Metroid powers

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Samus manifests her Metroid powers.

Samus Aran's Metroid powers are a latent ability she develops during Metroid Dread, allowing her to siphon energy from targets like a Metroid. Although she only begins to use them in Dread, the powers had been developing within her ever since the Metroid DNA transplant she received in the prologue of Metroid Fusion.

Background

The Metroids were genetically engineered by the Thoha Chozo to exterminate the X Parasites on SR388. The creatures had the ability to siphon the energy of a bioform, reducing it to a brittle husk. While the Metroids obeyed the Thoha, they were engineered to react to Mawkin Chozo with hostility. When the Metroids unexpectedly turned on the Thoha as well, the two tribes disagreed on what to do with the creatures, leading the Mawkin Raven Beak to order the slaughter of all but one Thoha, Quiet Robe, and to scheme to create an army of Metroids. However, the Mawkin were unable to recover the Metroids due to suffering an X infestation, leaving the creatures to be discovered by the Space Pirates and Galactic Federation.

As a child, Samus Aran was rescued from K-2L by the Chozo of Zebes, who infused her with their DNA to give her enhanced physical capabilities. She received donations from both a Thoha and a Mawkin Chozo; the latter granted her an innate talent for combat and canceled the former's pacifying effect on Metroids.

After many battles with the Metroids and those who sought to exploit them, Samus eradicated the species on SR388, save for a single infant. DNA from this Metroid was later transplanted into Samus through a vaccine, in order to save her life from an X Parasite infection. At the time, the vaccine's only apparent side effect was Samus inheriting the Metroid's ability to consume the X and its weakness to extreme cold. However, the DNA infusion also caused Samus to slowly transform into a Metroid-human hybrid, which would only become apparent during her mission on ZDR.

During Metroid Dread

Shortly after landing on ZDR and descending into Artaria, Samus is attacked by Raven Beak. Held by the neck, she fruitlessly reaches for his face with a clawed hand; suddenly, a purple energy courses through her body and she loses consciousness. After waking up with Raven Beak no where to be seen, Samus speaks to ADAM in a Network Station, who notes "dramatic physical changes" in her but is unable to identify the source.

The powers flare up in Ferenia.

While traveling through Ferenia's E.M.M.I. Zone, Samus comes across a mural depicting Raven Beak and the Mawkin tribe's slaughter of the Thoha. Angered at the sight of Raven Beak, her left hand surges with the purple energy again, although she does not appear to notice this before being ambushed by E.M.M.I.-06WB.

Shortly after arriving in Hanubia, Samus is attacked by a Takumaku; after deflecting the beast's charge with a Melee Counter, she instinctively moves to grab it with her glowing left hand. Confused and disturbed, Samus ignores the reflex and instead finishes the creature with a beam shot.

Samus defends herself from E.M.M.I.-07PB.

Not long after the Takumaku encounter, Samus is attacked by E.M.M.I.-07PB. Once again, she counters its attack only for her powers activate. Distracted by the reflex, Samus is left open for the E.M.M.I. to pin her down for the kill. Samus desperately grabs its needle with her left hand, and her powers rapidly drain the robot's energy, indirectly destroying the nearby Central Unit too. Having defeated the E.M.M.I., Samus has a contemplative moment where she appears to accept her unexpected new powers. She is then attacked by an X-mimicked Chozo Soldier, and finishes it off by absorbing it completely through her hand.

The next time Samus speaks with who she thinks is ADAM, he informs her that her new power is a result of her Metroid DNA fully awakening. Encouraging Samus to "fulfill [her] destiny", he directs her to Itorash, claiming that her Metroid powers are the key to defeating Raven Beak. On her way to Itorash, Samus defeats and absorbs an X-mimicked Elite Chozo Soldier with her powers.

Aboard Itorash, what appears to be ADAM explains that Samus has not just manifested Metroid powers, but also become a Metroid. He suggests this should have happened immediately after receiving the Metroid vaccine, but speculates that the process was slowed by Samus's Thoha DNA suppressing the introduced Metroid DNA, and that her encounter with Raven Beak, a Mawkin, spurred her metamorphosis. It then becomes clear that "ADAM" was truly Raven Beak all along; he reveals that he spared Samus in hopes that her Metroid powers would grow through her battles across ZDR. With his experiment successful, he orders Samus to join him and support his galactic conquest, but she refuses and engages him in battle.

Samus attempts to leech Raven Beak's energy.

After a lengthy battle, Samus attempts to finish Raven Beak with her Metroid powers, but the Mawkin deflects her attack and grabs her by the neck. As he strangles her, he reveals his new plan to create an army by cloning Samus, the most powerful Metroid of all. Samus makes repeated attempts to grab Raven Beak's face and drain his energy, but is unable to before losing consciousness, seemingly defeated entirely. Suddenly, Samus's Metroid powers go into overdrive, causing her to awaken as her suit becomes Metroid-like armor. Fueled by rage and Metroid instincts, she overpowers Raven Beak, destroying his helmet and draining his life energy. Her powers spread to drain all of Itorash, causing the fortress to crash onto the surface of ZDR.

After recovering from the crash, Samus uses the energy she absorbed to eradicate Raven Beak and the X that infected him, before the planet begins self-destructing. She races back to her Gunship, using her Metroid powers to quickly eliminate any obstacles in her path; however, the real ADAM stops her from piloting her ship, since doing so would risk draining its energy and stranding her on the doomed planet. Fortunately, the X-mimic of Quiet Robe appears behind her and graciously allows Samus to absorb his X. The absorption of the Thoha stabilizes Samus's DNA, neutralizing her Metroid powers and allowing her to fly her ship off the planet.

Whether Samus has completely lost her Metroid powers or merely gained control of them is currently unknown.

Gameplay

Samus absorbs the mimicked Elite Chozo Soldier.

Samus is not able to use her Metroid powers as an attack in gameplay; instead, they are strictly used in cutscenes. After destroying E.M.M.I.-07PB, she uses her powers during Finish Counters of the two Chozo Soldiers fought in Hanubia; after deflecting their spear attacks, she grabs their heads and slams them onto the floor as her left hand visibly glows. She then siphons their energy until they disintegrate, leaving the soldier helplessly clawing at the ground. Once their energy has been fully drained, Samus examines her hand before clenching and pumping it.

Performing a Finish Counter with Samus's Metroid powers fully restores her energy, Missile and Power Bomb Ammo.

Trivia

Samus examining her hand after destroying E.M.M.I.-07PB.

• Although Quiet Robe's Thoha genes managed to stabilize the Metroid DNA within Samus, the reason on why this succeeded is questionable. On SR388, the Thoha tribe's Metroids went out of control when they evolved past their larval stage, their creators' genes no longer having any influence on them. When the Power Suit transforms into the Metroid Suit, the game states "The Metroid DNA inside Samus has surged completely out of control"; this, coupled with the carapace-like armor and red color on her suit that mirror aspects of evolved Metroids, all imply that Samus had reached a point in which Thoha genes should have been ineffective in taming her Metroid DNA.
• Samus's Metroid powers seem to activate when she grabs her target by the head, similar to how larval Metroids feed. Additionally, her fingers often twitch into a claw-like pose when her powers activate, evoking the mandibles Metroids use to feed.
• Samus's powers flaring up when she saw the mural of Raven Beak was most likely a subconscious reaction to Mawkin Chozo, albeit in hieroglyphic form.
• During cutscenes in Dread, Samus absorbs power-ups from objects such as the Item Cubes, the E.M.M.I., and the Central Units by touching them with her hand. This serves as foreshadowing towards her Metroid powers, since they first manifest in her hand.
  • The Metroid powers are further foreshadowed at the end of the intro cutscene, where Samus notably examines her left hand after awakening. This is further reinforced by Samus's written monologue on the Japanese Metroid Dread website, where she around this time specifically ponders the sensation in her hand.
• Raven Beak's comment that Samus is the most powerful Metroid of all is proven by the fact that she was able to simultaneously drain the energies of both Raven Beak and his ship while attacking the former. A similar demonstration of this wide-range absorption ability was seen earlier on a smaller scale when she drained a distant Central Unit controlling the E.M.M.I that Samus was directly feeding on. To date, no regular or mutated Metroid was known to be capable of draining multiple targets at the same time, and while Hunter Metroids could absorb energy without physical contact as well, it was nowhere near the same level of range and efficiency as Samus.
• Samus's Metroid powers are represented by a pink-purple aura, similar to the color used for her Energy Tanks and the basic Energy Capsule pickups.
• In Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, the Grapple Voltage granted Samus the ability to drain or give energy to objects and creatures similar to Metroid's energy-siphoning abilities.

Gallery

Samus instinctively reaches for Raven Beak, shortly before awakening her Metroid powers.

Samus is compelled to siphon a Takumaku.

Samus jumps towards Raven Beak.

Samus siphons Raven Beak, having fully embraced her Metroid powers.

Ending Reward 6, which depicts the battle with Raven Beak.