A swarm[1] is a gaggle of tiny, fragile creatures that are a common enemy in the Metroid Prime series and MercurySteam-developed 2D games.
Description
Many creatures that form swarms frequently travel through corridors, navigating them in a spiraling fashion and exploding if they come into contact with Samus Aran. In small quantities, this will not damage her significantly, but it can be a nuisance as quite often, this leaves a temporary splatter of blood on her Combat Visor, obstructing her vision. The Parasites on the Frigate Orpheon were the first swarm creature in the series. All types of swarms in Prime are highly susceptible to the Ice Spreader.
Although initially exclusive to the Metroid Prime games, swarms made their debut in the 2D games developed by MercurySteam. They are represented by small animated sprites, rather than the 3D-modeled creatures used for the rest of the game, and typically serve as easy means to quickly replenish energy and ammo due to their large numbers. The behavior of swarms varies between species; for example, Mumbo swarms generally ignore Samus, while Blob Swarms are much more hostile and will actively target her. The Blob Thrower and Daivo are capable of spawning swarms.
In Metroid: Samus Returns, swarms can be easily disposed of using the Lightning Counter or Beam Burst. In Metroid Dread, they can be instantly killed with an ordinary Melee Counter, although its limited range compared to the Lightning Counter limits its effectiveness; they can also be cleared out using Missiles, since each concussive blast will kill multiple creatures within the swarm. In either game, the Plasma Beam, Screw Attack, and Power Bomb are also effective means of quickly killing swarms.
After being infected by the X Parasites in Dread, swarm enemies will revert to smaller X upon defeat. These are weaker and individually replenish less energy and ammo than larger forms of X.
List of Swarm creatures
Metroid Prime series
- Crawlmine
- Hydling
- Ing Larva Swarm
- Ingstorm
- Lumigek
- Miniroid
- Parasite
- Phazon Leech
- Salamander
- Scarab
- Scatterbug
- Scorchbug
- Scritter
- Seedburster
- Snatcher
- Steamspider
- Swarmbot
- Tallon Crab
Other games
Trivia
- Although the Sbugs in Super Metroid appear in swarms, they cannot damage Samus at all. The same applies for certain other lifeforms in the series (depending on one's definition of a swarm), such as Light Insects in Metroid Dread.
Gallery
.png "Lumigek Swarm (Thermal).png (1.27 MB)")
References
| Swarm creatures | |
|---|---|
| Metroid Prime | Parasite • Scarab • Tallon Crab • Lumigek |
| Metroid Prime 2: Echoes | Seedburster • Hydling • Scatterbug • Ing Larva Swarm • Ingstorm |
| Metroid Prime 3: Corruption | Scorchbug • Snatcher • Steamspider • Scritter • Phazon Leech • Miniroid • Crawlmine • Salamander |
| Metroid: Samus Returns | Blob Swarm • Meboid • Mumbo • Paraby |
| Metroid Dread | Daivo Swarm • Dizzean • Fing • Redenki • Yojimbee |