Mother Brain
Mother Brain is a fictional character created by Nintendo for the Metroid series. She is one of the most prominent antagonists within the series, serving as the main antagonist of Metroid and Super Metroid.
Mother Brain has been killed multiple times by series protagonist Samus Aran. Her Super Metroid design was originally milder than its final version, resembling an "old lady living in an apartment complex" when designed by Toru Osawa. This design was altered by Tomomi Yamane, who gave her an overall more monstrous appearance. She takes the form of a large brain that sits within a jar, from which she controls the Space Pirates on the fictional planet Zebes. Since Super Metroid, she has had a single large eye.
Mother Brain has made several appearances in other media, most notably as the primary antagonist in Captain N: The Game Master and archenemy of Kevin Keene. Since appearing in the Metroid series, she has received positive reception.
Concept and characteristics
Mother Brain is depicted as a large brain with cybernetic spikes, usually contained in a glass tube which Samus must break to attack it, but in the Super NES video game Super Metroid, she is seen in a bipedal form. When designing the bipedal version of Mother Brain for Super Metroid, Toru Osawa described what he wanted her to look like as being an "old lady living in my apartment complex". Tomomi Yamane added to the design, giving her dripping saliva, foul breath, and a filthy appearance.Appearances
Mother Brain serves as the central antagonist in the original Metroid, utilizing the Metroid species as a weapon. After being defeated by Samus, she is rebuilt and continues her activities in Super Metroid. At the end of Super Metroid, she reveals a new, much larger form that nearly kills Samus, but a Metroid which imprinted on Samus at the end of Metroid II sacrifices its life to protect her. The Metroid drains energy from Mother Brain and gives it to Samus, which she uses to defeat Mother Brain and escape. In Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, it is revealed that the Galactic Federation had constructed biomechanical supercomputers called Auroras and that there were plans for a "Future Aurora Complex", which appears to be Mother Brain.In Metroid: Other M, the scene of Mother Brain destroying the baby Metroid is reenacted in an FMV cutscene. The primary antagonist of Other M, MB, is an android partially constructed from Mother Brain's DNA, hence the initialism.
Mother Brain appears as a summonable helper character in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. A reimagining of the character also appears in Captain N: The Game Master and its related comic book media, where she serves as the series' primary antagonist and. In the series, she was voiced by American singer Levi Stubbs.