Central Unit

Central Unit
An armored Central Unit's eye.
Featured in	Metroid Dread
Location	The "Central Unit room" in E.M.M.I. Zones throughout ZDR
Attacks	None; relies on Central Unit Cannons and Rinkas
Weakness	Missiles, Charge Beam, Shinespark, Screw Attack
Battle Music	Central Unit
Reward(s)	Omega Cannon

The Central Unit is an AI and recurring mini-boss in Metroid Dread, serving as the control unit of the E.M.M.I. They appear as a blue organic brain with a single eye, completely encased in plates of black armor. Each E.M.M.I. Zone on ZDR contains a Central Unit, holding unique energy that Samus Aran uses to temporarily obtain the Omega Cannon and destroy the unit's resident E.M.M.I.

Encounters

Shortly after arriving on ZDR, Samus encounters a damaged and inactive Central Unit in Artaria. When she touches the exposed brain, its unique energy temporarily transforms her Arm Cannon into the powerful Omega Cannon, allowing her to temporarily use the Omega Blaster ability to defeat the damaged E.M.M.I.-01P.

The first Central Unit to be fought.

From there, Samus is tasked with tracking down the Central Units of five more E.M.M.I. Zones. These units are active, and she is forced into a miniboss battle with each one. The unit itself floats in the center of the room, and does not attack directly (although it can deal damage on contact), instead relying on ceiling- and wall-mounted Central Unit Cannons and Rinkas, the latter of which can be destroyed for energy and Missile Ammo. Samus must attack the Central Unit with Missiles and Charge Shots until its armor breaks, exposing the brain; if Samus can hit the Central Unit with a Shinespark, she will instantly shatter the armor plating. The unarmored unit's defenses will begin to attack more frequently, but the vulnerable brain takes damage from uncharged beams and can be killed instantly by a Shinespark or Screw Attack. Once a Central Unit dies, Samus can absorb its unique energy and regain the Omega Cannon, and then is able to leave the room and hunt down the E.M.M.I.; the unit's death prompts lockdown in its zone and permanently places the E.M.M.I. in pursuit mode until its destruction.

When Samus is confronting the final E.M.M.I., 07PB, she destroys its corresponding Central Unit remotely by siphoning the E.M.M.I.'s energy with her Metroid powers.

An explanation is never given for why the very first Central Unit is already defeated when Samus comes across it. However one of the images in the Chozo Archives features E.M.M.I-01P heavily damaged by Raven Beak within this Unit's room; it is possible that the E.M.M.I., while still under Galactic Federation orders, battled the Central Unit and the Chozo warrior where it defeated the former but lost to the latter. Afterwards, Quiet Robe used the damaged E.M.M.I.-01P to reprogram the rest of the E.M.M.I (as implied by another image in the Archives) and linked them with a Central Unit each.

Official data

Metroid.nintendo.com

"These brain-like organic supercomputers hold the key to wielding the Omega Cannon—a weapon strong enough to take down an E.M.M.I."

Decommission

"Survive the Central Unit’s defenses and destroy it. Recover its energy to temporarily wield the Omega Cannon."

Trivia

• A tweet from Nintendo of America says there is "something familiar" about the Central Unit, followed by a brain emoji. The brain-like single-eyed nature of the Central Unit and its use of Rinkas and cannons strongly suggest it was modeled after Mother Brain. The scene where its eye looks around upon entering E.M.M.I.-02SM's Zone is similar to the scene upon descending the elevator to Norfair in Metroid: Zero Mission, in which Mother Brain observes Samus from afar.
  • Additionally, a less explicit reference to Mother Brain is Samus acquiring a temporary and powerful beam weapon from each Central Unit by absorbing their energy through her Metroid powers. This parallels the Pirate leader's final moments in Super Metroid when her energy is drained by the last Metroid and transferred to Samus, granting the temporary Hyper Beam to the latter.
  • Consequently, Central Units also share similarities with the brain-like Aurora Units made by the Galactic Federation. Like the Central Units, the A.U.s are encased in metal plating which protects the vulnerable brain tissue underneath. The Master Brain is another brain-like organism that appears in the Metroid Prime series with an unknown connection to Mother Brain and the Central Units.
  • When a Central Unit's eye is initially encased in armor, it bears a striking resemblance to Mother Brain's flying monitor from the prequel manga.
• If the corresponding E.M.M.I. is not activated, the Central Unit will remain idle, firing neither the Central Unit Cannons nor the Rinkas. Defeating it in this state will not grant Samus the ability to use the Omega Cannon.^{[citation needed]}
• The Artaria and Ferenia Central Units are fought as the third and twelfth bosses in Boss Rush. They are fought out of order from the story's sequence, as the Artaria unit is fought after Kraid and the Ferenia unit after the Elite Chozo Soldier, whereas in the story they are fought in the opposite order.
• The letters "CU" (seemingly an abbreviation of "Central Unit") are printed in Chozo writing on the side of the Central Unit's resting module.

Gallery

Samus discovers E.M.M.I.-01P's damaged Central Unit in Artaria

Samus touches E.M.M.I.-01P's Central Unit.

Samus battles an active Central Unit.

A Central Unit with its brain exposed.

Samus touches a destroyed Central Unit.

E.M.M.I.-07PB's Central Unit getting its energy absorbed.

E.M.M.I.-07PB's Central Unit dies.

Background image from the official Dread website.