#metroid timeline

[phantasmeels]

Sylux and Making Sense of the Metroid Prime Timeline

[MASSIVE SPOILERS AHOY]

I have played and beaten Metroid Prime 4: Beyond.

Twice. (It's a really good time, a proper review from me might be in the future)

And managed to get 100% the second time, thus unlocking the bonus Sylux backstory cinematic. It's an extremely well-made short, but um. I have some questions. Specifically regarding the fact that some major details in the cinematics don't make any sense, and I can't exactly make out any certain timeline placement for this event.

So, once again, it's time to speculate and theorize like the obsessed Metroid superfan that I am. Here goes.

So first off, we all know that Sylux has been a stalking presence in Samus's saga since Prime Hunters. This leads to perhaps some unobvious yet important problems with the cinematic. While it shows the major incident that sets Sylux to go from expert Fed Marine to the mysterious rogue space hunter we know and love from Hunters, it simultaneously shows Federation Golem mechs in the depicted battle, as well as Samus's Prime 3 gunship (as opposed to her gunship from Prime 1 and Hunters), which implies this backstory must have happened between Primes 3 and Federation Force. This is further supported by the standard-style rifle weaponry the Marines are using, as opposed to the standard-issue rifles and arm-cannons seen in Primes 2 and 3 respectively.

Prime 4 Secret Cinematic depicting Marines, Golem Mechs, and the shadow of Samus's Prime 3 gunship:

Federation Marines and their default weapons as depicted in Prime 2 and Prime 3:

Samus's Gunship from Prime 1 and Hunters:

So the problem I'm having is this: how could this cinematic take place at that specific point in the timeline if Sylux has been a mysterious space hunter since way back in Prime Hunters? I have two speculative theories.

Theory 1:

This cinematic takes place between Prime 1 and Hunters, and the Feds had Golem mechs on the battlefields almost the entire runtime of the Prime games. Additionally, since Samus's ships rarely ever get destroyed and she seems to switch between them as it suits her, she might just have had several different gunships on hand to use for whatever situation. This is a simple and workable, but unintuitive, theory.

Theory 2:

The cinematic takes place exactly when it seems visually, before Federation Force, and it is explained via a time loop. My guess for this would be that Sylux used his new Prime 4 tech to go back in time after the end of Prime 4 to eventually encounter an earlier Samus during Prime Hunters, and Samus simply had no idea what his deal was. It would play out like this:

After the incident seen in the cinematic, Sylux steals Federation tech and a Metroid hatchling in Federation Force and goes to set up Prime 4. After being trapped on Viewros at the end of 4, he uses his new spacetime-manipulating technology to go back in time to before Prime Hunters, establishes his identity as a mysterious hunter named Sylux to the galaxy, and the resulting loop perpetuates a la Zelda. No one suspects for a second that the Fed Marine squad leader and this mysterious space hunter are two versions of the same guy.

This theory feels shaky, but it is somewhat supported by some old Kensuke Tanabe interviews where he states his desire to make a time-travelling story in the Prime series, along with a story of a rivalry between Samus and Sylux. Furthermore, as I also heard rumors that Prime 5 has been in development alongside 4, it might just not make sense right now without the explanations and context that Prime 5 (and 6? Hopefully?) might give us.

Honestly, I would prefer the latter theory be true simply because it's more interesting, and I like when the Nintendo devs give us room to speculate and theorize. I guess we'll see whenever Prime 5 finally rolls around years from now. Side note, I'm really hoping we see the return of other hunters from Prime Hunters in Primes 5 and 6, should they exist.

(Addendum: A theory from The Lore Raider on YouTube posits that such a point of time travel for Sylux, and thus the bonus cinematic, could also have happened post-Prime 4. I rather like this idea, and I'm going to think on it.)

(Update: My headcanon is now that the cinematic takes place post-Prime 4 and implies time travel.)

(YET ANOTHER ADDENDUM:

Theory 3:

There is some light retconning in the timeline happening here, in which Prime Hunters is simply moved up the timeline to some time after the secret backstory scene, which takes place some time after Prime 2. The Golem mechs have been around for a while longer than we might have expected, but the Fed Marine Corps never had a reason or opportunity to use them in Prime 3. The timeline would look like this:

Metroid 1/Zero Mission -> Prime -> Echoes -> Sylux backstory cutscene -> Corruption -> Hunters -> Federation Force -> Metroid 2 -> Super -> Prime 4 /// Fusion -> Dread

I find this explanation about as probable as theory 2.)

[flameof]

So, apparently Metroid Prime 4's place in the overall timeline is 'between Super Metroid and Fusion, possibly after Other M'.

I'm honestly not sure how I fee about that. On one hand, good to know Samus was up to other things before going back to SR388.

On the other hand, though... that means Super Metroid's 'The Last Metroid is in captivity' statement was a fucking lie. The last metroid was not in captivity; Sylux was out there selectively breeding them to work like a fucking Rotom.

[orsan1070]

Orsan's Metroid timeline

Reposting this from my old account, with updates to reflect Metroid Prime 4: Beyond news.

I've aimed to make as few assumptions as possible. Everything here should be reflective of canon information in as much detail as we know. (Although, admittedly, perhaps too many significant figures on the gaps between ZM/Prime 1/Prime 2 and Prime 3/Fed Force.) (If you want to know what order I think events go in, just read top-to-bottom, ignoring the ambiguity lines)

If you have any questions, critiques, or just want to talk, I'm always open to asks or comments asking me about any of my posts! I'm trying to post more lore stuff these days to have publicly available sources for various compilations and deep dives I've done.

Some sources:

Cycle calculation. I used this in conjunction with the logs from Primes 1 and 2 talking about the fall of Zebes to calculate the time gaps between those two games and ZM.

Zebes being settled only after SR388 was massacred comes from this interview with Sakamoto.

Samus's age at various points comes from Other M concept art for both Samus as a child and in the army, in addition to the same interview linked above.

Thanks so much for reading!

[crazysamusfangirl]

When your brother works at WalMart and brings stuff home for you cuz he knows they have things that pertain to Samus in them! 😍

“Playing with Super Power” Snes Classics book💕

There’s a whole section on Super Metroid.💕 Here are some pages with Sammy on them!

Also the current timeline of the series. To this day I still see people arguing over where the Prime games take place. It’s always been in between Metroid 1 and 2, but now here it is in an official book.😉

[phantasmeels]

Metroid Lore/Timeline: The Galactic Federation Military Structure and its History (Sources: The games, game manuals, metroid wikis, and instances of me just making it up as I go)

It all started with the Galactic Federation Police Corps (GFPC). As the Federation initially started as a form of trade regulation between planets, Federal laws would need enforcement, leading to a simple set of space fleets, officers and soldiers for that purpose. These troops and agents would ensure trade transactions and supply lines between planets were legal and secure, as well as lead galactic criminal investigations. As the new federal government grew and centralized into a galactic system of representatives, the use of the Police grew to ensure general order and security outside of the individual jurisdictions of worlds as well as continue to enforce federal laws.

What the new government didn't anticipate, however, was the onset of organized and strategic raids of piracy against trade ships, coming from a new faction that emerged. Dubbing this faction simply as "The Space Pirates", the Federation Bureau elected to expand its military, as the established police force was insufficient to combat the shockingly well-organized Pirates while also trying to lend its member civilizations aid in maintaining order on their own individual worlds where necessary. Thus a new division was established: the Galactic Federation Army Corps (GFAC). The Army forces were deployed on wider scale scenarios of mostly ground warfare on various planets, and had its hands full driving out conquering Pirate forces from member worlds and defending those worlds from future attacks. So full, in fact, that the Federation Bureau even started a new program, one that employed the use of skilled mercenaries and bounty hunters to supplement existing military forces, aid in special missions, and track down retreating Pirates into the further reaches of space. One of these independent contractors was of course the famous Samus Aran, who had gained much vital experience from serving in both the Police and Army Corps before striking out on her own.

Even after Samus took down the immediate Pirate threat on Zebes, however, it became apparent that those Zebesian Pirates were far from the only Pirate divisions. Over the next few years, seeing the need to stop relying so strongly on mercenaries and bounty hunters to keep the galaxy safe, the Federation created two new military factions. With the most advanced training and equipment, and often hiring Army and Police veterans who weren't ready to retire, the Galactic Federation Navy Corps (GFNC) and Marine Corps (GFMC) were established specifically to focus on countering the Space Pirates on a galactic scale and allow some levity for the Police and Army forces. We see the Navy and Marines specifically throughout the Prime games, as exclusively the only Federation military forces depicted in the space and planetside battles. The most advanced the technology used seems to get thus far is seen in the small mechs used by the special Marine squad in Federation Force. We don't yet know how the Prime series ends, but presumably the widespread warfare with the Pirates ends with most of them gone, only for them to make a small surprise return at Zebes in Super Metroid much later.

Once the widespread difficulty with the Pirates seems to be dealt with, the Federation seems to have allowed the Marine division to mostly retire, focusing on making continued use of the Police, Army and hunters/mercenaries for galactic peacekeeping. The Navy, meanwhile, is likely stationed at the edges of the Federation-controlled galactic regions, securing the borders against future pirate attacks, as well as other potential enemy factions such as the Kriken Empire.

In the background for Metroid 2, we learn that a special ops offshoot of the Police Corps, the Special Squad (GFSS), was sent to SR-388 to rescue those who were sent before them to find any sign of the Metroid life forms native to the planet, for the sake of wiping the creatures out. They aren't heard from again after landing planetside, and as we know Samus accepts a contract to investigate and finish the job concerning the metroids.

In Other M, we see that the Army also sends out specialized groups of soldiers for special ops, as Samus cooperates with the 07th Platoon on the story's overall mission.

The standard armor design used in the Federation Army. Optimized for planetside/ground warfare scenarios as well as special operations involving similarly armed and armored opponents. Likely designed with energy shielding and ammunition carrying capacity in mind.

The Federation Police Special Squad, clad in powered armor suits optimized for exploration and protection in hostile alien environments. The armor is likely designed to defend against hard physical attacks, falling damage, radiation, extreme temperatures, etc.

A Federation Navy fleet of flagships and space fighters as seen from Samus's ship in Prime 3.

The standard Marine armor as seen in Prime 2. As they were (according to the theory above) designed to be top of the line in the Prime era in order to combat the widespread, coordinated and intense Pirate attacks, these were likely the most capable and expensive Federation Military armor suits ever produced, as the Marine division was intended to lessen the Federation's dependence on independent contractors.

[dumblr-account]

M’kay, so with the fresh excitement in the air from the Direct news, now seems like a good time to tell people about my fun little maybe hot take of a headcanon for the Metroid timeline! So, a while back, I was on the Metroid Database reading all of the mangas and comics it has to offer, y’know, as you do! One of the comics I came across was a comic version of Metroid Prime, and well, let’s just say a couple o’ panels caught my attention…..

This implies that Super Metroid already happened, contradicting the primarily accepted headcanon that all Prime games happened in between Metroids 1 and 2, AND breaking the secondary theory that the 2d games and Prime games are alternate universes without ANY game overlap! I know this comic isn’t canon, but when I think about this with how Prime and Fusion were released on the EXACT SAME DAY, the coincidences are too overwhelming!

So my theory? There are two timelines/universes. In one universe, we have the Samus that went through the Zero Mission and Samus Returns versions of the first two games, as well as Other M, Fusion and Dread. This timeline has the X Parasite, Adam, Raven Beak, etc!

In the other, we have the Samus whose first two games were the original NES and Gameboy versions, as well as the Prime games! The first thing that seems to set this timeline apart is the lack of X Parasite, which means the origins of the Metroids are shrouded in more mystery. Speaking of shrouded in mystery, while we do know Prime!Samus went through relatively similar origins to Fusion!Samus based on this panel-

-much less is explicitly shown or stated. Furthermore, the deviation from Fusion and Prime implies that any lore introduced in Other M, Fusion, Dread, and any other game not tied to the Prime games post-Super straight up doesn’t exist in this timeline! In other words, there is no Adam, no Raven Beak, no Metroid DNA infusion!

Speaking of Super, while this is the game that has the most overlap between the two timelines/universes, there is one altercation between the two universes that is the final proof of their distinction: the Animals! In Fusion, the Etecoons and Dachoras are shown to be alive, while in Prime, they’re nowhere to be seen! Therefore, I theorize that the Fusion vs Prime timeline, in regards to Super, is the classic Save vs “Kill” the Animals!

DISCLAIMER: This is NOT saying that the Animals are X-Parasites, nor that they caused the X-Parasite! While that is a possible interpretation of the events, I personally am listing the X vs No X and Animals vs No Animals as separate points! I’m also not stupid enough to think that the existence of characters like Adam or Raven Beak all comes down to whether or not Samus walks into a specific room and blows up a wall in a single game! What I’m referring to is more of a Butterfly Effect situation than anything else!

Of course, this is just scratching the surface of my headcanons of the Metroid timeline! I haven’t even gotten to all my crack ideas for how other canon-adjacent content might fit into lore (i.e. Samus and Joey, Captain N, etc), but I already feel like a conspiracy nut with a murder board of strings as is! Now, is this really that deep? No. Do I think this is what Nintendo has intended? Absolutely not! So why am I thinking all of this?

I have a few reasons. One, I really love the additional comics and mangas, obviously! Two, as I mentioned before, the “Fusion-Prime release date” is too much of a coincidence to not hyperfixate on! Three, the Prime events have been going on so long that trying to fit them between the first two games would be a tighter fit than Samus in the Morph Ball! Four, throughout the 2D & OM games, Fusion!Samus monologues SO MUCH about her past that it looks awfully suspicious that she NEVER mentions the Prime game events!

But the real reason I’m grasping for this theory, the petty and childish motive that has driven this whole rabbit hole, is that it would NOT be fair if THIS-

-and THIS-

-were the SAME timeline! It just would not be fair! I don’t CARE if she loses the abilities by the end of the game, her lesbian energy would shatter the universe if these occurred in the same version of the character! So, for the sake my own sanity, and to appease my indulgent desires, I’m just going to cope by telling myself I have two cakes! Okay? Okay! Good talk!

[coldgoldlazarus]

I know the metroid timeline is purposely pretty vague, but do you have a headcanon for how long it's been since metroid 1? I figure it has to be at least a few years, even in the games themselves don't take place over a long period of time each

I think my initial off-the-cuff guesstimate would be somewhere in the vicinity of eight to ten years, with Samus in Zero Mission being in her mid twenties, and in her early-mid thirties as of Dread. Wanna double-check what little canon info there is later to make sure there aren't any glaring contradictions, and it's hard to say how Prime 4 may alter things or not, but here's my rough guesses about the timeskips between games.

Zero Mission to Prime - A couple years, enough time for the escaped frigate Orpheon to set up shop on Tallon IV before Samus comes calling. For simplicity, let's round to an even number; my instinct would be to say two years, but apparently one source says it is actually three. I'll split the difference and say 2 Years, 6 Months.

Prime to Hunters - A couple months at most, mainly because I'm pretty sure it was said explicitly somewhere that Prime and Echoes were six months apart. 2 Years, 8 Months

Hunters to Echoes - A few months, probably a slightly bigger space on this end of Hunters, but still not too long, in keeping with the aformentioned six-month gap. 3 Years.

Echoes to Corruption - Approximately a year, give or take, allowing for Urtraghus's near-complete seed conversion (unimpeded compared to Tallon IV) and creation of Urtraghan Pirate Phazon Cult, along with the other logistics groundwork laid for their massive attacks seen in the game. 4 Years.

Corruption to Federation Force - Merely a few months, as Samus would still have to have been recovering from her phazon corruption for the pirates to have feasibly captured her, and for the Federation to switch gears from their now-useless PED technology to Project Golem. (Meanwhile, I hold the headcanon that the Pirates are quite vast and decentralized compared to what the games claim/imply, thus the Urtraghan Phazon Cult was not representative of the entirety of the Pirates, and the Doomseye crew were a completely different branch who had been setting up seperately from the Urtraghans during the same time period, and were unaffected by their fall.) For rounding purposes, let's say that's four months, putting us at 4 Years, 4 Months.

Federation Force to Samus Returns - This space is the big unknown variable, especially given this is most likely where Prime 4 will fall, and we don't yet know whether it will ultimately be a one-off or start a brand new trilogy or what. But for now, assuming only Prime 4 goes in this space, I'll give it something like a round two years, with P4 happening closer to the back end of that, to lead fairly directly into Samus Returns with only a few months between them, with whatever incident occurs there finally spurring the Federation to order the Metroid extermination. But if they do wedge in even more games after Prime 4, I would stretch this section out to three or more years. But for now, 6 Years, 4 Months.

Samus Returns to Super - I detailed in another post that while I originally agreed with the general consensus that Super follows extremely closely off of SR, I have since changed my mind. Even though I have my issues with the forced inclusion of Proteus Ridley and the general tonal mishandling of Metroid II's ending, if we are to aknowledge that that event occurred, I feel like Super must make far more sense with some temporal distance between it and SR. Ergo, I posit that rather than them being a week apart at most as popular consenus goes, there must be a minimum of four months between them. Enough time for Ridley's attack to be written off as a fluke, and somewhere in that time Samus and the hatchling Metroid embarked on an adventure that convinced her it was unsafe at her side - either in too much danger, or too much of a danger to others, or both, thus prompting her to bring it to Ceres Station, kicking off the events of Super. So going with that conservative estimate of four months, that puts us at 6 Years, 8 Months.

Super to Fusion - (I am of course just not aknowledging Other M in this timeline. Fed Force is overhated IMO, but I don't have enough patience for OM.) Given that enough time must have passed between Samus Returns and Fusion for the Biologic Space Laboratories asteroid space station to have been set up around SR388 and brought into operation for the habitats to be filled, but the X parasite propogation on said planet only reached the station shortly before Fusion begins, I would guess about a year or so passed, with the bulk of that time being spent simply building the station before operations proper began only a month or two out from Fusion's opening. But that's relative to Samus Returns; relative to Super I would estimate that gap to be somewhere around eight months, bringing our total up to 7 Years, 4 Months.

Fusion to Dread - This is another kind of weird one given how Dread just has Samus working with the Federation again, even if presumably on rockier terms than before. There must have been at least a solid couple-month stretch of initially dealing with the fallout of Fusion, then things settle back into an uneasy status quo, before the transmission comes that sets off this newest adventure. At the same time, not too much of a long stretch, given Samus still has the Federation-loaned purple Gunship and her new/old AI friend. So another eight-month stretch there puts us at 8 Years.

If I say Samus is like, 24 in Zero Mission, (given it seems she was in her early 20s when she was with the Federation, and had already been a bounty hunter of good repute for a couple years as of ZM) then that puts her at roughly 32 (or 33 or 34 if I do stretch out the period between FF and SR) in Dread, which just feels right to me. These are of course all rounded to exact numbers, I imagine the actual stretches of time to be a bit more uneven, but still amounting to this overall length.

[doombro76]

METROID PRIME 4

Ive been thinking about Metroid Prime 4 in terms of story/timeline. Will it be right after 'Corruption' or is it at a much later place, more near 'Fusion', either way we're getting freaking METROID EFFING PRIME 4!!!!!! AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!