- This article is about the obstacles in Metroid: Samus Returns and Metroid Dread. For other uses, see Fan (Disambiguation).
The subject of this article is not named in-game.
The current title is from a guide or other published source.
Two fans in Area 2, requiring the Spring Ball to pass
Fans[1] are an obstacle in Metroid: Samus Returns and Metroid Dread.
Description[]
Metroid: Samus Returns[]
Fans are found in vents embedded in walls, floors, and ceilings throughout SR388. These machines, most likely built by the Chozo, are always active and cannot be disabled or destroyed. Each fan generates an air current (approximately three blocks long) that pulls nearby objects into the vent. This air current is not strong enough to affect Samus Aran or any other creature. However, it sucks up Bombs and Power Bombs, pulling them into the fan and destroying them before they can automatically detonate.
Therefore, fans are placed in strategic locations to create puzzles that cannot be easily solved by planting Bombs. They are almost always found near Bomb Blocks, although they may be placed in areas where Bomb Jumping or Turbo Bombing would be useful. Samus needs to find an alternate route around these fans; usually, the Bomb Block turns out to be a quick exit. Although Power Bombs are also destroyed by fans, their blast radius is large enough that they can be placed outside the air current's range, circumventing the fan's effects; however, there is a puzzle in Area 7 that requires a Spider Boost, making it necessary to first move a Pull Block to cover a nearby fan that would suck up the Power Bomb.
In the subterranean caverns of Area 2, several fans are found near walls covered with yellow goo. Since the fans destroy bombs and the goo disables the Spider Ball and Wall Jump, these obstacles are intended to prevent Sequence Breaking. If Samus does not already have the Spring Ball and High Jump Boots (which were originally optional in Metroid II: Return of Samus), then she needs to backtrack into the area's Chozo ruins and locate them, since they are required to bypass these obstacles.
Fans serve a secondary purpose in wordlessly teaching the association between air currents and sucking up bombs. This visual cue becomes relevant during the boss fight against the Diggernaut in Area 6, where it uses its wind vortex attack during its second and third phases. While performing this attack, the Diggernaut will be damaged if its wind vortex sucks up any Bombs planted by Samus.
Metroid Dread[]
Experiment No. Z-57 using fans during its battle
Fans can found built into the walls of Cataris, Burenia, Ferenia, and Elun on ZDR. Compared to the SR388 fans, these turbines are much larger and serve the opposite function: rather than sucking air in, they blow air out. This generates a strong wind current that pushes Samus back, preventing her from moving towards the fan.
The Speed Booster allows Samus to run fast enough to overcome the pushback. Since Samus can keep running indefinitely towards a fan, this allows her to run long enough to activate the Speed Booster without traveling any distance. In some cases, such as in Elun, this is necessary to complete a Shinespark puzzle in the same room.
The central control system in Cataris has three fans built into one wall. When Experiment No. Z-57 blocks the routing of thermal energy, its fleshy mass also clogs up the fans and prevents them from functioning, much like the X-infected Geron that block the atmospheric stabilizers. During the battle against Z-57, it temporarily unblocks the fans to push Samus towards the opposite wall covered with the experiment's damaging residue. While these fans create a dangerous hazard, compounded by Z-57's constant stream of energy breath, they also present Samus with the opportunity to activate her Speed Booster and store a Shinespark, which can finish the battle against Experiment No. Z-57 in a single hit. After its Core-X falls into the lava below, its flesh disintegrates and the fans become functional once again, but Samus promptly shoots the fans' control panel with her Arm Cannon, disabling them once again.
Fans in Dread are powerful enough to blow away any Missiles Samus fires towards them.[2]
Trivia[]
- Although fans are intended to prevent Sequence Breaking in Area 2, it is still possible to place bombs at the very edge of the air current and perform precise Bomb Jumps to bypass these fans. This effectively allows the player to skip the Spring Ball (and therefore, the Arachnus boss fight) and High Jump Boots.[3]
References[]
- ^ Metroid: Samus Returns Official Guide
- ^ Looygi Bros. "20 Cool Details in Metroid Dread" YouTube. November 26, 2021. Retrieved November 30, 2021.
- ^ ShadowMario3 (17 September 2017). Metroid: Samus Returns - Skip Spring Ball and High Jump Boots. YouTube. Retrieved on 26 February 2019.