Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (GameCube, Wii)
Samus was sent to the Aetheranother mysterious planet, after the Galactic Federation loses contact with Bravo Squad. When we get closer to the planet, we see that it is constantly changing color, and it turns out that this does not favor Samus either, whose the ship gets caught in storm clouds and is struck by lightning. Regardless, he manages to land safely (well, as safely as you can if you crash through the roof).
It wasn’t long ago Samus meets a disturbing doppelganger known as Dark Samus. (Spoiler alert, this is the same thing we saw at the very end of the first game, so it’s basically the titular Metroid Prime himself, albeit in a Samus-like form.)
Samus eventually finds herself rushing through a portal in the Dark Eether, a parallel world that hosts a deadly race called the Ing. She was attackedbut she almost managed to escape, albeit for a while having lost most of his abilities.
Samus soon becomes conscious another race known as the Luminoth (who bears a slight visual resemblance to the Chozo) and, after meeting his leader, U-Mos, learns that a meteorite collision has caused a dimensional rift on the planet Ether. Works with U-Mos in order to break into the Temple of Heaven, the Dark Aether’s parallel to the Great Temple. There, she faces and defeats Emperor Ingthus effectively completing her mission and initiating the destruction of the Dark Aether.
However, that nasty chaperone Dark Samus prevents Samus from escaping back to the Aether, and here Samus learns his true identity as his face resembles the cores of the Metroid race.
Samus and Dark Samus face offwith the first one emerging as the winner. Samus runs away just as the Dark Aether collapses, and upon returning to the Aether, he witnesses the revival of the Luminoth race. However, as she left the planet in her ship, the once decayed remains of Dark Samus begin to rebuild.
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (GameCube, Wii)
The Galactic Federation enlists Samus, along with three other bounty hunters Gandrayd, Ghor and Rundas, to repair organic supercomputers called Aurora Units. However, the blush ones Space pirates are attacking a nearby planet called Norion and so the bounty hunters are forced to launch a counter-offensive.
During the attack, Target Ridley — the madman we supposedly defeated during the first game — returns and attacks Samus. Rundas saves our bounty hunter as Meta Ridley plummets to her apparent death (Hayes exactly).
Then that’s it the team discovers a phase meteor called Leviathan hurtling toward the planet. As they race to activate the defense mechanism, none other than Dark Samus is back with a vengeance. Dark Samus knocks out all bounty hunters except Samus, with the latter able to activate a defensive laser in an instant, which destroys Leviathan.
About a month later, we found out Samus is slowly being corrupted by Phazonso the Federation presents her with a new suit that will allow her to control Phazon (to a certain extent). She finds out that it is other bounty hunters have previously gone to planets where Leviathan activity has been observedbut the Federation has since lost contact with them.
Samus leaves to stop more Leviathans from causing a huge ruckus, but in doing so, he must face his once friendly bounty hunter friendswhich are now corrupted by Fazon to the point of becoming enemies.
He eventually ends up on the Space Pirate Homeworld, which is heavily infested with Phazon. Here, Samus meets Ridley againbut the creature has now been enhanced by Phazon and is thus known as the Omega Ridley (much like the original Omega Pirate in the first game). Samus defeats Omega Ridleyhowever, because of course she does.
Finally, Samus goes to the planet Phaazewhich is revealed to be the origin of Phazon and Leviathan. When he arrives, he begins to absorb dangerous amounts of Phazon, but can mitigate the effects by locking himself into a permanent Hypermode. He eventually rediscovers Dark Samus, who fuses with a stolen Aurora unit connected to Phaaze’s core.
And so it starts the ultimate battle between Samus and Dark Samuswith the former emerging victorious, purging Phazon within her own body and causing Phaaze to self-destruct. She manages to escape and takes a moment to remember his fallen comrades. Having ventured into the depths of space, we see the mysterious gunboat follows Samus. Sylux is back.
Metroid Prime: Federation Force (3DS)
The Federation forces don’t play Samus, but rather a team of Federation soldiers reinforced with mecha suits based on Samus’ Power Suit.
After the corruption event, the destruction of Phaaza and the subsequent eradication of Phazon greatly weakened the Space Piratesand so the Federation forces begin a mission to exterminate them completely.
Samus is engaged for effective information gathering for the Federation Forces and reveals a huge battleship known as Doomseye, controlled by an entity known as Master Brain.
The Force loses contact with Samus and later discovers that she has been captured by the Space Pirates, who have forced her to fight the Federation forces. She was defeated and later buried under the ruins, but when Federation forces confront Master BrainSamus returns to help and she proves instrumental in the final defeat of Master Brain.
After the game is over, Sylux is seen infiltrating the Galactic Federation find the Metroid egg. A Metroid Infant hatches from the egg while Sylux looks on. This little nugget of information may be key in understanding why Slyux is surrounded by Metroids in the Prime 4 trailer, though it’s also believed that the creatures could be ‘Mochtroids’, creatures created as part of the Space Pirate’s plan to clone the Metroids.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to play every Metroid Prime game to understand Metroid Prime 4: Beyond?
This remains to be seen, although we suspect that given the amount of time that has passed since Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Nintendo will want to make the fourth main game as accessible as possible. Corruption tied up a lot of loose threads nicely, so there’s a good opportunity with Beyond to introduce an entirely new plot that isn’t connected to the story of the previous games.
You won’t need if you’ve played the previous games, but you’ll obviously appreciate the narrative better if you do.
Will Dark Samus appear in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond?
Perhaps. After all, Metroid Prime himself is the primary antagonist, so it makes sense that the fourth game in the series would feature the creature in some form. Whether he will appear as Dark Samus is currently up in the air, but it would be cool to see him again.
Will Phazon Play a Role in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond?
Honestly, we think Phazon’s entire plot is over at this point. Even if Metroid Prime does return, we doubt it will rely on Phazon at all.
The destruction of the planet Phaaze in Corruption effectively made Phazon extinct, so we’d be very surprised if it returned. Having said that, there are rumors that Beyond might tackle time travel, so who knows?
Do I need to play the previous games to understand Sylux’s role?
Honestly, no. Everything you need to know about Sylux can be found either in this article or in our previous article detailing the character. His role in Hunters is quite significant, but his appearances in Corruption and Federation Force are little more than brief cameos.
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