At the time of writing, Metroid Dread has recently been announced. As you may have noticed, Samus’ suit is very different from usual, and she clearly doesn’t seem to be at the peak of her power anymore, having to run away from enemies. Unlike the other Metroid titles which are mostly self-contained stories with a few ties to the previous entries, Metroid Dread is the direct sequel to Fusion, and also references some elements from Metroid: Samus Returns. It is not mandatory to play the previous game to understand the story of Metroid Dread, but it can help you get a better grasp on what is going on.
Samus used to live in a colony on planet K-2L. Her parents and the entire colony were murdered by the Space Pirates, led by Ridley at the time, when she was only four years old. She was rescued by the Chozo, a race of wise and technologically advanced bird-like aliens. They took her to planet Zebes and infused her with their DNA so she could survive the hostile environments of their home planet. They trained her and gifted her the iconic Power Suit, in order to make her a protector of peace in the galaxy. At this time, Zebes was under the surveillance of Mother Brain, a biomechanical security AI created by the Chozo. Ultimately, she went rogue and joined forces with the Space Pirates in order to take over the planet, eventually becoming their leader. Mother Brain wanted to use a Chozo bioweapon known as the Metroids to conquer the entire galaxy, leading to the events of Metroid: Zero Mission (Game Boy Advance).
The Galactic Federation discovered the existence of this parasitic lifeform on planet SR-388 and managed to obtain a living sample. However, their research vessel was attacked by the Space Pirates, who stole the Metroid in order to clone it. Samus, known as one of the greatest bounty hunters in the galaxy, was hired by the Galactic Federation to stop the Space Pirates and destroy the Metroids. As the one-woman army that she is, Samus successfully defeated Kraid, Ridley, Mother Brain and the Metroids. However, she was attacked by a Space Pirate squadron after leaving Zebes’ atmosphere, crashing her ship. Her Power Suit was destroyed in the process.
Having nowhere else to go, Samus decided to infiltrate the Space Pirates’ mothership, hoping to find a vessel to escape Zebes. She eventually discovered the ruins of Chozodia, an ancient Chozo city, and reached a temple in which she faced a trial with a Chozo ghost. After successfully passing the test, Samus acquired the Legendary Power Suit, featuring the iconic huge shoulderpads. The hunter became an unstoppable force of nature and destroyed everything on board, and escaped the planet once again.
In Metroid: Samus Returns (Nintendo 3DS), the Galactic Federation decided to send a squadron of elite soldiers to investigate SR-388 further. They went missing, but they managed to send a sample of data to the headquarters. Numerous Metroid lifeforms were detected, and given the threat they represent to the galaxy, the Federation decided to hire Samus once again to exterminate the species once and for all.
As she progressed through the depths of the planet, the bounty hunter quickly discovered that the Metroids started to evolve into monstrous lizard-like creatures, threatening the entire ecosystem. Samus successfully eliminated every Metroid and battled an especially strong specimen known as Queen Metroid, responsible for the species’ reproduction. However, after defeating it, the remaining Metroid egg hatched before Samus and believed she was its mother.
She decided to spare the hatchling and returned to the surface of the planet, where she was attacked by Ridley, who survived their first battle on Zebes and started shedding the cybernetic enhancements he had in the Metroid Prime series. He tried to steal the Metroid larva, but Samus defeated him once again and left the planet with the hatchling.
In Super Metroid (Super Nintendo), Samus decided to give the baby Metroid to Galactic Federation scientists on the Ceres Station, who thought they could harness the power of the Metroids for the good of civilization. But as soon as Samus left the station, it was attacked by a fully regenerated Ridley! He managed to escape and return to planet Zebes. Samus trailed him and quickly discovered that the Space Pirates built yet another base on the planet, and rebuilt Mother Brain as well.
Samus defeated the Space Pirates again, killing Ridley for good. She battled Mother Brain and seemingly defeated her, but the Space Pirates’ leader was now using an immensely powerful mechanical body. Samus was completely outmatched and would have died if it were not for the baby Metroid, now grown to an enormous size. It latched on Mother Brain and transferred her energy to Samus. However, Mother Brain survived the attack and easily killed the baby.
The hunter, overflowing with energy, destroyed Mother Brain thanks to her newly acquired Hyper Beam, avenging the baby. Then she escaped Zebes, saving a few animals who aided her during her adventure. The explosion of the new Tourian destroyed Planet Zebes once and for all in the process.
Samus got badly harmed during her battle with Mother Brain, and had to be healed by the Galactic Federation in Metroid: Other M (Wii). After reporting the extermination of the Space Pirates and the Metroids, Samus received a distress signal from a station called the Bottle Ship. There, she encountered a Federation squad led by Adam Malkovich, her former commander and father figure. She decided to stick around and help them investigate the station.
The hunter discovered that the Federation used the remains of the baby Metroid and Ridley that were on her suit to clone them, in order to use them as biological weapons. However, Metroids only obey their mother, so they decided to build an AI based on Mother Brain and gave it a human body so the Metroids could accept it as their leader. Samus and Adam learned that the Metroid clones were genetically altered to resist cold, their only weakness. Adam sacrificed himself to destroy the part of the station that contained them, then Samus saved the day and left the station, mourning the death of Adam.
In Metroid Fusion (GBA), Samus was hired to escort a crew of Galactic Federation scientists on planet SR-388, due to her knowledge of its dangerous environments. They were attacked by a lifeform they never encountered before, seemingly invulnerable to her weapons. It latched on to her and disappeared, but nothing happened. Samus later left the planet and fainted, crashing her ship into an asteroid belt. The Federation quickly rescued her and realized she was severely infected by the parasite encountered before, known as the X-Parasite.
It turned out that the Chozo actually created the Metroids to destroy the X-Parasites, which reappeared after Samus exterminated the Chozo bioweapons in Metroid: Samus Returns. The Federation managed to create a vaccine based on the Metroid cell samples they got on her suit in Other M. However, as Samus’ suit works like a second skin, it couldn’t be removed while she was unconscious. They had to surgically remove some parts of it in order to heal her, creating the iconic Fusion Suit, a mix of Chozo and Galactic Federation technology. Samus was now immune to the X, but was at her weakest and she inherited the Metroids’ lethal weakness to cold.
The Federation stored the removed armor pieces on the B.S.L. station, built to study SR-388. Later on, the Federation lost contact with the station’s scientists and sent the reborn Samus to investigate. Her new ship was equipped with a Federation AI to give her orders, which Samus disliked. Soon after arriving on the station, she discovered that the X was still present in her suit and started multiplying! Even worse, the X-Parasites would assimilate the lifeforms they infected and became nightmarish clones of them… which included Samus. A creature known as the SA-X now lurked on the BSL Station. It was as strong if not more so than Samus at her maximum firepower, and possessed the Ice Beam, which gave her no chance of survival if she fought it.
The Federation communicated with Samus through her ship AI, which started to remind her of her late commander, Adam Malkovich. They also sent her downloadable data throughout the station in order to restore her suit’s abilities. However, in an attempt to control her, they decided to withhold some items, including weapons such as the Diffusion Missile or Wave Beam. Samus, being as tenacious as ever, still managed to find those upgrades, which greatly angered the Federation and her ship’s AI. She now had access to areas that were unauthorized to her… and realized that the Federation was cloning Metroids again! They decided to lock her up on the station. The AI told her that even the SA-X had multiplied, and that the Federation wanted to use them as bioweapons too. But the hunter knew what the parasites were capable of and would not let this happen.
Samus, immensely irritated by the Federation’s foolish decisions, inadvertently called the AI “Adam” after ordering it to free her. It turned out that it was not uncommon for the Galactic Federation to transfer their greatest minds to computers after their death, and Adam Malkovich was one of them. This event was a wake-up call for the AI, who decided to help her crash the B.S.L. Station on SR-388 in order to destroy the Metroids, the X, and herself if necessary. On her way back to her ship, Samus was attacked by an Omega Metroid, the second strongest stage of the species. She was severely outmatched and unable to damage it, as she couldn’t get the Ice Beam upgrade, which would have killed her due to her Metroid DNA. However, being the natural enemy of the Metroids, the SA-X decided to join her against the Omega Metroid then fused with Samus, restoring her original genetic condition and her Ice Beam.
She defeated the Omega Metroid and successfully escaped from the station before it crashed into SR-388, both being destroyed in the impact. Samus knew the Galactic Federation would not be happy with what she did, but Adam suggested that there had to be someone who would understand her reasons for contradicting the Federation’s plans.
At this point of the story, Samus is still immune to the X-Parasite and does not have the Metroids’ weakness to cold anymore. However, her suit is still very damaged due to the surgery she went through at the beginning of Metroid Fusion. From what we saw so far, the Fusion Suit was upgraded prior to the events of Metroid Dread, as it seems some new armored parts are now built on the regular Fusion Suit, but we do not know how yet. Perhaps she built additional armor pieces on it, or maybe it started regenerating itself, as the suit is an extension of her body?
After an unknown amount of time, the Galactic Federation received video footage from unknown sources which showed the X didn’t entirely disappear. As the parasite is way too dangerous for living organisms, the Federation sent a special squad of E.M.M.I (Extraplanetary Multiform Mobile Identifiers) to investigate, but they supposedly disappeared. As the only person immune to the X in the universe, Samus is the only one who can investigate the planet without having her life threatened by the parasites. But soon after arriving on planet ZDR, Samus is hunted by the E.M.M.I, and doesn’t see any trace of X activity… were the parasites even here to begin with? Discover the truth of planet ZDR when Metroid Dread launches in October 2021!
Written by Glaedrax