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The Amorbis were a trio of worm-like creatures that inhabited the Dark Agon Wastes on Dark Aether. They are fought in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes as the Guardians of the Dark Agon Temple.

Battle[]

Samus Aran awakens the three Amorbis as she steps down onto their arena. The battle starts with only one of them actively attacking while the other two burrow underground.

To defeat Amorbis, Samus must first damage it whilst it is tunneling in and out of the earth. After receiving some damage, the Amorbis will attach itself to a Dark Sphere in the center of the arena, drawing power from the orb to spew dark energy. In doing this, they receive a layer of ridged, dark armor and a sort of "crown", which allows Amorbis to cover Light Crystals with sludge. At this point Samus can only destroy the head layer of the armor with the Light Beam, Power Beam (which deals less damage), or Missiles. After it has been rid of its crown, Amorbis lays down and begins sucking in air and sand, reconstructing the head armor if it is allowed to finish doing so. The vacuum will slightly disrupt Visor operations when close and will suck Samus onto the creature's head, delivering contact damage. Samus must use this opportunity to transform into her Morph Ball mode and get inhaled into its body to lay Bombs. Once this is complete, Amorbis will spit her out and violently convulse, involuntarily damaging the Dark Sphere in the process by lifting it and slamming it down against the ground.

Almost immediately after, a second Amorbis will emerge from the ground. Samus must repeat the previous process.

Dark Amorbis

The Dark Amorbis appear.

After laying bombs in the two, a third Amorbis will come to help. When more than one Amorbis is latched upon the sphere, together they can generate an immense orb of dark energy atop their "crowns", arching their bodies to reach the others', and firing 2 to 3 devastating lasers (depending on the number of Amorbis present) at Samus. At this time all Amorbis become immune to any form of damage until the move finishes. After laying bombs within all three, Samus witnesses one of the creatures dry up and crumble against the wind; the Dark Sphere will crack open and Samus will receive the Dark Suit.

Two Amorbis logs can be scanned, one when it is jumping around and the second when it is attached to the Dark Sphere, as these are considered two separate forms.

Official data[]

Metroid Prime 2: Dark Echoes Q&A[]

QUESTION: [Metroid Prime 2] is interesting after all. I was very impressed when I defeated Amorbis and got the Dark Suit.

ANSWER: Thank you. We wanted the fight to be enjoyable in that it was intense in dynamic, and we ended up really liking it too.[1]

QUESTION: In the gallery, the design of the Light Suit and that of Amorbis are identical in appearance. So was Amorbis some sort of Luminoth guardian? Is that also why there is an Amorbis monument in Agon Plaza?

ANSWER: Yes, of course. It's very subtle.[2]

Mining Plaza statue scan[]

"Structural analysis complete. Statue composed of ordinary alloys and stone. Purpose unknown: possibly placed as a warning to travelers."

Logbook entries[]

Amorbis

Temporary scan

Morphology: Amorbis
Gigantic tunneling Guardians.
Avoid target as it enters and leaves the earth; look for disturbances in the ground. Target cannot survive for long if its outer shell is cracked.

Logbook entry

The enormous Amorbis can move through solid rock and earth with ease, and can sense the location of surface-level prey deep within the ground. They will attempt to ram any target they can find in their domain. They are vulnerable to all forms of weapons fire, but are incredibly strong and resistant to pain.

Dark Amorbis

Temporary scan

Morphology: Dark Amorbis
Dark energy-charged Guardians.
Targets gain armor, beam weapon, and regenerative powers when fused to Dark Sphere. Weak spot within mouth detected; concussive force will deliver heavy damage to it.

Logbook entry

The Amorbis can attach themselves to the Dark Sphere, drawing potent energy from within. They can fire dark energy at Light Crystals, nullifying Safe Zones for a short time. They can also channel this energy into powerful beam attacks. Bioscans indicate a weak spot inside the creature’s mouth. Concentrate your fire at this area to damage an Amorbis.

Development notes[]

Kynan Pearson, a level designer for Echoes, formed the name "Amorbis" from the words "armor, morbid and enormous", and pointed out the inclusion of "orb", since the three worms are attached to one (the Dark Sphere).[1]

Trivia[]

  • Although the Amorbis are clearly switching between light and dark form, their light form receive no damage from the atmosphere of Dark Aether, similar to the Chykka. Unlike the Chykka, however, the Amorbis's light form sustains the most damage from the Light Beam. 
  • Amorbis does not receive any damage from standard Annihilator Beam shots (via Sequence Breaking). Both forms also appear immune to Power Bombs (also via Sequence Breaking).
  • The Ing Horde is stated to train and raise various creatures, including sub-species of its own kind, for different purposes. The Amorbis may have been Ingworms bred and trained to guard the Dark Agon Temple and its respective planetary energy.
  • Only one of the three Amorbis creatures are seen dying on-screen. The other two seemingly fled underground earlier after being bombed for the last time. It can be assumed that the dying Amorbis is the same one present since the very beginning of the boss battle, given the fact that this specific individual received more damage than the other two.
  • The three eyes of each Amorbis are positioned in an equilateral triangle. This symbol, resembling the Luminoth letter "F", is found on many other artifacts and creatures in Echoes, including the Luminoth themselves.
  • The Sandigger species bear slight similarities to the Amorbis, mainly their segmented worm-like bodies and tunneling behavior.
  • The Diggernaut's wind vortex attack is similar to the vacuum attack of the Amorbis.
  • When there is more than one Amorbis gripping onto the Dark Sphere, only the last one doing so will involuntarily damage the sphere, as the first one (or first two when all three worms are present) will immediately detach itself (themselves) from it after being bombed and burrow into the ground without slamming it.
  • The nature of Amorbis may have been inspired by the Graboid from the Tremors series of films. Both creatures, the Amorbis and the Graboids, are giant carnivorous worms which live underground and both burrow to attack their prey. They may have also been inspired by the Lanmolas from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. The Lanmolas, like the Amorbis, are a set of three worms that burrow and leap into the air in order to attack prey within its territory.
  • The destruction of the Dark Sphere is similar in appearance to that of the planet Zebes at the end of Super Metroid.
  • Any Safe Zones nullified by Amorbis cannot be cleared by Samus and have a visible dark energy field around them. They reactivate on their own. Strangely, if Samus shoots her Dark Beam at the Safe Zones herself during the battle, the same will happen and she will be unable to clear the dark energy herself; instead having to wait until the energy dissipates.
Bonus Disc Amorbis Logbook

Amorbis' Logbook entry in the Metroid Prime 2: Echoes Bonus Disc.

  • The method for damaging the Dark Amorbis resembles the battle against the Queen Metroid in Metroid II: Return of Samus. In both fights Samus had to stun the creatures by shooting their heads and rolling inside their mouths to drop Bombs.
  • Although the Amorbis were attached to the Dark Sphere at the beginning of the battle, they had not yet transformed into Dark Amorbis. This may mean that the Amorbis have to actively leech energy from the sphere, and do not automatically change when attaching.
  • A statue of a Dark Amorbis can be found in the Agon Wastes, in the Mining Plaza. It is attached to a rock and serves as a warning for any travelers that wander the wastes. The statue is also present in the room's Dark Aether equivalent.
  • When the Dark Amorbis performs its invincible large purple laser blast sweep, its head is vulnerable to the Phazon Beam (via hacking). If an Amorbis's head armor is destroyed during this time, the laser attack will instantly stop and the Dark Amorbis will simply stand in place in its neutral position before its headpiece returns a second later, soon returning to normal combat.

Music[]

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. ^ Interview: Kynan Pearson. Shinesparkers. November 7, 2021. Retrieved November 13, 2021.


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