Item Room

This article concerns the room type in Metroid games. For the theme that plays in these rooms, see Silence. For the remix of the same name by Metroid Metal, see here.

The "Torizo's chamber", an Item Room in Super Metroid where the Bombs are obtained.

An Item Room is a staple room concept in the Metroid series. While many rooms in the franchise feature power-ups and/or expansions, this article primarily concerns those rooms containing items in the hands of Chozo Statues, which are witnessed in all Zebes and SR388-set games and remakes, and Metroid Dread. They have a distinctive theme that is also shared with the rooms before them (in Metroid), elevator rooms and the aftermath of a boss fight.

Metroid

Given memory limitations, the majority of item rooms in the original Metroid are mostly identical in appearance, with variations depending on whether the room is in Brinstar or Norfair. Item Rooms are generally found at the ends of corridors through Red Hatches, contain no enemies and are made of white metal architecture. The one exception to this is the Long Beam's room, in which the architecture is colored blue. Additionally, in Norfair, lava can be seen beneath the floor in Item Rooms, but not accessed.

The rooms appear to be a single structure supported by two buttresses beneath the floor, which is composed of brick tiles. A raised platform on the left always contains a Chozo Statue holding an Item Sphere, which encases a power-up for Samus Aran to use. Behind these statues are two pillars, and beneath them are pipes Samus can roll into with her Morph Ball, although they seldom lead anywhere.

There are two Item Rooms containing the Ice Beam in Brinstar and Norfair, due to the lack of stacking in Metroid. Therefore, if Samus collects the Wave Beam, she must collect or recollect the Ice Beam from either room in order to safely explore Tourian.

Missile Tanks and Energy Tanks are not obtained in Item Rooms and instead found in other rooms, such as Kraid's room and "Ridley's reliquary". The only power-up to not be obtained from an Item Room is the Morph Ball, which is found on the left side of Corridor No. 1 immediately after starting the game.

Gallery

Long Beam

Bombs

Ice Beam (Brinstar)

Ice Beam (Norfair)

High Jump Boots

Varia Suit

Screw Attack

Wave Beam

Metroid: Zero Mission

As a remake of Metroid, Zero Mission retains the Item Rooms from that game, but with updated appearances that make them somewhat more distinct, particularly between Brinstar and Norfair. Their general appearance is that of a smaller room with blue-colored architecture. The Chozo Statue sits on an elongated platform embedded in the left wall. A small gap exists under the platform, which Samus can roll underneath. This only leads somewhere in the Bomb's room. In the background is a round wall with Chozo etchings, and in Brinstar rooms there are also three flat-sided pillars with more etchings, which stretch underneath the floor. In Norfair rooms, lava is present below the floor and there are no pillars.

Some rooms have variations to their appearances. The Ice Beam room features a flat background wall, which is a darker blue and composed of tiles. The Speed Booster's room has the domed wall and two of the flat-sided pillars, but the platform the Chozo Statue sits on is raised slightly higher by two pegs, and the floor has a slope. This is to aid Samus in using the Speed Booster to escape Kraid's room. Finally, the Hi-Jump's room has a tunnel underneath the floor leading into a superheated area.

New rooms have been added as well with the increase in available power-ups. Three of the items are Unknown Items, with one of them found in a more traditional Item Room and the other two being longer hallways in Crateria and Ridley. Because stacking has been added, the Ice Beam can now only be obtained in the Norfair room where it was found in Metroid. The Brinstar room now has a bipedal Chozo Statue that points Samus to the Ice Beam.

The Morph Ball, Missile Tanks, Energy Tanks, Charge Beam, Power Grip, Super Missiles, Power Bombs and Fully Powered Suit are not obtained in traditional Item Rooms. The Charge Beam is rewarded by defeating a worm-like beast, after which it floats in midair until collected. The Power Grip is obtained from the hands of a different kind of Chozo Statue, while the first Power Bomb is taken from a chacmool-like statue by a Zebesian and brought to another room. The Super Missile is first obtained in the Imago's hideout in the normal sequence of events, but can be acquired through other means, while the Fully Powered Suit is rewarded after defeating the Ruins Test.

Gallery

Long Beam

Bombs

Unknown Item 1 (later revealed to be Plasma Beam)

Ice Beam

Unknown Item 2 (later revealed to be Space Jump)

Speed Booster

Hi-Jump and Spring Ball

Varia Suit

Wave Beam

Unknown Item 3 (later revealed to be Gravity Suit)

Screw Attack

Metroid II: Return of Samus

Multiple Item Rooms exist on SR388, in every area except Phase 1, 5, 6 and 8. Due to memory limitations, most Item Rooms are identical, featuring Chozo Statues on raised platforms with gaps in the floor underneath. That said, there are variations: the Varia Suit's room has an empty-handed Chozo Statue, with the Varia Suit being found in a chamber behind the wall, accessible by Bombing. One Item Room features a fake "Item Sphere", which is the Arachnus assuming the shape of a ball in the Chozo Statue's hands. When approached by Samus, it attacks her; defeating the creature rewards the Spring Ball.

Because beams cannot be stacked, Phase 7 features numerous Item Rooms in which each beam can be collected. The Ice Beam is also present in an Item Room in Phase 9, since it is necessary for the Metroid larvae. This Item Room features a Chozo Statue that has been decapitated, with the Ice Beam behind the statue; it may have been destroyed by the Metroids in an attempt to protect themselves.

The only item, discounting expansions, not collected in an Item Room is the Spider Ball.

Gallery

Bomb

Ice Beam (Phase 2)

High Jump Boots

Varia Suit

Wave Beam

Spring Ball

Space Jump

Spazer Laser Beam

Plasma Beam

All four beams in Phase 7

Screw Attack

Ice Beam (Phase 9)

Metroid: Samus Returns

As a remake of Return of Samus, many items are found in the same places as the original game. They have increased visual detail and differences between rooms. The Morph Ball, which was available by default in Return of Samus, is obtained in an Item Room in Samus Returns, as are the newly added Charge Beam, Grapple Beam, Super Missile and Gravity Suit.

The Spider Ball is found in the same place as before, although a Chozo Statue is now present in the chamber, with evidence suggesting it was crushed by a cave-in. When Arachnus is alerted to Samus's presence, it destroys the statue that it was posing in. A later Chozo Statue is damaged with its upgrade missing; it is implied that the Diggernaut took the Space Jump from it, either intentionally or not. The item is obtained after a chase sequence when the Diggernaut leaves it behind. Finally, the Power Bomb is initially found in the hands of a Chozo Statue, before the Diggernaut sucks it in and completely destroys the statue. Samus acquires the item in "Diggernaut arena" after defeating the boss.

The four Aeion abilities are acquired from Aeion Ability Artifacts in larger rooms that do not qualify as Item Rooms.

Gallery

Morph Ball

Charge Beam

Bomb

Ice Beam

Spider Ball

Varia Suit

Wave Beam

High Jump Boots

Arachnus in the Spring Ball's statue.

Grapple Beam

Spazer Beam

Space Jump's statue

Super Missile

Plasma Beam

Gravity Suit

Screw Attack

Power Bomb's statue

Super Metroid

Since the game is set on Zebes once again, most Item Rooms are similar in appearance to the original Metroid, but with higher graphical detail. Super Metroid is the first Metroid game to begin to incorporate hidden tutorials in Item Rooms, in obstacles that cannot be overcome until the item has been collected. For example, the High Jump Boots' room has a barricade in the center that Samus, under normal circumstances, cannot jump back over until she collects the boots on the other side. In the case of other Item Rooms, sometimes the preceding rooms will have hidden tutorials instead; for instance, "Draygon's reliquary" does not have a tutorial, but the room where the boss is fought cannot be escaped without the item. The Torizo's chamber can be optionally returned to during the final countdown sequence, so that Samus can save the trapped Dachora and Etecoons.

Other Item Rooms diverge considerably from the traditional format. For instance, the "Super Missile drop", where the first Super Missiles are acquired in the normal course of events, is a short passageway that ends at an Air Hole, which is a trap that drops Samus down a long shaft into another chamber below, where a Chozo Statue holds the item. The next room, however, offers Samus her first chance to use a Super Missile by making the exit door a Green Hatch. Also, the "X-Ray Scope room" is filled with hidden passages that Samus can reveal with the item, allowing her to escape. The "Plasma Chamber", containing the Plasma Beam, is the only Item Room besides the Super Missile drop to include enemies.

One room in Brinstar features a Reserve Tank in the hands of a Chozo Statue, and is one of only two Item Rooms to feature an expansion as opposed to a power-up. This room also has two Missile Tanks in the wall behind the Chozo Statue. The second Item Room with an expansion is a small chamber in Crateria containing a Missile Tank in the hands of a Chozo Statue. There is evidence to suggest that this was intended to be visited before the Space Pirates are alerted to Samus's presence. Two Item Rooms exist in the Wrecked Ship as well: the "walking Chozo chamber", which features a destructible Chozo Statue holding a Missile Tank, and the "Wrecked Pool", featuring an upright Chozo Statue holding an Energy Tank. Finally, the second room of "The Gauntlet" features a Chozo Statue holding an Energy Tank.

The Morph Ball, Charge Beam, Varia Suit, Gravity Suit and Hyper Beam are the only items not found in Item Rooms. The Morph Ball is found in the exact same place as in Metroid and Zero Mission, to the left in Corridor No. 1. The Charge Beam is found near the base of a massive pink vertical shaft in Brinstar; while it is in the hands of a Chozo Statue, the shaft's scale and abundance of enemies does not constitute it as a true Item Room. Finally, the Hyper Beam is given to Samus by the baby as it is dying. The room containing the Varia Suit has the Silence theme playing, but lacks a Chozo Statue. This is also the case for the room with the Gravity Suit.

Gallery

Missile

Bombs

Missile Tank in Crateria.

Super Missile

Hi-Jump Boots

Spazer Beam

Speed Booster

Ice Beam

Reserve Tank in Brinstar.

Power Bombs

Grappling Beam

Wave Beam

X-Ray Scope

Energy Tank in the Wrecked Ship. This is the only Chozo Statue in the game to both hold an item and stand, as two other statues stand but do not contain items.

Missile Tank in the Wrecked Ship.

Space Jump

Spring Ball

Plasma Beam

Screw Attack

Energy Tank in "The Gauntlet", Crateria.

Metroid Dread

Item Rooms return in Metroid Dread, with a new distinctive theme, Statueroom. The first contains the Charge Beam and is entered via a passage that Samus Slides into. She can leave by jumping to a higher ledge and shooting a Charge Beam Door. While most Item Rooms are small and self-contained, some are part of larger chambers, like the Screw Attack in the "Screw Attack complex". In such rooms, Statueroom only plays when near the Chozo Statue, and the area's regular music plays when elsewhere in the rooms. The three Aeion abilities are acquired in rooms with larger Chozo Statues assuming other poses, and from Item Cubes during cutscenes, although Corpius must first be defeated for the Phantom Cloak.

Other items are acquired by defeating enemies. Destroying each E.M.M.I. rewards the Spider Magnet, Morph Ball, Speed Booster, Ice Missile, Wave Beam and Power Bomb, and the Storm Missile and Cross Bomb are acquired by defeating Escue and Golzuna and absorbing their Core-X. Finally, the Metroid Suit and Hyper Beam are created as a result of Samus's DNA-influenced rage at the end of the game.

Gallery

Charge Beam

Varia Suit

Wide Beam

Diffusion Beam

Bomb

Flash Shift

Grapple Beam

Super Missile

Plasma Beam

Spin Boost

Pulse Radar

Space Jump

Gravity Suit

Screw Attack

In other Metroid games

Item Rooms in the traditional sense do not appear in the Metroid Prime series, Metroid: Other M or Metroid Fusion. In the Prime series, power-ups are acquired through solving puzzles and defeating bosses. One room in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption features an item in the hands of a Chozo Statue, where a puzzle must be solved before it can be collected. Metroid Prime: Federation Force, being a spinoff in which Samus is not playable, does not feature collectible upgrades or Item Rooms at all. In Other M, all but two upgrades are authorized, and in Fusion, upgrades are obtained through downloading data or absorbing Core-X Parasites (although one large room does feature a fake Chozo Statue).