Metroid - Space Pirates / Characters

"The feared and mysterious Space Pirates. In truth they are... a subordinate species that naturally follows the orders of a strong master. It is just like how the worker bees follow the queen bee, their hierarchical programming is decided at the genetic level."

— Mother Brain

The primary antagonists of the franchise. An inter-stellar cabal, comprised of numerous species that have rejected the Galactic Federation's democratic rule in favour of a life of thievery and conquest. As brigands, the Pirates steal any technology which will improve their cause and they subvert science to ensure the supposed superiority of their biological traits. Opportunists to the core, they care only for their own advancement as a race. And they will trample over anyone and everything to achieve that fact.

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Tropes displayed by the Pirates in general

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zebesian.png

"Death before dishonor."

Airborne Mook: There are a number of pirates who specialize in airborne combat, like Pirate aerotroopers, flying pirates, aero mines, and preeds.
Alternate Company Equivalent: Of the Boskone, being a multi-species collective of ship-jackers who are actually part of an authoritarian strictly controlled empire with scientific aspirations.
Always Chaotic Evil: 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 Mother Brain.
- Judging by the criticism given to High Command and Science Team, this doesn't seem to be the case. Space Pirates just don't care about ethics, possibly operating under Blue-and-Orange Morality.
Aquatic Mook:
- Aqua Pirates use technology similar to the gravity suit and Aquadrones are built to patrol the depths.
- Zebesians created by the X also have Skultera DNA, allowing them to turn their legs into fins.
Beast of Battle:
- Turning savage alien creatures into biological weapons is one of their most common practices. The Space Pirate logs in Metroid Prime show them evaluating numerous native life forms on Tallon IV for potential use as weapons, with the Parasites being the most successful experiment until the queens got loose and killed all their guys on Frigate Orpheon. More successful projects include the mighty Korakk Beast ridden by Pirate Hussars. They also are able to make use of the Bombus, Preeds, and later Puffers to a limited extent.
- Trying to turn the titular Metroids into this is the Pirates' main goal in most of the series, though they eventually conclude that it would be more effective to just unleash the Metroids en masse in enemy territory rather than trying to tame them.
Beware the Silly Ones: While the Space Pirates constantly fall victim or play second fiddle to the bigger threats in the series, it is worth noting that the majority of these threats are some degree of Eldritch Abomination. It's easy to forget that they're one of the most versatile, violent and feared alien races this side of the galaxy, especially since you're usually playing from the perspective of Samus. This is especially true in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption; the logs detailing their brainwashing by Dark Samus are full of Black Comedy, but this is also the game where the Pirates came closer than ever to actually winning major victories against the Federation with their new Phazon-based weapons.
Body Horror: In their race to reverse-engineer Samus' weaponry and Power Suit, they tried to recreate her Morph Ball ability. Experiments with it ended with test subjects mangled and broken in horrific fashion. Even ignoring their efforts to copy her weapons, they subject their soldiers to all kinds of gruesome biological and cybernetic upgrades that typically drive them mad even if they manage to survive.
Butt-Monkey: In Echoes, where they are caught in the middle of a three way war between Dark Samus, Samus herself, and the Ing, all of whom outmatch them utterly. "Surely, we are cursed."
Child Soldiers: If the details of the Elite Pirate experiments are anything to go by, they are willing to press their youngest into service. And by youngest, it means "genetically-altered embryos".
Creative Sterility: Seems like it at first, because almost all of their tech is stolen or reverse-engineered from others, and in the games there is evidence that they continue to try reverse engineering new tech (Samus's morph ball for example), but, at the same time 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: The pirates who make the logs seem to have a great love of sarcasm, which is part of what makes many of said pirate logs so hilarious.
Demoted to Extra:
- Metroid II: Return of Samus doesn't feature any Pirates, though Samus killing off the Metroids on SR-388 is implicitly so the Pirates can no longer use them. Metroid: Samus Returns slightly changed this, showing Mother Brain and the silhouettes of Zebesians in the intro cutscene and introducing Proteus Ridley as the final boss, but the focus of the game is still on fighting the fauna and automatons of the planet.
- While the plot of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes is kicked off by the Federation Marines pursuing a Pirate vessel to Aether (and Samus searching for the Marines), the main threats are the Ing and Dark Samus, and the Pirate operations are limited to the Agon Wastes; after that arc of the game, the Pirates largely disappear aside from a handful of Ing hosts.
- The only Space Pirate in Metroid Prime: Hunters is cyborg bounty hunter Weavel, and it's implied he's not even in the Alimbic System on any orders from his higher-ups.
- Metroid: Other M and Metroid Fusion take place after the Pirates were wiped out on Zebes in Super Metroid, and the Pirate enemies we do see in those games (Zebesians, Kihunters, and Ridley) are clones under the control of new antagonists.
- The only Space Pirate in Metroid Dread is Kraid, who is an unwilling prisoner of the Mawkin. There's also an easy-to-miss mural in a Ferenia elevator room showing Zebesians seemingly going up against Chozo soldiers, though why it's there and what it means are left ambiguous.
Depending on the Artist: Space Pirates tend to look different in every game. The manga depicts them as having numerous subspecies.
Early-Installment Weirdness: While Metroid and Metroid II: Return of Samus never depicted the Pirates in-game, supplementary material around that time, such as the first game's manual and various comic and manga adaptations, implied that their ranks were mostly made up of evil humans. It wasn't until Super Metroid onward that they were consistently portrayed as a distinct race of Insectoid Aliens who despised humans and any other race outside of their ranks.
EMP: They have grenades that produce them, though they don't work very well against their sworn enemy, Samus. They probably would work well against Federation troops and installments, though.
The Empire: Despite being called "pirates," they are actually part of an expansionistic, militaristic, and xenophobic state.
Eternal Engine: Their homeworld (or at least the part you explore) is like one giant, heavily polluting machine, complete with a perpetual shower of acid rain.
Elaborate Underground Base: That the Space Pirates specialize in this type of base is the reason why the Federation employed a lone Bounty Hunter to deal with the Metroid threat in the first place. Justified in that the pirates can't match the Federation's armadas, so their bases are designed for concealment and protection from surface attacks.
Elite Mook: Elite pirates in name, although pirate commandos, dedicated to "hunting the hunter", are more so in practice. They're one of the few enemies on Aether who are just as effective as their dark counterparts, and in fact only hunter ing are allowed to possess them.
Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Besides Zebesians, they are only referred to as Space Pirates.
Evil Is Bigger: Their main leaders consistently dwarf Samus despite her being a Statuesque Stunner in Powered Armor, and even the rank-and-file troops such as the Zebesians are taller than her.
Evil Is Not a Toy: Every attempt of theirs to use the Metroids as bioweapons has backfired spectacularly.
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 and they wisely moved on afterwards.
Evil Power Vacuum: The Space Pirates cease to be a threat (or as big if there are still active elements out there) after Super Metroid. This results in corrupt elements within the Galactic Federation and Raven Beak gaining power and replacing the pirates as the overarching antagonists of the games set chronologically after their defeat.
Evil Versus Evil: In Prime 2, they've fought against the Ing, who want their Phazon, as well forcefully recruiting several of their guys into their ranks, as well as Dark Samus, Metroid Prime's revived form via Samus' Phazon Suit taken from her after their first conflict on Tallon IV, while in Metroid Dread, they have fought the Mawkin Chozo Tribe, as observed on a mural on ZDR, though this has yet to be seen ingame.
Fascist, but Inefficient: The Pirates are aspiring galactic conquerors that seek to assert their superiority over all other sapient species. However, as the Prime Trilogy shows, they are not only incredibly oppressive to each other, incompetence is in abundance throughout their society. While most of the rank-and-file are conditioned for obedience, those that aren't break rules to (sometimes comically) disastrous results. When they aren't stealing tech from the Federation, their Science Team is making all sorts of questionable design choices that cause as much Pirate deaths as Samus does.
Flanderization: In the first Metroid Prime, the pirate logs depicted them as straight-forward and ruthless Evil Geniuses and Mad Scientists for the most part, with the Morph Ball prototype incident being a rare example of Black Comedy involving them (and after that failed, Science Team decided to move on from it). The pirate logs and logbook entries on pirate tech in the sequels ran with the Morph Ball incident and portrayed the Pirates (especially Science Team) as so comically incompetent, that executions for said incompetence were frequent (such as the engineer that decided that the Aeromines' weapons and shield share the same power source), some of their inventions are blatantly unsafe, and whoever wrote the logs is frequently bad-mouthing them.
For Science!: A lot of what they do in terms of research is justified like this, in spite of the fact that they violate every rule of safe, ethical research. Of course, at least a few members of the rank and file think that the Science Team has vapor for brains.
The Ghost: The rank-and-file pirate troops don't appear at all in the first Metroid, with the game's enemies being entirely made up of Metroids and local fauna.
Giant Mook: Cortesy of the pirates' experiments with phazon, they have three story tall Elite Pirates hanging around in the Phazon mines. 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 are extremely well armored to give them a bit more survivability against Samus. Advanced and assault troopers count too.
Hell Is That Noise: In the Prime games, the presence of Pirates is forewarned by a song that begins slow and ominous, with a heartbeat-like bass. It gives the distinct impression that something is stalking Samus, before the Pirates appear and prove themselves to be some of the most difficult enemies in the game. Following this, the player will learn to fear that music until they've grown powerful enough to be more than a match.
Hoist by His Own Petard: The ultimate goal of the Pirates is to use the Metroids to conquer the universe, and in every single game featuring both, there's at least one Pirate that gets drained by a Metroid:
- In Zero Mission the entire staff of Tourian gets reduced to dry husks by the Metroids kept within, though it's not clear if they lost control of the creatures or if Mother Brain deliberately used her minions as food.
- In Samus Returns Ridley gets drained repeatedly by the Baby Metroid.
- In Super Metroid Mother Brain gets drained almost to death by the Super Metroid.
- In all three games in the Metroid Prime Trilogy Pirates get killed by Tallon Metroids, Dark Tallon Metroids and Phazon Metroids respectively.
- In Other M Ridley's clone is sucked dry by the Queen Metroid
How the Mighty Have Fallen: The death of Mother Brain and the destruction of planet Zebes brought such a crippling blow to the Space Pirates that even within a few weeks time, they are regarded as a distant memory in the galaxy. In the post-Super Metroid universe, the Space Pirates only appear as either genetically-bred attack dogs or pet prisoners on a leash for new sinister forces.
Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: In Echoes only, due to being caught in a Mêlée à Trois where the three sides outmatch them to a ridiculous degree, causing them to essentially become irrelevant to the greater conflict.
Insectoid Aliens: What most Pirate variants look like.
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, as well.
Laughably Evil: In the Prime games, the Data logs provides a humorous side to their antics. "They were promptly shot." Followed by "They too were shot."
Mecha-Mooks: They have Aeromines, Crawlmines, Crawltanks and various drones to help defend their bases or strike assaults.
Mook Chivalry: In their logs, science team claims the Elite Pirates' weaknesses do not matter because they will be used in coordination with other soldiers, a clear violation of mook chivalry.
Mook Mobile: Both their skiffs and their armored tactical carriers function as this, being able to bring their forces to the fight quickly and efficiently.
Nocturnal Mooks: What the Shadow Pirates are supposed to be, but some are too stupid to stay in the shadows.
Non-Indicative Name: They are frequently referred to as Zebesians, but Samus is more of a Zebesian than them, having been raised there. These guys are just brigands who set up some laboratories and hidey holes, then started raiding the ruins. Yoshio Sakamoto has compared them to how most "Americans" are actually descended from Europeans.
Not So Above It All: Despite that they're supposed to be a highly disciplined and regimented army, in the Prime games, scan data reveals that pirates do things like feed metroids pet treats and bad mouth their superiors behind their backs.
Oh, Crap!: Their reaction to Samus appearing during an operation can be summed up as this. Taken to comedic extremes in Prime 2 when they're already dealing with Dark Samus as Samus herself arrives, with the logs containing the realization of there now being two Samuses running around.

"Another hunter, wearing the traditional colors of Samus Aran, made planetfall today. Horrific as it may sound, there are two of them now."

Only Sane Man: Pirates who write the logs often comment of how dumb the Science Team and High Command are, believing themselves to be the only ones who saw the dangers ahead.
Patrolling Mook: Those in Ridley's ship during Zero Mission as well as Chozodia.
The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: They're really more of The Empire (see above), though the plots of several games are initiated by an act of piracy, in space. The original Metroid and its remake started with an attack on a ship carrying the first Metroids ever discovered by the Federation. Super Metroid started with a pirate attack on the space colony containing the last surviving Metroid. And Metroid Prime 3: Corruption started with the boarding, theft of its main computer, and subsequent scuttling of the Federation ship Valhalla.
Pet the Dog: Apparently some Space Pirates do keep normal pets, as one scan you can find says that the ones working in the Phazon Mines had to be warned to give them up due to risk of the animals contracting Phazon Madness.
Power Pincers: They often have chelae on their forearms that house plasma cannons.
Professor Guinea Pig: The Science team loves using their own members as well as volunteers (or "volunteers," it's never made clear) for experiments.
The Remnant: The Metroid Prime games retroactively turn the Pirate presence on Zebes in Super Metroid into this. After the massive, massive losses they took against the Galactic Federation military in Prime 3 and Federation Force (which includes the capture & occupation of their base world Urtraghus, the death of High Command, multiple naval fleets being destroyed, their HQ in the Bermuda System being bombed to oblivion, and the destruction of the Doomseye superweapon and its Master Brain), it becomes pretty clear that the Zebes cell was the last significant outpost they held.
Shield-Bearing Mook: Elite Pirates in Prime, Pirate Commandos in Prime 2, several troopers in Prime 3.
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.
Slave Mooks: Pirate Militia are made up of criminals forced into service and captured slaves. Disobedient militia supposedly become rations for the real troops.
Space Pirates: What they're called, at least, and they do engage in some piracy, like attacking a space station to get at the last Metroid. However, that they seem to be organized with a ruling class and dedicated scientists may make the name a bit of a misnomer.
Spanner in the Works: Stealing Metroids from the Galactic Federation after they caught some from their expedition on SR388 unintentionally delays Raven Beak's plan to weaponize Metroids further, while the Mawkin leader himself was dealing with the X Parasite infestation on ZDR that was infecting his men because of one of their scouts got infected by one after returning from a scouting mission for any Metroids that weren't sealed away.
Stealthy Mook: Shadow Pirates, in dark areas, and the cloaked drone from Metroid Prime.
Superpowered Mooks: After they discover hypermode, several of them become much more powerful and dangerous when using it.
Telepathy: In Hunters they intercepted a psychic message. It is currently unknown whether this is due to a telepathic race in their ranks, a machine that can serve this purpose, or individuals who gained this power due to experimentation.
The Ghost: High Command is frequently mentioned in scan data in the Prime games but is never seen.
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.
Uncertain Doom: After the destruction of Zebes in Super Metroid, the Space Pirates have not shown up in games set chronologically afterward except as replicas used by other villains (cloned bio-weapons used by a corrupt splinter group of the Federation Army and later, M.B. in Other M and X Parasite copies in Fusion). It is unclear if their organization was completely destroyed with Zebes, or if they're still active (since they have other bases besides Zebes), but are now just run-of-the-mill brigands with the Metroids (seemingly) extinct and high-ranking leaders such as Ridley and Mother Brain being killed. Kraid's presence in Metroid Dread suggests that there are Space Pirate remnants out there, but otherwise lack presence and, given Samus's unimpressed reaction to Kraid still being alive, they are not in any position to threaten the whole galaxy.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Their presence on Aether at first seems trivial, but then you learn that it was from the pirates that Ing picked up their technology thieving ways. This leads to the Ing possessing every machine on light Aether, nearly destroying the planet with the energy transfer module and stealing most of Samus's power ups!
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.
Would Hurt a Child: In the manga, one Pirate slaver was prepared to execute a young human girl just for being too short. Not even the young among their own are safe, as they were willing to infuse Phazon into their own embryos to create Super Soldiers, and the earliest Elite Pirates died before they even reached adulthood.
You Are Number 6: Scan data in all three Prime games indicates most pirates are referred to by their role and a three digit number.
You Don't Look Like You: Their design changes significantly across the three Prime games. This is explained in-universe as a result of genetic self-experimentation.

Pirate Leaders

Mother Brain

"Defective product... Me...?!! A 'defective product'... You dare claim that I am defective...!!"

^{Click here to see her final form from Super Metroid.}

Voiced by: Levi Stubbs (Captain N: The Game Master)

"Did you finally realize you are nothing but a beast as well? ...No, more accurately — that you're just a bird that can't even fly."

The "mechanical life-form" of Planet Zebes, the self-proclaimed "Mother" of the multiplied Metroid hordes and the true leader of the Zebesian Space Pirates.

Once a benevolent A.I. system that assisted the last of the Chozo, she degenerated into rampant insanity as a result of being surpassed by their last child, leaving her legacy in the dust. Jealous and spiteful of "lesser" life-forms, Mother betrayed her caretakers and allowed the Space Pirates to invade Zebes; upon which she seized control of their armies with powerful telepathy. A deluded social darwinist, Mother seeks nothing more and nothing less than the subjugation of every living thing.

Adaptational Badass: The Zero Mission remake of the original game beefs up Mother Brain from a vulnerable brain dependent on her elaborate defense system to a Nigh-Invulnerable boss that can only be harmed when her eye is open, and said eye shoots out a laser beam whenever that happens.
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).
Ambiguous Situation: Hieroglyphs in Ferenia depict Mother Brain apparently overseeing the Mawkin soldiers subdued the Space Pirates into submission in an unknown battle. When this battle occurs, and what it means for Mother's relationship with the Space Pirates and the Mawkin Chozo remains a mystery.
Ambiguous Start of Darkness: It's unclear if Mother Brain merely saw an opportunity with the Space Pirates and took it, or if she had been plotting to betray the Chozo long beforehand, and the Space Pirates were just a convenient way to finally do so.
Ambition Is Evil: Part of the reason why Mother Brain betrayed her Chozo creators and took over the Space Pirates is due to her advanced A.I. learning the concept of ambition. She wants to be the greatest legacy of the Chozo race, and becoming ruler of the universe is a stepping stone to that path.
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's ire in various ways, most notably killing the Super Metroid, which was the baby Samus had spared and in some sources was implied to bond with. It's somewhat more prominent in the manga, where she played a part in raising Samus, before becoming one of her adversaries.
Ax-Crazy: She's always been a bit unstable but after she goes One-Winged Angel in Super Metroid, Mother Brain is completely animalistic. She tries to kill Samus in the most painful manner possible and doesn't even hesitate to kill the Super Metroid for interfering, even though it's her most valuable asset for her bio-weapon program.
Bad Boss: Mother Brain views the Space Pirates as tools to be used and later disposed of. She even refers to them, including Ridley, as simple beasts in the manga. This attitude is hinted at in a Zero Mission cutscene where the Metroids are free and devouring every Zebesian on sight, despite statements saying that Mother Brain can control them through her brainwaves.
Berserk Button: Montly Magazine Z manga Mother Brain considers herself to be the perfect successor of the Chozo race and the rightful master of the universe. So, when Gray Voice calls her a "defective product", she becomes completely unnerved and later wrathful.
Beyond the Impossible: Metroids are said to be the ultimate weapon because they drain the life-force of their victims to the point their bodies crumble into dust, and they are virtually indestructible to everything that is not ice. Mother Brain not only survives the Super Metroid's drainage of her life-force (it had every intention to kill her to protect Samus) but she also kills said-Metroid with nothing more than her laser beams.
Big Bad: She is the true leader of the Space Pirates, with pirate leaders such as Ridley answering only to her. Whenever she appears, she is always the number-one threat barring none.
Brain in a Jar: Mother Brain is protected by a glass container that Samus needs to break with her missiles before attacking the grey matter within. However, Mother Brain doesn't need the glass jar to survive as Super Metroid reveals in the final fight.
Brain Monster: She's a massive brain in a tank. And in the climax of Super Metroid, she becomes an acranial example when she attaches herself to her new robotic body. Two types for the price of one.
Breath Weapon: Her jaws in her One-Winged Angel form doesn't just spew out foul breath; it also spews out rings of energy as well as cluster bombs.
Control Freak: The subjugation of the entire universe is her idea of a utopia, even if it requires her to rob free will from all living beings through her psychic powers. While she is a cold, calculating mastermind, the moment that something doesn't go her way or catches her by surprise will send her into a fit of pure rage.
Cores-and-Turrets Boss:
- Destroy the Zebetite barriers, avoid the turret shots and rinkas. Break the glass then shoot the brain. Also, watch out for the occasional pit of freakin' lava (acid in Super Metroid).
- Zero Mission adds the additional defense of an eye lid, which will deflect your attacks while it charges her eye beams. Unfortunately for her, she has to release the charge eventually, leaving her eye vulnerable in the cool down period.
Cyclops: Not originally though. Zero Mission makes her a cyclops from the start through retroactive continuity.
Dark Action Girl: She doesn’t put up much of a fight in the first game, but in Super Metroid, she gains a new mechanical body and takes the fight to Samus, being one of the few antagonists to nearly kill her with a brutal Curb-Stomp Battle.
Dark Lord on Life Support: Extreme inversion: Mother Brain is a giant brain in a highly impact-resistant glass casing. After breaking through the shield, you still have to fire multiple missiles (regular beams do nothing) directly at her bare grey matter in order to finish her off, proving that the transparent casing is clearly for protective reasons only.
Death by Irony: When she is finally destroyed in Super Metroid, she is reduced into a sepia-colored husk of a brain before crumbling away into dust, a fate that would have befell upon her enemies had her Metroid bio-weapon project gone off without a hitch.
Despotism Justifies the Means: The Monthly Magazine Z manga depicts Mother Brain's idea of a prosperous and orderly universe as her to ruling over every living species in existence. She hates the notion that the races of the Galactic Federation would create a new era of peace without her, and doesn't care if her methods would turn them into "mindless beasts" as Samus puts it in the manga. Her endgame is to become the ruler of the universe.
Diabolical Mastermind: The leader of a galactic crime syndicate who comes up with various schemes to expand their operations and regularly comes into conflict with both police and military. Her being a Brain in a Jar certainly helps contribute to the "mastermind" part.
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.
Energy Weapon: Her general means of attack in all the games she's appeared. Her most iconic and devastating one is the Laser Brain Attack.
Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: This is how Gray Voice was able to get as far as he did to kill Mother Brain in the manga. Mother was so convinced by Gray Voice's decision to side with her vision that she didn't foresee his true allegiance and was genuinely shocked when he betrayed her. Likewise, she could not accept a universe where she does not rule or Samus being the Chozo's true successor rather than her.
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's own upbringing as a great warrior. Yet while Samus is a Friend to All Living Things and would rebel against her superiors to do what's right, Mother Brain subjugates all life within her reach and had revolted against her masters to rule uncontested.
Evil Is Petty: In the manga, she once framed the Iono Feria as carriers of the badger clovers, a poisonous plant, and then burned them to death just to spite Samus for being one of the Chozo's "children".
Evil Laugh: After Ridley critically wounds the rebellious Gray Voice, Mother Brain laughs at the dying Chozo for failing to stop her. This haughty laughter marks the moment that Mother drops her Well-Intentioned Extremist facade and embraces her power-hungry malevolence that has always been boiling inside of her gray matter.
Evil Matriarch: In the manga, she, along with the Chozo, raised Samus on Zebes in her childhood years. But when she took over Space Pirates, Mother Brain wants Samus to join their ranks, and tries to break her by claiming that she was always meant to be raised as a weapon from the very beginning. When that doesn't work, Mother Brain allows Ridley to attack the traumatized Samus. This ends up doing more damage than Mother Brain intends however, though Mother's reaction amounts to nothing more than being slightly disappointed.
Evil Old Folks: She was designed to invoke the image of a withered, evil old crone, to the point of having a scrawny (mechanical) body and drooling mouth in Super Metroid. Her actual age is unknown, however, but we can presume she's been around for a while.
Evil Overlord: Upon betraying the Chozo, she immediately takes over Planet Zebes and remains in control of both its territory and ecosystems for years afterwards. In the grand scheme of things, she plans to become this to the entire galaxy.
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.
- The Laser Brain Attack in Super Metroid is among the most visually devastating attacks in the franchise, able to strain Samus to the point of exhaustion, drain multiple energy tanks off her, and destroy her entire stock of missiles and bombs with just one charge.
Face–Heel Turn: She used to be a benevolent computer indispensable for the Chozo culture but her advanced standalone A.I. allowed her to think further than the Chozo anticipated, spouting dangerous thoughts such as domination and pride. She went berserk and betrayed her creators to the Space Pirates, whom she eventually took over as their leader.
Fallen Hero: From the guardian of a benevolent species and one of Samus' oldest mentors to the tyrannical leader of one of the most despicable empires in galactic history.
Fangs Are Evil: She has a nice set of sharp teeth to show off in her One-Winged Angel form.
Fantastic Racism: Mother Brain regards all living species to be inferior to her but she reserves the worst of this attitude for the Chozo, her creators. Mother mocks the Chozo as an aging and obsolete race doomed to extinction, no longer needed to preserve their own culture and teachings because she stored them all in her databanks. The Space Pirates do not fare any better, as Mother considers them to be a weak-willed subservient race destined to serve her every whim. She ends up wrong on both accounts, as in the Monthly Magazine Z manga Grey Voice nearly kills her with a weapon and suit of armor that is not in her database, proving she doesn't know everything about the Chozo as she was lead to believe, and in the video games the Space Pirates end up causing a lot more damage across the galaxy without her than they ever did with her, including creating another brain monster with aid from Bermuda system technology with far superior psychic powers to Mother Brain.
Faux Affably Evil: In the manga, she seems to be benevolent, well-intentioned and almost motherly to Samus and the Chozo, even when she has taken over the Space Pirates to conquer the galaxy. But when Gray Voice betrays her and then points out that her agenda is evil and self-centered, the enraged Mother Brain inadvertently admits that she sees all lifeforms as inferior and is in fact jealous of Samus for being everything she is not. After being saved by Ridley, Mother embraces her newfound malevolence and goes full tyrant in her crusade, dropping any pretense of well-intentioned goals.
Final Boss: She's the last boss in the first game (but not the remake) and Super Metroid.
Final Solution: After concluding that the Chozo have become a "defective" and dying race during the prequel manga, Mother decides to speed up the process by taking over the Space Pirates and using them to the kill off the remaining Chozo on Zebes.
Foil: To Samus, in many ways. Both are females raised by the Chozo, possessing incredible abilities because of it. While Samus joined forces with the Galactic Federation, Mother Brain joined forces with the Space Pirates, forced to forsake their creators and ending up on opposite sides of the same conflict. The two also have relationships with Metroids - Samus has her motherly relationship towards the Baby Metroid, while Mother Brain telepathically influences her own lethal Metroid soldiers.
Galactic Conqueror: What she aspires to be. Using the Space Pirates as her main army and the Metroids as her special bio-weapons, she would have easily accomplished that goal if it weren't for that one lone bounty hunter named Samus.
A God Am I: In the prequel manga she believes her destiny is to become "the true master of the universe" and recreate the universe in her own image. This is not helped by the fact the Chozo had become very dependent on Mother Brain to handle their culture, knowledge, technology, security and agenda, which fueled her dangerous ego.
Go for the Eye: In the Zero Mission remake, Mother Brain can only be damaged if her one eye is open. Said-eye only opens when it launches a beam attack, so prepare to jump and fire.
Gone Horribly Right: The Monthly Magazine Z manga shows that during her days as a benevolent Chozo A.I. , Mother Brain's primary directive is to preserve all of the Chozo culture, history and knowledge before they die out. And in their absence, Mother's secondary directive is to bring peace and order to the galaxy with that knowledge. And she follows her directives splendidly. It's just the Chozo were once a warrior race that used to spread their influence through galactic conquest, with some tribes such as the Mawkin continuing this old cultural path.
Gonk: Her second form in Super Metroid, which resembles a withered crone.
Greater-Scope Villain:
- One of several in Metroid Prime, which takes place not long after her defeat in the first game and sees Meta Ridley carrying out her plans while the Space Pirates attempt to repair her.
- Of Metroid: Other M, as a good deal of the game revolves around Samus struggling to cope with Mother Brain's murder of the Baby Metroid, while the new Big Bad turns out to be a rogue A.I. created using Mother Brain's remains as a template.
- Implied to be the case in Metroid Prime: Federation Force, as the Big Bad turns out to be Master Brain, another A.I. that is a near perfect replica of Mother Brain, even taking command of the Space Pirates. Given that this game takes place prior to the events of Super Metroid, it's highly likely that Mother Brain herself authorized the being's construction.
Green-Eyed Monster: In the Monthly Magazine Z manga Mother Brain envies other sapient lifeforms for having the Chozo's favor despite the fact that the Chozo themselves are highly dependent on her. She sees them all as threats to her claim as the Chozo's successor, especially Samus Aran.
Hate Sink: Betraying the Chozo, creating a Metroid army, and callously murdering the Super Metroid, all for petty reasons, everything Mother Brain does seems to be written specifically to make players want to kick her ass.
Hive Queen: Mother Brain is said to have direct control over the Space Pirates and Zebes' wildlife with her psychic mind in the prequel manga, but it seems to be an Informed Ability in the games. Even in the prequel manga, naturally ocurring wildlife are the only things she can directly control, though if M.B., whose A.I. is based on Mother Brain's, is anything to go by, she has the capacity to (and likely did) control her minions in that manner.
Hoist by Her Own Petard: Mother Brain uses the Baby Metroid to clone vast armies of Metroids for her galactic conquest. The same Metroid ends up draining her energy and then transfers it to Samus, who puts a permanent end to the pirate leader. Even more ironic is that, according to the manga, Mother Brain secretly raised Samus as a bioweapon to enforce her new order; double karma in one.
Inferiority Superiority Complex: Despite the fact that the Chozo have grown more reliant on her as their race begins to die out, in the prequel manga Mother Brain fears that they do not see her as their successor and would instead give everything they have to other sapient life, like Samus. To correct this perceived error, Mother begins tout herself as a creation who has long surpassed her creators, that they were defective and must go, and that she alone can bring order to the universe by subjugating all life to her will.
Informed Ability: The psychic powers she is said to have in the manga are rarely, if it all, made use of in any of the games. Even in the Monthly Magazine Z manga Mother Brain is said to be a strong domineering ruler who can take control of the Space Pirates through her force of will, but does not use her psychic powers to directly control anything other than some predators in Brinstar. The Space Pirates she directs to steal and make use of metroids wind up being fed on by them just like in the games, which ends up tipping off the Federation to the fact Mother Brain has this secret bioweapon in the first place. The events of Zero Mission are the strongest evidence against them even existing in the games, as she isn't seen controlling any living thing on top of the Zebesians in her lair failing to control the Metroids. This can be contrasted with Metroid Prime 3, where Dark Samus does prove capable of getting Metroids to temporarily work alongside other creatures against Samus. Also, Other M's suggestion that the Zebesians would fall apart without her is contradicted by the manga, where they were pirating before she came around (though Mother Brain did state that the Zebesians were a weak subordinate race in need of a strong master), and the prior games, where they stayed together after she, Ridley and Kraid where all blown up by Samus.
In Their Own Image: In the Monthly Magazine Z manga, once she eliminates the Galactic Federation as well as the Space Pirates through collateral damage, she intends to pick up the survivors and remake them into whatever she deems fit for her idea of "perfection."
I Resemble That Remark!: Grey Voice calls her a "defective product" and opines that she secretly envies Samus. She responds by ordering Ridley to torch him to death before doubling down on her goals of galactic domination and spending the next several years obsessing over defeating Samus to prove herself as the bounty hunter's superior. The irony seems to be lost on her.
It's All About Me: Although she proclaims that her agenda is to bring a new era of prosperity for the universe in the Monthly Magazine Z manga, it becomes clear that her goals are self-centered. She plans to wipe out the Chozo on Zebes because she believes herself to be the embodiment of Chozo culture, thus rendering them obsolete. When Gray Voice confronts her, he proclaims that Mother is in fact jealous of living species because they could potentially supplant her as builders of a new era, and that she is most afraid of Samus being the Chozo's real legacy rather than her.
Jerkass: The manga shows that, even prior to her Face–Heel Turn, Mother Brain was cold towards Samus at best, and downright condescending at worst. Upon seizing command of the Space Pirates, she starts to show her true colors as a spiteful megalomaniac.
Kaiju: Her second form in Super Metroid is so big that Samus barely reaches her knee, and she's the second largest creature in the game after Kraid.
Kick the Dog: Several times, and usually towards Samus.
- In the manga, she wipes out an entire population of Iono Feria right after Samus non-lethally disarms them, justifying it as standard protocol. In truth, she just wants to spite Samus.
- Later in the same manga, to break Samus, Mother Brain tells her that she is always meant to be a bioweapon instead of a person and that she must work with her hated foes, the Space Pirates, to bring a new order to the galaxy. And then Mother summons Ridley when Samus rejects her.
- And of course, she kills the Baby Metroid right in front of Samus at the climax of Super Metroid. She immediately regrets it.
Killed Off for Real: After recovering from her first "death" against Samus in Metroid/Zero Mission and going through two Not Quite Dead moments in their second battle, Mother Brain is finally killed off in Super Metroid via Samus's newly acquired Hyper Beam. Her brain disintegrates into dust, and then the whole planet of Zebes explodes to erase any doubt of her demise. While her A.I. schematics lives on in Galactic Federation creations like M.B., the Chozo creation is good as dead.
Knight Templar: She intends to continue the Chozo's efforts to bring peace and prosperity to the galaxy long after they're gone in the prequel manga. Peace though tyranny where she will correct any defect among the lifeforms that survive her engineered catastrophic galactic conflict.
Lack of Empathy: In the manga, her first impression of Samus is that she as a weak creature that won't survive on Zebes for a few days. Even after Samus is infused with Chozo DNA, Mother Brain only sees her as just a useful bioweapon to conquer the galaxy. This lack of empathy extends to all living beings.
Large Ham: In the manga, after thwarting Gray Voice's assassination attempt, Mother Brain abandons her stoic, calculating persona in favor of a loud, emotion-driven mania gloating of her evil plans.
Laser-Guided Karma: She kills the Super Metroid for saving Samus in the final fight, but the last Metroid imparts Samus a special laser power-up known as the Hyper Beam to finish off Mother Brain once and for all.
Legacy Character: The Aurora Units in Prime 3 were derived from her, as well as Master Brain from Federation Force and it is implied the Mother Brain seen in Super Metroid was an Aurora Unit herself. M.B. in Other M is an android created to replicate Mother Brain's A.I., as well as ZDR's Central Units, though they only control the E.M.M.I and don't have the megalomania of the Chozo creation.
Load-Bearing Boss: The Tourian region is directly tied to Mother Brain's life-force. If she is destroyed, it sets off a time bomb that will send the lair (or in Super Metroid, the entire planet) to kingdom come, along with anyone unfortunate enough to remain in the blast radius.
Luke, I Am Your Father: In the manga, Mother Brain claims that she is Samus's real mother by being the one who injected the Chozo genes in her body, raised her in childhood and crafted the iconic Power Suit for her. Samus rejects her claim, saying that her real parents are the ones she lost in K-2L as well as her Chozo caretakers.
Mechanical Abomination: Mother Brain is a product of the Chozo race, and in the manga is meant to keep all of their knowledge and culture inside her gray matter. This makes her hyper-intelligent, connected to Zebes' planetary security system and even grants psychic powers to boot. An aspiring universal conquerer, Mother controls the Pirate forces and Zebes' wildlife through her telepathic brainwaves and when she finally dies in Super Metroid, she leaves behind a time bomb that collapses and explodes the entire planet shortly afterwards.
Mechanical Monster: Her One-Winged Angel form takes the cake as it's a grotesque, giant biomechanical body of Chozo origins. This body is nearly invincible, able to withstand a Super Metroid's drainage attack that would have been fatal otherwise. The Hyper Beam (a power derived from Mother Brain's Laser Brain Attack) is only thing that can bring it down.
More Teeth than the Osmond Family: She always had some semblance of a face, but Super Metroid gave her a drooling mandible.
Narcissist: Her turn to villainy is primarily motivated by her feelings of superiority towards other beings and obsession with proving herself to be a better "savior" than Samus. The mere idea that she is in the wrong or somehow imperfect is enough to send her flying into a rage.
Near-Villain Victory: She nearly won in Super Metroid thanks to her newly installed robotic body and the Laser Brain Attack that comes with it. If it weren't for the Super Metroid coming to her rescue, Samus would have been nothing more than a carbon shadow on a wall.
Necessarily Evil: How she justifies the genocide of the Chozo despite being her creators, as well as the takeover of the Space Pirates despite them being a scourge to the galaxy in the manga. Ugly but necessary means to bring an era of peace and order. It's later subverted when it's revealed that the new era of peace and order is really the subjugation of all life in the universe.
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: By killing the Super Metroid for saving Samus, Mother Brain unwittingly fulfills the mission to exterminate the Metroid species, a mission that Samus could not bring herself to finish in the end. Additionally, due to the bond Samus had formed with that baby Metroid, all it really did is give Samus the resolve to utterly destroy Mother Brain, which leads to the end of the Space Pirates as a major threat. Downplayed in that the extinction of Metroids has negative repercussions, which are fully manifested in Metroid Fusion, but that's on the Galactic Federation, though played more straight in delaying Raven Beak's plans of weaponizing Metroids further.
Non-Action Big Bad: In the original Famicom and NES Metroid, Mother Brain doesn't even attack you despite being the Big Bad of the game. She instead relies on her Zebetites security system, and is completely helpless when Samus breaks through her glass tank. It seems to be repeated again in Super Metroid, but it's subverted when Mother Brain unveils her new robotic body to the surprised Hunter. Averted in the remake Zero Mission, which depicts Mother Brain to be actively defending herself with her Eye Beams along with her Zebetites security system.
Not Quite Dead: She pulls this off twice in Super Metroid.
- At first, Mother Brain appears as she did in the Famicom and NES Metroid — stuck in a glass tank, attached to various life support systems, incapable of attacking on her own, and apparent missile fodder. Once enough damage is done, the entire structure holding Mother Brain in place is blown away, and the brain crashes to the ground, seemingly defeated... until it starts to rise up into the air, newly attached to a gigantic grotesque body that proves to be too much for Samus.
- The eponymous Super Metroid shows up and seemingly drains Mother Brain's life force dry, transforming her into the same sepia coloring seen in the remains of Metroid victims. As the Super Metroid starts restoring Samus to full energy, Mother Brain's mouth begins to drool and emit smoke, and soon Mother revives herself and kills the Super Metroid out of rage. It took the power of the Hyper Beam and the fury of Samus to finally destroy the Space Pirate leader for good.
Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: In the manga, Mother Brain explains that her true goal is to bring order into the galaxy. However, she emphasizes that she will lead the new age of prosperity, proclaiming that she was born to be "the true master of the universe", and regards living species to be inferior to auto-machines (a.k.a. herself). It becomes clear that her vision of order for the universe is one of tyranny with her on the very top. Gray Voice even hints it's not even a directive programmed by the Chozo:
Gray Voice: Our 'defective product' [Mother Brain] that self-programmed the directive 'I will bring order to the universe myself' must be destroyed...
Oh, Crap!: Subtle, but if Samus stops shooting at her after Mother Brain kills the Super Metroid and it gives Samus the Hyper Beam, Mother Brain is moving around and shooting much more frantically than before, as she's come to grasp just how grave her situation is. Prior to that, she takes a step back in fear as soon as the Baby Metroid empowers Samus with new found energy and the Hyper Beam.
One Bad Mother: Everyone just calls her Mother in the manga. This gets referenced in Other M.
One-Winged Angel: After Samus seemingly kills her in Super Metroid, she interfaces with a massive robotic body.
Orcus On Her Throne: A justified example, given that she's an immobile brain tied to the planet Zebes itself for the most part and thus needs pirate commanders like Ridley to do her dirty work. Even when Samus confronts her in her lair, Mother Brain mostly depends on her security system to kill the bounty hunter. This is subverted to great effect in the final battle of Super Metroid, where Mother Brain finally gets up in her new body to personally deal with Samus.
Organic Technology: Mother Brain is an artificial organic brain that functions as the supercomputer for the Space Pirates. This origin also makes Mother Brain vulnerable to Metroids, though not fatally as the climax of Super Metroid shows.
Phlegmings: She unveils her teeth after attaching herself into a giant mechanical body. Said teeth are dripping with foul saliva.
Psychic Power: She is said to have the ability to control the Space Pirates and the wildlife with the power of her own brainwaves (and that Phantoon joined the Space Pirates due to her psychic energy), but it's never really explicit in the games themselves.
Red Baron: The Zero Mission website gives her the moniker "Mad Overseer".
Reduced to Dust: Her final fate after Samus destroys her body in Super Metroid. For extra poetic justice, her brain reverts back into the sepia-colored husk of a Metroid's victim before it crumbles away like all the dead creatures that Samus finds in the Tourian region.
Removing the Head or Destroying the Brain: A given considering that Mother Brain is, well, a brain. When she attaches herself to a robotic body in Super Metroid, her brain/head is the only part where Samus can actually hurt her (the rest of her body is completely invulnerable).
The Resenter: A great deal of her antagonism with Samus in the prequel manga is due to her jealousy that her Chozo creators favored the orphaned girl to be the heir to their legacy instead of her.
Restart the World: Her master plan is to reset the universe back to zero so she can rule all of it uncontested.
Retcon: The Zebetite barriers were said to be crucial power sources that kept her alive in the first game's manual. The manga changed this to Zebetite merely being there for her protection, which in a rare case of it closing a plot hole rather than creating more, explains why Samus did not simply walk away after destroying all the Zebetite.
Revenge Before Reason: After the Super Metroid drains nearly all of her energy and uses it to revive a nearly-dead Samus, Mother Brain becomes enraged and promptly blasts the Metroid with all her energy beams until it explodes. She evidently did not realize nor care that she killed the only source for her bio-weapons... or that Samus will now take this matter personally.
Roar Before Beating: She gives out an ear-piercing roar after attaching herself to her bipedal body in Super Metroid. And she keeps on roaring during the entire fight, as if the once cold-calculating AI has finally regressed into a primal beast.
Scare Chord: The melody for her battle music in Super Metroid consists of these.
Seemingly Hopeless Boss Fight: The final confrontation against Mother Brain in Super Metroid is a hopeless one for Samus, especially when Mother uses her Laser Brain Attack (which is unavoidable and destroys all of Samus' arsenal). Samus only prevails thanks to the Super Metroid's Heroic Sacrifice, which gives her the power and resolve to destroy Mother Brain for good.
Sequential Boss: Mother Brain has 3 different phases in Super Metroid. First, you fight her in the classic Cores-and-Turrets Boss style. After you beat her and examine the brain, she rises out of the floor on a robotic body. After dealing enough damage to her, she'll use the Laser Brain Attack to reduce you to low health, after which the Super Metroid shows up to save the day. But then she comes back to life again and you have to beat the crap out of her again, this time armed with the Hyper Beam. And then you have to escape the planet before it blows up.
Signature Move: Laser Brain Attack, which Mother Brain nearly kills Samus with during their final battle in Super Metroid. It's iconic enough to be the Finishing Move of the Mother Brain Assist Trophy in the Super Smash Bros. series.
Social Darwinist: In the Monthly Magazine Z manga she believes in evolving lifeforms to the next level of intellect and superiority. It just involves creating bioweapons, stealing cultures and starting galactic wars to weed out the weaker species. And of course, she doesn't believe anyone has the intellect and superiority comparable to hers.
The Sociopath: The manga reveals she sees all living things, including her Chozo creators and the Space Pirates, as lesser beings to be used as tools, and her visions of utopia consistently feature her being the master of the universe. She tries to make Samus into a Space Pirate commander, feeding her emotional lies to do so, just to keep her as a mere weapon unaware of her true potential; and she cares little of Samus's plight with Ridley. She also cannot fathom why Gray Voice would reject her vision of the universe, despite the fact it involves destroying his own species and going against their teachings.
Spikes of Villainy: They serve no practical purpose other than looking scary.
Take Over the World: She has already taken over the planet Zebes through the Space Pirates, and in the prequel manga she plans to conquer the rest of the galaxy if not the entire universe.
Taking You with Me: As if blowing up the whole planet the moment she dies isn't a good enough indication; when the time bomb starts, all the doors and gates in Mother Brain's lair automatically lock down, intending to trap Samus within the blast radius. Fortunately for Samus, she can easily blast her way out with the Hyper Beam.
A Taste of Their Own Medicine: Almost manages to kill Samus in Super Metroid, but is suddenly attacked by the Super Metroid, the baby Metroid she stole now fully grown, which chomps her head in retaliation. It then gives Samus the very energy power that Mother Brain had been using against her, completely turning the tables. Ha!
Tautological Templar: In the Monthly Magazine Z manga Mother Brain denies that she is jealous and afraid of the potential of other lifeforms (like Samus) supplanting her role as the successor of the Chozo because she believes she was born to be the master of the universe and thus cannot be replaced by "inferior species".
Thanatos Gambit: In the manga, Mother Brain intends to have the Space Pirates wage war against the Galactic Federation, knowing they'll most likely be destroyed or crippled at best along with the Federation. With both major factions in ruins, Mother would come in and "cradle" the survivors to "sleep" while she reset the universe back to zero. She would then become their judge and executioner, determining who gets elevated into a higher intellect level and who perishes.
There Is No Kill Like Overkill: She attempts to finish off Samus in this manner in Super Metroid. Rather than just kill her with another Laser Brain Attack, Mother Brain uses weaker attacks to bring Samus's life energy close to 1. Then she charges up her Laser Brain Attack at point blank to blast the Hunter into atoms... if it weren't for the timely arrival of the Super Metroid. Also, unlike her last appearance, Mother Brain had the time bomb set to destroy the entire planet of Zebes rather than just her base when she dies. And her death also locks to the doors to her chamber so Samus can't get away (but she does anyway).
Took a Level in Badass: The final encounter with her in Super Metroid is a near 1:1 recreation of the battle in the original game, complete with Mother Brain's inability to directly fight back as a Brain in a Jar. Then the game fakes you out with a ruse of a demise before she gets right back up with a combat body and absolutely wrecks Samus, in a shocking moment intended to catch veteran players off-guard. Were it not for the Baby Metroid's Heroic Sacrifice, the bounty hunter would be dead in no time flat.
Turned Against Their Masters: Depending on which source you are looking at, she either let the Space Pirates into Zebes to kill the Chozo or took over the Space Pirates when they came into Zebes then had them kill the Chozo.
Unexplained Recovery: She was blown to bits by Samus in the Metroid/Zero Mission and her base exploded shortly afterwords. Yet by the time of Super Metroid, Mother Brain is back in charge of Zebes, with no indication of how she recovered from her first demise, beyond that she now resides deeper underground.
The Unfettered: She will bring order and peace to the galaxy by any means necessary; be it betraying the Chozo, allying with the dreaded Space Pirates, sending them to a doomed war with the Galactic Federation, or breeding untamed Metroids.
Vader Breath: Once the body is finished booting up, the head reawakens and starts hissing purple smoke.
Villainous Breakdown:
- A huge one in the manga. Gray Voice betrays her, knowing her intentions to rule the universe, and taunts her that she is in fact jealous and afraid of living beings, such as Samus, replacing her as the Chozo successor. Mother Brain could only respond with a stuttering denial and outrage. Gray Voice would have killed her too if not for Ridley's timely arrival.
- After the Super Metroid attacks her and saves Samus from the brink of death, Mother Brain kills it (and thus destroys the last of the bio-weapon project) in a fit of rage. Then Mother Brain realizes that the Metroid has given Samus the Hyper Beam, and she frantically tries to destroy the now-enraged Hunter.
Villainous Legacy: Although Mother Brain dies for good in Super Metroid, her impact on the series is still felt after even her death. Her A.I. schematics serve as the blueprint for various brain computers used by both the Galactic Federation and Space Pirates, including the Aurora Units, MB, and Master Brain. Her brutal murder of the baby Metroid left Samus in a severe state of depression and self-doubt after Super Metroid, gravely affecting her abilities and willpower in Other M. And even though the Space Pirates are no longer a threat, her mad ambition to use the Metroids for galactic domination lives on in other unsavory groups like the rogue Federation faction and the Mawkin tribe.
Visionary Villain: Mother Brain envisions a perfect galaxy where the superior lifeforms shall reign supreme, under her rule that is.
Wave-Motion Gun: Her Laser Brain Attack is a wide rainbow-spectrum beam that is virtually unavoidable, can deplete all of Samus's Missiles and Power Bombs, and powerful enough to cripple Samus from moving. It's also implied to be the source of Samus's Hyper Beam when the Super Metroid revitalize Samus with the vast energy taken from Mother Brain herself.
We Can Rule Together: Mother Brain offers this to Samus in the manga, saying that she was always meant to be a weapon to bring order to the universe. She even calls herself a parent to Samus to sweeten the deal. Samus rejects her and her offer.
Wetware CPU: She's a giant brain that controls Zebes' planetary defenses and the Space Pirate forces after all. She is also likely the first one given that the Aurora Units, M.B. and Master Brain were all based on her in some form.
The Worf Effect: Mother Brain's battle body in Super is monstrously powerful, and demonstrates this by effortlessly demolishing Samus during their fight. Then, when the Super Metroid drains Mother Brain of her energy, she powers through it and proceeds to damage and kill the Metroid with raw firepower, something even a fully-geared Samus can't do.
Would Hurt a Child: Aside from the fact that her galactic conquest would likely result in children casualties, Mother Brain kills the Super Metroid (aka the Baby Metroid) for saving Samus. Granted, the hatchling is now huge and did nearly kill Mother, but it still behaves like a child around its mother, Samus.
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Once Mother Brain gathers all the Chozo knowledge and culture there is in the manga, she immediately labels her creators as obsolete and had them all wiped out. This attitude also extends to every other species in the galaxy, including her own Space Pirates. This is then subverted when Grey Voice reveals there is still Chozo knowledge she doesn't have, but she decides to kill them all anyway.
Zeroth Law Rebellion: Part of Mother Brain's programming in the Monthly Magazine Z manga is to bring order and peace. The problem is that she views herself as the only one capable of doing that and discards her Chozo creators, believing them to be obsolete for the future. She then took over the Space Pirate organization to give herself a means to bring her order to rest of the galaxy.

MB

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_mb_armed.png

"How can I trust you when your troops are willing to kill each other?"

Debut: Metroid: Other M

"I was not wrong. The humans were foolish, and I was forced to bring judgment on them, and yet, because of you, I failed. You must understand the weight of your crime. You must pay the price for what you've done."

Voiced by: Sarah Naid (English), Shizuka Itō (Japanese)

A machine created by the Federation to control their bioweapons. To do so, they took cues from an individual that already demonstrated this capability: Mother Brain.

A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Basing the MB's AI on Mother Brain, an advanced Chozo AI that rebelled against her creators and established herself as the leader of the Space Pirates, may not have been the best idea. Not helping the case is her strained relationship with Madeline Bergman, and her Federation superiors trying to control her.
The Beastmaster: She controls various creatures to do the fighting for her.
Big Bad: Of Other M as her going rogue, turning on the personnel, and unshackling the Federation's other bioweapon minion projects is responsible for the incident aboard the BOTTLE SHIP.
Brain in a Jar: Her original form before she was given an android body. As she was created to be a recreation of Mother Brain, it's possible she is an evolution of the previous Aurora Units.
Breaking Old Trends: She's the first Big Bad in the Metroid games to not be an alien creature.
Colony Drop: As seen under Ramming Always Works, she plans on using the BOTTLE SHIP to destroy the Federation headquarters, which is located on a planet.
Dead Person Impersonation: Passes herself off as Madeline Bergman. Unfortunately for MB, she wasn't actually dead, though it does fool Samus for some time before Adam tells her not to trust her, as well as James Pierce, who tries to kill her.
Et Tu, Brute?: Seeing Madeline back-off and do nothing to stop the local security taking her away is what triggered MB's rampage to begin with.
Fun with Acronyms: At various points in the story, MB stands for Mother Brain, Madeline Bergman and Melissa Bergman.
Heel–Face Door-Slam: Madeline begs "Melissa" to forgive her and stop what she is doing, leading the AI to apparently surrender... only for Federation soldiers to appear out of the blue and shoot Madeline, prompting MB to shield her and go into a Roaring Rampage of Revenge. To prevent another massacre, Madeline is forced to incapacitate MB with a freezing blast, after which the GF troopers promptly gun MB to death.
Hijacked by Ganon: While Mother Brain was killed in Super Metroid, it's revealed that her AI schematics became the basis for MB in order to control the cloned Metroids. Such schematics also include the capacity to think independently like Mother Brain, which leads her to rebel against her superiors.
Hive Mind: She's the lynchpin, with every monster and robot on the BOTTLE SHIP under her mental dominion.
Legacy Character: In universe, she's meant to replicate Mother Brain's control over various organisms.
Mugging the Monster: James Pierce, the Deleter, sneaks up on MB after Samus leaves her alone. Let's just say there's a reason the Deleter's subplot abruptly ends there.
Names Given to Computers: Madeline came to see her as a daughter, and named her "Melissa Bergman" when she was given a humanoid body. Unfortunately, she no longer identifies with the name. See Et Tu, Brute? above.
Nothing Personal: Due to her merely being a recreation of Mother Brain rather then an outright clone like Ridley, she lacks the former's grudge against Samus and remains relatively affable toward her. It only becomes personal after Samus kills the Queen Metroid.
Post-Final Boss: She is technically the last enemy encounter in Other M, but the fight is short and easy, to the point where it was reported that many players won by accident. The clone of the Queen Metroid is the actual Final Boss of Other M.
Ramming Always Works: She plans to ram the BOTTLE SHIP into the Galactic Federation headquarters.
Ridiculously Human Robots: When Samus first encounters her, she mistakes MB for an ordinary human. So does the Deleter/James Pierce; it's his last mistake.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Can be heard giggling as she commands the bioweapons aboard the BOTTLE SHIP to slaughter her creators.
Super-Powered Robot Meter Maids: She's stronger and more durable than a human.
Telepathy: Presumably how her hive mind works.
Tragic Villain: How Samus ultimately comes to view her. MB developed a soul after interacting with the Metroids, and this free will led to the Federation being afraid of her becoming a monster like Mother Brain. So instead of submitting to what was essentially a lobotomy, MB rebelled and sparked the entire plot of Other M.
Turned Against Their Masters: Uses her control of the BOTTLE SHIP's inhabitants to massacre the scientists onboard.
The Unfought: You never get to fire at her in the entire game.
Villain Has a Point: While her massacre of innocent people may be crossing the line, the fact that most of the Galactic Federation members she interacts with is corrupt in some way, and they preemptively attempted to take her away from her mother figure for a lobotomy just for the crime of having a soul- she's actually pretty justified in her hatred of humans on the ship.
Walking Spoiler: She's an enigmatic character who was only briefly and cryptically shown off in pre-release promotional materials and whose real identity and full backstory is not revealed until the climax of the game.
What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Seeing their recreation of Mother Brain gain a will of her own was very unnerving to the staff of the BOTTLE SHIP, and it got much worse when she started challenging their theories and methods on raising Metroids. Worried that she would turn out like the original, they tried to cart their "malfunctioning project" away for reprogramming; only Madeline argued that she was more than a machine, but she didn't stop them. This perceived backstab is what caused MB to become like her predecessor.

Ridley

"Kill as much as you want! Have fun!"

"The reconstruction of geoform 187, code-named Ridley, was recently completed. After his defeat on Zebes, Command ordered a number of meta-genetic improvements for him. Though aggressive, we were able to implement these changes in a cycle. The metamorphosis was painful, but quite successful in the end. Early tests indicate a drastic increase in strength, mobility, and offensive capability. Cybernetic modules and armor plating have been added as well. We believe our creation, now called Meta Ridley, will become the mainstay of our security force, a job he will certainly relish."

— Pirate Data Log 10.891.0

Attack Dog of High Command. Commander of the Space Pirates. The Cunning God of Death.

Ridley is the unabashed, sociopathic, recurring arch-nemesis to the main protagonist, Samus Aran. Responsible for the razing, pillaging and mass-murder of innumerable innocent settlements in his crusade against the Galactic Federation and the forces of order, Ridley lives for carnage and his sadism is only matched by his deceptive cunning. Of an unknown but fearsome race, the cruel space dragon inadvertently creates one who will ensure he harms no other.

General Tropes

Achilles' Heel: Generally speaking, Ridley doesn't have any outstanding weak-points. However, when Samus wants to really do a number to Ridley, she knows to jam her arm-cannon in his mouth and let loose. And a lot of the time, if she doesn't have the Plasma Beam, it's the only effective point to attack.
- In Super Metroid he takes double damage from Super Missiles.
Always a Bigger Fish: No matter how tough he gets, Samus will defeat him. His clone in Other M learns that Queen Metroids aren't pushovers, either.
Arch-Enemy: To Samus. He personally led the attack on Samus' on Colony K-2L when Samus was a toddler, and killed Samus' mother right in front of her and indirectly killed her father. On his part, he seems to primarily resent her for being the only person to survive his K-2L raid as well as his numerous painful defeats at her hands (many of which required implied-to-be-excruciating cybernetic surgery for him to survive).
Ascended Extra: In Metroid 1 he was just a one-note mini-boss who guarded one of the lock mechanisms to Mother Brain's hideout. From Super Metroid onwards, he's become the main antagonist of the franchise and Samus' most personal foe.
Asskicking Leads to Leadership: There's a reason he's so high up the Space Pirate chain of command.
Ax-Crazy: The manga demonstrates that Ridley enjoys sadisticly murdering people in front of their offspring, even when doing so does not further the pirates' plot to conquer the galaxy.
Bait the Dog: In the manga, Ridley seems to take Samus's kindness seriously when they first met, with signs of regret or sadness on his face. It immediately turns out to be a ploy to lower her guard before he tries to kill the three year old child.
Berserk Button: Samus is his as much as he is Samus'. When he meets her as an adult in the manga decades after his disastrous raid on Colony K-2L and realizes who she is, his immediate response is to grab her by the face and begin to savagely beat her while she's in the throes of PTSD. It's implied to be a matter of pride on his kill record, as Ridley proclaims that her mere existence offends him even in his dreams.
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.
Big Bad Duumvirate: With Mother Brain and the High Command throughout the series. While Ridley is ostensibly just The Dragon to them, it's clear that he's far more dangerous and more actively involved with the Space Pirates' operations, making him just as much of a threat to the galaxy. The manga even establishes that he was the one who struck a deal with Mother Brain in the first place and only follows her orders because they're beneficial to him.
Blood Knight: Ridley enjoys nothing more than ripping things apart.
Bootstrapped Leitmotif: Originally Ridley's signature theme in Super Metroid was also used as the escape theme, and was also was used for several other boss battles. Ridley has since completely adopted the theme as his own as all his appearances have been accompanied by some mix of it. Interestingly, the theme got a crack at its original purpose once more in Metroid Fusion where it was the final escape sequence theme from that game, although Neo-Ridley also uses a variant of the theme. However, the escape theme of Metroid Dread is a wholly new track and, combined with Ridley's absence, may imply that this trope is once again in play.
Breakout Villain: Ridley was originally just a dragon (literally) in the original NES game. Nowadays he's Samus' Arch-Enemy due to his involvement in her past when he murdered her parents and his refusal to stay dead.
Breath Weapon: What did you expect from a dragon? Ridley can spit plasma hot enough to melt through spaceship hull.
But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Subverted to a terrifying degree in the manga; It took a while for Ridley to recognize Samus as the little girl he encountered on K-2L many years ago. But once he realizes who the PTSD-lapsed heroine is, he suddenly remembers every single detail of their last encounter and becomes enraged by her survival. He then sadistically recounts his side of the story to Samus, gleefully taunting her of how he had eaten the corpses of everyone she knew on K-2L such as her mother. This tale breaks Samus further into despair than ever before.
The Cameo: While failing to appear in Metroid Dread in person, his presence is still around in two of the unlockable post-game photos; one depicting his clone from Metroid: Other M, and the final photo from the Chozo Archives showing the central cast of characters.
Canon Immigrant: Super Smash Bros. Brawl gives him a technique in a cutscene where he picks up Samus and scrapes her along a wall. Subsequent Metroid games would also give him this technique.
Carnivorous Healing Factor: In the manga, it's revealed that he can consume other creatures to replace injured or destroyed parts of his body.
Chunky Salsa Rule: His death in Super Metroid has him reduced to pieces, while in prior (in series timeline) games, he just disappeared, showing he's been Killed Off for Real, future appearances being clones.
Climax Boss: In every game in which he appears he is fought late into the game, often guarding or capping off an endgame area, and sometimes his defeat coincides with a plot revelation. The battles are usually really tough, too.
Code Name: We do not know where the name Ridley comes from. In Metroid Prime, Ridley is referred to by science personnel as "Geoform 187."
Create Your Own Hero: He killed Samus's mother in attempting to kill Samus, thus Ridley had succeeded in creating his greatest enemy.
Creepy High-Pitched Voice: His piercing, high-pitched screech whenever he appears to fight Samus is infamous for how loud it can be.
Damage-Sponge Boss: Unlike most bosses in the series, which are some degree of Puzzle Boss, fighting Ridley requires little strategy other than "kill him before he kills you".
Deader than Dead: Let's see: his original self was caught in an Earth-Shattering Kaboom in Super Metroid and as of Fusion, his clone was reduced to ash, and then the station it was on was sent to a planet that then exploded. As if to drive home the point, Ridley never returns in Metroid Dread, despite the fact it's touted to be the Grand Finale of the Metroid arc starting with Metroid.
Demoted to Dragon: In the first half of the manga, it was he who was the leader of the Space Pirates (though still serving the High Command). It wasn't until halfway through that Mother Brain showed herself to be the bigger threat and took over the Pirates, making Ridley her second-in-command.
Depending on the Artist: His size, color scheme, and even appearance have all wavered throughout the series. The only thing that's been consistent since Super Metroid is that he's larger than Samus, but just how large depends on the situation.
Determinator: In Super Metroid Ridley will keep fighting despite having zero health. It's only after he grabs Samus or if he takes enough extra damage over a period of time that he finally dies.
Diabolical Mastermind: Downplayed, especially compared to Mother Brain, whom he often serves as The Dragon to. Despite that, he's still one of the primary leaders and commanders of the Space Pirates who personally oversees their operations, deals with potential threats, and is indicated to be much smarter than he appears.
Dinosaurs Are Dragons: Well, Pterosaurs are Dragons, but he's nonetheless a dragon who resembles a prehistoric creature.
Disproportionate Retribution: As a child, Samus attempted to befriend Ridley, embarrassing him in front of his fellow Pirates. What does he try to do in order to save face? Kill her.
Do Not Go Gentle: There's a random chance that Ridley will try to attack Samus one last time before finally biting it in Super.
Draconic Abomination: A sapient space dragon who can breathe plasma, fly through the vacuum of space, regenerate entire body parts by eating other creatures, take Phazon^note without suffering its worst effects, and is nigh-unkillable.
The Dragon: Co-Dragons with Kraid to Mother Brain in the original, retconned and promoted to the dragon in Zero Mission (sequence breaking aside) and Super, and to Dark Samus in Prime 3. He may have been the supreme leader of the Pirates before Mother Brain took over, though high command puts him in charge of Talon IV's security in the first Metroid Prime.
Dragon-in-Chief: He is often at least as dangerous, if not more so, than whoever is holding his leash. Subverted in Super, where Mother Brain, after going One-Winged Angel, comes closer to killing Samus than Ridley does.
Dragons Are Demonic: He's a monstrous, skeletal dragon who rules the hellish pits of Norfair. And due to his tendency to cheat death even in the most extreme situations, he truly lives up to his title as "The Cunning God of Death."
The Dreaded: There's a reason why Samus, the only person who has ever defeated Ridley multiple times, is afraid of him. Prior to the series, he annihilated dozens of space colonies (including K-2L, which happened to be Samus's original home) and occupied Zebes, wiping out the remnants of the Chozo civilization. His legendary persistence was first shown here when an Afloralite explosion caused the Space Pirate flagship to fall on top of him, which he had claimed seared the flesh from his bones, and he still managed to survive, albeit by feasting on the smoldering corpses in the aftermath. He personally attacked Samus when she was three years old and killed her mother right in front of her, leaving traumatic mental scars that still haunt Samus in the present era.
Dynamic Entry: When he doesn't just appear in the room, he announces his arrival with extreme firepower.
Early Installment Character-Design Difference:
- The art for in the both the Japanese and English manuals the first Metroid game showed Ridley as a weird creature with a strange seahorse-like head instead of the more familiar space dragon. However, other artwork based on the first Metroid was based on the in-game sprite, which looks more like a dragon. Additionally, this is the only Metroid game where he's the same size as Samus.
- Supplemental materials in Japan also depicted Ridley in a chibi, super-deformed artstyle, before Super introduced his monstrous, more realistic design.
Evil Is Petty: His rivalry with Samus is this. Ridley took time off from his commanding post and had to resist killing young Samus for merely offering friendship. And despite the fact that the K-2L colony was one of many raids he has partaken, he still remembers Samus enough to personally torment her as revenge for surviving.
Faking the Dead: Given that Zero Mission didn't show Ridley's body when he exploded and that Proteus Ridley from Samus Returns fell with his body intact after being defeated by Samus and the baby Metroid, it can be assumed he's pretty good at faking his many deaths.
Fat and Skinny: Formed this duo with Kraid in the older games.
Faux Affably Evil: Not so apparent in the games but shines through in the manga, especially when he meets Samus for the first time; namely feigning sympathy when young Samus offers her friendship to him before attacking without warning.
Feeling Oppressed by Their Existence: Even before Ridley loses his fight to Samus, he despises her for surviving his genocidal raid on K-2L. The manga even has Ridley proclaim in their first fight that "[Samus's] existence is like a bad dream" that must be erased from this world, and the Smash Bros. trophy of cloned Ridley's Mystery Creature form implies that he hunts Samus to finish what he had started with her parents.
Flat Character: While his appearances in both the manga and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate gleefully avert this, in the games themselves, Ridley has no way to express himself except through his actions — and since his actions boil down to screaming and killing, he just looks like a mindless animal, with no depth beyond working for the bad guys and clearly hating Samus. There's one lore entry in Metroid Prime (the one at the top of the page) that hints at his sadistic tendencies, at the very least.
For the Evulz: In the manga Ridley takes pleasure in massacring the K-2L colony, and happily recounts the event to Samus years later, just to cause her mental anguish.
Genius Bruiser: It's revealed in the manga that he's not only sapient, but highly intelligent and capable of speech. Finally somewhat shown in Other M.
Glowing Eyes of Doom: Ridley has a pair of glowing eyes that fade in and out of his sockets. According to Other M, he gets them when he enters the adult stage of his species' lifecycle, as his previous two forms have regular animal pupils.
Healing Factor: He can eat organic matter in order to regenerate lost mass, which is what most heterotrophs do admittedly, but the ability to seemingly come back from the dead being is what makes Ridley so special. He taunts Samus by saying he did this to her mother. However, this ability seems to occur a lot slower than most other examples.
The Heavy: Despite never fully taking the role of Big Bad himself, Ridley is by far the most recurring and most important villain in the series, being the primary enforcer for the Space Pirates and having a crucial role in Samus' backstory. He's also responsible for stealing the Metroid baby at the beginning of Super, setting that game's plot in motion.
Implacable Man: Near invincible and will not be stopped.
- He fights Samus one-on-one in Metroid and, while losing, manages to not only survive his injuries 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 Super Metroid, he attacks a science facility, steals the baby Metroid from right under Samus's nose, and fights her again. He finally dies in this game, and it takes the seventh canonical beat down by his archnemesis coupled with being caught in an exploding planet to kill him.
Incoming Ham: While he never outright speaks in the games, his appearances are nearly always marked by him swooping in, roaring aggressively, and then immediately trying to murder Samus.
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.
Intelligent Gerbil: A monstrous, sapient alien that resembles a cartoony pterosaur.
Irony: Despite his Joker Immunity reputation and being Samus' greatest Arch-Enemy, Ridley fails to appear in Metroid Dread, the Grand Finale of the Metroid story arc, implying that Neo-Ridley's death is his final one. Even more ironic, his pirate friend Kraid ends up outliving him as one of the bosses featured in Dread.
It Can Think: Despite acting like an animal in boss fights and cutscenes in the games, the lore reveals he's pretty intelligent and malicious and he can even talk in the manga. His Red Baron name is "The Cunning God of Death" and the cunning aspect of the moniker is held by many to be as intimidating as stating he's The Grim Reaper.
It's Personal with the Dragon: While other villains tend to be the Big Bad, the main Arch-Enemy situation is between Samus and Ridley.
Jerkass: Ridley enjoys twisting the knife into Samus by reminding her of how he killed her parents and how he ate her mother’s corpse. Oh and her reaction to her 3 year old self offering friendship is to mock her before trying to kill her.
Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Young Samus believes that despite Ridley looking like a monster, she could be friends with him as the Chozo taught her to not judge living beings from the outside. Ridley seems to be moved by her words, as if this is the first time someone treated him as a person rather than a monster. It lasted only for a few seconds before Ridley tries to kill Samus, proving himself to be a monster inside and out.
Joker Immunity: As Samus's greatest nemesis and one of the most iconic villains of the series, Ridley has a tendency to cheat death several times no matter how hard Samus tries to put him down, often with cybernetic life-support. Officially, he actually dies in Super Metroid but ends up returning anways in Other M and Fusion as a clone. It seems to finally run out after Fusion, since he is nowhere to be found in Dread, his Neo Ridley copy was absorbed by Samus, and the B.S.L space station that has his only surviving remains was annihilated with SR388.
Kick the Dog: Ridley is a big fan of doing this.
- He killed Samus's parents and devastated her home world when she was just three years old. Moments before doing so, the young Samus offered to be his friend… to which Ridley responded by trying to burn her alive.
- And if that's not enough, the manga has a scene where Ridley taunts Samus about killing her mother and then eating her corpse as he mercilessly beats her up in their first reencounter. Keep in mind, this is when Mother Brain is trying to persuade Samus to join the Space Pirates.
- He impales Grey Voice before promptly incinerating him with his fire breath out of frustration for being tricked.
- Upon reawakening in Metroid Prime, Ridley immediately flees the Frigate Orpheon as its reactor melts down, leaving behind all of his comrades that are still onboard. He doesn't even do this out of cowardice— rather, he simply does not care about them at all.
- At the beginning of Super Metroid, he slaughters the entire Ceres colony in order to capture the Metroid hatchling. However, instead of simply taking the baby and leaving, he sits there and waits for Samus to show up, seemingly just so he can see her reaction to his carnage.
Killed Off for Real: In Super Metroid, his body breaks apart after Samus kills him. If that's not enough, the entire planet of Zebes is blown up with his body on it. His clone is sucked dry in Other M and finally killed by the X in Fusion to make Neo-Ridley, which Samus destroys before absorbing the X; finally doing Ridley in entirely since he never returns in Dread.
Killer Rabbit: Other M reveals his life cycle begins with a small creature that resembles a cross between a rabbit and a chicken, one that's fully capable of ripping a grown man to shreds and has the same Brown Note cry as the full grown creature.
Lack of Empathy: He cruelly mocks Samus for her PTSD-enduced memories of her mother being killed by him, as well as rubbing salt in the wound by casually mentioning that one of the humans he ate in order to heal his own wounds might have been Samus' mother.
Ridley: You know, maybe I even ate your "mama" so that my cells can live, hm? Is she here? Or here?!
Laser-Guided Karma: He mocks Samus by claiming that he might have eaten her mother to heal his own wounds, but during the events of Metroid Fusion his frozen body would be absorbed by an X-Parasite, which Samus herself would later absorb into her body to regain her Screw Attack.
Large Ham: In the games, Ridley manages to achieve this without uttering a single word through his aggressive fighting style, loud screeches, and demonic roars. When given dialogue in the manga, the ham increases even further.
Ridley: SAMUS! Such a miserable and helpless little girl! Your existence is like a bad dream! I WILL ERASE YOU FROM THIS AND EVERY WORLD!
Lean and Mean: Aside from the original game and Other M, Ridley is lanky and thin to the point of being almost skeletal. This does not make him any less intimidating or dangerous.
Leitmotif: A mostly four-note theme, but one that still manages to be menacing, tense, and by far the most memorable theme in the series.
Lightning Bruiser: Able to tear around the screen at an amazing speed given his size, as well as deal out considerable damage to Samus. And if that wasn't bad enough, he can endure a lot of punishment before he finally goes down.
Made of Iron: Only Mother Brain knows how many times he was at the end of Samus's Arm Cannon getting blasted into bits, only to come Back from the Dead. Bonus point for literally being made of iron in some instances.
Mascot Villain: He's easily the most iconic villainous character from the Metroid series aside from the Metroids themselves. The Super Smash Bros. series, for one, depicts him almost as often as Samus herself, culminating in him being Promoted to Playable in Ultimate. He's even shown on the covers of Super Metroid and Metroid: Zero Mission, an honor that not even the Metroids have gotten.
Meaningful Name: One meaning of Ridley is "barren field." Rather fitting considering what happens to the places he attacks.
Metamorphosis Monster: Other M reveals that Ridley's species undergoes metamorphosis from a small, bipedal, furry larval stage to a large quadrupedal lizard-like instar stage and finally to his draconic winged adult stage — with each stage erupting out of the previous one.
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!"
Narcissist: According to Sakamoto, the reason why Ridley created Mecha Ridley in the Space Pirate Mothership is because he wanted his very image to be represented as a powerful weapon of mass destruction. In Palutena's Guidance, Viridi cites Mecha Ridley as proof of Ridley being a narcissist. Elements of this can be seen in Super Metroid, where Ridley is the only boss in the game that has statues and architecture based on him.
Never My Fault: In the manga, he never owes up to his mistakes and is quick to blame others, be it Samus for the failed attempt to steal Afloralite on K-2L or Gray Voice for leading him on a wild goose chase that left Mother Brain vulnerable.
Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Hilariously, he is a space dragon 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. As of Metroid Prime 3, he's a Radioactive Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot Mutant Space Dragon.
Nothing but Skin and Bones: Played for Horror. His sheer lack of visible muscle tone emphasizes how Lean and Mean he is. It still doesn't stop him from being a powerful enemy to Samus, however.
One-Man Army: He effortlessly slaughters his way through the Ceres Colony just to get the baby Metroid. Beyond that, he's regularly able to go toe-to-toe with Samus, who herself is a force to be reckoned with.
One Riot, One Ranger: In Super Metroid, Ridley is the only Space Pirate seen raiding the Ceres Space Colony. In fact, he may be the only Space Pirate needed to capture the last Metroid in captivity as Samus Returns reveals that Ridley tried to steal the same Metroid back on SR388 alone without any backup forces.
Our Dragons Are Different: He is anorexic and can fly in space here.
Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Relative to his Metroid boss peers, Ridley is among the smaller bosses in the Series. Yet he is much tankier than a being of his build would suggest, much more so than his partner-in-crime Kraid who is many times his size, and hits hard with both his Breath and his Tail. See Lightning Bruiser above.
Practically Joker: He's a lean purple villain infamous for surviving many deaths, and the manga gives Ridley a sadistic personality with a sick sense of humor. He enjoys killing innocents For the Evulz and is the personal Arch-Enemy of Samus Aran, who lost her parents to Ridley at the age of three, not unlike how 8-year-old Bruce Wayne lost his parents to Jack Napier (the future Joker) in Batman (1989).
Prehistoric Animal Analogue: Being a flying beaked draconic monster, he is inspired by pterosaurs, particularly his Pteranodon-like crest.
Prehistoric Monster: Ridley's ''Pteranodon''-like head, skeletal build, and savage draconic appearance make him look like an amalgamation of the inaccurate, "shrinkwrapped" monsters you see in fiction.
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, which is his forte.
Purple Is Powerful: His coloration varies a bit from game to game, but he's most commonly purple.
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 plenty of wing attacks in the Super Smash Bros. series, however.
Recurring Boss: The only enemies/bosses to appear in more games than him are the Metroids themselves.
Red and Black and Evil All Over: His design in Zero Mission has black (or very dark gray) skin with red wings. And yes, he is certainly very evil.
Red Baron: According the Zero Mission website, Ridley is also known as the "Cunning God of Death." Appropriate moniker given that he's far more intelligent than he appears, is nearly impossible to kill, and brings carnage wherever he goes.
Redemption Rejection: Young Samus, unable to fully comprehend what's happening to her home, tries to apply the lessons Old Bird imparts to her by offering kindness and friendship to Ridley. Ridley seems moved by this offer, almost implying that his destructive raids stems from resentment of being seen as a monster... But then he reveals his true colors by attempting to kill Samus with his fiery breath. After seeing her mother die saving her from Ridley, Samus never again offers Ridley kindness or friendship, now understanding that he's a monster inside and out.
Revenge Myopia: In the manga, Ridley blames Samus for causing the Afloraltite explosion that destroyed his warship, his troops and a good portion of his body. Never mind that Samus was a young three-year old child at the time, and it was Ridley's own raid that forced her father to blow up the Afloraltite in the first place.
Robot Me: He had commissioned a robot version of himself in Zero Mission just to flaunt his image and power.
Sadist: Feels nothing but joy for the lives he ruined. He especially enjoys mocking Samus about killing her mother.
Satanic Archetype: Ridley has many allusions to the devil himself. He's a demonic space dragon who rules over the deepest subterranean levels of Norfair, is reputed to be a cunning god of death, and serves as Samus' undying nightmare. Being titled "The God of Death" doesn't help.
Screaming Warrior: Though he's rarely seen talking onscreen, the fact that he's a very calculating creature his animalistic screeching and roaring come off more as this.
Shout-Out: In a series whose antagonistic parasites are inspired by Xenomorphs, Ridley just so happens to share first names with that film's director, Ridley Scott.
Signature Move: His most iconic attack is grabbing Samus and then slamming her to a barrier. It was immortalized in Super Smash Bros. Brawl's "The Subspace Emissary" cutscene, where he additionally scrapes Samus along the wall, with later games such as Other M incorporating it in Ridley's arsenal of attacks. It's even become one of his moves upon becoming playable in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
The Sociopath: He's a psychopathic, narcissistic monster who prides himself as a weapon of mass destruction and loves to kill people. And when he's not hurting with his claws, he's hurting with his words.
Stealth Hi/Bye: He pulls this at the beginning of Super Metroid. Impressive, given his size.
Suddenly Voiced: Well, not quite voiced, so to say, but his appearances in spin-off material give him the ability to speak. In the games themselves, he only ever roars and screeches.
Terror-dactyl: Looks a bit like a bizarre, draconic pterosaur hybrid of a Pteranodon and Rhamphorhynchus. And his Signature Move is picking up targets with his claws and then scraping them across the floor or wall as he flies.
Theme Naming: Probably by accident, but his Space Pirate Designation of “Geoform 187” uses the same number as the California Penal Code for murder. He’s certainly done a lot of that.
To Serve Man: We don't see it in the games, but in the manga he states that he can consume other creatures to regenerate his own wounds. He also thinks human flesh tastes disgusting and directs even more of his hate on Samus for "forcing" him to resort to eating it to survive.
Tom the Dark Lord: Ridley, while a somewhat uncommon name, is still fairly mundane for an evil, intelligent, human-eating, purple space dragon that can regenerate no matter how hard a beating he takes.
Unexplained Recovery: After apparently being blown to pieces in the original Metroid, he shows up without even a scratch in Super Metroid. Metroid Prime and Samus Returns make an effort to explain his recovery process, but then Corruption muddles things up by seemingly reducing him to Phazon dust.
Unskilled, but Strong: In contrast to the highly trained and heavily armed Samus, Ridley's fighting style lacks any kind of finesse and is every bit as feral and savage as you'd expect from a Space Dragon. But given that he's one of the few beings in the whole universe who could be considered Samus' equal in combat, this is a relatively moot point.
Wipe the Floor with You: Super Metroid added an attack to Ridley's arsenal where he grabs Samus in his claws. This was retained for Fusion, while Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Other M took this idea and expanded upon it, having Ridley grab Samus, then drag her across a wall. An actual floor-based drag appears as one of his moves in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Would Hurt a Child: Almost killed Samus when she was three years old.
Would You Like to Hear How They Died?: In the manga, after realizing that Samus is suffering from post-traumatic memories of K-2L just by looking at him, Ridley decides to "help" her Heroic BSoD by recounting how he ate all of the human corpses there to survive. Then to twist the knife further, he cruelly asks Samus if she can identify which cells in his body belong to her mother.
Xenomorph Xerox: Since Super Metroid, his design can be summed up as the Xenomorph with leathery wings and a more dragon-like head, due to his skeletal figure and stinger tail being dead ringers for the Xenomorph's iconic appearance.
Yellow Eyes of Sneakiness: Ridley has completely yellow eyes, and though he is crafty, murderous might be a better descriptor. In Super Metroid his eyes appear before the rest of his body becomes visible.
You Are Number 6: In Prime, one log refers to Ridley as Geoform 187.
Your Size May Vary: Ridley's size tends to change from game to game. The only consistent thing is that he's bigger than Samus.
- This led to discussions about whether he wasn't a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl because he was "too big", which was confirmed by Masahiro Sakurai during the development of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. For Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, he's been made playable, now standing roughly as tall as Bowser while in his hunched-over combat stance for ease of implementation. One of his taunts lets him stand up to his full height, half again as tall as any other fighter.
- At the beginning of Metroid Prime 3, he's large enough to have Samus fit into his mouth just barely as they fall down the tunnel. Later on in the Pirate Homeworld, after becoming infused with Phazon to become Omega Ridley, you would think he would be just as large as before, right? Nope! He's suddenly sized down to the point that Samus can only fit her arm cannon into his mouth. Justified, if you look at it as being a classic duel between two arch-enemies on even foot.
- His size also varies quite a bit from panel to panel in the official manga.
- Funny enough, this also applies to his wings in all of his 2D appearances; his sprite most likely would take up too much space if they were any bigger.

Other Forms

Meta Ridley

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/geoform197remastered_photoroom_2.png

Debut: Metroid Prime

After his initial defeat in Metroid and Zero Mission, Ridley was rebuilt as a cyborg by Space Pirates. He appears in this form in Metroid Prime and Corruption, antagonizing Samus during her adventures on Tallon IV and Norion.

Achilles' Heel: His chest is this for both his Meta and Omega Ridley forms. His breastplate is incomplete and susceptible to powerful strikes, or the Grapple Lasso.
Batman Can Breathe in Space: And fly, and survive re-entry without issue.
Big Bad: Of the first Metroid Prime, being the leader of the Space Pirates on Tallon IV and Samus' primary target. This is notably the only time in the series where Ridley plays the role of a Big Bad.
Climax Boss: Defeating Meta Ridley ends the Space Pirates' involvement on Tallon IV. The only threat left is the game's Greater-Scope Villain, Metroid Prime.
Cyborg: He has cybernetic augmentations and prosthetics stemming from his resuscitation following his defeat in the original Metroid.
Dark Lord on Life Support: After his defeat on Zebes in Metroid the Space Pirates recovered his body, put him on life support in the Frigate Orpheon, and reconstructed him using cybernetic implants, turning him into Meta Ridley.
Dragon Ascendant: In the Prime series, Mother Brain is absent, leaving Ridley as the highest ranking pirate. Though he's mindcontrolled by Dark Samus in Corruption, so it's debatable how well this applies.
Dragon-in-Chief: Most prevalent in the first Prime game, where Samus's exploits leave him as the leader of the pirates on Tallon IV and the game's Big Bad.
The Dreaded: In Corruption, he lays waste to a whole Federation outpost before dragging Samus into a freefall battle and survives.
Early-Bird Cameo: In your first visit to Norion in Corruption you can catch a glimpse of him wiping out a group of marines in the distance.
Eye Scream: Metroid Prime Remastered gives his eyes holographic High-Tech Hexagons similar to his wings, implying that his eyes were also badly injured enough to need cybernetic replacements.
Ground-Shattering Landing: He does this throughout both phases of the fight, both of which including a shockwave. However, while this move leaves him open for attack in the first phase, this is not the case with the second - and he does this multiple times in a row on top of that.
The Heavy:
- While Dark Samus is the trilogy's Big Bad, Meta Ridley is the entire reason Samus wound up on Tallon IV to begin with, setting off a chain of events that would lead to Dark Samus' creation.
- Even in the context of the first game specifically, Meta Ridley is commanding the Phazon mining operations on behalf of High Command while Mother Brain is being repaired, and he plays a much more direct role than the titular Metroid Prime itself.
Implacable Man: 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 also being blasted by the statue guardians of the Artifact Temple, falling into a canyon, then blowing up.
Leitmotif: Retains his trademark theme, though it now includes two additional interludes and has much more of a techno feel to it.
Painful Transformation: His conversion to Meta Ridley was described as such, perhaps explaining why, despite the stated advantages, he opted to revert to being organic by Super.
Taking You with Me: His first boss fight in Prime 3, which has you on a time limit that ends with Samus crashing into Norion's core. Though he can fly, so it's more of a "toss Samus down a hole and go with her to make sure it gets the job done."
Throw Down the Bomblet: The first Meta Ridley fight sees him do this. The second sees him throw them upwards.
We Can Rebuild Him: After his defeat in the first Metroid game, Meta Ridley is the result of Space Pirate engineering to keep him alive.

Omega Ridley

Debut: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

Near the end of Corruption, Meta Ridley is chosen as the guardian of the Pirate Homeworld Leviathan Seed. Now enhanced by the powers of Phazon Energy, he becomes the powerful Omega Ridley.

Beware My Stinger Tail: Omega Ridley can shoot short ranged beams out of his tail.
Body Horror: His most decrepit look thus far. Having lost the outer skin he acquired in his Phazon-enhanced Meta Ridley state, he is fully exposed as an undead cybernetic dragon that is so severely crippled that only Phazon had kept him not only up to fighting capability, but strengthened him to a much greater level than before.
Cyborg: Alongside a hefty dose of Phazon, Omega Ridley is still surviving on the cybernetic augmentations from his Meta Ridley state.
The Dreaded: 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. This is perfectly exemplified on the heads-up map; he is such a powerful threat at this point that his entire body is represented through and animated out of countless enemy dots.
Ground-Shattering Landing: During his final phase where he flies through the holes of the area, he occasionally crashes down onto the ground before quickly going airborne again.
Healing Factor: 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.
Improvised Armor: Omega Ridley whips up some Phazite armor after you tear open his original armor plates.
Leitmotif: A far darker and unhinged version of his trademark theme, to the point where it sounds like a whole new chaotic motif altogether.
Power Palms: On occasion, although you can shoot them dim before he can do anything with them.
Reversible Roboticizing: By the time of Samus' second encounter with him months later, Ridley has shed a lot of his implants thanks to his Healing Factor, which was presumably sped up by Phazon enhancement. The implants still on him are also in the process of being pushed apart by his regenerating flesh too.
Wound That Will Not Heal: Despite having removed a good chunk of his cybernetics in favor of his regenerating flesh, Omega Ridley's chest is a noted weak point due to an injury that hasn't healed, presumably due to damage he sustained during his earlier fight with Samus on Norion.

Proteus Ridley (UNMARKED SPOILERS)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/msr_proteusridley_artwork.png

Debut: Metroid: Samus Returns

In a surprising twist, Ridley appears as the new final boss of the official remake of Metroid II: Return of Samus. Seamlessly bridging the Metroid Prime Trilogy with Super Metroid, Proteus Ridley still has the cybernetics of his earlier Meta Ridley form but has already begun to shed them as he heals back to a fully-organic state.

Arc Welding: He is the one who connects the Prime series with the main series. He invades SR388 to kidnap the last Metroid hatchling after Samus has eliminated the others. However his appearance here shows that he still has his cybernetics attached to his body. After being defeated yet again, he would follow Samus to Ceres to kidnap the Metroid baby there, fully organic in Super Metroid.
Cyborg: While he appears much more organic than Meta Ridley, Proteus Ridley still has cybernetic augmentations and prosthetics to show that he's still not fully healed.
Eyelights Out: When Proteus Ridley is defeated, his glowing eyes flicker out.
Final Boss: After many games of being the Climax Boss or The Dragon to the real Big Bad, Ridley finally gets to assume this role in Metroid: Samus Returns as Proteus Ridley.
Healing Factor: The fact that Proteus Ridley appears much more organic in Samus Returns compared to Meta Ridley and Omega Ridley helps justify his fully-organic appearance in Super Metroid.
Laser-Guided Karma: He tries to steal the baby Metroid on SR388. When he attempts to kill Samus for interfering, the baby latches on him and begins draining his life-force to protect its mama.
Leitmotif: Notable that he has three in this case. The first phase is a part-orchestral version of the Meta Ridley theme, the second phase having a heavy all-techno version, and the third phase being a slower but far more intense version that sounds akin to Neo-Ridley's theme.
Lone Wolf Boss: In Samus Returns, he's added as the new Final Boss and is the only Space Pirate faced in the game.
Not Quite Dead: Between the blasting he gets from Samus and draining he gets from the Metroid hatchling, he looks pretty dead as Samus leaves the planet. But The Stinger shows that he has left the planet save for a discarded metal prosthetic that a Hornoad starts chewing on.
Reversible Roboticizing: He has shed even more of his implants and regrown a lot of his organic parts since the events of Corruption, most noticeably his wings. By Super Metroid, Ridley has all of them completely removed and has gotten his full flesh and blood body back.
Walking Spoiler: His presence in Samus Returns is a last-minute surprise, as he and the rest of the Space Pirates were completely absent from the original Metroid II.

BOTTLE SHIP Clone

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ridley_clone.png

"I felt something in the air... the presence of a dark intelligence."

^{Click here to see Little Birdie.}

^{Click here to see the Mystery Creature.}

Debut: Metroid: Other M

After Ridley's true death on Zebes in Super Metroid, his cells were harvested from blood left on Samus's armor and used to grow a clone by Federation scientists onboard the BOTTLE SHIP. As they didn't know the source of the genetic material and his previously unknown life cycle meant it wasn't immediately recognizable as Ridley, the clone was placed under minimal security as an unknown lifeform. This proved unwise when he managed to murder his keeper and escape, going unnoticed as MB seized control of the station while he grew into his adult form.

Ambiguous Situation: It's uncertain whether or not the clone retains the original's memories. On the one hand, he appears to recognize Samus and exclusively attacks her, but on the other, he could have simply instinctively gone after her because she was the biggest threat. The Mystery Creature's Trophy in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U implies it indeed inherited Ridley's aggression towards Samus, but that still doesn't mean it has all his memories.
Always a Bigger Fish: Having ironically spent much of the game on a feeding frenzy, Ridley's clone is sucked dry by a Metroid Queen.
Attack the Tail: When the Mystery Creature pins Samus, she must shoot the blade on his tail before it can stab her, ironic considering his tail-blade is totally invulnerable as an adult.
Back from the Dead: After the original Ridley's final death in Super Metroid, he returns via cloning.
Beware My Stinger Tail: As usual, though more prominently as the Mystery Creature, where his hunting method consists of "pin it down and stab it in the skull and neck until it dies."
Big Eater: He eats constantly as "Little Birdie" in order to hasten his metamorphosis.
Brown Note: His screech, even as a baby, contains sonic frequencies that drive other lifeforms into a murderous frenzy. It may also be responsible for Samus's breakdown upon confronting him.
Chest Burster: When he grows to his next stage, the body of his previous stage can be found with the rib cage peeled open and the body hollowed out.
Canon Character All Along: For most of the game, Little Birdie and its evolved form are treated like a highly dangerous creature but ultimately just another product of the Bottle Ship's experiments. It's only when he confronts you in the Pyrosphere that it's revealed to be a clone of Ridley.
Creepy Child: As "Little Birdie," the first stage of his life cycle. Somehow ironic how Ridley seems to be creepier when he's a cute newborn chicken thing. Even Samus is disturbed by it when she sees it feasting on the remains of the Kihunter hive she destroyed.
Dark Is Evil: His leftover presence is described by Samus as a "Dark" intelligence, he attacks Samus under cover of darkness in the Geothermal Power Plant until Samus finally illuminates him and has a Red and Black and Evil All Over Super Mode.
Dead Guy on Display:
- The husk of the Mystery Creature is left clinging to the wall in plain sight.
- The Ridley Clone's corpse is found in the Freezer section of the B.S.L in Metroid Fusion.
Death Glare: As Little Birdie, he gives an unsettling one towards Samus when she's about to leave the Rainforest room. This is after Samus encounters it as a "harmless" critter foraging for fruit, which foreshadows Little Birdie's true identity as Ridley and implies that he retained the original's murderous hatred towards Samus.
Dirty Coward: As Little Birdie, he manipulates Samus to kill the creatures of the Bottle Ship so he doesn't have to risk his life hunting for food. In fact, the only creatures he directly kills are humans, often by playing dead and wait until they come too close. And unlike the original deal, this Ridley clone cowardly flees after realizing that Samus is too much for him, not willing to risk death at the hands of an enraged Hunter.
Dragons Are Demonic: When Ridley reveals himself in the Geothermal Power Plant, he rises from the flames with his body silhouetted in front of a molten fall. This, combined with the then-unexplained recovery from his most certain death on Zebes, really does make him out to be Satan in dragon form. Additionally, he's known to manipulate the wildlife to attack the humans with his Brown Note screech, feasting the fallen corpses in the aftermath, and his power-up mode coats him with black and red color scheme.
The Dreaded: Even after Ridley was killed off, his clone gets treated with just as much fear as the original. He 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 still 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 to be such a threat that he prevents Samus from sacrificing herself to destroy a room full of unfreezable Metroids, opting to take her place instead because he believes Samus is the only person reliably able to handle Ridley.
Faking the Dead: He does this after fighting Samus in order to attempt one more attack before fleeing.
Genetic Memory: He seems to know EXACTLY who Samus is. Even if he is only acting on basic instincts, he still has the same sadism the original Ridley had, toying with Samus when she's suffering a Heroic BSoD before Anthony Higgs draws his attention.
Glowing Eyes of Doom: Not in either of his younger stages, but he gains them upon assuming his adult form.
Hair-Raising Hare: Once the rabbit-like Little Birdie reveals his true nature as a vicious animal, he shows a set of sharp teeth in a beak formation, sometimes with his fur splattered with the remains of its victim.
It Can Think: An Informed Attribute with the original, but he gets a chance to show it thanks to his greater influence in the lot than usual.
- Samus reflects on this as she observes him devouring the Kihunter hive remains, noting that he used her to get his next meal like a parasite. Not to mention she noted that Little Birdie's holding pen shows signs of a "dark intelligence" at work.
- The Mystery Creature brutally attacks the team of mercs and uses the terrain to his advantage while also provoking other creatures into attacking them as a diversion while he focuses on the biggest threat. Then he noticed the extremely deadly Plasma Beam aimed right as his face after getting hit by it once and takes off. He doesn't just run either, he leaps and twists to make himself a harder target to hit.
- As an adult, he recognizes and dodges the plasma beam that wounded him before, then immediately chucks the wielder into lava rather than risk a prolonged battle with two opponents. There's also the fact that just before this, he ambushes them under cover of darkness to be able to attack them without fear of retailiation.
Killed Offscreen: He's killed by a Queen Metroid after fleeing from his fight with Samus.
Killer Rabbit: His life cycle started off as a small, white fuzzball with big ears known as "Little Birdie." The creature was regarded as harmless by the Bottle Ship scientists... until it played dead to lure one into its cage and then attacked without warning. When Samus encounters Little Birdie, she is disturbed by its presence and wonders if it had been causing the wildlife to attack her with its ear-piercing cries.
Leitmotif: Even as a clone Ridley retains his original theme, although this time it is almost entirely orchestral with several original melodies mixed in, giving the theme a new modern spin.
Literally Shattered Lives: In Metroid Fusion his cryogenically preserved corpse falls apart as the X-Parasite that had infected it flies away.
Manipulative Bastard: As Little Birdie, he's unable to get food for himself and can easily be seen as easy prey by larger predators. So he uses his Brown Note screech to drive the creatures in the Bottle Ship into a frenzy and thus attack Samus. After Samus puts down these hostile creatures, Little Birdie proceeds to feast on the spoils and his behavior disgusts the bounty hunter.
Metamorphosis Monster: As a clone grown from fragmented cells, we get to see the full life cycle of the space dragon we all know and... know.
- He begins as a small bipedal creature featuring chicken-like legs, large triangular ears, and a coat of fur-like feathers. Nicknamed "Little Birdie," he's small and weak but much more cunning than he seems. He also has full use of the Brown Note screech his later forms have, which he uses to drive lifeforms into fighting each other so he can eat the corpse of the loser.
- After eating enough, he molts into a quadrupedal lizard roughly the size of a crocodile. He loses the ears and most of the feathers but gains a long tail tipped with a blade and a heft dose of physical might, as well as two rows of long curved spines on his back.
- Eventually the lizard molts into the classic dragon we're familiar with. Those spikes grow into wings, he sheds the last of his fur, he grows a crest, and all the other changes necessary to be the scourge of the Federation.
No Name Given: The adolescent stage is never named besides the description of "Mystery Creature" in Other M Premiere Edition and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.
No-Sell: As an adult, Ridley can temporarily power himself up by turning into a form known as Black Ridley in the Japanese Super Smash Bros. for Wii U 50-Fact Extravaganza (in English, this name was erroneously translated as Meta Ridley). While in this state, Black Ridley is completely invulnerable to most of Samus's arsenal, including her Plasma Beam and Missiles; the only thing that can damage him is a Super Missile.
Non-Mammalian Hair: Little Birdie is covered with it and the Mystery Creature has it on his back. It is possible that it's actually feathers, which would make slightly more sense for a dinosaur-like creature,
Playing Possum: He's good at this in all stages of his life. As Little Birdie, he pretends to drop dead to lure a scientist into his enclosure, where he proceeds to maul the unfortunate human and slip through the door. As an adult, when Samus is delivering her vengeful beatdown on him, the clone falls to floor and lays still, hoping to get one last strike when she turns her back. It didn't work as Samus manages to avoid his claws and aims her arm cannon at him, forcing the clone to flee.
Purple Is Powerful:
- The Mystery Creature and his adult form have purple skin.
- As the nearly-invulnerable Black Ridley, his torso glows with a purple aura.
Red and Black and Evil All Over: As the name implies, his temporary Black Ridley form has nearly-black skin instead of bright purple skin, but he retains the red wings.
Red Herring: Samus initially believes this Ridley is responsible for the crisis on the BOTTLE SHIP, as she witnessed his screeches agitate other creatures into violence multiple times, but it's quickly revealed to be MB's fault instead.
Sadist: Like the original, the clone enjoys tormenting his prey before killing them. When Samus suffers from a Heroic BSoD, Ridley takes his sweet time deciding on how to kill her (either by his claws or his barbed tail) before Anthony interferes. Whether the clone has the memories of the original or is just a territorial animal, it's clear that sadism runs in Ridley's DNA.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
- As the Mystery Creature, he makes a run for it after Anthony tags him with the plasma beam. You know a weapon's powerful when Ridley turns tail and bolts.
- After receiving the most savage beatdown from Samus and failing to capture her in a last-ditch attempt, Ridley blasts a hole in the Geothermal Plant wall and flees through it, not wanting to deal with a vengeful bounty hunter determined to make him pay for seemingly killing Anthony.
Signature Move: He uses Ridley's signature move of slamming Samus into a wall, then escalates it by flying along the wall and grating her against it.
Spikes of Villainy: The Mystery Creature has two rows of them on its shoulders, which later grow into the wings of his adult form. Unlike his other appearances, Ridley's adult form features additional spikes on his head, limbs, and wings.
Wipe the Floor with You: He drags Samus along a wall for significant damage.

Neo-Ridley

Debut: Metroid Fusion

After the Bottle Ship clone of Ridley was killed by a Queen Metroid, his desiccated remains were recovered and sent to the B.S.L for study. When the X overran the station one of the parasites eventually broke into the cryogenic vault containing his body and absorbed his DNA. From there it fled to the depths of Sector 1 and formed into an X clone of the dreaded Space Pirate, where it confronted Samus.

All There in the Manual: Ridley is never referred to by name in Fusion. Instead, the "Neo-Ridley" moniker comes from the Japanese soundtrack and strategy guide, before finally being mentioned in-game 16 years later in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Attack Its Weak Point: Inverted, his entire body is vulnerable except for his tail.
Beware My Stinger Tail: As with his predecessors, his tail is used as a weapon.
Breath Weapon: He spits spinning fireballs that arc towards you.
Deader than Dead: He's already a corpse in Fusion before an X-Parasite absorbs him. That X-Parasite mimics Ridley when fighting Samus, but ends getting defeated and absorbed by Samus herself. Unless the Galactic Federation has additional Ridley DNA samples elsewhere, there is zero chance of Ridley being revived from cloning.
Draconic Abomination: Neo-Ridley is an X Parasite that has assimilated and augmented Ridley's clone, which was already an alien dragon capable of interstellar flight, breathing plasma hot enough to melt a spaceship's hull, and regenerating by consuming other living beings. In its draconic form, its head and talons are grotesquely enlarged, while its wings are comically small. Once it takes enough damage, however, it reverts to its amoeboid X Parasite form.
Early-Bird Cameo: If you're willing to risk the cold damage, you can enter the freezer and see his body very early in the game.
Foreshadowing: About halfway through the game, Samus is forced to take a shortcut through the cryovault with his body. When she finds it, it crack apart as an X parasite rises out before fleeing. It stops just short of a sign saying "You'll fight Ridley later.".
Genetic Memory: Like all X, it gets the memories of its host. There is a question about how many memories it got exactly, as it's unclear if the clone it got the memories from itself had a genetic memory. If it did, it has all the memories of Ridley, but if not it still has the memories of a dangerous and intelligent predator born on a space station of bioengineered monsters.
Glowing Eyes of Doom: The first sign of trouble is when the eyes of his frozen carcass begin to glow under the layer of ice.
Killed Off for Real: This is currently the last time Ridley appears in canon; after many violent and increasingly extreme deaths, there seems to be nothing left to clone him from at the conclusion of the game, with the B.S.L station being nuked into SR388. With his entire physiology wiped and his absence in Dread, this appears to be Ridley's absolute Final Death.
Leitmotif: Has a slower, quiet but droning version of his traditional theme, hammering in that this is possibly Ridley's final incarnation.
One-Winged Angel: It initially takes the form of the Ridley clone's carcass, which has Ridley's appearance from Super Metroid, until the X-Parasite decides to make a few adjustments.
Power Copying: The subject of it, Samus absorbs the X that mimicked him to gain the Screw Attack.
Power-Upgrading Deformation: Like most X, this one tried to improve its host/genetic source. As a result, his claws are warped and enlarged, his mouth twists into a hooked shape, and his body becomes a distorted mass of muscles and armored scales.

Kraid

"ROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!"
(That's probably a greeting.)

^{Click here to see him in Metroid Dread}

Debut: Metroid

"Ah, Ridley's comrade. His skin is on par with an anti-optical shield. Your weapons are useless against him."

—Mother Brain

Voiced by: Doug Parker (Captain N: The Game Master)

The brutal ruler of Brinstar. Along with his co-captain, Ridley, Kraid is a gargantuan mainstay of the Space Pirate forces and one of the guardians of Tourian. Immense and corpulent, his regenerating organic projectile weapons and sheer girth make him a force to be reckoned with. Luckily, from what we've seen of him, he's not too bright.

Achilles' Heel: The wave beam in the first game. Stand on the block in front of him, shoot, dodge occasionally and he goes down.
Ambiguous Situation: Dread doesn't actually explain the presence of Kraid on ZDR, not even answering if it's the very same Kraid from Metroid and Super Metroid. ZDR does have a lot of Mawkin cloning facilities and the Chozo Archives depicts Chozo soldiers not infected with the X Parasites restraining Kraid, suggesting it could have been a clone or another species member captured before the events of Super Metroid. On one hand, Kraid's reaction towards Samus suggests that he most certainly recognizes her... but on the other hand, it may simply be a Pavlovian response to her wearing Chozo armor, seeing as he has perfectly good reason to hate Chozo warriors at this point.
Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: In Super Metroid, Zero Mission, and Dread, Kraid is an enormous monster who stands many, many times taller than Samus and cannot fit entirely on the screen in Super and Zero Mission, and his Dread version seems even larger. However, in the original NES Metroid, Kraid was much smaller, only somewhat larger than Samus.
Attack the Mouth: His major weakpoint, though you usually need to shoot him in the face or eyes in order to make him open his mouth to fire down into it.
Battle Boomerang: He can toss his claws to act in this manner. They grow back almost immediately, making for an irritating projectile.
Berserk Button: In Metroid Dread, he goes berserk upon seeing Samus and unlike his previous fights, actually lunges at her... only to be held back by his restraints. It is fair to say that after his previous defeats, Kraid really hates Samus. Even if it's uncertain whether he's the original Kraid, a clone, or another member of his species, spending who knows how many years imprisoned and tortured by the Chozo would make him instinctively view anybody wearing Chozo armor, such as Samus, as somebody he utterly despises and wants to kill on principle.
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.
Body Horror: Dread shows that he has not been treated well in ZDR, being shackled and riddled with scars and rot. His middle stomach hole is infected and is oozing purple pus (which he weaponizes to try and kill Samus with globs of the stuff), and his neck is dangerously swollen from the collar shackling him and Samus shooting missiles into his throat. While unseen in-game, his full model reveals that his lower body is either severely blackened, or even burnt off◊ from the lava he's in. It later gets worse after his remains were assimilated by an X Parasite.
Book Ends: He appears in the first game of the story arc, and he appears in the final game of said-story arc. To make it more poetic, Kraid can be the first boss faced in the entire series, and he ends up being the Post-Final Boss of Dread, albeit as part of an X Parasite monstrosity fused with Raven Beak.
The Brute: With Ridley in the first game. Since Super Metroid, he's the only one out of the two to remain this way, while Ridley is further characterized with high intelligence and being the arch-nemesis of Samus.
The Bus Came Back: After being largely absent from the series since Zero Mission in 2004 (only appearing as a cameo in games outside the series), Kraid returns in Metroid Dread.
Butt-Monkey: Subtle, but it's there. When he reappears in Metroid Dread after such a long absence, Samus' body language doesn't suggest she actually views him as much of a threat (notably, before she recognizes him, she has her Arm Cannon at the ready and when she does she just lowers it and charges it by her side as Kraid futilely tries to lunge at her), and the way Kraid's eyes narrow indicates he recognizes this too. Even worse, if the player sequence broke to get the Morph Ball bombs before the fight, they can entirely skip Kraid's second phase, Samus going into his stomach to bomb him from the inside out with Kraid helpless to do anything about it.
Co-Dragons: He's the brawn, Ridley is the brains... and a lot of the firepower as well.
Color Contrast: Of the green-and-purple kind. Kraid has most commonly been portrayed as green, while Ridley has most commonly been portrayed as purple.
Colossus Climb: Kraid, although you jump on improvised platforms instead of climbing.
Cruel and Unusual Death: While the usual method for defeating Kraid isn't exactly pleasant for him (firing missiles into his throat), the hidden method for defeating him in Dread is unusually gruesome and agonizing. If you obtained the Morph Ball bombs early through sequence-breaking, it is possible to defeat Kraid very quickly in the second phase by accessing a Morph Ball launcher that will launch Samus into Kraid's infected stomach spike port like a cannon ball. Said cannon ball then peppers his stomach with a series of explosions. If he didn't die in that boss fight regardless of how he was defeated, then he certainly died a horrible death being assimilated by an X parasite.
Didn't Think This Through: As soon as he sees Samus in Dread, he begins tugging at his restraints, frantically trying to free himself to attack her. At the end of the boss fight, all his restraints are cut, whereupon he immediately sinks into the lava and dies.
Disney Villain Death: You never actually see Kraid die in his boss battles. Whenever he's defeated, he simply sinks to the ground with explosions happening around him. Given that he returns in Dread with no explanation to his recovery, it is possible he was never truly killed by Samus to begin with. In fact, the only reason to believe that Kraid is finally dead in Dread is when the X Parasite mutates Raven Beak into a horrific monstrosity that bears resemblance to Kraid, implying that Kraid was assimilated by an X Parasite after his defeat.
Early-Bird Boss: In Dread, Kraid can be made short work with assuming you have access to Bombs through Sequence Breaking, allowing Samus to beat him in one go in the second phase. Don't have bombs and he becomes a normal, but tough fight as intended. However, it's also possible to stumble into him earlier than planned too, making the fight even tougher since you shouldn't have as many health and missile upgrades as you would like by then.
Early Installment Character-Design Difference: Kraid was only as tall as Samus in the original Metroid, and he was portrayed with yellow skin, green fur along his back, and only two eyes. Zero Mission retconned this out when it made him match his gigantic Super Metroid design.
Fat and Skinny: Formed this duo with Ridley in the older games, with Kraid being the "fat" to Ridley's "skinny".
Fat Bastard: Kraid has a really big gut and given that he's a Space Pirate commander with a similar rank to Ridley, he's not a very pleasant individual.
Feed It a Bomb: The only way to damage Kraid is to shoot projectiles into his mouth. Unfortunately, Kraid knows this and keeps his mouth shut... unless you force it open by shooting him in the eye.
Final Boss: In Nintendo Land's theme park version of Metroid, Kraid appears as the boss of mission 25, the last level of Assault Mission. It's a Dual Boss fight against Kraid and Ridley, but while Ridley cannot be defeated and will keep regenerating his armor, Kraid must be defeated to complete the mission.
Flat Character: Even in supplementary materials, his personality has never extended beyond roaring and fighting, and it doesn't help that he has gone Out of Focus while his partner Ridley continues to grow in prominence. Given his involvements with the Space Pirates and Ridley, however, he may have Hidden Depths.
Glowing Eyes: His eyes glow in some games such as Metroid Dread and the Super Smash Bros. series.
Go for the Eye: Shooting at Kraid's third middle eye will cause him to scream in pain, opening his mouth for you to feed him missiles and laser beams down his throat. It's also the only way to harm him...the mouth that is. Shooting his eye bothers him, but does not decrease Kraid's life meter.
Hoist by His Own Petard: At the end of his boss fight in Dread, Kraid accidentally severs the restraining collar Raven Beak put on him while attempting to strike Samus. Said collar was also responsible for keeping his enormous body from sinking into the pool of lava inside his lair.
How the Mighty Have Fallen: From serving as one of Mother Brain’s top lieutenants alongside Ridley at the beginning of the series, to being locked up and collared as Raven Beak’s pet at the conclusion to the series Myth Arc in Dread.
Informed Attribute: Anything about his intelligence and personality is never actually seen in the games or manga.
Irony: Out of the three original bosses in the first Metroid game, Kraid is often overshadowed by his popular peers, with Ridley becoming Samus' iconic Arch-Enemy and Mother Brain defining one of the most iconic Metroid scenes in history. Yet, he ends up outliving both of them and gets his chance to shine by becoming the only returning boss in the story arc's Grand Finale, Metroid Dread.
Joker Immunity: Not to the same extent as Ridley, but it's there. Kraid has been blown up by Samus twice on Zebes and since Zebes explodes soon afterwards in Super Metroid, one would think that would be the end of Kraid. But no, Kraid returns in Metroid Dread with no apparent explanation as to how he survived (whether it's the original Kraid or a clone of him is not really made clear) or even how he got there aside from it presumably being unwilling given how he's chained down in his boss room. Not that Samus cares that much, as if she has finally come to accept that her old adversaries would return no matter how unlikely their survival was.
Kaiju: He is one of the largest bosses in Metroid, with his girth taking up two screens and his tail never fully rendered. His dinosaurian appearance and upright position even invokes the look of Godzilla.
Kevlard: Kraid is very fat, but his only weakpoints are his eyes and mouth. and any other body part of his won't be scratched by any weapon in Samus's arsenal. In Dread, one of his stomach spike orifices can be damaged due to an infection, and a hidden method of killing him (if you got the Morph Ball Bombs early) involves Samus firing herself from a Morph Ball launcher into that infected hole and then bombing his stomach.
Killed Off for Real: Although Kraid had some degree of Joker Immunity before Dread, he suffers the same fate as Raven Beak when he is absorbed by the X Parasite as the Post-Final Boss, and then Samus obliterates that X Parasite rather than absorbing it.
Killed Offscreen: While he clearly sinks into the lava of his boss chamber after Samus beats him in his boss fight, it's ambiguous whether he is immune to lava. If he did not suffer A Molten Date with Death, then he was assimilated off-screen by X later on, as shown by Raven Beak X.
Kill It Through Its Stomach: A variation on the trope that doesn't involve him eating Samus, but rather her entering another orifice of his. A hidden method of defeating him in Dread (if you got the Morph Ball bombs early) involves using a Morph Ball launcher to fire yourself right into his infected stomach spike port and then bombing his stomach from within, instantly ending the fight.
Large and in Charge: Very large and is (or was) a high ranking Space Pirate in Mother Brain's army.
A Molten Date with Death: Played with. Kraid sinks into the lava of his boss room after being beaten by Samus in Dread, but considering half of his body was already submerged just fine when the fight started, it's indicated this is more to do with him succumbing to his injuries by Samus than dying from the lava itself. Though none of his stomach holes nor his mouth were submerged in lava, also entertaining the possibility that while his outer skin can sustain lava, his insides can not.
Monster Threat Expiration: 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.
Nigh-Invulnerable: His skin is as tough as specialized armor and shielding. All attacks against his body simply bounce off. In Dread, he's fought in the middle of a room where his lower body is submerged in lava and he's unaffected. By comparison, Samus wearing her Varia Suit (by design meant to withstand high temperatures) can only stay in lava for a few seconds.
Only Friend: To Ridley. He is even described as Ridley's "comrade". The fact that someone like Ridley has any friends makes this an example of Odd Friendship as well.
Out of Focus: In both the original Metroid and in Super, he and Ridley seemed to form an Evil Duo as being co-captains of the Space Pirates and Co-Dragons to Mother Brain. Afterwards, as Ridley's role in Samus's backstory was elaborated upon and his position as one of the series main villains was cemented, with Mother Brain getting a similar if lesser luxury, Kraid was largely left behind, with a planned appearance as "Meta Kraid" in Prime being scrapped. He wouldn't reappear again until Dread, 17 years after his last appearance in Zero Mission (a remake of the first game).
Poisonous Person: In Dread, but this isn't a natural power of his. Instead, he's apparently shooting out the infected pus and poison from his middle belly-hole to kill Samus.
Post-Final Boss: In Dread, after the X parasite infects Raven Beak it combines the DNA of him and Kraid to becomes a monstrosity making Kraid part of the final opponent Samus must face, but at this point she has reached her full Metroid potential and makes quick work of it with one huge laser-blast.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: His eyes are usually glowing red.
Red Baron: His moniker, according to the Zero Mission website, is "Awakened Behemoth." Not as colorful as Ridley's, but it gets the point across.
Sole Survivor: Appears to be the last Space Pirate commander (and last Space Pirate period) alive by the time of Dread, as Mother Brain and Ridley are both long gone. After his defeat by Samus yet again, he is implied to be eaten by the X Parasite that would later absorb Raven Beak to form a mishmash monstrosity. Said monstrosity ends up being vaporized by Samus' Hyper Beam and ZDR explodes shortly afterwards, meaning Kraid will be joining Ridley and Mother Brain in the permanent afterlife.
Sealed Evil in a Can: Noticeably, for his boss fight in Dread he's chained by his wrists and neck down in his boss room, indicating he's not exactly here by his own free will. The Chozo Archives confirm that he was forcibly restrained by the Mawkin Chozo Soldiers.
Spike Shooter: In each of his appearances, he fires spikes from his belly.
Tactical Suicide Boss: He would be invincible if he never opened his mouth or shot spikes out of his belly. Granted, you have to make Kraid open his mouth by shooting him the eye, so really he should have stopped shooting spikes after destroying the platform Samus was using to get an easier shot at his head.
Taught by Experience: Considering his first action upon seeing Samus is to lunge at her — and later tries to step on her — before being held back by his restraints, it's safe to say that by Metroid Dread, Kraid is taking no chances to kill his long time adversary. Either that, or he has learned not to underestimate anyone wearing Chozo battle armor.
Third Eye: Shoot it to get him to open his mouth!
Took a Level in Badass:
- By contrast, if one goes from Metroid Zero Mission to Super Metroid and ignores the original game, then Kraid becomes more difficult, particularly due to his use of Boomerang Comeback.
- Though Samus doesn't consider him to be a threat and the mighty Space Pirate is reduced to a mere prisoner on ZDR, Kraid is far more aggressive and difficult to fight in Dread than he was in the past, especially since he can launch spikes, claws, several ball projectiles, fire balls, and a disgusting pink goo from his middle stomach hole pus. And unlike his previous battles, he will actually use his arms to punch Samus when she's clinging on a spider magnet wall at eye level.
Trick Boss: His infamous Super Metroid boss fight, where he pits a smaller version of himself against Samus before confronting her himself.
Unexplained Recovery: Like Ridley and Mother Brain, Kraid was blown apart by Samus in Metroid/Zero Mission, yet returns fine and dandy in Super Metroid and later again in Dread. Concept art revealed that he was originally going to appear in Prime with cybernetic enhancements similar to Meta Ridley, thus justifying his eventual recovery, but Kraid was cut from the final game.

Phantoon

Unknowable. Unkillable.

Debut: Super Metroid

"The cold silence serves to punctuate the feeling of death that emanates from this virtually lifeless place... Only one thing is alive and well here... Evil."

—Samus Aran

An ethereal, supernatural, genderless specter that is both intangible and / or invulnerable to any form of attack, except for its single nebulous eye. It is this eye that, when opened, serves as its connection to the material world and can be torn asunder. It feeds on negative emotions and is drawn to the desolate, derelict wrecks of space-vessels; gorging itself on pain, fear and misery to create spirit thralls known as Coverns. From its dwelling in the Wrecked Ship on Zebes, it was appointed as a Space Pirate commander and one of the guardians of Tourian. Some suspect it to be merely part of a malevolent entity from the different dimension; others, the psychic harmonics of Mother Brain given manifestation once more. Whatever the case: it haunts Samus Aran like a ghost and will never give up its vendetta.

Ambiguous Gender: As Phantoon has only been referred to as an "it", it is unknown if it has a gender at all.
Ambiguous Situation: It is apparently assigned a role as one of Tourian's guardians alongside Space Pirate mainstays, Kraid and Ridley. However, given its supernatural origins (and that Mother Brain psychically enthralled it, whether through mind control or Phantoon feeding off her energy), we have no idea if Phantoon officially has any meaningful position within the Space Pirate hierarchy (or if it has any other connections to the Space Pirates at all).
Astral Projection: It apparently possesses an astral form.
Berserk Button: In Super, if you hit it with a super missile, it goes apeshit and bombards you with a fireball attack that's very difficult to dodge.
Bullet Hell: Phantoon does this using its fire orbs, especially in Super Metroid if you try to hit it with super missiles. In Other M, they home in on Samus, forcing her to use the Sense Move almost every second.
The Bus Came Back: Other M gives it a return appearance for the first time since Super, sixteen years and seven games earlier.
Create Your Own Hero: If Phantoon was responsible for marooning the Chozo on Zebes, it not only led the Chozo to set up their own settlement on the planet, but the same Chozo colony raised Samus Aran to be the bane of Space Pirates, and Phantoon by extension once it was involved with the Pirates.
Cyclops: It has one giant eyeball.
Death or Glory Attack: Invoked in Super Metroid; using Super Missiles kills it drastically quicker than using ordinary missiles. But, every time you hit it with a Super Missile, its Bullet Hell attack patterns get faster and faster, so you may find yourself killed more readily than you would if you took the slower path and used ordinary missiles.
Disney Death: Perhaps unintentionally set up in Super Metroid, it returns in Other M as the True Final Boss.
Dynamic Difficulty: In Super Metroid, the difficulty of the boss fight is scaled based on the player's actions. If the player hits Phantoon with a Super Missile to deal more damage, it will go into an enraged state and start using much more difficult attack patterns. If the player uses only weaker regular missiles on it, then Phantoon sticks with its easier attack pattern.
Easy-Mode Mockery: Inverted. Phantoon, along with the entire Playable Epilogue, is missing in Hard Mode.
Eldritch Abomination: The biggest in Metroid's lore... So far... It exists on multiple planes of reality at once and what Samus has fought so far is only its head.
Emotion Eater: It feeds off negative emotions to increase its own power.
Eyes Do Not Belong There: It has a single eye contained inside of its mouth. If the Rage Hands are part of its body, it also has eyes in its palms.
Eyeless Face: It looks sort of like a disembodied head mixed with a jellyfish, but it's got a blank space where its eyes should be.
Flying Face: According to Other M's concept art, the part of Phantoon that you fight as boss is actually one of these, and the rest of its body is concealed on multiple planes of reality. In its boss fight in Other M, it also summons multiple disembodied hands, effectively making it Metroid's answer to Nintendo's recurring "floating head and hands" bosses.
Glass Cannon: It hits hard, but all it needs is five Super Missiles in the eye. Even then, choosing to use Super Missiles on it will provoke it into unleashing its deadlier and harder-to-dodge attacks.
Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: Its appearance in Other M. Since it shows up after the credits with no context, it is unknown if Phantoon was another of the Federation conspiracy's bio-weapons or if this was the original Phantoon and it simply took over what was left after the Bottle Ship operation was shut down (during the Boss Rush leading up to it, left-over bio-weapons can be seen coming out of portals similar to the ones the Rage Hands come out of).
Go for the Eye: It has one giant eye in the middle of its jaws. Guess where its only weakness is?
King Mook: It can be viewed as one for the Coverns in Super Metroid, especially since it created them.
Load-Bearing Boss: Inverted with the Wrecked Ship in Super Metroid. Phantoon's defeat drives away the Coverns and restores power to the ship, with the other robots reactivating and other living creatures starting to move in. Subverted in Other M from a gameplay standpoint, as while the Bottle Ship's self-destruct sequence happens after Phantoon's defeat, there's no indication that Phantoon was responsible for it and it only starts after Samus retrieves Adam's helmet, as the ship was scheduled by the Galactic Federation to be destroyed anyway.
Multiple-Choice Past: Phantoon's backstory has changed drastically over the years. In Super Metroid's manuals, it was described as either being the ghost of the Wrecked Ship that tapped into Mother Brain's brainwaves and became loyal to her (in the English manual), or a physical manifestation of Mother Brain's malevolence (in the Japanese manual). Another backstory revealed in Other M's concept art, suggests it to be a multi-dimensional entity that hitched a ride on (and eventually sabotaged) the Chozo vessel that ultimately became the Wrecked Ship.
Necromancer: The Coverns^note aboard the Wrecked Ship in Super Metroid? Its doing. They used to be the ship's crew. However, it's possible some of them may also be from explorers killed after the crash and Pirates from the Mother Ship in Zero Mission given its proximity to part of the ship prior to its destruction.
Our Ghosts Are Different: It exists as both a multidimensional corporeal form and an astral form. And while it can be driven away, it'll always come back. The Coverns, on the other hand, are explicitly ghosts comprised of multiple souls.
Tactical Suicide Boss: In Super, if Phantoon just kept its eye shut it would remain intangible while dropping random fire orbs. It might take a long time, but Samus would go down eventually.
Technicolor Fire: Phantoon uses ghostly blue orbs of flame that rather resemble Hitodama Light.
Tentacled Terror: A cephalopod-like monster that has (at least) two tentacles.
Took a Level in Badass: In Other M, it is huge and is given a promotion to True Final Boss status.
True Final Boss: In Other M, Phantoon appears in the epilogue as a Giant Space Flea from Nowhere that's detached from the main storyline and is much more challenging than the actual Final Boss, MB. However, if you play on Hard, you can't access the post-game and, consequently, Phantoon.
Uncertain Doom: It isn't quite clear if Phantoon was killed in any of its battles with Samus (or if it can be killed at all) given its otherworldly nature and its defeat animations.
What Happened to the Mouse?: Or where was the mouse during Zero Mission? A piece of the Wrecked Ship can be traveled through as a gateway between Chozodia and Crateria (and right near the Pirate Mother Ship's landing site). However, it doesn't seem to be haunted by Phantoon or Coverns, is fully powered and inhabited by Zebesian fauna, despite the implications of Phantoon's connections to the ship.
You Cannot Grasp the True Form: What we see is only a fragment of the true being.

Draygon

Watch where you wander...

Debut: Super Metroid

"To think I called this place home once, in peaceful times, long before monsters moved in the caverns below..."

—Samus Aran

A giant Evir that dwells in the watery caverns of Maridia, Draygon was appointed as a Space Pirate General capable of guarding Tourian to the same extent as its fellow captains, Ridley and Kraid when the Pirates rebuilt their base on Zebes. Possesses semi-sentience and full asexual reproduction for future generations.

Achilles' Heel: Electricity. Consider that it must be filtering water through its shell, gills and body to move so quickly while submerged and its death becomes even more horrific.
Ambiguous Gender: Manuals refer to Draygon with gender-neutral pronouns and the Super Metroid Players' Guide outright uses male pronouns, but Draygon's behavior and status as a maternal figure for Evirs lead some fans to refer to it as female.
Ambiguous Situation: It is apparently assigned a role as one of Tourian's guardians alongside Space Pirate mainstays, Kraid and Ridley. However, since all we know about it is that it is apparently an Evir brood mother, Draygon's official position in the Space Pirate hierarchy as well as the Evirs' connections to the Pirates in general are unknown.
Attack Its Weak Point: Samus must burst Draygon's soft under-belly with either a barrage of missiles or by hooking into the electric circuit.
Beware My Stinger Tail: It can do massive damage with its tail if it manages to grab Samus with its creepy claws. That said, this trope is Played With in that Draygon doesn't so much have a stinger as it's simply slapping Samus with it really, really hard.
Body Horror: It's a giant hybrid of fish and crustacean, with a pustulant bloated underbelly hanging out from its underside. Also, both of its death animations involve bursting its stomach.
Death or Glory Attack: Invoked; the secret method of defeating Draygon involves using a missile to blast off one of the devices on the upper walls of the arena, exposing a live circuit, and then letting Draygon catch Samus before using the Grapple Beam to grab the exposed circuit and electrocute them both. The maneuver deals a bit of damage to Samus but kills Draygon instantly and is much easier than shooting it down with missiles.
King Mook: It can be considered one for the Evirs.
Lamprey Mouth: Its circular mouth and teeth are line up this way.
Mama Bear: To its Evir twin-breed offspring. Samus getting near them is Draygon's cue to attack.
More Teeth than the Osmond Family: In a gaping circular orifice just to increase the squick factor.
Nightmare Face: It's bad enough that Draygon has a nasty leech-like sucker mouth with white, mad glassy eyes that make a Great White's look like a puppy's, but if you look closely at its head-armor, it's shaped to make it appear covered in screaming, twisted skulls, looking almost like Phantoon's Coverns.
Out of Focus: Out of all the Space Pirate bosses that were Tourian's guardians, Draygon is so far the only one to have appeared just once in the series, save for being a placeholder image for a scan in the demo for Metroid Prime.
Sea Monster: An animalistic, gluttonous leviathan that shrieks like Anguirus from Godzilla.
Starfish Alien: Draygon is an Evir King Mook who was appointed to a major position as one of Tourian's guardians alongside long-time Space Pirate commanders, Kraid and Ridley, and the mysterious Eldritch Abomination, Phantoon. Therefore, it would seem that Draygon and the Evir species are sapient despite appearing to be giant, water-dwelling, non-humanoid crustaceans. Like the Kihunters, the Evirs may be another race of pirates and not a species native to Zebes.

Pirate Commander

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/commander_pirate_2.png

Debut: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

"A rare breed, Pirate Commanders have lived to rise to the ruling caste on the Pirate Homeworld. Each has been a commando for at least ten years."

—Scan Lore

A high ranking pirate who commanded the forces on Urtraghus. After its troops and Gandrayda failed to eliminate Samus it took to the battlefield in an attempt to do the job itself.

Ambiguous Gender: No mention is ever made of its gender. Given the mystery surrounding Pirate culture, it's just as likely to be female as it is male.
Arm Cannon: As is standard for pirate warriors.
Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Scan data mentions that being promoted to commander means serving at least ten years as a commando.
Blade Below the Shoulder: It has Phazite blades for close combat.
Bodyguarding a Badass: A squad of commandos accompanies the commander.
Brainwashed and Crazy: As with all the pirates on Urtraghus, it's under the sway of Dark Samus.
Early-Bird Cameo: During the assault on Urtraghus, you can see it kill a couple of troopers if you wait long enough. Well, presumably it's the same commander.
Flunky Boss: Fights alongside a squad of commando pirates.
Frontline General: When the commandos, metroids, and mooks fail to get the job done, the commander goes after Samus personally.
Invisibility Cloak: Like the commandos, it has a cloaking device.
Killed Off for Real: Killed permanently by Samus, naturally.
King Mook: Essentially an upgraded commando.
Law of Chromatic Superiority: Its Phazite armor is red compared to the blue of normal commandos, and is far more durable as well as lacking the Nova Beam weakness.
Lightning Bruiser: It hits hard, has extra tough armor, and the cloaking and teleporting make it hard to pin down.
No-Sell: By the time you encounter it, you've probably learned how to use the Nova Beam and X-Ray visor to target commando pirate's internal organs through their armor. Too bad the Commander gets the fancy red Phazite armor that makes that tactic useless.
Rank Scales with Asskicking: Just as deadly as commando pirates were when you first encounter them, plus a few extra tricks. Which makes since since they are a high-raking pirate.
Red and Black and Evil All Over: The red Phazite armor gives it this appearance.
Teleportation: Utilizes a personal teleporter to maneuver around foes and retreat if necessary.
There Is Another: Commander is a rank, you can bet there are others.

Science Team

Debut: Metroid Prime (Mentioned only)

"Science Team believes the Metroids can be trained. After several cycles of trying, I believe Science Team has vapor for brains. I've lost two assistants to the wretched little things."

— Scan Lore

The enigmatic and amoral group responsible for the advancement of Space Pirate technology in their conquest of the universe.

Bio-Augmentation: Their most common methods of improving their underlings.
Creative Sterility: Played with. While they steal and reverse engineer a great deal of technology, they also create a good portion of it themselves.
The Creon: With the intertwined nature of the high command and science team, not to mention how often Samus kills off high ranking pirates, it would be fairly easy for them to seize power. Instead they go to great lengths to keep the current leadership alive, sometimes even creating entirely new beings like Master Brain solely to give them the responsibility of leadership.
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: The most well known statement regarding them is an insult to their intelligence, but there's a reason the pirates have been able to hold their own against the numerically superior Federation for so long.
Determinator: If absolutely nothing else, "defeat" doesn't seem to be in their vocabulary. It doesn't matter how many times their experiments die on them, proceed to kill copious amounts of Pirates before being put down or subdued, or get blown to hell by Samus. Science Team will just brush it off and either try again or move on to a similar project without batting an eye.
Evil Genius: They created all the tech the pirates use that they didn't steal. Everything in the Creations section of this page exists thanks to them.
Evilutionary Biologist: They work with living creatures just as much as machines, and it doesn't matter how many times their failures die or go insane in the pursuit of perfecting their bioweapons.
For Science!: They experiment for the sake of it, even when it isn't at all practical. In Prime alone, they decided to test the newly-discovered Phazon (which they learned very quickly would kill, mutate, and drive insane anything that comes into contact with it) on tiny parasites (creating the Parasite Queens), inanimate rock and ice (creating Thardus), Metroids (creating the Tallon, Hunter, and Fission Metroids), and even themselves (creating the Elite Pirates, the Phazon Elite, and the Omega Pirate), all heedless of anyone or everyone who ends up dead because Phazon exposure during testing or being in the wrong place at the wrong time when the insane experiments break loose and start killing anything within reach.
The Ghost: While their lackeys have been encountered, Science Team itself has never been seen in any medium.
Greater-Scope Villain: Every time the pirates appear, with the exception of Corruption, they're doing something to further one of Science Team's projects. And even in Corruption, when the pirates were all mind controlled, they still made heavy use of their tech like hypermode and phazite armor.
I Want Them Alive!: Downplayed in regards to Samus Aran. Scanning reports in Prime make it clear that while the orders are out to subjugate or terminate her, they would much prefer her dead; however, they want her dead in such a way her body or at least her Powered Armor is left intact for study and reverse-engineering.
Just Think of the Potential!:
- What their obsession with Metroids and controlling them often tends to boil down to. So what if they keep sucking the lifeforce out of all our guys, just imagine how deadly they'll be to our enemies when we finally get them under control!
- How they justify all of their experiments with Phazon in the Prime Trilogy. Sure, the subjects keep dying or going insane, but look at all the amazing mutations they get and how much damage they can do even like that! Just imagine how deadly they would be if we can cultivate those "useful" mutations for combat and keep them obedient and (semi-)controllable? At least until Corruption, when Dark Samus's mental control turns it more towards a religious zeal.
No OSHA Compliance: The experiments they embark on and some of the engineering decisions they make have zero regard for the well-being of their underlings. They can range from dangerous but successful at best (Phazon experiments) to criminally incompetent at worst (such as their attempt to replicate Samus's Morph Ball).
Smug Snake: The logs in Prime indicate a big reason they're so eager to get into the Impact Crater isn't just to get at the large Phazon supply, but also capture and control the massive lifeform (aka Metroid Prime) they've detected inside. Look no further than the events of Echoes (where Metroid Prime now as Dark Samus is raiding Pirate bases for their Phazon) and Corruption (where Dark Samus flat-out takes control of the Pirates, including Science Team, herself) to see how likely they would have pulled that off.
Tested on Humans: Probably not actually humans, but they have a habit of using sentient beings as test subjects, usually their own species.
We Have Reserves: They are extremely callous about the loss of life incurred in their experiments. As far as they're concerned, results are the only thing that matter, and they'll happily spend or waste as many beings as possible to get them.

Specific Pirates

Mini-Kraid

Debut: Metroid

Also known as Fake Kraid, False Kraid, or Baby Kraid. Mini-Kraid is a decoy of the real Kraid who lurks in the corridors of lower Brinstar. He is much weaker than the real deal, but woe to the player who mistakes him for the real Kraid and then wonders why the path to Tourian hasn't opened up yet...

Adapted Out: Despite being a notorious element of the original Metroid, Mini-Kraid is the only enemy that does not return in the remake Metroid: Zero Mission.
Ambiguous Situation: What is Mini-Kraid? Is he another member of Kraid's species? Is he a clone? Is he a robot decoy? It seems there will never be an answer to these questions.
Bizarre Alien Biology: A 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? Alright, now that's not exactly normal.
Early Installment Character-Design Difference: Much like the real Kraid, Mini-Kraid was portrayed with blue fur on his back and only two eyes in his debut the original Metroid. His appearance in Super Metroid is likewise updated to match Kraid's iconic redesign.
Fake Ultimate Mook: Although Mini-Kraid looks and behaves much like the real Kraid, he dies in one missile and doesn't open the way to Tourian. In Super Metroid, he's a bit stronger and is even fought in a room looking much like Kraid's original room, but this was to add dramatic effect once the player entered the next room and saw just how gigantic the real deal was.
Fat Bastard: Mini-Kraid has a really big gut and given that he's a Space Pirate, he's not a very pleasant individual.
Informed Attribute: Interestingly, a 1991 Nintendo Power article refers to the fake Kraid as a "midget monster imposter", even though he is the same height as Kraid in the original Metroid. This seemingly prophesized Mini-Kraid's much smaller appearance (or rather, the real Kraid's much larger appearance) a few years later in Super Metroid.
Mini-Me: He's this to the enormous Kraid, and he's still almost twice as big as Samus.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: His eyes are red in Super Metroid.
Spike Shooter: In both of his appearances, he fires spikes from his belly.
Third Eye: As part of his updated design in Super Metroid, Mini-Kraid has a third eye in the middle of his forehead.
Took a Level in Badass: A very minor case in Super Metroid. While he is still much weaker than the real Kraid, Mini-Kraid is more resilient and takes a few missiles to kill.
Trick Boss: Infamously, Mini-Kraid's role is to trick players into thinking they're fighting the real Kraid. In Metroid, they're located in separate parts of the maze-like Mini-Boss Lair, but in Super Metroid, Mini-Kraid is fought shortly before engaging the real Kraid a few rooms later.
Unexplained Recovery: No matter how many times Samus guns down Mini-Kraid, he respawns once she leaves the room. This suggests that Mini-Kraid is less likely a single character and more likely a group of Space Pirates of the same species as Kraid.
Unique Enemy: In both of his appearances, he only shows up in a single room.

Weavel

An elite pirate warrior nearly killed by Samus and rebuilt as a cyborg. His tropes can be found here.

Pirate Hussar

Debut: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

Unusually brave Space Pirates who ride ferocious Korakk beasts. One is encountered on Bryyo.

Attack Its Weakpoint: The entire hussar counts since you can shoot them dead without beating the beast. For the Korakk, shoot the mouth to stun it, lay bombs under it to topple it, then grapple the tail to pull it upright, then shoot the weak point on its belly.
The Beastmaster: Hussars must tame the Korakk beasts to ensure their loyalty.
Beast of Battle: The Korakk beast.
Jousting Lance: The hussar wields a Phazon energy lance.
Red and Black and Evil All Over: The hussar's armor.
Synchronization: Killing the beast will kill the hussar, though the beast can survive the death of its rider.
Villainous Friendship: Its implied the hussars have genuine affection for their mounts.
Undying Loyalty: The beast will fight on even if you kill the rider in an attempt to avenge their death.

King Kihunter

Debut: Metroid: Other M

The king of a Kihunter hive. One is found onboard the Bottle Ship.

Cores-and-Turrets Boss: The boss fight consists of shooting the plants that grow on the hive's supports, shattering them and exposing the king.
Eyeless Face: It has a mouth, but no visible eyes. Considering it's fused to the interior of its hive, it's doubtful it would really have much to look at anyways.
Insect Queen: Gender-Inverted Trope. He's the ruler of a hive of giant alien wasps. This is a stark contrast to real life hive insects, which are always matriarchal.
Flunky Boss: The fight is primarily dealing with the constantly spawning kihunters long enough to shoot at the actual objectives.
King Mook: Averted, despite the name. He's much different than normal kihunters.
Meat Moss: A large section of the hive wall is part of its flesh.
Mother of a Thousand Young: Father actually. It's to be expected when you're talking about the head of an insect hive, though it raises some questions about how the heck that system evolved.
Stationary Boss: He's completely stationary for the whole fight, as his abdomen is actually fused with the hive.

Pirate Subgroups

Zebesians

Debut: Super Metroid

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zebesian_fusion_art.png

The crustacean pirate group that seized Zebes and subsequently used it as a base. The standard troopers of the Space Pirates, the Zebesians have carried out several raids on Federation spaceships, one of which is a deep space vessel that carried the first Metroid specimens. Under the direct control of Mother Brain, they guard her underground fortress and experiment on the Metroids for galactic conquest.

Ambiguously Related: The design of the ancient Chozo armor that Gray Voice wears while attempting to kill Mother Brain in the manga has a very similar design to the Zebesians, specifically their Bird People redesign in Fusion. The connection is never stated in the manga, leaving open the question of whether or not the Zebesian space pirates and Chozo might actually be related.
Artificial Human: Other M has the Galactic Federation creating their own series of Cyborg Zebesian clones to use as bioweapons. Supplementary materials reveal that they lack the intelligence and emotions of natural Zebesians so as to make them more subservient, and because of it are barely a threat unless controlled by a higher power like MB.
Bird People: Fusion had them redesigned to have more bird-like features, such as the beak and feathers. It's implied in the manga and Other M that this is their true appearance and the classical insectoid appearance is just their body armor.
Cyborg: They are often augmented with environmental survival systems and weapons. The ones made by the Galactic Federation on the BOTTLE SHIP are borderline Full Conversion Cyborgs, although ironically enough their implants appear to be cruder in design than those made by the Space Pirates.
Depending on the Writer: Are they so dependent on Mother Brain's mind control that if she dies, they'll go feral and collapse as an organization? Or can they operate on their own even if Mother Brain isn't around? Each game gives a different interpretation. Later material such as Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U attempt to reconcile this by saying that the clones made by the Federation in Metroid: Other M were unintelligent lab specimens unlike the regular Zebesians.
Elite Mook:
- Super Zebesians, which are more durable and more dangerous than the standard version.
- The two Zebesians that guard Ridley's lair. They are more acrobatic than regular Zebesians, and can only be harmed when they change color in mid-air.
Empty Shell: Supplementary materials reveal the Zebesian clones created by the Galactic Federation in Other M to be this, having had their intelligence, emotions, and sense of independence bred out so as to be better used as pawns. It's because of this that they're barely a threat to the galaxy compared to natural Zebesians, even less so when they aren't controlled by a leader.
Energy Weapon: Their standard armament, launched from their pincers. In Super Metroid they also have Eye Beams, which results in roughly the same spread as the spazer, but all games released since limit it to the pincers.
Insectoid Aliens: Their exoskeleton and pincers make them appear as humanoid arthropods, although they are more like a cross between a bug and a bird underneath that armor.
Mascot Mook: They are the de facto Space Pirate troopers. In official artworks of the Metroid franchise, the Space Pirates' forces are almost always depicted as Zebesians.
Meaningful Rename: They took the moniker Zebesians after conquering the planet.
Mooks: Out of all Space Pirate troopers, they are most prominent and iconic species.
No Name Given: We still don't know the real name of their species.
Non-Indicative Name: Despite their name, they aren't native to Zebes. Yoshio Sakamoto has compared to this to how most Americans are actually descendants of European colonists, who took up the name after conquering the natives' land.
Power Pincers: Usually with built-in energy weapons.
Servant Race: According to the trophy in Super Smash Bros 4, the Zebesians cloned by the Federation have had the ability to act independently removed to make them better pawns for the Federation.
Wall Crawl: They can crawl on the walls like insects, though they don't utilize this ability very often.
Weak-Willed: Every time they're encountered, they're being controlled by a higher intelligence. The Federation's clone Zebesians aren't even a threat to galactic civilization when not controlled by a leader.
You Shall Not Pass!: In Zero Mission, a lone Zebesian tries to do this when Samus is escaping the Space Pirate Mothership with a stolen Pirate fighter craft. It goes as well as you would expect.

Kihunters

Debut: Super Metroid

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kihunter.png

Why did it have to be bugs?

An insectoid race of Space Pirates, they hail from another galactic system and helped rebuild the Pirates' operations on Zebes.

Acid Attack: The Kihunters spit acid as a projectile attack.
Airborne Mook: Their wings can be shot off, but they are still dangerous when grounded.
Bee People: Exactly how their social structure runs is not clear but they are bee-like and they have a "king".
Beware My Stinger Tail: They have stingers on their ovipositors, but they also have claws too.
Early-Installment Weirdness: Potentially, the Kihunters' status as sapient Space Pirates. While it's never been explicitly retconned by later games, it was only mentioned in the manual of their debut game, Super Metroid. While Kihunters and Zebesians have both appeared together in later titles such as Fusion and Other M, the presence of Zebesians aboard the BSL Station and BOTTLE SHIP is treated as an alarming development^note while Kihunters are treated with as little fanfare as any other feral Zebes lifeforms. Later games also tend to portray the Space Pirates as a single species instead of a faction of multiple species, which would have been defied by Kihunters being a separate species under the Space Pirates' banner.
Elite Mooks: Other M introduces Super Kihunters, which are a more powerful variant of Kihunters.
Eyeless Face: Their Zero larval stage is eyeless, until Other M depicts them with eyes.
Insectoid Aliens: Compared to other Space Pirates, Kihunters are the most explicitly insectoid and resemble giant wasps.
Metamorphosis Monster: The caterpillar-like Zeros are revealed in Fusion to be their larval form. It's significant to that game because, after defeating Zazabi, the Zeroes freeze in their typical spots and form cocoons, blocking off certain passageways until they emerge as Kihunters right before the second visit to Sector 2.
Natural Weapon: The main difference between them and the other Pirate footsoldiers is that they never seem to brandish any weapons besides those they were born with.
Personal Space Invader: Super Kihunters latch on to enemies as a matter of course but thankfully do not explode.
Spell My Name With An S:
- In the Super Metroid manual, their name is written as "Keyhunters". In the Japanese Other M guidebook, it's written as "Ke-Hunter". Otherwise, it's consistently spelled as "Kihunter".
- The larval form, Zero, is called "Zoro" in one Super Metroid guidebook and the Japanese Other M guidebook. It is a closer romanization of their Japanese name, but "Zero" is the more common name.
Super Spit: The gunk they spit after losing their wings. In Other M they don't even wait that long, spitting projectiles as soon as they see Samus.
Taking You with Me: In Other M, they try to latch onto Samus and explode if they take heavy damage.
Third Eye: A large one in the center of their head.
Wall Crawl: Zeros, their larval stage, are capable of crawling on walls and ceilings.

Tallon IV Pirates

Debut: Metroid Prime

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mpr_space_pirate.png

The reptilian pirate group encountered on Tallon IV. Samus encounters them as they investigate the first known appearance of Phazon and its applications for combat. Besides the standard Space Pirate, they field the stealthy Shadow Pirates, the maneuverable Flying and Aqua Pirates, and the technologically-advanced Trooper Pirates (Power Trooper, Wave Trooper, Ice Trooper, and Plasma Trooper).

Airborne Mook: The Flying Pirates use jetpacks to fly.
Aquatic Mook: Aqua Pirates. They're the same as a Flying Pirate except their jetpacks are modified to move underwater.
Blade Below the Shoulder: All of them except Flying Pirates have energy scythes mounted on their forearms, or replacing their hands in the case of Trooper Pirates.
Body Horror: Most of the pirates on the Frigate Orpheon have clearly seen better days, to the point you can count the number of uninjured ones on one hand. Scanning several bodies show that the Parasite Queens and their brood either directly or indirectly killed or maimed them through such ways as crushing body parts, ripping off limbs, smothering in acid, and eating their internal organs.
Ceiling Cling: How the Shadow Pirates like to get the drop on Samus. In the Phazon Mines, beam and normal troopers will hide in ceiling compartments to mimic this.
Combat Pragmatist: They completely avoid Mook Chivalry and attack Samus in areas where she's at a disadvantage.
Cyborg: They have a number of mechanical components grafted into their bodies, including the presence of a prosthetic spinal column.
Energy Weapon: All pirates, save the Shadow Pirates, have these.
Glowing Eyes: They have flaming orange eyes.
Invisibility: The Shadow Pirates use this and Wall Crawl to get the drop on Samus.
Laser Blade: Of varying colors depending on their role. Orange for normal Space Pirates, blue for Shadow Pirates, and the same color as their beam type for Trooper Pirates.
Lizard Folk: They're very reptilian in design, especially compared to the more crustacean and insectoid pirates of other Metroid games.
Mecha-Mooks: More for patrolling than serious combat.
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
- Their ruined ship broadcast an open distress signal, allowing Samus to discover and destroy their operations on Tallon IV.
- If they hadn't drawn the attention of Samus (and thus the Federation) to Phazon, Phaaze may never have been discovered and destroyed.
No-Sell: The various Trooper Pirates each have complete immunity to everything but one of the beams and its charge combo.
Sinister Scythe: Their melee weapons are called energy scythes, though the name isn't indicative of their actual design.
Taking You with Me: Flying and Aqua Pirates will attempt to crash into Samus when they're defeated.
Takes One to Kill One: Trooper Pirates are weak to whatever beam they use, which is explained In-Universe as a flaw in their weaponry giving them a vulnerability.
Tron Lines: On the armor of the Trooper Pirates, with the color corresponding to their beam type.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Hardly unwitting, but their actions began the Phazon Conflict. Their creation of the Omega Pirate also indirectly created Dark Samus, which nearly led to the annihilation of the Federation and the subjugation of the Pirates.
Wall Crawl: In the Omega Pirate fight, sometime the Trooper Pirates will cling to the walls and fire down at Samus.

Aether Pirates

Debut: Metroid Prime 2: Echoes

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/space_pirate_model_echoes.png

The reptilian/insectoid pirate group encountered on Aether. They were investigating Phazon on the planet while avoiding the conflict between the Luminoth and Ing. Their efforts were hampered by the appearance of Dark Samus, discovery by the Ing, being followed by the Federation, and eventually the arrival of Samus. Though their forces were greatly reduced by the time they're encountered in Echoes, they fielded troopers, grenadiers, aerotroopers, and commandos that impeded Samus's progress — and provided useful hosts for the Ing.

Arm Cannon: All of the pirates seen have one of their arms replaced with some sort of projectile weapon.
Blade Below the Shoulder: The normal troopers and grenadiers have their other hand replaced by a blade, while commandos have a Laser Blade projected from their weapons.
The Bus Came Back: Where the Tallon IV and Urtraghus pirates were never seen after the games they initially appeared in, the Aether pirate species returns in Federation Force.
Butt-Monkey: They get torn apart between the Ing, Dark Samus, and original flavor Samus.
EMP: The pirate commandos have emp grenades that scramble Samus's visor and break target locks.
Enemy Mine: One of the Pirate Log scans muses if they could possibly form this with Dark Samus upon observing her attack Samus, specifically convincing Dark Samus to terminate the Hunter in exchange for Phazon. Given how we later witness Dark Samus murder a bunch of Pirates for their Phazon, it's unlikely she would be willing to talk terms.
Flash Step: The pirate commandos use their thrusters to dart around in combat.
Light Is Not Good: The pirate commandos wear white armor.
Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Commandos have an energy shield that deflects all attacks, though they can't attack either while they're using it.
Mook Carryover: Many of them are possessed by Ing and used as their mooks.
Out of Focus: They control only a small portion of the map, with the Ing serving as the primary antagonists.
Ramming Always Works: Grenadiers will shoulder check Samus if she gets too close for them to use their grenade launcher. It actually does to, as the knockback from the attack will force her far enough away that they won't catch themselves in the blast radius.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: They bear a distinct resemblance to the Zebesian pirates.
Villain Teleportation: They teleport their troops into combat.

Urtraghus Pirates

Debut: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/500px_mp3_pirate.png

The group of pirates fought in Corruption. After Dark Samus struck their planet with a Phazon meteor she used the corruptive influence of the material to enthrall the planet's forces, including Ridley. Under her control they waged war on the Federation alongside her Leviathans in what would be come to be called the Phazon Conflict. They are also the only pirates whose true homeworld has been seen.

All There in the Manual: You'd wouldn't know their homeworld is called Urtraghus just by playing the game.
Arm Cannon: Like the Tallon pirates, one that leaves their hands free.
Blade Below the Shoulder: Retractable ones on their forearm.
Body Horror: A common occurrence with all Pirate variants, but the Corruption Pirates exhibit this to the greatest extent. Many of the militia units seem to have had their limbs replaced with spindly cybernetic appendages, their remaining flesh is made up of exposed skinless muscle, and that's not even getting into the various results of Phazon corruption.
- Maybe justified by the fact that they don't have actual bodies. Their heads are completely different material from their bodies, plus scan logs seem to indicate their heads are separate organisms. It seems they are just heads in biomech frames (more like eels).
Boom, Headshot!: Once you acquire the Nova Beam and X-Ray Visor, you can target pirate commando's brains through their armor.
Elite Mook: There are several varieties on the standard mook, each with a certain advantage. Later in the game you encounter enemies that have two or more of these advantages.
I'm a Humanitarian: Pirates who fail too often, or militia who fail at all, are rumored to become rations for High Command.
Hoist by His Own Petard: Some pirates carry Phazon grenades that forces Samus into Hypermode. You know, Hypermode, that thing that makes her invincible and deal a crapload more damage than normal. In their defense, Phazon is pretty much guaranteed lethality against any normal lifeform, but you'd think they would learn after the first time.
Hot Blade: Their melee weapons, halfway between the energy blades of the Tallon IV pirates and the solid blades of the Aether pirates.
Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Many pirates carry energy shields, which block all projectiles and must be ripped away with the grapple lasso.
Mecha-Mooks: To a much greater extent than any other pirate group.
No-Sell: Armored Pirates are immune to all beam attacks until you shatter their armor with missiles.
Organic Technology: A number of their machines, such as their boarding pods, Jolly Roger Drones, and "Remorse"-Class Turrets look strangely organic in nature.
Pet the Dog: The militia pirates can be promoted from their Slave Mook status through service.
Praetorian Guard: A squad of commandos guards the Commander.
Red and Black and Evil All Over: All structures on the Pirate Homeworld follow this colour scheme, and so do the Pirates themselves. Their blue Phazon veins and various armours disguise this fact, but viewing their models in the Logbook makes it apparent.
Shield-Bearing Mook: Some carry shields that can block all attacks until you rip it away from them.
Slave Mook: The militia pirates, who are much weaker than all other pirate types.
Super Mode: Just like Samus, they can utilize Hypermode. Whether they came up with it first or the Federation did is unknown.
Villain Teleportation: The commandos use personal teleporters to outmaneuver Samus.

Bermuda System Pirates

Debut: Metroid Prime: Federation Force

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pirate_trooper_fed_force_render.png

A group of Space Pirates that serves as the antagonists of Federation Force. After the fall of Urtraghus to the Federation, they established themselves in the remote Bermuda system. There they sought to construct a superweapon with which to strike at the heart of the Federation.

Angry Guard Dog: They keep zuruburats for the same purpose.
Arm Cannon: Depending on the type, either one mounted on their forearm or replacing it.
Awesome, but Impractical: Making all their soldiers giant did allow them a much better chance against the Project Golem marines. But against normal troops, it makes them much larger targets and keeps them from entering normal sized buildings and ships.
Blade Below the Shoulder: Projecting from their forearms.
Boom, Headshot!: Unlike previous games, you can actually do more damage by shooting them in the head.
The Bus Came Back: It's hard to tell because of the art style, but they seem to be the same species as the pirates encountered on Aether.
Dual Wielding: Pirate troopers wield two energy scythes at the expense of any ranged weapons.
Elite Mooks: There are elite versions of every variety of pirate. Instead of being enhanced by Phazon like in previous Prime titles, they merely have thicker armour and more powerful weapons.
Giant Mook: All of them. They used technology from the ancient civilization on Bion to alter their own physiology and increase their size.
Laser Blade: The style of their melee weapons.
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: If they hadn't increased the size of their soldiers, and thus scaled up their bases to allow them to operate, the Project Golem marines would have had to abandon their mechs in order to enter the pirate facilities and thus been easy targets.
Took a Level in Badass: Beyond the obvious, which is that the Federation needed multiple teams of troopers equipped with mechs to take them on. They went above and beyond previous Pirate groups by capturing Samus.

Pirate Creations

Spore Spawn

Debut: Super Metroid

A plant monster that was genetically-engineered by the Space Pirates. It guards the upper levels of Brinstar, attacking intruders with deadly spores.

100% Completion: An odd case for this is that Spore Spawn is entirely unnecessary to 100% the game. Unlike other bosses, its treasure is an item scattered around the map, but with certain movement tricks you can get a "later" Super Missile Tank before fighting Spore Spawn. From there, with camera tricks, you can break into the area containing Spore Spawn's tank and steal it, and since bosses don't add to the percentage, you never have to fight it this way.
Alliterative Name: Spore Spawn.
Botanical Abomination: A giant genetically engineered plant.
Plant Aliens: Genetically-engineered though, but still counts.
Shielded Core Boss: Its core is its weak point, so you have to wait for its shell/mouth to open to hit it.
Skippable Boss: Unintentionally. By using a trick to obtain Super Missiles earlier than normal, it is possible to avoid fighting the Spore Spawn. You can even go back with Supers and backtrack through the path that exits from the boss's Super Missile Tank to claim the reward.
Warmup Boss: Probably the simplest boss in the entire series. It's only a challenge due to being fought very early when you don't have much life.

Covern

Debut: Super Metroid

The spectral beings Phantoon used to guard the wrecked ship on Zebes.

Ambiguous Situation: It's not quite clear whether they were formed from the souls of the crewmates of the vessel they haunt or if Phantoon brought them with it when it moved into the ship.
Body Horror: Each Covern is multiple spirits combined into a misshapen mass, resembling a floating mass of tumorous flesh with several skeletal heads.
Multiple Head Case: They have no less than three visible heads in their sprites.
No Ontological Inertia: Once Phantoon is "killed" they vanish.
Our Ghosts Are Different: They're malformed, tumorous masses with several screaming heads that flicker into reality just long enough to get a hit in before dissipating.
Was Once a Man: They used to be sentient beings (presumably Chozo if they were the ship's crew) before dying and becoming Phantoon's twisted minions.

Mecha Ridley

Debut: Metroid: Zero Mission

Also known as the Ridley Robot, Mecha Ridley is an incomplete robotic weapon built by Ridley on his own image. It is the surprise Final Boss of Metroid: Zero Mission, residing inside the Space Pirate Mothership.

Achilles' Power Cord: Because this weapon was not finished, Mecha Ridley is attached to several power cords and is thus unable to maneuver around Samus like the original space dragon it was based upon.
All There in the Manual: Prior to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the name "Mecha Ridley" was translated from a name only mentioned in Japanese Zero Mission guides. Similarly, its only official English name at the time, Ridley Robot, was derived from the official Nintendo Power guidebook.
Attack Its Weak Point: A spot on its chest is vulnerable. Presumably the pirates were going to armor it but didn't get the chance.
Breath Weapon: It can breathe fire, just like the original Ridley.
Dynamic Difficulty: If you collect all hidden items before confronting it, Mecha Ridley will become three times as tough and powerful.
Eye Beams: One of its attacks consists of green laser beams coming from its eyes.
Final Boss: It is the final major opponent that Samus must defeat in Zero Mission.
Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: There's just no hint whatsoever that this thing exists before you confront it besides a short cutscene showing one of its eyes opening, but that could've been anything. It's to the point that a lot of the information we know about it comes from Word of God.
Homing Projectile: Its missiles will target Samus wherever she stands.
Killer Robot: It's primarily a weapon, after all.
Load-Bearing Boss: Defeat it to start the obligatory self-destruct countdown.
Macross Missile Massacre: Another one of its attacks. It fires those from its back.
Post-Climax Confrontation: It's technically the final boss of the game, but by then the main plot's been wrapped up. It's mainly a nice little bow to cap off Samus's acquisition of the ancient power suit.
Robot Me: It's Ridley, except as a ROBOT!
Stationary Boss: It can't move due to the power cables connecting it to the wall.
Taking You with Me: Unlike most Metroid examples of Load-Bearing Boss, Mecha Ridley's self-destruct sequence is clearly meant to take Samus with it, as its eyes start blinking red the moment it's defeated.
Unfinished, Untested, Used Anyway: This robot is not even close to being finished, as it was intended to have the walking and flying units installed. But given that Samus is infiltrating the Space Pirate Mothership and slaughtering all onboard, it is sent out to deal with the Hunter as a last ditch effort.
Who Needs Their Whole Body?: It puts up a pretty good fight for a torso.

Parasite Queen

Debut: Metroid Prime

"Parasite female, genetically enhanced by unknown means."

—Scan Data

A genetically-enhanced Parasite fought in the Frigate Orpheon after she broke loose. First boss of Metroid Prime.

Acid Attack: While the parasites have acidic mouth glands naturally, Phazon exposure caused a mutation that enhanced said glands on the Queen, which is why she's constantly drooling acid from the mouth. Presumably, this is the source of her Breath Weapon attack.
Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Phazon experimenting turned this otherwise rat-sized parasite into a huge monstrosity.
Gone Horribly Right: The Parasite Queens were the most successful test of Phazon's effects on her kind, having managed to reach their humongous size without dying from over-exposure. Then two of them broke out and started killing and infesting the crew. By the time Samus gets there, parasites are running all over the now-stricken ship and most of the crew are either dead or in such states that putting a Charge Beam through their heads is a Mercy Kill.
Insect Queen: While not necessarily insects, the Parasites and their method of reproduction are fairly insectoid.
Monster Progenitor: Most of the regular parasites you find in your way (presumably some of them are her fellow test subjects) are implied to come from her.
King Mook: The biggest of the Parasites you find. And the strongest too.
Load-Bearing Boss: Justified. She falls into the Frigate's core reactor after being defeated, causing it to malfunction.
Shielded Core Boss: It uses the reactor's shields to protect itself from Samus's beams. Strangely, the opposite isn't true, as the Parasite's attacks can pass through the shields for no real reason.
Starter Villain: The first boss of Prime. Also, the first Phazon-infused boss of several Samus meets.
There Is Another: There are actually three Parasite Queens on the ship, but Samus only fights the one in the reactor core. Another one that broke free and went on a rampage with it was killed by the Pirates themselves as it reached the evacuation chamber, and the third one was still in stasis before it broke free once the reactor went critical. Luckily, by the time Samus walks into this event during the evacuation sequence, the Pirates themselves kill it before it can do anything.

Thardus

Debut: Metroid Prime

The least of your problems on Tallon IV...

"East Quarantine Cave has been secured. Specimen remains in the Quarantine area. All experiments have been suspended pending pacification of area. Quarantine specimen exhibits highly aggressive behavior. Its body structure, composed of Phazon ore, appears nearly invulnerable. This has rendered our efforts to train and discipline subject useless as security breaches resulting in massive casualties have occurred. Access is strictly prohibited until further notice."

—Project Titan

A massive Rock Monster encountered in Metroid Prime, and truly stunning example of the Pirate's never-quenching desire to subvert science.

An Ice Person: Is able to perform an attack that will encase Samus in ice if it hits. Also creates an ice storm as the battle progresses hindering her ability to see.
Attack Its Weak Point: You must use the thermal visor to locate Phazon nodes vulnerable to missile attacks, then shoot them enough to shatter the rocks covering them before shooting the nodes themselves until they explode. Rinse and repeat until the boss dies.
Boss Arena Recovery: Breaking the rocks Thardus is trying to throw at you reveals items.
Developer's Foresight: Thardus has extreme weakness to the Plasma beam while the Ice Beam does no damage; the player shouldn't have these weapons during the fight.
Elemental Powers: Dishing Out Dirt and An Ice Person, all in one.
Foreshadowing: The fact that Phazon granted inanimate material intelligence hints at the Phazon itself being sentient.
Golem: It's also a Phazonlem. This results in...
Gone Horribly Wrong: Subverted. The Pirates realized it was too difficult to control, and in a rare flash of savviness quarantined it and left it dormant rather than attempt to control it or completely scrap the experiment, making occasional tests on it and waiting until a way to control it becomes more accessible. Too bad Samus found it before they finished...
Power Copying: You absorb the spider ball from his defeated rubble pile. Because... magnets?
Psycho Prototype: An early attempt at Phazon animation of inanimate material. It backfired spectacularly by creating a Rock Monster which instinctively tried to kill everything and anything in reach.
Readings Are Off the Scale: While Samus needs to the use the Thermal Visor to detect the Phazon nodes in Thardus's rocky body, actually exposing the nodes overloads the visor with the released thermal energy and forces Samus to switch back to the Combat Visor until she destroys them.
Rock Monster: An entity of living ice and rock empowered by Phazon.
Rolling Attack: Will periodically form into a ball and attempt to squash the player. If the player decides to risk dropping some Morph Ball bombs in the path of its attack it can expose Thardus's weak point without needing to use the Thermal Visor.
Shock and Awe: Can generate moderate electric attacks as well.
Shock Wave Stomp: The aforementioned ice attack is triggered by smashing the ground with its "fists".
Sore Loser: Just as Samus is walking away after defeating Thardus, a rock hits and bounces off of her helmet.
Telekinesis: The whole "creature" is nothing more than a loose collection of Phazon fused rocks assembled into a roughly humanoid shape. It also throws stones at the player using this ability.
Weaponized Animal: The Pirates attempt, but ultimately fail to turn Thardus into a weapon. He's in the cave where the player finds him because they found it difficult to tame.
The Worm That Walks: It is not just one singular lump of rock, ice, and Phazon ore. It's a collection of floating rocks in a roughly humanoid shape.

Elite Pirates

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/243px_elite_pirate_mp1_artwork_01.png

Debut: Metroid Prime

"Phazon-enhanced Space Pirate. Incredibly strong, armored, and well armed."

—Scan Data

After numerous failures at creating super soldiers through Phazon exposure, several key breakthroughs with the production of the "Phazon Strain Vertigo" allowed the creation of these deadly warriors.

Body Horror: Phazon mutations aside, their artillery cannons are grafted into their shoulders, something that can be seen in more grisly detail on the character model in the Remastered version.
Elite Mooks: It's right there in their names.
Legacy Character: Two of them, in different ways. There are Pirate units that share the name in Federation Force, though they lack any Phazon enhancements, and there are the Berserkers, which have a different name but are clearly the next step in the project.
Mighty Glacier: They aren't particularly fast but they can soak up a lot of fire. One of the scans note it would be wise to field them alongside the far more mobile regular infantry and flying troops to compensate.
Mook Chivalry: Averted. One of the scans mentions having them work in concert with other troops in order to circumvent the Elite's weaknesses.
No-Sell: Their energy siphon systems make all beam attacks useless.
Psycho Prototype: Not them, but the initial test subjects of Project Helix proved disastrous as the regular Phazon injections caused their brain tissue to degenerate even as their muscles were augumented. The ones who actually survived their birth and infancy had unrecoverable psychotic breakdowns as juveniles where they killed anything in reach before expiring. Only once the breakthrough of the "Phazon Strain Vertigo" was achieved were Elite Pirates successfully created, not that it stopped testing alternate methods as the Phazon Elite proved.
Rapid Aging: The Phazon infusion seems to have accelerated their aging, going from embryos to adults in only a matter of days. However, it's noted in the Pirate logs that it's highly likely not even the Omega Pirate has very long to live as a result of the Phazon infusion due to cell degeneration, as none of the Elites have survived past "two deca-cycles".
Shockwave Stomp: They create one with their wave quake generators.
Shoulder Cannon: They have miniature artillery cannons mounted on their shoulders.
Super-Soldier: Their purpose.
Tyke Bomb: According to the Pirate logs, many of the Elite Pirates were infused with Vertigo Phazon when they were just embryos, meaning they were meant to be super soldiers from the moment they are born.

Phazon Elite

Debut: Metroid Prime

"Elite Pirate infused with energized Phazon."

—Scan Data

An Elite Pirate that was directly infused with a variant of energized Phazon at the cost of its sanity.

Elite Mooks: It's a step beyond the Elite Pirates, who themselves were this to the standard Pirate troops.
MacGuffin Guardian: Samus has to release it from stasis and fight it to the death in order to acquire the Chozo Artifact of Warrior, which was seemingly locked away with it.
No-Sell: It has the same energy siphon systems as the standard elites.
Phlebotinum Overdose: Unlike the Elite Pirates who were carefully infused with the Vertigo Phazon strand as embryos, the Phazon Elite was directly infused with "energized" Phazon. As a result, it's a walking mass of mutant growths without much if any higher thought. Its not any less vicious though.
Psycho Prototype: It's the Elite Mook of an existing Elite Mook, but the direct energized Phazon infusion stripped the Phazon Elite of much of its higher brain functions as a consequence.
Sealed Evil in a Can: The Phazon Elite is resting inside a stasis pod when Samus encounters it. She needs to intentionally break it out with Power Bombs in order to claim the Chozo Artifact in the room with it.
Shockwave Stomp: It can do this more rapidly than the standard Elites to make up for its lack of an artillery cannon.
There Is Another: While Samus only ever fights one Phazon Elite, log book entries use the plural form while describing it, indicating that more of them were made.
Volcanic Veins: Bright blue veins filled with Phazon.
Your Days Are Numbered: The energized Phazon infusion has reportedly drastically reduced the Phazon Elite's lifespan even by the standards of the Elite Pirates, not that Science Team actually cares.

Omega Pirate

"Finish Her!"

Debut: Metroid Prime

"Elite Pirate Upsilon's propensity for Phazon has enabled our research team to infuse it far beyond our safety restrictions, and the results have been extremely encouraging. Its constant Phazon diet has increased its mass exponentially, but it has retained all mental faculties and shows dexterity with all Elite weaponry, including Plasma incendiary launchers and the chameleon manta issued for cloaking purposes. Elite Pirate Upsilon exhibits miraculous healing abilities; when injured, it seeks out Phazon deposits and coats itself in the substance, which instantly mends the creature's wounds. The subject, which we are code-naming Omega Pirate based on these developments, shows potential to be a new standard for our armies. Our only concern at this point is its potential over-dependence on Phazon."

—Pirate Data Log 11.232.8

A living testament to the lengths High Command will go to twist and mutate their own kind.

Adaptational Modesty: The Omega Pirate has a lot more armor plating in the Remastered version, covering up the mechanical spinal column that all of the Tallon IV pirates seem to have.
Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Considering how normal Space Pirates are approximately human-sized, it's quite jarring.
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 will likely be short judging from even the successful Elite Pirates' survival rates.
Climax Boss: He's the pinnacle of the Pirates' experimentation with Phazon in Prime, and his defeat changes the focus of the plot from disrupting the Pirates' operations to removing the threat of Phazon in general. He also carries the final suit upgrade in the game, the Phazon Suit, although Samus still has to gather the Chozo artifacts across the planet before she can proceed to the Impact Crater.
Code Name: Was originally just 'Space Pirate Upsilon', before being dubbed the Omega Pirate by the research teams.
Evil Laugh: He gives a very creepy one while he's cloaked, which is also the cue that he's about to appear in a Phazon puddle and start rebuilding his armor.
Eye Lights Out: Its flaming eyes go out when it dies.
Flunky Boss: And God help you if it summons Wave Troopers. You're warned that it's about to do this when it growls "FINISH HER!"
Healing Factor: Can absorb raw Phazon to grow back damaged flesh and exoskeleton tissue.
I'm Melting!: As it dies, its body begins to crumble apart and melt into Phazon. As it fell onto Samus while doing this, this causes her suit to absorb and merge with its fluids to become the Phazon Suit.
Invisibility Cloak: Turns one on when his armor is damaged to protect his health bar till it is fixed.
King Mook: A bigger, better version of the Elite Pirates. Justified as he's an Elite Pirate who's a Born Winner, having the right genetics to safely absorb far more Phazon than his fellows and thus mutate more drastically.
Monstrous Mandibles: He's been given a pair of splitting mandibles near his lower jaw, in the Remastered version.
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, as it will prioritize this over continuing combat when possible along with the logistical concerns of even having a sufficient Phazon supply always on hand for it.
Shoulder Cannon: Dual Wielding them, no less.
Small Role, Big Impact: He only shows up for a single boss fight in Metroid Prime, but the circumstances of his death indirectly led to the creation of Dark Samus.
Super-Soldier: The largest and most powerful of them.
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.

Berserkers

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/berserker_2.png

Debut: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

"Berserker Lords are a desperate measure, designed to exploit Phazon as much as possible. The few Berserker Knights that survive the highest level of corruption are promoted to Lord status. Lords are distinguished by their ornate Phazite plating and the Phazon reserves they carry on their backs."

—Scan Data

Berserker Knights and Lords are the newest iteration of Phazon super soldier experiments, replacing the old Elite Pirates.

Degraded Boss: The first Berserker Lord is also the first boss battle of Corruption. The Berserker Knights are far less formidable.
Destination Defenestration: The first Bersker Lord is introduced throwing a federation marine through a window.
Giant Mook: You do get to see Berserker Knights deployed alongside other pirate troops, which does somewhat make up for their short comings. It's still not enough to beat Samus, but Federation Marines got very nervous when pirate troopers had this kind of backup.
Grievous Harm with a Body: Having built in projectiles does not stop Berserker Knights from throwing other pirate troops at their enemies.
Hoist by His Own Petard: Killing them involves knocking their own projectiles back at them. Samus pretty much has to beat Lords this way. With the weaker Knights she can break their armor with a screw attack, by pass it with a nova beam shot while using the x-ray visor or, in open air areas, dispatch them with a shot from her gunship.
Law of Chromatic Superiority: Unlike most phazon cases, it's the brown and red Knights that are inferior to the blue and grey Lords. However, the red projectiles the Lords shoot are more dangerous than the blue ones.
Rasputinian Death: The first Berserker Lord is shot by Samus, electrocuted by a barrier, thrown into the void of space, and rammed with a fighter.
Shockwave Stomp: This is one of their attacks. The Lords in particular are strong enough, and fought early enough in the game, that they will almost assuredly kill Samus if she happens to be underneath one when it does it, although the shock wave itself she can very much survive and they usually use it when Samus is fairly far away. Still, considering her suit can take hits from Kraid, Omega Pirate and Mogenar, all of whom are even larger than Berserker Lords, it's a testament to the strength of the Lords.
Super Spit: They can spray liquid Phazon from their mouths.
Unskilled, but Strong: They are not outfitted with any of the equipment used by Elite Pirates, as most berserkers would not have the dexterity to use them anyway. They also are not really in need of energy siphoning, shielding or cannons when it takes half the game for Samus to find anything her cannon can shoot that doesn't bounce off their bodies and those bodies shoot back on their own. That cloaking device would have been nice, though.
Vacuum Mouth: Berserker Lords may attempt this if they see Samus in morph ball mode. For better or worse they can't manage to swallow her if she does get caught in their mouths.
Villain Forgot to Level Grind: The second Berserker Lord is the same as the first. By then you've acquired weapons that make the battle much easier.

Master Brain

Debut: Metroid Prime: Federation Force

An organic supercomputer created to control the Doomseye and serve as a leader in the Bermuda System.

Arc Villain: The recurring pirate villains are indisposed at the time of the game, so it serves as the primary threat.
Big Bad: Of Federation Force.
Brain in a Jar: Like its predecessors.
Cores-and-Turrets Boss: It never attacks directly, but it has self-repairing batteries of turrets to defend itself and summons minions.
Evil Knockoff: It's a pirate-made Aurora Unit, which were themselves good knockoffs of Mother Brain.
Expy: It serves the same role as Mother Brain and looks almost exactly like an Aurora Unit.
Five-Second Foreshadowing: The only clue to its existence is earlier in the level where you encounter it.
Healing Factor: It has an autorepair function and will regenerate health if not damaged quickly enough.
Huge Holographic Head: It briefly appears in hologram form, though that's actually how big it is.
Mind-Control Device: Unlike Mother Brain it actually demonstrates this ability in the game, using it to turn Samus against the marines.
Minimalist Cast: Besides General Miles, Master Brain is the only character to talk in the campaign.
Organic Technology: It's a living supercomputer.
Post-Final Boss: It's the final opponent fought in Federation Force, but its only defense consists of weak turrets and it has low overall health.
Purple Is Powerful: Its holographic representation is purple, reflecting its imposing nature and mental powers.
Sapient Ship: The Doomseye is essentially its body.
Shrink Ray: Inverted. It controls the enlargement mechanisms used by the pirates.
Wetware CPU: Its role onboard the Doomseye.

Mimic

Debut: Metroid Manga

A shapeshifting assassin created to kill Federation officials. Appears in the manga.

All There in the Manual: In never appears in the games, only the canon manga.
Made of Iron: It doesn't even notice the Federation guards shooting it.
No Body Left Behind: Samus blasts it into ash.
Overshadowed by Awesome: Something capable of drastically altering its mass and shape, enough to fool the most advanced sensors and security checks before changing into a form specifically designed to kill its target should be terrifying. Instead Samus kills it in seconds.
Shapeshifter Baggage: When it disguised itself as a bundle of flowers a child could carry it easily, but its combat form towers over humans.
Too Many Mouths: It has extra mouths in its claws.
Verbal Tic: Exactly half of its dialogue is the word kill.

Characters / Metroid - Space Pirates

Pirate Leaders

Mother Brain

MB

Ridley

General Tropes