Is Metroid Prime really a Metroid?

Before you decide to type in the obvious joke of "well its called METROID prime so yeah it is" please take a moment to watch the video since I discuss the origins of the name/title within the game's universe. ALSO do keep in mind that, as I said in the video, this theory is based on the lore of the NTSC version, since I grew up with it and didn't get a chance to play the PAL version much later (with the Trilogy version) Either way, I hope you enjoy the video and thanks for watching

Ether way the metroid prime is still technically the final boss in all three games

Keep in mind in Prime 3, while exploring Phaaze you can find husks that belonged to other Metroid Primes. Considering Phaaze is full of Phazon Metroids (Tallon IV Metroids heavily corrupted by Phazon) and the fact that the Prime can breed Metroids might allude to the fact that a Metroid Prime is the Phazon Metroid equivalent to a Queen Metroid.

My headcanon is that one of the metroids the pirates brought to the planet was infected with phazon so much that it became a Phazon Metroid, capable of phazing (heh) through walls, escaped their lab and was lured inside the leviathan to become the guardian, only that this metroid decided to eat the core and take its place.

Might be a weak reason, but Phazon Metroids in Prime 3 can move through solid matter, so Fission Metroids got through the walls of the impact Crater in the same way!

2:33 *insert obligatory "why does everything keep evolving into crabs?" joke here

I feel like Metroid Prime must be a metroid in some capacity since it can SPAWN metroids in the second phase of the battle. There really isn't a way around that that I can think of.

All I know is Metroid Prime was enjoying a very nice, peaceful life when Samus came and screwed everything up. Clearly Samus is the bad guy, that's a correct theory

Don't question Bird Magic

I go by the PAL version since I couldn't beat the game until I was much older. Then I played the Trilogy. My theory is based on the PAL version and by what I've seen in Corruption. The worm is possibly the leviathan core. However, once Space Pirates came to the planet, one of the Metroids escaped from their labs and became a Phazon Metroid. The Phazon Metroid phased through the Chozo seal on the Artifact Temple and infiltrated the Impact Crater. Once inside it absorbed lots of Phazon to become a Hopping Metroid, then it ate the Leviathan's core and all the Phazon within to become Metroid Prime. The Metroid Primes in Phaaze are Phazon Metroids feeding on the Leviathan womb's Phazon and mutated into Primes. For Dark Samus to obtain power, she absorbed the life-force and Phazon from the Metroid Primes in the area, that's why there's only husks by the time Samus arrived.

Orpheon: Is Metroid Prime really a Metroid? Me: It's actually Pennywise's ultimate form.

Hey! I love your content as I'm huge into the Metroid lore. That being said, I think that the Metroid Prime is absolutely a Metroid. Or, at least it was. Here's why I think that: 1. I'm pretty certain that "the worm" is actually meant to refer to the leviathan seed itself rather than the Metroid Prime. -"born from parasites" Born from Phaaze since Phazon itself could be seen as parasitic in nature. -"nurtured in a poisoned womb" I'm certain that this references the "serpentine womb" found in the room called "genesis chamber" on Phaaze containing the infant Leviathan. Samus needed to destroy both the womb and the infant leviathan in order to reach the sanctum where Dark Samus was waiting. 2. It's theorized that the Metroid Prime merged with either the leviathan phazon core or it's remains at some point to get it's exoskeleton and phazon producing ability. -This theory could be supported by the fact that upon it's defeat, the Metroid Prime rips off Samus's phazon suit and merges with it to later become Dark Samus. -There is almost certainly some sort of connection between the Metroid Prime and the phazon cores since the Metroid Prime is seen hanging in a very similar fashion to the cores on the ceiling of it's lair. They also both produce phazon. (this point supports both your explanation, as well as mine) -The seed on Tallon IV did technically have a guardian, but that guardian was the Metroid Prime itself. It sort of functioned as the core and the guardian at the same time. 3. It's also explained that Metroids were brought to Phaaze by Dark Samus and the space pirates sometime before the events of Metroid Prime 3. Presumably between the events of Prime 2 and 3. -This could explain the husks found on Phaaze that are stated to be indentical to the exoskeleton of the original Metroid Prime. -Another thing to note about the husks is that while they are stated to be identical, they are much smaller than the original. This could imply that they weren't there as long as the Metroid Prime was on Tallon IV, or that they were the result of Metroids merging with leviathans that were not fully grown. The latter could be supported by the location of the husks being the genesis chamber which houses leviathans in a very early stage of their life cycle. 4. In regards to how the Metroid Prime entered the impact crater in the first place: To my knowledge, it's never fully explained. -A possible explanation that I've heard several times is that a particularly mutated Metroid that may have had more phazon exposure than usual became a Phazon Metroid(Similar or identical to the variant seen in Metroid Prime 3) and was able to use it's ability to pass through solid surfaces to reach the impact crater as it searched for more phazon. -The presence of another Metroid in the crater for some time could explain why Fission Metroids are found in the impact crater and are in fact, quite plentiful as well. -It's important to note that the Metroid Prime is capable of spawning Metroids in various forms, including: Standard Tallon Metroids, Hunter Metroids and even Fission Metroids, and does so during the final stage of it's boss fight. This indicates that there is likely at least some connection between the Metroid Prime and those various forms of Metroids. Particularly the Fission Metroids since the "Colour-coded" weaknesses are seen on the Metroid Prime during the first phase of it's bos fight as well. -I don't know whether this supports that theory much or not, but it should be noted that the Chozo's seal did not completely stop the spread of phazon from the impact crater outward. It did howeevr significantly slow it's spread, but phazon was still able to spread outward to other parts of the planet. Anyways, even though I don't agree with the theory, I really enjoyed the video. Cheers!

Me: sees new The Orpheon upload Also me: *insert Metroid fusion Ridley screech

Chozo logs never refer to the creature as Metroid Prime, just as “the worm”. They could be referring to the leviathan itself or even its core. Also the red phazon could either be a result of the core death, or the substances inability to leak further into the planet, becoming highly concentrated.

You said that Metroid Prime is the most powerful being given the Chozo's definition of Metroid being "ultimate warrior". After defeating Metroid Prime, it then views Samus as the this ultimate warrior. Proceeding to steal the Phazon suit from Samus and becoming a corrupted version of her. I find it pretty cool how the game leads up to Metroid Prime being the strongest enemy in the game, only for Metroid Prime to clone Samus by the end of the game.

I can see two theories. 1. Fission Metroids/Metroid Prime were the originals and they were used by the Chozo to create their own Metroids to fight the X on SR388. 2. The Chozo sent in Metroids to deal with the worm, only for it to corrupt them and possibly even absorb their power.

It was because the space pirates found a way in the crater without the need of finding the artifacts, you can find the entries for that information in the space pirates bases!

I'll be honest, when I read the title I thought he was saying that the game metroid prime wasn't a metroid game. Oops

This video is amazing! It's great how you just adressed a topic I had been wondering about since I played the game! Greetings from Spain!!

The lore from the US Gamecube release of Metroid Prime is not canon. The PAL version, and all subsequent releases like Trilogy have different lore that say that the pirates detected a lifeform in the crater but didn't know what it was. The US GC version is an unfinished beta. It has several outright broken things (the music for Flaahgra does not play, and Meta Ridley gets stuck in his charge cycle and never transitions to his "jump" phase, he also becomes invincible to anything but the wavebuster - that fight is SO BROKEN in the NTSC GC release it's not even funny). The lore in that is also an early unfinished version, when they had planned the story to go in a different direction than it ultimately did. I do think they ORIGINALLY intended for it to be a metroid, but plans obviously changed.