Morph Ball

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Morph Ball
Samus Aran's Alt-Form.
Featured in	Metroid /Zero Mission Metroid Prime Metroid Prime Hunters Metroid Prime 2: Echoes Metroid Prime 3: Corruption Metroid II: Return of Samus Super Metroid Metroid: Other M Metroid Fusion
Properties	Compact size on command, increased speed, upgradable systems.

One of the most prominent, integral, and representative items of the Metroid games, the Morph Ball, sometimes called the Morphing Ball, or the "Maru Mari," is the Alt-Form of Samus Aran that turns her into a sphere that is almost 1 meter in diameter. It allows her to explore small tunnels which usually lead to rooms with crucial items in them.

Morph Ball Mode is vital in defeating many bosses from the series, including Amorbis in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes and the Queen Metroid in Metroid II: Return of Samus. In non-Prime games, it usually plays an important role in escaping from enemies, such as in Metroid: Zero Mission. In almost every game, a combination of the Morph Ball and a Bomb is the only way to detach a feeding Metroid.

Exactly how it functions is unknown, but Prime concept art shows a large ball forming around Samus from her suit's material, then shrinking down to its miniature size, and in game, a core of energy is visible through the 'equator', indicating that Samus may transform into energy to fit in the smaller ball.

Contents 1 Upgrades 2 Appearance 3 Other appearences 4 Logbook Entry 4.1 Metroid Prime Hunters 4.2 Metroid Prime 2: Echoes 5 Brawl Sticker 6 Trivia 7 Gallery 8 References

[edit] Upgrades

The Morph Ball has many upgrades, such as the Bomb Module, Power Bomb, Spring Ball, Force Ball, Boost Ball, and Spider Ball. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption introduces the new Hyper Ball ability, which allows Samus to generate deadly arcing tendrils of Phazon energy around her when in Hyper Mode. In Metroid Prime Pinball, the Morph Ball is the ball the player plays with on the pinball machine and introduces the Force Ball.

In the three Zebes-based games, the player acquires it almost immediately after beginning the game.

[edit] Appearance

Throughout the series (most prominently in Echoes), the Morph Ball has changed in appearance according to suit upgrades. The Morph Ball when Samus is in possession of the basic Power Suit is a yellow, gold or orange hue and has three grooves which spiral outwards from the center on each side. Between the two halves is a ball of energy, which is believed to be the essence of Samus. The energy varies in color. With the Power Suit the energy is yellow, with the Varia Suit it is most often blue, although it is sometimes green or white. With other suits expansions the energy is often light blue.

In Metroid Prime, the Morph Ball changes after the acquisition of the Spider Ball. The energy inside becomes green and a spherical "dent" appears on the sides, and is filled by a green translucent hologram. It changes color scheme twice after this, to purple plating and a blue core when Samus gets the Gravity Suit, and to black plating and a deep orange coloured core when Samus is infused with the Phazon Suit.

In Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, after the Dark Suit is acquired, the Morph Ball becomes more wheel-like in appearance, in accordance to the shoulder pads of said armor. After the Light Suit is acquired, the Morph Ball becomes spherical again, but has a spiraling groove on the sides.

The change in the Morph Ball is less extreme in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, as it has one change throughout the entire game (even after the Hazard Suit is acquired): a Phazon-blue ball with hexagonal tiles over it. Also in this game, if Samus touches a Liquid Phazon enemy while in Morph Ball mode, she will become engulfed by a portion of the creature, which will eat away at her suit.

[edit] Other appearences

According to a Space Pirate log in Prime, the Pirates found the Morph Ball to be a very curious and intriguing technology, but attempts at reverse-engineering the Morph Ball technology were abandoned after the first four test subjects of the Pirate prototypes were horribly crushed and maimed.

Dark Samus also possessed a twisted variant of the Morph Ball. She is shown using it in the second fight with her in the Sanctuary Fortress in Echoes, and during the fight with AU 313 at the end of Corruption. On both occasions, she uses the Boost Ball and is able to generate massive amounts of kinetic energy at once, that propels her around the area at shocking speeds. Dark Samus's Morph Ball is similar to Samus's, and has an eye on each side in Echoes, and it may also in Corruption. It is very hard to actually make out the appearance of Dark Samus's Morph Ball, because it is always traveling at great speeds.

[edit] Logbook Entry

[edit] Metroid Prime Hunters

• Morph Ball: SAMUS has the ability to transform into a ball that can move at high speeds and access areas her bipedal form cannot. To enter the alt-form, tap the icon in the lower corner of the touch screen. Use the +Control Pad or A, B, X, and Y buttons to move the MORPH BALL. Use the touch screen for more precise control with gentle strokes in the desired direction. BOOST by quickly stroking in the desired direction or by pressing the BOOST button.^[1]

[edit] Metroid Prime 2: Echoes

• Morph Ball: The Morph Ball changes your suit into a compact, mobile sphere. Press X to enter Morph Ball mode. Press X again to leave Morph Ball mode.
• Samus's Notes: Like the Varia Suit, the Morph Ball is modular. There are several modifications that can be added to improve performance.

[edit] Brawl Sticker

• Morph Ball Metroid Prime Pinball - [Weapon] Attack + 5 (Samus, Zero Suit Samus)

[edit] Trivia

• In the original Metroid, the morph ball is called Maru-Mari. "Maru" means to "circle" or "purity" in Japanese, while "Mari" translates to "ball".

• This means that the translation for the original morph ball was either a redundant "circle-ball" or a "purity ball".

• In Metroid Prime, Space Pirate logs reveal that they had tried to copy Samus's Morph Ball. However, their prototypes predictably failed, with gruesome results.
• The morph ball was originally designed because the limited processing power of the NES could not animate Samus crawling.
• Dark Samus's morph ball is very similar to the Glire, Glice and Glunder enemies in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. However, it more resembles the Glire because of the red lines.
• The eyes in Dark Samus's Morph Ball may be the eyes on her hands, but this is unlikely because her hand eyes are more of a darker blue.

[edit] Gallery

The Morph Ball.	The Varia Suit's Morph Ball in Prime.	The Spider Ball in Prime.	The Phazon Suit Morph Ball.
The Dark Suit's Morph Ball.	The Light Suit's Morph Ball.	The Morph Ball as it appears in Metroid Prime: Hunters.	Concept Art for the PED Suit's Morph Ball.
More Corruption Art.	The PED Suit's Morph Ball.	The Fusion Suit's Morph Ball.	Concept Art translation.
The Gravity Suit's Morph Ball in Super Smash Bros. Melee.	The Morph Ball of the UAM 1 from Metroid Prime.	The in-game model of the PED's Morph Ball.	The in-game model of the fully corrupted PED's Morph Ball.

[edit] References

1. ^ Metroid Prime Hunters logbook

Morph Ball
Morph Ball | Bombs | Power Bombs Spring Ball | Boost Ball | Spider Ball Hyper Ball