Chapter 1: Baby's Cry

The opening tutorial is great for beginners.

Let's get started by sitting right back and enjoying the introduction cinematic. The immediate opening is quite ambiguous, but the rest becomes clear as we witness the epic conclusion of Super Metroid in dazzling 3D. A few more scenes follow before you finally take control of Samus herself.

The first playable portion of the game is inside a training room somewhere in the bowels of Galactic Federation HQ. There's not much to see here - the blue-glow of four walls is interrupted by a sealed door behind Samus. Two technicians observe Samus through a broad window across the room.

One of the technicians inside the observation bay - a somewhat creepy quarantine officer - greets Samus and explains the scenario. This segment of the game serves as a tutorial, giving players time to work out Samus' initial techniques, combat capabilities and movements. Take it easy and adjust to the whole 2D-movement-in-a-3D-world style. Follow the instructions of the quarantine officer as he cycles through movement, attacks and special techniques (get used to the Sensemove!).

When the officer asks for Samus to search the chamber for a hidden enemy, look in one of the corners on either side of the door to locate your target. The target is a Space Pirate hologram - play with it and take your time learning the control system (if need be). Once the officer asks for a demonstration of a Power Bomb (after promptly sealing the observation window), enter Morph Ball mode and hold down the fire button to fully fill up the charge gauge. Release fire to deploy the devastating explosive, and don't ever forget how to deploy a Power Bomb...

Some time after the destruction of Zebes, Samus receives a new distress call.

With your training complete, time to sit back for another lengthy cutscene. This one presents Samus' delivery of her mission report and the destruction of Zebes to the Federation higher-ups, along with further thoughts on the loss of the infant Metroid (boy she really was attached to the little fella).

Eventually Samus will end up cruising the space lanes aboard her gunship. Like many times in her past, Samus receives a distress call (this time known as a Baby's Cry) to set up the events of the game. Soon after, we finally arrive at the looming, ominous and deserted Bottle Ship.

Upon touching down in the hangar, it doesn't take long for Samus to discover something worth noting. The hangar bay she chose to park in is already inhabited by a large blue starship.

This moment also presents the game's first Search View segment. These segments involve Samus being immobile as you look for a point of interest somewhere on-screen (aka the Where's Wally/Waldo? scenes). These segments are mandatory and can often leave players clueless as to what to look for - no hints are presented at all.

But if you want hints, look no further. As we encounter each search segment, I'll present some clues to help pinpoint the targets and offer the answer in a hidden text block further down.

Search View segment #1 - Looking at a parked dropship

Let's get started with our first one. This segment is simple enough, just take a close look at the starship and search for something that identifies the owners of the ship.

Show / hide the answer

Samus isn't alone in the Bottle Ship - the GFed is already aboard.

With the ship's affiliation identified, Samus begins pondering the meaning of their presence, but is interrupted by the sound of a muffled and distant explosion. Now you finally take proper control of Samus and can begin freely exploring.

Feel free to travel back down to her ship and save the game before moving on. Exit the hangar and proceed further through the following dusty corridor. Step to the exit of this corridor to trigger another cutscene (get used to them).

Samus discovers the source of the earlier distant explosions - the inhabitants of the Federation starship are busy trying to bust through a blast shield in a large warehouse-like chamber. Six fully armed and armoured troopers comprise the squad, and their leader is Adam Malkovich - in the flesh.

We also meet Anthony Higgs (of "Remember Me?" fame). We learn that the Federation has deployed the 07th Platoon (Adam's squad's name) to search for survivors aboard the Bottle Ship - only they can't seem to breach a simple blast shield.

Search View segment #2 - Meeting the 07th Platoon

Once the cutscene introducing the 07th Platoon ends, you'll be facing a blast shield in first-person view. What can Samus do to help here? You already have access to Missiles, so give them a try.

Show / hide the answer

Meet Anthony Higgs - point man of the 07th Platoon.

Anthony's impressed at Samus' ingenuity, but this is the moment many gamers are going to loathe... Out of respect for Adam, Samus decides not to use any of her special abilities until he authorises it. That means that she still has all her abilities collected from Super Metroid (the previous chronological game in the series), but won't use them until given permission. Anyone could go on and on about how wrong this sounds on so many levels, but this is how Nintendo designed the game so we'll just have to live with it.

Once back in control, the 07th Platoon has already departed onward, leaving Samus to play catch-up. Feel free to explore the warehouse chamber - up on the western wall lies a door leading back towards the hangar and the Federation dropship, but the door at the far end of the corridor is curiously locked.

There's also a small grate up on the south-western wall of the warehouse (above the crates), but without use of Morph Ball Bombs or Missiles you'll just have to keep following the squad's trail.

Next Chapter: The Disordered Facility

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