This article's name is an unofficial translation from official Japanese media
and may not represent the canonical English name, if one exists.
An alternate name from an official source may be required.
- This article is about the turrets in Tourian and E.M.M.I. Zones. For other uses, see Cannon (Disambiguation)
Small defense Cannons (砲台)[1][2] are seen within Tourian in Metroid, Metroid: Zero Mission, and Super Metroid. The similar Central Unit Cannons[3] appear in Central Unit rooms on ZDR in Metroid Dread.
Description[]
These stationary Cannons are present within every in-game iteration of the Zebesian Command Center, the room inhabited by Mother Brain. Their design is simple, consisting of either a circular or octagonal metal base with a single gun barrel jutting out from the sides. The base itself has a core that can glow, though what triggers it to do so varies between games. The appearance of a Cannon differs in other sources of media, either resembling a horizontal metal cylinder with a gun barrel at its middle, or featuring a design akin to that of the two turret variants from Metroid Prime.
Affixed to the walls and ceilings, the Cannons' purpose is to defend Mother Brain by firing small projectiles at Samus. These artillery batteries seem to lack targeting systems, as their gun barrels continuously swivel in three to five different directions. In the original Metroid game, the Cannons located above the door and floating platforms only fire when their gun barrels are pointed directly underneath them, and the Cannons above the Zebetites fire diagonally downward; all of these are intentionally aimed at elevated platforms that Samus may potentially stand on, regardless of whether or not she is actually there. In later games, the Cannons shoot in seemingly random directions, regardless of who or what is nearby. This particular attack pattern and their large quantities quickly fill the room with a constant barrage of bullets, further compounded with the infinitely spawning Rinkas, all of which render attempts at evading the projectiles nearly futile.
The Cannons' projectiles, although not terribly damaging on their own if wearing Suit upgrades, are a great nuisance, as a direct hit will often push Samus into nearby Rinkas or into the shot of another Cannon or outright knock her into the lava below, making the climb back to her advantageous position a potential struggle due to all the aforementioned hazards and thus accumulate damage. In Super Metroid, their projectiles can destroy Samus's Missiles and Super Missiles upon collision; although this destroys the shot from the Cannon as well, it is a troublesome trait due to her limited ammo. All the above give the Zebetites opportunities to regenerate, which further hinders Samus's progress at reaching and defeating Mother Brain. The Screw Attack is capable of shielding Samus from Cannons when she somersaults, causing their shots to either explode on contact or pass through her, depending on the game.
Cannons can only be destroyed by defeating Mother Brain, which implies they are directly wired to her network. After her defeat, the gun barrels of all Cannons explode while their bases remain intact. In Super Metroid, defeating Mother Brain's first form causes the destruction of the entire mechanism, with its base vanishing seconds after the explosion that takes out the gun barrel. In the original NES/Famicom Metroid, the Cannons' cores are flashing red when Tourian's Time Bomb starts counting down. In later released games, the cores constantly emanate a red glow, though it is only in Zero Mission where they turn yellow very briefly whenever the Cannons fire.
Central Unit Cannon[]
A Central Unit Cannon on the ceiling
The Central Unit Cannon[3], abbreviated as CUCannon,[4] is a cannon that appears in Metroid Dread. They are only present within rooms featuring a Central Unit and as such, there is always at least one Central Unit Cannon mounted on the walls and/or ceiling. Since the CUs are implicitly of a similar nature to Mother Brain and both also rely on Rinkas for defense, these Central Unit Cannons very closely resemble the Cannons seen in the Zebesian Command Center.
At the start of the battle, the Central Unit Cannons in the room emerge from hatches; for the Ferenia Central Unit, a fourth cannon emerges after the Central Unit's armor is destroyed. Unlike previous Cannons that fire in vaguely designated locations or entirely random directions, the Central Unit Cannons actively aim at Samus's current position. The Central Unit Cannons light up just before firing a bolt that travels in a straight line across the room; both the light and bolt are the same color as the associated E.M.M.I.'s armor.[5] Samus must dodge their shots, as not even the Screw Attack provides any protection. When the CU is destroyed, the Central Unit Cannons deactivate and retract back into their hatches.
Similar devices[]
Metroid[]
Several floors, walls, and ceilings within Mini-Boss Hideout I and Mini-Boss Hideout II contain structures identical to Cannons, but lack their characteristic gun barrels and are colored blue and red, respectively. The same circular bases but grey in color are seen in other parts of Tourian, such as the two elevators, the corridor prior to Mother Brain's room, as well as a single one beneath her Control Capsule that will rapidly flash red alongside the actual Cannons during the Time Bomb's countdown.
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption[]
Mechanisms nearly identical to Mother Brain's Cannons can be seen in the Galactic Federation blueprints for the Future Aurora Complex, a room that is modeled after the Zebesian Command Center. Their presence further adds to the enigmatic connection between the Aurora Units and Mother Brain. The Federation might have intended to add their own variation of the Cannon to their organic supercomputers, though some benevolent AUs like 242 already have control over GMX-04 Halberd-class turrets.
The final boss of the game, a rogue AU known as Aurora Unit 313, can activate six structures that emerge from hatches surrounding its base. They each take turns firing a combined total of eight projectiles with slight homing capabilities before the structures retract into the ground.
Metroid Prime: Federation Force[]
The Grim-Class Turrets serve an identical purpose for Master Brain. While Master Brain is unable to attack by itself, its room features 18 Grim-Class Turrets emerging from hatches to fire at the Federation Force. Unlike the Cannons for Mother Brain and the Central Units, they can be destroyed with weapons and are not exclusively found in Master Brain's room.
Super Metroid[]
Directly beneath Mother Brain's Control Capsule is a red, glowing circular device that spawns Rinkas. Aside from lacking the characteristic gun barrel, it is visually identical to the Cannons present in the same room. While such circular devices are seen throughout Tourian, except for the barren wasteland section, some of their cores glow blue rather than the common red and some do not generate Rinkas at all, being merely decorative in role. Every single one of these beyond Mother Brain's chamber flashes red rapidly as the Time Bomb counts down following her death.
Metroid: Other M[]
A defense system resembling the Cannon are the Ring Beam Units encountered in the Galactic Federation's Bioweapon Research Center. These fire Rinkas instead of bullets, however; they foreshadow the eventual confrontation with MB, an android whose AI is copied from Mother Brain's.
Trivia[]
- In the Metroid prequel manga, no Cannons can be seen in the Zebesian Command Center during the time Mother Brain is an ally of the Chozo. They only make their appearance during the final pages of the manga, when Samus enters the fully remodeled Command Center to destroy Mother Brain. This led to the belief that the Cannons are of Space Pirate origin, seeing as how the alterations to her room begin following the Pirates' takeover of planet Zebes. With the release of Metroid Dread and the introduction of Central Units with their own similar cannons on ZDR, a planet still inhabited by the Chozo, it has s become unclear who designed the original Cannons.
- In the original Metroid for the NES/Famicom, after Mother Brain is defeated but before the body dissipates, the Cannons will swivel without firing. The gun barrels themselves are only destroyed once the countdown begins.
- Samus can stand on top of a Cannon's base in both the original Metroid and Zero Mission, though the gun barrel in the latter game will eventually shoot upwards at her.
- In Zero Mission, the four Cannons closest to Mother Brain have several red and blue cables plugged into them. The significance or reason behind this is unknown.
- Super Metroid's flashback of the original battle against Mother Brain features two Cannons whose gun barrels neither swivel nor shoot.
- During Super Metroid's final battle, the Cannon closest to Mother Brain appears to float in the air due to its sprite being distant from the nearest wall and ceiling. Due to the screen scrolling left in preparation for Mother Brain's second form, it is the only Cannon whose base can be seen vanishing.
- On close inspection, the sprite of the Cannon-like base beneath the Control Capsule in Super Metroid has its right side mirrored from the left, making it perfectly symmetrical, unlike the base of an authentic Cannon or other similar devices.
- The prologue of Samus Returns features a dramatized image of the battle between Samus and Mother Brain from Zero Mission. In it, a Cannon is shown firing a long laser beam instead of the bullet-like projectile. A second identical laser is present though it is being fired from an offscreen Cannon.
Gallery[]
.png "Zero Mission Cannon (left).png (714 bytes)")
References[]
- ^ Victory Techniques for Metroid pg. 174, as translated by Metroid Database
- ^ Metroid: Zero Mission ミッション・コンプリートブック [1]
- ^ a b As named in the configuration data of Metroid Dread.
- ^ "CUCannon" is the model's title in the internal files.
- ^ Looygi Bros. "11 Cool Details in Metroid Dread (Part 6)". YouTube. January 16, 2022. Retrieved January 18, 2022.
| Indestructible Creatures | |
|---|---|
| Non-hostile | Aurora Unit 217 • Baby • Dachora • Databot • Etecoon • Fleet Admiral Castor Dane • Fleet Mechanic • Pow • Septogg • Tatori • Tatori, Jr. • U-Mos Training Drone • Watchdrone • Work Robot |
| Hostiles | Aazelion • Airthorn • Autom • Big Metroid • Cannon • GMX-04 Halberd-class turret (if provoked) • Polyp • Proboscum Puromi • Ring Beam Unit • Ripper II • Samus Eater (Bud) • Seed platform • Unfreezable Metroid • ZipNMEBomber |
| Misc. | Bloatsac • Blueroot Tree (Dark) • Butterfly • Chomper Fish • Durable plantform • Fish • Fungus • Glow Stem • Great Tree Massive tentacle • Moth • Parasitic fungus • Protozoan • RedGrass • Sandgrass • Sbug • Scarp • Scatterbug • Tallon fern • Mantha |