Chozo | Bounty Hunters | Other Antagonists | Others | Noncanonical Characters
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The Federation Military (Infrastructure Specialists / Marine Corps)
"Wow! You're Samus Aran? It's an honour to meet you!"
"Know that we did our duty and fought well."
Debut: Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
The military part of the Federation."Welcome to the GFB Inter-Stellar Network. This state-of-the-art network links
to 98% of the Galactic Federation's 140,328 Permanent-Member Systems. From
Zebes to Corella 5, you'll have full access to the Federation's entire database."
- Big Good: It’s the closet thing the series has to one, but even that is called into question.
- Breakout Character: They debuted as Red Shirts in Echoes, being already dead by the time you find them. Corruption and Other M have you meeting and working with them, getting the most screen time and plot relevance short of Samus. They then get their own spinoff game.
- Call-Forward: Their Stiletto-Class fighters and the gunship Samus designs in Prime 3 using their technology resemble the ship they later give to Samus in Fusion.
- Chest Insignia: Most troopers in Prime 3 carry the Federation symbol moulded in metal.
- Drop Ship: Aries-class transport vessels.
- Escort Mission: You have to keep four of them alive during the final mission of Prime 3. Lose too many, and it's game over.
- The Engineer: Fleet mechanics are highly sought after and often overpaid according to the scan visor.
- The Federation: It's right in the name.
- 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 up fire-fights. Thankfully they know their role and mostly hang back so Samus does not have too hard a time protecting them in an Escort Mission.
- 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 MB in Other M announces her intentions to strike the Federation capital in order to punish "the humans" with no mention of any other species.
- Kinetic Weapons Are Just Better: Zig-Zagged. "Echoes" shows their kinetic weapons far quicker at killing an enemy type then your power beam in cutscene, but less powerful when turned on you, and they have limited ammo. They develop a Phazon powered weapon that's superior, but the destruction of Phazon after Corruption means they're back to kinetics by Other M. Their version of Samus' Plasma Beam is much stronger than said kinetics, but has enough disadvantages (most notably slow fire rate) to make it situational at best.
- 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.
- Mini-Mecha: The goal of Project Golem was to create suits capable of mimicking Samus's weapons and defensive capabilities. Their powered armor has to be plugged into larger robot suits to achieve this, though, and it seems a few of them need to work together to accomplish what Samus could probably do solo.
- Mirror Character: To the Space Pirates. Both involve themselves in immoral bioweapons programs, specifically ones involving Metroids, and both attempt to reverse engineer Samus's Chozo tech for their own gain. Given Project Golem, the Lockjaw, equipment gained in Corruption, and the weapons downloads in Fusion, they're clearly better at the latter. Though given their less hostile status with Samus, that's almost a given.
- Powered Armor: They wear combat exoskeletons modelled after Chozo battle armor, but are vastly inferior to Samus's Power Suit.
- 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.
- Renegade Splinter Faction: Other M explicitly states that the illegal bioweapons experiments on the BOTTLE SHIP are the work of a small rogue faction within the Federation. The original Japanese text
for Fusion’s script also implies that the Metroid cloning lab on the BSL Station was also part of this same faction's purview within the Federation Army and not the Federation's higher-ups in general, as implied in the English localization. - 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 The 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 gunships.
- Space Marine: How the organization is divided is unclear. Besides "marines", we've been introduced to the navy and an admiral, then to the army and a 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 whether they are a different type of troop or was just an artistic choice, as we've never seen the army and marines side by side in a single game.
- Super Mode: The P.E.D. Marines had one to match the Space Pirates'.
- Telepathy: According to Hunters, there are telepaths in the Federation. Whether this refers to an extraterrestrial species within the federation or humans who developed the ability is unknown.
- Video Game Cruelty Punishment: The Halberd-class turrets that protect non combatants and come in three intensity levels. Don't shoot the fleet troopers. Even the otherwise brief period of invincibility provided by Hypermode won't save you from death at the hands of the third intensity level.
- 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.
- 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.
Military Leaders
General Adam Malkovich
"Any objections, Lady?
Debut: Metroid Fusion (mentioned-only), Metroid (Manga) (in person)
"You don't move until I say so. You don't fire until I say so."
Voiced by: Dave Elvin (English, Other M), Rikiya Koyama (Japanese, Other M)
Samus Aran's commanding officer from her time in the Federation military.
- Adaptational Dumbass: From what we see in the manga, Metroid Fusion's description of Adam as the "perfect military mind" seems to be on point, considering he and his fleet stalled Ridley long enough for Samus to infiltrate Planet Zebes and stop Mother Brain and the Space Pirates. Metroid: Other M, on the other hand, has him making such brilliant decisions as de-authorizing even Samus's non-offensive upgrades, sending his men to different parts of the BOTTLE SHIP to get picked off one by one, not assuring Samus that he's not the Deleter, not authorizing Samus's Varia Feature when she makes it to Sector 3, and shooting Samus in the back, right when there's clearly a Metroid in front of her (he had his reasons, and he does kill it off himself, but still).
- Adaptational Jerkass: Also in the manga, Adam was A Father to His Men and could be considered Samus's Reasonable Authority Figure. He even holds no ill will towards her when she goes freelance as being under his employ would hinder her potential, even being the one to upgrade Samus's missile and bomb features when she returns to Planet Zebes. In Other M, he doesn't even briefly mourn the losses of Ian in the past and his own soldiers on the BOTTLE SHIP, and treats Samus with disdain after she left.
- The Captain: In Other M he leads his squad into the BOTTLE SHIP.
- Character Shilling: Samus puts him on a pedestal and often gushes about him being a genius or a father figure despite him making questionable decisions and treating her with indifference. This is more played up in the English localization-the Japanese version has her be more resentful of the way he treated her under his command and less openly reverent of him, though she still deeply respects him nonetheless.
- Consummate Professional: Adam is a consummate soldier for the Galactic Federation, stoically sacrificing his own brother to complete a mission. When Samus requests to join his team's investigation of the BOTTLE SHIP in Other M, Adam tells her she can only do so if she conducts herself as if he was her CO again and expects her to follow his commands to the letter.
- Dub Personality Change: One of the reasons why Adam seems to make questionable decisions is because the English dub had omitted a few lines that would have provided extra context, namely regarding the Pyrosphere run. In the original Japanese, Adam actually advises Samus to not go into the superheated rooms in his initial briefing—specifically, he says that Samus should limit herself to places she can maneuver with her current equipment until the situation becomes clearer—implying that Samus did this on her own accord and didn't turn on her Varia Feature just to rub it into Adam of "technically" following his orders to the letter. Consequently, his order authorizing the Varia feature carries more urgency in the Japanese script. These lines were changed in English dub to the more open-ended command of starting with exploring rooms she could maneuver with her current equipment, and his subsequent authorization was more cold and matter-of-fact, making Adam appear more callous and dumb than he should be.
- Frontline General: "General" Adam Malkovich leads a group of five men in a special-ops mission. Sometimes he is away in a command room, other times he is personally fighting with them.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Though it is questionable if it was even necessary, something the computer in Fusion even mocks him for.
- I Did What I Had to Do: His sacrifice of Ian Malkovich, and himself.
- Inconsistent Dub: He's simultaneously called both a "general" and "Commander" in the English dub of the game. The latter would probably be more accurate since he's on the mission himself, but at the same time that's a navy rank (assuming the Federation military is arranged similarly to NATO armed forces, the appropriate army rank for him should be Lieutenant Colonel).
- In the Back: Implied to happen to him via assassin in Other M but this was apparently a fake out scene. He later shoots Samus in the back and simply avoids the question when she wants to know why, only clarifying that he was not behind the BOTTLE SHIP experiments. It's implied he intentionally weakened Samus so she wouldn't be able to interfere with his planned Heroic Sacrifice.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: The character as portrayed in Metroid: Other M. Samus Aran repeatedly notes that she views Adam Malkovich as a father figure, but he does very little to ensure her well-being and remains as distant as possible. The game even goes as far as to imply that he's the mastermind behind the BOTTLE SHIP incident, culminating in him shooting Samus In the Back. His final moments reveal that he did so as part of a planned Heroic Sacrifice, and that he always cared about and respected Samus and her ability to look after the galaxy, better than he ever could. The exact reasons for his otherwise cold demeanor towards her, however, are left unexplained.
- Mission Control: In Other M, after telling Samus that if she wants in on his investigation of the BOTTLE SHIP then she'll have to conduct herself as one of his soldiers and obey his orders to the letter, he spends most of his time in the command center monitoring her progress and issuing commands. His helpfulness in this regard is questionable.
- More Expendable Than You: His reasoning for going to Sector 0 in Samus's place. Namely, he has no chance to defeat Ridley or any creature like him whereas Samus can.
- Nerves of Steel: He ordered a ship to detatch, saving the lives of his crew while sacrificing his brother in the process. He does not break down at all.
- Not So Above It All: In the manga, he had already planned to direct an attack on Zebes and gave the rookie police officers a time table to get their business on the planet done before it started. Still, he couldn't resist pulling their chains when Keatz sent a distress signal."You will report your full name and rank immediately... Or I will take my @#*$ fleet and get the $#&%@ out of here."
- Percussive Prevention: He shoots Samus in the back to prevent her from entering the Metroid breeding lab. The problem is that he could have easily warned her verbally instead, and stunning her like that allowed a Metroid to get within attacking range before he took it down.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: In the manga, Adam is portrayed as a supportive commanding officer to the troops under him and is particularly kind towards Samus in her early days, giving her 24 hours to save the Chozo before the Federation forces showed up to attack the Space Pirate-invaded Zebes colony. Other M retcons him into a borderline stoic soldier who treats Samus coldly as a result of her having left his team to become a bounty hunter.
- Retcon:
- In the manga, Samus was never an army soldier under Adam's command. She was a police officer and part of an Inter-Service Rivalry with Adam since he was in the military, unlike in Other M where Samus was part of Adam's squad. Also in the manga, Adam encourages Samus to leave service and become a bounty hunter, and her first mission working for him is the one he hired her for. In Other M, Samus becoming a bounty hunter was changed to be in defiance of Adam.
- In the first Metroid game, Samus finds all of her suit upgrades. In the manga, Samus gets the bomb and missile upgrades from Adam. Zero Mission retcons it back; Samus finds the bomb and missiles herself again, along with all of her other power ups.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: Is much more stoic and gruff than his light-hearted younger brother, Ian.
- Something Only They Would Say: "Any objections, Lady?"
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: In Other M, he is indirectly responsible for the entire plot. The report he wrote on Metroids arguing against trying to weaponize them was so thorough that a few of the higher-ups were able to use the information in it to start a Metroid weaponization project.
- 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. He never explicitly clarifies why he did so, though it's implied that he deliberately sought to De-power Samus so she wouldn't be able to stop him from performing his Heroic Sacrifice.
Fleet Admiral Castor Dane
"Godspeed, Samus."
Debut: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
An admiral of the Galactic Federation fleet who serves as your employer and general mission control in Metroid Prime: Corruption."Damn! They're targeting the planetary defense system!"
Voiced by: Timothy Patrick Miller
- Birds of a Feather: Has a lot in common with our heroine; probably why they mesh so well."He is stern and aggressive, and has a strong dislike for the Space Pirates. Rumor has it they orphaned him at an early age, an act he still seeks to avenge."—Samus Aran
- Bowdlerisation: His Precision F-Strike of "Damn!" was replaced with a "No!" in the Metroid Prime Trilogy.
- Comically Serious: Doesn't take kindly to irreverent humour directed at an old foe."Aurora Unit 242 has been in service for 18 years, built in tandem with the battleship G.F.S. Olympus. As the AU for the flagship of the 7th Fleet, 242 has had a distinguished career. 242 maintains a positive relationship with many personnel on board the G.F.S. Olympus. Veteran crew members often refer to 242 as "Other Brain," a practice frowned upon by Admiral Dane."
- Cool Ship: The G.F.S. Olympus.
- Face, Nod, Action: Reserved for Samus alone, when the briefing concludes and the other hunters rush out. These two comrades-in-arms have worked together before.
- Improvised Umbrella: Admiral Dane uses his personal flagship as one in the Space Pirate Home-world, where the rain is lethally acidic.
- Military Salute: To Miss Aran, when she's revealed to have survived the Phazon War. And by God does she deserve it.
- Mission Control: During the invasion of Urtraghus he gives Samus intel and objectives.
- The Stoic: As befitting a man of action and command. The only point where his facade falls away for a moment is when worrying for the life of his good friend and finest free-lance soldier.
- You Killed My Father: It is whispered among his crew that his dislike for Space Pirates comes from being orphaned by them at an early age.
The Colonel
Debut: Metroid: Other M
A Federation military commander who arrives to mop up the BOTTLE SHIP incident. He is heavily implied to be involved with the group that created it and subsequently attempted to eliminate those who learned of it.- Voiced by: Stephan Weyte (English), Katsuhisa Houki (Japanese)
- Armchair Military: Notes on his concept art indicate that he doesn't go out in the field very often.
- Bald of Evil: If he's part of the conspiracy rather than a jerk following protocol.
- Bullying a Dragon: He mocks Samus to her face. If not for his position of authority, Samus could have easily beaten the snot out of him.
- The Conspiracy: Presumed to be part of it due to his actions towards Samus, made more likely given how he shows up so soon with the premature knowledge that Adam's squad was wiped out, and is genuinely taken aback when Anthony turns up alive.
- Evil Is Petty: Crushes MB's hairpin underfoot.
- Graceful Loser: Not particularly happy about it, but he lets Samus leave with Madeline when Anthony turns out to be alive.
- Jerkass: Extremely so. He embodies the Galactic Federation's corruption, having MB gunned down after she'd been incapacitated and deliberately antagonizing Samus.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Standard military protocol wouldn't allow an outside group to just take a federal employee to who-knows-where, especially if that group was known to transport dangerous and illegal materials. Of course, he'd make his point better if he didn't throw in so many evil chuckles while he said it.
- Kick the Dog: Mockingly tells Samus about her experience with "illegal cargo", obviously taunting her about her adopting the baby Metroid.
- Light Is Not Good: He wears all white and is either a jerkass bureaucrat or a member of a conspiracy.
- Man Behind the Man: If he's part of the conspiracy, he's probably this to the Deleter. Of course, that's not to say there's no one behind him...
- No Name Given: Only his rank.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: If he isn't part of the conspiracy, he's just one of these.
- Obviously Evil: The game does nothing to hide his motives when he shows up at the end of the game. He has his squad fire at an incapacitated Melissa Bergman, steps on her hair clip afterwards, somehow knows of Adam's passing at a time where Samus was the only one to see it, coldly forces Samus to leave the premises, is genuinely surprised to see Anthony (thus implying he sent the Deleter to assassinate Adam's crew), and is prone to Smug Smiler and Giggling Villain tendencies. The only thing missing is a big, neon sign that says "I am not a nice person!"
- Token Evil Teammate: Out of the major GF leaders, this guy's undoubtedly the most unambiguously sinister. Admiral Dane and Alex Miles are unquestioningly benevolent, and Adam Malkovich is still fighting for peace across the galaxy even in Other M.
General Alex Miles
- A Father to His Men: When one of the missions turns out to be a trap, they apologize to you and blame themselves for not anticipating it.
- Ambiguous Gender: Specifically invoked. Alex is a gender neutral name, and you don't get to see their face or hear their voice to decide one way or the other.
- Armchair Military: They don't get involved in the combat operations personally, though they do lead the fleet attack on the Pirates.
- The Captain: Of the G.F.S. Aegis.
- Cool Ship: They command the G.F.S. Aegis.
- Expy: As a Federation fleet officer who serves as the protagonist's mission control, they're one of these to Admiral Dane.
- The Faceless: Only the visor of their helmet is ever seen.
- Mission Control: They dispatches you on various missions throughout the game.
- Mr. Exposition: To make up for the absence of the scan visor, most plot and background details come from them.
- Voice with an Internet Connection: Their role while on missions, feeding you intel and updating your objectives.
Military Personnel
Point Man. Anthony Higgs
Debut: Metroid: Other M
"I wanted to give you some cover, but this thing takes forever to charge. I'll save the next shot for you!"
Voiced by: Mike McGillicuty (English), Kenji Nomura (Japanese)
"Ah... Fancy meeting you here, Princess. Remember me?"
The point man of Adam's squad and an old friend of Samus's. He is the only member of the group to survive the BOTTLE SHIP.- Affectionate Nickname: Anthony always called Samus "Princess" as a term of endearment, and still does so even after she left the Galactic Federation.
- Awesome, but Impractical: He carries around a Plasma Cannon, which is the Galactic Federation's version of the Plasma Beam. Unlike the Plasma Beam, the Plasma Cannon is heavy, takes forever to charge one shot and has poor accuracy, which isn't really helpful when dealing with the likes of Ridley.
- Back-to-Back Badasses: Him and Samus when confronted by Ridley.
- Bald of Authority: Well, he would be leader of his squad as a breach trooper but a General is around, for some reason, so he's obviously outranked.
- Big Guy: He's the biggest person in Adam's squad, taller even than Samus.
- Big Damn Heroes: Saves Samus from Ridley. In a less awesome but still important one, he puts the brakes on the BOTTLE SHIP, preventing it from smashing into the Federation HQ and giving Samus time to finish off the Metroid Queen. Finally, at the end, he interrupted the Government Conspiracy and rescued Samus by pulling rank.
- BFG: The Plasma Cannon on his back.
- Disney Death: Ridiculously averted with this gem."Crazy, how something good can come out of something bad."
- 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.
- I Shall Taunt You: To Ridley of all people. The fact that he manages to live to tell the tale only makes it more spectacular."HEY! HEY PUNK! DON'T YOU KNOW HOW TO TREAT A LADY?! You got no style. I better teach you a lesson about subtlety! COME ON!"
- Nice Guy: An easy-going, cheerful man who’s always ready to support Samus whenever possible.
- Odd Friendship: He couldn't be more unlike Samus if he tried, yet she considers him one of her closest friends.
- 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. - Something Only They Would Say: Him calling Samus "Princess".
- 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.
Lyle Smithsonian
Debut: Metroid: Other M
- "I'm fine, but did it have to be bugs?"Voiced by: Mark Carr (English), Kazuhisa Tanaka (Japanese)
- Stuff Blowing Up: He's the squad's demolitions expert.
- Trigger-Happy: When confronted with a single bug he shoots it into a pulp and keeps shooting.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: He's killed offscreen after the squad splits up.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: As seen in his quote, he really doesn't like bugs.
James Pierce
Debut: Metroid: Other M
- Voiced by: Aaron Thomas (English), Tsuguo Mogami (Japanese)
- All There in the Manual: The Nintendo Official Guidebook for Metroid Other M reveals his role as the Deleter.
- Beard of Evil: Has a notable mustache, and a chinstrap beard that is concealed by his helmet. He's also a merciless killer.
- Cell Phones Are Useless: The malfunctioning comms of the squad are likely his doing, which makes it easier for him to pick them off one by one. This is one of the hints to his identity.
- Combat Pragmatist: He knows he can't face Samus in a fair fight so he only engages her with the help of a massive construction mech, fleeing as soon as it's disabled.
- The Conspiracy: Tasked with upholding it by keeping the Galactic Federation's corruption a secret.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Receives one that leads to his death.
- Dies Wide Open: When Samus finds his body.
- Disposing of a Body: He throws the corpse of one of his victims into a lava pit in Sector 3.
- The Faceless: As the Deleter, his visor is always shut and opaque.
- In the Back: Attempts this on Adam and MB, though the former survives to help Samus in Sector Zero, while the latter outright kills him either through her own strength or one of her Desbrachian lackeys.
- The Killer Becomes the Killed: His corpse is found late in the game, having run afoul of one of his intended victims.
- Leave No Survivors: His role as the Deleter is to eliminate anyone who knows about the BOTTLE SHIP, whether it's the scientists who worked there, his own squadmates, or the galaxy's most renowned warrior.
- The Mole: He served as this in Adam's squad.
- Offscreen Teleportation: After the Ferrocrusher boss fight, he manages to travel from Sector 2 to Sector 3 and murder another squad member in the space of time it takes Samus to ride an elevator located in the next room from the boss fight. This is the strongest evidence for the theory that there were 2 Deleters, but it's most likely just another example of poorly paced transitions.
- Porn Stache: Seen in the few instances where his visor is up.
- Scars Are Forever: He has a scar over his left eyebrow.
- Undying Loyalty: Completely willing to kill his own teammates once ordered and even prepared to go up against Samus. Though that doesn't mean he'll fight fair.
- The Unfettered: He has no qualms about killing his fellow squadmates.
- The Unreveal: Downplayed; the Deleter's identity is never directly stated in the game itself, but there is enough evidence to finger James as the most likely culprit, which the official guidebook confirms.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: He has the same sparse encounters as the other squad members. Interestingly, it's clear he's the Deleter who has been killing off the rest of the team one by one. However, he gets killed off-screen and nothing ever comes of the subplot.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: The Deleter subplot runs through most of the game before vanishing without an explanation. Even though his body is found later and the player can figure out their identity through deductive reasoning, Samus doesn't find it out for herself (partially justified by the fact that she herself doesn't have fully conclusive evidence of his identity and the only other potential suspect is listed as M.I.A. due to no one else witnessing the body disposal). With confirmation that that the Deleter was James Pierce and that the Deleter's last scene was attempting to execute MB, it's no stretch to assume that the hunter became the hunted.
Maurice Favreau
Debut: Metroid: Other M
- Voiced by: Hanley Smith (English), Manta Yamamoto (Japanese)
- Dies Wide Open: When Samus finds his body.
- Et Tu, Brute?: He was comfortable enough around the Deleter, or rather James Pierce, to converse with his visor raised. He was promptly shot and left to freeze.
- The Engineer: His official role within the squad
- Kill It with Ice: A victim of it. The Deleter killed him with a freeze gun and left his remains in the artic biosphere.
- Mr. Fixit: Implied by his rank, plus he's the only one able to get sensitive info out of the computer in the Exam Center.
- Rapid-Fire Typing: When trying to access the BOTTLE SHIP's files.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Gets almost no character development before being iced.
Keiji "K.G." Misawa
Debut: Metroid: Other M
- Voiced by: Jeff Minnerly
- Army Scout: His official role in the squad, not that it gets put to any use.
- Barely-Changed Dub Name: For some reason, his name was changed from Keiji in Japan to K.G. in English-speaking countries. Note that the two names are pronounced the same and that there was no reason for it considering the existence of Keiji Okuda in Mass Effect 2, which released roughly around the same time.
- Kill It with Ice: Like Maurice, the Deleter killed him with a freeze gun.
- Never Found the Body: The Deleter disposed of it in a pool of lava. As a result, he is officially listed as "Missing in Action" in the post-credits character log.
- 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.
- Token Minority: Not completely token due to Anthony but the only squad member of Asian descent.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: As with the others, we don't learn much about him before his demise.
Ian Malkovich
Debut: Metroid: Other M
- Voiced by: Jamie Hunsdale
- The Engineer: He was the one sent to repair a damaged drive unit for a space ship.
- I Let Gwen Stacy Die: His death, as well as Adam's refusal to let Samus rescue him in fear of putting more lives on the risk, is what caused Samus to leave the Galactic Federation in the first place.
- Heroic Sacrifice: He died holding off a drive meltdown long enough for the civilians to get away.
- Kill the Cutie: His concept art and few lines of dialogue paint him as a cheery, charismatic guy who was good friends with Samus. Turns out his idealism was his undoing.
- Posthumous Character: He died while Samus was still a member of the Galactic Federation military under Adam Malkovitch's command, well before any of the games.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: Ian was more light-hearted and approachable than his stoic older brother, Adam. Ironically they both sacrifice themselves for others, showing they are not so different after all.
- Small Role, Big Impact: He only has one short scene before dying, but it lead to the riff between Adam and Samus that's a driving force in Other M and the reason Samus spends the franchise as an independent Bounty Hunter.
Task Force Herakles
Debut: Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
- Apocalyptic Log: Their various journal entries detail their efforts to hunt the pirates, which quickly give way to them attempting to hold their ground against the splinters until eventually the Ing overrun them.
- Final Girl: Gender-inverted with PFC Denys, who manages to escape the massacre at the landing site but gets killed before he can make it to the Luminoth building.
- Hero-Worshipper: SPC Angseth is this for Samus, excitedly talking about Samus's exploits over chow and griping in her data log that Samus would be out there getting the job done instead of wasting her time on monitor duty. Ultimately it just makes it sadder that she died days before her idol would show up and wipe out the Ing that had been plaguing the troopers.
- Last Stand: A number of them make one against the Ing at the landing site.
- The Leader: Captain A.C. Exter was the leader of the task force and the squad leader of Force 1.
- Posthumous Character: They're all dead by the events of the story.
- Reforged into a Minion: Several of them get made into dark troopers through Ing possession.
- Sanity Slippage: PFC Haley took the constant splinter attacks the worst. He started talking to himself all the time, refused to sleep, and nearly shot another trooper while they were on watch. The only reason he wasn't taken off duty was because the crew needed as many hands in the field as possible to fight the splinters, though the others still had concerns that he would snap entirely and end up shooting them. And as for his data log...I hear.Them.Everywhere. They're coming.Can't sleep. Ever.They'll eat me.Eat.
Project Golem Marines
- Arm Cannon: Their weapons systems take the form of a cannon that replaces their right hand and forearm.
- Attack Drone: AI combat drones assist marines who don't deploy with a full squad.
- Attack Its Weak Point: The Scan Bolt reveals these.
- Beehive Barrier: The Shield Generator can deploy a spherical version of this to protect you and your teammates.
- Chest Insignia: The missile symbol is painted onto their chests. It's even faintly visible with different paint schemes.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: All the mechs are identical so they're differentiated by glowing visors and TRON-like lines.
- Death of a Thousand Cuts: The standard energy shots aren't nearly as effective as the various special weapons, but they still pack a punch.
- Fire, Ice, Lightning: The Flame, Freeze, and Shock Shot.
- Healing Shiv: The Repair Capsules are launched like grenades.
- Hologram: They can create a holographic decoy of Samus to draw the Space Pirate's fire.
- Homing Projectile: Once the Scan Bolt has revealed the weak points.
- Improvised Zipline: They can use a grapple beam-like device to zipline on energy cables.
- Jump Jet Pack: Each suit is equipped with jump jets for short bursts.
- Mini-Mecha: At least twice the size of a normal trooper, though its hard to tell due to the art style.
- Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Named after artificial servants made of clay from Hebrew folklore.
- Macross Missile Massacre: The missile launcher
- Mauve Shirt: They're the playable characters, which makes them more important than the usual marines, but they're still soldiers, which means there are always people to replace them. One of the cutscenes even shows a crowd of other marines who qualified for the same positions, just waiting for you to die so they can continue on in your place.
- Sticky Bomb: The Proximity Bomb can work like this or as a deployable landmine.
Civilian Personnel
Federation Official (UNMARKED SPOILERS)
Debut: Metroid Fusion
A mysterious individual involved in the B.S.L station and the suppression of Adam's memories.
- Affably Evil: If you sequence break to encounter a conversation with him, he's quite friendly towards Samus. He even offers to reward her ingenuity by letting her in on the plan, though Adam shoots the idea down.
- The Conspiracy: Part of the one regarding the Metroids on the B.S.L station and controlling Adam. Presumably, this is part of the same conspiracy as the one around the BOTTLE SHIP and the Deleter.
Dr. Madeline Bergman
Debut: Metroid: Other M
The head scientist of the BOTTLE SHIP.- Voiced by: Linda K. Morris (English), Miho Hino (Japanese)
- The Conspiracy: Her work in the BOTTLE SHIP was clearly part of it, but she's ignorant of its goals outside of the station. Based on the Deleter's actions, she clearly wasn't important enough in the hierarchy to be irreplaceable.
- It's All My Fault: Her opinion of the BOTTLE SHIP incident.
- My God, What Have I Done?: She had this reaction when MB began slaughtering the crew of the BOTTLE SHIP.
- Non-Action Guy: When confronted with a threat, she flees rather than try to fight.
- The Smart Guy: She's clearly intelligent given that she was head of the facility that created MB, Nightmare, and cloned Space Pirates and Metroids.
- Sympathy for the Devil: Cries over MB's death at the hands of the Federation, despite everything she did.
- Tragic Mistake: Her hesitation to defend MB when they attempted to deactivate her caused them to snap and cause the BOTTLE SHIP incident.
Rodney and Virginia Aran
Debut: Metroid (Manga)
A married couple on a mining planet, whose child far overshadowed them.- All There in the Manual: They never appear in the games, largely due to being dead.
- The Cameo: They and Old Bird appear briefly in chapter 8 of Metroid: Samus and Joey, as Samus reminisces about people she has lost.
- Doomed Hometown: Their colony is destroyed by a Space Pirate attack.
- Good Parents: They both seem to be good parents to their daughter. Hell, both of them are willing to die for her.
- Happily Married: They clearly love each other in their brief appearance.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Virginia dies drawing Ridley's attention away from her daughter.
- Mama Bear & Papa Wolf: They're both fiercely protective of their daughter.
- Taking You with Me: Rodney dies when he detonates a fuel store, killing an invading pirate force and scuttling their ship.
- Workaholic: Rodney, to the point where he occasionally Forgets to Eat.
Aurora Units
In General
Debut: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
Techno-organic supercomputers created and used by the Federation for a variety of purposes. One of them is the Final Boss of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, being controlled by Dark Samus.- Brain in a Jar: Their appearance, plus some mechanical parts.
- Evil Knockoff: Inverted. They are the Good Knockoffs of Mother Brain. Since they weren't made with Chozo technology, they're obviously inferior. The Space Pirates eventually build their own Evil Knockoff of the Aurora Units called Master Brain in Federation Force.
- Hive Mind: They have one. Whether it's telepathic, mechanical, or some combination of the two has yet to be explained.
- Legacy Character: Heavily inspired by Mother Brain both in and out of universe. According to an unused Log Scan in Prime 3, some Federation Soldiers have gotten in trouble with Admiral Dane for calling Unit 242 the "Other Brain".
- No Biological Sex: They're giant brains, what did you expect? The gendered voices are purely for user benefit.
- Organic Technology: They're giant living supercomputers shaped like brains.
- Voice with an Internet Connection: One serves as this on Elysia.
- Wetware CPU: They were originally made for research before being incorperated into business, government, and military roles. The Olympus-class ships reduce the crew requirements by using one to handle most non-combat roles, allowing them to carry more fighter craft and be armed with more weapons.
- You Are Number 6: Each is identified by a three digit code that serves as a name. Being organic computers, they don't mind.
Unit 242
- Debut: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
- Benevolent A.I.: Generally helpful (and apologetic on behalf of the Federation when they get Samus into trouble with the PED suit).
- Mission Control: The primary one in Corruption, providing Samus with information and objectives.
- Voice with an Internet Connection: Samus's contact with the Federation while she's on her mission in Corruption.
Unit 313
- Debut: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Tries to kill Samus at the end of the game, although this is the result of being Brainwashed and Crazy by Phazon (and possibly its fusion with Dark Samus).
- Apocalyptic Log: Samus can view its final log on the Valhalla, where it explains that the crew's attempts to repel the Pirate attackers has failed, and that they're about to move it from the ship.
- Call-Back: Its final form flies around and uses shockwave attacks like the core form of Metroid Prime, which is appropriate, since it's being piloted by the very same being.
- Final Boss: Of Corruption, after fusing with Dark Samus.
- Hijacking Cthulhu: Dark Samus and the Space Pirates wire this thing into Phaaze as a control system, enabling them to weaponize its leviathan seeds in their war against the Federation.
- Load-Bearing Boss: Destroying it also causes the entire planet of Phaaze to begin exploding. This is explained in the scans by it being symbiotically linked to Phaaze.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: Appears primarily black with red highlights during the battle on Phaaze. Since other Aurora Units do not have this color scheme, it's likely a result of the Phazon corruption and/or modification by the Space Pirates since their technology in Corruption has a similar aesthetic.
- Vagueness Is Coming: The last sentence of its final log, where it simply says "Darkness coming.".
- Walking Spoiler: Due to being the key to Dark Samus' plan to take over the galaxy, and the Final Boss.
Other Creations
ADAM
Debut: Metroid Fusion
"One of them will understand. One of them must."
A Federation AI installed in the ship they provided to Samus after the destruction of her personal craft. Samus privately names it after her former commander Adam Malkovich, whom it reminds her of.- Admiring the Abomination: He occasionally tells Samus how impressed he is at the surprisingly advanced tactics the X display as well as their ability to rapidly spread and adapt. It's foreshadowing how the rogue Federation faction plans to capture and weaponize the parasites.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot:
- A subversion on at least two fronts. While the ADAM is technically rogue for disobeying orders at the end of Fusion, said orders were a spectacularly bad idea: he's taking the correct action, and siding with Samus to do so at the point a savvy player might expect him to start singing Daisy Bell. And on the other front, he likely doesn't qualify as a true AI, given his computer self is somehow his human self's uploaded mind.
- In Dread, he starts becoming increasingly creepy as he reflects on Samus' Body Horror transformation into a Metroid and insulting her abilities in a passive-aggressive way - because his terminals were actually under the control of Raven Beak, and that's the Chozo warlord's impression of him gradually fading. The real ADAM is still the helpful AI he always was.
- Brain Uploading: Supposedly it is fairly common for leaders and scientists in the Federation to do so.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: A hidden Easter Egg can be found if you abuse the Shinespark to get Samus to a Navigation Room after defeating Nightmare but before getting the Diffusion Missiles. Doing so will cause ADAM and a mysterious figure to congratulate her, with ADAM musing: "I wonder how many players will see this message?"
- Cryptic Conversation: One reading of his actions toward the end of Fusion posits that he knows darn well who he is and agrees with Samus' assessment of the X Parasites, but for one reason or another isn't willing to openly rebel and/or reveal his identity. When his hints end up proving too cryptic for Samus to pick up on, he gives up and spells out his plan.
- Deadpan Snarker: Some of his lines of dialogue have flavors of this.
- Demoted to Extra: In Dread, unlike Fusion, ADAM has little direct influence on what Samus does. While he can briefly lock her in the Network Rooms to force her to listen to his advice, he isn't able to trap her like he did in the climax of Fusion, and she's still able to move about the various areas of the game freely rather than being stuck in a specific Sector by him. And then it turns out the "ADAM" you talk to through most of the game is actually Raven Beak imitating him; the real ADAM is only encountered at the very beginning and end of the plot.
- Do Wrong, Right: At the end of Fusion, Samus decides to openly defy the Federation's orders and blow up the research station. ADAM objects, not because he wants Samus to obey her superiors, but because her initial plan would not be effective in eliminating all X Parasites.
- Exposition Fairy: He provides lots of information and lore about the X in Fusion.
- Expy: For most of Fusion, he serves as one for Ash from Alien. Both are ostensibly allies of the female protagonist who provide assistance and exposition in regards to dangerous alien threats that have snuck aboard big spacecraft. But they're secretly under orders from major corporate/governmental groups to keep the aliens alive and prevent the heroine from killing it. There are also twists regarding their true natures: Ash looks human but is actually an android, while ADAM is seemingly just an artificial intelligence but has the uploaded mind of a deceased human.
- Heel–Face Turn: ADAM begins Fusion secretly under the orders of the rogue Federation faction to mislead Samus so that they can (attempt to) capture and engineer the X as well as continue their secret Metroid cloning program. Once Samus learns about this and confronts ADAM about the plan, the AI realizes that Samus is in the right and switches its loyalties to her. This notably sticks for Dread, where it quips that the Federation isn't paying Samus enough to investigate the EMMI disappearances.
- Identity Amnesia: One reading of his actions towards the end of Fusion posits that he had most of his memories suppressed (presumably to increase his loyalty to the rogue Federation faction). 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.
- I Hate Past Me: He prods at Samus by assuming the old Adam would lead her into danger from the safety of a command room; Other M shows us that he indeed acted this way at some point. Whether this criticism is hatred for another Adam or guilt from the same Adam is left unclear.ADAM: "Did this "Adam" care for you? Would he sit in a safe Command Room and order you to die?"
- Machine Monotone: On the ship in Dread, ADAM speaks with a very robotic-sounding voice. But Raven Beak's mimic voice within ZDR is even more deep and monotone.
- Mission Control: He guides Samus through most of Fusion, and while not giving orders, he explains a lot of what's happening in Dread from his scans of the environment. Subverted in the latter case; "ADAM" is actually Raven Beak manipulating Samus.
- Mission Control Is Off Its Meds: Towards the end of Dread, ADAM very calmly and without any gravitas remarks on how Samus's Metroid DNA has now fully mutated her into a Metroid specimen, and begins creepily musing on the exact infusions of Chozo DNA she received to make this possible, something ADAM would have no way of knowing. It's when Samus backs away and shows reluctance to listen any further that the "ADAM" before her drops the act, revealing she's actually been talking to Raven Beak the entire time.
- Oh, Crap!: When ADAM sees that Samus has regained the Plasma Beam, the music abruptly cuts out as he expresses surprise before he catches himself and quickly sends her onto the next mission. We later find out that the rogue Federation faction secretly didn't want her getting the Plasma Beam at all, as that would let her defeat the SA-X that they wanted to capture instead.
- Out-of-Character Alert: ADAM in Dread sometimes talks in an uncharacteristic tone, having knowledge of things he shouldn't have, indirectly insulting Samus' own capabilities while speaking highly of her enemy, mentions concepts like fate and destiny and stops calling her "Lady". Eventually, Samus catches on and "ADAM" reveals himself to have been Raven Beak all along.
- Snarky Non-Human Sidekick: After "reawakening" to his old self near the end of Fusion, he is noticeably mouthier than the rest of the game. In Dread he notes that Samus' bounty pay for the ZDR expedition isn't nearly high enough for the risks.
- The Spock: His diction when he gives Samus orders reads this way. He also explicitly tells Samus to be wary and take alternate routes in the event she finds a superheated room. As an A.I, it's understandable. This contrasts with Samus' memories of his living self.
- Walking Spoiler:
- His attempts to keep Samus in the dark about the rogue Federation faction's plans involving the Metroids and the X, as well as his identity as Adam Malkovich in uploaded form, are late-game twists.
- The climax of Dread, reveals the ADAM Samus has been speaking with the entire game was actually Raven Beak impersonating him.
- Wham Line:
- "Any objections, Lady?" This convinces Samus that he's the real Adam and can therefore be trusted.
- Inverted in Dread. ADAM never saying "Any objections, Lady" is an indication that it's actually Raven Beak.
Security Robot B.O.X.
Debut: Metroid Fusion
A heavily armored security robot used in Federation facilities, encountered by Samus on the B.S.L station in Sector 3. Is later infected by the X via its exposed organic processor, giving Samus the Wave Beam when defeated.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: It's one of only two enemies that isn't infected by X (at least not until the second battle), leaving it unclear as to why it attacked Samus. It may have mistaken her for SA-X or simply went haywire.
- Attack Its Weak Point: The central processing unit, located in the center of its body.
- Brain in a Jar: The nature of its central processor, possibly related to the Aurora Units.
- Collision Damage: It uses its body to fight just as much as the actual weapons it possesses.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The Adam AI only calls it a "Security Robot" in dialogue. The full title of "Security Robot B.O.X." (and therefore, the robot's name B.O.X.) is only mentioned in one of the game's map objectives.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: The door to B.O.X.'s starting location is already heavily damaged and inoperable when you first arrive in Sector 3. And after downloading the Super Missiles, B.O.X. comes online and starts rampaging through parts of the sector, leaving a significant trail of damage to investigate before you finally confront it.
- High-Voltage Death: The second fight with it takes place in a pool of water, which its damaged body electrocutes.
- Kill It with Fire: One of its attacks in the first battle with it is to launch a bomb that explodes into two flame pillars.
- Macross Missile Massacre: It can launch clusters of missiles in its second fight.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The damage Samus inflicts on it in the first fight is what allows the X to infect it. It's not like she had a choice, as the robot was already attacking her with lethal force before she blew the tank open.
- Waterfront Boss Battle: In the second B.O.X fight, you're on an overhead ladder across the ceiling while it stays in the water, electrifying it, while occasionally jumping at you and shooting missiles.
Nightmare
Click here to see Nightmare unmasked.Warning: It's not pretty
Debut: Metroid Fusion
"The damage seems to have been caused by a creature kept here by the researchers, who named it the Nightmare. Apparently, it was a bio-mechanical organism designed for military applications... It possesses uncommon power and can manipulate gravity. We must assume that it's become an X-host. We have no choice. You must find it and defeat it. I can't confirm the location. This thing is out of control. Hurry before it destroys the entire station..."
— ADAM
A horrifying bio-mechanical weapon created by the Galactic Federation that can manipulate gravity. Fought in Sector 5 of the Biologic Space Laboratories and gives Samus the Gravity Suit when defeated. Prior to that, it is fought in Sector 2 of the BOTTLE SHIP on the way to and from Sector 0.
- Body Horror: As if its organic components weren't horrific enough already, as it takes damage in Fusion, its face begins to melt off. The first sign you see of this is when it starts weeping through its eye-holes.
- Breath Weapon: Has this in its second fight in Other M.
- Bullfight Boss:
- During its third phase in Fusion, it will slowly approach from the right side towards you until it reaches the left wall. When it reaches the wall, it then flies around at a faster speed chasing you until it's lured in a path that makes it slow down near the right again, where it approaches slowly once more.
- One of its attacks in Other M is to slide across the ground and charge into you.
- Chekhov's Gunman: The first time you see it, the Nightmare merely swoops around as a roaring silhouette in the background of Sector 5 beyond a glass plane. You later return to Sector 5 only to find the glass smashed to pieces and the main hallways nearly destroyed.
- Clipped-Wing Angel: In Fusion, it goes through multiple phases, but in each of those phases, it just Shows Damage more and more.
- Collision Damage: It loves to collide with you, almost more than shooting at you.
- Energy Ball: In Other M, it can fire balls of dark energy in various sizes.
- Energy Weapon: Can fire lasers from its arms. Other M has it use this for a Spin Attack.
- Enfante Terrible: Its death wails in Other M suggest Nightmare is a baby.
- Genetic Abomination: Nightmare is an unholy bio-mechanical abomination with vaguely-explained gravity manipulation powers. And the worst part is that it's man-made.
- Gravity Master: It can slow Samus down, stop her ability to space jump and cause her missiles to prematurely crash before hitting it. Other M shows it can also create miniature black holes to absorb and redirect Samus' shots. It can not unload its full arsenal while doing this however.
- Meaningful Name: Twofold.
- In a literal sense, this thing is Fusion's biggest source of Nightmare Fuel, mostly because of its Nightmare Face and build-up.
- On a meta level, it's one of the most challenging fights in the series. Fusion telegraphs the hell out of the impending Difficulty Spike, with the computer unable to track its position and Sector 5 having been laid to waste by the time you show up. The Adam AI even theorizes it could destroy the entire station if not killed.
- In a literal sense, this thing is Fusion's biggest source of
- Meat-Sack Robot: It's a machine with organic components installed. Those organic components is what’s letting the X to be able to infect it, much like its fellow machine-with-organic-parts, the B.O.X. security droid.
- Monster Threat Expiration: Inverted thanks to the series continuity but he is much more difficult in Fusion than in Other M, especially if you fight him with the Gravity Suit in Other M.
- Nightmare Face: Six horrid little yellow eyes and saggy, snot-green skin. In Fusion, the face starts to melt as you shoot at it!
- Not Quite Dead: In Other M, it lies dormant after its first defeat until you backtrack through its area again, causing it to reanimate to fight you again. Given that information, it's possible that it's still not dead after its final defeat. Just unable to do anything to fight you since you destroyed its only means of attack and locomotion.
- 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 station.
- Required Secondary Powers: It's implied that it was built with replicated Gravity Suit technology to protect itself from being ripped apart by its own gravity-manipulation powers, as not only does the Core-X mimicking it give the Gravity Suit when absorbed, the room aboard the BOTTLE SHIP where the original Nightmare is encountered has a hologram that looks like the Gravity Suit pick-up item.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Downplayed and invoked with its stitched-up facemask, which covers up something far nastier.
- Tragic Monster: In Fusion, the first sign of damage it shows is the eyes of its masking popping out and it starts to "weep" tears of green slime, giving the impression of something monstrously unhappy.
- Vocal Dissonance: In Other M, without the reverb of its mask and the drone of its gravity field, its voice sounds less like a looming bioweapon and more like a crying baby. In Fusion, it sounds like wind through a forest canopy, which is a bit more dignified but still not quite as low pitched as you'd expect for something of its size.
MB
Click HERE to see MB's true identity.
E.M.M.I.
Debut: Metroid Dread
The Extraplanetary Multiform Mobile Identifiers, or E.M.M.I., were created by the Exelion Star Corporation and sent by the Galactic Federation to investigate Planet ZDR over rumors of an X-Parasite infestation. Unfortunately, the E.M.M.I. have gone rogue for mysterious reasons, and actively hunt Samus during her mission on ZDR.
- Abnormal Limb Rotation Range: Being designed to maneuver around and investigate a great variety of terrain, the E.M.M.I.s are naturally capable of contorting their body and limbs around in all kinds of ways, allowing them to swivel to and fro through their legs and acrobatic their way across any wall or incline.
- Advertised Extra: Downplayed. While they are a dangerous, overarching threat, they, contrary to what their overwhelming presence in the marketing and boxart would have you expect, have little to do with the main plot and function more as secondary antagonists unlike their direct predecessor, the SA-X.
- Ambiguous Situation: Each E.M.M.I.'s serial number gives a hint as to what upgrade they are carrying. However, 01P does not yield any upgrades upon being defeated, nor does it show what it's capable of since it was already damaged beforehand, leaving it ambiguous as to what the "P" stands for, or if it even had any special abilities like the other E.M.M.I.
- A.I.-cronym: Extraplanetary Multiform Mobile Identifiers.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: They were sent by the Galactic Federation to investigate ZDR, but have gone rogue and have become one of Samus's most threatening foes. The reason for this is because Raven Beak reprogrammed them to capture and extract the Metroid DNA from her.
- Air-Vent Passageway: Averted with E.M.M.I.-02SM, which can't get through Morph Ball tunnels; played straight by the later E.M.M.I., which can, and in fact, the green E.M.M.I.-03MB once beaten will give Samus access to her Morph Ball form.
- Artificial Brilliance: The E.M.M.I. have much better pathfinding and traversal abilities, making them much more dangerous. They will also thoroughly search their environment when they lose sight of Samus.
- Bait-and-Switch Boss: E.M.M.I.-07PB is fought and beaten as a Cutscene Boss. However, before Samus can obtain the Power Bomb from it, a red Chozo Soldier that was watching the fight interrupts and leaps in, serving as the actual boss.
- Boom, Headshot!: Their Cyber Cyclops faces are the only part of them that Samus can damage, first with an Omega Stream to melt their faceplate and then with an Omega Blaster shot to shatter their eye and shut them down.
- Bright Is Not Good: More than half of the E.M.M.I. come in stark, bright colors emphasizing their high-tech design; 02SM is white, 03MB is lime green, 04SB is yellow, and 05IM is cyan. In spite of this, they're also some of the deadliest foes Samus has faced yet.
- Close-Range Combatant: While they can almost instantly kill Samus if they grab her, they don't have ranged attacks, so she should be safe if she keeps her distance. At least that's the case for the earlier models; E.M.M.I.s -05IM and -06WB are capable of ranged attack, with the former capable of freezing Samus if it catches her in its lights and the latter firing orb shaped blasts that pass through walls while in pursuit of her. E.M.M.I.-07PB, meanwhile, is equipped with Power Bombs.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Each of them are colored differently; in numerical order, they are gray, white, lime green, yellow, turquoise blue, purple and reddish orange.
- Cranial Processing Unit: Their sensor eye in their head is the only part that Samus can damage to shut them down, and even then she needs to use the power of a fully-charged Omega Blaster shot to do so. Even so, all variants other than the damaged one have a shielding that must be overheated by sustained fire from the Omega Stream first.
- Cutscene Boss: E.M.M.I.-07PB is not engaged in combat with the Omega Cannon at all, nor do you get to navigate its territory. That being said, you do need to counter its attack at least once, which will lead to a cutscene where Samus manages to drain its energy with her newfound Metroid absorption powers. She does however have to fight a Red Chozo Soldier that interrupts her before she can obtain the Power Bomb.
- Cyber Cyclops: The seven E.M.M.I. all have a sole large red eye on their silhouettes. The eyes are mostly covered with armor plates, which retract only when prepping their One-Hit KO.
- Deadly Gaze: E.M.M.I-05IM will temporarily freeze Samus if it manages to catch her directly in its scanning beams.
- The Dreaded: They inspire fear and dread, hence the title of the game they first appear in.
- Drama-Preserving Handicap: The E.M.M.I.-02SM has much larger head fins than any other model. This prevents it from following Samus through a narrow space, allowing her time to move around its location.
- Establishing Character Moment: Each of them in their introduction cutscene shows off their special ability/gimmick and hinting at what can be expected of the future models.
- -01P: Despite its damaged state, it's still strong enough to be able to grab Samus and attempt to deliver its One-Hit Kill, introducing the last-ditch counter move, and that despite failing to climb after her it will keep fruitlessly trying to showcase its mindset towards getting Samus.
- -02SM: It's introduced clambering along the walls and the first with the armor plating around its eye, showing that future E.M.M.I.s won't have the mobility issue and it'll take more than just shooting them in the eye to take them down. It's also the first clue to how tough they are when it shrugs off Samus' Power Beam and Missiles and she decides to book it.
- -03MB: It's introduced unable to find Samus while she's using the Phantom Cloak and contorting its body through narrow spaces upon leaving, showing that future E.M.M.I. no longer have to follow the same paths as Samus to try and reach her and can take personal shortcuts, and driving home stealth will be the way going forward.
- -04SB: When Samus runs from it, it suddenly boosts and quickly closes the distance on her, only foiled by Samus passing through a trap door that erects a wall when she steps on the trigger mechanism on the other side.
- -05IM: It's introduced freezing a smaller drone in its scanning light and shattering it, showing what Samus will be in for if it catches her in its vision.
- -06WB: It shoots through the Chozo mural Samus was initially observing with a burst of electricity without ever actually physically seeing her first, nicely reflecting what it will do to Samus if it detects her (and not even within its vision like previous models) after it gets re-activated.
- -07PB: It instantly defeats Samus by obliterating the entire zone with the Power Bomb the moment it detects her, after which she defeats it in a cutscene with her new energy-draining powers.
- Everything Is an iPod in the Future: They sport a sleek and shiny design with sterile black and white armor (though there are variations in bright colors such as green and yellow).
- Expy:
- To AMEE, starting with the extremely similar name that happens to be an acronym for an extremely similar purpose (Autonomous Mapping Exploration and Evasion).
- Their manner of movement, from clinging on to ceilings and walls, to using vents and narrow passages to reach their targets, makes them resemble something akin to robotic Xenomorphs.
- Fluffy the Terrible: Their acronymized name sounds like a shortened version of the name, "Emily" or "Emma". They also happen to be nigh invincible robots out for Samus's blood. Of course, the name "Emmi" also means "rival".
- Forgot About His Powers: Destroying E.M.M.I.-05IM and -06WB would be much harder if they simply remembered they're capable of stunning Samus with their abilities after obtaining the Omega Blaster from their Central Units. This was likely intentional on Raven Beak's behalf, as part of his test to forcibly draw out Samus' Metroid powers, making them advance on her without using any of their abilities and giving her a chance to kill them with the Omega Cannon once she has it. The only exception is -07PB, which instantly defeats Samus without giving her a chance to reach the Central unit, likely because Raven Beak intended for it to be the end of Samus' test, one way or another.
- Freeze Ray: E.M.M.I-05IM has access to a freezing shot that paralyzes Samus for a few seconds or so if it manages to spot her with its line of sight.
- Generic Doomsday Villain: On account of being robots with no agency of their own, they lack any personality or goals and serve more as obstacles that stalk certain portions of the map rather than characters.
- Gone Horribly Right: These machines were made with some of the strongest material in the universe and designed to investigate and take care of biological infestations like the X-Parasite. This spells very bad things for Samus Aran, who despite being the galaxy's greatest bounty hunter can't take on the E.M.M.I. without a limited-use weapon, and who has Metroid DNA that the E.M.M.I. are frighteningly well-designed to extract.
- The Heavy: Collectively, the E.M.M.I. are the overarching threat that relentlessly hunt Samus throughout Dread but they simultaneously lack any agency of their own.
- Hell Is That Noise: They emit unsettling electronic tinkling noises as they patrol an area, and if they manage to catch Samus, their One-Hit Kill is punctuated with a harsh, shrill beep.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Their schematics show that they're equipped with a frighteningly sharp drill tucked away within the folds of their eye, and they will gladly use it on Samus should they manage to incapacitate her.
- Implacable Man: What makes the E.M.M.I. a dangerous enemy is not just its persistence and lethality, but its resilience. Nothing in Samus's regular arsenal can hurt them. For the most part, all she can do is Run or Die until she can temporarily turn her Arm Cannon into the Omega Cannon and destroy them for good. The only other thing they're shown to be vulnerable to is having their energy sucked out.
- Invincible Boogeymen: For a large part of the game, it's impossible to fight against them, as none of Samus's normal weapons have any effect on them and they will near-instantly kill her if they catch her. Even if she's not in their line of sight, they'll detect her nearby, forcing Samus to keep moving to prevent them from finding her. Only the Omega Cannon is able to damage them, but even then it's a temporary reprieve, as it goes away every time Samus destroys one, and energy refills necessary to charge it up again are very scarce.
- Le Parkour: All of them aside from the very first (due to its limbs being mangled) are capable of this, running, jumping, twisting and contorting themselves to take the shortest path to Samus they can manage.
- Limp and Livid: E.M.M.I.-01P, the first E.M.M.I. Samus encounters comes after her this way, plodding steadily towards her with its broken arms hanging slack.
- Living Motion Detector: They are equipped with motion detection. Even if Samus is nowhere near them, they'll detect her movement nearby, and will do a thorough search of the area even if Samus tries to hide with the Phantom Cloak.
- Logical Weakness: Nigh-Invulnerable they might be, but they still rely on an internal power supply as robots. This gets hammered home when E.M.M.I.-07PB has Samus in its grasp and it triggers her Metroid DNA to go into overdrive, causing her to drain all its power within seconds with it helpless to do anything about it.
- Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: All of them besides E.M.M.I.-01P have armor plating around their eyes for extra protection. Even the Omega Cannon can't punch through it in one shot and Samus must lay down a constant stream of fire via the Omega Stream in order to melt through the plating to expose their eye, and this can take long enough that the E.M.M.I. is able to close the distance on Samus. Thankfully, the destruction of the plating will stun them for a second or two, allowing Samus time to get some distance to charge up the finishing blow.
- Mascot Mook: E.M.M.I.-02SM (AKA the White E.M.M.I.) is present in most key artwork for Dread and even has its own Amiibo, despite technically only being the second E.M.M.I. encountered.
- Meaningful Name: Most of their individual serial numbers indicate what order you defeat them in and what ability they have.
- E.M.M.I.-02SM (White) — Spider Magnet
- E.M.M.I.-03MB (Green) — Morph Ball
- E.M.M.I.-04SB (Yellow) — Speed Booster
- E.M.M.I.-05IM (Blue) — Ice Missile
- E.M.M.I.-06WB (Purple) — Wave Beam
- E.M.M.I.-07PB (Orange) — Power Bomb
- Nigh-Invulnerable: Their plating is made of a material that the first Metroid Dread Report states to be "the strongest stuff in the universe." E.M.M.I.-02SM’s introduction shows it not even reacting to receiving two Power Beam shots and a Missile to the face. The only thing that can destroy them other than Raven Beak's own strength is the temporary Omega Cannon given by the Central Units, which disappears each time Samus kills one of the E.M.M.I., requiring her to go find another Central Unit to give her the power-up again. Samus only manages to survive against the orange E.M.M.I.-07PB by utilizing a power not even its armor can protect it from.
- No-Nonsense Nemesis: All of the E.M.M.I. qualify, with their AI being built to pursue Samus as efficiently as possible, including doubling back or taking alternate paths if she tries to catch them in a loop. 07PB, however, earns points for wasting no time: upon hearing Samus, it immediately destroys the entire zone with the Power Bomb.
- One-Hit Kill: If they catch Samus and she fails both of the last resort desperation counters, they will instantly kill her in one strike, via impalement.
- Primal Stance: They can be bipedal if they choose to be, but spend most of their time crawling on all fours.
- Purple Is Powerful: E.M.M.I-06WB is one of the most powerful E.M.M.I.s in the game, being effectively the last one to be engaged in gameplay as the final orange E.M.M.I.-07PB is merely a Cutscene Boss.
- Rule of Seven: The Federation dispatched seven E.M.M.I. to ZDR, and now Samus must contend with them as some of her most powerful foes to date.
- Small Role, Big Impact: E.M.M.I.-07PB only shows up for a few seconds before being killed, but it's what forces Samus to fully manifest her Metroid powers recontextualizing the game, if not whole series, as building up to that moment.
- Stalker with a Test Tube: The spike they use to finish off Samus isn't merely a weapon, but a surgical tool they're using to fatally extract a sample of her Metroid DNA on behalf of Raven Beak.
- Super-Powered Robot Meter Maids: These relentless automatons, which are incredibly fast and agile, made of the strongest alloys in the cosmos, and capable of overpowering the galaxy's greatest warrior, were designed to be mere research drones. Justified, since the wildlife on alien planets can be dangerous enough before rewritten as super-predators by the X, and creating a robot that could be easily destroyed would defeat the purpose, not to mention be a waste of money. But it gets even more ludicrous with the later-encountered models, which are equipped with abilities or weapons that go way beyond the justification of exploration or defense from hostile wildlife and are more perfectly-suited for hunter-killer robots. E.M.M.I.-07PB, in particular, is equipped with Power Bombs. It's unknown if Exelion Star Corporation built them with these abilities or if Raven Beak modified them after reprogramming them to make them efficient killers.
- Super-Speed: E.M.M.I-04SB has access to the Speed Booster, allowing it to close on Samus really fast.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: With their invulnerability to Samus' weapons that requires her to hide and/or run until she can get strong enough to fight them, the E.M.M.I.s fill the same niche that the SA-X did in Fusion and that the Zebesians did in the Zero Suit segment of Zero Mission.
- Terminator Impersonator: The E.M.M.I. are imposing, Nigh-Invulnerable androids with red glowing eyes that are relentless in their pursuit of Samus and will not stop ever until they've extracted her Metroid DNA for Raven Beak to revive the Metroids with for his army.
- Twin Telepathy: Synchronization type. The E.M.M.I. have alerts linked directly to their Central Units, causing them to pursue Samus relentlessly once she acquires the zone’s Omega Cannon upgrade. Samus draining 07PB causes its zone’s Central Unit to deactivate.
- Unnecessarily Creepy Robot: Despite being explicitly designed as research and surveillance drones, they have a rather intimidating appearance with their human-like build that can shift to an animalistic stance, clawed hands and feet, and their giant glowing eye. Which makes it all the more inconvenient when they go rogue.
- Wall Crawl: They can easily move on walls and ceilings and across short gaps in either, which gives them a peculiar form of locomotion that Samus has to work hard to stay one step ahead of. Defeating E.M.M.I.-02SM (the very first to display this since E.M.M.I.-01P is too mangled to manage more than a lumbering gait because of Raven Beak's own strength) gives Samus access to the Spider Magnet, letting her do this to certain magnetized walls.
- White and Red and Eerie All Over: There are versions of many colors. But most of the marketing focuses on the white one for a reason!
- The Worf Effect:
- Considering how much emphasis is put to how dangerous E.M.M.I. are, the fact that the first one seen, 01P, is in horrible shape suggests that there is someone in ZDR that can power through them. One of the artworks you can unlock shows that it was Raven Beak who wrecked 01P, showing just how powerful he is.
- The last E.M.M.I. isn't fought in the same manner as the previous ones, as it ends up being a demonstration of Samus' Metroid powers when it ambushes her, with her completely draining the robot of energy when it tries to attack her.
- Worf Had the Flu: 01P, the first E.M.M.I. Samus encounters is already beaten to hell and back, missing its armor plating and part of a limb. As a result it's a much slower pursuer and can't climb, allowing her to get past it, temporarily empower herself with the Omega Cannon, and blow it to pieces. Collecting all the items in Artaria reveals that Raven Beak was the reason why it was so mangled, as a testament of his own strength.
- Xenomorph Xerox: Their body shape and movement, their Nigh-Invulnerability, persistent nature, and a giant needle concealed in their head (evocative of the Xenomorph's Nested Mouths) makes them a mechanical version of this trope.
- You Are Number 6: Each of the seven E.M.M.I. has a serial number that begins with the two numbers and ends with letters.
