room, one for when it spots Samus and gives chase, and one for when the two finally throw down at the end of the game. |
| 415 | ** Samus herself has [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvGrd8jnCdM an entrance theme]] that was only ever replaced in ''Metroid II'', though it makes a comeback in ''Samus Returns''. |
| 416 | ** [[Level1MusicRepresents Brinstar]] has two themes that have become rather iconic in their own rights, despite not necessarily being the main theme of the game. |
| 417 | * LeParkour: Samus in every game after ''Super'', except ''Prime'' and that may count too because she still has awesome [[CutscenePowerToTheMax cutscene moves.]] |
| 418 | * LethalLavaLand: Present in some form in every ''Metroid'' game except ''Echoes''. |
| 419 | * LiterallyShatteredLives: The traditional way to kill Metroids has been to freeze them with the Ice Beam and then shatter them with a missile. In ''Prime 1'' and ''Echoes'' (with the functionally similar Dark Beam), this can also be done to many non-Metroid enemies. [[spoiler:In ''Fusion'', since Samus is part-Metroid now and the SA-X has all of your old gear, it does the same thing to ''you'' if it catches you.]] |
| 420 | * LivingGasbag: Many of the organisms float this way, including the [=titular=] Metroids. |
| 421 | * LivingStructureMonster: The doors to a boss room in ''Super Metroid'' and ''Metroid Fusion'' are covered by giant eyes that shoot eyebeams at the player and must be destroyed before you can enter the room. |
| 422 | * LoadBearingBoss: At least one in every game which will inevitably result in the destruction of a nearby planet (if not the planet under Samus' feet)...except ''Metroid II''. At least, during the course of the game... |
| 423 | ** Metroid/Zero Mission: Mother Brain and Mecha-Ridley. In the latter case, Mecha-Ridley manually triggers the self-destruct sequence for the Pirate Mother Ship, wiping Chozodia off the map and allowing the Wrecked Ship to be explored in ''Super''. |
| 424 | ** ''Prime'': Parasite Queen and Metroid Prime. |
| 425 | ** ''Prime 2'': Emperor Ing. |
| 426 | ** ''Prime 3'': Every Seed boss [[spoiler:and Aurora Unit 313]]. |
| 427 | ** ''Super'': Mother Brain. |
| 428 | ** ''Other M'': [[spoiler:Phantoon]] (though, the timing is coincidental). |
| 429 | ** ''Fusion'': SA-X (though, destroying it just removes the obstacle in the way of ''you'' doing the destruction). |
| 430 | ** ''Dread'': [[spoiler:Raven Beak]] (though this owes more to the ship collision that preceded the final blow). |
| 431 | * LovecraftLite: And does not become full on CosmicHorrorStory solely due to the presence of Samus, and in the case of ''Echoes'' and ''Hunters'', it was a bonafide CHS before she came along. The galaxy always seems to be one instant away from destruction, and the destruction of one just leads to another, as seen with the Metroids and X Parasites. The Ancient Chozo foresaw many of these threats, but they are almost extinct today, and at least one of those threats wiped out a civilization that wasn't that much less advanced than them. It's fortunate that their last champion, an orphaned human who lost her parents to Space Pirates, is their greatest. |
| 432 | * {{Magitek}} |
| 433 | ** Both the tribals and the lords of science made use of mogenars during TheMagicVersusTechnologyWar. You can scan various remains of them and can't tell from the wreckage which ran on magic or mundane power. |
| 434 | ** The Aeion abilities seen in ''Samus Returns'' are said to be closer to magic than the other Power Suit functions, with the beam burst in particular resembling the charged hyper mode fire that had been achieved through mostly technological means. |
| 435 | * MalevolentArchitecture: All over the franchise. |
| 436 | * MatterReplicator: Samus' Chozo-built suit seems to use this technology. It can turn into energy when not in use, can change back and forth from a spherical shape, and it has storage capacity for more missiles and bombs than the suit should physically be able to hold. In ''Fusion'', upgrades for Samus' suit are sent to her as computer data and are downloaded into her suit. |
| 437 | * MeaningfulName: Both "Samus" and "Aran" have long been considered [[UsefulNotes/IrishNames vaguely Irish]] in origin, Samus said to be a variant of Séamus (James)[[note]] A persistent myth seems to be that it's a ''real'' Irish name and the standard female variant of Séamus - it's not, as like English Irish doesn't have a female equivalent to James, or even a diminutive like "Jamie" in use as a woman's name.[[/note]], though eventually the developers revealed it actually comes from [[UsefulNotes/AssociationFootball Pelé's]] real name, "'''Aran'''tes" and the mistaken impression that his first name was something like "Samus"[[note]]It's actually Edson - his full name is Edson Arantes do Nascimento[[/note]]. That said, "Séamus/James" is an offshoot of "Jacob", meaning "one who supplants/conquers/holds the heel" is actually surprisingly apt. The Aran islands are also three settled islands off the west coast of Ireland, giving you something akin to "She who supplants / isolated locations" (and the island imagery is fitting for such a [[IWorkAlone loner hero]]). |
| 438 | * MascotVillain: The Metroids that [[TheHero Samus Aran]] usually has to exterminate on a regular basis. They are also {{Mascot Mook}}s. |
| 439 | * MechanisticAlienCulture: The Space Pirates. |
| 440 | * MetamorphosisMonster: While on their home planet at least, the Metroids go from floating parasitic jellyfish to beetlelike creatures to giant armored lizards. In an interesting twist, the first stage is not only the most well-known, but while nearly every game has a variant of the jellyfish stage, the later stages have only appeared in a handful of games. ''Metroid II'' originally implied that the Metroids were mutating, making them very different and more dangerous. It wasn't until later in the series that these "mutations" were retconned into being part of their natural life cycle, but which was only sustained in the correct environment (that of [=SR388=]). "Samus Returns" retcons it back, suggesting the metamorphosis beyond larva was unexpected by the Chozo living in peace with Metroids who no longer saw the Chozo as friends after reaching the alpha stage. [[spoiler:Although "Returns" also suggests there was fighting between various Chozo factions that prevented the Metroid project from being truly completed...]][[{{Revision}} Whatever the case]], the Federation still thinks Metroids "naturally" metamorphose on [=SR388=], [[spoiler:which is why Sector 1 (SRX) so seamlessly mimics the planet's environment]]. |
| 441 | * {{Metroidvania}}: The series [[TropeMaker started]] and [[TropeCodifier codified]] the genre. It's in half of the trope name, too. |
| 442 | * MiniBoss: Most games in the series include them in some way. ''Return of Samus'' depends on how the player interprets some of the enemies - Arachnus and tougher Metroid specimens might count, or they might just be bosses. |
| 443 | * MinusWorld: In the NES original and Game Boy sequel. |
| 444 | * MsFanservice: Samus herself has a few showy moments every once in a while. If you were to beat the older games fast enough, Samus would not only take off the helmet, but also her suit, leaving herself in only a bikini. The newer games have the [[SensualSpandex Zero Suit]], which was pretty obviously created to accentuate Samus' curves. |
| 445 | * MultipleEndings: The Segmented Endings subtrope applies to the ''Prime'' series, ''Metroid 2'', ''Super'', and ''Other M''; whether based on completion time, [[HundredPercentCompletion percentage]], or both. Played somewhat straight with ''Fusion'' and ''Zero Mission'''s ending portraits. |
| 446 | * MythologyGag: [[spoiler:The final boss fight of ''Fusion''. You get reduced to low health unfairly quick (no matter your remaining health prior to this), and then someone shows up to save your hide before you get finished off. That savior gets killed, Samus gets a new beam, and you beat the unholy tar out of whatever you were fighting. There are some discrepancies,[[note]]Just to name a few: the Omega Metroid one-shots you while Mother Brain hits you hard over and over until you can't get up, the member of the Metroid race goes from being the savior to being the boss, Samus' Fusion Suit changes color but not the predecessor, Fusion's final battle is during the timed escape while Super's commences it, and the list goes on.[[/note]] but the similarities to ''Super Metroid'' are obvious.]] |
| 447 | * NewWeaponTargetRange: |
| 448 | ** ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'': |
| 449 | *** The Hi-Jump Boots are located in a room that requires them to get out without Wall Jumping. |
| 450 | *** The Speed Booster is at the end of a long, sloping corridor that you need to quickly cross if you want to survive, and the game offers several sections to demonstrate that your ability can shred certain blocks and enemies. |
| 451 | *** The Grappl'''[[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness ing]]''' Beam is found in a room that is better escaped from by using the grapple points in the ceiling, followed by more rooms that are more easily crossed with the Grapple Beam featuring pits of water underneath in case you fall. |
| 452 | *** In the room where you acquire the Plasma Beam, you encounter Space Pirates that you may at least have difficulty damaging. Once you have it, killing them is easy even with an uncharged beam. This one is also Enforced, you '''must''' kill the Pirates because [[KillEnemiesToOpen the door locks behind you and doesn't open until they're dead]]. |
| 453 | ** ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion'': |
| 454 | *** Acquiring Missiles is followed by a long section full of enemies and obstacles that can only be killed by missiles. |
| 455 | *** The Varia Suit is followed by a room full of Cold-X, all of which are now completely harmless to absorb, for your healing pleasure, especially if the Core-X didn't top you off. |
| 456 | *** The Space Jump is recovered in a large open room where you can practice jumping around to your heart's content. |
| 457 | *** You are given several Ki-Hunters to test your new Plasma Beam on after beating Nettori. |
| 458 | *** Shortly after acquiring the Screw Attack, you are given a chance to go nuts with it, in a room full of normally-invincible enemies, where you learn that the Screw Attack can destroy them with ease. |
| 459 | ** ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime'': |
| 460 | *** The Space Jump Boots are followed by a short platforming section that leads you to the Chozo Ice Temple. |
| 461 | *** After acquiring the Thermal visor, all of the lights go out, requiring you to use said visor to navigate. |
| 462 | *** You find the Gravity Suit underwater. It immediately grants you better vision and the ability to move freely, and offers you a short platforming segment to prove it. |
| 463 | *** After getting the X-Ray Visor, you are forced to use said visor to escape the room, familiarizing yourself with it, as well as by setting several Chozo Ghosts on you, showing that now you can see them even when they go invisible. |
| 464 | *** After obtaining the Phazon Suit, you are forced to make your way through several regions full of the substance, demonstrating the new suit's protective capabilities. |
| 465 | * NiceJobBreakingItHero: When Samus eradicated the Metroids on [=SR388=], her intention may have been to stop the Metroids from being used as a biological weapon ever again, but by removing an apex predator from the planet's ecosystem, the X Parasites that the Metroids preyed on were able to multiply unchecked. This sets up the events of ''Fusion'', where the parasites become a potentially greater threat than the Metroids. ''Samus Returns'' includes this as part of TheStinger. |
| 466 | * NinjaPirateZombieRobot: |
| 467 | ** Ridley started as a dragon Space Pirate, and adds more to this title in the ''Prime'' games, culminating in him being a mutant cyborg dragon space pirate. |
| 468 | ** In ''Super'', there are two gray Space Pirates that fight by using martial arts, which are called "Ninja Pirates" by fans to this day. |
| 469 | ** In ''Other M'', there are melee cyborg Space Pirates (called Zebesians for some reason) with mind control units [[spoiler:controlled by the Federation]], making them a near literal example. |
| 470 | * NintendoHard: |
| 471 | ** The original game (and given the trope is named after the NES having abusively difficult games, it's not surprising in the least). Getting 100% without a [[GuideDangIt guide]] is hard, doing that while beating it in under [[SpeedRun 2 hours]] is even harder. |
| 472 | ** The other games are easier due to gameplay refinements. But if this is you first time playing any particular game, be you a veteran or a newcomer, you WILL die at least 20 times. Now try and get 100% under 2 hours without dying on hard mode! |
| 473 | * NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: |
| 474 | ** Samus to Mother Brain during the mother of all MamaBear moments at the end of ''Super Metroid''. After what Mother Brain did, she completely deserved it. |
| 475 | ** Fusion sees this done twice, but the more pointed example is the Omega Metroid, as Samus is in a hurry and there's literally no strategy to killing it other than do as much damage as you can before that claw comes down, then get out of the way and move back in before it can step forward. |
| 476 | * NoHuggingNoKissing: The series has been devoid of romance since its inception. This is usually because Samus Aran's missions tend to only have her encountering the evil SpacePirates and various alien wildlife, but even the later games and supplementary manga and comics that ''do'' portray friendly, intelligent characters don't feature any romance. The only exception among the games is ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime2Echoes'', where a BattleCouple are among the deceased Luminoth Keybearers. |
| 477 | * NoobBridge: The TropeNamer is a crumbling bridge encountered early in Brinstar in ''Super Metroid'', and the first place in the game that would require any player (of less than insanely good skill) to use the run button. The run button, however, is not part of a standard control scheme anywhere else within the Metroid series. Many newbies get stuck there, unaware of the otherwise obvious solution. |
| 478 | * NoTranshumanismAllowed: One of the rare and surprising aversions: not only are cybernetics commonplace and carry no notable social stigma, Samus herself is a [[HalfHumanHybrid transgenic lifeform]], with her adoptive Chozo caretakers having grafted their species' DNA onto her own to increase her adaptability to the harsh environment of [[DeathWorld Planet Zebes]]. Further, by ''Metroid Fusion'', Samus is also [[spoiler:part Metroid]]. And [[spoiler:Adam (and many other political and scientific figures) regularly underwent BrainUploading]]. |
| 479 | * NotTheIntendedUse: And not just in SequenceBreaking form either. Glitching Kraid in ''Super Metroid'' for instance, is not a sequence break, but certainly counts. |
| 480 | * OminousLatinChanting: Ridley's sub-sector of Norfair in Super, reimagined in Prime 1 as Magmoor Caverns and reused in Samus Returns for heated rooms. [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic And it is AWESOME.]] |
| 481 | * OneHitPolykill: The Plasma Beam works this way. |
| 482 | * OneManArmy: Both the Federation, and Samus [[OneRiotOneRanger all by herself]], staged their own assaults on Zebes in the backstory of Zero Mission. The Federation failed. Samus didn't. [[AWinnerIsYou And it's all thanks to you.]] |
| 483 | * OncePerEpisode: Every game features Samus living up to her MikeNelsonDestroyerOfWorlds status, with the ends of each game having her directly or indirectly causing the destruction of a massive, life-filled location following [[LoadBearingBoss the defeat of the final boss]], with the exception of ''Metroid II Return Of Samus'' and the demos. |
| 484 | * OpeningACanOfClones: Characters or creatures believed killed off in previous games commonly reappear as clones, robotic duplicates, X-Parasite doppelgangers, etc. (and in the case of Ridley, all of the above). This makes it almost impossible to truly believe that these characters are gone for good, and when some characters are revealed to survive (for example [[spoiler:Kraid in ''Dread'']]), there is a lot of speculation about whether it's the real character, a clone, or some other type of copy. There are even numerous theories that Samus herself is a clone, particularly following the events of ''Fusion''. |
| 485 | * OpeningTheSandbox: |
| 486 | ** ''Fusion'' and ''Other M'' are the most linear games in the series yet, and thus have very few opportunities to let you backtrack to earlier sectors on your own until the endgame. |
| 487 | ** ''Echoes'' is an in-between example as you usually can go back to any place you've been before, but it's more prudent to wait until either story progression takes you back there, or you've finished the area you were working on. The only optional [[DoorToBefore Doors To Before]] were broken by Power Bombs while the path from the [=GFS Tyr's=] landing site to the Great Temple is explored backwards as your path to the elevator to Sanctuary Fortress. The sandbox is, however, only fully opened at the endgame. |
| 488 | * PaletteSwap: As mentioned, lava was a palette swap for acid in the first game. It also had palette swaps of multiple enemies in a given area, with one color being tougher than another. The beam troopers in ''Prime'' are colored based on which beam hurts them. [[note]][[InformedAbility They are said to be using inferior versions of your own beams]], but only use the same one. Whether this was a bug, engine limitation, or intentional is unclear.[[/note]] |
| 489 | * PersonalSpaceInvader: The titular Metroids, in their larval form, absorb energy from creatures by latching onto their heads. |
| 490 | * PickupHierarchy: |
| 491 | ** '''Primary''': New powers, weapons and suits, Chozo Artifacts and Dark Temple Keys (Prime 1 & 2) |
| 492 | ** '''Secondary''': Energy Tanks, Missile Tanks |
| 493 | ** '''Tertiary''': Energy capsules and Missile ammo. |
| 494 | ** '''Extra''': Energy cells (''Prime 3''). |
| 495 | * PinballSpinoff: ''Metroid Prime Pinball'', which loosely retells the story of Prime 1 as a multi-table pinball game. |
| 496 | * ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: |
| 497 | ** The Space Pirates themselves avert this. Samus is usually sent in to Pirate hideouts post-piracy. The Pirates steal the first discovered Metroid in the manual for both ''Zero Mission'' and the original game. You can see the Pirates in action in the opening sequence of ''Super Metroid'', when Ridley steals the Baby from the research station. [[AddedAlliterativeAppeal Presumably, pangalactic police prevent protracted piratical processes,]] only summoning up their favorite bounty hunter(s) to go in and blow up the place when they track down the actual lair, which would probably be largely immune to a head-on raid by Federation forces. The Pirates also did some pirating in ''Corruption'', in which they hijacked an entire Federation battleship (the [=GFS Valhalla=]), murdered its entire crew, and stole its onboard Aurora Unit. Later, they tried to pull the same trick against the [=GFS Olympus=]. They didn't count on The Hunter being aboard, to say nothing about the other three hunters you'll be working with. |
| 498 | ** Samus herself plays it straight, as she doesn't do any "bounty-hunting" except in the first game/''Zero Mission'', ''Metroid II'' and in the prelude to ''Fusion'' (catching specimens from SR-388 for the Federation). Supposedly, Creator/RetroStudios wanted to add bounty-hunting side missions in ''Corruption'', but this was vetoed by the higher-ups from Japan, who, rumor has it, [[ValuesDissonance thought it made Samus look like a criminal, having evidently never considered what "bounty hunter" means]]. This is averted in the manga, however: she specifically notes that she's charging for the bounty on one specific being. |
| 499 | * PlugNPlayTechnology: |
| 500 | ** Samus' suit is described to be "modular", which means it can also identify other technologies and adapt them into itself. The suit is able to form new abilities just by absorbing "data" acquired from rooms and the DNA of the X parasites in ''Fusion''. Hell, ''Space Pirate'' tech will work on it in some games. |
| 501 | ** Subverted in ''Zero Mission'', where you find a few upgrades incompatible with your suit. [[spoiler:You need the Fully-Powered Suit to use them.]] May be double subverted in that the suit you need is the one with Plug 'n' Play tech to begin with. |
| 502 | * PocketRocketLauncher: Samus' Arm Cannon is about the size of her forearm, but can swap between an energy beam gun and a rocket/missile launcher without changing size (well, except for opening up the muzzle). It can hold up to 255 rockets, if you find all the Missile Tanks. And fire the even bigger Super Missiles in games where they're separate missile weapons rather than a direct upgrade to basic rockets. |
| 503 | * PostDefeatExplosionChain: Defeated bosses are typically wracked by multiple small explosions all over their bodies before being destroyed. |
| 504 | * PosthumousCharacter: Adam Malkovich is long dead by the events of ''Fusion'', though Samus monologues on having worked with him in the past [[spoiler:and his BrainUploading lives on as your MissionControl]]. ''Other M'', which takes place before ''Fusion'', shows his actual death to start the climax. |
| 505 | * PowerCopying: |
| 506 | ** Starting with ''Prime'' and ''Fusion'', Samus's Power Suit has displayed the ability to absorb traits of defeated foes, whether technological or biological in nature. It has become more and more common for Samus to gain an ability by defeating a boss with that ability, though the iconic Chozo statues holding upgrades remain common as well. |
| 507 | ** You regain your iconic abilities in ''Fusion'' by defeating X-clones of creatures that could utilize those abilities, like Arachnus with the Morph Ball and Serris with the Speed Booster. |
| 508 | ** To a lesser extent, the Sub-Guardian bosses in ''Prime 2'', as they took less equipment due to you having less to lose in the first place. At least they left the Charge Beam and Morph Ball. |
| 509 | ** In ''Dread'', each of the E.M.M.I. have an ability that Samus copies from their remains after destroying them. It's unclear whether the E.M.M.I. were provided with Samus's abilities or not... one character claims that the E.M.M.I. are capable of redesigning themselves (suggesting they developed those powers on their own), but [[spoiler:that character is later established to have been deceiving Samus the whole game]]. |
| 510 | * PowerCrystal: The ''Literature/{{Lensman}}''-like hand crystal on the back of her left hand. Originally just a visual effect, ''Zero Mission'' made it integral to use of the Power Grip. |
| 511 | * PoweredArmor: Samus' signature Power Suit. |
| 512 | * PrehistoricAnimalAnalogue: |
| 513 | ** Ridley, one of the main antagonists of the franchise, is a reptilian alien with a [[DinosaursAreDragons draconian]] and pterosaur-like appearance, possessing the crest and beak associated with ''Pteranodon''. |
| 514 | ** ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM'' has a recurring MiniBoss enemy in the [[LethalLavaLand Pyrosphere]] that resembles a giant trilobite, even more so when it moves around by crawling. It is immune to Samus jumping on it and can only be killed by shooting a weak point on its underbelly when it lunges to attack. |
| 515 | * PrivateMilitaryContractor: What Samus actually is. Despite being referred to as a "bounty hunter" she doesn't actually take on bounties, most often serving this function to the Federation instead. The one game that actually considered a bounty system, ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime3Corruption'', had the idea shot down by Nintendo themselves while it was still in pre-production. |
| 516 | * PuzzleBoss: Many, including Crocomire and Flaahgra. |
| 517 | * PuzzlePan: All 3D games but ''Echoes'' especially. Sometimes accompanied by weather patterns or fauna movements to smack where you need to go over your head. |
| 518 | * RaisedByNatives: Samus, though the Chozo WERE pretty tech-savvy. |
| 519 | * RasputinianDeath: Crocomire in ''Super Metroid''. |
| 520 | * RealLifeWritesThePlot: A variant. A lot of the series' conventions were established by attempts to work around programming and data limitations of the original NES. The Ice Beam, for example, boiled down to toggling the settings for "enemy doesn't move" and "Samus doesn't take CollisionDamage", as a way to save space on platforms. |
| 521 | * RecurringBoss: SA-X in ''Fusion'', though it's not really a boss until near the end of the game. Ridley may be a better example, considering he appears in almost every game, twice in ''Super'' and ''Corruption''. Also, [[spoiler:The final boss and title antagonist of ''Metroid Prime'' comes back as Dark Samus for the second and third games of the trilogy]]. |
| 522 | * RecurringElement: Samus shattering a glass tube with a Power Bomb has appeared in six games of the series, starting with ''Super''. |
| 523 | ** In ''Super'', breaking a SharkTunnel yourself is how you can shortcut into Maridia. |
| 524 | ** In ''Fusion'', smashing a tube is [[spoiler:part of how you reach the Level 4 Security Room in Sector 4]]. |
| 525 | ** In ''Prime'', the Ice Spreader in Magmoor Caverns is hidden below the Bendezium-reinforced glass tube in the Shore Tunnel. |
| 526 | ** In ''Zero Mission'', destroying the glass walkway in [[spoiler:the Space Pirate Mother Ship is how you leave Chozodia to return to the rest of Brinstar with the Legendary Power Suit]]. |
| 527 | ** In ''Echoes'', Sanctuary Fortress has a shortcut elevator hidden down a path you reach by blowing up a tube. |
| 528 | ** In ''Dread'', [[spoiler:the final E.M.M.I. in Hanubia blows up a glass tube on ''you''. Once you defeat them, you get to blow up one tube to get out of the E.M.M.I. Zone, and another to reach Itorash from the same location]]. |
| 529 | * TheReveal: In the original game, at the end the super-tough merc you've saved the galaxy with takes off his helmet and... ''he'' is a ''she.'' Yes, SamusIsAGirl. [[ItWasHisSled Now it's common knowledge.]] |
| 530 | * RidiculouslyCuteCritter: In the manga, Samus' pet Pyonchi appears to be about half squirrel, half rabbit, and ''all'' adorable. Also, the Etecoons [[note]]monkey-koala hybrids[[/note]] and the Dachoras [[note]]ostrich-style creatures[[/note]] in ''Super'' and ''Fusion''. Maybe the "little birdie" of ''Other M'' as well, at least until you learn [[spoiler:it's actually Ridley's clone]]. |
| 531 | * RoarBeforeBeating: Some of the bosses do this. |
| 532 | * RoaringRampageOfRevenge: |
| 533 | ** In ''Super Metroid'', Samus only hunts down the Space Pirates for stealing the Baby Metroid and destroying the space station she'd left it at. |
| 534 | ** Revenge on the Space Pirates could be seen as one of Samus' main motivations, especially against [[ArchEnemy Ridley]], who personally killed her mother right in front of her when she was three years old. |
| 535 | ** The last bits of ''Zero Mission'': [[spoiler:The defeat of Mother Brain is spoiled by Space Pirates shooting you down. And your suit is lost. Then you get a better one which is followed by the annihilation of every Space Pirate on the Mothership.]] |
| 536 | ** In ''Dread'', Samus engages in an absolutely ''savage'' beatdown on the FinalBoss, even screaming in sheer fury, as [[OutOfCharacterMoment opposed to her usual quiet stoicism]]. [[spoiler:This is largely because Raven Beak had been revealed to have indirectly caused ''the entire Metroid crisis'', not to mention having deceived Samus for the whole game, sent a whole bunch of hunter-killer robots after her, and murdered Quiet Robe.]] |
| 537 | * SafelySecludedScienceCenter: A recurring motif in the ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' series is that the eponymous [[LifeDrinker Metroids]] are so dangerous and so sought-after that the SpacePirates and TheFederation have to carefully store them in isolated and heavily fortified places, preferably [[AchillesHeel where there's plenty of frigid cold]]. Examples include Mother Brain's fortress of Tourian (''VideoGame/{{Metroid 1}}'', ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'', ''VideoGame/MetroidZeroMission''), a laboratory amidst the frigid Phendrana Drifts (''VideoGame/MetroidPrime''), an isolated section of the floating Skytown (''VideoGame/MetroidPrime3Corruption''), and restricted labs hidden deep within space stations (''VideoGame/MetroidFusion'', ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM''). |
| 538 | * SavageSetpiece: A turtle in a remote room in Maridia will become hostile if you attack its children. It rises into the air if Samus jumps onto the shell. |
| 539 | * SavePoint: The second type is a common sight in the series. With the exception of Chozodia save points in ''Zero Mission'' and Samus' [[CoolStarship gunship]], they never refill health or reload ammo. The Save Stations in the ''Prime'' series, however, save and heal, but don't reload your ammo. |
| 540 | * SceneryGorn: Old Tourian in ''Super'' and post-Mother Brain ''Zero Mission'', [[spoiler:Sector 5 (ARC)]] in ''Metroid Fusion''. |
| 541 | * SchematizedProp: Many of the later games have taken up this trope, most notably using a Power Suit schematic as the item/weapon status screen (''Zero Mission'', ''Prime'', ''Prime 3'', ''Super'', ''Fusion''; the schematized suit was also seen in the instruction manual for ''Metroid II'', which labeled her Left Hand of all things). |
| 542 | * ScienceFantasy: It tends to skew heavily towards the science side of things but there definite fantasy elements, first becoming apparent in the wrecked ship of ''Super Metroid'' and becoming even more obvious with the ''Metroid Prime'' games, that detailed what the Chozo were like, and it's even canonically referenced in ''Zero Mission'' with the penultimate boss being a spirit inhabiting some Chozo Ruins. |
| 543 | * ScifiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: Very few of Samus's weapons have numbers behind them, but those that do are absurdly powerful, like "fully automatic five-packs-of-C4 launcher" powerful. And then there's the Power Bombs, which are basically environmentally-friendly nukes in that there's no fallout and whatever isn't meant to be destroyed is not. |
| 544 | * ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: |
| 545 | ** In the 3rd chapter of the manga, Samus - a newly recruited Galactic Federation Police Officer - and two fellow officers Mauk and Kreatz, are sent to planet of Jigrad on a recon mission to monitor the Space Pirates' activities there. Finding the Pirates are using human children as slave labor, Samus jumps in and massacres the Pirates before they can execute a child for being "unfit" for labor instead of reporting the find and waiting for orders. She and her team are later scolded by [[DaChief Chief Hardy]], but Samus is praised by the Jigradian people for her help. |
| 546 | ** The finale of ''Fusion'' has [[spoiler:the Federation ordering Samus to stand down so that they can capture the SA-X for study (also Samus just blew up their top-secret Metroid cloning facility, so they're a bit ticked about that). Samus knows firsthand just how dangerous the SA-X is, so she proceeds to crash the space station into nearby planet [=SR388=], destroying both and eradicating the X for good.]] Given how much the Federation had invested into that, the general thought among fans is that Samus is no longer on their good side after this. |
| 547 | ** This is actually Samus's motivation for staying on the Bottle Ship in ''Other M''. Even though it's been cordoned off by the Federation, she's pretty sure Adam's team is going to die if she isn't there to protect them. Adam himself knows it too, but is too bitter to go along with it until she agrees to act as his subordinate. |
| 548 | * SeaMonster: The boss Serris is a sea serpent with SuperSpeed. Before Serris, there was ''Super'' miniboss Botwoon, who was a serpent like Serris who sped up as he took damage, and could spit acid spread-shots. Also Draygon, the boss of Maridia. |
| 549 | * SequelHook: |
| 550 | ** ''Fusion'' sure seemed to leave one hell of a sequel hook, what with [[spoiler:Samus having ''illegally blown up a Federation outpost'' and become something way other than human. Sure, Samus had her reasons, but all the implications in-game are that the Federation will be '''pissed''' at her now.]] A sequel on the DS with 2-D gameplay, ''Metroid Dread'', was supposed to have been shown at [[UsefulNotes/ElectronicEntertainmentExpo E3]] 2006, but was mysteriously dropped. Potentially hinted at again in ''Corruption'', however. It was finally confirmed in E3 2021 as a TwoAndAHalfD game. |
| 551 | ** Each of the ''Prime'' games shows one if the player gets HundredPercentCompletion. Even ''Federation Force''. |
| 552 | * SequenceBreaking: The ''Metroid'' fandom coined this term from their extensive experience with this trope. The series is famous enough for this to [[SequenceBreaking/{{Metroid}} have its own subpage for it.]] |
| 553 | * SequentialBoss: |
| 554 | ** The final boss of ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime'' has two phases: the first phase is basically the same thing with increasing shifts to different weaknesses, and the second phase requires you to switch visors to locate the phasing Prime and blast it with the Phazon Beam. |
| 555 | ** The final boss of ''Metroid Prime 2: Echoes'' features all three forms of the Emperor Ing, followed by a final battle against Dark Samus. |
| 556 | ** In ''Metroid Prime 3: Corruption'', you [[spoiler:fight Aurora 313 right after putting down Dark Samus. 313 itself has two forms: complete and floating severed head]]. |
| 557 | ** Mother Brain from ''Super Metroid'' has 3 different phases. First you fight her like in the first game, as just the brain protected by turrets and zeebetite barriers. After you beat her and examine the body, she rises out of the floor on a robotic body. After dealing enough damage to her, she'll use an extremely powerful attack to reduce you to low health, after which the Metroid hatchling shows up to save the day. But then she comes back to life again and you have to beat the crap out of her again, this time armed with the Hyper Beam. And then you have to escape the planet before it blows up. |
| 558 | ** ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion'' has the SA-X when you finally get to fight it. First there's the regular Varia Suit-sized version you've been avoiding the entire time. Hit that with your charged up Wave Beam, and you get a giant monstrosity that can't shoot you but can somehow jump anywhere in the room incredibly fast... Fortunately it stands still for a second every now and then and Screw Attack does work too (although it's a double-edged sword since it also hurts yourself...). |
| 559 | * ShapeShifterBaggage: Samus herself with the Morph Ball but the shape shifting is not actually the worst thing about it (the issue of vision is) nor is it the most glaring example; that goes to the X Parasites. They not only multiply impossibly fast but they can take on new, often large, forms nearly instantly, much to the frustration of many players. |
| 560 | * SharkTunnel: These are a common feature, starting with the tunnel between Brinstar and Maridia in ''Super Metroid'', to the underwater tunnel in Sector 4 in ''Fusion,'' the skywalk between Chozodia and the Pirate Mothership in ''Zero Mission,'' and the skywalk from Magmoor to Phazon Mines in ''Prime.'' All of them can be shattered with power bombs to allow free travel between the two areas. |
| 561 | * ShiftingSandLand: Sector 3 (PYR) in ''Fusion'', the Agon Wastes in ''Echoes'', and the Experimental Simulated Desert in ''Other M''. Super has a section of Maridia, but not to the same extent as the other three. |
| 562 | * ShoutOut: |
| 563 | ** Several to the ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' franchise. Ridley is named after director Ridley Scott, and the opening shot of ''Prime'' is almost identical to that of the first film. Even the title logos have similarities (ALIEN - メトロイド). |
| 564 | ** A non-enemy creature in ''Super Metroid'' has a turtle like shell that flies around while spinning. Likely a nod to Film/{{Gamera}}. Or possibly Bowser. Its offspring look strikingly similar to [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Buzzy Beetles]]. |
| 565 | ** A blink-and-you'll-miss-it example is the name of the planet that houses a Federation shipyard, where the GFS Olympus and two of Samus' gunships (the ones used in ''Prime 2'' and ''Prime 3''; she goes through gunships like other people go through tissues) were built: [[{{Film/Alien 3}} Aliehs III]]. |
| 566 | ** And then there's the fact that, as of ''Super Metroid'', Samus can [[Manga/GetterRobo SHIIIIINESPAAAAAAAARK]]! |
| 567 | ** Houston from the ''Super Metroid'' Comic in ''Magazine/NintendoPower'' seems to refer to Captain Dallas from the first ''Film/{{Alien}}'' film. |
| 568 | ** The original Famicom Disk System version of the first game's Escape theme and subsequent arrangements in future games don't have it, but the NES version features a slight expansion that includes [[RecurringRiff a recurring six-note melody]] from the ''VideoGame/KidIcarus1986'' soundtrack. |
| 569 | ** [[Music/MichaelJackson Moonwalking]] in ''Super Metroid'', though only the name is a reference, it was just Samus slowly walking backwards, no illusion of walking forward involved. |
| 570 | ** The Restricted Area in ''Fusion'' looks and acts a hell of a lot like Tourian. |
| 571 | ** Outside the actual series, in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'', one of Zero Suit Samus' air-attacks is the Inazuma Kick from ''Anime/GunBuster''. |
| 572 | ** In the Wanpakku manga[=/=]strategy guide for the original game, there's a sequence where Samus comes across a door for the first time, but doesn't know how to open it. She tries saying "OpenSesame!", followed by "Bamble, bomble, bambopp!" and "Pastel, popple, poppinpa!". (Neither of them worked.) The latter two phrases are incantations from MagicalGirl shows (specifically ''Anime/CreamyMamiTheMagicAngel'' and ''Anime/MagicalIdolPastelYumi'', respectfully). |
| 573 | ** The Zero Suit is one to the datasuit of ''Manga/{{Appleseed}}'' that Deunan wears in her landmate. More references can be found in ''Other M'', with Samus's teenage design strongly resembling Deunan and she even has the same [[Creator/AiKobayashi Japanese voice actress]] that played Deunan in the 2004 movie and ''Appleseed: Ex Machina''. |
| 574 | ** The mentioned in ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime3Corruption'' "Horus Rebellion" is a reference to the "Literature/HorusHeresy" event from [[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer40000}} Warhammer 40,000]], another rebellion that was indeed some "nasty business," enough to cause a schism within the Imperium of Man. Said rebellion was led by the eponymous Horus, who was corrupted by the Chaos Gods, much like how Dark Samus in this game brainwashes the Space Pirates for her own ends. Coincidentally one of the daemons from early in Warhammer was named "Samus". |
| 575 | * SlippySlideyIceWorld: Sector 5 (ARC) in ''Fusion'', the Cryosphere in ''Other M'', and the Phendrana Drifts in ''Prime''. Bryyo Ice in ''Prime 3'' just barely makes it. |
| 576 | * SoleSurvivor: |
| 577 | ** Samus, twice over: first when the K-2L colony was slaughtered by the Space Pirates, and again when the Space Pirates, under Mother Brain's direction, invaded Zebes and killed the remaining Chozo. Well, on Zebes, anyway. And then there's the last remaining Metroid from ''Metroid II''. |
| 578 | ** The only Space Pirate who actually survived ''Super Metroid'' [[spoiler:without being cloned or remade was Phantoon.]] |
| 579 | * SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay: |
| 580 | ** How Samus discovers the identity of her AI CO in ''Metroid Fusion''. |
| 581 | ** Many fans realized what the mysterious trailer for ''Other M'' was as soon as Adam said "Any objections, lady?" Prior to this, it was intentionally unclear what the game in question was. |
| 582 | * SoundOfNoDamage: In the 2D games, it sounds something like a beep, but may in fact be more like a ding. |
| 583 | * SpaceIsolationHorror: Deliberately, the entire franchise is an example of this trope. The developers of the first game stated that it was their intention to make the player feel trapped and alone in a very hostile and alien world. The visuals and audio work to built the atmosphere of isolation. |
| 584 | * SpaceMarine: Introduced in the ''Prime'' games as the Galactic Federation Marine Corps (GFMC), while the Federation Army was first mentioned in the ''Zero Mission'' manual and properly introduced in ''Other M'' on-screen for the first time. Both are [[BadassArmy capable]], just [[OvershadowedByAwesome not as good as Samus.]] Subverted in all the Japanese text of the franchise, which only indicates the Army exists: there is no mention of any Marine Corps in the Japanese versions of the games. |
| 585 | * SpacePirates: The primary antagonists for most of the series, though the name is a bit of a misnomer, being that they are an multispecies alien army that performs piracy incidentally as part of their larger goal of interstellar conquest. They are the main villains in almost every game up to ''Super Metroid'' timeline-wise, and still manage to make minor appearances even in the games where they aren't. Out of 14 games in the franchise, the only game that does not have a single Space Pirate in it is ''Metroid II: Return of Samus'' and even then, its remake ''Samus Returns'' [[spoiler:adds in Ridley as its final boss battle.]] |
| 586 | * SpacePolice: The first armed organization formed by the Galactic Federation to deal specifically with the threat of the Space Pirates, known as the "Federation Police." Despite the name, the Police are actually closer to military police or a gendarmerie as opposed to the popular image of a civilian beat cop[[note]]interestingly, this was how [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness the first game's manual depicted the police, as a sort of space cop with a badge]][[/note]]: Both the ''Metroid II'' manual and the ''Samus Returns'' intro cutscene refer to Federation Police personnel as "soldiers," and a panel in the manga also shows them wearing military-style fatigues/camouflage while on a mission to capture a local Pirate leader. In the manga after she left the Chozo's care, Samus herself served in the Federation Police and became part of an elite squad (also shown in the ''Captain N'' comic) before she resigned to become an independent bounty hunter. This aspect of Samus's backstory is only from these two sources and is likely non-canonical according to the games, as both ''Other M'' and ''Dread'' mention only a previous service history in the Federation Army for her. |
| 587 | * SpeciesTitle: Named after a species of biologically engineered {{Life Drinker}}s that Samus Aran must frequently wipe off of various planets to keep them from being used as bioweapons by the SpacePirates. |
| 588 | * SpeedrunReward: In addition to your completion percentage, how fast you beat the game may factor into the ending in some way or another. |
| 589 | * SpinAttack: The Screw Attack has Samus leap in a spinning ball to attack her foes. |
| 590 | * SprintShoes: Speed Booster. Full stop. |
| 591 | * StarFishAliens: The main ones are X Parasites, the Ing, and Metroids, but others tend to pop up. |
| 592 | * StatuesqueStunner: Samus. Gandrayda is even taller. |
| 593 | * SteamVentObstacle: |
| 594 | ** In the intro level for ''Super Metroid'', Samus needs to escape a space station, while avoiding gushes of steam coming out from practically everywhere. Getting hit by the steam doesn't cost you energy, but you lose precious time to escape. |
| 595 | ** Happens again during the escape from planet Zebes, only the steam's escaping ''from the ground'' itself. |
| 596 | * StoryArc: The chronology of the series is divided into four arcs: The original story where Samus storms the base of the Space Pirates in Zebes (''VideoGame/{{Metroid 1}}'' / ''[[VideoGame/MetroidZeroMission Zero Mission]]''), the Phazon incident (the ''VideoGame/MetroidPrimeTrilogy'' sub-series), the story where Samus has to exterminate all Metroids except the one she spared and then rescue it from the Pirates (''[[VideoGame/MetroidIIReturnOfSamus Return of Samus]]'' / ''[[VideoGame/MetroidSamusReturns Samus Returns]]'' and ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid''), and the story telling the consequences of the Metroids' near-extinction plus the dubious ethics of the Galactic Federation and even those of the Chozo (''[[VideoGame/MetroidOtherM Other M]]'', ''[[VideoGame/MetroidFusion Fusion]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/MetroidDread Dread]]''). |
| 597 | * SuddenlyBlonde: In the original game, the Samus unmasked sprites gave her brown eyes, reddish brown hair, and a pink leotard (or bikini for the quick players). Come ''Super Metroid'', Samus is blue/green eyed, blonde, and is wearing a dark blue leotard. |
| 598 | * SuddenlyVoiced: In ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'', Samus finally spoke her taunts. However, they sounded... odd. In ''Other M'', she speaks for the first time in her own series. (There were previously plans to have voiced narration from Samus in ''Metroid Prime'', but said narration was removed, leaving Samus with no voice lines for that game.) [[spoiler:She also gets voice acting in ''VideoGame/MetroidDread'', but she has only one line, and it's in Chozo.]] |
| 599 | * SuperweaponSurprise: Don't mess with Chozo statues... just, don't. As Meta Ridley found out the hard way in Prime 1's endgame: "''Those who defile [our statues] shall know our wrath, unfettered and raw.''" And do you know what you get when the peaceful, spiritual race bird race actually trains someone to fight, and gives them the technology to do so? You get ''Samus Aran''. |
| 600 | * SuspiciousVideogameGenerosity: If there is a save station, and possibly a recharge room too, near a big room, expect the big room to have a boss in it. Sometimes not the case, but usually there's one nearby. |
| 601 | * SwissArmyWeapon: Samus' cannon shoots various beams, including power, ice, plasma, and wave, and also missiles. The whole power suit kind of qualifies. |
| 602 | * SympathyForTheDevil: |
| 603 | ** As the series goes on, you realize the Metroids aren't so bad -- this culminates with Samus becoming part-Metroid in ''Fusion.'' |
| 604 | ** In ''Other M'', [[spoiler:MB when you know her past and the reason of her rampage.]] |
| 605 | * ThemeMusicPowerUp: This occurs in nearly every game, but perhaps the most gratifying moment is in ''Zero Mission'' when, after running for your life from Space Pirates with nothing but your [[EmergencyWeapon "Paralyzer" Emergency Pistol]] and overcoming the Chozo Ruins Test, Samus' unknown items transform into the Plasma Beam, Gravity Suit, and Space Jump. At this point, you can finally kill the Space Pirates... with cathartic ease. |
| 606 | * TomatoSurprise: Has reached ItWasHisSled status for common knowledge that SamusIsAGirl. |
| 607 | * TookALevelInBadass: |
| 608 | ** In ''Super Metroid'', Samus' surrogate Metroid child returns. [[spoiler:It's gone from tiny to around four times as big as Samus. It later holds off Mother Brain.]] |
| 609 | ** In most games, the Ice Beam is a useful weapon, but not that powerful. In ''Fusion'', Samus develops a weakness to cold and loses the Ice Beam. It becomes a weapon of pure murder when used against her, and [[spoiler:it's the last weapon she gets in the game.]] |
| 610 | * TraumaInducedAmnesia: [[spoiler:Happens to Samus in the manga. The trauma of watching her homeworld being destroyed and watching her parents die is essentially forgotten until Ridley forces Samus to remember what happened in their first encounter many years later. After remembering the event, Samus suffers a horrendous HeroicBSOD and begs her comrades to kill her. She gets better, thankfully, and THEN she kicks Ridley's ass.]] |
| 611 | * UltimateLifeForm: Metroids are energy parasites. They can mitotically divide when exposed to certain radiations and as they grow they alter their physiology. They were artificially created by the Chozo, and metroid is actually a Chozo word that means "ultimate warrior." |
| 612 | * TheUndead: Coverns (Three skulls stuck together), Phantoon (Huge malevolent spirit allied with the Pirates), Chozo Ghosts, Dark Troopers, and Skeleton Crocomire. |
| 613 | * UndergroundLevel: A prolific area type within the series. The first three games take place almost entirely deep within the bowels of alien planets, though ''Metroid II'' and ''Super Metroid'' do feature some ground-level locales, as well. |
| 614 | * UndergroundMonkey: A form of the trope is used with deceptive frequency in the early installments, which have multiple sets of enemies that function close to, if not identically to one another despite having distinct appearances. |
| 615 | * UniqueEnemy: Used frequently beginning with, and especially in, ''Super Metroid''. |
| 616 | * VagueHitPoints: Enemies usually die in a few hits, so HitPoints don't have to be indicated, starting from ''VideoGame/Metroid1''. |
| 617 | * TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon: The FinalBoss is always in an impressive location: |
| 618 | ** The original puts Samus in [[spoiler:Mother Brain's subterranean lair, where you fight the Metroids for the first time.]] |
| 619 | ** ''Metroid II'' has [[spoiler:the nest of the Metroid Queen.]] |
| 620 | ** ''Super Metroid'' takes us [[spoiler:even deeper into planet Zebes, to fight Mother Brain again.]] |
| 621 | ** ''Fusion'' ends things [[spoiler:WhereItAllBegan: the final boss is faced in the docking bay.]] |
| 622 | ** ''Prime'' ends in [[spoiler:an impact crater from a Phazon meteor.]] |
| 623 | ** ''Zero Mission'' has Samus infiltrate [[spoiler:the pirate mothership.]] |
| 624 | ** ''Echoes'' has [[spoiler:the Sky Temple, where the Climax Boss is fought, and its gateway, where the True Final Boss is fought]]. |
| 625 | ** ''Hunters'' gives us [[spoiler:the [[TailorMadePrison Oubliette]], a ship constructed for one purpose: to house an EldritchAbomination.]] |
| 626 | ** ''Corruption'' [[spoiler:ends on a '''''sentient planet'''''.]] |
| 627 | ** ''Other M'' [[spoiler:brings a cloned Metroid Queen back for a showdown in a secure room aboard the Bottle Ship. At the end of the epilogue, Phantoon is fought in a giant, wide open room with glass Phantoon attacks from.]] |
| 628 | ** ''Federation Force'' ends on [[spoiler:a giant Space Pirate superweapon called DOOMSEYE (all-caps included). It's a ''Metroid''-style Death Star.]] |
| 629 | ** ''Dread's'' final boss battle is [[spoiler:in Itorash, on the main bridge of Raven Beak's command ship floating high in the skies of ZDR.]] |
| 630 | * VictorGainsLosersPowers: |
| 631 | ** Samus in ''Metroid Fusion'' had all [[PowerCopying her abilities copied by X]]. After killing X-infected bosses (which tend to be able to produce similar attacks), she can absorb the X parasite to regain that power. Averted with Missiles and Bombs, which are downloaded via the datapack that replaced Samus' jetpack. |
| 632 | ** In ''Prime'', the Phazon Suit is received after [[spoiler:the defeated Phazon-charged Omega Pirate collapses on top of Samus]]. |
| 633 | ** ''Echoes'' has Samus lose most of her starting abilities to a mob of Ing, and subsequently regain them after prevailing in one-on-one boss battles where they're used against her. |
| 634 | ** ''Corruption'' has Samus gain the Ice Missiles, Plasma Beam, Grapple Voltage, and all the Phazon upgrades from defeated bosses. |
| 635 | * VideoGameRemake: ''Zero Mission'' and ''Samus Returns''. |
| 636 | * VillainBasedFranchise: ''Fusion'' more or less {{Invert|edTrope}}s this, giving Samus herself Metroid-DNA. |
| 637 | * VillainDecay: The titular creatures are the scourge of the universe in ''Metroid'' and ''Super Metroid'', needing to be frozen and pelted with missiles to kill. Through the ''Prime'' series, they become progressively less of an actual threat. In ''Prime 2'', even their possessed and powered up forms can be beaten with enough firepower from any of your weapons, and in ''Prime 3'', you eventually get the ability to kill Phazon Metroids by shooting through their nuclei. [[ParanoiaFuel Until then, though they can turn into vapor...]] Possibly [[JustifiedTrope justified;]] the Metroids in the ''Prime'' games are a different strain (Tallon Metroids) that have been horribly mutated by massive, repeated exposure to Phazon. The "Natural" [=SR388=] strains, on the other hand, are only vulnerable to cold until late in their life cycle. |
| 638 | * WallJump: |
| 639 | ** Starting with ''Super Metroid'', Samus quickly became one of the most notable employers of this technique. It also is the primary tool of sequence breakers. |
| 640 | ** ''Prime 2'' was the first game that explicitly informed the player that this was one of Samus' abilities; in all previous games, it was a secret, and admittedly optional, technique. |
| 641 | * WeirdWeather: Acid rain is a recurring hazard on the surface areas of planets: |
| 642 | ** ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'' claims this is the rain seen at Crateria, even though ''[[VideoGame/MetroidZeroMission Zero Mission]]'' sees Samus running through rain without her suit on... |
| 643 | ** In ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime3Corruption'', it appears on the Space Pirate Homeworld. Unlike the first game, you need a specific acid-proof "hazard shield" item to protect Samus from it. The {{Space Pirate}}s themselves seem immune to it. |
| 644 | * WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Averted in ''Metroid II''. Samus couldn't bring herself to kill a child, even if said "child" was a parasitic monster and a potential threat to the galaxy. That "child" imprinted on Samus and beleived her to be its mother, which played a part in Samus' decision and she soon devloped an attachment to the creature. |
| 645 | * WolverinePublicity: The Varia Suit is used in almost all of the series' covers and promotional images, even though it's typically only the middle of three suits. |
| 646 | * WombLevel: |
| 647 | ** The innards of the Leviathans in ''Prime 3'', though that's more of a case of "Womb Boss Chamber". Phaaze is a living planet, too, though only a few parts of what we see of Phaaze is definitely organic. |
| 648 | ** The Impact Crater in ''Prime'' has teeth in one room. |
| 649 | * YouDontLookLikeYou: |
| 650 | ** Samus suffered this problem early on. First she had brown hair, then the NES Varia Suit turned it green, and Benjamin Itoh made her a purple-head. It wasn't until Super that she was finally cemented as a blonde. Plus, her various facial features and hairstyle fluctuated. However, once ''Zero Mission'' hit, her appearance seemed to standardize. |
| 651 | ** Her armor also changed drastically between ''Metroid'' 1 and 2, and all flashbacks to the first game depict the redesigned armor. It got a further redesign in ''Other M'', which is also depicted in flashbacks to ''Metroid II'' and ''Super Metroid''. As if that wasn't enough, flashbacks to her Army days use a suit similar to how it looked in ''Prime 1''. And then it was redesigned again in ''Samus Returns'', but it doesn't seem to have stuck, since ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' re-used her ''Other M'' design. |
| 652 | * YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle: You've defeated [[BigBad Mother Brain]] and escaped Zebes in ''Zero Mission''... the game is over, right? Though, you never did find out what those mysterious power-ups were for... [[spoiler:Your ship gets shot down and you must [[UnexpectedGameplayChange sneak through the Space Pirate mothership]] to get your suit back.]] |
| 653 | * {{Zeerust}}: It's not really apparent in-game, given the low graphical capabilities of the console and the general lack of technology aside from Samus' suit, the doors, and the elevators, but the artwork of Samus for the original NES game makes it very apparent that ''Metroid'' was made in TheEighties. It has a rather boxier look than later portrayals, for one thing. Later games aged much better in this regard: even the immediate sequel to the first game, which was released only a few years later, features an artwork design for Samus that still looks pretty good even after twenty years. |
| 654 | * ZipMode: Samus' Speed Booster could be considered this if you have to trek along a long straight path; she will travel fast enough to kill all normal enemies in the way, but only if you actually run in ''Super''. |
| 655 | [[/folder]] |
| 656 | ---- |
| 657 | '''The End''' \ |
| 658 | [-SEE YOU NEXT MISSION!-] |
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