Metroid: Difference between revisions

== A-F ==

 

** Samus herself has fired plasma, super-cooled plasma, ice, lava grenades, electromagnetic blasts, standard electrical blasts, concentrated light energy, concentrated dark energy, matter/antimatter, sonic booms, ''miniature black holes'', and various other things out of her own beam cannon. And that doesn't account for projectile weapons - missiles, super missiles, ice missiles...

* [[Action Girl]]: One of the earliest video game examples, and ''easily'' one of the most well-known.

** According to some scans in the ''Prime'' series and some out-of-game info, not all of them are very happy with evil being the law, and certain POWs were incredibly easy to interrogate. Other scans seem to paint them more as [[Lawful Stupid]], with common troops not being nearly as malicious or cunning as Science Team.

* [[Ambidextrous Sprite]]: Averted in all 2-D games after the first; Samus has different sprites for all directions. In fact, this may only be played straight by the NES version; in commercials for the Famicom game, she has unique sprites for facing left and right.

** In Super Metroid, Samus saves some Etecoons and Dachora during the escape sequence. At the escape sequence in Fusion, the same animals help control the gunship to escape the space station.

** It also occurs in in Metroid: Fusion, in a posthumous example. After Samus is infected by the X parasite, a cell sample of the same baby Metroid is used as part of the cure that destroys the parasites inside her and saves her life.

** What's that? You just killed someone [[Mama Bear|Samus cares for?]] We'll miss you. She won't.

* [[Big Bad]]: Mother Brain in Metroid and Super Metroid.

** And then in Fusion, {{spoiler|Samus had beaten SA-X, plotted the B.S.L. Station on a collision course with SR-388, and was on her way to her ship to escape. But when she gets to the docking bays, the place is a mess, her ship is missing, and there is a huge shedded skin on the floor. Suddenly, an Omega Metroid comes in and screeches at Samus. With one claw swipe, Samus is knocked down to one HP and immobilized. Before the Metroid could kill her, the SA-X appears and blasts its chest with the Ice Beam, but it is defeated by it. However, Samus absorbs its Core-X, which restored her Ice Beam ability, and proceeded to blast the Metroid to dust.}}

* [[Bittersweet Ending]]: Almost every game since Super has one. The exceptions are Zero Mission and Hunters.

* [[Boss Dissonance]]: ''Zero Mission'' has Mario-type '''''bad''''' on Normal. The final boss gets significantly more challenging if {{spoiler|you've got 100% completion}}, but by that point, you're so armed to the teeth anyways, it barely matters.

** Going for a <= 15% run on hard, on the other hand, turns the above on its head and into a harsh Kirby-type.

* [[Brain Uploading]]: {{spoiler|Adam Malkovich}} in ''Metroid Fusion''.

* [[Broken Bridge]]: Sometimes intentional, to [http://www.metroid2002.com at least try to] prevent [[Sequence Breaking]].

* [[Building Swing]]: Grapple Beam.

** '''{{smallcaps|[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3UyVylP7AI ENGAGE RIDLEY MOTHER FUCKER]}}'''

*** Sadly, the above code has now become a system-killer in the 3DS port.

* [[Colony Drop]]: BSL, at the end of ''Fusion.''

* [[Colossus Climb]]: Kraid, although you jump on improvised platforms instead of climbing.

* [[Doomed Hometown]]: Samus lives through ''two'' of these, first on K-2L and then on Zebes.

* [[Doppelganger Spin]]

* [[Down the Drain]]: Maridia, the crashed frigate, Torvus, Sector 4 - AQA.

* [[The Dragon]]: Ridley is a high-ranking member of the Space Pirates under Mother Brain, and is typically the second-to-last boss fought in every game. He also takes the trope to its literal extreme.

* [[Eternal Engine]]: Tourian, and most of Fusion.

* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]: Subverted in the manga. Ridley at first seems to avoid trying to kill Samus, but was instead lowering her guard. [[Complete Monster|She's 3 years old]] [[Up to Eleven|at the time.]]

* [[Evil Is Visceral]]: Mother Brain and the Aurora Units are [[Exactly What It Says On the Tin|big brains in jars]] that do not look very pretty. Starting from the first game, the Metroids themselves have visible blood vessels of some sort. In the second game, they were given an insectoid life cycle. In the third game, one of them grows really big, letting you see even more organic bits inside of the body.

** Same goes for Dark Samus in the ''Prime'' series: the more beat-up she gets, the more glowy Phazon innards start showing. And then the same thing starts happening to Samus herself in ''Corruption.'' Let's just say it isn't pretty.

** ''Prime 3'' is the only game in the series to really cut you a break on this. At a certain point in the game, you can launch exploration probes to the various planets you visit. These probes will report back every collectible you have yet to pick up. There are still a handful of items that reside on a derelict ship that you absolutely need to find yourself but otherwise, it is within reason for everyone who plays the game to get 100% without consulting a third party source.

* [[Hailfire Peaks]]: Practically every zone in Fusion is "X meets [[Eternal Engine]]". The original and Super had a lot of "[[Underground Level]] meets X".

* [[Happily Adopted]]: Samus considers the Chozo her "real" family as much as anything, and they certainly don't skimp on their love for her.

** Fans who'd grown to associate Samus with this trope were understandably peeved when in ''Other M'' Samus refers to Adam as "the only father figure she'd ever known".

* [[Insectoid Aliens]]: The "[http://metroid.wikia.com/wiki/Ki-Hunter Ki-Hunter]" pirates of ''Super Metroid'', ''Fusion'', and ''[[Metroid Other M|Other M]]''.

** The main Space Pirate species as well, particularly in the ''Prime'' series but still obvious in the main games. Metroids have some insectoid features as well, especially in their "natural" life cycle.

* [[Interquel]]: All of the games released after ''Fusion,'' though their exact placement in the timeline varies.

* [[Interspecies Adoption]]: Samus was raised by the Chozo, who also taught her everything she knows as a bounty hunter.

* [[Irish Names]]: Both "Samus" and "Aran" are generally Irish in origin. Samus being a female variant of James and Aran being a group of islands near the West coast of Ireland.

* [[Joker Immunity]]: Ridley will not stay dead, even if a planet is blown up under his feet.

* [[The Juggernaut]]: The SA-X in ''Fusion'' is absolutely unstoppable until the end of the game. Just run.

* [[Lethal Lava Land]]: Present in some form in every Metroid game.

* [[Le Parkour]]: Samus can do it in every game except Prime, and that may count too because she still has awesome [[Cutscene Power to The Max|cutscene moves.]]

** ...except Metroid II. At least, during the course of the game...

* [[Lowered Monster Difficulty]]: The titular creatures are the scourge of the universe in ''Metroid'' and ''Super Metroid'', needing to be frozen and pelted with missiles to kill. Through the ''Prime'' series, they become progressively less of an actual threat. In ''Prime 2'', they can be beaten with enough firepower from any of your weapons, and in ''Prime 3'', you eventually get the ability to kill them in one shot. [[Paranoia Fuel|Until then, though...]]

* [[Mistaken for Granite]]: The first Chozo Statue in ''Super Metroid'' seems inanimate until you take the powerup it holds and try to leave, at which point the exit seals and it attacks you.

* [[Multiple Endings]]: The Segmented Endings subtrope, whether based on completion time or [[Hundred Percent Completion|percentage]].

* [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot]]: Ridley started as a dragon space pirate, and adds more to this title in the Prime games, culminating in him being a [[Up to Eleven|mutant zombie cyborg dragon space pirate]].

** In ''Super'', there are two gray Space Pirates that fight by using martial arts, which were called "Ninja Pirates" by fans.

* [[No Holds Barred Beatdown]]: Samus to Mother Brain during the mother of all [[Mama Bear]] moments at the end of ''Super Metroid''. After what Mother Brain did, she completely deserved it.

* [[Noob Bridge]]: The [[Trope Namer]] is a crumbling bridge encountered early in Brinstar in ''Super Metroid'', and the first place in the game that would require any player (of less than insanely good skill) to use the run button. The run button, however, is not part of a standard control scheme even within the Metroid series. Many newbies get stuck there, unaware of the otherwise obvious solution.

** Not to mention, {{spoiler|Adam (and many other political and scientific figures) regularly underwent [[Brain Uploading]]}}.

* [[Ominous Latin Chanting]]: Lower Norfair... [[Crowning Music of Awesome|and it's awesome.]]

* [[Opening the Sandbox]]: ''Fusion'' is the most linear game in the series yet, and thus has very few opportunities to let you backtrack to earlier sectors on your own until the endgame.

* [[Our Monsters Are Weird]]: The titular Metroids.

** This could also be seen as one of Samus' main motivations, especially against Ridley, who personally killed her mother right in front of her when she was four years old. The entire series could be seen as a bit of this trope against the Space Pirates and [[Arch Enemy|Ridley]].

** While all of Super Metroid is a [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]], the last bits of Metroid: Zero Mission are as well. {{spoiler|Specifically, after you regain the Power Suit after getting shot down by Space Pirates after defeating Mother Brain. A whole lot happens after the defeat of Mother Brain in that game. The music shifts from sneaking and/or alert music to the triumphant main theme after you get the Power Suit, and also, the three unknown upgrades activate. [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|This is followed by the annihilation of every Space Pirate on the Mothership.]]}}

* [[Samus Is a Girl]]: [[Trope Namer|Duh.]]

* [[Sand Is Water]]: In Maridia, when the Gravity Suit is acquired, water no longer renders Samus sluggish. However, flowing sand pits underwater still slow her down.

* [[Suddenly Voiced]]: In ''[[Super Smash Bros|Brawl]]'', Samus finally spoke her taunts. However, they sounded rather... [[Fetish Fuel|odd]]. In ''Other M'', she speaks for the first time in her own series.

* [[Superweapon Surprise]]: Don't mess with Chozo statues... just, don't: ''"Those who defile [our statues] shall know our wrath, unfettered and raw."''

*** And there used to be many more just like her (albeit Chozo). Samus is referred to as the first "Chozo" in many generations to choose the path of the warrior.

* [[Survival Horror]]: ''Metroid Fusion'' will never be confused with ''[[Silent Hill 2]]'', but the claustrophobic environment, the strictly linear gameplay, the profusion of locked doors, and the relentless pursuit by an invincible enemy give the two games an uncanny resemblance.

* [[Techno Wreckage]]: The Wrecked Ship in Super Metroid.

* [[Temple of Doom]]: Chozodia.

* [[The Federation|The Galactic Federation]]

* [[Tomato Surprise]]: See [[Samus Is a Girl]] above.

** ''Zero Mission'' has Samus infiltrate {{spoiler|the pirate mothership.}}

** ''Echoes'' finishes up in {{spoiler|the collapsing, Phazon-filled gateway of the Sky Temple -- the holy structure of the Ing.}}

** In what may be the most over-the-top instance of this trope in the series, ''Corruption'' {{spoiler|ends on a '''''sentient planet'''''.}}

** And to finish things off, ''Other M'' {{spoiler|brings a cloned Metroid Queen back for a showdown in a secure room aboard the Bottle Ship.}}

* [[Wall Jump]]: Starting with ''Super Metroid'', Samus quickly became one of the most notable employers of this technique. It also is the primary tool of sequence breakers.

** ''Prime 2'' was the first game that explicitly informed the player that this was one of Samus' abilities; in all previous games, it was a secret, and admittedly optional, technique.

* [[Wolverine Publicity]]: The Varia Suit is used in almost all of the series' covers and promotional images, even though it's typically only the middle of three suits.

* [[Womb Level]]: The innards of the Leviathans in "Prime 3", though that's more of a case of 'Womb Boss Chamber'. Phaaze is a living planet, too, though only a few parts of what we see of Phaaze is definitely organic.

** Her armor also changed drastically between Metroid 1 and 2, and all flashbacks to the first game depict the redesigned armor. It got a further redesign in [[Metroid Other M]], which is also depicted in flashbacks to Metroid 2 and [[Super Metroid]].

** Ironically, Samus in Fusion doesn't look much like her retcon-ed self in any of the other games, though considering she had some major sugery and DNA transfusion in said game...

[[Category:Military Science Fiction]]

[[Category:Metroid]]