Character Sheet: Samus Aran

SAMUS ARAN

And now, let's take a quick break to go over our new characters from the six games that fall under the "Metroid" label (no Primes or remakes). As you can see, we have twenty (or twenty-five to be more accurate, but we'll get to those. They are:

1. Samus

2. Adam Malkovitch

3. Mother Brain

4. MB*

5. Ridley

6. Kraid

7. Raven Beak

8. SA-X

9. Space Pirate

10. Kihunter

11. Metroid

12. X-Parasite

13. Autoad

14. Chozo Soldier

15. Robot Chozo Soldier

16. EMMI

17. Torizo

18. Phantoon

19. Nightmare

20. Metroid Queen

Samus Aran is our protagonist, the first major female video game protagonist (after Ms. Pac-Man, of course), a bounty hunter raised by a race called the Chozo and trained from childhood to do superhuman feats of strength and agility, bolstered by a special power suit designed just for her. She is often called in to dangerous situation, to wipe out alien parasites created as a result of malevolent bio-engineering. She is awesome.

Samus comes equipped with several staples of her suit, including multiple forms of beams, bombs, and missiles, all of which can do various things and take out enemies in ways the others can't. She can also roll up into a ball (don't question what that would do to her spine), and perform several moves that allow her to get up high, like the screw attack, the hi-jump boots, and the space jump. Honestly, her moveset was well planned out by the Smash developers.

Here's the moveset I came up with:

Standard B: Charge Beam

Charge beam works well enough, though it would be reasonable to have a bunch of her beams, like the ice beam, the spazer beam, and the wide beam in there too.

Side B: Missile

Just like the charge beam, this is a perfectly reasonable option to stick here. I also like the Missile/Super Missile option they worked in with it.

Up B: Screw Attack

Any of them would work, but Screw Attack is very iconic, so let's keep it.

Down B: Bombs

Naturally, this has to be bombs. Bombs are so important in the Metroid series.

Final Smash: Multiple Options

The big wide beam that she uses is fine, although I can't think of a specific move it pulls from in the series itself. She could also call in her ship the way Zero-Suit does, and she could use things like the Omega Cannon and such from more modern games.

Entrance: She will step out of a lift

Taunts: Up, she will raise her arm and fix her cannon for a second. Side, she will hold out her arm and tap on it for a second to look over her mission. Down, she will crouch and look ready.

Kirby Hat: Her helmet

Kart: Based on her ship

Special Move: She can turn into a morph ball and cross non-track areas faster than she normally could.

Spirit Battle: Solo battle, on Planet Zebes, with specific Metroid series items dropping around the stage periodically.

Victory Screen: She will float in a beam of light as the power-up song plays.

Losing Screen: She will look stunned as her suit shatters off of her.

Color Swaps: Varia Suit, Power Suit, Gravity Suit, Fusion Suit, Omega Suit, Metroid Suit, Dark Samus-based suit, helmet-less suit.

Thanks for reading! Next up, Samus's mentor and other fellow Space Marines.

Metroid: Other M

METROID: OTHER M

Psst . . . do you get it? The initials say MOM. Also putting M in front of Other makes Mother. Honestly, if I had a nickel . . . 

Anyway, Metroid: Other M is a bit of a black sheep of the Metroid franchise, with most seeming to hate it. I honestly think the badness was oversold to me a little, as I had been led to believe that Samus had been portrayed as this sniveling weak coward in the Ridley scene and that Adam had been a massive abusive jerk, and then I ended up watching it and was like . . . that's it? She's a little stunned for a second? And he's a bit on the more "hard mentor" side, but not even egregiously? Did everyone overreact? I think everyone overreacted. Anyhoo, the story follows Samus as she responds to a distress call on a scientific vessel, only to find the crew dead and encountering a Federation unit led by Adam Malkovitch.

Samus returns, as always. She brings with her her power suit and her charge beam, also gaining a morph ball, bombs, missiles, power bombs, the ice beam, her speed booster, the wave beam, the grapple beam, super missiles, the space jump, the screw attack, the gravity suit, and the power bombs. She also appears as Zero Suit Samus, though only briefly and she quickly suits up.

We get to see Adam Malkovitch alive, with the game showing the events leading up to his death. He leads a team of Federation soldiers made up of Samus's friend Anthony Higgs, Lyle Smithsonian, Maurice Favreau, James Pierce, and K.G. Misawa. All six are shown using lasers, bombs, freeze guns, regular guns, and plasma cannons throughout. One of them is also a traitor (though that ends up being unresolved in-game, it was revealed to be Pierce by the game's directors). Another important ally is Madeline Bergman, the last remaining scientist on the Bottle Ship.

Our villain turns out to be MB, a recreation of Mother Brain intended to control the Metroids but put into a cloned human body dubbed Melissa Bergman, that Madeline had gotten attached to. MB went rogue, using her mental powers to control the monsters held in the facility and kill all the scientists. MB is shown to have superhuman strength and uses a gun, but her real notable ability comes in her ability to control monsters, something we will come back to in a moment.

The base is full of a number of other returning bosses, all cloned from those Samus had fought in the past. These included the Metroid Queen, Ridley, Phantoon, and Nightmare. The Metroid Queen could bite and breathe fire, and was surrounded by her eggs. Ridley started out in a small fuzzy form that proved surprisingly violent, grew into a middle stage, and finally took on his true form once again. He could fly, bite, breath fire, crawl on the wall, slam Samus into the wall, swipe with his tail, and drop a fire bomb. Nightmare had tentacles and lasers, crawled around on its belly, and made its arm glow. Phantoon had tentacles and could throw energy orbs.

There's also a set of mini-bosses (I guess) that Samus would have to face regularly while on special lifts. These include the reptilian Ghalmanians, who can headbutt, spit acid, strike with a clawlike tongue, grab with their tail, and turn invisible; the digging Griptians, who can roll, slash with claws, punch, burrow into the ground, shoot spikes, and fly with wings; the electrical Kyratians, who could fire electric blasts from rods on their back, spin, kick, create a shield around themselves, and let off an overblast; the butterfly-like Desbrachians, who can fly, slash, slam, give off an energy wave, and shield themselves in a cocoon; and the big Rhedogians, who could fly, fire a big laser, fire remote lasers, slash with its tentacles, and slam hard on the ground. I bring these all up because they all have solid movesets, and could possibly fall under MB's control.

Other bosses include the Brug Mass, a big mass of the Brug enemies; the King Kihunter, who just kind of hangs out in its next; the plant-like Groganch; the big-armored Asborean; the draconic Goyagma; the fish-like Vorash; and the RB176 Ferrocrusher, piloted by the traitor, that throws crates and shoots missiles.

Returning enemies include Geemers, Wavers, Reos, Skrees, Dessgeegas, Sidehoppers, Namihes, Funes, Zeroes, Skulteras, Bulls, Mellas, Magdollites, with Kihunters, and Zebesians. The Kihunters could fly, drain energy, grab, and shoot energy orbs. The Zebesians could crawl on walls and shoot lasers and wave beams. New enemies include Cyclaws, Dragotixes, Gigafraugs, FG-II Grahams, Whipvines, Himellas, Volfons, Fumbleyes, Sandfangs, and Baristutes.

Most of the game takes place in the Bottle Ship, a scientific vessel where a bunch of cloning was going on, recreating most of the monsters Samus had destroyed. The ship had a main sector and sector zero, then had three biome spheres containing specific types of life, including the jungle-like Biosphere, the cold Cryosphere, and the superhot Pyrosphere. There is also a Federation vessel that Samus starts out on.

And that should be just about it! Here's what we've got so far:

Characters:

Samus Aran: power suit, power beam, morph ball, missile, long beam, bomb, ice beam, high jump boots, Varia Suit, Screw Attack, wave beam, spider ball, spring ball, space jump, spazer beam, plasma beam, Speed Booster, Grappling Beam, X-Ray Scope, Gravity Suit, Hyper Beam, Fusion Suit, wide beam, power bombs, omega suit, Omega Cannon, spider magnet, phantom cloak, flash shift, pulse radar, cross bomb, storm missiles, drain, giant beam, glowing hand.

Zero-Suit Samus: All listed above (except suits of course)

Adam Malkovitch/Anthony Higgs/Lyle Smithsonian/Maurice Favreau/James Pierce/K.G. Misawa: lasers, bombs, freeze guns, guns, plasma cannons, traitor

Quiet Robe

EMMI: grab, wall climb, crawl, scan, rampage, energy spike

Mother Brain: laser, glass casing, Rinkas, energy barriers, T-Rex body, eye beam, explosive rocks, energy disks

MB: mental powers, superhuman strength, gun, control monsters

Ridley: hop, fireballs, flying, swinging tail, screen attack, tail bounce, fire breath, grab and lift, fuzzy form, middle stage, fly, bite, breath fire, crawl on wall, slam into wall, swipe with tail, fire bomb

Kraid: blades, spikes, bombs, claw, plasma breath, bite, neck harness

Raven Beak: laser blast, leap, absorb energy, dash, scan, orb of darkness, energy beam, wings, stomp, supernova

X-Parasite: attach, orbs, shapeshift, more parasites, ice, get big, cross bomb

SA-X: missiles, super bombs, ice beam, screw attack, monster, stomp

Neo-Ridley

Phantoon: ghost, drop fire, ring of fire, tentacles, energy orbs

Nightmare: tentacles, lasers, crawl on belly, arm glow

Crocomire: charge, slash, skeleton

Metroid: float, drain energy, rise from shell, fly, claws, electricity, fire, fireballs

Metroid Queen: stretch neck, spike balls, swallow, spit up Samus, breathe fire, bite

Baby Metroid

Space Pirate: claw, energy beam, cling to wall, hop from walls, kick, throw claws, lasers, swim, wave beams

Torizo: walk, spit bombs, rubble, energy waves, jump, drop eggs

Chozo Soldier: spear, wall jump, stab down, dash, sludge wave, goop spray, shield

Robot Chozo Soldier: laser, arm scythe, dash, laser beam, jump spin

Kihunters: fly, spit acid, drain energy, grab, energy orbs, King Kihunter

Ghalmanians: headbutt, spit acid, clawlike tongue, grab with tail, invisible

Griptians: roll, slash, punch, burrow, spikes, fly

Kyratians: electric blasts, spin, kick, shield, overblast

Desbrachians: fly, slash, slam, energy wave, cocoon

Rhedogians: fly, big laser, remote lasers, tentacles, slam

Hornoad

Autom: look into

Bosses:

Arachnus

Phantoon

Draygon

Crocomire

Botwoon

Spore Spawn

Zazabi

Serris

Yakuza

Nettori

Nightmare

Neo-Ridley

Corpius

Drogyga

Golzuna

Escue

Experiment No. Z-57

Stages:

Planet Zebes

Brinstar

Norfair

Tourian

SR388

Ceres Space Colony

Crateria

Maridia

Wrecked Ship

Biologic Space Laboratories

ZDR

Artaria

Cataris

Dairon

Burenia

Ghavoran

Ferenia

Elun

Hanubia

Itorash

Bottle Ship

Biosphere

Cryosphere

Pyrosphere

Thanks for reading! And now, let's take a break and do a batch of character sheets, starting with our leading lady herself.

Metroid Dread

METROID DREAD

The history of Metroid Dread is long and complicated. First planned in 2005 but cancelled due to technical limitations, it was unveiled fifteen years later and released in 2022 to worldwide acclaim. It acts as a sequel to Fusion, with Samus being sent to the planet ZDR after evidence that some X-Parasites had survived SR388's destruction had resulted in seven E.M.M.I. robots disppearing there.

Samus is our returning hero, starting out with a basic suit (still stuck in one as she is still part Metroid now). She comes with her Omega Cannon and Charge Beam, but also picks up the spider magnet, phantom cloak, wide beam, morph ball, bombs, flash shift, grapple beam, pulse radar, super missiles, plasma beam, ice missiles, cross bomb, storm missiles, space jump, power bombs, a drain ability, a giant beam, and a glowing hand that destroys the E.M.M.I.s.

Adam Malkovitch returns again as Samus's AI computer, and an old Chozo named Quiet Robe functions as an ally for Samus as well. EMMIs were robots designed to be allies to Samus, but they were corrupted by the game's villain and now stalk the game, hunting down Samus and killing her instantly if they ever catch her. They can grab, wall climb, crawl, scan, rampage at full speed, and stab Samus through with an energy spike. There are seven of them, who all behave slightly differently, but each has those same basic abilities.

Raven Beak is our main villain, a Chozo from a warrior clan using X-Parasites for his own purposes. His presence around Samus also excites the Metroid DNA within her, causing it to rapidly accelerate and take over her body. He can fire a laser blast, leap, absorb energy, dash really fast, scan with a laser, create an orb or darkness, fire an energy beam, fly with wings, stomp, and create a supernova. The X-Parasites also maintain a strong presence, shapeshifting, spawning offspring, and using the cross bomb.

Other bosses include the returning Kraid, who can spit up bombs, claw, fire spikes, spew plasma, and bite, all while being restrained by a neck harness that pulls him back. After him we have Corpius, a scorpion-thing with a stinger that can turn invisible; Drogyga, an aquatic thing with tentacles that can shoot fireballs; Golzuna, a big spider-like thing; Escue, a big flying thing; and Experiment No. Z-57, a bio-experiment with tentacles that can shoot lasers. After them, we also have the Central Units that supply the power to kill EMMIs, and two types of Chozo Soldiers. The regular ones carry spears, can wall jump, stab down, dash, throw out waves of sludge and spray goop, and carry shields. The Robot Chozo Soldiers shoot lasers, are equipped with arm scythes, can dash, shoot laser beams, and jump spin.

After them, it's a whole lot of enemies doing the same things as before. Generally one specific ability, filling a certain niche, and generally, they all come with different names. These include Armadiggers, Batalloons, Blindflies, Caterzillas, Chozo Zombies, Daivos, Depthorns, Dizzeans, Dredheds, Dropters, Fings, Fulmites, Gobblers, Muzbies, Gooplots, Gooshockers, Ground Shockers, Hecathons, Icefleas, Infesters, Klaidas, Kreeps, Lightened Krills, Lum Ells, Nailongs, Nailuggers, Obsydomithons, Omnithons, Planteaters, Plies, Quetzoas, Redenkis, Rock Divers, Rods, Rodotuks, Sabotorus, Sakais, Sclawks, Scourges, Sea Slugs, Shakernauts, Sharpaws, Shelmits, Siluros, Slaagas, Slidles, Spitclawks, Spittails, Sunnaps, Takumakus, Vulkrans, Yampas, Yojimbees, and five machines starting with Aut-, including Autclast, Autector, Autool, Autsharp, and Autsniper. And now that I'm putting the blogs together, I'm noticing a few of these, so I'm going to go back over them all on my own time and see what's there.

As for stages, the whole thing takes place on the Planet ZDR, a Chozo outpost inhabited by the warlike Mawkin tribe. Each region has slight variations, but its all mostly "alien world" so . . . there's Artaria, Cataris, Dairon, Burenia, Ghavoran, Ferenia, Elun, Hanubia, and Itorash, Itorash having a sort of capitol/temple kind of vibe to it.

And that should be it! Here's what we've got so far:

Characters:

Samus Aran: power suit, power beam, morph ball, missile, long beam, bomb, ice beam, high jump boots, Varia Suit, Screw Attack, wave beam, spider ball, spring ball, space jump, spazer beam, plasma beam, Speed Booster, Grappling Beam, X-Ray Scope, Gravity Suit, Hyper Beam, Fusion Suit, wide beam, power bombs, omega suit, Omega Cannon, spider magnet, phantom cloak, flash shift, pulse radar, cross bomb, storm missiles, drain, giant beam, glowing hand.

Zero-Suit Samus: All listed above (except suits of course)

Adam Malkovitch

Quiet Robe

EMMI: grab, wall climb, crawl, scan, rampage, energy spike

Mother Brain: laser, glass casing, Rinkas, energy barriers, T-Rex body, eye beam, explosive rocks, energy disks

Ridley: hop, fireballs, flying, swinging tail, screen attack, tail bounce, fire breath, grab and lift

Kraid: blades, spikes, bombs, claw, plasma breath, bite, neck harness

Raven Beak: laser blast, leap, absorb energy, dash, scan, orb of darkness, energy beam, wings, stomp, supernova

X-Parasite: attach, orbs, shapeshift, more parasites, ice, get big, cross bomb

SA-X: missiles, super bombs, ice beam, screw attack, monster, stomp

Neo-Ridley

Phantoon: ghost, drop fire, ring of fire

Crocomire: charge, slash, skeleton

Metroid: float, drain energy, rise from shell, fly, claws, electricity, fire, fireballs

Metroid Queen: stretch neck, spike balls, swallow, spit up Samus

Baby Metroid

Space Pirate: claw, energy beam, cling to wall, hop from walls, kick, throw claws, lasers, swim

Torizo: walk, spit bombs, rubble, energy waves, jump, drop eggs

Chozo Soldier: spear, wall jump, stab down, dash, sludge wave, goop spray, shield

Robot Chozo Soldier: laser, arm scythe, dash, laser beam, jump spin

Kihunters: fly, spit acid

Hornoad

Autom: look into

Bosses:

Arachnus

Phantoon

Draygon

Crocomire

Botwoon

Spore Spawn

Zazabi

Serris

Yakuza

Nettori

Nightmare

Neo-Ridley

Corpius

Drogyga

Golzuna

Escue

Experiment No. Z-57

Stages:

Planet Zebes

Brinstar

Norfair

Tourian

SR388

Ceres Space Colony

Crateria

Maridia

Wrecked Ship

Biologic Space Laboratories

ZDR

Artaria

Cataris

Dairon

Burenia

Ghavoran

Ferenia

Elun

Hanubia

Itorash

Thanks for reading! And now, the black sheep game that still falls under the title of Metroid as opposed to Metroid Prime.

Metroid Fusion

METROID FUSION

Today, let's cover Metroid Fusion, the chronological second to last game in the series, as of 2023, set quite a bit after every other game in the series. The game opens with Samus and a crew returning to SR388 on a scouting mission, only for Samus to be infected by a dangerous parasite that had previously been kept in check by its natural predators, the Metroids, until Samus wiped them out, allowing them to spread without limit. Samus is saved by being injected with Metroid DNA, fusing her into a special new suit. A little while later, the lab she had been at sends out a distress call, with her arriving to find that pretty much everything in the base has been wiped out after one of the parasites they'd collected to study escaped.

Samus starts the game in the Fusion Suit, with a Power Beam at her disposal. She then gains missiles, the morph ball, the charge beam, bombs, the high jump, the speed booster, the super missile, the varia suit, ice missiles, the wide beam, the power bombs, the space jump, the plasma beam, the gravity suit, diffusion missiles, the wave beam, the screw attack, the ice beam, and the omega suit.

There are very little in terms of support characters, with the Dachora and Etecoons returning in their supporting roles, and Adam Malkovitch being introduced as Samus's former mentor who had been killed in action, whose brain was uploaded into a computer that was now acting as Samus's main operating system. As he's just a disembodied computer voice, there's not much there.

The X-Parasites form the primary threat of the game, being little blobby things that infect living hosts, basically replacing their entire genetic structures with their own and functionally becoming them. The several we face throughout the game show the ability to attach to things, float around as giant orbs, shapeshift into several shapes they have absorbed, spawn more parasites, create ice, and get really, really big. One notable X-Parasite comes in the form of SA-X, the parasite that copied Samus and has now taken her form, stalking her throughout the base. SA-X can shoot missiles, drop super bombs, fire the ice beam, perform a screw attack, and become a giant monster that stomps around.

Other bosses that appear, mostly taken over by X-Parasites, include the returning Arachnus, a big polyp thing called Zazabi, a speedy serpent called Serris, a boxy Security Robot, a giant spider called Yakuza, a plant called Nettori, a giant X-Parasite called Barrier Core-X, a gravity-manipulating cyborg called Nightmare, and a clone of Ridley inhabited by a parasite called Neo-Ridley.

Metroids and Space Pirates both return, Metroids bringing their Alpha, Gamma, Zeta, and Omega variants with them. The Space Pirates attack with their claws, climb on walls, shoot lasers, and swim. Also returning are the legacy enemies Kihunters, Hornoads, Bulls, Choots, Dessgeegas, Evirs, Funes, Gadoras, Geemers, Gerutas, Halzyns, Kagos, Namihes, Owtches, Powamps, Puyos, Reos, Rippers, Samus Eaters, Scisers, Sidehoppers, Skulteras, Wavers, Yards, Zeelas, Zeroes, and Zozoros (I believe the logic being they were collected to be studied during her previous adventures). Newcomers include Gerons, Menus, Motos, Novas, Genesises, Gerubus, and researchers who've been turned into zombies.

The entire game takes place on the Biologic Space Laboratories station, with each section divided up by numbers (as in Sector 1, Sector 2, and so on). Samus also has a new ship as the original was destroyed thanks to the X-Parasites.

That should just about cover it. Here's what we've got so far:

Characters:

Samus Aran: power suit, power beam, morph ball, missile, long beam, bomb, ice beam, high jump boots, Varia Suit, Screw Attack, wave beam, spider ball, spring ball, space jump, spazer beam, plasma beam, Speed Booster, Grappling Beam, X-Ray Scope, Gravity Suit, Hyper Beam, Fusion Suit, wide beam, power bombs, omega suit

Zero-Suit Samus: All listed above (except suits of course)

Adam Malkovitch

Mother Brain: laser, glass casing, Rinkas, energy barriers, T-Rex body, eye beam, explosive rocks, energy disks

Ridley: hop, fireballs, flying, swinging tail, screen attack, tail bounce, fire breath, grab and lift

Kraid: blades, spikes

X-Parasite: attach, orbs, shapeshift, more parasites, ice, get big

SA-X: missiles, super bombs, ice beam, screw attack, monster, stomp

Neo-Ridley

Phantoon: ghost, drop fire, ring of fire

Crocomire: charge, slash, skeleton

Metroid: float, drain energy, rise from shell, fly, claws, electricity, fire, fireballs

Metroid Queen: stretch neck, spike balls, swallow, spit up Samus

Baby Metroid

Space Pirate: claw, energy beam, cling to wall, hop from walls, kick, throw claws, lasers, swim

Torizo: walk, spit bombs, rubble, energy waves, jump, drop eggs

Kihunters: fly, spit acid

Hornoad

Autom

Bosses:

Arachnus

Phantoon

Draygon

Crocomire

Botwoon

Spore Spawn

Zazabi

Serris

Yakuza

Nettori

Nightmare

Neo-Ridley

Stages:

Planet Zebes

Brinstar

Norfair

Tourian

SR388

Ceres Space Colony

Crateria

Maridia

Wrecked Ship

Biologic Space Laboratories

Thanks for reading! Next up, you might feel a sense of Dread for what we cover tomorrow!

Super Metroid

SUPER METROID

And now, we come to the third game in the series, widely considered to be one of the best, and generally the one thought of when people think of Metroid as a series. The story picks up where the last left off, with Samus having given the last surviving baby Metroid to a research facility, only to get a distress call from the same facility, learning that Ridley has broken in to steal the baby. Samus must first try to stop him, and then, failing that, following him to Zebes to take down the pirates once and for all.

Once again, Samus starts with the Power Suit and Power Beam, before gaining the morph ball, missiles, bombs, Charge Beam, Hi-Jump Boots, Spazer Beam, Varia Suit, Speed Booster, Ice Beam, Grappling Beam, Wave Beam, X-Ray Scope, Gravity Suit, Space Jump, Spring Ball, Plasma Beam, Screw Attack, and Hyper Beam.

As usual, there are very little support characters, although I will give a shout to the Baby Metroid (later the titular Super Metroid), who attacks and drains Mother Brain to protect Samus, and the Dachora and Etecoons, little alien ostriches and monkeys, who basically act as little background tutorial features demonstrating actions Samus should take at certain points.

As for our villains, Mother Brain returns as the leader, taking on a new T-Rex looking body to fight you with. She starts out the same, with the Rinkas, the laser beam, and the barrier at her disposal, but after her transformation, she can fire a beam from her eye, drop explosive rocks on you, throw energy disks, and fire a fiery beam at you. Her two lieutenants, Ridley and Kraid, also return, with Ridley flying, swinging around his tail, flying straight at the screen, bouncing on his tail like a pogo stick, breathing fire, and grabbing and lifting Samus. Kraid likewise shoots his belly spikes at you.

On top of these three regulars, we have a few other bosses floating around. We have Phantoon, a ghostly being difficult to hit, that drops fire and creates a ring of fire. Then we have Draygon, who mostly just swims around with heavy armor and cannons around him. Then we have Spore Spawn, a plant constantly raining spores down on you; Crocomire, a giant red reptilian thing that charges at you, slashes, and then jumps at you as a skeleton in a final last-ditch attack; and Botwoon, a burrowing serpentine creature that shoots lasers. Finally, we have the Torizos, Bomb and Golden, who look like ordinary Chozo Statues, until they get up and start walking around, spitting out bombs, dropping rubble from above, creating energy waves, jumping, and dropping eggs behind them.

After that we have the enemies. The Metroids are here, with their floating and draining as seen in the first game, and we get a first look at Space Pirates (and/or Zebesians), who attack with claws, shoot energy beams, cling to walls, hop from wall to wall, kick, and throw their own claws. After that, it's all a lot of the same story, with basic creatures filling one specific role, most lacking the same names as previous games. Some who returned inlcude Sidehoppers, Dessgeegas, Dragons, Geegas, Multiviolas, Rippers, Skrees, Gamets, Gerutas, Holtzes, Squeepts, Wavers, Zebs, Zebboes, Zeelas, and Violas. New ones include the Kihunters (who can fly and spit acid), Alcoons, Atomics, Beetoms, Boyons, Bulls, Cacatacs, Choots, Coverns, Evirs, Fire Fleas, Funes, Gadoras, Geemers, Kagos, Magdollites, Mellas, Mellows, Memus, Metarees, Mochtroids, Namihes, Oums, Owtches, Powamps, Puromis, Puyos, Reos, Samus Eaters, Sbugs, Scisers, Shaktools, Skulteras, Sovas, Trippers, Work Robots, Yapping Maws, Yards, and Zeroes.

As for our stages, we start with the Ceres Space Colony, where the opening chapter takes place, then we return to Planet Zebes. Samus's ship floats on the surface (called Crateria), giving you a save point, and we see Brinstar, Norfair, and Tourian all return, with the watery Maridia and a Wrecked Ship as new locations.

Here's what we've got so far:

Characters:

Samus Aran: power suit, power beam, morph ball, missile, long beam, bomb, ice beam, high jump boots, Varia Suit, Screw Attack, wave beam, spider ball, spring ball, space jump, spazer beam, plasma beam, Speed Booster, Grappling Beam, X-Ray Scope, Gravity Suit, Hyper Beam

Zero-Suit Samus: All listed above (except suits of course)

Mother Brain: laser, glass casing, Rinkas, energy barriers, T-Rex body, eye beam, explosive rocks, energy disks

Ridley: hop, fireballs, flying, swinging tail, screen attack, tail bounce, fire breath, grab and lift

Kraid: blades, spikes

Phantoon: ghost, drop fire, ring of fire

Crocomire: charge, slash, skeleton

Metroid: float, drain energy, rise from shell, fly, claws, electricity, fire, fireballs

Metroid Queen: stretch neck, spike balls, swallow, spit up Samus

Baby Metroid

Space Pirate: claw, energy beam, cling to wall, hop from walls, kick, throw claws

Torizo: walk, spit bombs, rubble, energy waves, jump, drop eggs

Kihunters: fly, spit acid

Hornoad

Autom

Bosses:

Arachnus

Phantoon

Draygon

Crocomire

Botwoon

Spore Spawn

Stages:

Planet Zebes

Brinstar

Norfair

Tourian

SR388

Ceres Space Colony

Crateria

Maridia

Wrecked Ship

Thanks for reading! And now, we come to Metroid Fusion!

Metroid II: The Return of Samus

METROID II: THE RETURN OF SAMUS

Today, let's cover the second Metroid game, released for the Game Boy. Please note, this is about the original game boy game, not the recent remake. Samus returns, this time sent to the planet SR388, the original planet where the Metroids were first bred, to wipe out and destroy what was left of them.

Samus returns once again, staring with the power suit, the power beam, a missile launcher, and her morph ball ability. As she goes on, she gains bombs, the ice beam, the spider ball (lets her climb on walls), the wave beam, the high jump boots, the spring ball, the varia suit, the space jump, the spazer beam (shoots three distinct beams), the plasma beam, and the screw attack.

The Metroids are the only villains around this time, with multiple different stages. The base Metroid larvae are the ones you normally think of. Alphas rise from their larval shell and can fly. Gammas can fly, attack with claws, and zap with electricity. Zetas shed even more of their old body and breathe fire, and Omegas throw fireballs. Finally, you have the Metroid Queen, who stretches out her neck, spits out spike balls, and can swallow and spit back up Samus. Another boss running around is Arachnus, who rolls and spits fire. This is also the notable first appearance of the Baby Metroid, who will come into play later.

There are several enemies floating around, most of whom just fill specific single-action niches, just like before, but frustratingly, there is very little crossover. They do basically the same thing, they just don't have the same name and look alike. These include Hornoads (the most basic), Yumbos, Tsumuris, Seerooks, Moheeks, Chute Leeches, Mumbos, Needlers, Gawrons, Gullugs, Wallfires, Septoggs, Autoads, Blob Throwers, Autracks, Senjoos, Halzyns, Yumees, Gravitts, Pincher Flies, Automs, Meboids, Proboscums, Shirks, TPOs, Octrolls, Skorps, Flitts, Motos, Drivels, Skreeks, Glow Flies, Gunzoos, and Ramulkens.

The bulk of the game takes place on the Planet SR388, with several "phases" of levels with no names to speak of.

And that's about it! Here's what we've got so far:

Characters:

Samus Aran: power suit, power beam, morph ball, missile, long beam, bomb, ice beam, high jump boots, Varia Suit, Screw Attack, wave beam, spider ball, spring ball, space jump, spazer beam, plasma beam

Zero-Suit Samus: All listed above (except suits of course)

Mother Brain: laser, glass casing, Rinkas, energy barriers

Ridley: hop, fireballs

Kraid: blades, spikes

Metroid: float, drain energy, rise from shell, fly, claws, electricity, fire, fireballs

Metroid Queen: stretch neck, spike balls, swallow, spit up Samus

Baby Metroid

Hornoad

Autom

Bosses:

Arachnus

Stages:

Planet Zebes

Brinstar

Norfair

Tourian

SR388

Thanks for reading! Next up, we reach the series-defining Super Metroid!

Metroid

METROID

Welcome back! I hope you all didn't miss me too much. Now, let us get started on the single best space-based Nintendo franchise (No hate to Starfox). The whole thing started off with Metroid for the NES, a 2D platforming game that had you backtracking multiple times through a big map, picking up items that let you get through to another section of the map that you couldn't access before, a style of gameplay soon dubbed Metroidvania, for the two franchises that helped define it.

The first game followed Samus Aran, a bounty hunter tasked with infiltrating a space pirate compound and eradicating the super-parasites they had engineered to overthrow the Galactic Federation. She starts out with her basic power suit and a power beam projectile. As she goes along, she picks up the ability to morph into a ball, missiles, a long beam, bombs, the ice beam, boots that let her jump higher, a stronger Varia Suit, a spinning energy move called the Screw Attack, and the wave beam that can go through walls. In the end of the game, if you've earned enough points, she'll remove her suit to reveal that she's (gasp!) a girl. You can then play the game over again in her unarmored form, but its pretty much the same.

There are basically no supporting good characters, so let's move on to the villains. Mother Brain is your final boss, a giant brain in a jar that fires lasers at you, is protected by a glass casing, and is protected by energy rings called Rinkas. Her two main bosses are Ridley and Kraid, both two prolific names that will crop up time and time again from here on out. Ridley hops around and spits fireballs, while Kraid fights with blades and shoots spikes from his chest.

Obviously, the most important enemies are the titular Metroids themselves, who appear in the final area, and mostly float around or latch on to Samus and drain her energy. Other such enemies include: Zoomers and Zeela, who crawl on the walls; Skrees, Rios, Wavers, Mellows, Gerutas, Holtzes, and Zebbos, who can fly; Rippers, Ripper IIs, Gamets, and Zebs, who float in the air; Novas, Dragons, and Polyps, that attack with fire; Squeepts, that leap; Violas and Multiviolas, who bounce; and Sidehoppers, Geegas, and Dessgeegas, who hop around. Most are pretty basic, filling specific niches to challenge Samus. Not too much to say on really any of them.

As for the stages, most of the game takes place on Planet Zebes, with three distinct zones including Brinstar, containing Kraid's lair, Norfair, containing Ridley's lair, and Tourian, where Mother Brain awaits. And really, that's about it.

Here's what we've got so far:

Characters:

Samus Aran: power suit, power beam, morph ball, missile, long beam, bomb, ice beam, high jump boots, Varia Suit, Screw Attack, wave beam

Zero-Suit Samus: All listed above (except suits of course)

Mother Brain: laser, glass casing, Rinkas, energy barriers

Ridley: hop, fireballs

Kraid: blades, spikes

Metroid: float, drain energy

Stages:

Planet Zebes

Brinstar

Norfair

Tourian

Thanks for reading! Next up, the game's handheld sequel!