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Metroid: Samus Returns' Ending Teases the Future of Metroid (MASSIVE SPOILERS)

Cerium

Member
So final embargoes on this game just lifted in Europe. Some people were lucky enough to get early copies and there are already videos and screenshots of the ending (including bonus scenes from the 100% clear) out on Youtube already. I'm going to assemble these materials here along with my own analysis. My Metroid is a little rusty, so if anyone has a better interpretation I'll be happy to edit accordingly.

Please note that the whole point of this thread is to spoil the fuck out of everything, starting with the final boss.
So if you want to play the game and experience these revelations for yourself, this is your LAST CHANCE to turn back now.

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We good?

Alright, so the story generally follows Metroid II as Samus arrives on SR388, homeworld of the Metroids, on a mission of genocide. She cuts a destructive path through the population, kills the only breeding Metroid Queen, and then encounters an egg that hatches into a baby Metroid that imprints on Samus and thinks she's its mother.

Samus can't bring herself to kill THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY and so she decides to bring it back to her ship and deliver it to the Federation for study. All of this is pretty much how things went in the original.

Except this time there's a twist.

As Samus and the baby Metroid reach the surface of SR388, an unexpected foe swoops down on them intent on retreiving the only surviving Metroid. That's right, Ridley is back!

Ridley Boss Fight Video

Samus survives a brutal final battle with her old enemy, with some help from the baby Metroid who just wants to protect its mother. They fly off towards the events of Super Metroid, leaving a pacified SR388 that's now totally not dangerous at all.

Right?

Wrong, because we then cut to a chilling after credits scene.

Post Credits Video

Yes, that is an X Parasite taking over an alien. As we learned from the events of Metroid Fusion, the X Parasites were the original scourge of SR388 and a threat to the entire galaxy. These creatures were so dangerous that the benevolent Chozo (who raised Samus) actually created the Metroids to serve as a natural predator that could keep them in check.

Metroid Fusion said:
The creature took on the host's memories, appearance, abilities, everything. It sucks everything dry. Utterly terrifying. Can you not see that if a mimic such as this were to infiltrate a population, it could replicate almost indefinitely! With evil taking the form of an ally, the galaxy could be overthrown. It is truly the worst kind of evil... it has no name, but... we call it X.

The annihilation of the Metroid species led directly to the recovery of the X Parasites and the events of Metroid Fusion. We know now that MercurySteam originally pitched a Metroid Fusion remake to Sakamoto. Could this be foreshadowing their original plans?

I would say that the evidence so far suggests that, but then for players who clear 100% of Samus Returns we get something even more cryptic that might hint at something else entirely. Here are a series of images that seem to tell a story; some of it we know already, but the rest...

WQBxQ6z.png


Here we have the Chozo arriving on SR388. Note the three key figures here and their distinguishing features. They're clearly Chozo leaders.

Qf9GOeb.png


The Chozo are extracting X Parasites from their hosts. Studying and analyzing the threat.

CNpXV6o.png


An attempt to exterminate the X Parasites through conventional means? They appear to be scanning life forms for signs of infection.

IqwgXvz.png


That's a lot of X Parasites. Presumably the nasty critters did not want to go quietly into the dark night.

lC9ZQoG.png


Designing the Metroid. When faced with a galaxy ending threat, just make something bad enough to feed on it. What could go wrong?

VUu5Ygk.png


Everything is going according to plan.

q3lJUNy.png


Success! No more parasites. Let's pat ourselves on our avian backs.

1bZfHW6.png


Holy shit our own creations are mutating out of control. Who would've thought?

tbVlbgp.png


Alright so clearly everything is just fucked now. Time to flood this place I guess? And let's get the fuck out of here.

fzSGOCX.png


Now here's the really interesting part. We have the two (remaining?) Chozo leaders arguing about something. These appear to be the same guys we've seen in most of the other images. Maybe they're arguing over whose fault it was, maybe they're arguing over the future of the Chozo race, maybe they're arguing over whose turn it was to do the dishes.

g6udqrH.png


And now there's only one Chozo leader left. He's standing in a kind of tyrannical pose, with a smoking gun on his arm, and a bunch of dead Chozo at his feet including the guy he was politely debating. The red is not ominous at all.

So to me the implications here are clear. As far as I am aware, the fate of the Chozo race has never been specifically stated anywhere in the Metroid series. We know they explored the galaxy, we know they left lots of ruins and high technology, and we know they adopted Samus and gave her the Varia Suit. And we know they've just been kind of gone.

To this day we've never seen a live Chozo in a Metroid game.

People speculated they might've been wiped out by Metroids, by X Parasites, by Space Pirates. But it wasn't any of those, was it? This new evidence seems to tell us that it was actually a Chozo civil war that ended with an "evil" faction taking control. This faction and its leader were directly involved in the creation of the Metroids.

Where are they now? What have they been up to?

Spoiler:
Whatever it is it probably involves making new Metroids.

Could the answer to those questions be the basis of Metroid 5?
 

CorySchmitz

Junior Member
Not reading this because I don't want to be spoiled but it sure would've been nice if I didn't even see the title of this... I know it sounds hyper-sensetive but even knowing there's an ending tease at all is somewhat of a spoiler. I was expecting it to follow the Metroid II plot.

Edit: Although I should've suspected, having played Zero Mission, but still. No disrespect, just something to be conscience of ��
 
Not reading this because I don't want to be spoiled but it sure would've been nice if I didn't even see the title of this... I know it sounds hyper-sensetive but even knowing there's an ending tease at all is somewhat of a spoiler. I was expecting it to follow the Metroid II plot.

The fact that it would be expanding on the lore was announced a while ago so I don't see the problem
 

Rellik

Member
Not reading this because I don't want to be spoiled but it sure would've been nice if I didn't even see the title of this... I know it sounds hyper-sensetive but even knowing there's an ending tease at all is somewhat of a spoiler. I was expecting it to follow the Metroid II plot.

OP did absolutely nothing wrong. He even spoiler tagged in a thread warning MASSIVE SPOILERS
 
Not reading this because I don't want to be spoiled but it sure would've been nice if I didn't even see the title of this... I know it sounds hyper-sensetive but even knowing there's an ending tease at all is somewhat of a spoiler. I was expecting it to follow the Metroid II plot.

Edit: Although I should've suspected, having played Zero Mission, but still. No disrespect, just something to be conscience of ��

would you be able to do the branding for Metroid Prime 4 please.
 

Big Nikus

Member
Not reading this because I don't want to be spoiled but it sure would've been nice if I didn't even see the title of this... I know it sounds hyper-sensetive but even knowing there's an ending tease at all is somewhat of a spoiler. I was expecting it to follow the Metroid II plot.

Edit: Although I should've suspected, having played Zero Mission, but still. No disrespect, just something to be conscience of ��

Same, not reading but why the fuck would you do this outside of spoiler conversations in the OT... It's just a thread to tell this to people who haven't finished the game. So yeah I'm pissed.
 

Merc_

Member
Not reading this because I don't want to be spoiled but it sure would've been nice if I didn't even see the title of this... I know it sounds hyper-sensetive but even knowing there's an ending tease at all is somewhat of a spoiler. I was expecting it to follow the Metroid II plot.

Edit: Although I should've suspected, having played Zero Mission, but still. No disrespect, just something to be conscience of ��

You're right...it is hyper sensitive. Jesus Christ.

Anyway, that's really cool OP. Here's hoping it leads to the timeline continuing past Fusion finally.
 
As I understand it, the Metroid series hasn't moved forward chronologically for a while, right?

This could get interesting...
 

john tv

Member
I had no idea what the hell was going on in those images other than that something bad happened in #11 beteeen chozo so I appreciate this post. Hope it's accurate because I like this interpretation haha.
 
As I understand it, the Metroid series hasn't moved forward chronologically for a while, right?

This could get interesting...

hasn't moved past fusions yet.

Speaking of which, what if an evil Chozo is actually controlling the federation from the shadows and is responsible for stuff like the metroid breeding experiments in fusions?
 

JoeInky

Member
Turns out that not only was the federation evil all along, so were the chozo!

Atleast I hope that's not what the images are implying anyway
 

rtcn63

Member
Chozo 1: You know, we could use these metroid thingies to cleanse the universe and shit

Chozo 2: Yeah but wouldn't that be like evil

Chozo 1: That's not what your mother thought last night
 
Turns out that not only was the federation evil all along, so were the chozo!

Atleast I hope that's not what the images are implying anyway
more likely it's just a faction of both were evil, and that Chozo weren't universally good guys and were flawed like any other sentient race
 

psyfi

Banned
I am 100% down for this, I've always loved the Chozo. I just hope Nintendo does a better job introducing the long absent much referenced ancient alien society than 343 did with Halo 4.
 
Not reading this because I don't want to be spoiled but it sure would've been nice if I didn't even see the title of this... I know it sounds hyper-sensetive but even knowing there's an ending tease at all is somewhat of a spoiler. I was expecting it to follow the Metroid II plot.

Edit: Although I should've suspected, having played Zero Mission, but still. No disrespect, just something to be conscience of ��

Same, not reading but why the fuck would you do this outside of spoiler conversations in the OT... It's just a thread to tell this to people who haven't finished the game. So yeah I'm pissed.
Lmao

Interesting stuff though. Looking forward to the future of the series.
 

Neiteio

Member
I just hope they don't call the bad Chozo "Dark Chozo"

Also, that Ridley battle is... It's just... It's so... PERFECT
 

Feffe

Member
I hope not.

As I said some days ago Metroid is about Samus exploring some mysterious planets. I really don't care about Samus' Past, the Pirate, the Federation and the Chozo, they are some McGuffins to provide a bit of context, but they shouldn't be the focus of the game.
 
This is kind of reminding me of how Zero Mission sort of hinted at this stuff with murals of Chozo in armor with spears, and how there was this weird concept art on Zero Mission's Japanese site that had no relevance to the game and never appeared, showing how Chozo wore their Power Armor and how they had like, seeds and herbs in breathing masks to make them fight harder.

ZZrE5WS.png


AmezrI1.jpg


OuPxiay.png




(also it's reminding me of how Other M, despite attempting to be some deep insight into Samus's origins and personality and thoughts, somehow never touches on her life with the Chozo or the Chozo themselves, like, at all, which was super fucking weird)
 
If I'm not mistaken the Chozo were initially a powerful militaristic race that had conquered the galaxy with their power suits and other tech. They eventually realized the sheer atrocities they had committed and swore to lives of peace and diplomacy, dismantling their empire and returning to their temples. This could just be a group that wanted the old ways back with Metroids as the new linchpin of their military might.
 
I love more story in Metroid. This has me excited.

Interesting that with thus and the Sylux tease in Federation Force it seems both the Prime and regular Metroids plots could deal with the creation of new Metroids.
 

Savitar

Member
That sounds pretty cool, as long as they get rid of that ugly ass suit Samus had in Metroid Fusions and her being part Metroid which was eye roll worthy I'll be happy. Not like either can't be hand waved away with a little explanation.
 

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
Chozo scientists seem to suffer the same problem as space pirate scientiss.

Replace TUUUUUBES with BALLLLS.
 

MechaX

Member
You know, a Metroid V with Samus on the run from the Federation for screwing up the only reason worth salvaging BSL (and I guess they may still be salty after the Bottle Ship stuff), and going up against an evil Chozo faction is so fucking fanfiction

but I really, really want it

5 dollars says the one who got whacked was one of samus's impromptu foster parents

Chozo 1: We need to study the X (I will use it to take over the galaxy).

Chozo 2: Nah fuck it, just create these jellyfish that suck the energy out of everything to do it! (I will use them to take over the galaxy)

Chozo 3: Wait guys, what if I inject a human being with our DNA and give her the Power Suit we've been testing? She can be the protector of the galaxy, like a female space Superman.

And #3 was never heard from again.
 

also

Banned
I hope it's a tease for a continuation of Fusion and not a remake. The series needs to move forward already.

Anyway, I'm just glad Ninja Samus is back. Gives me hope Prime 4.
 

Vena

Member
If I'm not mistaken the Chozo were initially a powerful militaristic race that had conquered the galaxy with their power suits and other tech. They eventually realized the sheer atrocities they had committed and swore to lives of peace and diplomacy, dismantling their empire and returning to their temples. This could just be a group that wanted the old ways back with Metroids as the new linchpin of their military might.

Yes, they were a militaristic super race until their civilization began to regress and collapse. Their civilization became more science and supporting of life focused in the late stages. In many ways the Bryyo reptilicus and the fall of their Lords of Science can probably be transposed on the collapse of the Chozo empire and additions here.

Returns only furthers this as the late-science and benevolence focused Chozo are overthrown by militaristic old fashioned Chozo. Mirroring the rise and fall of Bryyo.

Of course, Samus is of warrior Chozo breed from Gray Voice rather than science side in Old Beard. So her going to war with fanatical Chozo is rather poetic since she's already fought and conquered the science side of Chozo in Metroid and MB.

That said, not sure how much of a fight a Chozo warrior would put up against Samus.

5 dollars says the one who got whacked was one of samus's impromptu foster parents

Zero Mission already canonized Old Bird and Gray Voice. The former dies of age, the latter is killed by MB and Ridley.

Old Bird is alive long after the event of SR388 as is Gray Voice.
 

SheHateMe

Member
Didn't read OP at all, but watch that there is a true
final boss and it's Ridley.
It's ALWAYS Ridley.

Fake Edit:
It's Ridley. LOL
 

Mr-Joker

Banned
Interesting, I wonder what Nintendo is planing to do with the Metroid series?

(also it's reminding me of how Other M, despite attempting to be some deep insight into Samus's origins and personality and thoughts, somehow never touches on her life with the Chozo or the Chozo themselves, like, at all, which was super fucking weird)

I honestly maintain that Other M story could have work had it been given proper rewrite and instead of being set inbetween Super and Fusion it was set before the first Metroid and exploring Samus venturing out on her own as a bounty hunter but was still finding her feet.

It could also dive deeper into Samus relationship with the Chozo, her relationship with Adam and her fear of Ridley who slaughtered Samus' parents in front of her.
 
I've wanted a more story focused Metroid for a long time now. I now that's heresy to a lot of fans especially after Other M but I really do love the lore and setting and I feel limiting it to "have Samus explore barren planet 356" squanders it.

Maybe have a spin off that could focus more on the lore and action and then another game(Prime 4?) do the isolation thing.

Just let someone else write it and let the localizers do their job.
 

Neiteio

Member
I generally don't take the story very seriously in Metroid games (they lose me as soon as I remember the title "Space Pirates," which always struck me as a bit too loose for a group that apparently has an organized structure culminating in a High Command, as per MP3), but I have to say, if they're positioning the series to have some sort of Voldemort-esque Chozo dark wizard who Samus will have to confront as she returns to her roots, well, then that's pretty epic and could make for a compelling story going forward
 
About bloody time, but unless we're getting a Fusion remake, I'm pretty sure the X are basically dead as a species, since Samus basically glassed SR-388 by colony-dropping it (and if the colony drop didn't do the job, the Federation would've finished it via orbital bombardment - they may be crazy enough to try and make more Metroids, but you'd think even they know the X are not worth fucking with, but morally questionable governments/corporations aren't known for drawing lines in sci-fi).

Though, finally meeting actual live Chozo is gonna be big as far as the series goes.

Also, lul at Samus not fucking around when it comes to Ridley despite the game being supervised by Sakamoto. Maybe Nintendo is finally reeling him in?
 
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