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A game crash is an occurrence with a game that causes the entire game to cease play, forcing its console to be reset by powering off the system it is being played on. A game crash is not the same as a softlock, though both lead to a loss of gameplay progress.
Description[]
Game crashing usually occurs when game code can no longer be read normally. A general example of game crashes is when hacking or cheating devices are being used to insert code into the game that was never meant for normal play. Using incorrect codes is the common cause of game crashes. Sometimes, game crashes can simply be a random occurrence or when certain parts of a game are being played that were not programmed correctly by the game developers, where the game can no longer support the unintended code being read. Glitches are another major factor of game crashing, with out of bounds glitching being a common cause for game crashes, especially in the Prime series. Each Metroid title tends to handle game crashes in a different manner.
For disc based games such as the Metroid Prime Trilogy and Metroid: Other M, a game disc being heavily scratched or unreadable can contributes to disc read errors, which can crash the game and force the system to be restart. Sometimes on Wii hardware however, if a game crashes or softlocks, the power button will not respond and neither will the Wii Remote's Home button. This leaves the player the only other option but to unplug the power cord connecting to the Wii hardware (or cut the power from the socket the Wii is connected to), causing the system to shut down.
On cartridge based games such as Super Metroid, Metroid Fusion, Metroid: Zero Mission, and Metroid Prime Hunters, touching a game cart in a way that the cart becomes improperly disconnected from the system it is being played on during gameplay will cause the game to crash, sometimes with misaligned or missing sprites. Game Boy Advance games will also play distorted crackling music when a game crash occurs.
Appearances within the Metroid series[]
Metroid[]
The notorious ENGAGE RIDLEY MOTHER FUCKER password causes the game to crash in most versions of the game due to referencing an invalid starting location and generating a game time value of 2,861,643,271. The Nintendo Entertainment System 5-pin cartridge and the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console versions require the console to be reset; the Game Boy Advance, Metroid Prime, Wii Virtual Console, and Wii U Virtual Console versions cause the crashed game to reset to the Title Screen; and the NES Classic Edition and Nintendo Switch Online versions display error messages when the game crashes. The only exception is the 3-pin cartridge on the Nintendo Entertainment System, which successfully loads the password but generates a glitched room that softlocks the game.
Super Metroid[]
Equipping both the Plasma Beam and the Spazer Beam at the same time tends to crash the game, as having both equipped at the same time was not fully coded for gameplay. Gameplay can freeze in a variety of reasons, mostly if improper hacking is involved. This is commonly seen with SMILE, where mistakes can easily lead to game crashes or freezes that halt gameplay entirely.
Metroid Prime[]
The original release of Metroid Prime suffered from random game crashes within certain rooms of the Chozo Ruins, namely when Samus takes the first elevator from the Tallon Overworld to the Chozo Ruins or when entering the Furnace. The game's fast loading times contribute to the risk of a crash. These game crashes do not occur if the game disc is inserted and being played on a Nintendo Wii system. Starting with the Player's Choice edition of the game, the risk of a game crash in these rooms was greatly reduced.
If Samus goes out of bounds to load two rooms at once and then incorrectly a third, the game will crash. When Metroid Prime crashes, it makes a loud buzzing noise commonly associated with many other GameCube games when they crash.
Metroid Prime Hunters[]
Similar to Metroid Prime, if one tries to load multiple rooms by going out of bounds, the game will crash. When a game crash occurs, the game simply stops with no sound playing. Game crashes during a Multiplayer match will lower the connection history percentage on the Hunter License of the player who experienced the crash.
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes[]
The Grapple Beam crashing the game via a glitch.
Game crashes are slightly rarer to perform but are still present. At random times the game may have a chance to spontaneously crash. A game crash will always occur if Samus tries to use the Debug Beam to bypass the locked door in Central Area Transport West before eliminating the Caretaker Class Drone. Another guaranteed instance of a game crash is in Biostorage Station, if Sequence Breaking is used to skip entering the room and defeat Dark Samus in the first battle. When Biostorage Station is entered for the first time under these conditions, it is possible for an escaped Tallon Metroid to latch onto a Space Pirate's loading position, which will crash the game as no script exists for this error due to the Pirate's body not being fully loaded yet. A third guaranteed game crash occurs if the "single player in multiplayer" glitch is performed. When Samus uses her Grapple Beam, the game will automatically crash as the Grapple Beam is fired.
Unlike the first Prime, when Echoes crashes, the game will instantly display a black screen. After a few seconds, the system will automatically restart itself without turning itself off. Echoes is perhaps the only Nintendo GameCube game to treat game crashes under this "full reboot" method. This only applies to the game being played on actual GameCube or Wii hardware. If the game is being played on an emulator, the game will crash in an identical manner to Prime.
Metroid: Other M[]
If hacks are used to enter one of the Navigation Booths in Sector 1 / Biosphere early, the game will crash the moment Samus leaves the room through the same room. When the game crashes, the screen and controls freeze and background music and/or sounds are heard in a 1-3 second loop.
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