Tourian



Tourian was the main headquarters and research facility of the Space Pirates' fortress on Zebes, and the inner sanctum of Mother Brain. It is a region composed almost entirely of metal materials and hardware, with corridors formed through alloy pipework. Pools of Lava fill certain rooms of the area. Artificial lifeforms and constructs, such as Rinkas, Zebetites, along with Cannons, provide defense and security for both Mother Brain and presumably her Pirate forces. Hordes of Metroids are also present, marking their debut appearance in the series; it is here where they are researched, grown and multiplied through exposure to beta radiation.

Surprisingly, while this is indeed the main HQ of the Pirates, there were none of the marauding race to be seen in the NES/Famicom Metroid. This is later retconned in Metroid: Zero Mission, where a cutscene shows a Metroid outbreak has occurred, killing all Pirate personnel; in-game, many corpses of Zebesian Pirates can be seen throughout Tourian. After the defeat of Mother Brain, a time bomb incinerates the facility and reduces it to ruins, causing an acid waste to leak afterwards. This Tourian was originally built by the Chozo, with modifications and additions being made to it by the Space Pirates after the former abandoned Zebes and/or were exterminated by the latter.

Early on during her second mission to Zebes in Super Metroid, Samus travels through the old ruins of the original Tourian from her Zero Mission, which became integrated into the Crateria region. However only Mother Brain's chamber and the escape shaft are present; all other rooms are missing, possibly due to Pirate reconstruction. The mission ultimately leads to a second, newly constructed Tourian found in a different location. Unlike the original, this headquarters was completely built by Space Pirates and Kihunters during the events of the Primeseries. In the rebuilt base, Metroids are once again the main threat leading up the path to the resurrected Mother Brain, but whether they broke loose again or were intentionally released this time is unknown. Also, Space Pirates populate the sections found behind Mother Brain's command post.

This reconstructed Tourian has several rooms filled with two different substances resembling lava/magma. The first substance, located in the rooms prior to Mother Brain, is concentrated and thick while the liquid found in the pirate leader's chamber is clear and fluid; the latter seems to be the same super-heated lava found in Lower Norfair. Both of these substances are more harmful than the basic lava that used to fill the original Tourian, as they harm Samus even while wearing the Gravity Suit. The clear, fluid lava is seen flooding the Pirate HQ during the escape sequence.

While the first Tourian was devoid of any natural soil, plant-life or native animals, the second Tourian featured a nature zone (seemingly a simulation) where several wildlife of Zebes resided, along with the Baby that Samus spared during her mission on SR388; however, more than half of these natives were devoured by the Baby, leaving nothing but their dried husks. Exposed scaffolding and circuit boards are prominent features in this location, indicating that construction is an ongoing process. With the defeat of the reborn Mother Brain, a self-destruct sequence is initiated again, only this time it is not solely for the main headquarters, but for the entirety of Zebes as well. Near the final moments of Super Metroid, Samus uses the old Tourian's escape shaft once more. Ultimately, the rebuilt Tourian was eradicated, along with the entire planet by the end of the game.

Metroid: Other M features Sector Zero, an unseen area located on the BOTTLE SHIP designed as a replica of Tourian. This sector was created by the ringleaders, who used it to propagate unfreezable Metroids for Project Metroid Warriors. The Metroids were controlled by an AI similar to Mother Brain, MB. The sector was detached and destroyed by Commander Adam Malkovich. Super Metroid 's Tourian was also seen in a flashback seen at the beginning of Other M.

In one of the preview trailers for Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Mother Brain's Tourian chamber from Super Metroid is shown in blueprints belonging to the Galactic Federation.

Metroid: Zero Mission

 * 1 Missile Tank (Post destruction)
 * 1 Power Bomb Tank (Post destruction)

Super Metroid

 * Hyper Beam

Enemies

 * Metroids
 * Rinka
 * Cannons
 * Ripper (dead, Super Metroid only)
 * Sbug (Super Metroid and ruined Tourian only)
 * Blue Sidehopper (Super Metroid only)
 * Skree (dead, Super Metroid only)
 * Space Pirate (corpses in Metroid: Zero Mission, alive in Super Metroid only)
 * Torizo (dead, Super Metroid only)
 * Zebetite
 * Zoomer (dead, Super Metroid only)

Bosses

 * Big Metroid (Super Metroid only)
 * Mother Brain

Metroid: Zero Mission manual
"This is the core of Zebes. It is in this deepest level that the mechanical life-form Mother Brain can be found."

Access
Being the primary target area in the Metroid titles it is included in, Tourian cannot simply be accessed on a whim. Several tasks must be completed before access is available to this area:
 * Metroid: Defeat Kraid and Ridley and then shoot two Stone Statues of them to create the Morph Ball bridge, at the end of which is an elevator leading to Tourian.
 * Metroid: Zero Mission: Defeat Kraid and Ridley just as in the original, but this remake depicts their statues as gateways. The mouths of these statues will open in the circumstances of actual defeat, giving Samus a pathway to the main Tourian elevator.
 * Super Metroid: Defeat Kraid, Phantoon, Draygon, and Ridley. Golden Statues depict these four beings, and will sink to the bottom of their cave once all four are defeated, collapsing the floor and revealing an underwater chamber with the elevator to the newly built Tourian.

Trivia

 * In the NES/Famicom Metroid game, Tourian can be accessed early on without killing either of the first two bosses by using an exploitation involving the Ice Beam and Bombs on a Reo.
 * It is stated by Samus in the Metroid Manga that Tourian is the place where the Chozo and Mother Brain make decisions that influence the Galactic Federation.
 * The music heard throughout Tourian prior to entering Mother Brain's chamber in Metroid is also used during the main boss fights against Ridley and Kraid. It wasn't until Super Metroid that both Pirate generals obtained their own different music. In the Zero Mission remake, the theme is exclusively heard in Tourian.
 * The melody from the Tourian theme music from Metroid, Super Metroid, and Metroid: Zero Mission is identical to the melody in the later half of the piece "Gnomus" from Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition.
 * In Metroid: Zero Mission, if Samus returns to Tourian after beating Mother Brain, there is a blue-green, highly corrosive liquid that has replaced the lava in Mother Brain's chamber. It is unknown what the substance is or how it appeared, but it is severely dangerous to step into, even with the protection of the Gravity Suit. In most probability, it is some sort of waste from the now inactive power systems in the destroyed area. This same substance is present onboard Sector 1 of the BSL, in the Tourian-like area before fighting Neo-Ridley.
 * This green liquid is nowhere to be seen in Super Metroid. However, as mentioned before, the rebuilt Tourian has two magma-like substances that also ignore the Gravity Suit's protection.


 * In Zero Mission and Super Metroid, it is interesting to note that the Metroids were loose within Tourian, and absorbed the energy of many Zebesians (numerous random creatures in Super), yet Mother Brain was stated to be capable of controlling them with her telepathy in Other M.
 * In one of the trailers for Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, blueprints made by the Galactic Federation for a future Aurora Unit complex are shown, identical to Mother Brain's chamber in Tourian from Super Metroid. The blueprints from Corruption may have played a role in the construction of Sector Zero.
 * It is also possible that Space Pirates from Zebes had gained access to the blueprints and reconstructed Mother Brain's chamber and the entirety of Tourian in Super Metroid based on them.


 * There are two areas in the second Tourian that serve as the "point of no return". The first one occurs if Samus saves in the first Save Station, then reloads, which will cause the elevator to disappear. The second one is the Save Station in the shaft just before Mother Brain. If saved here, the door leading out of the wasteland-like chamber will be locked and Samus, if she has forgotten one or more expansions, will not be able to obtain them.
 * In the sport of Geocaching, cache GC2N51G is an underground storm drain system in tribute to Tourian.
 * In Metroid: Zero Mission, if Samus reenters Tourian to gather items after escaping from Chozodia (an event which occurs after the Pirate HQ has self-destructed), most of the facility is curiously in perfect condition, and the music is unchanged: only the room just before Mother Brain's chamber, the chamber itself, and the escape shaft are damaged, and play a different music. This is strange considering the fact that the explosion of the base shown in a cutscene is large enough to be witnessed from space. The Crateria rooms right outside of Tourian are also seared due to the explosion.
 * Even the elevator connecting Crateria and Tourian seems to be fully operational, despite being at the epicenter of the explosion.
 * In Zero Mission, if the hatch just outside the elevator is opened with a Super Missile during the escape sequence, the hatch will remain green until opened again. Only then will it remain blue.
 * The chamber of Mother Brain's second form is much larger in Other M than it is in Super Metroid. In Super Metroid, the room is about the same height as Mother Brain, and Samus is at the very end of the room; however, Other M ' s variant of the room extends above Mother Brain, and goes on for some distance behind Samus.

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Туриан