History Nightmarefuel / MetroidFusion

--->'''AI Adam:''' Be careful, Samus. They are hunting you now.

** [[HumanoidAbomination SA-X IS Nightmare Fuel itself.]] It mimics a full-power Samus, can kill her easily, and the theme for when SA-X is around is... unsettling, to say the least. It speaks volumes when [[MikeNelsonDestroyerOfWorlds Samus]] even lampshades it herself when discussing it --

** If you play ''Metroid Fusion'' enough, you can [[TheTetrisEffect hear SA-X coming just by listening to the theme]]. Its presence invades your subconscious.

* Pretty much the entire sequence after the power goes out. It's a perfect example of NothingIsScarier, and you expect the SA-X to show up at any moment while you're stumbling around in the dark. [[spoiler:Thankfully, it doesn't.]]

* The Galactic Federation's motives. They denied Samus from blowing up the space station so they could capture a live specimen of SA-X to use as a controlled biological weapon, despite the 100% risk of it killing them all, then raising them as shapeshifting monstrosities, and then multiplying, spreading across the galaxy, eventually the universe, destroying all civilization. The [[Franchise/{{Alien}} Weyland-Yutani]] would be proud of these guys.

* The Galactic Federation's motives. They denied Samus from blowing up the space station so they could capture a live specimen of SA-X to use as a controlled biological weapon, despite the 100% risk of it killing them all, then raising them as mutant zombies, and then multiplying, spreading across the galaxy, eventually the universe, destroying all civilization. The [[Franchise/ResidentEvil Umbrella Corporation]] has nothing on these guys.

* At the very beginning of the game, you can enter a cold storage room where you can see the frozen remains of none other than Ridley. After the power goes out, you have to pass through this room again and come face-to-face with the long-dead monster. Then he crumbles into pieces as a Core-X floats away, having stolen Ridley's DNA. Then, almost at the very end of the game, you find Ridley again at the bottom of a tall room, only now he looks like he's been dipped in molten metal and left out to dry. Then, [[RedEyesTakeWarning his eyes start to glow]]. The characteristic "pixelization" of the X parasites covers his entire body, and we meet Neo-Ridley, giving maybe the biggest roar of any enemy up to that point as he suddenly becomes twice the size that he was before. OhCrap indeed.

* The X themselves are actually pretty frightening creatures when you think about it. A creature that can infect a host, kill them, and mimic them with ALMOST no way of identifying that you're looking at a fake? Pure {{Paranoia Fuel}} at its finest...

** Late into the game, the SA-X is found in the restricted laboratory area, fighting off larval Metroids and thankfully not paying attention to you. However, this causes a self-destruct sequence that will detach the restricted area from the rest of the research station and make it explode. Once you haul ass out of there, you'll likely be [[NightmareRetardant delighted to know that the SA-X didn't follow]], [[KilledOffForReal and exploded with the rest of the restricted area]]. What you certainly ''won't'' be delighted to hear, however, is that the SA-X had asexually reproduced, and now there are '''''no less than ten of them on the station'''''. You know, because '''one of the bastards''' wasn't bad enough! Thank ''god'' that this ends up being a case of GameplayAndStorySegregation, and you won't encounter any of them until you fight the SA-X as a boss later on, otherwise a lot of people wouldn't be able to finish the game from sheer fright alone...

* The premise has been mentioned already, but minus one detail...this is the weakest Samus has ever been. Oh sure, the first game had its moments, but here, Samus has had NO time to recover from a near-death experience before being sent to BSL. Adam's statistical breakdown when she arrives says she's only at 10% battle capacity, with that being her odds of survival. Samus is in far more dangerous territory, with a species she's having to learn about on the fly, taking increased damage as her suit has been basically carved up from the badass warrior armor down to what seems almost form fitting and significantly less protective...need we go on? Essentially, the odds are SIGNIFICANTLY stacked against you from the minute you start the game and unless you manage to find over half the secret items hidden away, it doesn't get any better.

* The fact that because the X parasites can obtain the knowledge of their victims, they can potentially build spaceships and infect the whole galaxy at an exponential rate. Yikes.
** X themselves are pretty much straight transplants of the creature from Film/TheThing1982. The game is not shy about this particular piece of influence.

* The X themselves are actually pretty frightening creatures when you think about it.
** A creature that can infect a host, kill them, and mimic them with ALMOST no way of identifying that you're looking at a fake? Pure {{Paranoia Fuel}} at its finest...
** While it's pretty much a foregone conclusion that you're not going to be able to prevent the spread of the X making it to the various sectors of the station, the sheer perseverance of the creatures is frightening. You kill the first boss and find they've already made it to the first sectors. Deal with Sector 2 and unlock the very first security doors, they invade more of the station, and it keeps going like this with you unlocking doors and them immediately invading the newly open areas. While [[ButThouMust you have no other choice but do this in order to progress anywhere yourself]], it's actually rather frightening how persistent the X is about spreading. Imagine if they had escaped the facility...
** The fact that these creatures absorb a host, kill them, and can mimic them is bad enough, but notice what they do to the physiology of the creature they infect. For example, compare [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/metroid/images/1/10/MSR_RoS_Gallery_011.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/120?cb=20170917033114 this image]] of the Hornoad from ''VideoGame/MetroidIIReturnOfSamus'' with [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/metroid/images/9/91/Metroid4_06.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/120?cb=20100214235334 this]]. Not only does the X seem to mimic a host, it seems capable of changing them into something significantly more terrifying and monstrous than before.
** Your first venture into Sector 6 has Adam warn you about X parasites who purposefully exposed themselves to Sector 5's sub-zero temperatures, knowing that as part metroid, Samus is now severely weak to cold. A case of {{It Can Think}} mixed in with the horror that these creatures are now royally pissed and intent on killing you off however it can now.
--->'''AI Adam:''' Be careful, Samus. They are hunting you now.

** The [[HellIsThatNoise sound of its footsteps]] invoke the worst kind of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dus4sOhF5gA terror]]. [[TheDreaded This thing can, and]] ''[[TheDreaded will]]'', [[TheDreaded kill you easily]]. The only way to survive is to [[RunOrDie run for your life.]]

* At one point, rapid plant overgrowth causes the station's power to go out completely, disabling ''everything'', [[CheckpointStarvation including the save points]]. A save point can be seen as something of a perch a player can go back onto if things get scary. ''Now you don't even have that to comfort you''.

* At one point, rapid plant overgrowth causes the station\s power to go out completely, disabling ''everything'', [[CheckpointStarvation including the save points]]. A save point can be seen as something of a perch a player can go back onto if things get scary. ''Now you don't even have that to comfort you''.

* Nightmare, Nightmare, ''[[MeaningfulName Nightmare]]''. While the SA-X might hold the reputation as Fusion's scariest foe, if not in the whole franchise, Nightmare comes a pretty close second. This... ''[[BuffySpeak thing]]'' is a massive, mechanical, floating ''monstrosity'' that can alter gravity at will thanks to the manipulator on its underside. Just ''[[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/its_called_nightmare_for_a_reason.png look at it]]''! Even the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODV8nfQlDhk music that plays while fighting it]] is unsettling.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sa_x_closeup_3.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350: [[NightmareFace If you see it,]] ''[[RunOrDie just run.]]'']]

** The [[HellIsThatNoise sound of its footsteps]] invoke the worst kind of terror. [[TheDreaded This thing can, and]] ''[[TheDreaded will]]'', [[TheDreaded kill you easily]]. The only way to survive is to [[RunOrDie run for your life.]]

[[caption-width-right:350: [[NightmareFace If you see it,]] [[RunOrDie JUST RUN.]]]]

** The sound of its footsteps invoke the worst kind of terror. [[TheDreaded This thing can, and will, kill you easily]]. The only way to survive is to [[RunOrDie run for your life.]]
** If you play ''Metroid Fusion'' enough, you can hear SA-X coming just by listening to the theme. Its presence invades your subconscious.
** When you finally fight the SA-X as the penultimate boss, it does not disappoint- dishing out attacks just like yours and flying through the air with horizontal Screw Attacks. When you take out enough of its health, the SA-X falls to one knee and it looks like it might be over. Then it turns into [[EldritchAbomination something that Lovecraft would've been proud to come up with]].
* The Nightmare boss has the face of pure nightmare fuel. Then, again, justified by a MeaningfulName.
** Even worse is if you consider why it was even created. It was made as a military weapon. Now imagine, you're fighting the Federation, and they suddenly unleash this... THING that immediately begins increasing gravity, making it impossible to move, and ripping your fellow soldiers apart (all while "crying" green ooze), and the last thing you see is that GODDAMN FACE. YIKES.

* Considering how much your AI companion holds your hand through the first ~2/3 of the game, it is actually quite unsettling when you start doing in-universe SequenceBreaking that leaves him surprised. Shortly after the aforementioned power outage, it suddenly becomes very clear that you have entirely jumped the rails; the sense of exposure that realization grants is surprisingly jarring.

* At one point, rapid plant overgrowth causes the stations power to go out completely, disabling EVERYTHING, including the save points. A save point can be seen as something of a perch a player can go back onto if things get scary. Well, NOT ANYMORE!

* [[OhCrap SIXTY SECONDS TIL IMPACT]].

* [[OhCrap SIXTY SECONDS TIL IMPACT]].

[[caption-width-right:350: [[NightmareFace If you see it, JUST RUN.]]]]

** The sound of its footsteps invoke the worst kind of terror. This thing can, and will, kill you easily. The only way to survive is to ''run.'' Very fast.
** If you played too much Metroid Fusion, you can hear SA-X coming just by listening to the theme. Its presence invades your subconscious.

* The Nightmare boss has the face of pure nightmare fuel. Then, again, justified by name.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGmdZgGYSVQ EMERGENCY IN SECTOR 3! EMERGENCY IN SECTOR 3!]]
* Serris, the boss of Sector 4, can be pretty scary all on his own, basically being [[BuffySpeak a super-fast water snake-dragon-centipede thing]]. Seeing what happened to the ''real'' Serris is just plain unsettling, though. You're informed by Adam that Serris is contained in a breeding tank located just before the actual boss room. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zUv8jdGvjM "Environmental Disquiet"]] starts as soon as you enter the room and you see that Serris, this big nasty monster that Adam warned you about, has been reduced to nothing more than the skeleton now lying at the bottom of the tank.
* At the very beginning of the game, you can enter a cold storage room where you can see the frozen remains of none other than Ridley. After the power goes out, you have to pass through this room again and come face-to-face with the long-dead monster. Then he crumbles into pieces as a Core-X floats away, having stolen Ridley's DNA. Then, almost at the very end of the game, you find Ridley again at the bottom of a tall room, only now he looks like he's been dipped in molten metal and left out to dry. Then, [[RedEyesTakeWarning his eyes start to glow]]. The characteristic "pixelization" of the X parasites covers his entire body, and we meet Neo-Ridley, giving maybe the biggest roar of any enemy up to that point as he suddenly becomes twice the size that he was before. OhCrap

** [[HumanoidAbomination SA-X IS Nightmare Fuel itself.]] It mimics a full-power Samus, can kill her easily, and the theme for when SA-X is around is...unsettling, to say the least. It speaks volumes when [[MikeNelsonDestroyerOfWorlds Samus]] even lampshades it herself when discussing it-
-->'''Samus Aran:''' The SA-X. [[PowerCopying An enemy with my strongest abilities]]. But does it have reason? Probably not. It's just a killing machine. In my current state, I can't face it head-on. ''[[EvilTwin The SA-X is me, only heartless]].'' I must stop it before it learns its potential and threatens the universe...

* At the very beginning of the game, you can enter a cold storage room where you can see the frozen remains of none other than Ridley. After the power goes out, you have to pass through this room again and come face-to-face with the long-dead monster. Then he crumbles into pieces as a Core-X floats away, having stolen Ridley's DNA. Then, almost at the very end of the game, you find Ridley again at the bottom of a tall room, only now he looks like he's been dipped in molten metal and left out to dry. Then, [[RedEyesTakeWarning his eyes start to glow]]. The characteristic "pixelization" of the X parasites covers his entire body, and we meet Neo-Ridley, giving maybe the biggest roar of any enemy up to that point as he suddenly becomes twice the size that he was before. OhCrap.

[[caption-width-right:350: [[NightmareFace If you see it, JUST RUN.]]

[[quoteright:240:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/metroid_fusion_nightmare.png]]
[[caption-width-right:240:[[NightmareFace Nightmare shows its true face.]]]]

* The setting for this game is unlike any other ''Metroid'' game. Samus is no stranger to lone wolfing it but due to the circumstances, this game truly makes you feel dreadfully alone and exposed. Everyone on the research station is dead and it's overrun with barely-understood parasites, one of which is basically a walking armory. In other ''Metroid'' titles at least Samus feels like she's on somewhat equal footing with her foes but in this game you almost constantly feel woefully underequipped, having to resort to sneaking around and avoiding situations instead of confronting them head on. You're in ''their'' house. Plus every so often something will go haywire and send the unsettling slow pace into frantic overdrive and you won't know what's wrong or what to do for the first few minutes.

[[caption-width-right:240:Here's a literal NightmareFace.]]