Omega Pirate

Omega Pirate
Featured in	Metroid Prime Metroid Prime Pinball
Location	Elite Quarters, Level 3, Phazon Mines
Attacks	Wave-quake generators, dual plasma cannons, claws
Weakness	Knees and shoulder plating, later chest orb.
Reward(s)	Phazon Suit, Phazon Beam

Elite Pirate Upsilon, more commonly known as the Omega Pirate, was one of the most powerful Space Pirates ever created and had the potential to be a new standard for the Pirates. The Omega Pirate was considered, by Science Team, the zenith of Project Helix. Fused with Phazon reserves, the Omega Pirate was capable of regeneration and wave quake generation. It was destroyed by Samus Aran when she took the Phazon Mines by force, providing her with the Phazon Suit upgrade. The Berserker Knights and Berserker Lords from Metroid Prime 3: Corruption are most likely the result of continued research on infusing Pirates with Phazon, making the Elite and Omega Pirates somewhat their ancestors.

Biography

Elite Pirate Upsilon was created by the Space Pirates research team to be the ultimate Space Pirate. After discovering Upsilon's very high tolerance for Phazon, the team infused this monster with Phazon far beyond safety restrictions. Fortunately, for them, the results were positive. It was one of the limited series of Space Pirates ever to be infused with Phazon successfully (the other being the Phazon Elite).

Abilities and weapons

The Omega Pirate was equipped with wave-quake generators, a dual plasma cannon system (all other Elite Pirates carry only one), a chameleon manta for cloaking, and, most importantly, the ability to heal damaged tissue and organs by coating itself with Phazon. The only issue with the regenerative abilities is that it is extremely vulnerable when it is cloaked, as all energy is drawn from its defense systems leaving it open for attack. It also possesses an energy-siphon system to absorb beam-based attacks; along with its other protections, this renders it nigh-invulnerable. The rocket system will not be affected by the energy-siphon system, hencing the name (energy-siphon). Its creators dubbed their creation the Omega Pirate, and placed it in stasis in the Elite Quarters, deep within the Phazon Mines on Tallon IV.

Battle

The Omega Pirate appears.

In combat, the Omega Pirate is one of the most formidable foes that the Space Pirates can field. It has powerful armor that can repel beam attacks, and it also uses an energy-siphon field, drawing in most attacks and using them for energy; however, Super Missiles and especially regular Missiles are immune to the siphon's effect.

Its primary mode of attack is a Wave-Quake Generator, which it uses by slamming its hands into the ground to create an electric shockwave. This moves outward in a ring of electricity, though it can be jumped by a skilled opponent. It also possesses a dual plasma cannon weapon on its back, which it can fire to launch two huge missiles at an enemy. And, of course, it can simply use its huge claws to crush anyone who gets too close.

There are only four chinks in its armor: the glowing, Phazon-charged plates on its shoulders and its legs. Throughout the entire battle, these plates are vulnerable to Missile barrages, which can be sped up using the Rapid Fire Missile technique. They are also vulnerable to Super Missiles, though the legs less so than the arms. When it drops its siphon field to use an attack, these four spots will be open to attack, from both Beams and Missiles. It's wave-quake attack is a perfect time for this, as the attack leaves it open for a good few seconds. The Omega Pirate is also highly susceptible to the newly-acquired Power Bomb: not only can the Power Bomb bypass the energy-siphon system, it can also destroy 2-4 Phazon plates in one shot, making it easier to weaken the Pirate and send it into its next phase.

Once all its plates are destroyed, the Omega Pirate's unique affinity for Phazon comes into play. It'll activate its chameleon manta, disappearing from sight to move to one of the large pools of Phazon in the room.

Samus battling the Omega Pirate.

While its manta renders it invisible in the normal and infrared spectrums, it can still be detected with an X-Ray Visor, and this is the only time that the Omega Pirate itself is vulnerable to attack. However, the Pirate will only become visible to the X-Ray visor when it starts absorbing Phazon, so Samus must keep all the Phazon pools under surveillance to catch the Omega Pirate. After a short time in a Phazon pool, it will regenerate the Phazon plates and return to view and continue attacking. If damaged enough before regenerating all its plates, it will become invisible to all Visors again and reappear at another Phazon pool. If Samus can reach it in time, she can hit it enough to make it move to another pool, but it is generally inevitable that it will manage to regain its plates before she can do enough damage to kill it. A quick and efficient way to damage the Omega Pirate is with the use of Super Missiles. Three Super Missiles will defeat the Pirate instantly. While it is vulnerable, though, it will summon other Space Pirates to harry attackers. These pirates are equipped with beam-based armors, weak only to certain kinds of attacks. These pirates aren't immune to the Omega Pirate's attacks, though; if they are still around when its armor regenerates, it will often kill them with its own wave-quake attack. However, those which are outside the wave-quake radius or are clinging to the walls for a better vantage point will usually stay alive after this attack. They also cannot survive Power Bomb blasts, and as such releasing a Power Bomb is the quickest way to dispatch the Troopers. Samus can either kill them or just dodge their attacks and focus on the Omega Pirate, since they all disappear after the Omega Pirate's death.

After being damaged enough, the Omega Pirate collapses on top of Samus. The Phazon inside it is absorbed in to Samus's Power Suit, and she gains the Phazon Suit . The Omega Pirate's corpse then explodes.

Official data

Logbook entry

File:Omega Pirate Scan.jpg

Scan images.

Template:Infobox Logbook

Official website

Homeworld: Unknown

Civilization Type: Mercenary

"The Omega Pirate is the most powerful of the Elite Pirate forces. Omega Pirate can become invisible to normal sight. It is vulnerable when cloaked, as its cloaking mechanism is powered by energy redirected from defensive systems. By exposing itself to energy sources, it can regenerate damaged tissue and organs. Space Pirate engineers consider the Omega Pirate to be the pinnacle of their Elite Pirate program."

Mike Sneath interview

"I believe that this boss was the boss I did the quickest because at that point in the project we were getting to the tail end of development and that meant he had to be done quickly so the animator's [sic] and programmers could do their work. Not much else comes to mind about the Omega Pirate."

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes

Omega Pirate had a multiplayer mode in the early Metroid 1.5 design draft.

3 on 1:

One-player controls an omega Pirate, the others control bounty hunters. This is basically a remake of the Omega Pirate battle in the singer player game, only this time, its multiplayer and could be a bit more intense.

Rules:

•Bot or Human player permitted

•Split screen

•For the Omega Pirate’s UI, the camera will be raised significantly to emphasize height

•Omega Pirate can call in support of trooper pirates and recharge via phazon.

•A multi-player variant on the boss battle from the single player game, we could use the same arena or create a new one.

Trivia

If Samus skips the Gravity Suit and fights the Omega Pirate, she will be wearing the Gravity Suit during the acquisition cutscene (though it quickly turns into the Phazon Suit afterwards).

• The Omega Pirate may be the only Pirate to speak English in any Metroid game; every time it summons Trooper Pirates, it is possible to make out the words "Finish her".
• Omega Pirate also appeared in Metroid Prime Pinball as the boss of the Phazon Mines, guarding the Missile Launcher upgrade.
• It is possible that the DNA of the Omega Pirate is contributed in the Phazon Suit as the Phazon particles of the Omega Pirate are absorbed into Samus' Power Suit. However, the logbook has no mention of this.
  • If the latter is true, then Dark Samus would also contain Space Pirate DNA.
• A rather easy method of defeating the Omega Pirate in the PAL version is to roll through its legs in Morph Ball mode, and drop a Power Bomb. If done correctly, this will knock off all armoured plates, or at least knock off a significant number. This also works in all Wii versions of Metroid Prime.

Scan of the Omega Pirate's projectile.

• The Omega Pirate can be scanned before it breaks out of its tank.
• Scanning the Omega Pirate's projectiles will say that they are an Elite Space Pirate's and depict an image of a creature similar to a Plated Parasite. [1]
• There is a trick in only the original NTSC version of the game dubbed by fans as "Omega Pirate Sleeping", where the cutscene must be skipped at the first few seconds before the Omega Pirate breaks out of its tank. When Samus regains control, she will see the Omega Pirate standing up, as the game thinks it is in stasis. She can then destroy his armored plates with ease as the Pirate breaks out of stasis. This has been fixed in the PAL and Wii versions, however.
• It is possible to destroy Omega Pirate's cannons. After his four armour plates have been destroyed he will kneel down for a moment, at this time his cannons can be attacked. The cannons can also be destroyed by a Power Bomb while he's summoning Troopers.
• There is a glitch where using a Power Bomb while the Omega Pirate is inside a Phazon pool will drain his health by a third.
• Another glitch exists if entering the Elite Quarters from the top floor via Secret World techniques. This will allow Samus to fight and even defeat the Omega Pirate without the cutscene triggering, though if she attempts to leave the room it will trigger, but not show the Omega Pirate, and Samus will be locked in the room with no means of escape. [2]
• Oddly, the term "Omega" is commonly used to describe the lowest-ranking member of a group, for example, in a pack of wolves. However, in this boss's case it is likely meant to denote that it is the last and greatest Space Pirate; this use is another way in which the term "omega" is commonly applied. The same is mostly true for the Omega Metroid. It is the last usual life stage in an SR388 Metroid, and the most powerful, save the Queen Metroid.
• The Omega Pirate is extremley vulnerable to Charge Combos.

Gallery

Metroid Prime Pinball

Official website images.

Metroid Prime and Metroid Fusion: Prima's Official Strategy Guide

Metroid Prime and Metroid Fusion: Prima's Official Strategy Guide

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