Zebetite

Zebetite, spelled as Zeebetite in early media, is a powerful regenerative ore-like material located mostly in Tourian on Zebes. They are featured in Metroid, Super Metroid, and Metroid: Zero Mission.

Description

Within the games, Zebetites are presented as transparent cylindrical-shaped canisters held from the top and bottom by metal pipes from the surrounding environment. Their contents, however, are difficult to determine and differ in each appearance, including in official artwork.

A Zebetite is invulnerable to all of Samus's weapons, except for Missiles and Super Missiles, and requires a significant amount of ammo to destroy. Despite its glass-like surface, it will neither crack nor shatter when damaged, but instead diminish in thickness until it collapses into itself. If Samus damages it without completely destroying it within a short timespan, the Zebetite will trigger its regenerative ability and gradually thicken to its original state, which will force her to use up more of her ammunition.

Zebetites are stated to be an energy source for Mother Brain and therefore function as her life-support system. They also serve as barriers due to their placement in the Zebesian Command Center; they physically impede Samus from reaching Mother Brain in every game they are featured in. The Zebetites' regenerative ability, combined with the nearby Cannons and Rinkas that can interrupt Samus's Missile barrages, make them an excellent defense system for the Space Pirate leader. Curiously, destroying the Zebetites does not seem to have any direct impact on Mother Brain, despite being described as vital to her health.

In the Metroid manga, the Zebetite shield is shown as a large transparent wall that is dropped from the ceiling at will by Mother Brain whenever she is attacked, isolating her from the assailant. It is covered in random black and white pixel dots, making it appear like static noise on a television screen. Mother Brain states that it can deflect particles, which renders Samus's Power Beam useless; using more powerful weaponry visually distorts whatever is seen through either side of the Zebetite. When destroyed, it shatters like glass, but only at the area of impact.

Appearances

Metroid

A total of five Zeebetites are featured in the original game and are all exclusively found in Mother Brain's room. Inside of them are red unknown masses stacked vertically, each with small red branches stretching out to the inner surface of the cylinder. Their American artwork shows each of these masses are sealed within smaller cylinders uniformly placed atop one another. The Japanese artwork presents the inner material as floating flame-like energy spheres loosely linked to each other.

Super Metroid

The interiors of a Zebetite resemble glowing, artery-like threads tangled around each other. Zebetites are far more numerous in this game and are seen throughout the later half of Tourian. There are seven within Mother Brain's chamber: four can be destroyed while the other three are under her Control Capsule and are invulnerable to damage. All Zebetites seen outside her room are placed inside the walls, floors, and ceilings, preventing Samus from interacting with them.

Earlier in the game, two rows of green-colored Zebetites are featured in the front entrance corridor of the Wrecked Ship. They are purely decorative due to their location inside the ceiling and floor, and will start to glow after power is returned to the vessel. The Zebetites' relevance to Mother Brain and their presence on an ancient Chozo vessel allude to the connection between them.

Zero Mission

Only four Zebetites were brought back for the remake of the first Metroid game, once more located in the Pirate leader's room. Light pulses rapidly on a Zebetite's glass-like surface and within it is a purple vertical structure with yellow particles flowing erratically around it. Overall, its inner contents seem more technological than the vaguely organic appearance from prior games, and their static-like visual effect may be based off their depiction from the manga. The rate of their regenerative ability has been vastly increased, making it the fastest in the entire series thus far.

Similar technology

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

Zebetite-like destructible barrels in Corruption.

Destructible barrels resembling Zebetites appear in some Bryyo Thorn Jungle hallways on Bryyo in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. Much like Zebetites, these diminish in thickness when fired at; however, these variants do not regenerate, and will respawn once Samus leaves the rooms in which they are found, unlike the Zebetites encountered in the 2-D games. According to Matt Manchester's design notes, these barrels were designed as a variation of the Zebetites in order to establish greater continuity with Space Pirate technology in previous games.

In the same game, a different structure containing a Ship Missile Expansion that diminishes in thickness when shot at can be found in the Processing Access room on the Pirate Homeworld. The Scan Visor identifies the walls of the structure as a force field.

Other appearances

Captain N: The Game Master

"What's the matter? All I said was that Komaytos look like little Metr-"

---

Non-canon warning: This article or section contains information that may not be considered an official part of the Metroid series in the overall storyline by Nintendo.

Power Flowers, used by Mother Brain as a fake power source

Zeebetite is referred to as Mother Brain's energy source for herself and the Metroid asteroid in the Captain N: The Game Master show and comics, although it only directly appears in the comics.

In the episode Metroid, Sweet Metroid, she managed to trick the N-Team into thinking "Power Flowers" (really ordinary flowers) fueled her and Metroid, so they cut off the supply of flowers. Believing that Mother Brain was shut down for good, Kevin warped back home, which ended up leading to a fake replica of his town within Metroid. When Kevin was captured, Mother Brain said she had "enough Zeebetite powered crystals to power Videoland ten times over," confirming that it was Zeebetite and not Power Flowers that provided her energy source.

After that incident, the N-Team has tried to sabotage shipments of the Zeebetite on a few occasions in the Nintendo Comics System, specifically during Money Changes Everything. Shots from Kevin's Zapper are said to bounce off the Zeebetite (similar to the later manga interpretation of it), while Samus states that only her missiles can affect it.

Non-canon warning: Non-canonical information ends here.

Official data

Metroid manual

Zeebetite

"This energy source is vital for keeping Mother Brain alive. It is no more than a life-supporting system and therefore won't attack, but it must be destroyed and only missiles will do the job. One missile blast is not enough. Other weapons are harmless against it. You have to keep throwing missiles or it will simply come to life again."

Victory Techniques for Metroid

"Mother Brain's life support system. Nothing but Missiles can destroy them."

The Official Nintendo Player's Guide

ZEEBETITE

"This is Mother Brain’s energy source. It can be destroyed with continuous missile attacks."

Nintendo Power Volume 29

ZAP THE ZEBETITES

"Zebetites are glass covered life-support devices that protect the Mother Brain. They don't attack, but they can regenerate if you don't destroy them completely. Fire missiles rapidly at the glass until a gap is left in the middle, then jump through and attack the next Zebetite."

Super Metroid Players' Guide

Zapping the Zebetites (page 70)

"You'll need to task out these barriers while avoiding the Zebetites if you're to make it to Mother Brain."

Matt Manchester design notes

"These hallways were designed to have destructible barrels throughout that you could shoot to damage enemies with. I wanted to tie in Space Pirate tech from earlier games, so I made them a variation of the "zebetites" from the first metroid, which were the collapsing canisters you had to shoot through to get to Mother Brain at the end of the game."

Development data

Event flags 61-64 in the Debug Event Viewer.

In Metroid: Zero Mission, event flags exist for all four Zebetites encountered labeled ZEBETAITO#SI (where # is the number of the Zebetite: 1–4). The flags are listed in order of appearance, and when active will prevent the respective Zebetite from respawning when the room is reloaded. Curiously, if Samus eliminates Zebetite 1 and/or 2, and immediately deactivates the respective flag, they will respawn closer to Mother Brain once Samus reaches the battle area. The first Zebetite will appear close to the left edge of the platform blocking Mother Brain's container, while the second one will spawn in front of the door, deliberately blocking access to it. Zebetites cannot be stood on; if Samus tries to land on top of one, she will simply slide off. "ZEBETAITO" here is a Japanese transcription of the word "Zebetite".

Trivia

• Due to the Chozo having used the Wrecked Ship to land on planet Zebes long ago, the green Zebetites inside the vessel may be the first of their kind. It is unknown if they were used as power sources like their modern red variant.
  • The Zebetites within the ship is the very first hint at a connection between the Chozo and Mother Brain in the franchise, predating the revelation in the prequel manga by nearly a decade.
• In Metroid and Super Metroid, a certain minimum of Missile Tanks and Super Missile Tanks need to be collected in order to consecutively destroy all the Zebetites and Mother Brain herself without leaving the Zebesian Command Center. This is due to the room in both games having no form of pickups to replenish ammunition, forcing Samus to leave the room or possibly the entire area of Tourian if she needs to refill, without taking into account the possible loss of ammo caused by the Zebetites' self-regeneration and/or the other security defenses.
  • Although the Rinkas in Zero Mission release ammo pickups when destroyed, it does little to alleviate the difficulty of a low% run in Mother Brain's chamber due to the Zebetites' much faster regeneration.
  • There is an unintended exploit in Super Metroid that allows Samus to reach Mother Brain without destroying any Zebetites.
• The boss theme of Mother Brain in Metroid and Zero Mission is called "Zebetite" in all official soundtrack releases.
• Zebetite does not appear in the enemy list in the Super Metroid Nintendo Player's Guide.
• Dan Owsen compared the appearance of the substance inside Zebetite tubes to raspberry jam.

Gallery

Zeebetites in Metroid

Japanese Metroid guide

Japanese Metroid guide

Canadian Topps card

Metroid: Zebes Invasion Order

Money Changes Everything

Money Changes Everything

1990 The Power Game Calendar

Zebetites in Super Metroid

Sprite in Zero Mission.

See also

• Zebetite Glitch