Wrecked Ship

Wrecked Ship
Planet	Zebes
Environment	Decrepit spaceship
Bosses	Phantoon (Super Metroid)
Upgrades	Gravity Suit (Super Metroid)
Connected areas	Crateria Chozodia (Zero Mission)

The Wrecked Ship was a spacecraft that crashed long ago on planet Zebes, specifically in the area where Chozodia would be established. In Super Metroid, it is where one of the main bosses, Phantoon, resides. This area was also glimpsed briefly in Metroid: Zero Mission.

Super Metroid

The Wrecked Ship in a hand-drawn map from Super Metroid: The Official Nintendo Game Guide.

In Super Metroid, the vessel is found partially sunk in a large lake in Crateria. The ship can be accessed by Samus in a variety of ways, but all initial explorations inside reveal it to be haunted by ghost-like entities called Covern who, along with Phantoon, were initially believed to be the spirits of the deceased crew and the crashed vessel itself, respectively. When Samus Aran first enters the area, the Save Stations and Map Station are without power and most of the ship's interior is blocked off by Metal Doors. Sbugs can be seen throughout the unlit sections of the vessel along with non-functioning Work Robots and encased Atomics.

Super Metroid Map.

After the boss is defeated, all supernatural activity ceases as the energy that was being absorbed by Phantoon returns to the ship, activating mechanisms such as conveyors and allowing Samus to completely explore the area. However, this triggers the appearance of living creatures on board (presumably entering from the outside through the now-active Doors) and creates hazards in the form of short-circuiting machinery and Kzans. Additionally, the Atomics and Work Robots begin roaming the interior and are both aggressive. Finally, several rooms become flooded with water after the ship gets re-energized, likely a result from doors near Crateria's lakes being re-activated.

Metroid: Zero Mission

In the prequel Zero Mission, the Wrecked Ship is an optional area mostly unnoticed by players during their first playthroughs. In fact, only a single room of the vessel is unavoidable near the game's end, specifically the one in the immediate left of the glass tunnel of the Space Pirate Mother Ship. The number of rooms accessible by Samus in the Wrecked Ship is vastly reduced and their layout is, for the most part, inconsistent with those seen in Super Metroid, save for the long corridor past the front door. Interestingly, the entirety of the vessel is considered as part of a zone exclusive to this game called Chozodia, which also features the nearby Pirate Mother Ship and a Chozo temple whose back entrance is directly connected with the Wrecked Ship's. Though players can only fully explore the ship via this back entrance, its front door is still located in Crateria's lake. Unlike Super Metroid, the area is lit up considerably and its doors, along with its Save Point, are always functional. It is mostly inhabited by native wildlife such as Zoomers and Zeelas while a single vertical shaft features Atomics, suggesting the ship was yet to be haunted at this point in time. Due to its status as an optional area, only two Super Missile Tanks are collectible here.

History

Concept art from Other M states Phantoon lurked on the ship the Chozo arrived on Zebes with.

Most of the information concerning the Wrecked Ship's history could initially be found in Super Metroid's manual and its German Players Guide. The former described it as a ship which had once been in possession of ancient astronauts who crashed on Zebes. The German guide offered additional information with the following: "Many years ago, astronauts founded an ancient civilization on Zebes, but only their starship remains". It is only by exploring the ship's interior in Super Metroid where the identity of these astronauts are strongly implied to be the Chozo race as evidenced by the presence of their Statues, item expansions and Power-ups. Further information about the vessel is given in the Nintendo Official Guide Book for Super Metroid, released only in Japan. The guide not only states the ship to be a Chozo vessel, but claims it had traveled thousands of lightyears before being wrecked on Zebes "hundreds of centuries ago."

The later released Metroid: Other M features an unlockable concept art with Japanese text that not only confirms the above but also reveals the ghost-like entity, Phantoon, to be a multidimensional creature that came to Zebes alongside the Chozo, hidden away in their starship during their travels through space. Due to Phantoon's strong ties to the Wrecked Ship's history, it is probable that the creature's malevolent nature and tendency to absorb energy from ships were the root cause for the Chozo vessel crash landing on the planet.

Misconception

During the events of Metroid: Zero Mission, Samus locates and infiltrates the Space Pirate Mother Ship that landed on Zebes early on, specifically in the Chozodia zone. She ultimately destroys Mecha Ridley, triggering a self-destruct sequence that leaves the ship in a ruinous condition, ending the game. This series of events commonly misleads to the belief that the Wrecked Ship seen in the sequel, Super Metroid, is the remains of Zero Mission's Mother Ship. Supporting this misconception is the Pirate ship's proximity to Crateria's lakes, the presence of Work Robots and Atomics in both vessels' interiors, and the fact that a rendition of the Wrecked Ship's theme plays when Samus first infiltrates the Pirate ship.

However, Zero Mission director Yoshio Sakamoto has dismissed this, stating that the two ships are separate – during Zero Mission, the player passes through a watery area of Crateria leading to the same front entrance of Super Metroid's Wrecked Ship prior to the Mother Ship's arrival. He has also explained that the Work Robots are commonly present in various spaceships in the Metroid series.

Furthermore, players who seek to leave Chozodia and backtrack to earlier areas are required to use a Power Bomb to break a massive glass tube connecting the Mother Ship to the Chozo ruins. Afterwards, they can access an abandoned mechanical area with green color tones similar to the sequel's Wrecked Ship, making it clearly separate from the tidily-kept purple-colored Space Pirate vessel. Players can exit this ancient structure using the front door of Super Metroid's Wrecked Ship, thus revealing that the structure and the latter are the same vessel despite their different inner layouts, as they occupy the same area of space.

The Wrecked Ship in-game in Metroid: Zero Mission along with Crateria's lake at its entrance.

A segment of the Wrecked ship in Super Metroid. Note the near-identical corridor and the entrance facing the same lake.

Power Ups

• Gravity Suit
• 1 Energy Tank
• 1 Reserve Tank
• 3 Missile Tanks
• 2 Super Missile Tanks

Enemies

Zero Mission

• Atomic
• Zeela
• Zoomer

Zebesians do not appear in the Wrecked Ship on their own, but will pursue Samus into the Wrecked Ship if the alarm is triggered.

Super Metroid

• Atomic
• Bull
• Covern (stops appearing when power is restored)
• Gadora
• Kihunter
• Kzan (non-hostile)
• Puyo
• Sbug (disappears when power is restored)
• Work Robot
• Phantoon (boss)

Official data

Concept art from Super Metroid: The Official Nintendo Game Guide.

Super Metroid manual

WRECKED SHIP

"Long ago, astronauts from an ancient civilization crash landed on Zebes. This is what remains of their ship."

Super Metroid Players' Guide

Zebes - A Visitor's Guide (page 13)

"The remains of a previous expedition to the Planet Zebes. Who knows what relics remain..."

Area A

"Many moons ago, a strange alien craft crash landed on the wind swept surface of Zebes. Though the ship has lain broken and decaying over the millennia the spirits of those long-dead travellers still walk its rusting corridors."

"It's into this eerie setting that Samus must go if she's to complete her quest, because here lies the gravity suit that's so vital to the mission. Upon first entering the craft's remains, be on the look out for spectres that appear unexpectedly out of thin air - they take a lot of killing and can appear right on top of you if you're not careful. You won't be able to do much until you've defeated Phantoon, the ships [sic] guardian, as it's constantly draining energy from the various systems. The map unit and, more importantly, the save terminal, are in-operable until this mutated creature has been terminated."

Area B

"Things turn nasty for Samus right about now. Hordes of rampaging aliens seem to be couped up on this forsaken wreck and only by utilising all her weapons and training will she overcome the odds."

Area C

"An almighty battle with Phantoon is on the cards in this area of the Wrecked Ship. Only after victory can you really explore the other sections..."

Trivia

• Strange, green blobs with orange clusters in the middle can be seen as frozen images on monitors in the background of the top corridor, bearing a vague similarity to Metroid larvae. When the ship’s power is restored, the displays begin flickering nonstop. Their true nature, however, remains unknown.
• The reason behind the Wrecked Ship's inner layout in Zero Mission being different from Super Metroid's is likely a design choice by those who worked on the prequel in order to avoid having players re-explore perfectly identical rooms in both titles. Other examples of changes in room layouts between these games and Metroid for the NES/Famicom can be seen in the original Tourian, Crateria's outdoor sections and earlier portions of Brinstar's blue caverns.
• The German guide for Super Metroid states that every being onboard the Wrecked Ship are underlings of the Mother Brain. Several other sources also state that most, if not all, the wildlife on Zebes have fallen under the control of Mother Brain through her intense brainwaves. Phantoon is also stated to be tapping into Mother Brain's brainwaves.
  • The picture from the German guide depicts Botwoon and Draygon within the Wrecked Ship, yet they are only encountered underground in Maridia.
• Atomics are present in both games' crashed vessel. However, those seen in the prequel are implied to be of Space Pirate origin due to their identical behavior with the Atomics patrolling the Pirate Mother Ship. The ones present in Super Metroid are likely to be of Chozo origin, as they are initially encased within the equipment of the bird race's ship before breaking loose; some of these Atomics are completely immobile and glow a bright green within their glass containers, suggesting their original use as power sources for the Wrecked Ship.
• The Wrecked Ship's Work Robots are possibly the first of their kind, depending on the age of the vessel itself. Similar to how the Chozo's Blue Doors on SkyTown became the blueprint for all standard doors across many planets, the race's Work Robot design potentially became widespread knowledge.
• The Wrecked Ship's theme is remixed twice in Metroid: Zero Mission for underground portions of Crateria and the Space Pirate Mother Ship. If Samus succeeds in perfect stealth during the Zero Suit segment, the latter theme can be heard when she passes through the Wrecked Ship itself.
• Curiously, if Samus were to enter the Wrecked Ship from the back through Sequence Breaking, not only will she notice that some rooms are not flooded, some rooms are also missing item expansions. These items will not appear until the ship is re-energized; this is most likely the result of the in-game data not being loaded into the area until triggered by Phantoon's death.
• A variation of Zebetites can be seen within the Wrecked Ship, most notably in the corridor at the front entrance. They are green in color and start to glow after power is returned to the vessel. Whether they were used as power sources (much like Mother Brain's) or not is unknown.
• This is the only area in Super Metroid that does not feature any Zebesian Space Pirates. However, the Wrecked Ship still contains Pirate activity in the form of Kihunters and possibly Phantoon.

See also

• List of rooms in Super Metroid/Wrecked Ship

References

Click on one of the various locations to navigate to the corresponding article.

​