The Exam Center building.
The Exam Center is a building in Sector 1 / Biosphere on the BOTTLE SHIP, inside the Biosphere Test Area. During Metroid: Other M, Lyle Smithsonian supposedly goes to secure a "facility of interest", according to Commander Adam Malkovich. He sends Samus Aran and the 07th Platoon to follow later on.
Exploration[]
Samus first arrives after her investigation of Sector 1, and becomes cautious after she sees that a door has been broken open. Samus continues on into the main observation deck to find James Pierce, who has arrived before everyone else, seemingly doing something under a computer. The rest of the 07th Platoon then appear, except for Lyle, whom the other soldiers assume is late. Maurice Favreau examines the computer, which has "self-destructed", and will need time to repair it. Anthony Higgs suggests scouting the building, but not before reminding Samus the background of the Biosphere Test Area; Federation training grounds.
As Samus explores the building, she stumbles upon a five-way access, and in the middle of the five, she finds the body of a cybernetically enhanced Zebesian, producing strange beeping noises, which cease as it falls to the floor. Samus examines it and is shocked to discover a Galactic Federation insignia on the creature. At this point, Maurice calls everyone back to the main observation deck, where he reads from a file he recovered that the BOTTLE SHIP is a breeding ground for creatures to be used as Bioweapons. Surprised by the idea of bioweapons being produced here, Samus says that bioweapons are strictly illegal, and contemplates how this would go against Adam's philosophy and realizes that her bringing back the Infant Metroid from SR388 would also have done so.
Samus encounters a group of Cybernetically enhanced Zebesians.
Samus continues on and finds a room similar to where she encountered the Zebesian body, only to encounter a group of living Cyborg Zebesians hiding in the rafters instead. Anthony and the other soldiers come to her aid, but Adam orders everyone to evacuate the building while Samus deals with the threat. Samus defeats most of the creatures, but two of the Zebesians run from the battle and hide in corridors, forcing Samus to track down and destroy them.
After defeating the Cyborg Zebesians, Samus returns to the main observation deck to hear shouting and gunshots outside. Looking through the window, Samus sees the 07th Platoon battling a large purple lizard, which is glancing-off bullets. The creature spots Samus in the tower, who rushes to the platoon's aid. Samus enters the grounds to see Anthony pointing behind her, shouting "Behind you!" (in slow motion), where the creature is hiding. Samus turns around too late, and the creature launches its trap, pinning Samus down and screaming. Suddenly, a swarm of Reos and Griptians appear, distracting the other soldiers, and forcing Samus to fend the creature off herself. Just when the creature is about to land a finishing blow on Samus, the creature is launched off her by a Plasma Gun shot from Anthony, and it quickly escapes by slamming through an unseen wall hidden by the simulated environment. After the battle, they locate Lyle's body, which is torn to shreds. Adam requests that Samus follow the creature.
When Samus heads to Sector 3 / Pyrosphere via a nearby access, the Exam Center explodes.
Trivia[]
- One room in the Exam Center includes two broken vending machines.
- The "exploration theme" heard in the Exam Center later plays when Samus is pursuing the Deleter.
- Several destroyed FG-1000 robots with their wings folded in can be found on the floors of some of the rooms in the Exam Center, such as the T-shaped corridor. It is likely that they were disengaged by the Deleter prior to Samus's arrival.
- How the Exam Center blows up remains a mystery. When the Deleter, James Pierce, arrives at the Exam Center first, he may have been planting explosives under the computer. In the second encounter with MB (who posed as Dr. Madeline Bergman), Samus theorizes that she destroyed the Exam Center as an act to eliminate all the data confined there.
Gallery[]
