Samus and the platoon engage the Brug Mass.
The Brug Mass[1] is a vaguely humanoid collection of many Brugs gathered around an Emperor Brug (which possesses a large eye on its body). It is the first boss in Metroid: Other M and is fought in the Bottle Ship Control Room.
Battle
Shortly after Samus and the 07th Platoon arrive in the Control Room, they encounter the corpse of a Lab Worker whose lab coat is covered in green blood. A Brug soon crawls out from under it- Lyle Smithsonian panics, kicks the creature away and begins shooting at it. As Samus starts to talk to Adam Malkovich about her assistance with the Platoon's mission, hundreds of Brugs crawl out of the walls and ceiling, gather around the Emperor Brug, and coalesce into the Brug Mass.
The Brug Mass uses its two long tentacles to attack and strike down Samus. If Samus goes too close to the Mass, her foot will get caught in it and the Mass will throw her up and use its tentacle to strike her down, dealing heavy damage.
Samus and the Marines battle the Brug Mass.
Initially, the Marines and Samus are unable to damage the Brug Mass, and only come to realize that if Samus uses Sense Move in first person perspective. Adam then authorizes the use of both the Marines' Freeze Guns and Samus' Missiles. Samus must fire a Charge Beam shot or a Missile at the Emperor Brug, allowing the Marines to freeze the tentacles of the beast. Once a tentacle is frozen, Samus can fire a Missile at it to destroy it. When both tentacles have been destroyed, the base of the creature becomes vulnerable to attack and can be destroyed in the same fashion as the tentacles. At this point, the creature will begin slamming its whole body into the ground in an attempt to injure Samus or one of the Marines. It can also spin its body very quickly and jump. After the base has been destroyed, the Emperor Brug falls out of the Mass and Samus must kill the eyeball to finish off the beast. Once the Emperor Brug is killed, the remaining Brugs in the mass scurry away.
Brug Mass and Emperor Brug concept art.
If Samus takes too long to kill the Emperor Brug, it will reattach itself to the Mass and the Mass' base must be broken off again.
Trivia
Samus about to fire a charge beam into the Emperor Brug.
- During the battle, the Brug Mass will only target Samus. In addition, it can't harm the Marines even if the Mass seems to actually touch them.
- The Emperor Brug and Brugs that make up the boss share characteristics with the Oculus and the unofficially named Bomb Parasites, respectively.
- The Brug Mass was referred to as "Unidentified Life Form 27" in UK's Official Nintendo Magazine: "An early encounter with a giant one-eyed monster (Unidentified Life Form 27)". [1]
- This boss bears several similarities to the Gohmas of the Legend of Zelda games, another series created by Nintendo. The Queen Gohma in Ocarina of Time is particularly similar to the Brug Mass. For instance, both bosses start out by watching the protagonist as a single eye on the ceiling. Also, when each boss's main body is destroyed, their eye is revealed to be the "true" boss that must be destroyed.
- Adam could also have authorized the use of Samus' Ice Beam, yet he let the troopers use their Freeze Guns. This may be because the other soldiers didn't have Missiles, so Samus would have needed to do all the work.
- However, Anthony Higgs possesses the Plasma Gun, which is much stronger than an average missile, although its long charging time may have prevented its use.
- The Brugs may have been non-violent until provoked into self-defense by Lyle's killing of one Brug.
References
- ^ Name from Other M Prima Strategy Guide