Dark Troopers are the bodies of Galactic Federation troopers that have been possessed by the Ing, appearing in the Temple Grounds on Aether in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes.
Description[]
When Samus Aran travels to Aether in search of the missing GFMC Task Force Herakles, she discovers many corpses of deceased Galactic Federation Troopers within an underground hive. Shortly after this terrible discovery, the Ing possess many of these corpses, "reanimating" them to attack her. A black fog can be seen swirling around one side of a body working its way up to the other. The ease of this symbiosis is due to the host's terminated status, allowing the Ing to possess them without any resistance. However, the Ing are unable to fully complete this possession, leaving the resulting Darklings with slow reaction times and poor coordination. They are capable of using the troopers' rifles and swinging their bayonets when at close quarters. They are relatively weak, possessing only 25 units of health (on Hard Mode/Hypermode). Any weapon can be used to kill them, though a single charged Power Beam shot from Samus's Arm Cannon is sufficient.
As Samus explores the Temple Grounds further, four more troopers are seen being possessed, this time in front of the door leading to a security hall into the GFMC Compound. These troopers never appear again, regardless of whether Samus eliminates them or not. More troopers are already possessed by the time Samus returns to the Splinter Hive later on in her mission and are limited to the Splinter Hive subarea only. The most notable example of this is when Samus acquires the Morph Ball Bombs and optionally returns to Hive Chamber A from the same hole she fell through at the start of her mission, where she will encounter a Dark Missile Trooper. It is also incompletely possessed, but has greater stamina than its fellow Darkling Marines.
As these possessed Marines do not lock all doors within an area, it is possible for Samus to avoid combat with every single one of these reanimated Darklings.
Battle statistics[]
| Attack | Damage Output |
|---|---|
| Contact damage | |
| Bayonet swipe | |
| Rifle rounds | 7-8 units of HP per bullet |
Locations[]
- Command Chamber
- Hive Chamber C
- Communication Area (one time only)
Official data[]
Logbook entry[]
Dark Trooper
Deceased GF soldier.
Bioscans indicate terminated lifesigns in this trooper, and the presence of an unknown biomass.
Unused data[]
Unused scan data exists within the Metroid Prime 2: Echoes Bonus Disc. There are minor modifications from the final game, notably the Bonus Disc refers to the Darkling Ing as an "alien parasite". According to the unused entry, the "parasite" would be the one responsible for compromising a trooper's armor. This was likely altered in the final game since many of the deceased Marines have received battle damage from local creatures, with their armorsuits likely already compromised from said battles. It should be noted that a trooper's visor is shattered when an Ing possesses a deceased body in the final game. Another difference includes the word trooper being capitalized in the Bonus Disc. The model for the creature uses an uncompressed Galactic Federation Marine model. Marines otherwise makes no further appearance within the Bonus Disc.
Dark Trooper
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes Bonus Disc
Trivia[]
Federation Troopers are reanimated through Ing possession in the Command Chamber.
- The Ing are able to complete their parasitic fusion in an instant with every other bioform in the game except for the troopers and Missile Trooper. This is most likely due to the latter bioforms being dead long before their Darkling-possession.
- The visors of certain troopers that are unbroken will shatter on the right side and fade completely black to match the uniform model of Dark Troopers; their eyes can also be seen glowing red through their broken visors. If one gets a closely enough look, their teeth can also be seen.
- Any GF Trooper corpse that possesses a Trooper Logs entry will not become possessed. This is so players do not encounter problems finding one-time entries the first time around, especially if they are not looking for them.
- The Dark Troopers' slow and shambling gait, as well as the fact that they are dead bodies that rise and attack to begin with, seems to be based on that of a typical zombie in popular culture. This also makes them similar to the X-infected Zombie Researchers encountered in Metroid Fusion, and to a lesser extent, the Chozo Zombies (also infected by the X) in Metroid Dread.
- In Metroid Prime: Episode of Aether, the appearance of the Dark Troopers is much more grotesque. Their entire faces can be seen, and when possessed, their eyes lose their pupils and veins pop up all over their faces.
- In the Metroid Prime 2: Echoes: The Official Nintendo Player's Guide, the section detailing the debut of the Dark Troopers is titled "The Few, The Proud, The Dead", which is a reference to the tagline for the United States Marine Corps (The Few, The Proud, The Marines).
Gallery[]
| Darklings | |
|---|---|
| Guardians | Amorbis • Chykka • Quadraxis |
| Sub-Guardians |
Bomb Guardian • Grapple Guardian • Spider Guardian • Power Bomb Guardian |
| Darklings | Chykling • Corrupted Sentreye • Dark Alpha Splinter • Dark Blogg • Dark Diligence Drone • Dark Grenchler • Dark Ingsmasher • Dark Missile Trooper • Dark Phlogus • Dark Pirate Commando • Dark Pirate Trooper • Dark Preed • Dark Quad MB/CM • Dark Shredder • Dark Splinter • Dark Tallon Metroid • Darkling Tentacle • Dark Trooper • Dark War Wasp • Nightbarb • Dark Luminoth |
| Unused |
Dark Luminoth • Dark Metaree • Dark Pirate Aerotrooper • Dark Shriekbat • Dark Sporb • Dark Triclops |