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Cameos
Other Games Featuring Samus and Friends and Foes
by MDb Staff
Nintendo has been known to sneak some of their most popular characters into walk-on roles in various game titles. Samus and other Metroid characters have been featured in quite a few! This page is a record of every Metroid-related in-game cameo known to this day.
Did you know that the NES classic Kid Icarus features a crossover of characters with Metroid?
There are small metroid-like creatures that attack in groups in the
final vertical level, near the top. While the Kid Icarus instruction book does
not actually refer to them as Metroids, it definitely implies that the crossover
was intentional:
"KOMAYTO - A mysterious floating creature. Nobody knows where it came from. One theory has it that it came from a planet other than Earth. It's a nasty jellyfish monster."
...could that planet be SR388?
One of the most well-hidden cameos exists in Japan-only Famicom game, Famicom Wars. The CO of the Red Star Army on Crater Island dons a familiar helmet,
and is named "Samsoon." Famicom Wars marks the first title in the Wars series, which weren't brought over to North America until Advance Wars on
the GameBoy Advance.
Famicom Wars was released in 1988, making it the earliest known direct Samus cameo.
Obviously this is the Nintendo version of NES Tetris, not the Tengen one.
Beating Game B on different difficulty levels earns you an animated ending
screen featuring different Nintendo characters playing musical instruments.
If you beat it on Level 9 with a Height of 2 or higher, Samus will be one of those characters.
Not so much a cameo, but more of a reference to the Metroid series can be seen in Super Mario Bros. 3. Once you touch an invincibility star, Super Mario's jumping
pattern gets changed into a spinning animation. The similarity to the Screw Attack is too close to be a coincidence.
In this original Game Boy title, different Nintendo characters greet you at each race. Samus
shows up before Course 7.
In this Virtual Boy title, play the board called "Cosmic." If you can work your ball into the upper-right area with
the bumpers and start the "Bumper Clash," then destroy all those bumpers with your ball,
a bonus stage will start. The now-famous 'S'-symbol appears in the area where the bumpers
were, and a voice says "Let's go, Samus!!" Your ball turns into Samus' ship, and you shoot
descending metroids and other space nasties, Galaga-style, as the Super Metroid theme
plays in the background!! If you're a Metroid collector or completist, this makes Galactic
Pinball a must-own.
To find Samus in Super Mario RPG: After you beat Johnny and Yaridovich, head straight to the Mushroom Kingdom Castle and enter the guest room. Do not proceed to Land's End.
You will see Samus laying in the bed. When you talk to her, she tells you that she's "Resting up for Mother Brain."
Samus also makes an appearance in Super Mario RPG in the form of a doll in a toybox.
Special thanks to Outlaw for the screenshots!
Two small Metroid-related occurrences in this game: 1) You can collect an item called the Screw Ball* when playing through The Great Cave Offensive. It is worth 80,000G and is located to the right of the Seiryu Sword.
2) When you get the Stone defense, you may randomly become a Samus statue!
*This has been changed back to "Screw Attack" in the Nintendo DS port, Kirby Super Star Ultra.
In world 5-2, there are three rooms, each one holding one or more metroids.
They will swoop down and latch onto Kirby (!) but they don't do him any
damage. They also cannot be hurt or touched with most of Kirby's normal
attacks. At the end of the stage, Samus in her armor suit is standing as if
waiting for you. Unless you defeat the metroids she doesn't do anything.
Eating an enemy with the freeze power gives Kirby the freeze ability and
he will breathe frosty breath, which
will trap the metroids in chunks of ice and destroy them. After Kirby
destroys all six metroids you will hear a tone, and
when you meet Samus at the end of the stage she won't have her helmet on.
In Wario Land 2, you get a treasure after each level completed. The reward for Level 49 is a Metroid.
In the second Castlevania title for the Gameboy Advance, Harmony of Dissonance, you will eventually come to an area called the "Cave of Skeletons."
In it, there are giant skulls which you use as ramps to allow you to get to the next part of the area. Since Super Metroid paved the way for all 2D Castlevania
games from Symphony onward, this game pays a specific homage to the franchise by making these skulls bear an uncanny resemblance to that fan-favorite Norfair
miniboss, the Crocomire. (thanks to the Castlevania Dungeon for providing the image!)
In the Wario Ware series, Metroid has been featured as a minigame since the very first one.
They are all featured in 9-Volt's set, who is an old school Nintendo fan and resident DJ.
Mega MicroGame$/Mega PartyGame$: Shoot missiles at the Mother Brain chamber and destroy it. B: shoot missiles, Down and Up allow you to morph and unmorph.
Twisted!: Tilt the GBA in order to move Samus (in morphball form) to the missle tank. The A button jumps. This microgame features several locales from Metroid as well as the Elevator, Brinstar, and Kraid themes. On a rare occasion, Samus will appear suitless!
Touched!: Metroids try to latch onto Samus! Pull them off of her with the stylus. One metroid is easy to deal with, but it gets a little more difficult with two or three.
Smooth Moves: Control Samus from Metroid Prime (in morphball form). Tilt the Wii Remote forward and knock over a nearby barrel to win. After doing so, Samus un-morphs and cheers.
D.I.Y.: Two Metroid cameos are featured. In the first, a Zero Mission Samus runs towards an item urged by the prompt to "Get it!" You must dodge an obstacle (such as a hanging skree) to win. The other microgame was created by Yoshio Sakamoto himself, and can be downloaded via the online service. Shoot and destroy the Metroids quickly enough and receive a fanfare from Samus or Zero Suit Samus.
During the very sexy women's locker room part of the game, you can open up a few of the lockers. One of these lockers reveals Samus's helmet sitting on the shelf.
(If you can provide the MDb with a direct-feed or high quality screencap of this cameo, please, LET US KNOW!)
There is an enemy in the Nintendo DS game, Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time called a "Snoozorb." Anyone that has played Fusion will instantly recognize
that it looks just like a cutesy version of Nightmare, the boss of Sector 5. It's further proven by the name, as both characters have names that pertain to sleeping.
Tetris DS adheres to an old school Nintendo theme, with Metroid being one of these. The title screen shows Samus running around shooting floating Tetraminoes, which swoop down and explode just like Rios.
In Catch mode, a Brinstar-like shaft scrolls down in the background featuring 8-bit Samus in different poses, shooting, jumping, and dodging enemies. A remixed version of the Brinstar theme plays as well. Watch out for falling Metroids-in-a-bottle!
In Marathon mode, once you make it to level 12, the top screen displays Samus blasting her way through the first room of Metroid, while the background shows Mother Brain on the bottom screen. The game also uses the Save File sprite only seen in the FDS version of Metroid.
In the latest installment of the Fatal Frame franchise (which has yet to be brought over to western shores) there are unlockable costumes. One of them is none other
than Zero Suit Samus! Check the vid for a full *cough* "run down" of the costume!
(Special thanks to honestwg on YouTube for uploading this vid!)
The Animal Crossing franchise is no stranger to Metroid cameos. The first appeared as a clothing pattern. "Samus's Suit" could only be found if you purchased it as
an e-Reader card (Series 2). In the other two released titles, hidden clothing items include Samus's Mask and Varia Suit, and you can even collect a Metroid for
display in your house. You can also collect a Metroid in the DS version, Animal Crossing Wild World.
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Someone at Sega must really like Metroid because the Japanese version of Phantasy Star 0 for the DS allows players to purchase the Power Beam. The weapon can be
unlocked with the vendor machine code 6337-6325. The Power Beam is defined as a handgun and PSO-World (the source of these images) gives
it a rating of 6/7 stars, making it one of the better weapons in the game. It's also very interesting to see Samus' arm cannon being used by schoolgirls. Thanks for the heads-up, Sasuke1986!
The good folks at Blizzard have crept in a very famous creature into the latest installment of their insanely popular RTS franchise, Starcraft II. In the 2v2 multiplayer map, "High Orbit," you can see a metroid-like creature encased in a tube. This is another one of very few Metroid cameos found in non-Nintendo games, so let us all be very thankful it's in there!
Raven Software's time-altering FPS, Singularity, has a huge Metroid reference in it. The reference is also associated with an achievement called "Mother my Brain Hurts!" We'll get to that in a moment.
In the game, you enter a derelict ship. The feeling you get in this ship is very reminiscent of the intro stage to Metroid Prime. In the ship you get a weapon called the "Dethex Launcher," which basically shoots out little balls that you can control and explode. The balls move around very reminiscent to the morph ball, as you can roll around and even jump with it before allowing it to detonate.
Once you get the gun, you need to shoot out a ball and move it through a small maze which allows you to open up a locked door nearby. Through this door is the main reference. There is a dead, shriveled body laying on a couch, holding a note which you can read here. Notice the initials at the bottom? There is a Chrono-Note (writings that were inscribed at a different point in time)on the wall that reads, "Mother my Brain Hurts!" Finally, there is a large glass tube to the left of the shriveled body, that, when you look closely, you can clearly see a very familiar, green jellyfish-like creature inside.
Feel free to watch the embedded YT video if the images aren't enough. Bravo, designers at Raven. This could successfully be the biggest Metroid reference in gaming history.
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