#Etecoon

[hey-howsitgoin]

It’s finally finished and washed! Metroid Fusion was my first Metroid game and the Dachora and Etecoons are my favourite little guys from that game. I don���t generally enjoy horror, so young me really appreciated the cute, cuddly, friendly creatures breaking up the almost nonstop fear that game evokes. So what better way to commemorate these special friends than to make a lil 5 cm patch on my favourite shorts and embroider them onto it? If I was doing it all over again, I’d probably make the background more grey and less green so the Dachora would pop out more. The text above the patch is the name of the piece, “Save the Animals.” This is of course a reference to the speed running community’s famous phrase referring to the rescue of these same creatures at the end of the previous game, Super Metroid, which I haven’t yet had a chance to really play (I will very soon though).

Photos of the process as well as the screen cap it’s based on below the cut.

I went back to replay and complete Fusion earlier this year which is what inspired me to make this in the first place. Since then, I’ve also played & finished (not completed) Metroid: Zero Mission thanks to Nintendo Switch Online. Additionally, I have obtained and begun Samus Returns, the Metroid II remake. Now that this is finished, I’ll be playing Samus Returns a lot more so that I can move on to Super Metroid someday.

[limitiz-nk]

Happy 30th Anniversary for Super Metroid!

[carldoonan]

These Zany Li’l Zebesians say: “Squaw-gawk! We cost speedrunners like 25 seconds! Ook ooh OOH!” 👽🦤🐒

[athetos]

A quick doodle i did a while ago and never posted

[songsandscreens]

Adorably warm and fuzzy.

Needle felted Etecoons and Dachoras

[shiplikemyhelmet]

Yea, I do. *Sends a pic of a lean, calico cat laying all stretched out on a wicker table outdoors. The blurry, white paw of her brawnier looking brother swatting her from the shelf underneath was visible too.*

"Oh my stars! She's so CUTE!"

[thevideogameartarchive]

Etecoon 'Super Metroid' Super Nintendo

[xmrnothingx]

Samus Aran and friends from Metroid

Samus Aran and her friends watching the hit new movie: Metroid Other M, based on true events. The director of the movie, however, did not interview Samus nor Adam when making it, but instead took creative liberties with a military report

characters left to right: Anthony Higgs, an Etecoon, Damara, Pyonchi, Samus Aran, a Dachora, Adam Malcovich, Kreatz, Mauch.

painting left to right: Virginia Aran, Rodney Aran, Gray Voice, Old Bird

[gimmickname-blog]

Me when it’s feeding time for the cat

[sepublic]

The existence of Ing-possessed Dark Metroids in Echoes does bother me a little, because this is a game that came out after Fusion, and with Fusion we know the Metroids have an insane immune system; They were designed to fight the X, and are probably the only living thing unable to be infected by them... Except maybe the Dachoras and Etecoons, it's ambiguous. Regardless, Metroids are the ultimate bioweapon, and can drain energy. So it does bother me a little that an Ing can possess a Metroid without being consumed in the process; The series is named after these things, they deserve more narrative respect than just being another killable enemy!

But I am reminded of a log scan where it's revealed that the Ing fight for the privilege to possess the Space Pirate Commandos; Only Hunter Ing are even considered viable for this. So the Ing have a constructed social hierarchy in which they compete for better, stronger hosts... Okay. Given what I've mentioned about Metroids being the titular monsters of the series and galactic-scale threats, let's play with this in regards to a hypothetical Metroid series; Like it or not, Dark Metroids are enemies from the game, and a variant of THE titular creatures, so they should be adapted regardless.

So consider a scene: Samus is exploring Dark Aether when she comes across some commotion. She checks it out, watching from behind a corner; It's a whole congregation of Ing at an arena, and at the center is a cage in which a lone Metroid is angrily clawing at its containment. It's hungry, eager to devour the Ing on the other side; But the holes are too small for it to squeeze through. Surrounding the cage are a couple of Hunter Ing.

There's clearly some sort of ritual going on; One of the Hunter Ing slips through the cage from the other side of where the Metroid is. The Metroid notices, screeches, and lunges for the Ing. The Ing maneuvers around the Metroid, then lashes out with its tendrils; They enter the Metroid from its sides, as the Hunter Ing possesses the Ultimate Warrior.

The Metroid screeches, darting around as its body clouds into an Ing color. It falls to the floor, scraping its claws across and leaving marks; There's a clear battle of wills here. But in the end the Metroid wins out; Its nuclei flash red and the Ing coloration disappears as it drains energy, devouring the shadow. Watching from all sides, the Ing murmur, unimpressed and disappointed.

Cue the next challenger; This Hunter Ing watches as the Metroid rises back into the air, and then latches onto the nearest wall, still insatiable and hungering for the prey on the other side. This Ing circles around the cage, until it's sure the Metroid has singled it out.

Without any hesitation, the Ing launches through the cage the Metroid is latched onto, right into its mouth; The force sends the Metroid flying back from the cage. The Metroid absorbs the Ing, same scenario as before, same struggle. Only this time, the outcome is different; The Metroid's nuclei flash amber, and then its body undergoes a transformation as it struggles, darkening into blackest shadow as it's enveloped, the shape changing. Its voice deepens and becomes more Ing-like.

Finally, a single glowing eye emerges from the Metroid; The black coloration clears to reveal a new, Ing-possessed Dark Metroid. It rises into the air, triumphantly screeching as the Ing around it chant in celebration. Samus watches, deeply perturbed; The Metroids are the ultimate weapon, held back by their lack of strategy and inability to be tamed; This latter issue was how the Space Pirates were defeated the first time, because they lost handler Mother Brain. For the Ing to be able to control one...!

At this point, the Dark Metroid stops and notices; And then its eye looks up, directly at Samus. Metroids can sense energy signatures, down to those of individuals; It's how they can distinguish X mimics from the real deal, and track them down. By possessing a Metroid, the Hunter Ing has inherited the same abilities, and can sense Samus through the walls. It screeches, alerting the horde as all of the Ing turn and head towards the intruder.

Samus is forced to flee, and probably eventually fights this Dark Metroid. With a small army of Ing allies cooperating alongside it, this makes the Dark Metroid much more difficult to handle than a regular one; In particular, any energy it drains from Samus or even a lower Warrior Ing, it can transfer to one of its allies to heal them. Said allies will even take an Ice Beam or Missile blow for the Dark Metroid, to protect it.

The stakes are raised further; If the Ing take all of Aether's energy, Dark Aether will take its place within the dimensional plane. And if it does, who's to say the Ing won't colonize other worlds as well, because of their Emperor's greed and selfish hunger? With the ability to control and essentially BE Metroids, the Ing could start their own breeding program, and succeed where the Space Pirates had failed in using the Ultimate Warrior; There's no single, load-bearing controller for Samus to destroy, as there was with Mother Brain! A second Metroid crisis could be on the horizon... At the very least, Metroids are efficient trackers and weapons, so the Ing's chances of winning the war on Aether, and defeating Samus, have just risen significantly. Pair them up with some Dark Pirate Commandos and it’s like it’s Dark Zebes.

This ritual differentiates itself with the competition to possess Space Pirate Commandos; With those, a possession is guaranteed, so the distinguishing criteria is for Hunter Ing to fight each other to earn the privilege of that host. But for a Metroid, they don't need to fight one another. Instead, a Hunter Ing will prove itself worthy of possessing a Metroid, by actually being able to possess it to begin with; The only other outcome is to be destroyed by their attempted host. Thus, Hunter Ing don't need to fight one another directly for that honor, they can skip that formality to answer directly if an individual Ing is even capable of controlling a Metroid at all. And not all of them, not even all Hunter Ing, can pull off a Metroid possession.

[limitiz-nk]

morning after rain

[beevean]

Keep in mind that one of the greatest games of all time was born out of these storyboards

(Is that an erect penis on the Etecoon?)

I am gently going to assume that it's a crude drawing of a hand.

I just love that they called that shaft "Hell". To be precise, it's 奈落, which can mean "hell", "very bottom" (as in, worst possible circumstances​), or simply "trap room of a theatre", so basically a pit. I think the last one is supposed to be the real meaning, but let's be honest, until you master the Wall Jump, Hell is more than apt.

[supremeadmiral2613]

“Bird of the cave, what is your wisdom?”

I could talk for hours about the good parts of Super Metroid game design but by far the best part is the way it teaches you game mechanics. I adore how there are a few holes you can fall into where the only way to get out is to do the techniques that the silly animals in the hole are doing

[dumpsterfirepropaganda]

Yeah I walljumped all the way to the top of the Etecoon room in Super Metroid 💅 yeah it only took me 982 tries 💅💅💅

[spinningbuster98]

Metroid Fusion Part 3: Sci-Fi magic!

One of my favorite aspects of Fusion is how creative it can get with its linearity

Oh sure about half the time you’re getting railroaded by arbitrary level design shenanigans like crumbling blocks (Fusion’s favorite trick) or Security Doors. But other times it’ll be something rather unique that tends to tie into the story

It may be the SA-X destroying some doors, some creatures in Sector 2 starting to gestate which will result in them later evolving into stronger forms when you go back there later in the game, the X trying to blow up the station etc

It’s fun, it’s varied, it’s creative and helps make the game feel more memorable by putting a ton of set pieces. Moreover it makes the gameworld feel alive, like some sort of ever-changing being that’s actively out to get you and you never know what it’s gonna do next

No other game in the series does this. Super only has some brief scripted moments here and there, mostly at the beginning and end, but otherwise very little “happens” on Zebes. Dread and Prime 3, despite taking many cues from Fusion’s linear design, don’t really try to be creative with said linrearity. Dread’s EMMIs probably wouldn’t have worked as intended if the game had too many scripted scenarios but there’s nothing in Prime 3′s story that necessitates its linearity as it mostly hinges on cutscenes, mostly nothing about the game’s world(s) changing.

On the one hand I love how Fusion brings back the Etecoons and Dachoras from Super as a nice continuity nod! However:

1) I don’t buy Adam’s explanation about the X ignoring them because they “had nothing of interest to the X”. The Dachoras can speedboost what are you talking about?

2) The stuff that Samus says about them, alongside her little musing at the start about this being the second time she’s owed her life to the baby has always been unintentionally hilarious to me

She says that the Etecoons and Dachoras were the ones who taught her the wall jump and speedboost, which was true back then....

....except just two years later Zero Mission would come out and have her use those very same abilities way before she met those creatures

Then Samus Returns came along and had the baby rescue her from Ridley, thus making it 3 times total that the baby saved her

I like to imagine that she suffered a little bit of brain damage from that initial X attack, she does say it had infected her central nervous system...

I once saw someone claim that Dread wasted the X because it had the X-infested Chozo soldiers had glowing white eyes which very plainly marked them as X in disguise which would go against the idea of the X being able to perfectly mimick other beings and in general none of the X there tried to successfully mimick someone to pull off tricks or anything.

First off: none of the X we see in the game are trying to trick Samus, they’re out for her blood just like in Fusion so there’d be no need for their disguises to be 100% accurate, much like how the SA-X has emotionless white eyes

Second: it’s true that Dread never utilizes the X’s ability to copy others to have a real John Carpenter’s the Thing type of situation (except for ZDR’s backstory)...but the same goes for Fusion, in fact it’s worse here!

Samus’ mission is to look for any survivors on the station, instead of using its scientist disguise to set the station to blow it would’ve been far stealthier and more in line with the X’s abilities for that specific X to trick Samus into thinking it’s a survivor thus lowering her guard and springing a trap on her....but it never happens!

Honestly as much as the X may have been based on the Thing I think the main reason for their mimicking abilities is simply to justify the SA-X’s existence and and reuse past enemies

Anyway let’s talk about flimsy sci-fi!

Now I know that this is a series about a woman with alien bird DNA i her, wearing a high tech suit of armor and with the ability to somehow turn into a ball, so realism isn’t exactly its top priority, and that’s fine!

Sci-fi, in a way, is just magic that tries to be somewhat credible, if it were 100% real it wouldn’t be sci fi it would be just straight science

However sci-fi must still adhere to some internal rules in order to not stretch its own believability while at the same time not try to explain itself too much because, in the end, there is no real explanation for stuff like faster than light travel or high tech pseudo bio armors

I have no issue with stuff like the Morph Ball because the series is smart enough to not even try to explain it, thus leaving it completely up to the viewer’s interpretation to imagine how this fancy piece of high tech gadgetry even works.

However there are a few occasions in Fusion where the game...kinda tries to explain some of its sci-fi elements and it...kinda ends up raising more questions than answers

So a Core-X downloads the data for the Varia Suit and gains its abilities. Adam points ou how this shouldn’t be possible since the X are purely organic creatures. Ok good, so what’s the explanation?

“They can process data organically”

....what does that even mean? Data is digital, how can you “process it organically”? Given that the X have absorbed the knowledge of human scientists I can believe that they’ve gained the ability to understand and decipher data but just because you know how to read a bunch of 1s and 0s that doesn’t mean you can suddenly develop an ability just by understanding the data. I can understand Samus’ armor: it downloads the data and so develops suit modifications following said data. And the game doesn’t bother to explain any further!

Then there’s the Ice Missiles. Samus can’t use the Ice Beam because her Metroid DNA has rendered vulnerable to cold. Ok it makes sense. So what’s so different about the Ice Missiles? They’re still a cold based weapon.

Maybe the idea is that the cold is contained inside the missiles’ caps thus not coming into contact with Samus’ own body? I would buy that explanation if not for the fact that the Missiles have to be at least partially generated by the armor. Yeah sure they’re a finite resource that can run out but you download the modification that allows them to have a freezing effect, meaning that the suit has to generate the cold in the first place right? It couldn’t have been that initial download and that’s that otherwise it would only apply to those exact missiles that Samus had while performing the download.

God, Bird Magic is fucking obnoxious!

[ozimulmakesartwork]

December 2021 - Deep-Freeze Debrief

December 2021's Patreon piece. Readmore'd for length. Enjoy!

Samus had not intended to fall asleep - she had only wanted to close her eyes for a brief moment. At some point she'd drifted off, and was now trapped under a pile of bright fur and feathers, courtesy of the Etecoon primates and Dachora birds. It felt nostalgic, in a way.

One of the Etecoons yawned and started tumbling off of the pile. She instinctively reached out, catching it before it hit the floor of the ship. It let out a sleepy little chirp, then curled up and went back to snoozing.

As cute as it was, the pile had to be disturbed. There was something Samus needed to take care of before she could truly rest. She moved carefully, trying not to disturb her animal companions too much as she made her way out of the pileup.

She regretted it immediately - the ship felt close to freezing. Goosebumps prickled along her skin as she felt her body tense up and start locking down from the cold. It was no wonder the animals had all piled together.

Regardless of how she was feeling, there was still work to be done. She forced herself forward, step by step, and made her way to the front of ship.

[I see you're awake, Lady,] a robotic voice said as she made her way to the pilot's seat.

"How long was I asleep, ADAM?"

[Only an hour or so. Forgive me for not intervening - it seemed like you needed the rest.]

Was that ever an understatement. The Biologic Space Laboratories had only taken a couple of hours to investigate, but they had been very tense hours. The X had turned the entire research station into a nightmare, and that was before Samus had found all of those bioweapons and hidden Metroid lab…

"… I appreciate it," was what she said instead of getting into all of that. She didn't need to. ADAM had been there, after all.

Samus brought up the ship's navigation systems and started tapping in coordinates.

[This planet… forgive me, I am sure it is quite important to you, but I cannot recall the specifics. Some data may have been lost in the transfer from -]

"Don't trouble yourself. I didn't start living here until long after we parted ways, so I doubt the data was there to lose to begin with." It was touching that he was worried, though, and a far cry from his behavior mere hours ago. "I just hope Pyonchi can adjust to the company we're bringing back," she said, gesturing towards the back of the ship.

[He is still around?] Despite the computer's lack of inflection, ADAM seemed relieved. Samus briefly entertained the thought of teasing him over remembering her pet, of all things, but refrained.

"Of course - he's very tough. Sometimes, I think that he adapted to Zebes better than I did, back in the day."

Her mind wandered back to the Etecoons and Dachoras. They were probably shuffling themselves into a new cuddle pile right about now. Surely it was nice, warm, cozy…

She briefly shuddered, feeling chilled anew. "… Can you stay on autopilot for a while?"

[Of course, Lady.]

"Thank you."

Samus stepped away from the ship's control panel. Now that she'd gotten the ship's destination sorted out, getting buried in a pile of fluff sounded like a great idea.

Her ship's computer beeped behind her, and she took comfort in the knowledge that ADAM was calculating the best route home.

-

Of course, the calculation had only taken seconds - it was no issue for a starship of this caliber. What ADAM was actually doing was writing up a private memo, to be archived and buried somewhere that neither Samus nor the Federation would be able to access.

The ship's various onboard sensors had taken note of how badly she'd reacted to the chill. While it wasn't unreasonable for humans to be adverse to such things, there was a certain species that was particularly weakened by cold…

Metroids.

It was no secret that the Metroid Vaccine had changed Samus - it had been the intent, even, to ensure that the X-Parasites were removed from her system. Her accquired ability to absorb them had served her well, but… taking back her suit from the SA-X should have fixed that particular weakness, in theory.

It was clear, now, that this theory had been wrong.

ADAM could only hope that the Metroid DNA wouldn't assert itself any more than it already had.