Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (GameCube, Wii)
Samus is sent to Aether, yet another mysterious planet, after the Galactic Federation loses contact with Squad Bravo. When approaching the planet, we see that it’s constantly shifting in colour, and it turns out that this does absolutely no favours for Samus either, whose ship gets caught in storm clouds and is struck by lightning. She manages to land safely regardless (well, about as safely as you can by crashing through a roof).
It’s not long before Samus encounters an unnerving doppelganger known as Dark Samus. (Spoiler alert, this is the same thing we saw right at the end of the first game, so it’s in essence the titular Metroid Prime itself, albeit in a form closely resembling Samus.)
Samus eventually finds herself hurtling through a portal into Dark Aether, a parallel world that plays host to a lethal race called the Ing. She is attacked, but she just about manages to escape, albeit while losing the majority of her abilities.
Samus soon becomes aware of another race known as the Luminoth (which bears a slight visual resemblance to the Chozo) and, after encountering its leader, U-Mos, learns that a meteoric collision caused a dimensional split on the planet of Aether. She works with U-Mos to make her way into the Sky Temple, Dark Aether’s parallel to the Great Temple. There, she confronts and defeats the Emperor Ing, thus effectively completing her mission and initiating the destruction of Dark Aether.
However, that nasty scamp Dark Samus prevents Samus from escaping back to Aether, and it’s here that Samus learns of its true identity given that its face bears resemblance to the nuclei of the Metroid race.
Samus and Dark Samus face off, with the former emerging victorious. Samus escapes just as Dark Aether collapses, and upon her return to Aether, she witnesses the revival of the Luminoth race. However, as she makes her way off the planet in her ship, the once-disintegrated remains of Dark Samus begin to reform.
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Wii)
Samus, alongside three other bounty hunters called Gandrayda, Ghor, and Rundas, are called upon by the Galactic Federation to repair organic supercomputers called Aurora Units. However, those ruddy Space Pirates attack a nearby planet called Norion and so the bounty hunters are forced to launch a counter-offensive.
During the attack, Meta Ridley — the goon we supposedly beat during the first game — makes its return and attacks Samus. Rundas saves our bounty hunter as Meta Ridley plummets to its apparent death (ha, yeah right).
It’s then that the team discovers a Phazon-laced meteor called a Leviathan hurtling toward the planet. As they race to activate a defence mechanism, none other than Dark Samus returns with a vengeance. Dark Samus renders all bounty hunters bar Samus unconscious, with the latter able to activate the defence laser just in the nick of time, which destroys the Leviathan.
Around one month later, we learn that Samus is slowly being corrupted by Phazon, and so the Federation bestows upon her a new suit that will allow her to control the Phazon (to a certain extent). She learns that the other bounty hunters had previously departed to planets where Leviathan activity was observed, but the Federation had since lost contact with them.
Samus departs to prevent more Leviathans from causing a massive ruckus, but in doing so, she has to face off against her once-friendly bounty hunter pals, who are now corrupted by Phazon to the point of becoming enemies.
She eventually winds up on the Space Pirate Homeworld, which is heavily infected by Phazon. Here, Samus once again encounters Ridley, but the creature is now enhanced by Phazon and thus known as Omega Ridley (much like the original Omega Pirate in the first game). Samus defeats Omega Ridley, however, because of course she does.
Finally, Samus heads to the planet Phaaze, which is discovered to be the origin point of the Phazon and the Leviathans. Once she arrives, she begins absorbing dangerous amounts of Phazon, but is able to alleviate the effects by locking herself into a permanent Hypermode. She eventually discovers Dark Samus yet again, who proceeds to fuse with a stolen Aurora Unit linked with Phaaze’s core.
And so kicks off the climactic battle between Samus and Dark Samus, with the former emerging victorious, purging the Phazon within her own body and causing Phaaze to self-destruct. She manages to escape and spares a moment to remember her fallen comrades. After venturing off into the depths of space, we see a mysterious gunship follow Samus. Sylux is back.
Metroid Prime: Federation Force (3DS)
Federation Force doesn’t star Samus, but rather a team of Federation soldiers bolstered by mechanical suits based on Samus’ Power Suit.
After the events of Corruption, the destruction of Phaaze and subsequent eradication of Phazon greatly weakened the Space Pirates, and so the Federation Force commences a mission to wipe them out entirely.
Samus is hired to effectively gather information for the Federation Force and discovers 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 was taken captive by the Space Pirates, who force her to fight against the Federation Force. She is defeated and subsequently buried under rubble, but when the Federation Force confronts Master Brain, Samus returns to assist and she proves to be pivotal in the eventual defeat of Master Brain.
After completion of the game, Sylux is seen infiltrating the Galactic Federation to locate a Metroid Egg. The egg hatches into a Metroid Infant as Sylux looks on. This small nugget of information may be crucial in understanding why Slyux is flanked by Metroids in the Prime 4 trailer, though it’s also believed that these creatures could be ‘Mochtroids’, creatures that originated 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, though we suspect that given the amount of time since Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Nintendo will want the fourth mainline game to be as approachable as possible. Corruption tied up a lot of loose threads quite nicely, so there’s a good opportunity with Beyond to introduce a completely new plot untethered from the previous games’ narrative.
You won’t need to have played the previous games, but you’ll obviously have a better appreciation of the narrative if you do.
Will Dark Samus show up in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond?
Possibly. After all, Metroid Prime itself is a primary antagonist, so it makes sense that a fourth game in the series would feature the creature in some form. Whether it shows up in the guise of Dark Samus is up in the air right now, but it would be cool to see it again.
Will the Phazon play a role in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond?
Honestly, we think the whole Phazon plotline is done at this point. Even if Metroid Prime returns, we suspect it won’t be reliant on Phazon at all.
The destruction of the planet Phaaze in Corruption effectively rendered the Phazon extinct, so we’d be very surprised to see it come back. Having said that, there are rumblings that Beyond could deal with time travel, so who knows?
Should I play the previous games to understand Sylux’s role?
Honestly, no. Everything you need to know about Sylux is either in this here article, or in our previous article going over the character in detail. Its role in Hunters is pretty significant, but its appearances in Corruption and Federation Force are little more than short cameos.
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (GameCube, Wii)
Samus is sent to Aether, yet another mysterious planet, after the Galactic Federation loses contact with Squad Bravo. When approaching the planet, we see that it’s constantly shifting in colour, and it turns out that this does absolutely no favours for Samus either, whose ship gets caught in storm clouds and is struck by lightning. She manages to land safely regardless (well, about as safely as you can by crashing through a roof).
It’s not long before Samus encounters an unnerving doppelganger known as Dark Samus. (Spoiler alert, this is the same thing we saw right at the end of the first game, so it’s in essence the titular Metroid Prime itself, albeit in a form closely resembling Samus.)
Samus eventually finds herself hurtling through a portal into Dark Aether, a parallel world that plays host to a lethal race called the Ing. She is attacked, but she just about manages to escape, albeit while losing the majority of her abilities.
Samus soon becomes aware of another race known as the Luminoth (which bears a slight visual resemblance to the Chozo) and, after encountering its leader, U-Mos, learns that a meteoric collision caused a dimensional split on the planet of Aether. She works with U-Mos to make her way into the Sky Temple, Dark Aether’s parallel to the Great Temple. There, she confronts and defeats the Emperor Ing, thus effectively completing her mission and initiating the destruction of Dark Aether.
However, that nasty scamp Dark Samus prevents Samus from escaping back to Aether, and it’s here that Samus learns of its true identity given that its face bears resemblance to the nuclei of the Metroid race.
Samus and Dark Samus face off, with the former emerging victorious. Samus escapes just as Dark Aether collapses, and upon her return to Aether, she witnesses the revival of the Luminoth race. However, as she makes her way off the planet in her ship, the once-disintegrated remains of Dark Samus begin to reform.
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Wii)
Samus, alongside three other bounty hunters called Gandrayda, Ghor, and Rundas, are called upon by the Galactic Federation to repair organic supercomputers called Aurora Units. However, those ruddy Space Pirates attack a nearby planet called Norion and so the bounty hunters are forced to launch a counter-offensive.
During the attack, Meta Ridley — the goon we supposedly beat during the first game — makes its return and attacks Samus. Rundas saves our bounty hunter as Meta Ridley plummets to its apparent death (ha, yeah right).
It’s then that the team discovers a Phazon-laced meteor called a Leviathan hurtling toward the planet. As they race to activate a defence mechanism, none other than Dark Samus returns with a vengeance. Dark Samus renders all bounty hunters bar Samus unconscious, with the latter able to activate the defence laser just in the nick of time, which destroys the Leviathan.
Around one month later, we learn that Samus is slowly being corrupted by Phazon, and so the Federation bestows upon her a new suit that will allow her to control the Phazon (to a certain extent). She learns that the other bounty hunters had previously departed to planets where Leviathan activity was observed, but the Federation had since lost contact with them.
Samus departs to prevent more Leviathans from causing a massive ruckus, but in doing so, she has to face off against her once-friendly bounty hunter pals, who are now corrupted by Phazon to the point of becoming enemies.
She eventually winds up on the Space Pirate Homeworld, which is heavily infected by Phazon. Here, Samus once again encounters Ridley, but the creature is now enhanced by Phazon and thus known as Omega Ridley (much like the original Omega Pirate in the first game). Samus defeats Omega Ridley, however, because of course she does.
Finally, Samus heads to the planet Phaaze, which is discovered to be the origin point of the Phazon and the Leviathans. Once she arrives, she begins absorbing dangerous amounts of Phazon, but is able to alleviate the effects by locking herself into a permanent Hypermode. She eventually discovers Dark Samus yet again, who proceeds to fuse with a stolen Aurora Unit linked with Phaaze’s core.
And so kicks off the climactic battle between Samus and Dark Samus, with the former emerging victorious, purging the Phazon within her own body and causing Phaaze to self-destruct. She manages to escape and spares a moment to remember her fallen comrades. After venturing off into the depths of space, we see a mysterious gunship follow Samus. Sylux is back.
Metroid Prime: Federation Force (3DS)
Federation Force doesn't star Samus, but rather a team of Federation soldiers bolstered by mechanical suits based on Samus' Power Suit.
After the events of Corruption, the destruction of Phaaze and subsequent eradication of Phazon greatly weakened the Space Pirates, and so the Federation Force commences a mission to wipe them out entirely.
Samus is hired to effectively gather information for the Federation Force and discovers 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 was taken captive by the Space Pirates, who force her to fight against the Federation Force. She is defeated and subsequently buried under rubble, but when the Federation Force confronts Master Brain, Samus returns to assist and she proves to be pivotal in the eventual defeat of Master Brain.
After completion of the game, Sylux is seen infiltrating the Galactic Federation to locate a Metroid Egg. The egg hatches into a Metroid Infant as Sylux looks on. This small nugget of information may be crucial in understanding why Slyux is flanked by Metroids in the Prime 4 trailer, though it's also believed that these creatures could be 'Mochtroids', creatures that originated 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, though we suspect that given the amount of time since Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Nintendo will want the fourth mainline game to be as approachable as possible. Corruption tied up a lot of loose threads quite nicely, so there's a good opportunity with Beyond to introduce a completely new plot untethered from the previous games' narrative.
You won't need to have played the previous games, but you'll obviously have a better appreciation of the narrative if you do.
Will Dark Samus show up in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond?
Possibly. After all, Metroid Prime itself is a primary antagonist, so it makes sense that a fourth game in the series would feature the creature in some form. Whether it shows up in the guise of Dark Samus is up in the air right now, but it would be cool to see it again.
Will the Phazon play a role in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond?
Honestly, we think the whole Phazon plotline is done at this point. Even if Metroid Prime returns, we suspect it won't be reliant on Phazon at all.
The destruction of the planet Phaaze in Corruption effectively rendered the Phazon extinct, so we'd be very surprised to see it come back. Having said that, there are rumblings that Beyond could deal with time travel, so who knows?
Should I play the previous games to understand Sylux's role?
Honestly, no. Everything you need to know about Sylux is either in this here article, or in our previous article going over the character in detail. Its role in Hunters is pretty significant, but its appearances in Corruption and Federation Force are little more than short cameos.
