"My past is not a memory. It's a force at my back. It pushes and steers. I may not always like where it leads me, but like any story, the past needs resolution. What's past is prologue."
Samus Aran in Zero Suit and in Varia Suit, respectively
Action Girl: The first big example in video games.
Heartbroken Badass: So far her family, adoptive family, adoptive Metroid child, mentor, and close friend/possible boyfriend have all been horrifically killed, with her unable to do anything about it.
Badass Longcoat: Owns one in the manga, and yes, she can still kick your ass with it. Plus, a Nice Hat to boot.
Badass Bookworm: Samus has a strong engineering background and her handwritten notes in her log book very much implies extensive biology and chemistry knowledge.
Beauty Mark: Naturally. Previously hinted at by Yoshio Sakamoto who claimed to be the only one who knew where it was. Its location is finally shown in ''Other M": under the left side of her lip.
Boobs of Steel: Easily the greatest warrior and hunter in the cosmos, Samus is more than adequately equipped.
Building Swing: The Grapple Beam in Super and Grapple Lasso in Prime. This becomes less important with the Space Jump/Screw Attack, but Prime 3 gives the lasso more functions to keep it relevant.
Doom Magnet: Inherited from the Chozo. Person, planet, species... once she gets there, if they haven't already suffered tremendously (and they often have), they will. Not necessarily by her design or intent, mind you, but it inevitably happens anyways.
Subverted with the Luminoth, as she actually does help them out with no negative side effects to them in the long run.
And the Elysian star charts in Corruption show that the native life on Tallon IV is thriving since Samus ended the Phazon spread.
The Dreaded: The Space Pirates fear her above all else.
Early Installment Weirdness: In the original Metroid, her aspect was... unusual at best. Especially outside her suit where she has an almost bare outfit and has green hair when wearing the Varia Suit. When you play as her outside her suit, she can use majority of her suit's abilities including her... Morph Ball function.
Fanservice: Gameplay runs that are quick and/or yield higher percentages of completion often show Samus in more revealing attire.
Half-Human Hybrid: In the end, she's anywhere from as much 95% human to as little as 10%. For most of the series, she's mostly human with a little Chozo, but then Metroid: Fusion adds in Metroid. From there fans debate about whether exposure to X Parasites has messed up her genes further; Nintendo itself has been silent. The game shows the X Parasites were destroyed by her Metroid vaccine. Metroids eat life energy, not solid food, so she's not integrating absorbed X physically into herself... but its implied that the X she gets abilities from had them biologically, rather than mechanically, so fans still argue.
Innocent Fanservice Girl: To an extent, as she was raised by aliens. Non-mammalian aliens, at that. Not to mention that she's not entirely human herself anymore.
One theory as to why most of her outfits besides the ubiquitous powersuit are so skimpy is because she's uncomfortable wearing too much, rather than a deliberate attempt to look seductive. Because the suit links directly with her nerves it feels like her own skin and thus she's gotten used to feeling naked most of the time.
It Is Pronounced Tro Pay: In a weird subversion, her name is pronounced the same way its spelled (SAM-US), in contrast to the original Irish pronunciation of the name (SHAY-MUS).
Luke, I Am Your Father: In the manga, Grey Voice turns out to be the donor for Samus's infusion of Chozo DNA.
Never Trust a Trailer: All promotional material for the first game outright lied and said that Samus was a male cyborg. This extended to the game manual itself. Of course, this was to preserve the surprise at the end.
Not Quite Flight: The Space Jump in the 2D games lets Samus jump at any time, even in midair; downgraded to a Double Jump in Prime, but then get the Screw Attack in those games and she's back to jumping canyons. The Shine Spark also qualifies.
The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Is a bounty hunter who is yet to be seen doing any actual bounty hunting. Her work would suggest she's more like a mercenary.
She claimed to be searching for a bounty in Super Metroid, so it could be assumed most of the games we play are special situations where someone contracted her, or she's just sidetracked and she would be hunting bounties if not for it.
In Metroid Prime 2, Samus actually was hired by the Galactic Federation for a search-and-rescue mission for the missing troops that had crash-landed on Aether. Of course, within the first five minutes of the game she learns that they've already been wiped out. Everything after that was of her own volition.
For Metroid Prime 3, Retro Studios initially planned for Samus to do some actual bounty hunting. She'd get a list of possible jobs to do, earn rewards, and use the cash to buy upgrades for her equipment. Nintendo didn't like the idea, and after some back-and-forth, Retro realized there was a language issue, and that "bounty hunter" isn't exactly the best description of what Samus is supposed to be. The Retro developers started joking that she was a "pro-bono hunter" instead.
Ramming Always Works: While she's best known for her various beam and missile weapons, the Screw Attack and Shine Spark are some of Samus's most powerful attacks.
Remember When You Blew Up a Sun?: In Echoes, logs left by the troopers mention the two planets full of Space Pirates she's blown up. One of the ones who mentions the story thinks that the act was too much for a single human to accomplish...
Although it's worth pointing out that, chronologically, she had not yet blown up any planets when that comment was made. As far as we know.
Then again, it's a possible the trooper meant the events of Zero Mission and Metroid Prime, where she attacked their bases directly.
In Corruption, the final battle on Phaaze is implied to be this as well, considering Samus' reaction to each of the Hunters' deaths, making it clear that by the time the final fight comes, she's ready to rip the one responsible (Dark Samus) apart.
Rocket Jump: Bomb jumps; as bombs float in air, it can be done at least twice in all games, and taken to ridiculous levels in some. Power Bombs can be used for this effect too in the games where they aren't explicit room cleaners.
Being immune to her own explosives is important, as it helps Samus remove Personal Space Invaders from her suit.
Rolling Attack: The Boost Ball and the shine spark an be used in morph ball mode in Zero Mission.
Shoulders of Doom: Since Metroid II on the Game Boy couldn't use color to differentiate between the different suits, the Varia suit was given big honking shoulders to distinguish its sprite from the regular Power Suit. The design has carried over since then to every subsequent game in the series.
Standard Powerup Pose: Does a painful looking variant in Prime 3 when empowered after Leviathan Guardian bosses.
Statuesque Stunner: Possibly. It's unclear if her given 6'3" height and 198 pound weight is with or without the power suit, but she's significantly shorter than the average male human in Other M. In the Prime games, she's just as tall or taller than the Federation personnel and about the same size as most of the bounty hunters (except the three from Prime 3), so it is easier to believe there.
Transhuman: As of Fusion, parts of Samus's suit are fused to her nervous system, and she's part Metroid and Chozo. Despite that, she does still resemble a human.
Wall Crawl: The Spider Ball. It is limited to magnetic surfaces in Prime, but since Samus can combine it with the Boost Ball to force herself away from one place and stick to another, it was necessary.
Walk, Don't Swim: How Samus handles water; becomes less of a problem with the gravity suit or gravity boost.
Wall Jump: Generally becomes redundant when she gets the space jump and screw attack, except for Prime, where the Space Jump and Screw Attack are used for wall jumping.
Rule of thumb: if you know Samus Aran on any level (just ask K.G. or Lyle) you'll probably be killed.
You Don't Look Like You: Samus's appearance in the post-game screens from Fusion looks radically different than the appearance established in Zero Mission and the Prime series, with much lighter (and wilder) blonde hair, and an almost completely different build. Likely justified by her altered DNA, at that point.
Younger Than They Look: According to the official tie-in manga, Samus is only supposed to be 17 during the events of the first game, but most fans have their doubts about that.
Achilles Heel: They're really weak to ice attacks, but the SR388 and Tallon IV strands outgrow this weakness eventually, trading it for others. The Super Metroid was also ice beam proof but Mother Brain managed to kill it, and that was after she lost the hyper beam.
Asteroids Monster: Fission Metroids split into two Metroids when killed, each of which is only vulnerable to a specific beam weapon.
Batman Can Breathe in Space: Phazon Metroids, which to be fair, may be because of their ability to leave local spacetime, but Miniroids do it too without that benefit.
Bizarre Alien Biology: They are flying jellyfish with mouths like leeches and weakness to cold and/or missiles.
Gone Horribly Wrong: They were created by the Chozo to counteract the X Parasites on SR-388. They did that — and proceeded to devour everything else as well.
Ground Pound: How Hopper Metroids attack after entering hyper mode.
I Believe I Can Fly: Unless explicitly told otherwise, never assume any of them are ground bound, even if they look like it or have spent a large amount of time not in the air.
Insectoid Aliens: Alpha and Gamma Metroids fall into this category.
Ledge Bats: Fission Metroids in the Impact Crater in Prime.
Life Energy: What they prefer to eat. They can drain all types of energy but they'll get sick if they only eat electricity, for example. The Ing used them for their ability to feed directly off phazon and not die but had to be careful since Metroids still preferred to eat them.
Pirate Notes: Metroid dissection continues to produce more questions than answers. Our research teams have isolated the energy conduits that run from the invasive twin mandibles to the energy core in the creature's quadripartite nucleus, but the manner in which the Metroid actually extracts the life force from its prey remains an utter mystery. The victim does not lose blood or any other vital fluids, and yet the Metroid extracts energy; identifying this energy is our central problem. It takes no physical form, and yet without it, the victim dies.
Living Battery: Super Metroid reveals that Metroids' ability to feed on ambient energy and impossibly efficient metabolisms make them an ideal power source.
Mega Manning: Metroid Prime and the Super Metroid both steal and assimilate weapons used by the Space Pirates.
Metamorphosis Monster: Their exact lifecycle depends heavily on their environment, with the conditions of their native SR388 producing the most dramatic transformations. SR388 goes Infant-Larva-Alpha-Gamma-Zeta-Omega with some becoming Queens. Tallon IV have even weaker than normal Infant stage before Larva, which becomes Hunter or Fission. In Corruption we see Mini-Phazon-Hopping-Hatcher and possibly Prime.
Miracle Gro Monster: Instead of metamorphosing, the Super Metroid just kept getting bigger. Metroid Prime was also small at one point in time.
Monster Lord: The Queen Metroids. Mother Brain sorta plays this role in lieu of a Queen. The Metroid Prime commanded a few as well.
Powerup Let Down: The stage between Phazon and Hatcher can't even fly.
Shoddy Knockoff: In-universe, the Mochtroids are this to the genuine article. Sure, they drain Samus' energy, but they can't latch onto her properly, and they are weak against pretty much any weapon, not just ice and missiles. And they don't even have the right number of nuclei.
Arguably all of the non-SR388 Metroids count as well (the ones in the Prime series), since they lost their invulnerability to everything but cold. Justified in that Metroid physiology changes depending on where they're born, and they were all infused with Phazon.
Stationary Boss: The Queen Metroid; if you can't beat it, you can leave and come back with more ammo.
Starfish Aliens: There is not a single thing in their biology that makes any sense by our standards.
Debut: Metroid (mentioned), Super Metroid (on screen)
"If anyone reads this, know that we did our duty and fought well."
Call Forward: Their Stiletto-Class and gunship Samus designs using their technology resemble the ship they later give to Samus in Fusion.
Chest Insignia: Most troopers in Prime 3 carry the federation symbol molded in metal.
Cool Guns: The federation marines have detachable arm mounted guns for both their kinetic and other energy weapons. The army soldiers have more conventional assault rifles.
The Engineer: Fleet mechanics are highly sought after and often overpaid according to the scan visor.
Freeze Ray: The secondary weapon of their army soldiers in Other M.
Glass Cannon: The Demolition Trooper armor has explosives built in it and they are used primarily for busting down barriers. Their armor isn't as good at handling direct attacks as a marine's and they lack P.E.D.s, so they don't last long in straight fights.
Invisible Aliens: Not so much in the entire series, but in the Galactic Federation specifically. The manual from the first game implied that the federation was made up predominately by aliens, but we only see humans in every game until Prime 3 and even the small percentage of the regular armed forces that are not human are presumably man made. This is most evident when an Other M enemy announces intentions to strike the Federation capital in order to punish humans with no mention of any other species.
Kinetic Weapons Are Just Better: Seems to be their philosophy, but it proves not to be the case when they touch down on Aether. They seem to be using energy weapons in Prime 3, but are back to kinetics by Other M.
Fridge Brilliance: They were using energy weapons in Prime 3 that were better than their kinetic weapons, but they were based on Phazon, which Samus obliterated when she killed Dark Samus in Metroid Prime 3. They had to go back to using older technology, whether it was better or not.
Mauve Shirt: The GF troopers in Corruption; since they're already dead by the time you get there in Echoes, they don't promote from the Red Shirt Army.
Red Shirt: Fleet Troopers have no protection from attack, besides the fact they work on war ships. If something gets inside, they are kind of helpless without other soldiers or turrets to protect them. They are often ignored, but really are the backbone of the navy.
Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Their individually named space craft mostly follow this, with names from Greek, Norse, and Egyptian mythology showing up as well as Epic Of Gilgamesh. There is also a task force named Heracles in Echoes and mention of a Horus rebellion in Corruption. Because the Space Pirates frequently steal from them, much of their junk also follows this motif.
Space Fighter: Stiletto-Class ships and presumably other hunter class gun ships.
Space Marine: How the organization is divided is unclear. Besides "marines", we've been introduced to the navy and its admiral, then to the army and its former general. The army's soldiers seem to have sleeker combat armor than the marines, but it is not known if this is supposed to indicate they are a different type of troop or not.
Super Mode: The P.E.D. Marines had one to match the space pirate's.
Video Game Cruelty Punishment: The hydra class turrets that protect non combatants and come in three intensity levels.
The Worf Effect: They can't get through the Pirates in Zebes and one of their corpses is found by Kraid. Sylux smashes one in the intro to Metroid Prime: Hunters. They are torn apart by Ing-possessed Splinters and then their dead bodies are possessed as well. One of their Olympus-class ships is taken by the pirates to show off how dangerous they are with phazon. You can get points for saving them during the pirate raid at the start of Metroid Prime 3, where they will die if you don't take action.
Naturally, players were surprised when they later are seen fighting pretty well, even though they are supposed to be the among the best troops in the galaxy. They simply never had the chance to show it up until that point, and even then, there is a blink-and-miss-it scene where two are killed by a Pirate Commander.
We Will Wear Armor in the Future: Most of those placed in personal combat anyway. It is apparently as much for using more potent weapons as it is for protection from enemies.
Wetware CPU: The Olympus-class ships reduce the crew requirements by using organic super computers to handle most non-combat roles, allowing them to carry more fighter craft and be armed with more weapons. Originally the Aurora Units were made for research purposes, and they are also used in business and government.
General Adam Malkovich
Debut: Metroid Fusion (mentioned), Metroid: Other M
Identity Amnesia: Samus's AI commander in Metroid Fusion is actually a copy of the deceased Adam's mind with most of his memories suppressed (presumably to increase his loyalty to the Federation). Picking up on this at some level, Samus mentally nicknames the AI "Adam"; when she accidentally refers to him as such, it leads to him regaining his memories.
What the Hell, Hero?: Adam gets called out by Samus for shooting her in the back and then letting her linger long enough to almost become food for a possibly invulnerable Metroid.
Anthony Higgs
Debut: Metroid: Other M
"Hey punk! Don't you know how to treat a lady? Let me teach you a lesson about subtlety!"
The Giant: He's more than a head taller than Samus, who is herself a head taller than the civilians on the Bottle Ship. He also carries around the squad's heavy artillery.
Remember the New Guy: In the E3 2009 trailer for Metroid: Other M, a Power Armor-clad man greets Samus and says "Remember me?", opening his visor. Samus may have, but Metroid fans did not. A meme was born.
Token Minority: Although he isn't the only one in the team. Also wonderfully subverted in that the character avoids all the tropes and stereotypes affiliated with the trope.
Fan Nickname: Some people like to say that the K.G. in his name stands for "Killed Guy" for this very reason. Dying is all he really seems to accomplish.
The Quiet One: He doesn't really seem like the type who doesn't talk much, but nevertheless he only gets about two short lines in the game.
Translation Convention: For his name for some reason. In English speaking countries, it was Flanderized to K.G., despite it being Keiji in Japan. Note that the two names are pronounced the same and that there was no reason for it considering that another Keiji was in another game roughly around the same time.
The Blank: Like Weavel, his armor gives no indication of him having any sort of face. Whether he even has one is probably going to be left unsolved until gamers actually get a peek underneath his suit.
The End... Or Is It?: The apparent appearance of the Delano 7 at the end of Prime 3 may count.
Lightning Gun: The Shock Coil: its stream jumps to the nearest target, so little aiming is required, but it is sort of short ranged. Sylux can recover health when using it.
Roar Before Beating: In the intro, though Sylux had already beaten someone, presumably the fighting wasn't over.
Rocket Jump: So far the only example to rival, possibly even surpass Samus, taking this trope to Not Quite Flight levels. The jumps you can make are impressive, and in low gravity, you really can fly in Sylux's alternate form, the Lockjaw.
Sequel Hook: Again, the possible Delano 7 appearance, which fits in line with the Sequel Hooks from the first two games.
Trap Master: His altform uses bombs like Samus's Morph Ball, but rather than detonating after a few seconds, they connect in pairs to form tripwires.
Ascended Extra: He would have to be one of the pirates from the Zero Mission remake for his story to make any sense with the information we know. It is possible another game could occur during the time period though, as Metroid has been skipping around lately.
The Blank: Possibly. It's not entirely clear if that yellow section of his head where his face would be is a cybernetic face or just a visor. A fan theory is that he's a Ki-Hunter, which would make that yellow part his actual face if true.
Colour Motif: Weavel's suit has a mild green tint and the battle hammer is green.
Cool Ship: Though it's not as prominent as the Delano 7, it can be seen in the intro movie, where Weavel is using it to evade the GF Police. It's also briefly seen on the Oubliette.
Mark of Shame: His new cybernetic body is a constant reminder of Weavel being completely wasted by Samus. In fact, it's the reason why he is no longer a high-ranking Pirate.
Remember the New Guy: Apparently, Weavel lost his body while fighting Samus on Zebes in the first game. In Brinstar. Which never contained any Pirates at this point in the chronology, neither in the first game nor in Zero Mission.
Space Pirate: Though technically, he is no longer officially affiliated with them.
Swiss Army Appendage: He has the trademark Space Pirate scythe, which he only uses in his alt-form during game play. This one is actually a rather mild example as far as Pirates go, because while Weavel's scythe is merely attached to his arm, Pirates tend to replace their arms with such scythes.
Splash Damage: The battle hammer has a bigger blast radius when used by him.
The Turret Master: He can split his body in half and the lower half will become a turret.
We Can Rebuild Him: He was originally just a high-ranked space pirate (probably a Commando or Trooper) until he was completely blown to smithereens by Samus and rebuilt as a cyborg.
Color-Coded for Your Convenience: From the hunter himself, to his ice weapon, to the doors that can be opened once Samus gets his weapon, his main color is purple.
Hero Antagonist: The only reason he even ends up fighting against Samus is because his goal is to keep the Ultimate Power out of the wrong hands. Presumably, Samus and the Galactic Federation would fall under "the wrong hands."
Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Though the hunter himself is green, his weapon, the Volt Driver, is yellow, as are the doors that Samus can open once she gets this weapon.
For the Evulz: The main reason he became a bounty hunter, and the reason why he is searching for the Ultimate Power of the Alimbics, is because it gives him a chance to fulfill his killing potential.
Gone Horribly Wrong: He was originally a lab experiment to create a super-soldier, but he escaped.
Humanoid Abomination: This is what you get when you combine an unnaturally augmented scientific experiment with a mind that is just barely holding onto its sanity.
Interface Screw: His special weapon, the Volt Driver, can do this. It homes in on the target when he fully charges it.
Nightmare Face: Let's just say that his face is rather unnerving.
Rocket Jump: How his Stinglarva form jumps, though not as good at it as the Morph Ball or Lockjaw.
Stuff Blowing Up: In his intro, a building blows up behind him; possibly the facility he came from, but who knows.
Collision Damage: The Dialanche, as seen in the intro. It has to be right when he transforms or at full speed, though, so you're better off using the attack button instead.
Colour Motif: From the hunter himself, to his magma weapon, to the doors that can be opened once Samus gets his weapon, his main color is orange.
Creator In-Joke: Retro based his design off a creature from one of their canceled projects. Nintendo Software Technologies wrote his back story with that in mind.
Last of His Kind: Indeed, the reason why he is seeking the Ultimate Power in the Alimbic system is because it may provide him with an opportunity to find out what happened to the rest of his species.
Magma Man: In fact, according to his scans, his body contains "molten ferrous compounds normally found only in a planet's core." His weapon of choice shoots lava grenades, and charged shots light things on fire, doing more damage when he uses it. He can also move through lava without taking damage.
Cold Sniper: His weapon, the Imperialist, is a red laser that actually has a sniping scope of sorts. As such, it has the longest range of any of the hunters' weapons.
Color-Coded for Your Convenience: From the hunter himself, to his sniper weapon, to the doors that can be opened once Samus gets his weapon, his main color is red.
Glass Cannon: Samus, or at least the scan visor, suspect him of being one of these.
Human Ladder: He stands atop a mount of what can be presumed to be other Kriken in the intro.
Raymanian Limbs: Well, his head has no connection to his body.
Rite of Passage: His involvement in the story has him seeking the Octoliths as part of this. He fails, of course, but then again, the "Ultimate Power" he was looking for didn't really exist in the first place.
Secret A.I. Moves: In the strictly one-player mode, he can rapid-fire the Imperialist. We repeat — he is rapid-firing a sniper rifle. Only during his very first appearance, though, and only if you provoke him into doing it.
Badass: The scan visor says his threat level matches Samus's.
Big Damn Heroes: With only seconds to spare, Rundas saves Samus from reaching the reactor of an energy shaft after she just dueled Ridley in a free-fall battle. This was his Establishing Character Moment, and part of what made him so endearing to the fandom.
Bond One-Liner: Gives one after shooting down two flying transports.
Deadly Upgrade: The P.E.D. makes some of his attacks almost impossible to dodge.
Destructible Projectiles: He can stop certain shots with his powers, but given their nature, certain shots can stop his powers.
Dying as Yourself: Maybe. When he is beaten, he seems to look around, confused. He almost tries to speak, but is impaled by an ice spike. It is uncertain whether this was him euthanising himself, or possibly Dark Samus killing him. But it makes it even moresad.
Elemental Armor: Sometimes encases himself in it, other times uses it to provide cover. It's surprisingly durable but not unbreakable; the easiest thing to do is trick him into helping you with it.
Expy: He visually resembles Noxus and has ice powers (to Noxus's freeze gun). He fights much differently, however, and is not a Knight Templar.
I Work Alone: According to Federation reports, this was his attitude before he met Samus (who he seems to bond with); it explains some of his actions on Bryyo too.
An Ice Person: He can generate ice and control the movement of the ice he creates.
Irony: When he is attempting to halt the argument, he mentions that they are the good guys, justice will prevail, and all that stuff. Guess what happens to each of the Hunters barring Samus a few weeks to a month later?
Justice Will Prevail: He claims this as the hunters are all arguing: "Hey, relax. We're the good guys. Justice will prevail and all that stuff... right, Samus?"
Painfully Slow Projectile: He shoots out a whole bunch to track a target and distract it while he zips off elsewhere; his serious shots are much faster.
Good Counterpart: Ghor is a Federation fighter who, after being rebuilt, resembles a Space Pirate (at least the ones in Prime 3). Compare to Weavel, a Space Pirate, who after being rebuilt resembles a Federation soldier.
Grappling-Hook Gun: Strictly offensive; he doesn't need to building-swing since his suit flies.
Pet the Dog: His scans say that he occasionally works for free or even gives his bounty money to whoever has been harassed by his bounty targets.
Playing with Fire: His main weapon is the Plasma Cannon. Not exactly fire, but it is hot enough to set some things ablaze and he even uses it to heat up his blades in close quarters combat.
Shout Out: His backstory, with him having to replace his body with a cybernetic one that alters his personality, seems inspired by General Grievous, except that Ghor isn't a villain. Not initially, at least.
The Smart Guy: Without his suit. Despite bounty hunting being his preferred profession, he's often asked to crack or control computer systems.
Super Mode: After getting two P.E.D. icons, the other one might be for his larger armour.
Unskilled, but Strong: He logically assesses his situation and strikes with state of the art weaponry, but is still lacking in pure combat skill according to federation reports on him.
We Can Rebuild Him: 94 percent of his body got blasted to bits in combat.
Gandrayda
Debut: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
"You know, you should never trust strangers, Sammy."
Energy Beings: It seems the reason Gandrayda is able to shapeshift is because her natural form isn't really physical to begin with.
Get Back Here Boss: The main reason that makes fighting her so frustrating is that she spends 95% of her time jumping around, stopping only to change shapes or when she has managed to latch on to you.
Hive Mind: She is able to take the form of several swarm bots at once thanks to the P.E.D., and this is likely how she controls them all.
Laughing Mad: Just prior to fighting Samus, after she nearly shot Samus while her back was turned. And a more insane laughter toward the end of her Shape Shifter Swan Song, too.
Badass: It's heavily implied that the only person in the entire galaxy who is a threat to him is Samus. Let's see what he (chronologically) accomplishes:
Prior to the series, he single-handedly annihilates dozens of space colonies (including the one Samus lived in, whoops) and occupied Zebes, wiping out the remnants of the Chozo civilization.
He fights Samus one-on-one in Metroid and, while losing, manages to not only survive the fight but escape the endgame explosion, and lives through his injuries long enough for the pirates to save his life by making him a cyborg.
In Prime, the newly roboticized Meta Ridley is more or less the only Space Pirate to live through the destruction of their frigate, and later survives not only a thrashing by Samus but being blasted by the statue guardians of the Artifact Temple.
In Corruption, he lays waste to a whole Federation outpost before dragging Samus into a freefall battle. He not only survives, he takes in so much Phazon he becomes a full-blown Leviathan guardian. And, unlike other powerful beings of Phazon, he lives through Phaaze's destruction at the end of the game.
In Super Metroid, he attacks a science facility, steals the baby Metroid from right under Samus' nose, and fights her again. He finally dies in this game, and it takes the fifth canonical beat down by his archnemesis coupled with being caught in an exploding planet to kill him.
His clone in Metroid: Other M wreaks havoc in the station and slaughters scientists and even some soldiers while still an infant. The frequency of his voice is driving the other beings in the Bottle Ship into a frenzy, meaning that even when he's not around to directly make things worse, he's making things worse. Killing the clone requires no less a being than a friggin' Queen Metroid, and this is after he's worn out in another battle with Samus. Adam Malkovich considers the clone such a threat that he chooses to make a Heroic Sacrifice rather than face it, considering Samus the only person reliably able to battle Ridley.
Even in Fusion, the worn-out, dead, frozen husk of his clone is suitable for X parasite cloning. Yes, a clone of a clone, and he's still an endgame boss.
Let's put it this way: Adam Malkovich expressly considers Ridley to be just as much of a threat as a station full of invincible Metroids. He is probably the only thing in the universe that can scare Samus stiff (though that has been attributed to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). That is how dangerous this guy is.
Beware My Stinger Tail: His tail is pointed and barbed, and is first used as a weapon in Super Metroid. It's also one of the few things that can damage Samus when she's using the Screw Attack. Omega Ridley can shoot short ranged beams out of his tail.
Big Bad: Of the two main plots in the first Metroid Prime, he's the Big Bad of one of them and is the cause of the entire game.
Big Eater: In Other M, he eats constantly as "Little Birdy" in order to hasten his metamorphosis.
Brown Note: In Other M, it's revealed that the frequency of Ridley's voice drives Space Pirates and some other creatures into a murderous battle frenzy, essentially making Ridley a perfect military commander. It also may have had something to do with Samus' mental breakdown.
Creepy Child: In Other M. Somehow ironic how Ridley seems to be creepier when he's a cute newborn chicken thing.
Deader Than Dead: Let's see, as of Fusion, his clone was reduced to ash, and then the station it was on was sent to a planet that then exploded. On the other hand, he's already been cloned once, and since Samus is an outlaw at the end of Fusion, it's not impossible that he won't be revived in some fashion, given that Ridley is the natural choice to hunt down Samus.
The Dragon: He's not only an actual dragon, but he's the penultimate boss in all of his appearances. *
. The trope is averted in Metroid Prime, where he is one of the two Big Bads, though he is the first to be taken out as the penultimate boss.
Early Installment Weirdness: The American art for the first Metroid game showed Ridley as a weird dragonfly thing instead of the more familiar space dragon. This might have been due to the art being based on his in-game sprite, which admittedly was rather vague on his appearance beyond "winged monster."
Him being the same size as Samus.
Even Evil Has Standards: Subverted in the manga. Ridley at first seems to avoid trying to kill Samus, but was instead lowering her guard. She's 3 years old at the time.
Evil Counterpart: Perhaps this is Alternate Character Interpretation, but he and Samus tend to parallel one another, with being extremely powerful and intelligent. They are also presented with the same option of killing or sparing each other as a child with opposite results. Additionally, Ridley and Samus are just as unkillable; Samus as a player character can "continue" if killed, and Ridley "continues" every time he dies.
Eye Beams: Mecha-Ridley after his protector is broken.
Genetic Memory: His clone in Other M seems to know EXACTLY who Samus is.
Healing Factor: He can eat organic matter in order to regenerate lost mass. He taunts Samus by saying he did this to her mother. However, this ability seems to occur a lot slower than most other examples.
His healing ability can be seen somewhat in Corruption, presumably sped up by Phazon enhancement. The first time you fight him, as Meta-Ridley, most of his body is plated with or replaced by metal. When you face him a month or so later as Omega Ridley, he's healed enough that he's shed off a lot of his metal parts and what isn't removed is starting to get pushed apart by regrowing flesh anyway. Certainly justifies why he goes back to being regular Ridley in Super Metroid.
Hoist by His Own Petard: He killed Samus’ mother in attempting to kill Samus, thus Ridley had succeeded in creating his greatest enemy.
Improvised Armor: Omega Ridley whips some up after you tear open his original armor plates.
Informed Attribute: The intelligence that he exhibits in the manga, and which pretty much all supplementary material talks about, is never really touched upon in-game. Then again, we rarely see him when he's not fighting Samus, so who knows. Though it does get shown a bit by his clone in Other M.
It's also exhibited during his attack on Norion in Corruption, as he tries multiple times to attack Samus while she is in Morph Ball mode, incapable of really fighting back. After this fails, he drags her into a freefall battle; considering Samus can't fly, even if he lost the fight, she'd still fall to her death. And then Rundas shows up to save Samus, ruining all the fun.
Joker Immunity: Officially averted in Super Metroid, where he canonically died. The ones in Fusion and Other M are clones.
Killed Off for Real: In Super Metroid. His clone is sucked dry in Other M and finally killed by the X in Fusion.
Lack of Empathy: He cruelly mocks Samus for her PTSD-enduced memories of her mother being killed by Ridley, as well as that he absorbed a bit of her cells.
Lightning Bruiser: Able to tear around the screen at an amazing speed given his size, as well as deal out considerable damage to Samus.
Might Makes Right: In the manga: "In battle, nature sides with the strong! You shall realize just how worthless your ideals and such are — AH HA HA HA HA HA!"
Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Hilariously, he is a spacedragon who is the leader of the Space Pirates and often comes back from the dead, sometimes as a cyborg. If you count that he is capable of invisibility in Super Metroid, he is a literal Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot.
Psycho for Hire: The manga and some of the Data Logs in Metroid Prime imply that his reason for being with the Space Pirates boils down to a sadistic love of killing other beings.
Space Pirate Datalog: We believe our creation, now called Meta Ridley, will become the mainstay of our security force, a job he will certainly relish.
Razor Wings: Averted, the designers went out of their way to make sure players would not have to worry about his wings in the 2D games. He does use a couple wing attacks in Super Smash Bros Brawl, however.
"'Defective product’.... Me...?!! A defective product... You dare claim that I am defective...!!"
Arch-Enemy: While not quite as personal as Ridley, Mother Brain is still one of the most recurring villains of the series, and earns Samus' ire in various ways, most notably killing the baby Metroid. It's somewhat more prominent in the manga, where she played a part in raising Samus, before becoming one of her adversaries.
A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Retconned in the Prime series as an organic machine built by the Chozo, instead of the Space Pirate leader. This is in the manga too. The manga reconciles these roles (she takes the pirates over), but Other M seems to disregard both the Prime series and a bit of the manga (saying that the pirates can't function without her).
Death by Irony: Almost manages to kill Samus in Super Metroid, but is suddenly attacked by the fully-grown baby Metroid she stole, which chomps her head in retaliation. Ha!
Early Installment Weirdness: In the first game she had two eyes, a nose, tusks, and did not attack directly. In Super Metroid, she only had one eye and was more active. The first game's remake retconned Mother Brain to have only one eye and to actively defend herself.
Evil Counterpart: Like Samus, she's heavily associated with maternal themes, and in the manga was also created by the Chozo to be their ultimate creation of sorts, mirroring Samus' own upbringing as a great warrior. Yet while Samus is heroic and rebellious, Mother Brain enforces order and hierarchy.
Eye Beams: She is the only boss from the first game to be made more difficult in Zero Mission. She doesn't shoot them normally though, being in a jar and all.
Suspiciously Similar Song: The rising four-note phrase in her battle music from Super Metroid actually sounds a lot like the three-note motif used for Man in Bambi.
AlwaysLawful Evil: The Space Pirates. Justified, as it's claimed any space pirates who question The Way Things Are are executed, sometimes on the spot. Any space pirate who expressed non-evil thoughts wouldn't have a very long life expectancy.
According to some scans in the Prime series and some out-of-game info, not all of them are very happy with evil being the law, and certain POWs were incredibly easy to interrogate. Other scans seem to paint them more as Lawful Stupid, with common troops not being nearly as malicious or cunning as Science Team. Of course, that's not saying much.
In Echoes, the Ing love Pirate hosts because their lawfulness makes them easier to control. In the manga and Other M, Pirates are depicted as easily commanded by beings with minor Psychic Powers like Ridley and Mother Brain.
Beast of Battle: While all their attempts to use Metroids for anything useful have spectacularly failed, Pirate Kussars have managed to tame the mighty Korakk Beast. They also are able to make use of the Bombus, Preeds, and later Puffers to a limited extent.
Butt Monkey: In Echoes, especially. "Surely, we are cursed."
Comedic Sociopathy: "They were promptly shot." Followed by "They too were shot."
Creative Sterility: Almost all of their tech is stolen or reverse-engineered.
But also Subverted; while they steal a good deal of their technology, they are also extremely active in researching and improving their home-grown tech. The Hazard Shield (which is required for them to put up with the acid rain on their base world) is a good example.
Deadpan Snarker: Part of what makes many of the logs so hilarious.
Depending on the Artist: Space Pirates tend to look different in every game. The manga depicts them as having numerous subspecies.
EMP: They have grenades that produce them, which is strange since they don't work very well against their sworn enemy Samus.
Eternal Engine: Their homeworld is like this, complete with a perpetual shower of acid rain.
Evil Knockoff: Their attempts to reverse-engineer Samus's technology.
According to logs taken from the original Prime, the pirates did some poking around into the Morph Ball technology, only to have their results break every bone in the test subjects' bodies. Needless to say, that venture took them nowhere.
Fan Nickname: The two space pirates that guard Ridley's lair in Super Metroid have been called "Ninja Pirates" due to their characteristic fighting style.
Aquatic Mook: Aqua pirates use technology similar to the gravity suit and Aquadrones are built to patrol the depths.
Elite Mooks: Pirate commandos, dedicated to hunting the hunter. The are lead by Pirate Commanders, one of whom serves as a boss.
Giant Mook: Elite Pirates. Omega Pirate is a Giant Giant Mook. Also Berserker Knights, of which the Berserker Lord is the boss version.
Heavily Armored Mook: Armored Pirates Troopers and Armoured Militia. Advanced and assault troopers count too.
Kung-Fu Proof Mook: Advanced pirate troopers are resistant to most beams, assault troopers can't be targeted by missiles and only the hyper missiles bother them, the beam troopers are immune to most weaponry besides the beam they are imitating...
Mecha-Mooks: Aeromines, Crawlmines, Crawltanks and various drones.
Mook Mobile: Both of their skiffs and their armored tactical carriers.
Nocturnal Mooks: What the Shadow Pirates are supposed to be, but some are too stupid to stay in the shadows.
Patrolling Mook: Those in Ridley's ship during Zero Mission as well as Chozodia.
Slave Mooks: Pirate Militia are made up of criminals forced into service and captured slaves. Disobedient militia supposedly become rations for the real troops.
Only Sane Man: Any pirate writing the log entries about how dumb Science Team and High Command are.
Pet the Dog: Apparently some Space Pirates do keep normal pets, as the ones working in the Phazon Mines had to be warned to give them up due to risk of the animals contracting Phazon Madness.
Sinister Scythe: Combined with Laser Blade or Hot Blade depending on the game and type of pirate. The Space Pirates in the Metroid Prime games are especially fond of these. In the first game, the blades seem to be made of energy as many of the pirate character models do not include a physical blade, yet they can still slash you with one as their melee attack. In the later games most of the pirates have physical blades, but they glow and leave an energy trail when they attack with them.
Too Dumb to Live: The Space Pirates as a whole don't seem to have much care for personal safety. Their Science Teams seem positively suicidal; but then they have vapor for brains.
They even have to warn personnel not to use Metroids as target practice.
Hell, they have to keep reminding personnel not to keep them as pets.
Visible Invisibility: Shadow pirates are pretty much invisible by unaided human eyes in the dark; naturally, some will attack in broad daylight, where they are only slightly obscured.
Wall Crawl: varies from game to game whether the current crop Samus is up against can do this.
Weak Willed: According to the manga, Space Pirates are conditioned to follow a strong leader. Beings with even minor Psychic Powers find it surprisingly easy to take command of them.
Born Winner: The only reason he's so huge and powerful compared to the other Elite Pirates is because he was just naturally born with a superhigh Phazon tolerance, so the scientists were able to pump nearly limitless amounts of Phazon into him beyond what would kill most. However...
Cast From Lifespan: Science team's research suggests that though he's had literally no adverse effects to the Phazon yet, his lifespan may be short.
Code Name: Was originally just "Space Pirate Upsilon", before being dubbed the Omega Pirate by the research teams.
Phlebotinum Dependence: It will retreat to Phazon puddles to restore its damaged armor. This is also the only performance concern that has been noted by Science Team.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: It's certainly trying to doom Samus, but as a result of the conditions of its death Dark Samus is essentially born from its remains.
What Could Have Been: One idea for the scrapped "Metroid 1.5" sequel to the first Prime would have had a multiplayer mode recreating the battle against the Omega Pirate, but with one player controlling the Omega Pirate and the others controlling bounty hunters.
Bizarre Alien Biology: A giant dinosaur with the standard claws and teeth? Pretty normal as far as video game monsters go. Three eyes? That's only slightly pushing the envelope. Spikes that shoot out of its belly that Samus can jump on? Alright, now that's not exactly normal.
Early Installment Weirdness: Kraid was actually really tiny in the original Metroid. Zero Missionretconned this out when it made him gigantic as well.
Also, the green on his body that is portrayed as scales in all later games is portrayed as fur in the original's American artwork.
Fake Ultimate Mook: There is an enemy that looks exactly like him in the first game, but dies in one hit and doesn't open the way to Tourain. "Fake Kraid" in Super Metroid was actually in the same room as Kraid in the original. This was to add dramatic effect once the player entered the next room and saw just how gigantic the real deal was.
Lowered Monster Difficulty: He was the most difficult boss in the first game! Ridley and Mother Brain proceeded to get harder in most of the other titles they appeared in while he became easier in both Super Metroid and the first game's remake.
Tactical Suicide Boss: He would be invincible if he never opened his mouth or shot spikes out of his belly. Partially justified in that being shot in the eyes with missiles really, really hurts.
Disney Death: Perhaps unintentionally set up in Super Metroid, he returns in Other M as the True Final Boss if you're not playing Hard, in which case the game doesn't let you fight him.
Easy Mode Mockery: Inverted. Phantoon, along with the entire Playable Epilogue, is missing in Hard Mode.
Took a Level in Badass: In Other M, he is huge and is given a promotion to True Final Boss status.
True Final Boss: In Other M, appearing as a Giant Space Flea from Nowhere. Provided you don't play on Hard, in which case you can't access the post-game and, consequently, Phantoon.
Natural Weapon: The main difference between them and the other Pirate foot soldiers is that they never seem to brandish any weapons besides those they were born with.
Taking You with Me: In Other M, they try to latch onto you and explode if they take heavy damage. Thankfully only in Other M so far.
Personal Space Invader: "Super" Ki-Hunters latch on to enemies as a matter of course but thankfully do not explode.
Super Spit: The gunk they spit after losing their wings.
Third Eye: A large one in the center of their head.
Gone Horribly Wrong: Subverted. The Pirates realized it was too difficult to control, and in a rare flash of Genre Savviness quarantined it and left it dormant rather than attempt to control it anyway or scrap it, making occasional tests on it and waiting until a way to control it becomes more accessible. Too bad Samus found it before they finished...
Rock Monster: Thardus, the boss of the Phendrana Drifts, which is an entity of living ice and rock.
Poisonous Person: In addition to utilizing its own toxins in battle against Samus, it passively leaks out poison into the Chozo Temple's water system, contaminating the whole temple.
Attack Animal: The Ing were said to breed and raise worms for various tasks; these were, if not their guard dogs, then at least something they left in the general area to ensure nobody got the dark suit or stolen planetary energy.
Call Forward: The destruction of the dark sphere looks just like that of Zebes.
Casting a Shadow: Not on their own, but once attached to the dark sphere, they will be capable of flinging safe zone-neutralizing shots of darkness or channel thick purple energy beams. The dark attacks seem to take on a different characteristic around the dark sphere, which prevents you from clearing away beacons the way you normally do.
Feed It a Bomb: The only way to damage them is to let them inhale you and then lay a bomb in their mouths. Rather than really letting them inhale you, you're hitting them hard enough to make them fall over and gasp for air... at which point you give them a metal ball laying bombs.
Wormsign: The sand above where they're about to emerge will begin to flow outward as if being pushed up from below. If the sand you're directly standing on is doing this, MOVE.
Chykka
Debut: Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
Barrier Change Boss: While any weapons will damage it, during the second phase it switches between being weak to light and dark.
Marathon Boss: One of the longest boss battles in the series.
Deader Than Dead: You can scan Chykka's corpse after the battle is over (nearly every other boss either fades away or explodes), which basically goes to assure you, in no uncertain terms, that the creature is finally dead:
"Bioscan complete. Target Chykka has been terminated. Lifesigns are at flatline. No regenerative ability in effect. No evidence of symbiotic corpse possession. Resurrection does not appear likely."
Sequential Boss: The first phase is against its larval form, which for all intents and purposes behaves like a fish in the dark waters. After being defeated, it retreats and rapidly metamorphs into its adult stage, which is a massive wasp-like insect that alternates between light and dark forms.
Shockwave Stomp: In the larva sequence. That's when you shoot it.
Demonic Possession: Presumably, it had joined the war against all living things before the Ing took it over.
Everything's Better with Spinning: Sometimes, during its first phase. Subverted, since getting sucked into a top-like mech to be battered is anything but better.
Finishing Stomp: There is a good chance you won't be finished, but you deserve to be if you let the robot step on you.
More Dakka: It also has missiles and bullets to spam.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: Subverted; when the Ing start using it, its eyes go from red to blue. When they start to turn red again, it means you are winning.
Attack Its Weak Point: The four sockets it places spheres into. You have to break the sphere first and then attack the exposed socket before it can load a new sphere in.
Foreshadowing: You see many inactive "Mogenar-class" war golems throughout Bryyo, though none of them resemble this Mogenar. A golem strongly resembling Mogenar can be see etched into a lore portrait, however.
Spin Attack: One form it may take is to lay itself on the ground and have its swarmbots form a tornado-like swirling shape above it, and proceed to slide across the ground.
The Worm that Walks: One shape it takes is to have the Swarmbots form into four limbs for a vaguely human-like appearance.
Nightmare
Debut: Metroid Fusion
Body Horror: As if its organic components weren't horrific enough already, as it takes damage in Fusion, its face begins to melt off.
Cyborg: Inverted. It's a machine with organic components installed. Those organic components are what let the X infect it, much like its fellow machine-with-organic-parts, the B.O.X. security droid.
Psycho Prototype: Even before it was infected by the X, Nightmare had attacked Samus on the BOTTLE SHIP and caused damage to Sector 5 on the B.S.L.
Others
The Chozo
Debut: Metroid
"We shall do all that we can to aid her, for she bears our legacy as she bears the ancient armor and weapons of our people."
A Fate Worse Than Death: The Chozo on Tallon IV were pulled from their Higher Plane of Existence by Phazon. They managed to deal with it and return, except for the many that were twisted into insane ghosts by it while sealing the bulk of the stuff away. They had to be left behind.
Benevolent Precursors: While it is true that they weren't able to do much in their own lifetimes, they actively worked to put in place a system for Samus to redeem them by seeding various worlds with power suit upgrades for her to collect.
Beware the Nice Ones: Samus and the Metroids are proof enough that you do not want the Chozo mad at you.
Canon Immigrant: Old Bird, one of Samus's Chozo mentors/adoptive parents, appears in the Japanese version only endings of Metroid Fusion (which you can thankfully unlock in any version of Zero Mission), and makes a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo appearance in Metroid Zero Mission in one of Samus's flashbacks. Old Bird first appeared in the Nintendo Power Super Metroid comic and was later imported to the manga (along with Chairman Keaton and Chief Hardy). Some speculate that the second Chozo in the engraving at the end of the game may be the other Chozo mentor, Gray Voice.
Do Androids Dream?: Elysians installed the ability to "dream" in themselves so that they could be alerted to happenings while they "hibernated". They claim to have seen forms of their builders in between their operational sessions, but given the Talon IV Colony's established abilities, there may have been more to that incident than what the installed dreams were supposed to cover.
Doom Magnet: Whatever they touch, be it planet, species, or individual, is universally ill-fated in some way. Planetary destruction and being driven to the brink of extinction happen a lot where they've been.
Friend to All Living Things: The only creatures they ever had to take action against were the X. Every other species was fine to them, as shown by the wildlife on Zebes and Tallon IV.
Gone Horribly Wrong: Both the Metroids and Mother Brain were created by the Chozo to make SR-388 and Zebes nicer places to live. In both cases, the Chozo got a lot more than they bargained for.
Idiot Ball: This is what brought down their civilization. When their technology had advanced to the point they could live for hundreds to thousands of years with near perfect health, they started to really get caught up in their own desires (at this point, they were still warriors), but despite the fact they could live long, they started feeling the effects of old age and had to give that up. It was only then that they realized that their entire civilization had squandered their youth and forgot to reproduce while it was possible. As a result, they became the peaceful scientists who helped form the Galactic Federation as a measure of immortality for their species as they started a near millenia of watching their own civilization die.
Neglectful Precursors: Not even they, with all their technical and spiritual skill, have what it takes to take care of the doom that follows them around like a puppy they fed. Only Samus does.
In their defense, the prophetic Chozo of Tallon IV stocked up their ruins with power suit upgrades specifically to help Samus save the day in the future. It's implied that the Chozo on other worlds did the same.
They seem to zigzag all the precursors tropes. Their neglectfulness is mentioned above, their Abusive Precursors status is established by the fact they made the Metroids, then subverted into Benevolent Precursors both by the aforementioned upgrades, and the fact they originally made the Metroids to stop something worse.
Mistaken For Granite: The first Chozo Statue in Super Metroid seems inanimate until you take the powerup it holds and try to leave, at which point the exit seals and it attacks you.
Organic Technology: One possible explanation for the X parasites being able to duplicate Samus's suit and one of their statues, as well as how the Elysians were corrupted by Phazon. Whether or not that's really the case, it's interesting that their solution to the X Parasite was to create a X-immune life form which could hunt it.
Our Ghosts Are Different: Some left their bodies and the game's dimension behind; later, they returned to the game's dimension, still without those bodies. The ones that got stuck in the game's dimension because of phazon madness are what the other creatures call ghosts. The Chozo call them the turned.
Perfect Pacifist People: The Chozo have evolved to a point in which they live in harmony with nature, shunning violence and destructive technology. Of course, they were warriors once, and were able to create the advanced armor that Samus uses.
Taken Up to Eleven in the manga, where the present Chozo race has a mental block against violence — harming sentient beings for any purpose causes a Chozo to experience immense pain or even death. Training Samus to do it is fine, though.
Proud Warrior Race Guy: What they used to be. Prime shows they consider Samus's weapons to be ancient, but whether that has to do with being primitive to them or simply because no one's bothered to choose the warrior's path for so long is up for debate.
Technical Pacifist: For a race sworn not to hurt other living creatures, it seems odd that they'd train the galaxy's greatest Badass (and create its worst living weapons...)
Metroid Hatchling (Baby)
Debut: Metroid II: Return of Samus
Androcles Lion: A major plot element in the series. In Metroid II, Samus is tasked with exterminating the Metroid species, but stops at killing a newborn. In Super Metroid, the baby is kidnapped, and Samus goes to get it back. Samus is eventually reunited with the Metroid, who is now gigantic after being nursed by the Space Pirates. It starts to swallow her, but recognizes her as its surrogate mother, and lets her pass. At the final fight with Mother Brain, the baby sacrifices itself to heal Samus and give her the hyper beam. This episode is the major thematic introduction for Metroid: Other M.
In Super Metroid, Samus saves some Etecoons and Dachora during the escape sequence. At the escape sequence in Fusion, the same animals help control the gunship to escape the space station.
It also occurs in in Metroid: Fusion, in a posthumous example. After Samus is infected by the X parasite, a cell sample of the same baby Metroid is used as part of the cure that destroys the parasites inside her and saves her life.
Hive Queen: Since Other M's Metroid Queen is cloned straight from the baby and only special infants have the genetic coding to become queens, it would appear that the hatchling was indeed an infant Queen.
Aquatic Mook: They create some mermaid pirates if you stick around to see it.
Artificial Stupidity: Despite the fact that the SA-X is the most powerful enemy in all of Fusion, and despite the X's ability to copy any organic body part, itapparentlylacks a brain.
Body Horror: Through the process of infecting hosts, the X either take over or mimic the body, typically while mutating the original form into something much worse. Samus doesn't have even have to be fully infected for this trope to come into play for her.
Cosmic Horror Story: They'd fit right in one just as well as any eldritch creature, which is why Metroids were made.
The End of the World as We Know It: This is more or less what happened when the X made a comeback on SR-388. It's also what would have happened elsewhere had the Galactic Federation gone through with their plans to capture the SA-X.
Genetic Memory: They retain the intelligence and memories of what they transform into.
Geo Effects: They are smart enough to make use of them, particularly their use of cold areas to ward off Metroids. This could only go so far, though, since Metroids outgrow their ice weakness anyway.
Hidden Depths: At first, they seem like a mindless species of parasites running purely on instinct. Over the course of the game, you begin to learn that they're ruthless, intelligent, and capable of acting against instinct for their own ends.
Humanoid Abomination: Aside from the SA-X, their efforts to mimic humans end up failing, as it results in them becoming gelatinous humanoid blobs wearing lab coats instead. They end up refining the process eventually, to the point where a Core-X perfectly mimics a scientist in order to set Sector 3 on the fritz.
Implacable Man: The SA-X; in fact, don't even think about fighting it until the game says you can. Just run, run or hide.
Intangible Man: Yes, they can go intangible and ignore most physical barriers. However, it is implied by the powerbomb that large enough explosions can still affect them, and it'd stated by Adam that big enough ones can kill them.
Bilingual Bonus/Punny Name: Their species name is basically a combination of the Latin "lumen" for light and "moth."
Badass Preacher: The Luminoth usually speak about peace and all that, through strength and if neccessary war, and come off as a race that would rather not fight. But as soon as the Ing invade, they wasted little time in preparing for war, and while they failed, they still did a pretty good job. Added to the fact that if you scan the bodies of some of the dead ones, you'll see that the grand majority went down fighting, or at least holding their post; a notable example of the latter would be one female Luminoth that held her post even though she was starving to death. The Luminoth are pretty hardcore.
Special mention should go to J-Stl and A-Kul. J-Stl killed at least 100 Ing in his last stand, and who knows how many he killed in total. A-Kul: went into Dark Aether, a god awful dimension filled to the brink with Ing that would kill her the second they got a chance and whose very air was deadly, found one of the ten keys to the temple that had all been hidden by the Ing, fought her way to the Sky Temple, and managed to place it there AND leave clues to the other keys before dying.
The Sentinels of the Temples are perhaps the epitome of this, especially since they probably really are preachers. Scans reveal every one of them went down fighting. The one in Agon died while fending off innumerable Ing hordes, finally succumbing to superior numbers. The one in Torvus was possessed numerous times, and fought off each of them. The Ing finally realized that they couldn't break his will and killed him. And the one in the Sanctuary Fortress was so badass, the Ing had to turn his own weapons of war against him, unable to defeat him themselves.
Computer Virus: For once, the technology level and earlier compatibility patches pretty much justify the Rezbit's hacking and virus uploading abilities. The question here is why the Luminoth would make the little thing so good at delivering them.
Cyber Punk: Their Sanctuary Fortress's design seems at least partly inspired by it, especially compared to their stone temples and hive like dwellings.
Going to Give It More Energy: This is why the Luminoth first designed the Dark Beam in Echoes. It didn't work. They then designed the Light Beam, which was much more effective.
Higher Tech Species: They developed their unique technology through a combination of contact with the Chozo and their own experimentation on Aether. In fact, they might very well have gotten the chance to join the Chozo as Sufficiently Advanced Aliens had they not gotten embroiled with the Ing.
Light is Good: Sort of. The light of Aether is supposedly part of what makes their technology possible and it is what kept the Ing from immediately overrunning them, but from Federation data, it can be implied it is also what makes Aether "dimensionally unstable".
Magnetic Weapons: Mekenobites use magnets to walk on the walls and ceilings of Sanctuary Fortress and to propel projectiles at enemies.
Most Writers Are Human: The fact that Samus is fighting to help a species of humanoid moths against a species of very definitely non-humanoid creatures is significant.
Hopeless War: Both against the Ing and their own machines. The machines as a whole aren't able to combat the Ing well either and are not priority targets for beyond extra weapons systems. This means whether possessed or free, most of them are against the Luminoth.
Moth Popsicle: All but U-Mos are in stasis until the crisis is over. In the final scene, they all get out and bow down before Samus in gratitude.
Psychic Powers: More than one of them had these, at least, but it is not clear how many.
Robot War: The machines they created for war, and even those for peace, decided that all living things must die while the Luminoth were already in the middle of the Ing war. Only the most basic maintenance bots remained loyal, though they weren't of much help, having no combat ability.
Authority Equals Asskicking: The Emperor Ing is described as the most powerful of them by U-Mos. It is also the only Ing who can survive exposure to Phazon without using a Metroid host.
Back from the Brink: All that time between Samus making planetfall and getting the Energy Transfer Module? She could very well have gotten possessed by an Ing had she not been extremely lucky.
Not only that, but they would've succeeded in killing the few remaining Luminoth and stealing the last of the Light of Aether had Samus arrived at the Great Temple any later than when she did. The light world would've been destroyed as theirs became the default one, and they would've likely expanded beyond Aether, as warned by U-Mos. The only two known species that they probably wouldn't completely screw over are the Phazon beings, which they descend from, and the X, both of which possess similar qualities to the Ing.
Just imagine if they somehow possessed each other.
Emperor Ing directly feeds off of Phazon without requiring a host, and the scans make a point of noting that it is heavily mutated because of this. This is probably why it alone of its species can use both light and darkness.
Demonic Invaders: They are aliens, but read the lore that describes how they were discovered; it reeks of the trope.
Elite Mooks: Hunter Ing and Ing Storms, both capable of flight.
Endangered Species: The only Ing still alive are the ones who managed to possess another creature, as they can't live on Aether by themselves. The space pirates have a darkling Metroid on display at one of their bases, as revealed in a Prime 3 scan.
The Heartless: "The Ing are creatures of shadow and darkness, knowing nothing of peace or mercy."
Intangible Man: Hunter Ing; they still can't handle the light of Aether, but Samus's light beam is trivial to them.
Invisibility: Some Ing have methods of this, to the point they can hide from echolocation and sonar. Mostly notoriously their flying caches.
Rite of Passage: Ing are forced to fend for themselves as larva, then fight dangerous opponents after maturing. The idea is to make the young ones rely on each other and hate all other lifeforms, and it seems to work.
Stealth Pun: In Echoes, the Upgrade Guardians are Ing-possessed creatures with a "Boost Guardian, Grapple Guardian, etc" naming convention. Boost Ing, Grapple Ing...
Taking You with Me: After their world begins to die, several Warrior Ing attempt to prevent Samus' escape from Dark Aether so she'll die with them, but she just jumps over them and continues going.
Wall Crawl: All of them that are mobile but don't fly can seemingly do this.
You Will Be Assimilated: They seem to take a page from the X Parasites, in that both mutate other creatures into new forms. The Ing possess live hosts, however; their attempts to bring back dead bodies were pretty pathetic (though freaky). All X need is DNA; they eat the prey first, then start making copies. Before you write the Ing off as less dangerous, know that they can possess Metroids, which X cannot work with at all.
Metroid Prime/Dark Samus
Debut: Metroid Prime
Ax Crazy: Dark Samus during the events of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes was certainly depicted as being completely insane, namely due to being imbalanced at a molecular level, almost to Kefka Palazzo levels.
Badass: Let's see: She manages to fight Samus multiple times and survive, something only Ridley accomplished prior, she manages to survive a destablizing dimension, gets revived in Corrruption and manages to take control of a whole planet of Space Pirates, including RIDLEY, curb-stomps and corrupts all four hunters and manages to turn three of them against Samus. Put simply: Ridley might be Samus' nemesis, but Dark Samus is arguably her most powerful opponent yet.
Curbstomp Battle: Her skirmishes with the space pirates on Aether all see her quickly cut through them. Then she applies it to the hunters from Prime 3, in case anyone had doubts about her threat level already.
Evil Knockoff: Though unlike the SA-X from Fusion, Dark Samus isn't quite as much of a carbon copy, seeing as it used to be a Metroid and has some distinct abilities.
Expy: Of SA-X. Fusion was in development before Prime, and they were handled by different teams, so it's a bit nebulous which is the Expy of which.
Eviler than Thou: Even though she initially helps Warrior Ing attack Samus, some of the space pirates she is seen fighting with over some phazon were Ing possessed, suggesting one of them went back on any possible deals that could have been made. Since Ing don't make much use of the phazon they already have, it can be assumed they were simply trying to halter Dark Samus. She then takes control of the source of phazon in Corruption!
Eyes Do Not Belong There: If one pays attention, they will notice her final form in Echoes has eyes on the back of her hands!
Flight: A consistent ability she keeps after developing it that Samus doesn't really have, though at points she can only hover over the ground.
From a Single Cell: Or single phazon particle... It takes destroying every bit of phazon in the universe to finally kill her.
Laughing Mad: Dark Samus often laughs rather maniacally in some of her appearances in Metroid Prime 2 Echoes.
Load-Bearing Boss: In the first and third games. As Metroid Prime, its defeat made the Impact Crater presumably cave in on itself. In Corruption, her death makes Phaaze die because she merged with the device she was using to control it, one assumes. Averted in Echoes, because the Load-Bearing Boss had already been killed.
Mega Manning: First some space pirates' armor and weapons, then the phazon suit, and finally she acquires the abilities of other Hunters besides Samus during the events of Metroid Prime 3 Corruption.
Pet the Dog: Despite her psychopathic nature, she actually shows some degree of compassion towards Metroids held captive by the Space Pirates in the second game. This makes sense because she is a Metroid.
Pistol Whipping: It is not entirely clear if her cannon makes contact, but she has a striking move she'll use on players who don't keep their distance as well as to stop their missiles, forcing them to wait for an opening if they are determined to hit her with them.
Red Baron: She is referred to by the space pirates as the Dark Hunter. After she took over, they take to calling her the Dark One, and the Black Demon. *
These come from bonus material called Another Side Story.
Sanity Slippage: Inverted: She starts out as being completely insane in Metroid Prime 2 Echoes. By the time of Metroid Prime 3 Corruption, however, she has become sane enough to make complex plans that ensure that she succeeds, although she does retain a high degree of instabilitiy.
Shadow Archetype: To Samus, obviously, but given the series continuity, this is partly retroactive. In Fusion, Samus talks about how the SAX must be stopped before it ever realizes potential and becomes a threat to the galaxy, which is exactly what we see Dark Samus do. The kicker is that by becoming part Metroid, she is even more like Dark Samus, despite having an opposite motivation, and is fighting what functionally might as well be her old self, since it has most of her old abilities.
Though that depends on to what extent you consider Phazon to be sentient/separate beings or just a substance.
And, somewhat more literally than the trope above it suggests, as the Chozo once referred to it only as "The Worm."
Wrong Genre Savvy: Despite her name and her comfort in its atmosphere, Dark Samus is not from Dark Aether, nor is she a Darkling. Meaning the Light Beam is worthless against her, but the Dark Beam is devastating.
Artistic License - Nuclear Physics: Phazon, a highly radioactive, nearly uncontrollable substance that may possibly be alive, originating from a supposedly sentient planet, is attempting to spread everywhere and it's supposedly stable. This may be justified in a way, the radiation could be part of an asexual reproduction of some sort.
"It eats relentlessly, worming out life wherever it blooms and corrupting what it cannot kill."
Bigger Bad: In the Prime trilogy. It is the source of all the conflict, but other beings — Metroid Prime and Ridley in the first game, Emperor Ing in the second game, Dark Samus in the third — serve as individual Big Bads in their own games.
Eldritch Abomination: Revealed in Prime 3 to be basically a huge transdimensional being with a heart the size of a planet.
Fungus Humongous: There are some giant mushrooms that seem very heavily saturated with Phazon.
Genius Loci: Its core is Phaaze, a huge sentient planet.
Green Rocks: Phazon has quite a diverse range of uses: mutating plants and wildlife, being weaponized, driving creatures and several major characters insane, etc.
Toxic Phlebotinum: Everything it doesn't kill, it turns into a violent killing machine, usually with a shortened lifespan. The space pirates discovered a strain that could be integrated into an organism's DNA and give it a higher tolerance to the substance, but it still only worked in one case. Three if you count Samus and Metroid Prime.
If you break canisters of Phazon around Ing, they die. The Ing live on a toxic planet and still can't take it! The Emperor Ing survived and started hoarding it. Their Emperor being lost to Phazon madness could be the reason the Ing are so violent.
Uniqueness Decay: Phazon is a new substance in the first two games, with the Space Pirates going to great lengths to secure sources; in the third game, you can't walk two feet without bumping into phazon or something that runs on phazon (and that's not even counting yourself).
Eldritch Abomination / Humanoid Abomination: Was originally the former, but became the latter after stealing that form from the Alimbics. It degenerates a little as you fight it, though.
Guide Dang It: How to unlock its final phase. More specifically, you have to shoot a number of colored panels on the walls of its arena in a certain order with the proper weapons corresponding to the color of the panel. This is actually hinted at in several of the logbook scans, but it's so vague that most people needed a guide to figure it out anyway.
Improvised Weapon: It likes throwing the frozen colonies of cyanobacteria that float around in its prison.
Only a Flesh Wound: It blowing up its arms doesn't bother it much in fact, the limbs are the only thing Samus's weapons can damage. The final stage is against a flying torso! If you're not quick, it will grow them back.
Soiled City On A Hill: The Alimbics got invaded by aliens. They built a lot of weapons, chased out the aliens, declared themselves invincible, and told everyone to stay away. Gorea then came and wrecked everything.
