Pirate Commando

From Wikitroid, the Metroid wiki

Pirate Commandos were a specially-trained group of Space Pirate, designed to "hunt the Hunter", Samus Aran. They were equipped with improved conventional pirate weaponry, but also have powered energy shields, boostpacks and a specially designed grenade launcher. Not to mention that they have armor that can even be compared to that of Samus'. Later on, Commandos would be retrofitted with Teleportation and Stealth Technology, among other minor upgrades. They often operate in pairs called "Commando Units". Even though they are very powerful, if a weapon can pierce through their Phazite helmets, it means certain doom for them. They are called at this time Commando Pirates.

They were deployed on Aether, but were no match for Samus or the Ing. Only Hunter Ing were allowed to possess these prized warriors, thus creating a Dark Pirate Commando.

It should be noted that there were two distinct forms of Pirate Commando Samus encountered in the Prime Series.

[edit] In Echoes

The first type was fought on Aether in Echoes. These Commandos were unique in appearance compared to the other Pirate Troopers, in that they were taller and wore distinctive enclosed helmets. They were well armed, carrying a grenade launcher with EMP grenades, a scythe for melee encounters as well as a powerful shield which could deflect projectiles. They frequently used their jet dash systems to evade fire, whilst working in a team to bring down Samus.

Their threat potential, however, elevated greatly when they were possessed by a Hunter Ing. As well as greatly increasing their damage ability and health, the Dark Pirate Commando gained a number of other devastating weapons. New abilities included the power to fire chunks of dark energy which could obstruct the visor, as well as to phase out of reality, thus becoming intangible. However, for some reason, a Dark Pirate Commando cannot use the shield or jet dash functions used originally. Despite these shortcomings, taking down a Dark Pirate Commando Unit makes for a difficult task.

It should be noted, however, that when engaging Dark Pirate Commandos, should Samus take a long time in defeating them, the commandos will phase away and the fight will end, rather mercifully.

Oddly, nearly every Pirate Commando Samus fought on Aether was Ing-possessed, making encounters with unpossessed Commandos a very rare fight in comparison.

[edit] In Corruption

The second type of Commando was encountered on the Pirate Homeworld in Corruption. These commandos were distinctively different than those fought on Aether. They were similar in appearance to the other Pirate Troopers and had all of their weapons, but wore special armor crafted out of Phazite which could only be pierced by high-frequency beams. These tenacious warriors stood out against the lower ranked Pirates in their ability to become invisible, as well as their elevated endurance. However, one very easy way to kill a Commando Pirate was to combine the X-Ray Visor with the Nova Beam. The head of the Pirate could be clearly seen through their helmet, allowing a quick penetrating blast to destroy them.