The "Metroid" in the Series' Title

by **Remnants** » 10.13.12 10:14pm

Well, Metroids are these creatures that are named after the title of the series so they're supposed to be an important aspect to it. While I'm not too keep on literature, the title is supposed to have some kind of relation to the story of the book in this case. Many game series on the other hand tend to be named after the protagonist like Super Mario, Kirby, Megaman... In the Fire Emblem games I played, it tends to be more shoehorned and a little obscure since it's usually some kind of trinket with varying degrees of relevance to the story and none at all to the actual gameplay.

Well, it looks as though the Metroid series is pretty much stuck with having these Metroid creatures, doesn't it? We seem to be growing a little weary from them because of how more of the same they tend to be

Metroid
Story: Space Pirates experimenting on them for use as bioweapons
Gameplay: Scary enemies because they'll punish you hard for screwing up in defeating them

Metroid 2
Story: Kill all the Metroids. Samus keeps one Metroid hatchling alive and takes it with her.
Gameplay: enemies of varying difficulty due to the varying types. Had the most presence in all the Metroid games.

Super Metroid
Story: Samus takes the last Metroid to some research facility where Space Pirates kidnap it and make their way to Zebes with it for cloning and to continue their experiments for Metroid bioweapons. The augmented Metroid hatchling sacrifices itself for Samus at the end to keep her alive.

Metroid Prime
Story: Space Pirates experimenting with them and Phazon for use as bioweapons
Gameplay: Different kinds of Metroid but not that difficult and had more presence. Another Metroid game to have a Metroid as final boss.

Metroid Fusion
Story: Metroid Vaccine cures Samus from X infection on what looks like a ridiculous hunch, giving Samus some Metroid DNA. Later discovered that the fed has been breeding them "for peaceful applications".
Gameplay: The vaccine allows Samus to absorb free-floating X and gain abilities from Core X. Another Metroid game to have a Metroid as final boss.

Metroid Prime Hunters
Completely absent

Metroid Prime 2
Story: Apart from Dark Samus being Metroid Prime, they're just sorta there like the Space Pirates.
Gameplay: Dark Samus being a recurring boss in this game as well as a final boss. Other than that, pretty negligible.

Metroid Zero Mission
See Metroid

Metroid Prime 3
Story: Dark Samus is a more prominent antagonist this time, joining forces with the Space Pirates to help spread Phazon corruption.
Gameplay: Metroids can go through walls and are easily defeated by a nova beam to the nuclei and of course, Dark Samus as a pre-final boss who later controls the stolen and corrupted Aurora Unit from the GFS Valhalla.

Metroid Other M
Story: A faction of the Federation wants to experiment on Metroids for use as bioweapons. Herp dee derp.
Gameplay: You fight some Metroids alongside the Queen Metroid. That's really it.

Please let me know about Hunters and Pinball and be sure to correct me on anything I may have gotten wrong in the listing.

In any case, we have Metroid in the title of the whole series so the question is, what to do with these Metroids? It's been pretty much all bioweapons... In my opinion, they should retain some sort of importance to the story and gameplay, it's just that some new things need to be done with them. They've consistently taken the role of enemies; could that be changed somehow? At least make them neutral somehow. The thing is, if all Metroids were to be destroyed, then what to do? How can one have a game title be Metroid without any metroids? There is the whole thing about Metroid DNA in Samus Aran's genome but without any X parasites around, what would be the relevance?

by **HYRUL3** » 10.13.12 11:53pm

There are absolutely no Metroids in Hunters.

What if, to keep things lively, and not rehash the same enemies/plot over and over, after Metroid 5 there is a new evolution of Metroids? For example, a couple users have said that since Samus is a Fusion of Human and Metroid DNA, it would almost seem natural for the Feds to attempt to replicate that. What if they succeed, and create Metroid/Human hybrids, say, maybe 4 of them, and at the end of Metroid 5 they have escaped? The corrupt Fed storyline ends, and Samus can just spend the next game tracking down these powerful beings.

by **mksbf** » 10.14.12 8:49am

HYRUL3 wrote:There are absolutely no Metroids in Hunters.

Yeah, that sucks

by **Remnants** » 10.14.12 10:36am

HYRUL3 wrote:There are absolutely no Metroids in Hunters.

What if, to keep things lively, and not rehash the same enemies/plot over and over, after Metroid 5 there is a new evolution of Metroids? For example, a couple users have said that since Samus is a Fusion of Human and Metroid DNA, it would almost seem natural for the Feds to attempt to replicate that. What if they succeed, and create Metroid/Human hybrids, say, maybe 4 of them, and at the end of Metroid 5 they have escaped? The corrupt Fed storyline ends, and Samus can just spend the next game tracking down these powerful beings.

That might work. Something else, Metroids have shows to take on different forms depending on their environment. How would this affect Samus? Would she turn into something like Dark Samus if Phazon was still around? Or perhaps an alpha, zeta, gamma or omega metroid hybrid if she could venture into SR388? If I remember correctly, those different kinds of Metroids aren't the direct result from their genetics but the result of regular metroid DNA under the influece of the local environment.

by **HYRUL3** » 10.14.12 10:39am

Regarding my idea up there, that would also resolve the whole narrative vs no narrative debate in the World Needs Metroid 5 topic. You set it up in Metroid 5, and this game could just revolve around her finding and "putting down" these creatures. No real narrative required besides a brief intro/outro a la Super or Zero Mission.

EDIT: Remnants, you posted as I was typing this so I didn't see your response. That's a good question. Not entirely sure.

by **Maetch** » 10.21.12 12:38am

According to Fusion's manual, "Metroid" is a Chozo word for "ultimate warrior", which is more or less what Samus is. So in a way, she's the titular "metroid", especially seeing as how she's been getting more and more focus with each game.

by **HYRUL3** » 10.21.12 1:13am

That's true, and good symbolism.

On top of being an "ultimate warrior", in Fusion she gets infused with Metroid DNA. Full circle.

by **Code Green** » 10.29.12 7:28pm

yeah, the next metroid should explicitly state that correlation in-game or in-story, so as to unchain the series from the need to include metroids every time somehow.

Although, I agree, they should return but change somehow. The other ideas are good, but if they do return we need to have a logical basis, i.e. something born from whatever was left behind by the metroid project in fusion. We can't just have another revival. unless in the ideas posted above, I want metroids to be in-gameplay enemies on one of two conditions: a) the game they appear in is sometime before the metroids are thought extinct, or b) in a playable flashback (i.e. a flashback sequence that's not a cutscene, but an in-game level.

by **Insomniac By Choice** » 10.29.12 9:44pm

It's funny to me that the most Metroid-centric game in the series is the only one that explicitly references the protagonist. Metroid II: The Return of Samus is all about hunting down and killing all of the Metroids. Super Metroid is basically straightforward, although shoehorning in the SNES title thing. And then the Prime series really stretched the whole thing, because it's really "Samus Aran: the Phazon Chronicles" or something.

I don't think the Prime series are good Metroid games. But, they are great games with Samus as a main character. (Majora's Mask isn't a Legend of Zelda game, but they didn't think they could get away with calling it the Legend of Link, I guess.)

by **HYRUL3** » 10.30.12 9:21am

How is Majoras Mask not a Zelda game? That boggles the mind. Did you not play it? Not trying to be a jerk just finding it hard to mask my disbelief.

by **Insomniac By Choice** » 10.31.12 4:59am

HYRUL3 wrote:How is Majoras Mask not a Zelda game? That boggles the mind. Did you not play it? Not trying to be a jerk just finding it hard to mask my disbelief.

It's not a Legend of Zelda game. It's a Legend of Link game. Zelda is irrelevant to the story entirely. (We're talking about titles and plot here, not about the gameplay or creators.)

Distinction, dig?

by **HYRUL3** » 10.31.12 7:28am

Okay, that's valid then. Zelda wasn't in Links Awakening either.

by **TheBlackCat** » 11.11.12 9:28pm

And Mario wasn't in Super Mario Land 3.

by **Daya** » 11.12.12 5:11am

Im' sorry, but how is Metroid Prime not a metroid game when it's basically Super Metroid in 3D?

by **Stinger** » 11.12.12 1:13pm

I believe he's arguing that the Prime games didn't make Metroids very revelant to the plot as they were in the 2D games and Other M, and that Phazon took the stage almost exclusively. Basically, they're not good Metroid games because they didn't emphasize the Metroids as much. That is not commenting on the quality of those games, just their plot.

Remnants Posts: 526 Joined: 05.01.11 9:08pm	The "Metroid" in the Series' Title by Remnants » 10.13.12 10:14pm Well, Metroids are these creatures that are named after the title of the series so they're supposed to be an important aspect to it. While I'm not too keep on literature, the title is supposed to have some kind of relation to the story of the book in this case. Many game series on the other hand tend to be named after the protagonist like Super Mario, Kirby, Megaman... In the Fire Emblem games I played, it tends to be more shoehorned and a little obscure since it's usually some kind of trinket with varying degrees of relevance to the story and none at all to the actual gameplay. Well, it looks as though the Metroid series is pretty much stuck with having these Metroid creatures, doesn't it? We seem to be growing a little weary from them because of how more of the same they tend to be Metroid Story: Space Pirates experimenting on them for use as bioweapons Gameplay: Scary enemies because they'll punish you hard for screwing up in defeating them Metroid 2 Story: Kill all the Metroids. Samus keeps one Metroid hatchling alive and takes it with her. Gameplay: enemies of varying difficulty due to the varying types. Had the most presence in all the Metroid games. Super Metroid Story: Samus takes the last Metroid to some research facility where Space Pirates kidnap it and make their way to Zebes with it for cloning and to continue their experiments for Metroid bioweapons. The augmented Metroid hatchling sacrifices itself for Samus at the end to keep her alive. Metroid Prime Story: Space Pirates experimenting with them and Phazon for use as bioweapons Gameplay: Different kinds of Metroid but not that difficult and had more presence. Another Metroid game to have a Metroid as final boss. Metroid Fusion Story: Metroid Vaccine cures Samus from X infection on what looks like a ridiculous hunch, giving Samus some Metroid DNA. Later discovered that the fed has been breeding them "for peaceful applications". Gameplay: The vaccine allows Samus to absorb free-floating X and gain abilities from Core X. Another Metroid game to have a Metroid as final boss. Metroid Prime Hunters Completely absent Metroid Prime 2 Story: Apart from Dark Samus being Metroid Prime, they're just sorta there like the Space Pirates. Gameplay: Dark Samus being a recurring boss in this game as well as a final boss. Other than that, pretty negligible. Metroid Zero Mission See Metroid Metroid Prime 3 Story: Dark Samus is a more prominent antagonist this time, joining forces with the Space Pirates to help spread Phazon corruption. Gameplay: Metroids can go through walls and are easily defeated by a nova beam to the nuclei and of course, Dark Samus as a pre-final boss who later controls the stolen and corrupted Aurora Unit from the GFS Valhalla. Metroid Other M Story: A faction of the Federation wants to experiment on Metroids for use as bioweapons. Herp dee derp. Gameplay: You fight some Metroids alongside the Queen Metroid. That's really it. Please let me know about Hunters and Pinball and be sure to correct me on anything I may have gotten wrong in the listing. In any case, we have Metroid in the title of the whole series so the question is, what to do with these Metroids? It's been pretty much all bioweapons... In my opinion, they should retain some sort of importance to the story and gameplay, it's just that some new things need to be done with them. They've consistently taken the role of enemies; could that be changed somehow? At least make them neutral somehow. The thing is, if all Metroids were to be destroyed, then what to do? How can one have a game title be Metroid without any metroids? There is the whole thing about Metroid DNA in Samus Aran's genome but without any X parasites around, what would be the relevance? Last edited by Remnants on 10.14.12 10:23am, edited 1 time in total. In times of crisis, weakness cannot survive. But be very careful how you define strength. "Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security is a superstition. It does not exist in nature" - Hellen Keller
HYRUL3 Posts: 4491 Joined: 10.24.10 11:39pm Location: New England	Re: The "Metroid" in the Series' Title by HYRUL3 » 10.13.12 11:53pm There are absolutely no Metroids in Hunters. What if, to keep things lively, and not rehash the same enemies/plot over and over, after Metroid 5 there is a new evolution of Metroids? For example, a couple users have said that since Samus is a Fusion of Human and Metroid DNA, it would almost seem natural for the Feds to attempt to replicate that. What if they succeed, and create Metroid/Human hybrids, say, maybe 4 of them, and at the end of Metroid 5 they have escaped? The corrupt Fed storyline ends, and Samus can just spend the next game tracking down these powerful beings. "I am tired of being under the weight of greedy men who don't believe in anything."
mksbf Posts: 264 Joined: 07.25.12 8:30am Location: K-2L	Re: The "Metroid" in the Series' Title by mksbf » 10.14.12 8:49am HYRUL3 wrote:There are absolutely no Metroids in Hunters. Yeah, that sucks
Remnants Posts: 526 Joined: 05.01.11 9:08pm	Re: The "Metroid" in the Series' Title by Remnants » 10.14.12 10:36am HYRUL3 wrote:There are absolutely no Metroids in Hunters. What if, to keep things lively, and not rehash the same enemies/plot over and over, after Metroid 5 there is a new evolution of Metroids? For example, a couple users have said that since Samus is a Fusion of Human and Metroid DNA, it would almost seem natural for the Feds to attempt to replicate that. What if they succeed, and create Metroid/Human hybrids, say, maybe 4 of them, and at the end of Metroid 5 they have escaped? The corrupt Fed storyline ends, and Samus can just spend the next game tracking down these powerful beings. That might work. Something else, Metroids have shows to take on different forms depending on their environment. How would this affect Samus? Would she turn into something like Dark Samus if Phazon was still around? Or perhaps an alpha, zeta, gamma or omega metroid hybrid if she could venture into SR388? If I remember correctly, those different kinds of Metroids aren't the direct result from their genetics but the result of regular metroid DNA under the influece of the local environment. In times of crisis, weakness cannot survive. But be very careful how you define strength. "Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security is a superstition. It does not exist in nature" - Hellen Keller
HYRUL3 Posts: 4491 Joined: 10.24.10 11:39pm Location: New England	Re: The "Metroid" in the Series' Title by HYRUL3 » 10.14.12 10:39am Regarding my idea up there, that would also resolve the whole narrative vs no narrative debate in the World Needs Metroid 5 topic. You set it up in Metroid 5, and this game could just revolve around her finding and "putting down" these creatures. No real narrative required besides a brief intro/outro a la Super or Zero Mission. EDIT: Remnants, you posted as I was typing this so I didn't see your response. That's a good question. Not entirely sure. "I am tired of being under the weight of greedy men who don't believe in anything."
Maetch Posts: 637 Joined: 06.06.08 11:29am	Re: The "Metroid" in the Series' Title by Maetch » 10.21.12 12:38am According to Fusion's manual, "Metroid" is a Chozo word for "ultimate warrior", which is more or less what Samus is. So in a way, she's the titular "metroid", especially seeing as how she's been getting more and more focus with each game. = Ultimate Warrior = Ultimate Warrior Therefore, = Now you know why they call it Metroid. --- This is the song, written for the chase scene! This is the song, Samus and James! He tri-ied to kill me with a forklift! (Ole!)
HYRUL3 Posts: 4491 Joined: 10.24.10 11:39pm Location: New England	Re: The "Metroid" in the Series' Title by HYRUL3 » 10.21.12 1:13am That's true, and good symbolism. On top of being an "ultimate warrior", in Fusion she gets infused with Metroid DNA. Full circle. "I am tired of being under the weight of greedy men who don't believe in anything."
Code Green Posts: 116 Joined: 06.03.09 5:51pm Location: A dark planet whose star only barely shines at high noon	Re: The "Metroid" in the Series' Title by Code Green » 10.29.12 7:28pm yeah, the next metroid should explicitly state that correlation in-game or in-story, so as to unchain the series from the need to include metroids every time somehow. Although, I agree, they should return but change somehow. The other ideas are good, but if they do return we need to have a logical basis, i.e. something born from whatever was left behind by the metroid project in fusion. We can't just have another revival. unless in the ideas posted above, I want metroids to be in-gameplay enemies on one of two conditions: a) the game they appear in is sometime before the metroids are thought extinct, or b) in a playable flashback (i.e. a flashback sequence that's not a cutscene, but an in-game level. BLARG!
Insomniac By Choice Posts: 31 Joined: 05.07.07 11:16pm Website	Re: The "Metroid" in the Series' Title by Insomniac By Choice » 10.29.12 9:44pm It's funny to me that the most Metroid-centric game in the series is the only one that explicitly references the protagonist. Metroid II: The Return of Samus is all about hunting down and killing all of the Metroids. Super Metroid is basically straightforward, although shoehorning in the SNES title thing. And then the Prime series really stretched the whole thing, because it's really "Samus Aran: the Phazon Chronicles" or something. I don't think the Prime series are good Metroid games. But, they are great games with Samus as a main character. (Majora's Mask isn't a Legend of Zelda game, but they didn't think they could get away with calling it the Legend of Link, I guess.) See You Next Mission \| The Best \| Wrecked \| The Legend of Samus \| A Memorable Fancy
HYRUL3 Posts: 4491 Joined: 10.24.10 11:39pm Location: New England	Re: The "Metroid" in the Series' Title by HYRUL3 » 10.30.12 9:21am How is Majoras Mask not a Zelda game? That boggles the mind. Did you not play it? Not trying to be a jerk just finding it hard to mask my disbelief. "I am tired of being under the weight of greedy men who don't believe in anything."
Insomniac By Choice Posts: 31 Joined: 05.07.07 11:16pm Website	Re: The "Metroid" in the Series' Title by Insomniac By Choice » 10.31.12 4:59am HYRUL3 wrote:How is Majoras Mask not a Zelda game? That boggles the mind. Did you not play it? Not trying to be a jerk just finding it hard to mask my disbelief. It's not a Legend of Zelda game. It's a Legend of Link game. Zelda is irrelevant to the story entirely. (We're talking about titles and plot here, not about the gameplay or creators.) Distinction, dig? See You Next Mission \| The Best \| Wrecked \| The Legend of Samus \| A Memorable Fancy
HYRUL3 Posts: 4491 Joined: 10.24.10 11:39pm Location: New England	Re: The "Metroid" in the Series' Title by HYRUL3 » 10.31.12 7:28am Okay, that's valid then. Zelda wasn't in Links Awakening either. "I am tired of being under the weight of greedy men who don't believe in anything."
TheBlackCat Posts: 809 Joined: 10.28.10 8:43pm Location: Searching for the candle in the dark	Re: The "Metroid" in the Series' Title by TheBlackCat » 11.11.12 9:28pm And Mario wasn't in Super Mario Land 3. Man is the lowest-cost, 150-pound, nonlinear, all-purpose computer system which can be mass-produced by unskilled labor. -NASA in 1965
Daya Posts: 341 Joined: 09.15.10 9:30am Location: France	Re: The "Metroid" in the Series' Title by Daya » 11.12.12 5:11am Im' sorry, but how is Metroid Prime not a metroid game when it's basically Super Metroid in 3D?
Stinger Posts: 47 Joined: 08.08.12 5:12pm	Re: The "Metroid" in the Series' Title by Stinger » 11.12.12 1:13pm I believe he's arguing that the Prime games didn't make Metroids very revelant to the plot as they were in the 2D games and Other M, and that Phazon took the stage almost exclusively. Basically, they're not good Metroid games because they didn't emphasize the Metroids as much. That is not commenting on the quality of those games, just their plot.

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