#Metroid Larva

[olavored]

Metroid Larva Pixel Art

I got over my art block.

This is just a bit of practice in pixel art, it seems very interesting, and useful

[princessofthestoners]

helpful diagram, because the world needs a reminder

[bynumite]

This is my little baby girl. I just got her today. What should I name her?

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Ripper

Debut: Metroid

Imagine if there was a guy who loved beetles a lot, thought they were the pinnacle of anatomy, loved almost everything about them, especially the fact that they fly! But this guy hates the WAY they fly. They wish they didn't have to open their beautiful elytra to fly, ruining the impeccable smoothness of the carapace. This guy would be pretty weird. I would disagree. But I have to say they would love Ripper! That is a really long-winded way of saying "Ripper is like a beetle that hovers without using any wings"!

Ripper is like a beetle that hovers without using any wings. That's a cool sort of alien thing to do! But then you see its legs and that's just goofy. It really is just a bug that inexplicably hovers and is nearly invincible. And it's iconic! I admittedly have not played that much Metroid, but I have played the first game (bad) and its remake (awesome), and I could not imagine it without Ripper! It floats lazily and horizontally back and forth, usually in vertical areas, and feels as integral to a Metroid bestiary as a critter that walks around ever surface of a platform.

If you want more proof that Ripper is already perfect, look at Metroid Fusion. In this game, the X Parasite infects many species, mimicking them and giving the copies altered abilities, but the Ripper copies stay the same as the original! Nothing to improve upon here!

Ripper was so great that they made a sequel! This is Ripper II! They were very (rightfully) confident in Ripper being a hit, so confident, in fact, that they made Ripper II in the very same game, before the general public could even give feedback on the original. I'm sure that after the game came out, though, people were sending in fan mail about our favorite horizontal hoverer! Ripper II is faster. Not a Ripper for everyone! Don't adopt it without making sure you can handle it first!

Is this a Ripper? Not quite! This one is a Tripper! It is not called that because it is mean and tries to trip you. It is actually passive, and you can stand on it, and go for a Trip as it flies! What a nice creature.

Last, but certainly not least, is the Winged Ripper! They gave wings to a flying creature! So droll! Very similar principle to the Para-Biddybud, putting wings on top of what may very well be elytra, but in this case it was ALREADY able to fly! Para-Ripper over here is a lot like if you add wings to an entity in Super Mario Maker, because the wings make it fly around a distinct path and even allow it to explore the y-axis. It only appears in one room, where it must be frozen to act as a step for Samus to stand on, so she can reach a giant larva that is ensnared by vines. Awesome! Winged Ripper is truly a one scene wonder, enhanced even further by its similarity to Para-Beetle, everyone's darling!

I don't know why these things are called Rippers. Maybe they would use their chewing beetle mouthparts to really rip into a good leaf if offered one, and have a rip-roaring good time!

[postal-ech]

FELLAS

Holy FUCK THERE'S BEEN A NEW DISCOVERY

So get a look at this God damn mother fucking date for Prime 4

20X9

Why is that date so significant, you may be asking?

WELL YOU WONDERFUL LITTLE BASTARDS, BECAUSE THIS SHIT TAKES PLACE 2 WHOLE YEARS AFTER SUPER METROID (20X7)

THIS IS WHY YOU SEE SYLUX WITH MOCHTROIDS AND NOT REGULAR METROIDS

You can see there that these floating borbs have one fleshy core and not three. Metroid larvae ALWAYS have 3 cores, while mochtroids - especially in Super - have only one

WHICH MEANS, AND THIS IS WHERE MY AUTISTIC ASS COMES IN TO PREDICT SHIT:

>Sylux came in around 20X7 to steal a metroid, at the end of Fed Force

>He gives it to the Space Pirates, which in turn attempt to replicate it to make more

>In that time, 2 and Super have occurred, and likewise the knowledge that mochtroids can be made through the Gamma replication method is learned

>A few years later THESE MOTHER FUCKERS SHOW UP WITH SYLUX IN TOW TO BEAT THE SHIT OUTTA THE FEDS AGAIN

Now granted this may not be true, and has some inconsistencies between when the games actually take place but HOLY FUCK IF WE GET TO SEE SOME ADVANCED MOCHTROID FUCKERY

I WILL GOD DAMN DIE OF EXCITEMENT

HOLY FUCK

[sepublic]

Fun fact! When I first played Samus Returns, I wasn’t all too familiar with Metroid lore, particularly when it came to the Metroid life cycle. I’d played Fusion beforehand so I knew the Omega was the final stage, but hadn’t paid enough attention to the background when you find the Metroid breeding lab to internalize the amount of stages between; Plus Samus Returns redesigned them, so there was still something pretty new to look forward to. I wondered how the Omega would look in that game, and knew Ridley was the final boss. So after encountering the Omega Metroid, I thought that’s it! That’s all there is to see of the Metroid life cycle, what cool creatures!

Imagine me being surprised when the number goes up at the end of the game, leading to actual larvae being fought; Something I’d waited for the whole game since that form is so much more iconic. But after one increase, I don’t expect another and there’s just one more; I may or may not have suspected this to be the infant that is doomed in Super Metroid.

And then I dropped through a destructible block and was utterly blindsided by the shot of the ginormous Queen in the background. I wasn’t even entirely sure what I was looking at, at first; What the hell is that, and then I realized it had to have been some particularly powerful, actually final stage of Metroid. Way too big to be an Omega, but wasn’t the Omega supposed to be the final form?

And it was only after doing research upon completing the game that I understood what this thing was, and how it was neglected in Fusion because the Queen is an atypical stage (hence why a skimmed online source would call the Omega the final stage), plus Fusion didn’t want to reuse a final boss for what would be a shorter endgame segment. Because of that tasteful restraint, I got one of my favorite shocks ever and I love it.

[possessedscholar]

Actually, fuck it.

Metroid Prime 1 Edibility List.

With actual research and considerations*, going in the order the Metroid wiki lists them! One Caveat, if not mentioned to be toxic in any way then I am assuming non-toxicity, UNLESS a similar creature from Earth is poisonous.

Parasite: their size and large numbers would seem to imply they’d have decent meat on them, though their nature as pests may imply they could carry disease. Overall I’d put them in a similar area with rats: Edible with proper cooking and cleaning, but probably less pleasant than most edible creatures.

Auto Turret: Inedible, made of metal and wires. And unlike some Pirate contraptions I see no tortured animals used to make this one either.

Tallon IV Zoomer: The Zoomer itself is likely edible, but the species apparently carries a flesh eating bacteria that makes safely handling the species for consumption difficult. Indirectly inedible, but if raised without contracting the bacteria (or properly cleaned, IRL flesh eating bacteria can be killed with bleach) almost certainly similar to crab meat (with more legs than a crab as a bonus!)

Tallon IV Geemer: in terms of meat quantity, you’d think they’re similar to the Zoomer, but the fact that the spikes retract may imply a difference in muscle structure and/or carapace thickness that could mean less meat for consumption. As for actual edibility, implied to have a similar diet to the Zoomer (mentioned as disease carriers, and irl flesh eating bacteria is usually gotten from improper sewage handling), thus same rating as the Zoomer.

Sap Sac: Mentioned as being very sweet and delectable, and are visibly very large and fleshy, so edible… ON ONE CONDITION: Sap Sacs are explosive, but the logbook mention that only “Brave or ingenious creatures eat it” implies there are ways to consume Sap Sack flesh without being exploded. Based on the Remastered logbook image, it's likely you can eat a certain amount of the outer flesh before hitting the explosive core.

(Sap Sac Image for reference)

Bloodflower: Likely poisonous, at the very least has some manner of organ or gland that creates the projectile toxins that would need to be removed. Petals look unusually fleshy, and the three mouth-nodules could be similar to snakes, but overall edibility seems... unlikely, at best something that would require an intensive process to achieve.

Seedling: These seem to be surprisingly fleshy for plants, and no mention of toxicity or poison is made. Lower body seems similar to a slug or snail, but no slime trail is observes so likely not as similar as visuals may suggest. Combined with plant-based nature, Seedling is possibly edible and fruit or vegetable like, though it is unusually a plant one has to hunt before eating. Spines likely best if removed, but as the spines are not mentioned to be venomous, it's possible they could be a case of "safe to ingest but not desirable"

Tallon IV Scarab: Small-ish explosive bug, likely edible if you could somehow harvest and cook one without it exploding, but this seems so impossible I'm marking it down as inedible.

Beetle: Large arthropod similar to Zoomer/Geemer, but with added benefit of no mention of flesh eating bacteria. Best outcome, similar to crabs but absolutely massive. Worst outcome, tastes terrible like some insects but otherwise not toxic.

Plated Beetle: Like regular Beetle, but even more massive! Exposed abdomen is large, fleshy, and soft, which means it would likely be an excellent protein (assuming it doesn't taste terrible). Meanwhile, insides likely similar to that of non-plated cousins.

Tallon IV War Wasp: The Wasps themselves are likely edible! Bees and similar bugs on earth are actually a delicacy in some regions, especially the larvae, so War Wasps are possibly similar. Adult bees and wasps can be ground up to make a sort of flour, so there's a potential edibility point. Meanwhile, a logbook entry from Hunters indicates the Luminoth harvest War Wasp hives for the royal jelly, and it's possible that War Wasps have honey, like some terrestrial wasps (though as the vast majority of wasp species don't make honey, it is a slim chance.) Overall, War Wasps are likely incredibly edible.

Ram War Wasp: See the basic War Wasp, though notably in their boss fight, Ram War Wasps have an unusual tendency to dip their stingers into the toxic water seemingly as a means of poisoning them. Likely non-toxic themselves, but it could mean wild Ram War Wasps have contaminants in them.

Barbed War Wasps: Again, see the basic War Wasp. Seemingly a point in the favor of the Barbed War Wasp's favor is their absolutely massive abdomen, however the abdomen is likely larger to house the necessary biological mechanisms that allow for the firing and rapid regrowth of their stinger, as well as the production organs for the acidic compound contained in said stingers, which would almost certainly make Barbed War Wasps require more work to prepare for consumption. Still, likely edible if the proper preparations are taken for the abdomen.

Tallon IV War Wasp Hive: Hive itself likely inedible, but contains War Wasp larvae, royal jelly, and possibly honey (See War Wasp).

Eyon: A giant eye. In some Earth cultures, certain animals' eyes are considered a delicacy, and these are massive. Likely edible if they can be killed and have whatever produces the energy beam removed.

Plazmite: Likely similar to the Earthen Firefly, which is toxic due to all the chemicals needed for the bioluminescense. So, we can safely assume the Plazmite is equally inedible.

Shriekbat: Incredibly high internal temperature (121 Centigrade!) with no harm to self likely means even if they probably aren't poisonous, you'd have to wait forever for it to cool enough to safely eat. If we assume they are kept from cooking themselves while alive through either special organs or an incredibly efficient circulatory system, however, possible the meat of a dead Shriekbat cooks itself from leftover heat. Probably edible but impractical to work with. On the plus side, likely hot enough to kill potential parasites and microbes that try to infest them!

Tallon IV Tangle Weed: Simple plant with no mention of toxicity, likely all individual tendrils of a patch are attached to a singular bulb if their Venom Weed cousins are any indication. Probably edible, though if it is a single bulb one may need a shovel to dig it out.

Tallon IV Venom Weed: Similar to Tangle Weed, but contains a potent, seemingly corrosive venom delivered by barbs, presumably similar to how jellyfish deliver their venom. Further, the toxic water of the Chozo Ruins the Venom Weed is found in is implied to be have made the Venom Weed toxic. Likely inedible barring any changes in the future after the toxic water is gone.

Blastcap: Explicitly mentioned poisonous flesh, spores corrosive enough to eat through Samus's armor (seemingly), and also explodes. So goddamn inedible.

Reaper Vine: Appears to be a long, thick, bramble-like vine, but the ability to move itself implies some kind of muscle analogue. Main vine possibly edible but likely unpleasant, eye might be decently edible. Scythe head likely too tough to eat, sharp and hard enough to damage power armor.

Stone Toad: Large amphibian with rock hard skin and seemingly soft insides. Likely edible like some frogs are on Earth, and being a predator that eats smaller prey whole and with no mention of venoms or toxins likely needs no special preparation. Tough skin could help keep moisture in, keeping flesh nice and juicy for consumption throughout cooking. Only downside is figuring out how to kill and butcher one for consumption with rock hard skin in the way. Theoretically perfectly edible, hindered by lack of means to get through skin to prepare for consumption.

Plated Parasite: See standard Parasite entry at the top. Tougher, nigh unbreakable skin means this one is even more unappealing.

Oculus: Based on official art, somewhat turtle-like creature with a single eye on the top of their shell. Likely edible in the same ways turtles are, though legs are more like crab legs. This all said, the electricity generation means there are likely special organs that require special attention and removal to make the creature's meat edible.

Plated Puffer: Coated in metal and filled with toxic gas. Definitely inedible.

Hive Mecha: Robot, inedible. Contains Ram War Wasps however.

Incinerator Drone: Robot, inedible.

Chozo Ghost: Too intangible to eat, most likely.

Grizby: Large arthropod similar to Zoomer and Geemer, mentioned as carrion feeder, may carry bacteria. Otherwise, likely similar level and state of edibility. Tough carapace would help keep meat together while cooking, similar to cooking some shelled animals in their shell.

Burrower: Large arthropod with acidic spit. Likely too acidic to eat safely, though only the projectile spit is mentioned as acidic. At best need to remove saliva glands, maybe avoid the head all together.

Puffer: See Plated Puffer, just minus the metal coating.

Triclops: Large arthropod similar to Beetles. Likely similarly edible.

Magmoor: Large serpents that live in magma, can breathe fire. Definitely incredibly heat resistant, cooking flesh for consumption is likely difficult unless the skin is capable of surprising levels of temperature insulation, and if they can evolve to live in magma there's potential for parasites and diseases to do the same. Still, nothing suggests the meat is toxic, aside from potentially collecting minerals in their body from living in molten rock. Will put the Magmoor down as a solid "Maybe Edible in certain conditions/with certain prep work"

Puddle Spore: Lava Mollusk. Likely impossible to properly cook as even the insides are not hurt by the extreme heat of lava/magma, meat likely similarly builds up minerals from lava over time as suggested with Magmoor. Probably not edible.

----(Text Block Spacer)----

Crystallite: Large arthropod with ice shell. Ice shell unlikely to impart anything unique to Crystallite flavor wise, but likely as edible as any other large Tallon IV arthropod.

Ice Parasite: Likely similar to standard and Plated Parasites.

Ice Shriekbat: Similar to standard Shriekbat, but icy coating may help cool meat faster. Plus, high internal temperature combined with frigid environment could limit successes of diseases and parasites further than even basic Shriekbat (thermal shock.)

Pulse Bombu: Living ball of electricity, almost certainly inedible.

Scatter Bombu: See Pulse Bombu.

Ice Burrower: Similar to Burrower, but with icy outer shell.

Ice Beetle: Like standard Beetle, but with icy coating.

Flickerbat: Smallish flying hunters that eat small insects. Probably edible, though small, fast, and invisible enough that hunting some may be impractical.

Jelzap: Large aquatic apex predator. Likely edible, though if it's anything like sharks (One of Earth's aquatic apex predators), they may have high concentrations of mercury. Naturally composed of two halves connected by electrical impulses, butchering for meat likely somewhat simplified by this.

Baby Sheegoth: Young Sheegoth, still growing. Highly mobile predators, no mention of being poisonous and no venoms used in hunting implies lack of toxicity. Ice shell likely needs removal, small nubs in back that appear to be the beginning of the adult Sheegoth's crystal cluster likely also inedible. As Sheegoths move (and move fast), they likely have incredibly tough meat in their legs.

Adult Sheegoth: Baby Sheegoth but bigger and older. Crystal nubs in back have become absolutely gargantuan with age. Leg meat likely even tougher than that of Baby Sheegoth. Still likely edible though. Should find use for Sheegoth crystals, very pretty and can absorb energy as a defense mechanism.

Sentry Drone: Inedible, Machine. Unfortunate, as they're annoying enough that I wish I could eat one as a power move... Did I type that out loud?

Space Pirate, Tallon IV Deployment: Likely edible, but ethically I have Questions. Yes these guys are assholes but uh... you'd be eating a sapient creature.

Shadow Pirate: See Space Pirate. Cloaking device probably does not give invisibility when eaten.

Flying Pirate: See Space Pirate. Jetpack fuel likely toxic as well.

Aqua Sac: Like the Sap Sac, but instead of exploding this one just breaks into pieces that float away. Probably even more edible than the Sap Sac!

Tallon Crab: Formerly edible, but sadly Phazon mutation/contamination has made them no longer edible. Thanks Space Pirate High Command. >:(

Aqua Reaper: Looks like a giant squid or octopus tentacle. If they are like giant space octopus tentacles then I'd say edible, Space Calamari.

Aqua Drone: See Sentry Drone, but with added sogginess.

Aqua Pirate: See Space Pirate. Could see if special armor is salvageable and sell for credits, then just get a meal delivered by Space GrubHub.

Mega Turret: Bigger than Auto Turret, but likely just as inedible what with being made of metal and wires.

Glider: Large flying mollusk. Described as curiously magnetic, can be affected by Grapple Beam. Fleshy parts of body consist of eyes and a bunch of blue fleshy nodules going by official art. At best unpleasant to eat unless cooked in shell, at worst full of ferrous metals that could make it toxic.

Elemental Troopers: See Space Pirate, and no I'm not describing flavor profiles for each trooper.

Elite Pirate: See Space Pirate AND see Tallon Crab. It has both ethics questions and Phazon contamination! Inedible on like 50 levels! Ok maybe just two. Still.

Phazon Elite: See Elite Pirate. But also, has so much Phazon it likely gives radiation poisoning just by being within 10 inches of the thing without shielding.

----(Text Block Spacer)----

Metroid: Metroids are likely edible if they can be killed without shattering them. Outer membrane likely similar to jellyfish (which can be eaten), and rest of body also seems edible if cooked properly. Bioenergy absorption effects on edibility unknown, pirates describe the energy as not really taking a form they can scan or interact with.

Hunter Metroid: See Metroid, but larger and with tentacle that may serve as another edible part.

Fission Metroid: Inedible, result of heavy Phazon mutation/contamination.

Lumigek: Lives in the rotting remains of a Leviathan/Phazon Meteor. Likely radioactive enough to poison through proximity. Inedible.

Parasite Queen: Phazon contamination/mutation, likely inedible for that alone. Also, acidic saliva production is driven into overdrive by mutation, would require removal even if not rendered inedible by Phazon.

Flaahgra (and Tentacles): Source of poisons in Chozo Ruins waterways, likely full of the same toxins and would at best require intensive cleaning and cooking process to render even remotely consumable. Plus, likely a major Phazon mutant. Almost certainly inedible.

Thaardus: Sapient chunks of Phazon ore. Inedible and tooth shattering. Oh and radioactive also a consideration.

Omega Pirate: Arguably the second-least edible Pirate, behind only the Phazon Elite and likely tied with the Berserker Lord from 3.

Meta Ridley: As kickass as being known as the person to bring down and eat a Space Dragon would be, ethically I have Questions since Ridley is Sapient (Check the Manga that detail's canon!). Plus, likely so full of cybernetics that butchering is difficult. Yes I know the temptation to eat him in revenge for Samus's parents is there, but overall I must say edible chemically speaking, but ethically bad.

Metroid Prime: Metroid Prime is undoubtedly so full of Phazon that I'm pretty sure getting anywhere near it without the Phazon Suit should be fatal. Giant arthropod shape could imply similar meat to beetles, but in the NA GC Version it's full of assimilated technology and even without that it's probably just not feasible due to, again, massive Phazon levels. Core Essence even worse, basically the Bombu but made of Phazon energy. 100% Inedible.

[spinningbuster98]

I sometimes see people claiming that Dread indirectly ruined Samus' relationship with the Baby due to the reveal that she has Thoha DNA, which presumably means that the reason why it mistook her for its mother was not due to imprinting but genetic programming

First off: Dread never says this, anywhere

Secondly: while it can be easy to consider this as an unwanted implication, one born from Dread's admiteddly rushed finale that really liked to throw new twists and concepts at you without really elaborating on them or their consequences, I think that the people who believe in the former assertion do so while forgetting that, according to the game, Samus has both Thoha AND Mawkin DNA in her

While the former may incentivize Metroids (or at least their larvae) to follow orders the latter should have the opposite effect, pushing them to see her as an enemy

Considering the presence of both DNA strands in her it's unlikely that Metroids would behave exclusively one way or the other towards her: it's possible that they'd feel confused upon encountering Samus or, as I like to believe, that the opposing effects of both DNAs cancel each other out, thus making the Metroids act neutrally towards Samus...which for the creatures usually means with generic aggression as the Metroids are just naturally inclined to attack any life form they come across, just not due to viewing them as enemies specifically like they would the Mawkin but rather simply by viewing them as food

Of course from the Baby's POV it would see Samus as just another life form that it just happened to mistake for its mother

Of course I'm sorta doing the writers' job for them a bit here, but what I'm trying to say is: Dread itself never states or tries to imply that the only reason why the Baby bonded to Samus was due to her genetics, at worst it could be an unfortunate implication that can be dismissed through the use of other information the game gives us

[baking-potato-27]

I’ve now own just about every Pikmin game and I want to put my thoughts somewhere. So here it is.

Pikmin Adventure (NintendoLand): How I got into the series! Very different from the other games though, and honestly more similar to NintendoLand’s Zelda and Metroid games.

Pikmin 4: My first real Pikmin game. I went into this more or less completely blind and I was immediately hooked. Within a week of owning it I had 46 hours of play time. I’ve beaten it several times now and it’s becoming somewhat of a comfort game for me.

Pikmin 3: I have 41 fruits and have unlocked all areas. My brother already beat this game so I know some things I otherwise wouldn’t — namely that, unlike in 4, you can’t keep playing after beating the final boss, so I want to get as many fruits as I can before entering the final area.

Pikmin 1: Got this on the Switch (1+2 bundle). I went in mostly blind, only knowing things I’ve incidentally seen while looking at the wiki for things from the other games. So far I have 9 days left and 4 parts left, which feels like a good pace, but I haven’t found any bomb rocks in the Forest Navel so that’s going to make things difficult. (3/4 parts I have left are in that area.) Edit: I actually had 11 days left at that point, not 9. I got the remaining 3 parts over the next two days, so I actually have 9 days left and only the Final Trial.

Pikmin 2: Harder than I expected! I kinda took rock pikmin for granted when fighting cannon larvae in 3 and 4, for example. Based purely on pokos I’m 40% of the way through the game, but given that I’m only on day 7, that feels misleading at best.

Pikmin Bloom: Pokémon Go but for Pikmin. I’ve had this for a while and it was nice when I went to university and walked everywhere, but now I live in a fairly rural area where there’s no mushrooms or tall flowers for miles. Plus I hit the 300 pikmin limit and I don’t feel like paying $2 per 50 additional pikmin(!)

[beevean]

"Samus spared the Baby because she couldn't bring herself to shoot an infant!"

Tell that to all the Baby Sheegoths, Baby Bloggs and, y'know, all the Metroid larvae (which are still infants as demonstrated by the Metroids' life cycle) she's killed over the years

She spares the Baby because it had mistaken her for its mother. That's the reason why she couldn't bring herself to shoot it, because of its display of pure innocence. It's a slight difference but an important one

Samus Returns actually depicts it perfectly: she was going to kill it, but after seeing how innocently it chirped about, having already imprinted on her. Had it tried to attack her she wouldn't have hesitated to shoot, baby or not

Yeah, that's fair.

The Baby is not just a baby in the sense that it just hatched: it displayed a behavior similar to an innocent baby animal. You're right that the SR cutscene paints it very well, as it focuses on Samus keeping the gun pointed at it but clearly conflicted between "this is the last Metroid, this thing will be dangerous, I need to complete my mission" and "but... but it's just a child... it's not doing anything to me... look, it's chirping and it sounds happy to see me... could it be that Metroids can be innocuous?"

The Sheegoths attack Samus on sight and they're vicious so fuck them, they get their back shattered :P

(still, if Samus spared The Baby because it was completely docile, that doesn't explain why she fried Crocomire :<)

[orchidbreezefc]

i just finished super metroid today. i think bookends to a game are cool, but not when they highlight the fact that you are exactly where you started with nothing to show and in fact things would have been better if you never did anything at all and just stayed home.

the game starts with the player answering a distress call on ceres and facing ridley, who escapes with a metroid larva that samus saved in the previous game and was quite attached to her. then the first bookend: a self-destruct sequence on ceres activates for some reason and you have to escape.

samus follows ridley to planet zebes and the rest of the game happens. you explore and shoot aliens and find gear that lets you explore more places to shoot more aliens. it's a very fun game actually!

in the final bit, your old metroid larva pal (now grown up) is mortally wounded in the process of saving you after you awaken the final boss by shooting the jar it's in. defeating the final boss then starts THIS planet's self-destruct sequence for some reason. so there's your other bookend; you can spend it running to your ship and thinking "so... nothing i did in this game had any benefit, huh?"

when you answered the distress call you didnt save ceres, or even stop ridley. your metroid pal thrived on zebes, feasting like a king and growing huge, maybe even breeding. YOU activate a dormant monster, which causes the death of the metroid and then, minutes after, the planet and everything on it.

when i started playing the game i was feeling the standard colonialism video game discomfort, like. why am i killing these aliens. that seems ethically dubious. theyre just chilling in their native habitat. many of them are hostile, but im an intruder in their territory, of course they are! i didnt expect the game to validate this feeling so completely.

the framing doesn't register the bleakness though. as you fly away from the explosion the game exclaims "MISSION SUCCESS!" and i just sat there thinking, what mission? what success?

if my "mission" was to stop whatever ridley's plan with the metroid was (can ridley plan? he seems to be just a big space pterosaur) then you do succeed, by killing ridley (a while earlier), and the metroid, and everything else on zebes, and zebes. you got some suit upgrades and weapons, so that's cool i guess. don't think too much about the intelligent civilization on this planet that made them, or the artifically constructed environments they had built.

this is admittedly a very 2023 way of thinking about this game, but if you ask me, the bigger statement is that this wasn't the 1994 way of thinking about it. i guess it is a really fun game, after you manage to quiet the moral questions in your head, and before they all come rushing back up at you again.

[azorious-saber-cat]

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes - Chykka Larva Battle

[0m3g45n1p3r4lph4]

Hello ^.^ for the metroid ask game:

5, 6, 15, 26, and 45?

The Ask Game in question!

I have a lot to say so I'm putting this under a readmore xD

5: Favourite Suit design(s)?

Dread. The Dread Power and Varia are absolute peak, the only complaint I could even *think* of being pedantic enough to suggest is that the Dread power shoulders be more angular than round, and that's nitpicking to the highest degree. I'm not as big as fan of the Gravity - I've always been of the opinion that the Varia should hold title as the bulkiest suit, being specifically an armour barrier, while the Gravity suit is mainly focused on environmental factors and movement unrestriction. Dread's Gravity being thicker and more armored makes sense for the narrative of her suit regenerating armour, but still. Plus I miss the blue lights. Why did we walk back on that.

ESPECIALLY AFTER MERCURYSTEAM DESIGNED THE BEST GRAVITY SUIT IN THE HISTORY OF GRAVITY SUITS WITH SAMUS RETURNS! MULTIPLE SHADES OF PURPLE, DRAMATIC ANGULAR BLUE LIGHTS, WEIRD LOOKING GREEBLING AND MACHINE BITS, 20/10 EASY

Special mention to the Zero Mission base Power Suit, doesn't get enough credit and hardly gets justice in the other games. And also to the specific depiction of the Prime Trilogy Varia in Hunters with the exception of the Arm Cannon. For those unfamiliar, Hunters uses the same suit as in Prime 2 and 3, but the same gunship and arm cannon as in Prime 1, to sell the game being between Prime and Echoes. It's a great detail I love, but I especially adore the promotional artwork showing Samus in battle poses - if you look really closely, you can faintly see her face through the visor. I love that detail and look for it every time.

6: Least favourite Suit design?

As a Base Power Suit fan, I don't like how it's depicted in either Prime or Other M. The shoulders in Prime are so weirdly disconnected from the arms and solidly bolted to the chestplate. It feels wrong and lanky, as though it's incomplete without the Varia. I get why they might do so, but the Base Power Suit is the original Suit. The Chozo wouldn't make it completely shit on purpose. This then goes the opposite way with Other M - there is a decent Base Power Suit model in the game used for a single flashback cutscene of her time with the Federation, and the game uses a recolored Varia Suit like in Zero Mission after getting the Fully Powered Suit. Not a single piece of Metroid media supports this depiction - Super, Prime, or Samus Returns, and ZM doesn't officially let you disable Varia Suit to find out.

Special credit to Samus Returns for my least favourite Varia though - in contrast to Other M's hyper-smooth aesthetic, the SR Varia feels... overdesigned. And the proportions even more dramatically exaggerated, though it looks worse in promotional art than in-game. (Plus there's some details of Gravity I wish carried into Varia, but again pedantic about how Nintendo should handle their suits)

15: Most atmospheric game?

"Atmosphere" is such a tough word to quantify, because some folks are going to be more interested in or cognizant of certain atmospheres, but if I had to pick a single one? Return of Samus

I actually really like the atmosphere in M2RoS - the soundscape exists almost entirely for the idea of an alien world, getting quieter and more unsettling as you venture deeper into SR-388 and see firsthand how their predatory hunting without a balance destroys the environment, a fact I much lament the lack of in Samus Returns. The walk with the Baby and seeing the stars shining little beacons of hope for the future, the dramatic shift in music when you realize the Metroid Hive is inside a Chozo Laboratory, hinting at their connected narrative earlier than anything else would; and of course that ramping in intensity as the Metroid counter rises and some infants mature into adolescent Larva. Vastly underappreciated game, both for its time and still holding up now if you're willing to soak into it.

Special mention to Echoes though, every part of that game helps to immerse in the Luminoth's world, emphasize their struggles through it all and the care it once held. Retro cooked with scan logs, and having additional context to sit with and really feel an area and it's history is so good that I feel it missing from Dread. Lemme scan animals and know what they're called.

I like my worlds feeling alive, and that either needs animal behaviors and living habits (big kudos to Dread for pulling this off even without Scans though like I adore how they made different animals have different degrees of agression *to the point where the Melee Tutorial Muzby is protecting the eggs in thw background hence her heightened agression from the rest of her otherwise neutral species*) or context for developments (scan logs provide so much for the Chozo Ruins, not to say they wouldn't still interest without them).

26: Least favourite Area or Sub-Area?

Damn. Maridia quicksand sucks. They managed to make fear of water level with Wrecked Ship's entryway, alleviate it with Gravity Suit, and then make the water level bad with impossible to escape quicksand. It feels like there's a 50/50 chance you jump normally based on specific frame alternation?? Something stupid I should look up.

Special credits to Sector Zero though lmao getting me all hyped up for GFed Tourian akin to Fusion, only to -*mic cuts away before The Other M Rant begins*

45: Best vs. Worst Final Boss

Gonna real quick separate Final Boss from True Final Bosses, there's a distinction there. A Final Boss is the last challenge of your abilities. The True Final Boss is a glorified story beat. FB in Fusion would be SA-X testing skills and having all the buildup, TFB is the Omega that defies previous canon and contains our first chain of Super Metroid sacrifice references. FB in Dread is Raven Beak, with the buildup and test of skill, while TFB RB-X is a story beat where you basically get free win. I wanted to rip it's arm off, not just -*the mic is once again taken before this becomes the Metroid Dread ending rant*

Best Final Boss goes to Raven Beak from Metroid Dread. Just about every final boss has good story feel, so Raven Beak wins out through sheer combat. This guy wants you dead for defying him and he's still somehow going easy on you. How many bosses will try to bait out certain dodges and punish with combos? Raven Beak does. It makes me wish the counter was more involved, but again that takes me into my How To Further Improve Melee Counter rant. Even now being able to kick his ass feels like a great rush of adrenaline. I should really be trying to beat more Dread randomizers, see how well I can handle him without 100% equipment or extra modifiers.

Special bonus points for Dark Samus 4 in Echoes. I love how she becomes more like the Metroid Prime Essence as she overindulges in Phazon, and it's honestly a shame that didn't happen at all in Corruption.

Worst Final Boss is easily MB, who behaves like an exaggerated TFB. Look at her and someone else takes the kill instantly. Phantoon has more depth and I've beaten that guy without loading his health bar and skipping the dramatic finish by accident, because how fast I was charging beams.

Special bad loser points for every Mother Brain in the series I guess. (Sorry Super MB isn't a super fun fight, it's mostly just spectacle and story drama. I love those of it but there's a reason randomizers let you skip the fight.

That's all of them! Thanks so much for the ask!

[sadponygodzillagirl]

didn’t know about the other metroid forms until right before i played metroid 2. i had no idea what the omega was when i played fusion. at some point i read that other m has a queen metroid and i pictured the classic larva form with a little crown, kind of like king boo

[prokopetz]

Those are metroid larvae. An adult metroid is twenty feet tall and looks like this:

I think the next Metroid game to be positioned chronologically after Dread should reverse the trend of making Samus smaller and more delicate-looking with every successive instalment and put her right back where she was circa Super Metroid (i.e., six-foot-whatever and two hundred pounds). I think this discrepancy should be diegetically acknowledged exactly once, entirely in passing, as part of a long, technobabble-laden sentence containing the phrase "metroid DNA", then never come up again.

[postal-ech]

MORE METROID BULLSHIT

Alright because I've gotten hyped up on Metroid again, like the autistic fucking gremlin that I am for all things metroid related, let me tell you all about the Metroid

UNDERNEATH THIS BREAK OF COURSE!

LETS START WITH THE BASICS:

SO

WHAT IN THE FUCK IS A METROID???

In the layman's terms, for those just getting into the series either from Dread or the Prime remaster or Prime 4 being REAL: Metroids are little energy parasites that latch onto the heads of their prey to literally suck the life energy out of them in their entirety

The most important thing to understand is that they are the larval stage of their life cycle

See, when the Chozo were expanding out from their homeworlds, they discovered the vibrant, hollow planet known as SR388 - Ili Agar Nalima, in their language.

And that planet contained the most god-forsaken, horrific parasite to ever exist in the galaxy (right up there with Phazon, which we'll discuss later)

The X Parasite

See, the X have this horrifying ability to Mimic their host down to the individual strand of DNA and even their memories - like The Thing on fucking steroids. A single X Parasite could infiltrate an organized Galactic society and within weeks, let alone even days, totally convert the populace into more X Parasites.

The Chozo understandably flipped the fuck out and decided the best course of action would be to kill a nuke with another nuke

Enter: The Metroid

The Metroid's lifestyle was made to counter the X Parasite's cycle entirely - As they are utterly immune to the parasitification of their DNA, even outright consuming them entirely should the X pass through their membrane, the Metroids utterly changed the balance of SR388's ecosystem.

Now keep in mind, the Chozo DID understand the implications of an energy-sucking parasite taking over the planet, so when they were first created, they were made only with the intent to have the larvae as just their primary form

Unfortunately, however, there was something the Chozo didn't factor into their creations: their ability to adapt to their environment to an extreme degree

For some reason that's still unknown in the greater metroid canon, Metroids began to evolve, and obtained a life cycle of their own - What were once easily controllable larvae became highly aggressive alphas, betas, gammas, zetas and omegas, and eventually one Queen as well.

Now it's not really known if the Chozo created the Queen with the intent of producing larvae, or if the Chozo mass produced the larvae themselves, but whatever the case was, now they were an uncontrollable animal that had to be sealed away, deeper in the planet itself.

(Image source: warahi on DeviantArt)

The biggest thing to note is that this lifecycle gave the metroid an immunity to cold - all larval metroids have an inate weakness to colder temperatures, but metroids past that larval stage on SR388 remain immune or heavily resistant to it.

And this is where the most important thing comes to mind for the metroid.

While All Metroids have an incredible ability to adapt to ANY PLANET'S ATMOSPHERE.

This has allowed their exploitation by other parties and, by extention, the creation of other strains of metroids.

For example, the Mochtroid!

So in an earlier post I mentioned they're created through Gamma radiation!

THAT IS FUCKING INCORRECT!

It is actually through the use of Beta Radiation!

And they are considered fucking failures!

See, Mochtroids are the results of exposing the baby metroid in Super to Beta Radiation. This can also create actual copies of larval metroids too, but for some reason this had a result of producing Mochtroids too

It isn't exactly stated as to how these Mochtroids are produced, as they could very well just be a failed space pirate experiment to make metroids more akin to their SR388 variant or just attempting to make their own much like the Chozo, but either way, they're real and they're absolutely pathetic.

The biggest thing to note is their singular nuclei, and their very weak grip strength.

Now the Mochtroids we see in the Prime 4 trailer look more akin to normal metroids too, so perhaps this may be a more refined, mass produced version of a mochtroid - like a mass produced jeep, sort of reliable but not as god-tier as the God damn original.

(Car analogy, I know, but bear with me)

But another thing to keep in mind is that metroid morphology will adapt to their atmosphere, as said above, but this can also be a negative for them too

Like the Talon metroid!

See, Talon Metroids have a characteristic to them where they are FAR. FAR WEAKER compared to their Zebes and SR388 variants, but not as weak as a mochtroid

Where Metroids take a shitload of firepower to kill, and need to be frozen to kill, and Mochtroids can just be shot out of the air with a grapple beam, the Talon IV metroid is kind of like a middle ground - you can kill it with conventional arms, but freezing it and firing a missile at it just outright kills it entirely.

Now this could be because of the atmospheric exposure to phazon, but this also resulted in the Hunter Metroid! My Beloved...

And an artistic concept to boot

Hunter Metroids developed an adaptation where these mother fuckers hunt from range

No longer do they need to get up close and latch to you when they just fling a tendril at you and just murder your shit in!

They also are just as strong as a Talon IV metroid, however that shouldn't degrade their overall danger

It's very much thought that they're the next step towards the Hatcher Metroid from Prime 3 given their similar appearance, but we'll get to that later.

Eventually in the Phazon Crater, you'll even find Fission Metroids, which are immune to freezing and even split themselves in two as well! And that isn't considering the Metroid Prime, which is a very VERY heavily mutated metroid as well!

The most unique variant is the Aether Metroid imo. It's a Talon Metroid that has adapted to Aether's atmosphere and have this harsh red membrane to them. They're also have the ability to reproduce on their own!!! They have nest structures that incubate their larvae, and these larvae instantly mature through the consumption and exposure to phazon as well! There's also the Dark Metroid but that's an Ing possession we won't cover here.

Prime 3 really deep dives into a metroid life cycle fully exposed to phazon.

The Phaazetroid is a Metroid so heavily exposed to Phazon they're essentially considered a different metroid species with a completely different life cycle.

They start off as miniroids, or little baby metroids

(These are Infant Metroids from prime 2 but pretend they're miniroids)

Eventually they'll mature and evolve into Phaazetroids, which have a much more unique body shape compared to a normal metroid

They almost look like Mochtroids, don't they!?

Now eventually these things will evolve again, and we're not sure which ends up next, but eventually a Hatcher Metroid becomes reality - the only metroid in their genus capable of producing eggs

And then you have the Hopping Metroid, which looks very, oddly similar to the Metroid Prime...

(Unfortunately I ran the image limit here so imagine a funni quadraped little bastard here)

Eventually they evolve into Phazon Hoppers...and then it's implied they eventually become a Metroid Prime themselves, with enough time given to them

Overall, with Prime 4 coming out in 2025, I'd say to expect some more metroid fuckery when it comes to the Space Pirates and Sylux. What those metroids of his may be could very well be a new and refined variant of Mochtroid...or it could be another metroid strain entirely!

But GOD DAMN I can't wait!

Thanks for attending my metroid Ted talk by the way, expect more of this shit eventually.