Zebes

"Planet Zebes...I called this place home once, in peaceful times, long before evil haunted the caverns below." - Samus

Zebes was a planet in orbit around the sun FS-176 and habitat of the devious Zebesian Space Pirates and Mother Brain. Zebes has occasionally been mistranslated as "Zebeth" due to the fact that "s" and "th" make the same sound in Japanese pronunciation, though it has been confirmed that the planet's official name is Zebes. Zebes was the locational setting of the original Metroid, its enhanced remake, Metroid: Zero Mission, and Super Metroid. According to Metroid Prime, Zebes had a mass of 4.8 trillion teratons and is in the same system as Ooromine II, Twin Tabula, Bilium, and Tallon IV. Samus Aran was raised on Zebes by Chozo after her home on the Earth colony, K-2L, was destroyed by Space Pirates.

Features
Zebes had a vast network of underground caverns and labyrinths that lead deep into the planet, almost to the very core. However, survey teams had never made it that far, due to the immense heat, making much of the planet's depths unknown.

Strangely, a deep cavernous area in the planet known from previous surveyor teams as Brinstar seemed to be the home of more than 60% of the planet's wildlife. Hundreds of creatures resided there, as well as strange animal life only found in the depths of Brinstar. Brinstar was mostly a dense forest, yet the vegetation didn't seem to have anything to photosynthesize. Perhaps the plants only needed water, or maybe the majority were carnivorous as indicated by the foliage in Lower Brinstar. It is also possible that Brinstar plants use chemosynthesis.

Another strange fact is the existence of huge deposits of water just below the surface. From space, only small amounts of acidic pools of water could be seen, but upon closer inspection there was more than that. Labeled Maridia, the water from this realm spiraled in all directions, eating away at the land, creating huge and sometimes dangerously vast mazes of water. Also, with the constant erosion of the rock, the ground "liquefied" in some areas and formed deadly quicksand traps leading deeper into the planet.

There was also a Wrecked Ship that had crashed in a pool on Crateria long ago. The ship appeared to have crashed before or during the Chozo's civilization, as there were several Chozo Statues in its compromised hull. It is shown in Metroid (manga) to have two moons, one very large in appearance from the ground and another that is smaller. Samus also uses the phrase "Great Moons of Zebes!" in Captain N: The Game Master.

Life
Life on Zebes was very diverse, ranging from huge animals made entirely of molten rock, to small flying creatures that generate their own light, illuminating the entire room. Life was abundant; one could sit down on a rock, and seconds later have it scurry away from under them. The remains of a strange civilization had also been found, indicating that there was once a strong civilization on the planet, however, no live specimens were ever found.

Areas

 * Crateria &mdash; The surface area of Zebes that Samus's gunship first landed on in Metroid: Zero Mission and later in Super Metroid. It was constantly deluged by heavy acid rains.
 * Brinstar &mdash; A lush underground jungle area of Zebes. Home to the Super Metroid miniboss Spore Spawn.
 * Norfair &mdash; The fiery underground caves of Zebes. Some areas of Norfair had incredibly high temperature, requiring Samus to obtain the Varia Suit. Home to the Super Metroid minibosses Crocomire and the Gold Torizo, and the Zero Mission miniboss Imago Cocoon.
 * Maridia &mdash; The flooded caves of Zebes. In Super Metroid, some Space Pirate lab compounds were situated in this area. Maridia also included the result of failed attempts at cloning Metroids by Space Pirates. One of the Space Pirate leaders, Draygon, lurked in the area in Super Metroid.
 * Wrecked Ship &mdash; An ancient, flooded ship that crashed into Crateria. The ship could have possibly been the Space Pirate Mother Ship Samus destroyed in Zero Mission; however, director Yoshio Sakamoto has said that the ships are not the same. The area is home to Phantoon, one of the Space Pirate leaders in Super Metroid.
 * Chozodia &mdash; Ancient Chozo ruins.
 * Kraid's Lair &mdash; A subsection on Brinstar that was a moist area teeming with flora and small animal life. As the name implies, this was the habitat of Kraid, a veteran Space Pirate leader and the other main Enforcer.
 * Ridley's Lair &mdash; An area of Zebes that is even below Norfair. Ridley's Lair was completely artificial, made of Chozo Ruins and possibly Space Pirate technology. The area was arguably the same as the Lower Norfair area from Super Metroid, which also served as the base for Ridley, the most infamous of the Space Pirate leaders and one of the two main Enforcers. In Super Metroid, Samus required the Gravity Suit to explore the area safely.
 * Tourian &mdash; The main Space Pirate base on Zebes was located here. Entirely mechanical, Tourian was the location of the Metroid labs and the place from which Mother Brain, the (supposedly) supreme leader of the Space Pirates on Zebes, resided and commanded her forces. Samus has twice destroyed this area. The first Tourian was built strangely quite near to the surface, however when it was destroyed, another Tourian was rebuilt much further into the depths of the planet, some parts as deep as Norfair and perhaps even farther.

Primary Inhabitants

 * Zebesian Space Pirates &mdash; Space Pirates led by Ridley who set up a base on Zebes. It has been confirmed that Space Pirates did not originally come from planet Zebes, contradictory to Super Metroid's manual, where it refers to them as 'Zebesians'.
 * The Chozo once inhabited the Chozodia section of Zebes. Coincidentally, Samus Aran was raised by the Chozo on Zebes.
 * Metroids inhabited the lowest level of Zebes, brought to the planet by the Space Pirates.

Destruction
After Samus defeated Mother Brain for the second time on Zebes in Super Metroid, yet another self-destruct sequence was activated. However, unlike the first, which destroyed the first Tourian, the second decimated the entire planet: As Samus escaped in her ship, the planet ignited with a blinding flash and a tremendous explosion. Afterwards, Zebes was no more.

Metroid Prime Scan
''Planet Zebes Mass: 4.8 trillion teratons.

Profile: Planet's crust is primarily Urthic ore, making it ideal for subterranean construction. A class XIX planet, Zebes is inhospitable to most bioforms. The world was considered unremarkable until it became a base for Space Pirate forces.''

Other Information

 * A girl in Custom Robo for the Nintendo GameCube, when guessing what the "Z" in "Z Syndicate" stands for, guesses Zebes, among other words which also include various Nintendo references.
 * A popular Metroid-based comic website (www.zebeth.com), run by James Harder (under his pen name Kabutroid), was named Planet Zebeth and revolves around Samus and her adventures with a decidedly out-of-character cast.
 * According to the Metroid Manga, Zebes is the second planet from its sun.
 * According to Mother Brain in the Manga, humans can only naturally survive in Brinstar and Crateria.