The Omega Metroid is the seventh and final stage of a standard Metroid's life cycle.
An Omega is a fully grown adult and an extension of the Zeta Metroid stage. As a result, their body structures are very similar. Though they are sluggish compared to their prior form due to their greater size, Omega Metroids more than make up for it with their increase in raw strength, more powerful projectiles and enhanced body armor. Curiously, an Omega Metroid's body can have slight variations depending on unknown factors. One of these factors however may be based on the environment it grows in, similar to how a Larva Metroid adapts outside of SR388.
Samus Aran encountered several Omega Metroids during her mission to SR388. She would later fight another Omega Metroid created by Galactic Federation experiments on the Biologic Space Laboratories research station.
Metroids born with a specific gene can become a Queen, and while it is unknown if these gifted individuals follow the same life cycle as a standard Metroid, the resemblance between an Omega and a Queen suggests the former metamorphoses into the latter.
Metroid II
The Omega Metroids are quite slower than their Zeta counterparts, but can deal an enormous amount of damage. They maintain the basic structure of their last forms, though their posture are less hunched and their tail seems to abruptly end at a short length. They keep the same weaknesses: Samus must shoot them either in the stomach or back, although a shot to the latter causes more damage.
Their artwork presents them with elongated jaws, contrary to their in-game, shorter leech-like mouth. They also feature what appears to be fur under their neck, and their eight compound eyes are colored blue.
Omega Metroids typically levitate around while periodically pausing. Samus can use the Screw Attack to counter a lunge attack from an Omega, and to preserve her health - though this will not cause the Metroid any damage. Omegas also spit deadly acid in battle. Without utilizing their weakness, they require 40 missiles to bring down.
Samus Aran encountered four Omega Metroids during her mission to SR388.
Metroid: Samus Returns
Owing to it being a remake of Metroid II, Omega Metroids make a return and were given a significant redesign. They are now massive in size similar to Metroid Fusion's Omega Metroid, therefore retconning their smaller appearances from the original game. Their arms are far longer in reach and their tail is fully complete as well. They also possess spine-like armor around their torso and five red eyes on each side of their head. In addition, they are now capable of firing a red beam from their mouth and can no longer levitate. Finally, they are significantly more durable: their backside is no longer a weakpoint and causes missiles to harmlessly bounce off, and their membrane is protected by a thick skin-like coating that can regenerate over time, although Power Bombs can remove the armor on its membrane and it can now be harmed by the Ice Beam.
Metroid Fusion
A discarded shell of the Omega Metroid in Fusion.
Samus encounters a single Omega Metroid on the BSL research station. It was originally an Infant Metroid from the Restricted Laboratory, developed from the cells of the Baby. It escaped during the laboratory's destruction, and went to feed on numerous X Parasites, rapidly molting through its life cycle until reaching the Omega stage as it made its way to the Docking Bays. Samus begins to find discarded membranes in Sector 1 and passes through several rooms, usually filled with X organisms, empty and in ruins.
SA-X and the Omega Metroid battling
Samus enters the Docking Bays, hoping to make a swift escape from the Station. Instead of her ship, however, she finds a giant shell larger than the Baby lying amidst the wreckage of the Docking Bays. As Samus begins to run back, the Omega Metroid bursts through the wall. This specimen is much more powerful than those encountered on SR388, as none of Samus' current weapons seem capable of damaging it, and it reduces her health to critical levels in one swipe. She is left with 1 point of Energy and is unable to move. As the Omega Metroid moves in for the kill, an SA-X, which had recently been defeated by Samus but was able to escape, joins the fight. The SA-X reacts adversely to the presence of its natural predator[1] to the point of ignoring Samus completely. It moves right up to the Omega and shoots at the creature's membrane with the Ice Beam, revealing its weak point to her. The SA-X is then slashed by the Omega's claws, destroying its mimicry and releasing into the air the Core-X Samus had failed to absorb earlier. She leaps into the X, restoring all her health and returning the Ice Beam to her. This scene is likely an homage to the ending of Super Metroid, where Samus is saved from death by a former attacker and is given a powerful weapon to use against her enemy.
Omega Metroid animation from Metroid Fusion
The Omega Metroid slowly creeps toward the left side of the docking bay throughout the duration of the battle in an attempt to swipe at Samus with its claws. To avoid this, Samus must use the Ice Beam to drive the creature backwards and move away before the Omega Metroid can counterattack. If the Metroid manages to connect with a claw swipe, Samus will take heavy damage (but not be reduced to 1 Energy, losing instead 100 Energy, ie. one bar) and be hurled backwards and knocked to her knees, exactly as she was at the beginning of the battle. Samus will stand back up after a few seconds, but since there is a countdown until the BSL collides with SR388 in effect, this is a battle not only against the Omega Metroid but against time as well.
Ultimately, Samus succeeds in driving the creature back to the wall through which it came, and is eventually destroyed. Samus's ship returns to the bay, allowing her to leave the station with moments to spare.
Inconsistencies
As previously mentioned, the Omega Metroids featured throughout the few titles in the series have several differences between them. In Metroid II and its remake Samus Returns, Omega Metroids are capable of firing energy-based projectiles from their mouths, however the single Omega present in Metroid Fusion does not demonstrate this and instead relies on physical attacks only. To add to its uniqueness, Fusion's Omega Metroid has far more devastating power, as it is capable of depleting entire Energy Tanks in a single claw swipe. Furthermore, it is exclusively vulnerable to the Ice Beam, contrary to Metroid II which required Missiles; Samus Returns also defies this by making its Omega vulnerable to both missiles and the Ice Beam.
In the official artwork of Metroid II, Omega Metroids possess blue compound eyes, a trait that began with the earlier Alpha Metroid stage. Later released titles have alternated this color between red and blue, as well as the number of eyes. The length of their tails varies as well, with Samus Returns having them at their longest. The most curious physical difference is the presence of four protuberances on the back of Fusion's Omega. Other differences are subtle, such as larger claws along with fuchsia-colored membrane and nucleus.
Similar to Metroid Larvae, these changes in strength, abilities, weaknesses and physiology may result of either the environments where the Omegas Metroids developed or the accelerated growth process used by the BSL Station's scientists.
Official data
Unused Danny Richardson art
Metroid II manual
"This mutation is absolutely huge; its power, incredible!"
Nintendo Power issue 31
"A fast and frenzied fight will ensue when you encounter this highly advanced creature. Be ready with Missiles."
Trivia
- Danny Richardson made an artwork of an Omega Metroid during the early development of a sequel to Metroid Prime. It went unused when the game changed direction to become Metroid Prime 2: Echoes.
- For unexplained reasons, the Omega Metroid from Metroid Fusion attacked Samus despite the latter having Metroid DNA, whereas the other Metroids in the Restricted Area ignored her. This may be because the Metroids in the Restricted Area were preoccupied with the SA-X who admittedly was attacking them at the time. The Metroid which transformed into the Omega Metroid could also have possiby mistaken Samus for the SA-X, due to their similar appearance. The Omega Metroid may just be a generally violent creature and would have attacked anything that entered the Docking Bay.
- The battle against Metroid Fusion's Omega Metroid is similar to the battles with Crocomire, the Kiru Giru and the Desbrachians, which all consist of a form of "tug-of-war".
- Interestingly enough, the baby grew to an unnatural size and became the Big Metroid seen near the end of Super Metroid, similar to the Omega Metroid from Fusion. The fact that this Omega Metroid was created from the genetic material of the Baby may indicate a connection between their immense growth.
- The Omega Metroid is the only fully organic boss in Metroid Fusion not infected by the X-Parasites (the B.O.X. Security Robot is mostly composed of mechanical components), but this is only due to its natural immunity to the X that it shares with others of its kind.
- The battle with the Omega Metroid is the second boss battle in Fusion to feature a time limit, after the scientist.
- This particular Omega Metroid from Fusion is one of the few antagonists that succeeded in outmatching Samus. Mother Brain and Ridley in Super Metroid, Dark Samus in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and an SA-X were all similarly capable of bringing Samus to the brink of death.
- The Omega Metroid in Metroid Fusion drools some sort of substance after killing the SA-X. This may be the acid that others of its kind spat in Metroid II.
- The Omega Metroid appears towards the end of the Metroid II commercial. It is the only enemy that is featured in stop-motion animation.
- During the fight with the Omega Metroid in Fusion, Samus can be stunned by the Metroid's claws. The duration of this paralysis can be reduced by tapping up on the D-pad.
- Oddly, the term "Omega" is usually used to describe the lowest-ranking member of a group, for example, in a pack of wolves.
- The term omega is also the last letter of the Greek alphabet and is often used to describe the last of something, in this case most likely referring to this being the last stage of a typical Metroid's life.
- The Omega Metroid in Fusion behaves similarly to the Arachnus-X in the same game. They both have a hunched posture, approach Samus slowly, and die while thrusting their heads repeatedly as they roar.
- The Omega Metroids that Samus encounters in Metroid II are found in the same locations as their discarded shells, just a few feet away.
- In Fusion, even if Samus has one unit of energy left following her fight with the SA-X, the Omega Metroid's initial attack will not do additional damage; though she is still knocked down the event is scripted to leave her with one unit of energy no matter how much she had prior to the encounter.
- The Omega Metroids in Metroid II have blue eyes, while the Omega Metroid in Metroid Fusion, strangely, has red eyes.
- The Omega Metroid in Fusion is currently the last boss in the Metroid series (chronologically).
