items in the metroid series

The items in the Metroid series have played an important part in the gameplay throughout the series.

Power Suit

The Power Suit is the most basic item in the Metroid series. It was created for the protagonist, Samus Aran, by the mystic Chozo as a modification of their own seldom-used weaponry. It was created to be modular and adaptable. Most of the Metroid games involve an introduction wherein Samus' suit is somehow damaged or she is grievously injured, resulting in the loss of all of the suit's latent abilities. All that remains is the Power Beam, high jump function (though there is an upgrade to the suit's already high jumps), and the life support system. In order to restore her suit, Samus usually must locate Chozo relics and temples that contain replicas of the original modules that give her abilities. Sometimes the corpses of defeated alien bosses yield equipment as well. In Metroid Fusion, Samus's suit becomes infected with the X parasite and she becomes critically ill. She is saved when a scientist makes a vaccine from a frozen metroid infant, which he injects into Samus to eradicate the virus. However, during the surgical process, the infected parts of Samus's suit were removed and sent to the BSL Space Station for testing. The parts that were melded to her body and could not be removed formed a blue-and-yellow version of the suit and she gained new weaknesses and abilities. Among these: vulnerability to low temperatures and the ability to absorb X parasites to regain energy and latent abilities. In , her suit is destroyed completely by the space pirates and she is forced to pass a test in a Chozo temple to obtain a new one.

Versions and Upgrades

Throughout the series, Samus obtains various upgrades to, or different versions of, her Power Suit. These include:

Varia Suit
Gravity Suit
Phazon Suit (Metroid Prime only)
Dark Suit (Metroid Prime 2: Echoes only)
Light Suit (Metroid Prime 2: Echoes only)
Fusion Suit (Metroid Fusion only)

Varia Suit

  Varia Suit has the following features:

Damage resistance: When equipped, it doubles the defense of the power suit.
Environment: Samus can enter areas of extreme temperatures and not take environmental damage from the heat or cold. This also applies to very hot or cold liquids (not to the extent that the gravity suit would provide).

History

Metroid: The Varia Suit was introduced in the original Metroid. It simply provided an armor bonus.
Metroid: Zero Mission: Samus gains the Varia Suit midway into the game, but loses it towards the end of the game when she is shot down leaving Zebes. It retroactively features the thermal protection introduced in Super Metroid while also adding protection from acidic compounds.
Metroid Prime: Samus starts out the game with the Varia Suit. She loses it when she suffers catastrophic damage while escaping the Space Pirate frigate in orbit of Tallon IV. Samus later regains this suit in the Chozo Ruins of Tallon IV after a boss battle.
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes : Samus starts out the game with the Varia Suit. When her equipment is stolen, she keeps this suit.
Metroid II: Return of Samus : It is an armor bonus and lets Samus move faster.
Super Metroid: This game introduced the first bonus property to the Varia Suit – temperature resistance. Samus can enter the fiery caverns of Norfair without taking damage from the superheated air.
Metroid Fusion: Here we see the other end of the thermal bonus – Samus can enter the colder sections of the B.S.L. (Biologic Space Laboratories, a department of the Galactic Federation) space station without freezing to death.

Gravity Suit

With this upgrade, Samus can move through water without being hindered. It is a pinkish purple in color and is shaped like the Varia Suit. This suit provides even more resistance to damage than the Varia Suit and also, in Super Metroid, Metroid Fusion, and Metroid: Zero Mission, keeps Samus from losing energy when she travels through lava pits. Samus uses this suit to get to Ridley's Lair in Super Metroid.

Phazon Suit

This Power Suit upgrade, unique to Metroid Prime, allowed Samus to resist and absorb the effects of Phazon when she visited the planet Tallon IV, which she used to great effect when she fought the creature Metroid Prime. It was obtained by defeating the Phazon Elite space pirate and absorbed by Metroid Prime during the ending sequence of the game Metroid Prime. Dark Samus is actually the Phazon Suit fused with Metroid Prime.

Dark Suit and Light Suit

These upgrades are both unique to Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. Both provided Samus protection from the harsh atmosphere of Dark Aether, but the Light Suit completely protected Samus, and allowed her to travel on beams of light.

Fusion Suit

This suit, unique to Metroid Fusion, was unintentionally created after Samus was infected by the X Parasites. She was rushed to the Galactic Federation's headquarters to undergo emergency treatment; this included removing large pieces of her infected Power Suit. Samus was only completely cured when someone tried injecting her with a serum made from the last Metroid. Besides saving Samus' life, this infusion of Metroid DNA created the Fusion Suit. The Fusion Suit offered roughly the same protection as the basic Power Suit, and was just as adaptable; it could be upgraded to Varia and Gravity status just like her old Power Suit could be. Samus' Metroid DNA also allows her to absorb X Parasites to recover shielding and ammunition. After absorbing the Core-X of the SA-X, Samus' suit became its trademark orange and yellow color, and she was once again able to use the Ice Beam.

Morph ball

Perhaps, one of Samus' most signature moves is none other than the Morph ball. This upgrade morphs Samus into an armored ball with a diameter of about 1.5 meters (approx. 4.92 feet) that can get inside places she couldn't normally reach. Like the Power suit, the morph ball can gain upgrades too.

Morph Ball Bomb

This upgrade allows Samus to lay small bombs on the ground, when they explode, they have no damage on Samus, but can damage enemies, blow up small hidden passageways, they can be used to activate switches, and propel Samus into the air (called a bomb jump).

Power Bomb

This upgrade allows Samus to lay a larger bomb on the ground, that, when detonated, releases a large concussive blast that can destroy such materials as Denzium and Bendezium. This upgrade has a limited supply and must be replenished.

Boost Ball

This upgrade allows Samus to charge up the Morph ball to release bursts of speed, allowing her to climb half-pipes and destroy small enemies.

Spider Ball

This upgrade allows Samus to cling to magnetic rails to grant her access to out of reach places. Often a target power-up for puzzles around the environment to get new items, such as missile expansions.

Visors

The visor is Samus's window to the world. It has various modes which are useful in different situations.

Combat Visor

The combat visor mode provides Samus with all the information she needs for battle and navigation by projecting a HUD on the inside of the helmet lens. This visor mode includes: a targeting reticle, 3D map, radar readout, energy reserves readout (showing Samus how much more damage she can take), an external threat assessment gauge (designed to warn Samus of environmental dangers such as radioactivity), missile reserves display, and selected visor and beam weapon information.

Scan Visor

  important visor lets Samus scan enemies and bosses to discover their weak spots and uncover information in the form of logbooks and morphology. It can sometimes unlock doors, open portals and activate elevators, and is useful when solving puzzles and trying to find out where to go next. Samus collects important scans in her suit's logbook to be reviewed later. A useful feature is that time in the game stops while you are reading the information collected from the scan, although while you are scanning time moves at a normal rate.

Thermal Visor

  Thermal Visor allows Samus to track targets by their heat signatures: blues and blacks are indicative of cold temperatures, yellows and whites indicate sources of great heat.  The Thermal Visor is most useful to Samus in low lighting and poor weather conditions. However, it can also be used to track some cloaked enemies (i.e. the Shadow Pirate) and find hidden power conduits that can be activated by the Wave Beam weapon.  The thermal visor becomes "whitewashed" (filled with bright whites impairing vision) in places of extreme heat.

X-Ray Visor

The X-Ray Visor allows Samus to see through many materials, see invisible platforms, and track spectral entities. With it, you can also view through Samus's arm cannon to see the hand positions used to arm her weapons. Many mechanoids can cause interference with the X-Ray Visor's normal operation.

Dark Visor

The Dark Visor allows Samus to see interdimensionally between the Light and Dark worlds of Aether, and makes it easier to see in the poisonous atmosphere of Dark Aether. It also allows you to see interdimensional platforms and Seeker Missile locks.

Echo Visor

The Echo Visor allows you to see sound waves through echolocation. You use this visor along with the Annihilator Beam to interface with and unlock Echo Gates.

Weapons

Power Beam

The Power Beam is Samus' main weapon. Approximately 0.3 meters in length, the Power Beam is integrated into Samus' suit arm cannon and, as was the rest of her suit, designed by the Chozo. Though usually the weakest of Samus's armaments, the semiautomatic weapon has a high rate of fire and limitless ammunition. It's the perfect weapon for creating suppressive fire. When used in conjunction with the Charge Beam, the Power Beam can be energized to unleash a more powerful blast. In every Metroid game, Samus is stripped of just about all items--however, she always retains her Power Beam. The weapon is rarely deflected, so it is frequently used when the weakness of an enemy is unknown. The Power Beam can open most standard doors (typically those marked "any beam"). In Metroid Fusion, the Power Beam was redesigned by the Galactic Federation Military when Samus's standard suit was infected. This model is capable of combining with the Spazer Beam.

Charge Beam

  Charge Beam itself is not a weapon, but when coupled with other beam weapons, the charge beam becomes a force to be reckoned with.  This device allows Samus to charge up her currently armed beam weapon, increasing its power and sometimes adding additional effects (burning, freezing, etc.).  In Metroid Prime and  the charge beam can be combined with missile energy to use Charge Combos.

Spazer Beam

This beam has only existed in Metroid II: The Return of Samus and Super Metroid. It allows Samus's Power Beam to split into three rays instead of one energy ball, thus allowing a wider spread for her Power Beam, almost like an energy shotgun in a sense. A different version, called the Wide Beam, is available in Metroid Fusion and Metroid: Zero Mission.

Ice Beam

The Ice Beam has always been included in the Metroid games, and until recently has been one of the first and weakest weapons Samus gets in her journeys. Excluding Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime 2 (In Metroid Prime 2, it was replaced with the Dark Beam), this weapon has a high rate of fire and is able to instantly freeze enemies, allowing you to use them as platforms to get to areas previously unreachable. In the Metroid Prime series it has a slow rate of fire but is very powerful and can leave enemies defenseless to other attacks, such as missile blasts.

Wave Beam

The Wave Beam is an original Metroid weapon. It has the ability to go through walls (excluding Prime) and is made up of pure energy waves. In Super Metroid, it could be combined with other beams to produce a deadly effect. In Metroid Prime, the Wave Beam is electrical, and a Charged Wave Beam can stun an opponent for a couple of seconds.

Plasma Beam

The Plasma Beam wasn't introduced in the Metroid series until Metroid II: The Return of Samus. It has the ability to go through multiple opponents, thus making it one of the most useful beams for combat. In Prime, it became a superheated weapon, and thus is quite useful against ice monsters like Sheegoths.

Hyper Beam

This beam only appears in Super Metroid. Samus aquires this beam after being recharged by a giant metroid. It is similar to the beam used by the Mother Brain against her shortly before, which might have been transferred to her by the metroid. It replaces all the other beams in Samus' inventory, and can pass through walls and enemies, and destroy some obstacles no other weapons can harm. It is also much more potent than the other beams.

Dark Beam

The Dark Beam only appears in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. It fires bursts of dark energy that are highly effective against most denizens of Light Aether including offworlders like Space Pirates. In a first for the Metroid series, the Dark Beam is one of three beam weapons to require ammunition. When combined with missile energy, the Dark Beam can use its Charge Combo, the Darkburst. The combo is slow, but opens a black hole that draws any nearby enemies into it and destroys them. The weapon can also be used to open purple-black dark doors and energize rift portals to Dark Aether. When fully charged, the beam fires an Entangler blast, ensnaring its victim in cold, shadowy tendrils for a short time, similar to the freezing effect of the ice beam. When out of ammunition, the Dark Beam can be charged to fire a regular blast.

Light Beam

The Light Beam fires streams of light energy that are highly effective against most denizens of Dark Aether including the Ing. In a first for the Metroid series, the Light Beam is one of three beam weapons to require ammunition. When combined with missile energy, the Light Beam can use its Charge Combo, the Sunburst. The weapon can also be used to open white light doors and energize rift portals to Light Aether. When fully charged, the beam fires a Lightblast, burning its victims in pure light for a short time. When out of ammunition, the Light Beam can be charged to fire a regular blast.

Annihilator Beam

The Annihilator Beam fires blasts of sonic energy. In a first for the Metroid series, the Annihilator Beam is one of three beam weapons to require ammunition (it consumes both Light and Dark ammo). It also has a very effective homing ability that will cause it to track and follow a target even without a lock-on. The annihilator beam can be used to supercharge light crystals and beacons while in the dark world, which has an effect similar to a bug zapper in that it draws Ing into the deadly field of light energy. When combined with missile energy, the Annihilator Beam can use its Charge Combo, the Sonic Boom. Can be used in conjunction with the Echo Visor to open Echo Gates.

Phazon Beam

The Phazon beam was used in Metroid Prime. It was the product of corruption of the Varia Suit by the mutagen Phazon to create the Phazon Suit. The process also altered Samus' arm cannon, allowing her to absorb Phazon and use it against Metroid Prime itself.

Missiles

An upgrade in all Metroid games, the missiles can unlock certain doors and hurt enemies the beams could not hurt. In games such as Super Metroid and Metroid: Zero Mission there is a more powerful version of missiles than the standard version known as the Super Missile. These missiles are mostly separated from the standard one, but in Metroid Fusion, they replaced the standard missiles, and were able to be upgraded to have a freezing effect. In Prime, and its sequel, 5 regular missiles are combined with a fully charged beam to produce different "missile combos," which are usually slow but very powerful. In Metroid Prime 2, there was another upgrade called the Seeker Missile. Rather than empowering individual missles, it allowed Samus to fire up to five missiles at up to five distinct targets, or to fire five missiles at the same target in one burst.