Attempting to Explain All of Metroid Lore in a Single Video
2021 ж. 16 Жел.
335 566 Рет қаралды
The complete chronicles of Samus, some birds, and a baby.
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I’ve never played a Metroid game before so I’m excited to learn all the cool lore behind where Metroid got his iron man suit
Standing by with an r/woosh locked and cocked
Tbh calling her Metroid isn't really wrong anymore.
@@Melkac Hasn't been for years.
@@BalrogQuote 20 to be specific
@@Xman34washere Fairly sure it's only been 19 years, actually.
Love how Nintendo makes such a big fuss in modern Mario games to not have a focus on story at all, while having lore heavy franchises like Metroid, Kirby or Zelda
Thats cuz Miyamoto is just getting up there in the years and his spunky creative wackiness has been replaced with a jaded old man traditionalist mindset.
To be fair: Mario Odyssey's brochure contains a few pieces of lore sprinkled inside, and Mario 64 has quite a bit lore, especially for an N64 game, and sunshine,Luigi's mansion and super Mario Bros 2 (the good one) also have some interesting stuff inside. The problem is: Nintendo doesn't care about the lore. They always go back and forth what the hell the paintings in Mario 64 are and if they world's inside of them are real, Nintendo leads us to think they are real, meanwhile Mario 64 literally tells us that they aren't. Literally everything unique about sunshine besides piantas were butchered. Luigi's mansion surprisingly kept up consistent lore but Luigi's mansion only has 3 entries and it doesn't interfere with the mainline Mario games so that's also a bust, and Mario 2 (the good one) has literally the most interesting premise out of any 2D mainline Mario game, but Nintendo literally left everything behind besides a few enemies. This is why I don't feel like writing long paragraphs about Mario lore unlike Kirby or Megaman lore. If Nintendo doesn't care about the lore, why should I?
Fr the only lore heavy mario games were the rpg series but the mario and luigi series is dead for now and paper mario isn't even a rpg anymore at this point.
The fact that we can consider Kirby to be “lore heavy” is wacky.
@@KamektheMagikoopa1 I mean... It's probably been done on purpose, one day in 2005 the director of HAL just woke up and said "let's make Kirby a cosmic horror and expand on the existing lore" and everybody on the staff went "that would be funny" and here we have my favourite franchise to talk about.
I'd like to think its the same Kraid in dread, based solely on that opening cutscene. Samus has done this whole song and dance: "how many times do i have to teach you this lesson old man!?"
And he looks REALLY mad seeing Samus again.
@@Mari_Izu or really _scared_
He could have also recognized the chozo armor being similar in design to the armor of the mawkin who imprisoned him
@@carljohansson3512 good point, but thats less funny
Something I really like about Metroid lore, is that the "extinction" of the chozo is treated like a recent event, usually whenever a super advanced civilization that disappeared is involved in a story it's always an event that happened in the distant past. Meanwhile in Metroid I don't think it's been longer than 15 years since the chozo's "extinction" (I use " because we might see more of living chozo's in a future Metroid game. We've seen 2 in dread. I don't think it's too far fetched to believe that we'll see them again)
You're not wrong there. I used to get so confused because I couldn't wrap my head around Samus being raised by an extinct species because these stories always have them dead for hundreds of years. It also makes a ton of sense a couple of older chozo would see a lost samus and feel a kinship with their own looming extinction and decide to raise her both out of compassion and as a way to keep their legacy alive.
yeah. they were members of the Galactic Federation and it's even implied they were founding members alongside humanity and other species. That would explain why they had access to chozo technology like the blue barrier doors and the organic supercomputers
The Chozo involved with Samus very well could be the last of their species, with the other planets she visited the Chozo could have died out years earlier.
Spoiler alert
The Dread Reports on the official Metroid website say there are still Chozo alive out there, they just prefer not to draw attention to themselves.
9:30 another explanation for the Metroid Prime's presence is that it might not be a 'Metroid' at all. In the Chozo language 'Metroid' means 'Ultimate Warrior', since the Tallon Chozo didn't have Metroids, and it's possible that the Leviathan seed fell to Talon IV before the Metroids had even been created, they could have just named the creature riding in the Leviathan seed Metroid Prime. But that's just a theory.
It's a good theory. Them calling it a Metroid (assuming they knew of the creatures from SR388; they could prophecy after all) might be because the creature could absorb energy similar the the actual Metroids. Like Prime absorbing Samus's Phazon Suit, and Dark Samus absorbing Phazon.
But that's just a theory... A game theory.
@@isauldron4337 Chill. It doesn't really address the potential timeline issue.
@@isauldron4337 No, the timeline issue. Metroids were created on SR388 to fight the X Parasites, and was at least relatively recent. The Chozo on Tallon IV had to lock away Metroid Prime like 50 years before Samus arrived there, which should have been before the Metroids were even created.
In the Super Smash Bros for Wii U trophies, it explains in the Zebesian trophy that the Other M Space Pirates were artificial clones deliberately created to be unintelligent and easily controlled by MB, which is why they are so different from the other functional Zebesians we've seen throughout the franchise.
Smash Bros Trophies aren't reliable sources tho Full of inconsistencies and even headcanons from whatever wrote them (or translated them).
@@Mari_Izu Well I'm going to accept it as true here because it doesn't contradict anything and even serves to fix a plot hole.
@@Mari_Izu if I remember correctly I think I saw something one time about some internal documents being leaked relating to some character (like the type that’s given to different writers to help them know what the character is like to maintain relatively consistent characterization) and it mentioned some random detail that was first brought up in a trophy description, so whoever wrote the description probably got it from said document. I can’t remember the specifics and I can’t find a way to use the vague search terms of stuff like “smash bros trophy information from internal character document” to find what I think I remember so I can’t confirm it though, so I could be misremembering and if that is the case then my apologies.
My favorite log entry in Metroid is still the one about the Space Pirates trying to replicate Samuses Morph Ball. Absolutley hilarious.
And of course "Science team has vapor for brains"
The implication that I always took away was that the Space Pirates weren't one singular race, but a coalition of multiple races that banded together to fight against the Federation and rule the galaxy. And it isn't that they're mindless, but that their extremely authoritarian society has caused them to be extremely weak willed which allows beings like Ridely, Mother Brain, and Dark Samus to easily control them. That and the Zebesian pirates in Other M are specifically cybernetically enhanced clones created by the Federation to be weapons so them being mindless animals makes sense.
Manga says that they're savage, so they need a good and powerful leadership to command them.
I personally interpret Aeion energy to be the very life energy that Metroids are able to extract. It's always been a mystery how the Metroids are able to reduce their victims to mere husks without extracting any blood or even puncturing their victims. It's also clearly shown that the Chozo had the technology to extract Aeion as soon as they arrived on SR388 and that Aeion also exists on ZDR (and will likely appear again in the future) despite blnot being anywhere near SR388 and the X being contained at the time. They even developed unique tools that utilize Aeion like the flash shift. If Aeion exists within all living things rather than simple on SR388 then it would explain how this is possible and also explain why the Metroids are so dangerous and effective against the X. One could even argue that the Aeion extracting technology was the basis behind the Metroids in the first place.
I agree with most of what you said about Aeion, but I don’t think that Aeion is life energy. I interpreted Aeion as some form of geothermal radiation that the life on SR388 could utilize. The reason I think Aeion is geothermal is because of the Chozo memories showing it seeping from the ground, because the only Chozo inhabited planets whose societies utilized Aeion were ZDR and SR388, both of which used geothermal energy to power their machinery (Diggernaught in SR388 and the entirety of Cataris in ZDR). I also don’t think Metroids were made using Aeion energy for 2 reasons. 1) If they were made using Aeion energy, Raven Beak could’ve cloned them on his own, no cloning required. 2) Metroids were made to be extremely adaptable to their environments, hence why they’re able to mutate when exposed to any type radiation. It makes more sense for Aeion affecting them to be an oversight of their design rather than the Chozo going “Okay so we made predators that adapt to radiation. Lemme make Aeion radiation an essential part of their biology.”
@@renansoto9424 But the problem with that is that Aeion wasn't present on BSL station nor the Bottle ship yet in both environments Metroids were able to metamorph to further states of being. Furthermore it's stated that Gamma radiation is what causes Metroids to split and evolve not Aeion. I don't believe the Metroids were created using Aeion only that the Aeion extracting device that the Thoha had was the inspiration behind the Metroid own energy syphoning abilities. You can see a Hopper affected by that device passing out as if drained from its life energy. Additionally Raven Beak was incapable of creating Metroids from scratch simple because his tribe are not as scientifically gifted as the Thoha and didn't have the assistance of Mother Brain to help sort out the details. Not to mention most of his people perished due to the X. He lacked the man-power and the know how. Cloning was his only safe option because that technology already existed.
Aeoin doesn't exist in the lore. Just gameplay
Aeion abilities in Dread implies that aeion energy is some sort of kinetic energy
I interpret Aeion as being Mercury Steam showing they don't understand Metroid and cramming some type of active magic abilities.
One important plotthread (or theory) that I haven’t seen discussed are the Chozo ships in Metroid Dread. You can see them floating (clearly still functional) but later on, during the escape sequence, both ships are completely absent. Wasn’t one of the main concerns in Fusion were the X possibly gaining access to ships? It’s brought up that the X could take over Galactic Federation members, and spread throughout the galaxy that way. So isn’t it possible (or even likely) that some of the X-infected Chozo used their abilities to pilot the shuttles, and leave the planet? With this in mind, the possible future of the galaxy gets a lot... Darker.
Interesting theory. My point against it is that Raven Beak deliberately allowed Samus to unseal Elun, and madbird he may have been, he understood the danger the X posed, so I don't think he would've left any operational ships other than his own.
@@LowerBlack64 This may very much be the case, though it’s still rather suspect. When you pass through the room during the escape, they aren’t part of the rubble or anything, just completely missing. It seems almost deliberate, given how detailed the game is with its scenes and backgrounds. As a potential counter-theory, it’s possible that Raven Beak thought the X wouldn’t be too much of a threat to him, what with his goal to have a Metroid army and all. Who knows, he could have also decided to ‘take everything down with him’ given his ruthlessness, so it might have been purposeful to leave the ships operational. Really, thinking about it that way, the X could have perhaps helped his galactic conquest in that regard. Still, these are all just fun theories! I’m interested to see if it is followed up on, if at all.
That's something I thought about too. Either the X did escape the planet, or Raven Beak had some way to deactivate the hyperdrives of his soldiers' ships to prevent defectors from escaping. The latter could explain why no X escaped ZDR earlier in the timeline, since the planet's X epidemic must've lasted quite a while if it started before Metroid 1 and ended after Metroid 2. My guess is that they probably didn't escape, since the Metroid Dread Report says that "This entry marks the end of the story arc focusing on the strange, interconnected fates of Samus Aran and the Metroids", and Metroids would still be integral to the plot if the X were still around (Samus's Metroid DNA and all that), but we shall see.
Those could have been autonomous drones.
TheRPGMonger: Man, Metroid lore sure is depressing. Me: *(still thinking about how that alien thing went to an alternate version of a planet)* Yeah.
I gotta say, that last moment with Quiet Robe-X is oddly emotional for a short scene with no dialogue
Probably because it defies everything we knew about the X parasites and makes it seem like Quiet Robe's kind nature overpowered the odds. His final Chozo bow of respect is also just so dignified.
I feel it's so emotional as well because it raises so many questions that not even samus has answers for. She barely has time to leave after that to even think about what just happened.
I feel like it’s a rushed plot hole.
That scene feels like a callback to the ending of Prime 2 in a way; a final "thank you" bow for ending the plight of the Thoha and Mawkin.
@@scotteous How, we literally know little about the Thoha, except their strong connections to spirituality. Is it so hard to believe Quiet Robe’s spirit overpowered the mind and body of the X, who have been stated to have no soul, in order to help calm Samus’ aggravated Metroid DNA through a sudden addition of Metroid controlling Thoha genes.
There's one important thing to say about the Galactic Federation, due to some loss in translation for Fusion they made the entirety of the Federation look evil while in reality in the Japanese script there's multiple mentions of an old Federation Army faction that was reorganized. These guys were the ones who were trying to clone Metroids for military purposes. There's a good video made by a Dutch KZheadr named Lexicon that goes over what was lost in translation in Other M's plot and that is also were many people learned about the Military faction in Fusion. Lastly regarding Kraid I think the one that shows up in Dread might be just another of it's species. Fun video :) as a Metroid fan I enjoyed it a lot.
Oh thank GOD, someone else that knows about Other M’s botched localization
Ah, that makes sense. I'll have to look that up.
@@2yoyoyo1Unplugged yeah too bad it's such a small group of us; I mean everyone still thinks this shadow faction of the federation wasn't exposed so they think that the federation is still going after Samus for her actions in fusion.
@@Ando1428 It all comes down to bad localization and a stubborn fanbase that largely doesn’t want to do research.
@@2yoyoyo1Unplugged that and the fact they simply didn't know enough. Most of the youtubers who played first and viewed only have second hand knowledge or simply played other m hated it and decided not to go back. Not many know that the localization was terrible.
40:45 If you look carefully at the shadows on the right, it seems to me that the series hasn't forgotten about Grey Voice and Old Bird.
I honestly do think it’s the same Kraid we all know and love Why else would he look at Samus in such a resentful, hating way?
I actually thought about that! While yeah that could hint to it being the same Kraid, I feel he could've also had that reaction due to Samus wearing Chozo armor what with the Mawkin being shown detaining him.
@@TheRpgMonger or maybe his species is just aggressive by nature
A recent interview with Sakamoto has confirmed that the Kraid in Dread is indeed a new Kraid, in fact they deliberately made certain parts of his design different to differentiate the new one from previous Kraids. Samus’ resentment could be more so for the species as a whole as this Kraid still does look pretty similar to previous Kraids she has faced.
@@nintendoge1575 Game Theory: SAMUS IS RACIST!?!?!
I kind of had an odd thought about him while playing dread I'm going to guess the did not die in Super Metroid and retreated but then I thought if she didn't immediately get the hell off the planet he would have been space dust
I completely missed the elevator room drawings, Raven Beak being at Samus's procedure makes a lot more sense if he was there to kill space pirates, making a weapon like samus stronger seems like something he'd be interested in contributing to. For Kraid I think Dread Kraid being another one of his species makes the most sense. I think Prime 4 could help clear it up if he makes an appearance there, would make the clone theory stronger.
Here's my Kraid theory: I don't think it's a clone or another of Kraid's species, but the same Kraid we already know. Clearly in his fight he has a very specific animosity towards Samus that goes beyond instinct, he recognizes her immediately and tries to punch her to death rather than like simply eat her. As mentioned earlier, Ridley was moved to the the Tallon IV orbiting frigate for reconstruction after being nearly killed in the first Metroid, and it's not out of the question that Kraid was too, just to a different site that Samus didn't visit. In fact, it makes sense for the space pirates to attempt evacuating the higher ranking members again during the events of Super Metroid. Once again proven by Ridley, and also Phantoon given he appears in Other M, defeat after a boss fight doesn't necessarily mean death. Kraid was defeated but it doesn't confirm he was killed. Maybe some time after getting his injuries he was taken off planet. Considering how his boss fight revolved around shooting missiles down his throat, maybe that's even the reason he has that giant neck brace in Dread, not just as a restraint but maybe it's a support because that part of his body was so heavily damaged. For why Kraid is on ZDR is really up in the air, all we really know is that the Mawkin had him restrained and he was there clearly against his will. If we are to assume Kraid is like Ridley and is more intelligent than he lets on, maybe he was captured by the Mawkin during his evacuation of Zebes because he knew something they wanted. Maybe they needed someone with experience in reverse engineering Thoha Chozo technology, namely the space pirates' attempts to reconstruct Metroids in the past, and/or their previous successful reconstruction of Mother Brain. Maybe Kraid is the reason Raven Beak can employ Mother Brain-like central units to control the EMMI zones in the first place. That's just my working theory, Kraid in Dread is the same Kraid we've seen in previous Metroid games and he's a captive of Raven Beak's the same way Quiet Robe is. Most likely though he's just there cause it's cool
Kraid could've also had an animosity for Chozo warriors in general since the Mawkin had him locked up for God knows how long and assumed Samus was one of them (she does use Chozo power armor which may have reminded him of Raven Beak's armor). I don't think the anger has to be specific to Samus; it makes sense to me that he'd want to punch the shit out of any member of the civilization that imprisoned him, even if it wasn't one of the exact individuals who restrained him.
Since they are trying to strengthen the lore of the series so that it makes more sense overall, I still have a hard time believing it was the same Kraid I just can't see the Space Pirates having a ship ready for something like Kraid, them getting him off the planet without Samus knowing, and doing it all before the planet exploded. It's just too far fetched for me. If it was a clone of Kraid made by the Space Pirates that went on to be captured, I could believe that. We really need am official word on Kraid's presence in Dread lol
Problem is explain how Mawkin can restrain him when all are already dead after Metroid 2.
@@theakiwar9118 I read an interesting theory on Reddit that the Kraid in Dread is the original Kraid from Zero Mission, kidnapped by Mawkin warriors when they came to investigate Zebes after Tourian exploded looking for Metroids but didn't find any. Which means the Kraid you fight in Super Metroid is a different one. This would explain how Mawkin warriors were able to capture him before they were X-infected, and doesn't need to deal with the plot hole of "how did Kraid escape Zebes before it exploded?" Because he didn't. This theory presupposes that the X Parasite outbreak on ZDR happens during the events of the Metroid Prime series, which explains why Raven Beak and his boys didn't do anything during the Phazon War since they were busy cleaning up the disaster on their own turf.
One idea that I always had is that Kraid's species were native to ZDR, and the Mawkin were oppressive of their species. This would explain why Kraid would side with the Space Pirates, out of a pure hatred for the Chozo.
So I don’t have any sources to provide for this, but according to JohnnyAwesome’s Dread Review, the corruption in Metroid’s Galactic Federation is more of a small insurrectionist group rather than blatant corruption in the system. They’ll probably be focused on in later games, but it’s important to make this distinction because otherwise Samus crashing the ship in Fusion should have made her a wanted criminal.
That comes from a proper translation of the Japanese lore for Metroid Fusion. The space station, B.S.L., the game takes place on is a dark site research lab operated by Biologic Space Laboratories. Biologic is a small group of the Galactic Federation.. think like a corrupt corporation or some secret society like the Freemasons.
@@sintanan469 the proper Japanese translation of Other M also corroborates this.
@@2yoyoyo1Unplugged The English translation of Other M already confirms that. Adam talks about a "small group" in the Federation that co-opted his report and started the bioweapon program.
@@AICW It wasn’t AS clear as in Japanese.
It seems primarily the result of mistranslations on NoA's part but I wouldn't honestly be surprised if there was some "galactic takeover" arc that was planned for the mainline series that got canned due to Other M's reception.
I like the interpretation that phantoon is an interdimensional being that feeds on ships but I like to think it's specifically the residual energy left of the passengers and crews on ships where there were little to no survivors after some sort of tragedy
5:18 "The Real Final Boss of Zero Mission" right on, those bastard black Space Pirates were the only thing that prevented me from completing my hard mode playthrough of Zero Mission back in the day lol
holy fuck low% against those guys is the most brutal thing
There is a way to lure one of them upwards so you can fight each of them alone.
One interesting thing i thought is cool is that Samus has been saved by both X parasites and Metroids twice each
I KNEW THAT THE EMMI SOUND WAS SO FAMILIAR. I HAD NO IDEA WHERE IT WAS FROM SO I HAD NO IDEA IT WAS PART OF THE SAMUS RETURNS CAVERNS THEME
Finally someone upload the lore about this Metroid guy. He seems pretty cool but i never had the chance to play the game before.
I heard he's actually Doom Guy, but in an alternate universe...
@@highwind1369 Given Samus' philosophy of "shoot everything that moves, even the doors", that... actually tracks.
And thus, the entirety of Metroid's fanbase felt irrational anger go down their spine...
I think that this "T H EB A B Y" they refer to so damn much is actually named Daisy.
The main character of the game is named Samus aran and she is a woman
Im so happy you included the prime trilogy, some people constantly say the prime trilogy is non-canon for very arbitrary reasoning.
Worse, they say Sakamoto don't consider it canon when it was actually him who suggested making it between 1 and 2 so it can fit the timeline.
It's canon, but not relevant to the story arc created by ZM, SR, SM, F and D. Those are the "relevant" entries in the metroid story arc. Prime tells the story of the phazon invasion which has metroids shoe horned into it. Other M does openly contradict some things and support some others, but it is sort of a second-party entry trying to weasel it's way between SM and F so it doesn't count.
I still find it hard to believe all the wacky Prime trilogy shit was practically just a minor plot point in the grand scheme of the Metroid timeline
Megaman Lore would be interesting, due to the 2 big timelines (and how does Rockboard fit in the lore) - Pokémon Lore would also be interesting (connecting all games to a greater narrative - yes also Conquest and the Trozei games)
There's 3 actually After Mega Man X5 or X6, the timelines split and lead to different places- the first one leading into Mega Man Zero, ZX, and Legends, and the other containing X7, X8, and Command Mission The third one is the Battle Network/Star Force timeline which is in a completely different universe to the rest of the series
@@pennysantana247 about that… there is a theory that Zero’s ending in X6 is a flash forward, therefore command mission is it’s own split timeline, with X7 and 8 being part of the main timeline.
Given the large number of green, three-eyed wormy things in Metroid Dread, I like to think that "Kraid" is a native species of the planet.
This video was a really good explanation, I really enjoyed it, as a huge metroid fan (who is really into the lore) I wouldve liked if you spent some more time fully discussing the lore on Hunters and Echoes, as well as the other minor races in other games. Though that might’ve made it too long.
Same
Honestly wanted a bit more on Super Metroid too, since we now know that another reason the baby metroid imprinted on Samus is her Thoha genes. The Etecoons, Dachoras, and Torizos are also all important mentions as the first two imply that a lot of Chozo technology is based off of the amazing capabilities of animals the Chozo observed. Also the Torizos are interesting too as they can lead back into Elysia. Maybe the main plot is very context heavy to the previous game, that I can understand. But to ignore this other lore in favor of Phantoon is ehhhhh to me.
About the command that brought Ridley back, I feel like it was made by Ridley himself as a failsafe to keep him alive after death. We do know Ridley is a highly inteligent being and ruler of the Space Pirates, so he probably made a command that said something like "dear space pirates. If your boss is dead, rebuild him."
Either that or he wasn't actually dead, just really injured, but I think your interpretation here makes more sense
My first Metroid was fusion, then dread. The entire time, until I watched this video, I was like “where the hell are the metroids I was told about”
You know what makes everything confusing and amazing at the same time? Kirby’s dreamland 3 has Samus, meaning they share a universe
I need an explanation of KH in one video. That would be hilarious.
I don’t think you can upload videos that long to KZhead
@@conormurphy4328 Nah, you’d just need to speak faster than a machine gun on steroids.
@@conormurphy4328 Kingdom Hearts just isn't nearly as deep as its edgelord fanbase tries to pretend it is.
shit ton of time long ago, people with giant keys beat the shit out of each other. Ven was there, so was Xehanort, and a guy who would become important later. Children stopped the fighting by cutting up the worlds into whatever it is now. Then old xehanort killed still-young ven to create an evil clone, but ven got better and started training with aqua and terra. Xehanort did some evil shit and stole Terra’s bod, aqua got trapped at the beach, ven took a nap. Sors got his own key, but Riku got jealous and tried kidnapping a harem of princesses to cope, but an evil witch kept putting him into spandex and a skirt. Xehanort came back riding Terra’s body, then he also took riku because I don’t think they planned that far ahead. Sora beats them, they slam riku behind a door with Mickey Mouse, and go to a castle to take a nap. Ven got a clone and Sora got a clone that’s a girl, they become friends with a ginger, and I forget what all happened in that game except Riku kidnaps Ven’s clone and puts him in the matrix. Not-ven wakes Sora up and they gotta beat like 7 guys who call themselves 13. Jiminy cricket has to run Norton anti-virus on his book, then they tell Sora and Riku to go Freddy Krueger on the Disney worlds we haven’t gotten yet to become masters. Riku wins, Sora fails, then they start getting a team to beat up an old man. The old man got time travel just because and brought back enemies you killed from every other game not on phones, & you bullshit your way through the last world and beats the retirement out of the old man. Venture came back, not-Ventus came back for some reason, your girl-clone came back, your girlfriend’s clone came back, you die Important guy was actually surfer dude from 2, and he brings back important people from the phone games I got no time for That’s about everything up to 3
Since it wasn't the point of your video, here's some insight as to what changed between the original Prime release and the Trilogy: nothing, kind of. What was changed was lore from the US version of Prime, and this change was already implemented in the PAL release. Basically, some entries on Metroid Prime originally existed which showed that the Space Priates "found" Metroid Prime, and started outfitting it with numerous weapon systems. This was kinda stupid, since the Pirates shouldn't be able to get past the force field around the Impact Crater, so they had no logical means of reaching Prime. This was changed in the PAL release, where all of Prime's attacks are his own, and the Pirates desperately want EVERYTHING the Leviathan has. Subsequently, this became the accepted version in Prime Trilogy for all regions. One thing you kinda skipped over (and one of my favourite details in Corruption), is that the Pirates don't simply start following Dark Samus. In Prime 2, they're horrified to find out two hunters are decimating them, though they initially mistake Dark Samus for the real one. In Prime 3, the Pirate Homeworld is raided by Dark Samus, and through Phazon corruption, she brings them under her control. However, the first Pirate lore scans show that they originally had no intention to submit to her, and that the takeover was gradual, with the Pirates being split in two factions, and the indoctrinated Pirates under Dark Samus obviously winning. Also, my interpretation of the Pirate Command was that they were the original leaders before Mother Brain took over. After her initial fall on Zebes, Command assumed leadership again, but the Prime games show that their leaderships is kind of spotty. Then, near the beginning of Super Metroid, Mother Brain is rebuilt, and she takes over yet again, but seems to get rid of Pirate Command, since afterwards, the Space Pirates themselves stop being the antagonists of the franchise. That leads me to assume that the Space Pirates as an organization died with Mother Brain in Super Metroid.
I think it's also possible that Ridley takes over as commander of the Space Pirates since that guy refuses to stay dead
The real final boss of zero mission. Boy did I feel that. Like, a few hundred times.
These lore videos are easily among the best on the platform. Keep at it, king!
Eyy, Metroid Prime Pinball! My first Metroid game, and I still love it.
Dread introducing the Mawkin tribe made me ponder on something. If the Mawkin were such a powerful empire, how were they never brought up in previous games? Surely the Federation would have gone to war with them, or hired Samus to take them down. All the events in the games where Samus and the Federation are fighting Space Pirates, Phazon, and Metroids take place within a 7ish year span. What if, in a different part of the galaxy, the Mawkin tribe was at war with a warrior clan of humans? A group of humans who were enslaved by the Chozo, but then broke free from their prisons, killed their captors, and created their own independent faction with their goal to entirely destroy the Chozo? Samus would have personal stakes in it for sure, since she's a Chozo, and she could obtain upgrades by defeating members of this warrior clan.
Obvious answer of it being a retcon aside, it could be that the mawkin were only recently turned into such an extremist group and that beforehand they weren't notable or relevant to the lives of other tribes. The ending to Samus Returns suggests this extremist faction was quite recent anyway. But yeah I think if the Mawkin were part of the universe before Dread, they definitely would have been brought up in some points of the manga and probably parts of lore in games like fusion and the prime series
Wow what a coincidence, I just watched the Kirby lore again to get ready for Forbidden Land and shocked to find one for Metroid!
Great work on this! Loved it!
You always make amazing lore breakdowns! Keep up the good work!
Absolutely love this video! I knew pretty much all the Metroid lore already but I still enjoyed this whole thing! Editing was great and I was engaged the whole time 😁 great stuff 👏👏👏
I love videos like this one. They help me inderstand any details I missed.
Great video! I loved all the updated lore!
My favorite Kraid theory is that he just came with the place as a real estate bonus
The kraid on ZDR is the kraid that was made by master hand for super smash brothers ultimate so that brinstar depths could be a stage again
Thank you for including the entire Prime series in your lore video. It is very important to me :) There is a little debate to be had regarding when Prime Hunters takes place. One of it's lore entries refers to War Wasps on Aether, implying it takes place between 2 and 3, but it hardly matters
My thought on Kraid is that he is the original one Samus fought before, just by how he reacts upon seeing her in Dread. My personal lore is that in Super Metroid he doesn't die but runs away from you and eventually leaves the Zebes, just to be captured by the Makin Chozo tribe. How exactly that went on or where idk but i guess a wounded Kraid blindly flew in space and landed in ZDR (he lost consciousness after taking off no time to place coordinates to the nearest home world). For the Makin tribe this was revenge and a good challenge for the new warriors to test their strength. As to why keep him alive, well Raven Beak loves strength and saw potential in trying to clone him or use his DNA in other ways. But again this is just my head canon.
I've never played/watched anything Metroid related, but I was glued to my screen and couldn't look away as you described this series to me. Very well done!
Good to hear. Hopefully you get the chance to play the games themselves.
Great video as always Mog!
Hahaha Kraid-versations. I really do hope it's the third option as if Raven Beak used a Nightmare like delivery system from Kirby Right Back at Ya. And that Kraid was the base floor model they handed out lol
Metroid pinball is the ultimate cannon 👌
YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES! I was waiting for this video for so long! And the end result was absolutely fantastic! You really deserve all the views xD - V.D.
I was surprised at how well studied you were! I almost shrugged the video off because so many people use the manga as canon to the games, or miss the Japanese translations entirely. To make a few things quick, remember, Other M is badly mistranslated, I suggest watching the Other M that Never Was video here on youtube for further analysis on that. Actually many manuals and in game information in the series has mistranslations or changes from original intent. Anyways there were two points I feel like ya almost had. When talking about Zebezian intelligence it’s not wrong. Zebezians are like a hive mind. Like worker bees Zebezians as their species, require something to lead them. But as far as we know, they are the only species capable of this. The Prime Pirates had pieces of one in a tank on Tallon IV as experimentation. Space Pirate society are made up of Zebezians, KiHunters, the Prime 1 pirate species, the Urtraghusians space pirates from(echoes/corruption/FF), Kraid, Ridley, Mother Brain, and more. Space Pirate society is very similar to the Mongul Empire. They take in other cultures, technology, ethnicities to build their own and strengthen it. As for Mother Brain, she was created with the purpose of controlling Metroids. We even see her behind Raven Beak with his infusion flashback. That significant red lit up ring? kinda looks like a control unit. MB also had red eyes opposed to the Blue ones on ZDR. Mother’s telepathy would fail, ofc, but Other M alludes to why. Not only did she not have a body for Metroids to physically bond with, but Metroids are smart. They create bonds with those they have a mutual relationship with but if they are being abused or mistreated, they can feel intent. And MB was literally dripping with malice(or in Japanese culture, just bad purple energy that physically/visually signifies evil). Melissa states that much like the original MB, the new one gained emotions as a result of her connection to Metroids. She compares her abusive experiences with the original MB. The only difference is, Melissa probably could have been convinced out of her anger for all of humanity, where Mother Brain wanted to destroy all life. The narratives overlap and compare very well and serves to show that Samus could have become just like them. Thankfully she had people in her life, many parent like guiders and many sacrifices made on her behalf, which showed her how much her life mattered to them.
It's hard for me to believe Kraid isn't the OG Kraid, seeing how angry and resentful he is at the initial sight of Samus.
I've listened to a lot of videos of Metroid Lore. I love it each time.
I had to pause Dread to come find out about some lore. This video definitely helped me appreciate and understand the game, and I’m very excited to go back and really get into it
If you want a very brief history of bad ass people in power armor, Samus and doom guy had a baby, and that baby was named John. There. Done.
Don't forget the dudes from Crysis. Especially Prophet. He destroyed a fucking continent sized colony ship in the end of the third game lol.
This is the best Metroid lore video, thank you!
I'm glad to hear you have more of these lore videos in the pipeline, since I first found you through the Kirby Lore video. I do have a suggestion for a possible future Lore video (or Review video/series), 7th Dragon. There're 4 games so it shouldn't be AS lengthy to make as the Kirby or Metroid ones were, though I will admit to some personal bias as I really just want to see the series get some more recognition here on KZhead.
I played Super Metroid before I was old enough to understand retcons and plot devices. Seeing the same bosses in different Metroid games drove me nuts. I was like, "Samus killed you already! You can't come back!" Eventually, I reconciled this by imagining that Kraid, Ridley, Mother Brain and all the space pirates are in fact entities that exist in a parallel dimension, and the ones Samus fights are organic constructs projected into her dimension so they can directly influence events. So, kill one Kraid, the original just makes another.
High quality lore video. Loved the Kirby lore vid as well.
Since there's no concrete canon explanation for what happened to them, it's entirely possible that there's a whole planet of Ridleys somewhere.
Yeah kraid is definitely a animal species. It's canon that there are many of them. They probably are modified biological weapons. Or maybe it's a training device for the warriors displayed in the picture shown detaining him as a rite of passage of some kind
Awesome video! You do such a good job covering so much lore in a way where it doesn't feel like there's too much fat in the script
Perfect time for this vid to come out after getting dread for christmas and completing it. I'd be very interested in a lore vid on the risk of rain franchise as it shares a lot of the hidden logs and evironmental story telling metroid uses.
When I heard the EMMI beeping my heart rate started to increase despite knowing I'm done with dread... for now
This is the type of videos I want to see!!!
I would suggest Zelda lore next, but I don't want to wait 15 years for the next episode Mega Man lore would be hype tho
I enjoy watching people make new videos about the Metroid lore so all the new people who’ve played dread and no other games. Also I think that Metroid prime is not a Metroid and is called that because the in the Chozo’s language Metroid means ultimate warrior
No, it _was_ a Metroid that mutated. The game says so.
That Prime Pinball joke hit me like a freight train
As for the whole Kraid thing, I have a headcanon that the Space Pirates have some sort of program similar to the one that made Adam an AI. They are able to upload the consciousnesses of their commanders into a computer. If the commander falls in battle, they use preserved dna samples to make a clone body, and then insert the digitized consciousness into that body. That way, they have essentially made their commanders immortal, and are able to bring them back no matter how many times they are killed.
This is a really interesting idea!
Pretty dope lore video, very enjoyable
This was incredible-THANK you. Having never played the games myself, only seen others play them, the lore has always been fascinating to me, but also extremely confusing. This video has finally satisfied my curiosity and was much better than reading the various wiki entries. 😅 Anyway, thank you for all the work it must have taken! Much appreciated.
I would absolutely love a Zelda lore video from you :)
As someone who has been playing Samus returns after having played dread, I legitimately got worried when I thought I heard the EMMI lol
Another lore video by RPG Monger?! MUST WATCH!! Edit: Oddly enough I find Samus in Kirby's Dreamland 3, so does that mean that Samus exists in the same universe as Kirby?It gets you thinking.
Incredible video, Metroid is my favorite franchise from videogame history ❤
Great video Monger!!! Pretty sure Kraid is an entire species, the smaller ones from the first game an Super and the big ones from Zero, Super and Dread (this one I think it was cloned from the ones from Zebes). Also, Kraid was going to appear in Metroid Prime but the idea was scrapped
great vid will watch 3-5 times
Choices on what next lore video to do next? *sees the blue bomber* If it wins... *Sets time and date to 4 years into the future* awwwwww yeah I've been waiting for it!
To add to your really good Emmi head cannon, perhaps the cave was the only place quite enough for emmi beeps to be heard
From your intial description of the Chozo, it makes me wonder if the Chozo are meant to be some kind of analogy for Japan, like a proud warrior race was slowly reduced to pacifist observers of the galaxy due to them having a stagnating birthrate, sounds a lot like modern day Japan if you ask me.
so how does the Mawkin fall into this analogy?
Do we always need a real-world parallel? Why can't a fantasy universe just exist as its own entity?
Gr8 work! I really enjoyed it. I wanted to know what are your thoughts on the fact that we see some mokin ships right before we fight the gold warrior but then during the self-destruct sequence those ships are gone! 😳
My goodnes. ALL of Splatoon lore in one video?. Id love it, but That’s insane. It’s way more than just the main mode and salmon run. You do realize that not only is every song in the game is by a fictional band, with details such as one member from one band that dissolved after splat 1 finding a different band in splat 2, but also that each apparel item and weapon is made by a brand that has their own style, and sometimes even their own adds?
My theory for Kraid is two possibilities: A. He is the same Kraid who managed to escape the destruction of Zebes, only to be captured after landing of ZDR (memory contradicts this theory, unless those in the memory were the last few survivors who died restraining him, BUT the way he acts towards Samus in the cutscenes implies some familiarity). B. They are a member of Kraid's species that the Mawkin captured and their hostility towards Samus is due to years of mistreatment and her wearing armor similar to the species who imprisoned them (though if they were captured before all the Mawkin minus Raven Beak were consumed by the X, how did they avoid being absorbed).
What a freakin’ masterpiece!!
Respect for your effort and efficency
Thanks man! I'm like halfway through Prime 1 right now, I've also done Fusion (realizing now it would have been better to do Zero Mission), I've scanned everything but wasn't reading as I went and was about to go and read all of it but I instead found this video XD
I cant wait for your Bayonetta and Splatoon lore video, great video :)
when you searching for video you want there is no results but some day you randomly chillin' and video you want is in front of you
You mentioned it quickly, but in fusion there was a big miss translation in fusion, the federation that cloned metroids was a rogue faction
When it's all laid out like this it's kind of shocking how well the lore all meshes, given that there wasn't any grand design laid out for these games and their various developers to follow.
Of the three series you teased at the end, I'd definitely be most interested in the Megaman Lore, particularly if you cover the post Zero era.
Interesting thing about "how Metroid Prime got there" is that the original NTSC version of MP's Pirate Logs talk about how they discovered the creature during mining operations, which they name "Metroid Prime" for being genetically similar to Metroids. This, to me, means it's not actually a Metroid, but that then raises the question of how its able to spawn Metroids in its essense form. They then write of conducting experiments on it, which gave it its weapon and shielding capabilities. I guess the developers removed this from later versions because it contradicts Chozo logs which mention the Pirates arriving after the Impact Crater is sealed and they're trying to break it open.
You rock. As someone who listens to many many Metroid lore videos...this is one of my favorites. Great coverage and pacing. Your personality is pleasant.
As a diehard Metroid fan, this was a huge treat to watch! You really went all-out with this one, and I appreciate your mention of the unused Prime 3 log entries. Can’t believe Dark Samus might have been planning to sacrifice Phaaze to release hundreds of Leviathans… that’s ruthless even for her.
phantoom is kerbal space program's kraken
something I think is very worth mentioning is that in dread during the planet escape sequence, there are mawkin ships that are missing. This most likely means that in Metroid 6 there will be a massive X outbreak threatening the galaxy
**SPOILERS** At this point Samus should really not be surprised to see more metroids, but the moment when the X began flying out of Elun I was genuinely terrified. I knew the planet would have to be destroyed and I actually thought Samus would go with it.
This is a really comprehensive timeline, and I like your interpretation of what Phantoon's deal is! One small thing, though- I'm pretty sure that the Ridley clone from Other M is, while being a clone, technically also still the original Ridley. I'm not actually sure about the canonicity of this so I could be totally off the mark, but I've seen in a couple places that Ridley's cells all contain "genetic black boxes" of his memories and personality, therefore as long as any piece of him exists, he can be revived. One thing I saw, although this was just a theory, even goes as far as to propose that instead of the X corrupting him in Fusion like everything else on the station, *he* corrupted the X, creating a new strain of X-Parasite that contained his "genetic black box" just like his cells. As I said, this may not be canon, and the bit about him essentially fusing with the X almost definitely isn't, but the first part about him essentially being able to revive from a single cell (albeit with assistance necessary) does actually have some possible foundation even if it's not definitely canon.