Wikitroid
Advertisement
Wikitroid
For other beams of the same name, see Hyper Beam (Disambiguation).

The Hyper Beam (ハイパービーム Haipā Bīmu?) was first officially introduced in Super Metroid. The Hyper Beam is a special and incredibly powerful weapon that fires long lines of energy in shifting rainbow colors.

Samus Aran acquires the Hyper Beam when she is about to lose her final showdown against Mother Brain. The baby attacks Mother Brain and drains her life energy before giving it to Samus to replenish her Energy Tanks. From this point onward, the Pirate leader no longer fires her devastating, rainbow-colored Laser Brain Attack, directly implying that the Metroid also stole the essential energy to fire it. Once Mother Brain kills the Metroid and it explodes over Samus, the stolen energy is channeled into her Power Suit, which presumably creates the similarly colored Hyper Beam. Samus immediately uses the beam's immense power to overpower and defeat Mother Brain once and for all.

The Hyper Beam replaces all other beams in Samus's inventory and is immensely powerful. It can pass through walls and enemies, and it destroys obstacles that are impenetrable to other beams, such as Shutters. The projectile looks like the charged Plasma Beam, but flashes rainbow colors. It also cannot be charged to increase its power; holding the fire button causes the beam to rapid-fire, much like the Phazon Beam.

What happens to the Hyper Beam after Super Metroid is unknown. Although other games have identically-named weapons, this specific version acquired during the final battle against Mother Brain seems to have been a temporary surge in power as it is never used again in subsequent games.

Metroid: Other M Art Folio[]

Picture-19

Metroid: Other M

Mother Brain and the Baby Metroid[]

"A dream - I was reliving the tragic moments of my recent past. The Baby Metroid that had emerged from its egg in front of me so long ago was protecting me from the assault of Mother Brain. It would sacrifice its life to save me, and in doing so, give me the power of the Hyper Beam that would spell Mother Brain's doom."

Trivia[]

SM - Hyper Beam acquired

The moment Samus acquires the Hyper Beam.

  • Metroid Dread features organic supercomputers of a similar nature to Mother Brain called Central Units. Upon their defeat, Samus absorbs their energy with her Metroid abilities and obtains a temporary beam weapon called the Omega Cannon that can destroy otherwise unstoppable opponents, making the entire sequence implicitly akin to the events surrounding Super Metroid's Hyper Beam and its function.
  • In Other M, Samus maintains in monologue and in the Art Folio that the baby gave her the Hyper Beam. How it does so is unknown, as Samus does not flash as she did in Super Metroid when the Hyper Beam was gifted to her, though the flashing may have just been an effect.
  • Other M presents the Hyper Beam with a bright orange color rather than the original shifting colors, and as a single charged blast with a ringed shockwave which spreads outward from the sides of the Arm Cannon. This depiction is nearly identical to what may be the Laser Brain Attack seen earlier in the same cutscene, which would maintain the implication that the Hyper Beam is comprised of the same energy as Mother Brain's weapon.
  • Samus acquires two other, identically-named weapons in the series. The first is the Hyper Beam obtained early on in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. It was a refined variation of the Phazon Beam enabled when the PED Suit is built into her armor. The second version is the Hyper Beam obtained very late in Metroid Dread, after her Metroid genes run rampant and her Power Suit transforms into the Metroid Suit. The beam was powerful enough to instantly vaporize any X Parasites caught in the beam and break any block type, including Pit Blocks.
  • Samus's Final Smash in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and onwards, the Zero Laser, is likely inspired by the Hyper Beam.
  • The Hyper Beam shares its name with a powerful move in the English versions of Nintendo's Pokemon series games. Its original name in Japanese Pokémon games, however, is "Hakai Kousen" (lit. Destruction Beam), and as such, no connection between the two have been established. Interestingly, in the earlier Nintendo DS (dubbed Generation IV) games, the Hyper Beam is shown as a rainbow-colored beam, and in both earlier and later generation games, the Hyper Beam is depicted as an orange color, similar to how Other M depicted the Hyper Beam in the flashback.
  • As discovered through the game's editor SMILE, the Hyper Beam deals the same amount of damage as ten Missiles. It shares vulnerabilities with all Charge Beam attacks, meaning that the Hyper Beam would not damage Pink Space Pirates if they were attacked with it.
  • Despite not being able to be charged, the Hyper Beam is considered a charged Beam by the game. This allows Samus to perform instant Five-Bomb Drops and Spin Jump Attacks, but with a very strict timing.
    • The Hyper Beam also shares a firing sound effect with charged Plasma Beam shots.

See also[]

Advertisement