Federation Marine

Federation Marines are members of the Galactic Federation Marine Corps, A.K.A The GFMC, who wear advanced suits of powered armor. These suits allow them to use potent weapons and resist heavy damage in battle; few can match them in combat. One of the most common sights on Federation worlds, the marines are the rank-and-file soldiers of the Galactic Federation.

Although they are mentioned frequently throughout the series in the instruction booklets, they are first introduced in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes when a space pirate frigate crashed on Aether and they met the Ing. Echoes tells the story of GFMC Task Force Herakles's fight against the Ing Horde, revealing much background information about the federation marines. They travel around the Federation in patrol ships. The marines mostly fight against the Space Pirates that attack planets, space stations, and other things located in the Federation. Unfortunately, even the weapon of a Pirate Militia; with more damaging projectiles, can be used to kill troops quickly.

History
It is unknown why the Federation first deployed these troops, but they seem to have retconned the Federation police, which could mean they were meant to counter the Space Pirates.

Operations
The marines, as the main ground and shipboard forces, have likely participated in many missions, two notable ones are depicted in the games:

The Aether Incident
While on patrol in the Dasha Region GFMC Task Force Herakless (on board the GFS Tyr) engaged a Space Pirate frigate near a planet called Aether, when the pirates retreated to the planet the GFS Tyr followed in pursuit, but was hit by lightning during approach. They where forced to land in the Temple Grounds, and set up their base camp there. They split into 2 teams, team 1 tried to repair the Tyr, and team 2 searched for the space pirates. Both teams where doing fine until they stumbled upon the Splinters, team 2 started trying to wipe out the splinters but was slowly worn down. Eventually a large swarm of Dark Splinters wiped out all of team 1, soon the only remaining member of team 2 was killed by wildlife.

Space Pirates and Phazon
During Dark Samus' command of the Space Pirates, multiple space battles were fought at Norion, the Pirate Homeworld, and Phaaze, while marines protected the ships and were used as ground troops at Norion and the Pirate Homeworld.

Equipment
Federation marines wear protective armor suits which increase their durability, and wield rapid firing assault rifles. The design of these differs between games.

Metroid prime 2 Echoes and before
Their armor was a metallic gray color and had large shoulder and knee pads shaped in the symbol of the Federation. They also had orange highlights on their shoulders in "Hunters", as well as slimmer arms.

They were armed with rapid fire weapons that relied on ammunition, although the nature of this ammunition is unknown, and thus the specifications of the round fired. Although their guns appear to be powerful, their exact strength is unknown. About three shots takes away one unit of energy from Samus's shields which is the same that a power beam shot does in multiplayer, although multiplayer may have made some changes to weapon strength. It is also unknown if the shots fired from the rifles were enhanced by the ing, or if they were only weak to make it easier for beginners. It is implied that the weapons have bayonets, although they aren't seen, and it is unknown if the bayonets were applied to these weapons or another type of weapon.

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and after
The marines’ armour was different in "Corruption" (whether a redesign or different model/rank is unknown), it is now much less bulky, darker, and has blue highlights. The chest armor is also in the shape of the federation symbol.

The helmet is smaller and shaped more like a human head, and the visor is much more like a T than the federation symbol.

They retained the rapid fire weapons, now referred to as assault rifles, yet this time they are sleeker, covers more of the arm, and has a more realistic rate of fire. The sounds made when fireing sound less like projectile fire, possibly retconning the earlier mentioned use of ammo. The projectiles themselves remain the same in appearance, although strength-wise it is unknown.

Logbook entry
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption: "Federation Marines wear advanced suits of powered armor, allowing them to use potent weapons and resist heavy damage in battle. Few can match them in combat."

"PED" Marines
Federation "PED Marines" were Federation Marines of the Galactic Federation with a Phazon Enhancement Device attached to their suit. Only elite troops were allowed to use the devices. With the attachment of the PED, PED Marines could utilize Phazon to increase the power of their armour. While active, the "PED" enhanced the attack and defence systems of their armorsuits, making them much stronger than normal troops. Unlike users of the Space Pirate PED, none of the Federation PED marines showed signs of Phazon sickness.

Deceased PED Marines can be found prior to the Aurora Chamber on the wrecked vessel, the G.F.S. Valhalla. According to scans on the two deceased marines, their suits were presumably overloaded by a Phazon grenade thrown by a Space Pirate, as they are surrounded by Phazon that is apparently "in the process of absorbing the dead bodies." While the suits on the dead marines are no different from any other PED Marine, their suits have two protruding blades similar to wings. This may be an extra storage device for phazon or it may be a different variety of PED Marine equipped with a jet pack. Unfortunately, as no living variety of this Marine is encountered they cannot be scanned as a new creature.

PED marines were not seen before Metroid Prime 3: Corruption as the technology used by them was a recent development, and it became useless not long after being put to use as all phazon was eventually rendered inert.

Demolition Troopers
Demolition Troopers are members of the Galactic Federation who are outfitted with explosive weaponry for special missions. While capable of destroying the strongest of barriers, they have weaker armor than most marines and often rely on others to cover them while in battle, i.e. they are not as capable in combat as traditional marines. They look almost identical to standard marines but with slight differences in armor structure (mainly on the back) and with orange highlights instead of blue. Their visors are orange and in the shape of a T. They carry explosive packs on their backs, and are armed with the standard assault rifles (again, with orange highlights). Supposedly, the orange or yellow highlights are just one variety as one trooper says "Our group color is yellow." indicating the highlights may vary from one team to another.



Missile Troopers
The possessed missile trooper from Team 2 is a boss battle in "Echoes". He acts almost completely the same as any Dark Trooper, only with more health and firing missles instead. The reward is a missile tank. The strength and variety of Missle Troopers is unknown, as only one is encountered, and it's possessed by an Ing.

Dark Troopers
Dark Troopers are reanimated Galactic Federation Marines that have been possessed by the Ing Horde. When Samus Aran, (who was looking for the missing GFMC Task Force Herakles on Aether), finds them they are not fully possessed and have slow, zombie like reaction times, however their weapon systems are fully functional. Single charged shots can easily kill them, although whether this is indicative of standard trooper durability is unknown. Their eyes are a solid purple, as well as their skin.

Brawl Sticker
The Federation Trooper sticker automatically gives any character it is assigned to a Super Scope in Subspace Emissary.


 * Federation Trooper Metroid Prime 2: Echoes - Carry Super Scope (All)

Trivia

 * The Federation Research Team members from Metroid Fusion look suspiciously similar to the Marines found in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption; however, the research team members have never officially been related to the marines.


 * Federation Marines are featured in the startup video of Metroid Prime: Hunters, fighting the Bounty Hunter Sylux.


 * When Gandrayda tricks Samus by pretending to be a Marine, she uses the designation NZG41, which may give some insight into how Marines are numbered and may possibly indicate ranking.