Metroid: Other M: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"[[Arc Words|Any objections, lady?]]"''|'''Adam Malkovich'''}}

 

 

Set after the events of ''Super Metroid'' but before those of ''Metroid Fusion'', ''Other M'' finds our heroine Samus Aran resting on a [[The Federation|Galactic Federation]] ship, convalescent after her battle against [[Big Bad|Mother]] [[Brain In a Jar|Brain]]. Shortly after leaving, she picks up a [[Distress Call]] from a dormant bottle ship and sets out to investigate. Once there, she reunites with familiar faces from her days on the Federation Army: Anthony Higgs and her former commanding officer, Adam Malkovich. Following an attack from an alien being, the three split up to discover the nature of the strange threat.

Not to be confused with [[Project M]].

 

* [[Action Commands]]: Samus's dodge-roll maneuver. In some cases it even becomes ''literally'' [[Press X to Not Die]].

* [[Action Girl]]: Samus, of course.

* [[Aesop Amnesia]]: {{spoiler|In spite of the trouble the Galactic Federation had with Metroids, Space Pirates, and Mother Brain, replicas are deliberately made of ''all three'' (with an accidental Ridley clone to rub salt on the wound)}}.

* [[Anticlimax]]: Are you pumped to {{spoiler|charge into Sector Zero and kill some Metroids}}? Too bad. {{spoiler|Adam steals it.}} Are you ready to find out who the Deleter is, and bring him to justice? Too bad. {{spoiler|MB steals that one.}} Are you looking forward to a potentially awesome final battle with {{spoiler|MB}}? [[Rule of Three|Too bad.]] See [[Anticlimax Boss]] below.

** Want to {{spoiler|defeat Ridley once and for all and avenge Anthony's death}}? Too bad. {{spoiler|The Metroid Queen steals it.}}

* [[Anticlimax Boss]]: {{spoiler|The fight against MB ends when you try to shoot her, instead of the monsters you're fighting}}. Many people finish this battle ''by accident''.

* [[A Taste of Power]]: You get to use Samus' Missiles, Bombs, and Power Bombs in the training section at the game's start, then are told you can't use them unless Adam says so once the game kicks off.

** Although this is played straight in the case of power bombs, you merely need to get to the first boss before bombs and missiles are unlocked again.

* [[Attack Its Weak Point]]: Many of the bosses.

* [[Badass]]: Anthony and Adam.

* [[Bag of Spilling]] / [[New Powers as the Plot Demands]]: [[Double Subversion]]. Samus retains all her upgrades from [[Super Metroid]], but she needs Adam's authorization to use them. In practice, it works the same way; you still need to reach certain points to use certain abilities.

* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: The Power Bombs. Adam forbids Samus from using them outright at the beginning of the game, citing their extreme destructive power. You can't use them until the very end of the game, but it's oh-so-satisfying to {{spoiler|vaporize the Queen Metroid with them}}.

** That is, if you realize you need to use them. The sequence {{spoiler|in which you jump down the Metroid Queen's throat}} is the first time you can use them, and the game [[Guide Dang It|certainly doesn't go out of its way to tell you that.]]

* [[Clipped-Wing Angel]]: Meta-Example. {{spoiler|The [[Killer Rabbit]] throughout the game is actually a regenerating Ridley. You never fight him in this stage-he fully recovers and goes back to being a space dragon-but he's somewhat less scary, [[Death Glare]] aside.}}

* [[Combat Stilettos|Combat Wedges]]: Samus' Zero Suit.

* [[Continuity Nod]]: The fate of {{spoiler|Ridley}} in Other M, sets up his appearance in the next game in the timeline, ''Fusion''.

** Similarly, {{spoiler|Nightmare}} makes an early appearance, and its disembodied head remains on the ground after killing it. {{spoiler|It's gone when Samus returns to the ship after the credits}}.

** In Boss Battles (not counting mini-bosses) you only respawn back at the beginning of that fight, and even then, it's only at the beginning of the section where you died (if you die while inside the {{spoiler|Metroid Queen}}, you just respawn and get eaten again right away, so you get as many chances of nuking the {{spoiler|Metroid Queen}} as you'd like).

* [[Death Glare]]: The [[Killer Rabbit]] mentioned below gives Samus an ''epic'' one when you first meet it. {{spoiler|Given [[The Reveal|who he is]], it would be [[Out of Character]] to do anything less}}.

* [[Disney Death]]: {{spoiler|Anthony Higgs}}

* [[Doomed by Canon]]: ''Fusion'', which takes place after this game, dictates that {{spoiler|Adam must die in a [[Heroic Sacrifice]]}} and that {{spoiler|Ridley must end up a frozen husk}}.

* [[Dropped a Bridge on Him]]: The Deleter, to the point that his identity is never explicitly revealed.

** Although it's easy to piece it together from the clues.

* [[Eldritch Abomination]]: {{spoiler|Phantoon. In ''Super Metroid'', he's a bit taller than Samus, maybe three times as wide. In this game, he's the size of a mid-size space craft, spawns disembodied hands and shoots swirling portal vortex things at you. And according to the concept art, that "mid-sized space craft" sized head sits atop a vaguely humanoid body about as big as any of the starships in the Metroid universe; it's just all you can see in the visible dimension is his head.}}

** The Screw Attack may well be even more lethal than ever before.

** The {{spoiler|Power Bomb, which is only usable during the battle with the Metroid Queen and the epilogue}} would also apply.

* [[Four-Star Badass]]: General Adam Malkovich is the person Samus respects ([[Alternate Character Interpretation|or is intimidated by]]) the most in the game. But you have to be badass to do what he did at the end of the game; he could very well be the only human capable of {{spoiler|killing Samus}}, judging from when he {{spoiler|shot her, causing her to lose her power suit and most of her stamina. And this was only ONE shot!}}.

* [[Foregone Conclusion]]: ''Fusion'' mentions several times about how {{spoiler|Adam sacrifices his life at some time in the past to save Samus}}. As a prequel to ''Fusion'', most of the fandom inevitably assumed that event would be shown in this game.

* [[Foreshadowing]]: {{spoiler|There's a reason that scientist at the beginning of the game seems like a total douche}}.

** {{spoiler|James Pierce is the Communications man of the squad and he was trained by the Federation Central Information Agency, aka the CIA. As the game progresses, a mysterious traitor starts killing off members of the squad...}}

* [[Gag Sub]]: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wht3rRGMw28 Metroid: Other M - The reMovie] which, among other things, has Samus [[Cloudcuckoolander|monologuing about whether she should order baby-back ribs after her training exercise]], and the [[Scrappy Mechanic|authorization mechanic]] is explained away as Samus doing a [[Minimalist Run|low% run]] just to piss off Adam.

* [[Game Breaking Bug]]: Several people have reported an issue where a door in Sector 3 (that you have to go through) will not open, no matter what you do. Nintendo had to accept [http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/systems/wii/en_na/ts/metroid-other-m.jsp mail-ins for cards with save files.] They claim the cause of the bug is picking up the Ice Beam, going into the following room, killing all the enemies to open that room's next door, and then immediately backtracking into the Ice Beam room before continuing on into the room you just opened at least once. Prior to this, the fandom assumed the bug had to do with the Rhedogian boss (going back down the lift after beating the boss the first time and then saving, or going back and saving after the third fight with it).

** Played mostly straight with the "Concentration" mechanic. Samus actually uses it once in a cutscene, but the maneuver itself is never justified in-story, and is instead explained in various manga released years previously.

* [[Genre Blindness]]: Adam sends Samus to a lava area without authorizing her Varia Suit (a suit that protects Samus from deadly heat and convection). Hardened Metroid players will automatically know that's virtually suicide. Only partially justified as, until the appropriate boss fight, he wouldn't expect her to do lengthy combat in that area.

* [[Genre Savvy]]: Unlike the example with the [[Killer Rabbit]], Samus knows (at least now) that, no matter how cute the {{spoiler|baby Metroid}} is, it must die. Not that she gets to kill it.

* [[Ghost Ship]]: The setting.

** {{spoiler|"Any objections, Adam?"}}

* [[Joker Immunity]]: Not just {{spoiler|Clone!Ridley}}, but some of the other enemies in the game just won't stay down.

* [[Kinetic Weapons Are Just Better]]: The Federation Troopers use machine guns. [[Zig Zagged]] with Anthony's BFG [[Energy Weapon]] and the [[Freeze Ray|ice guns]] that appear to be a standard-issue secondary weapon for all Fed troops. They use them almost as much as their SMGs. Unfortunately, these machine guns are shown to be pretty ineffective against the creatures on the Bottle Ship.

* [[Last Chance Hit Point]]: Any attack that reduces Samus to zero energy instead leaves her [[Life Meter]] flickering between 0 and 1, and she can take ''one'' more hit before a Game Over. She ''can'' get killed in one attack if multiple hits are involved and she's reduced to zero mid-way in the attack (for example: if Samus gets grabbed, slammed into the floor and then thrown across the ground, she'll be dead if the first hit knocks her down to her [[Last Chance Hit Point]]).

** Also, Samus's "thumbs-down" in the above scene.

* [[Minimalist Run]]: What Hard mode basically is; all item expansions (missles, energy, etc.) are removed.

* [[The Mole]]: Also known as "The Deleter."

* [[Mood Whiplash]]: Twice at the end of the [[Playable Epilogue]]. {{spoiler|One moment, Samus is in an intense fight with Phantoon, the next, Samus finds what she was looking for, the quiet "reminiscing" music is playing -- only for the moment to be abruptly interrupted by the self-destruct starting up.}}

* [[Mythology Gag]]: One of {{spoiler|Ridley's}} attacks has him [[Wipe the Floor with You|slamming Samus against the wall and dragging her across it]], much like {{spoiler|his first appearance in ''[[Super Smash Bros Brawl]]''.}}

* [[Narrating the Obvious]]: Samus does this a lot in the game. Sometimes repeating what another character just said in monologue form so she can state her opinion on the subject or give a deeper analysis of the actions of another character, usually Adam.

* [[Never Found the Body]]: {{spoiler|Misawa. Justified in that he was dumped in magma, though}}.

* [[Nice Hat]]: Adam's hat has become a minor meme in itself among the Metroid Community.

* [[Nice Job Fixing It, Villain]]: Oh, {{spoiler|Ridley}}. You {{spoiler|had Samus right where you wanted her.}} If you had just {{spoiler|ignored the other one and finished Samus first}}, you could have won. But no, you had to go and {{spoiler|[[Disney Death|kill]] Anthony first, snapping The Hunter out of her [[Heroic BSOD]]}} and opening yourself to a world of hurt.

** A minimum powerup run would be incredibly hellish, and this is exactly what [[Harder Than Hard|Hard Mode]] is. {{spoiler|You're limited to 99 energy, and you're limited to 10 (rechargeable) missiles and a slowly charging charge beam, as all the expansion tanks are removed.}}

* [[Nobody Poops]]: Still played straight as in previous games, but more noticeable in that there are a pair of restrooms aboard the station. A tad odd that there are only two? Considering at least two parts of the ship require gear for extreme heat or cold, you can forgive them for assuming your protective suit handles that as well.

* [[Nonstandard Game Over]]: Occurs if you let a certain boss kill Anthony before you use the just authorized Grapple Beam to get to him. Fortunately, he can't die during the actual boss fight.

** There's one scene where Samus has to jump up a broken elevator shaft while enemies chase her. She has to make the elevator crash down on the enemies to dispatch them, but the elevator has just as good a chance of killing Samus as well.

* [[Oh Crap]]: {{spoiler|Ridley}} has one {{spoiler|when he tries to recover from his battle with Samus}} and {{spoiler|notices Queen Metroid is coming right for him}}.

* [[One-Hit Kill]]: On Hard mode. {{spoiler|Due to the player being stuck at 99 energy max, some enemy attacks halfway to near the end of the game will inflict damage more than a whole Energy Tank's worth and since there's no [[Last Chance Hit Point]] mechanic in Hard mode, [[Game Over]].}}

* [[One Hundred Percent Completion]]: Unlocks hard mode. Or rather, ''harder'' mode.

* [[The Other Darrin]]: Samus is on her 3rd voice actor.

* [[Personal Space Invader]]: A couple of foes are like this, either trying to latch on to you or ram you, but {{spoiler|where there's Metroids, there's only one thing to expect}}.

* [[Pixel Hunt]]: Many of the forced first person segments fall into this. Others go straight into [[Guide Dang It]] territory.

* [[Playable Epilogue]]: After the credits roll, you can explore the ship, and try to reach 100%.

* [[Porn Stache]]: James Pierce.

* [[Press X to Die]]: It's possible to crush yourself under a broken elevator early in the game.

* [[Press X to Not Die]]: When you're going through a tunnel in sector 3, the dragon worm...[[Buffy-Speak|thing]] will smash through the tunnel. If you don't jump or sense-move out of the way, you will be killed by it.

* [[Screw This, I'm Outta Here]]: {{spoiler|After the fight with Ridley, he's so scared of Samus he flies face-first through a wall trying to get away. See also "Oh Crap" above}}.

* [[Ship Sinking]]: ''Because I was so young when I lost both of my parents, there's no question that I saw Adam as a father figure.'' Ouch.

** It's worth noting that the game makes subtle hints that Samus may or may not have been in a relationship with {{spoiler|Adam's younger brother, Ian. Especially when it's not-quite-as-subtly hinted that his death is the reason she left the GF and became a bounty hunter}}

* [[Shout-Out]]:

** Quite a few ''Alien'' references as well, as per tradition:

*** One's of Lyle's lines near the beginning is "They're coming outta the walls!"

** The title screen opens to a refreshing piano melody overlooking a starry backdrop, Like the first ''Metroid'' game.

** The naked fetal Samus at the beginning almost seems designed to evoke memories of ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey]]''.

* [[Show, Don't Tell]]: Averted in the scene where {{spoiler|Adam dies.}} Samus is told that the {{spoiler|Metroids in Sector Zero are unfreezable,}} but we never see them, thanks to {{spoiler|Adam's [[Heroic Sacrifice]].}} The only two times that we ''do'' see them, they {{spoiler|''are'' freezable,}} for a different reason the [[No Control Group|second]] [[Averted Trope|time]] than the first.

** Played painfully straight elsewhere, however.

* [[Slow Electricity]]: When you're reaching for {{spoiler|Sector Zero}}, the lights begin to turn on this way.

* [[Space Pirates]]: Samus technically scattered them all, but {{spoiler|through cloning, and using MB, an artificial human version of Mother Brain as a method of control, the Galactic Federation intends to use them as [[Super Soldiers]]. The plan goes to hell, of course, and damn near causes the resurrection of the very enemies they spent years to destroy}}.

* [[Space Marines]]: Averted, Adam and his squad are from the Federation ''' Army''' which explains the different armor design from the Prime Series. Still, Platoon 07 is just as [[Badass Army|Badass]] if not more so than the Marines. {{spoiler|Too bad they had a [[The Mole|Mole]]}}

** And Anthony is the only person who calls her "Princess." {{spoiler|That's the tip-off that he survived in the ending}}.

* [[Start of Darkness]]: {{spoiler|MB's general development, but somewhat diverted due to not becoming... [[Brain In a Jar|you know]]. Fits nicely with the layout of how she [[Used to Be a Sweet Kid]], but [[From Nobody to Nightmare|suddenly turned evil]]. It doesn't exactly fit with [[From Nobody to Nightmare]] since she was [[For Science!|Experimented]] on with the close intent of many}} other M{{spoiler|[[Mad Scientist|ad Scientists]]. Compare [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?]] below.}}

** Note that this isn't her first time actually talking. She talked and even did monologues in ''Fusion''.

* [[Suspicious Videogame Generosity]]: The room just before {{spoiler|Ridley}} has an Accel Charge "and" an Energy Tank, both of which are blatantly easy to reach. [[Sarcasm Mode|Not at all suspicious.]]

** This is a running theme in just about every ''Metroid'' game. When you find a save point after going a long time without one, saving (and healing) is a really good idea.

* [[That Makes Me Feel Angry]]: Samus speaks in a very monotone voice and often uses this.

* [[The Computer Is a Lying Bastard]]: At the beginning of the game, new upgrades receive either an inventory screen blurb, an appropriate dialog, or both, regardless of whether they're obtained or authorized. Trying to use them before they're unlocked, in the case of chargeable weapons, simply prevents the charge meter from completely filling, restricting you to the lesser weapon. At times, {{spoiler|Samus will self-authorize, such as with the Space Jump/Screw Attack}}, but with the same indications; however, while fighting {{spoiler|Queen Metroid}}, a later stage in the fight requires you to use the {{spoiler|Power Bomb}} to survive - however, the usual indication that this weapon is available for use doesn't come until ''after the ending credits!''

** In previous games, Zoomers simply strolled along a set path, only bumping into Samus by accident. In ''Other M'', they actively attack Samus.

** Samus each time she gets one of her top weapons. The Screw Attack can one-shot many of the tougher regular enemies Samus faces, like the Zebesians. The Power Bomb can one-shot ''every'' non-boss enemy, including the Rhedogians (the flying anomalocaris-like creatures).

* [[Voodoo Shark]]: The Authorization system was intended to make more sense than the series's typical [[Bag of Spilling]] [[Once an Episode]]. Instead, every review notes the justification of possible harm to allies as a reason Samus can't use purely defensive or exploration based upgrades makes less sense.

* [[Wall Jump]]: The second game in the series, after ''Prime 2'', to explicitly tell the player that this is one of Samus' abilities.

* [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?]]: {{spoiler|MB in a very interesting case. She was designed just to be a humanoid version of Mother Brain to interface with Metroids. However, after bonding with a baby Metroid, and getting the name Melissa Bergman from Madeline Bergman, [[Dude, Where's My Respect?|this caused her to develop self-awareness]] and, to Samus' reckoning, ''a soul.'' However, after Madeline does nothing to protect her from being taken away, she immediately loses said soul and goes on a rampage, which is very apparent in the final cutscenes where she talks in a [[Creepy Monotone]] and doesn't even attempt to hide her non-humanity.}}

* [[When She Smiles]]: {{spoiler|Samus in the ending}}.

[[Category:Metroid: Other M]]

[[Category:Video Game]]