The Metroid franchise of games has been around for over 3 decades. For players that are less familiar with the series, it is common for mistaken assumptions to be made about the Metroid games based on limited information. Certain inaccuracies about the series have even turned into internet memes.
There are more subtle misconceptions that even long-time series fans might hold. Some of these mistaken ideas are a result of the way the games were portrayed or presented in their earliest entries. Changes have been made as the franchise has continued to evolve over its many years to help clarify some previously vague or misunderstood concepts.
10 Metroid Is Not The Name Of The Main Character
This one is rather obvious for players who have actually played through the games in the Metroid franchise. It’s understandable for people who are less familiar with the games to think that it’s the character’s name. For those who are unaware, Metroid is the name of a type of creature that players battle against.
The Metroids are predatory life forms that drain the vitality from other organisms in a vampire-like fashion. The main player character’s name, on the other hand, is Samus Aran. Throughout the games in the series, Samus is tasked with eliminating the threat that Metroids pose to the galactic civilization.
9 Samus Is Female, Not Male
This confusion actually stems from the original Metroid game. In modern entries in the series, it’s clearly shown that Samus is a woman, but in the original game, it was left intentionally vague. Her reveal was intended to be a surprise for players.
Back in 1980s when the first Metroid game was released, heroic game characters were usually male. It was less common in those times to have a powerful female lead. In Samus’ case, her armor allowed for ambiguousness. The original Japanese version of Metroid’s instruction manual used gender-neutral pronouns intentionally to hide the surprise reveal, and the English translation used male pronouns, adding to the confusion. Players who used special passcodes or got the game’s best ending saw the surprise reveal of Samus without her armor.
8 Samus Can, In Fact, Crawl
This one is actually a misconception that the franchise clarifies itself. It’s another quirk that originates from the first Metroid game. The developers had difficulties back then with trying to make a crawling animation on the limited hardware, and as a result, the Morph Ball ability was born, becoming a staple of the series.
Metroid: Zero Mission on the Game Boy Advance was a remake of the original Metroid game. It featured an entirely new section added onto the end of the original game where Samus loses her ability to access her power suit. Players are forced to use a more stealthy play approach during these segments, and Samus does indeed crawl through smaller shafts that she would normally traverse in Morph Ball form.
7 Samus’ Arm Cannon Is Not Her Actual Arm
To be fair, this one might be a case of mistaken identity. There is another popular action platforming game franchise main character who has an arm cannon. Namely, Mega Man. Mega Man’s Mega Buster, which is his actual arm, and was sometimes called arm cannon in the earlier games. Samus has both her actual arms intact, and the name Arm Cannon comes from the fact her weapon forms around her arm.
The most obvious example showing Samus’ arms is perhaps the zero suit sequence in Metroid: Zero Mission. In this memorable portion of the game, Samus loses access to both her power suit and the arm cannon. She instead wields an emergency-use pistol called a Paralyzer that can only stun enemies.
6 Mother Brain Leads A Single Jurisdiction Of Operations, Not The Entire Space Pirate Force
There was a period of time when Mother Brain was assumed to be the leader of the entire Space Pirates. Some of the games even referenced it as such, notably the introduction sequence to Super Metroid. But Mother Brain only led the Space Pirate operations on planet Zebes.
The fact that Mother Brain was also the final boss battle in multiple entries in the Metroid franchise could easily add to this image. As the series has continued over the years, however, it has distanced itself from Mother Brain being the primary antagonist. Instead, it is widely believed that the leaders of the Space Pirates are another mysterious faction yet to be fully revealed.
5 The Chozo Race Still Lives
For a long time, players really only heard of the Chozo race’s past endeavors. For many years, they seemed to be an enigmatic presence that once existed but had since vanished, leaving behind a legacy. This feeling is exemplified during the Metroid Prime sub-series of games.
Samus is known to have been raised by the Chozo for the majority of her childhood and into adulthood. The newly announced Metroid Dread arriving later this year looks to be the first time players will get to interact with a living member of the Chozo race. Until now, they have primarily been revealed through memories, flashbacks, or historic records and lore.
4 Ridley Murdering Samus’ Parents Is Borderline Non-Canonical
Perhaps a controversial topic, but it’s possible Ridley did not kill Samus’ parents directly. Though it is implied, the games haven’t said with certainty that he was their murderer. Samus was orphaned at a young age when her Earth colony homeworld of K-2L was attacked. The Chozo race took her in and raised her to become a strong woman.
The only indicators that Ridley participated in the attack on planet K-2L come from pictures in the Child Mode endings in Japan’s release of Metroid Fusion and the Metroid Prime instruction manual. Most details of this event come from outside of the canonical games, including Metroid manga, comics, and Ridley’s trophy from Super Smash Bros. Melee.
3 The Chozo Are Not All Benevolent And Infallible
Despite the general sense that the Chozo are a benevolent race, there are some indications that their benevolence is not universal. There seems to be at least one faction that has gone against their brethren. In Metroid: Samus Returns, 2017’s remake of the original Metroid II: Return of Samus, the Chozo Memories feature reveals new details about their history.
In one particular scene, it shows an unknown Chozo leading a faction that revolted against their own race. In addition to this revelation, the Chozo race as a whole was responsible for creating the Metroids and Mother Brain, which would both become threats to the galactic civilization, diverging from the Chozo’s original intentions for them.
2 Samus Is More Than Human
Something that many players simply forget or overlook is the fact that Samus is more than the average human. As a young girl, she was infused with Chozo DNA using their advanced technology and raised to be a warrior of their people. They created her power suit, a biological suit of armor that she can materialize at will.
She also undergoes various changes during the events of the Metroid Prime sub-series of games. And in Metroid Fusion, her DNA becomes even further altered when she is injected with Metroid cells in a last-ditch effort to combat a deadly X-parasite infection. As a result, she survives and also develops a unique immunity to the X-parasites.
1 Ridley Is Samus’ Arch Nemesis, But He’s Not The Main Antagonist In Any Of The Games
Players who are not intimately familiar with the Metroid series may assume Ridley is the main antagonist. He’s indeed a recurring character and Samus’ arch-nemesis. However, in nearly every Metroid title, there is some other factor that ends up being bigger than Ridley.
He’s frequently seen as an enforcer, rather than the leader of the Space Pirates. While the true leader of the Space Pirates is still unknown, many believe it to be the mysterious High Command. Perhaps new details in future Metroid games will clarify this point, but, to date, Ridley has never been the main antagonist despite having prominent roles in each game.
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