The Metroid series is now in its 35th year, and over that lengthy period of time Nintendo has happily elaborated on everything from its star’s childhood to flappy parent-killing nightmare Ridley, Metroids, Chozo, and even creepy Phazon-created evil clone. In short, virtually every avenue of lore you can think of has been explained, elaborated upon, over-elaborated on in a sequel, and then given a well-defined slot in the expansive Metroid canon.
All except for one. The exact workings of Samus’ Morph Ball ability — a staple of the series from the first few minutes of the first game — remain shrouded in mystery. Official information remains conspicuously absent on the finer details of this ubiquitous skill. “Collect this to give Samus the Morph Ball ability”, “Press this to make her roll into a ball” say the games no matter the format, as if such plain instruction could ever quench our thirst for sci-fi ball-related morphing knowledge.
How does it work? What happened to the poor souls who tested the prototypes? Which bird-brained scientist looked at that iconic armour and thought “You know what ability this massive missile-carrying power suit needs? To curl up into a teeny-tiny ball so it can roll wherever it likes.” And who on Earth (or SR-388, or Zebes, or wherever) looked that person in the eye and said “Yes, that’s a great idea and you definitely don’t need to go and have a little lie down”?
What does it feel like rolling around inside a metallic orange ball on the surface of an alien planet or submerged in lava anyway? Nintendo won’t say anything, so we’ve had to come up with a few theories on our own...
#1 The “Cronenbergian Body Horror” Theory
Channeling the spirit of Occam’s almighty Razor, we may assume that the simplest theory is the correct one: Samus is able to roll into a ball because her body is effectively pulped into a conveniently spherical shape for the duration of her inhuman revolutions, transforming into a sloshing mass of fluids and bone fragments that are then restored to their original state once she’s finished rolling thanks to Chozo technology — which is conveniently for us often indistinguishable from magic.
Her eyes and brain likely remain intact and gyroscopically stabilized for the duration of this activity, because how else is she going to see where she’s going? She’d emit a blood-curdling scream of unimaginable agony if she still had a mouth, but luckily for everyone involved she doesn’t.
This is the real reason why Nintendo never tell us everything, because if they did, Metroid fans the world over would have nightmares for years on end. It’s enough to make you wonder why she can’t just crawl.
#2 The “Electric Chozo Oneness” Theory
Thankfully Metroid Prime offers a less gruesome alternative to the offal-containing possibility above. Samus’ 3D outings fill the gaps in-between the Morph Ball’s plating with an eye-catching sort of glowy light… erm, stuff.
We can only conclude that Samus has been converted into a form of pure energy, her mind and body attaining a singularly spherical state of sentience. We assume this lack of anything approaching a traditional body prevents her from feeling nauseous as she endlessly spins and boosts around the curved surfaces of Tallon IV (and elsewhere) while all balled up, although if she did somehow manage to bring up her not-lunch from her not-stomach via her not-mouth onto her not-self, could anyone tell?
Defenders of this theory point to an interesting philosophical state dubbed Schroedinger’s Vom, where she is simultaneously covered in both sick and not-sick until she reverts back to her standard human shape.
#3 The “Shrunken Samus” Theory
Samus operates the Morph Ball by shrinking down to an appropriate size at will, thanks once again to the conveniently unexplained and highly flexible powers of Chozo magi— er, technology.
From here two major schools of thought emerge and then swiftly branch off in wildly different directions. Some believe she runs inside the ball like a hamster let out for exercise, the suit’s often opaque armour plating the only thing preserving her dignity, while others suggest a tiny Samus sits on a tiny Samus-sized swivel chair and uses a controller of a console-appropriate shape to navigate the world around her, all viewed through an equally dinky monitor.
Both theories adequately explain another mystery: how she is able to store an infinite supply of those little wall-destroying bombs she somehow carries with her everywhere. If she can shrink herself, then she can presumably shrink those, too, automatically re-embiggening them whenever she needs to blow a hole in the floor or give herself a little height boost.
This also raises the possibility of the entire Chozo race actually being completely fine and living exactly where they used to, with a population-wide shrink tech malfunction reducing them down to Picori proportions.
#4 The “Hey You, Samus-chu!” Theory
As we all know Samus is the very best like no-one ever was and she really does gotta catch ‘em all — so long as “‘em all” are Space Pirates and/or Metroids. It only makes sense, then, that the Morph Ball is in fact based on highly advanced Poké Ball technology.
And as we all know, Poké Balls work by… they work by… they work a lot like Morph Balls, probably.
Assuming this theory to be true allows us to come to two very important conclusions. One; the Samus Timeline is a dark future where famous Pokémon trainer Ash was killed at a crucial point in history, allowing Ridleyanni and Team Space Pirate to run amok. And two; the inside of a Morph Ball is incredibly comfortable.
Rumours that our space hunting heroine didn’t speak in earlier games because she hadn’t yet learned to vocalise anything other than “SaMUS! Saaaaamus! Samussamus?” are currently unproven.
#5 The “It’s Just A Convenient Gameplay Device” Theory
We’ll include this one purely out of sympathy for its believers rather than because it has any real merit.
There are those out there who insist “It’s not that deep, nerd” and that Samus takes on a ball-like form because it's a small and mobile form, just happens to be a shape that’s immediately recognisable at any resolution, and requires little to no true animation to convincingly roll around the screen.
We strongly urge such misguided individuals to consider the above alternatives again, or at least point us to the logbook entry they believe supports such a wild idea as this.
Which of these theories do you think is most likely to be true, or do you have an entirely different idea of your own? Do you ever want Nintendo to explain it at all? Let us know by voting in the poll below and roll on down to the comments section to drop your own Power Bomb...
Further reading:
Comments 105
The morph ball is a sphere 0.8m in diameter, to a volume of 0.268 cubic meters. That's enough to hold 268 liters (or kilograms if you prefer) of water. Most people can probably just curl up and fit with only mild discomfort.
Cool. First thought this was a prop... or a toy
@Thoughts that would be awesome. In 2 ways plz: morphball and mini Samus in a normal monkey ball ball.
I like how #5 is currently winning because people are boring.
Samus is fused with an alien pokeball.
Samus whas actualy a young pokemon trainer as a kid, until she was abducted by the alien chozo. Where the most advanced alien pokémon tech was available lol. Samus we choose you!
I'm on board with the Shrunken Samus theory only because hamster balls are hilarious.
@Purgatorium Super Samus Ball: Chozo Mania
I always just assumed Samus was good at yoga. Freakishly good at yoga.
I remember in one of the Prime games there was a Space Pirate log you could scan describing their efforts to replicate Samus' Morph Ball, and all their test subjects just getting mangled.
@Ikana64 Haha, I was just going to mention that same log.
Number 2 for me.
Anyone seen Hook?
@Cheez BANGARANG!
It's where she goes to do her taxes.
2 and 4 are essentially the same, 4 just has more crazy fan-fiction back-story.
A combination of yoga and technology, I always assumed.
All this talk has made me realize how badly I want a new Metroid Prime Pinball.
Of course they'll never do it. Not after the Federation Force backlash. Great going guys 😉
I have yet to read the entire article but I guess one theory is missing: She has been trained to be very flexible, almost rubber if you will. She can bend so that she easily fits into the ball.
I always liked that "Pirate entry" in one of the Prime games (the first one perhaps) where its detailed that the Pirates tried the same and came totally broken out of the experiment, in a very macabre way.
@TKundNobody not sure if someone already said this but maybe Samus for walking animation and morph ball for running?
To be honest: Never wasted a single thought, at what's going on when Samus morphs into ball form. 🤷
Same as I never wasted any thought at how and why blocks in Super Mario games are floating, or why for many videogame characters a little bit of debris or some furniture is an insurmountable obstacle.
Can we just point out how well-written this all article was ? How funny it was, but in a smart way ?
The question HAD TO BE asked. And in all honesty, I didn't expect to find any real answers, here. Which is a shame, cause I did.
I did find answers. Finally.
Thank you, Nintendo Life !! xD
(Oh, and I never, never thought about the shrinking theory. That's a good one, really ! )
Seriously I will like to know.
My personal head cannon is that she squeezes into a small sphere all contortionist-like and the outer armor rolls around her while she stays put, controlling it like a vehicle from the inside.
Pfft, OBVIOUSLY Samus is a hologram.
The motph ball works by samus being part hu.an and part pill bug
Well Samus is a humanoid Alien, she might have some form of magic that transforms her into a ball.
I remember, didn't the JP Super Metroid commercial make her a sexy scientist who just somersaults into action?
Compared to the American commercial which portrays the game as a vicious dog crucifix.
As someone already stated, it’s not a tiny ball. It’s almost as tall as Samus is in kneeling position. It’s not that hard to fit.
Regarding the rolling, maybe Samus is upright in there, while only the outside of the ball is rolling.
I want to just appreciate the fact that the Chozo scientists who invented this technology are 100% literally BIRD-BRAINED.
To be fair, it’s an extremely useful ability that greatly enhances Samus’s exploration opportunities. Solid work Chozo scientists. 👍🏼
Crazy idea, it is a design choice.
Samus morph ball ability is so cool!
I wonder how the idea for the morph ball came to be?
I just always assumed she was converted into some sort of energy/component molecules state of flux that would still allow her to remain conscious (likely because she is interfaced with the suit). Especially after the space pirates crunched themselves trying to mimic the the Chozo tech. Even the fact that the suit itself makes that spherical shape is a wonder, let alone the person inside it.
I don’t want to think about it more than Nintendo’s designers so almost no thinking required here
My accepted theory is that her Chozo enhancements and the Power Suit itself let her modify her body as she needs. She can extend her limbs or get her limbs separated from her torso to fit inside the Power Suit (though that's a whole other discussion on its own), when in Morph Ball she can become the ball of energy as seen in the Prime games.
Then again, as shown on the original Metroid when playing as suitless Samus, she is so flexible she can curl herself up and become a Morph Ball without the Power Suit.
Somebody ought to do a thesis on this topic.
That morph ball is almost exactly a guyver unit...
Tiny Samus and Poke-Samus are my preferred view of the world. I sleep better with those as my reality.
Samus actually doesn't change in size, she just instantly shrinks or enlarges her entire surroundings.
This requires just as much explanation for the reason Mario doubles in size from eating mushrooms.
Like @HammerGalladeBro mentions, the issue doesn't really mean much for the original NES game.
If you look at the NES sprites, Samus only curls into a sphere about 40% of her height and can do so without the power suit, as baffling as that is.
Later games though, the relative size difference becomes much bigger and more implausible, which is why Prime needed to explain what the ancient bird science magic is doing.
Ash is reading this and says "i want to catch that legendary pokemon"
Imagine samus sleeping like this and a pokemon trainer puts samus in his pocket and she morphs out 😰
"Fatality"
What if it is the same technology as Headmasters Transformers?
Which would make Transformers Canon in the Metroid universe! Maybe the Quintessons stole the tech from the Chozo.
Ooo.... imagine Samus as a Headmaster or Powermaster.
Ok, I thought way too hard about that hahaha
All these gross nerds in the comments section smh my head
I always figured it was either a Dr Who-esque "morph ball bigger on the inside" kinda thing or maybe a Kirby explanation of "Samus enters an extra-dimensional space while inside the morph ball."
Either one could work, and both could function decently well logically with both normal and prime appearances of the ball.
There were those reports a few years back about Taylor Swift being transported inside suitcases to avoid the paparazzi. And she’s 5’11”, and Samus is about that height as well. So I think she just rolls up into a ball. But if they could make it a Morph Suitcase in a future game that would be cool.
Some annoying You Tubers should get together and do some real life research and experiments testing this ability, Space Pirates style.
@Thoughts HL3 confirmed
@Guitar_bard Hahahah that was perfect.
I picked the "gameplay device" option, because folks are seriously over-thinking this. She turns into a ball because its necessary to get where she needs to be - its that simple.
Samus, I choose you. Samus, use kill the animals!
@Kimimi Was "bird-brained scientists" some kind of planned joke?
OK, here's the real scoop.
Samus always travels with a heretofore unseen assistant, a small Scottish man named McTavish. McTavish bakes the most incredible brownies--soft, gooey, make-your-fingers-sticky-with-melty-fudge brownies. But he doesn't always use the best judgment about baking them. Sometimes he makes them just in time to enjoy them with Samus and the Etecoons as they all fly home with another planet exploding behind them. But sometimes he pulls out a fresh batch while Samus is in the middle of fighting for her life in the depths of Brinstar. At those times she can't just return to her ship for dessert, so what does she do?
Fortunately, she has among her hyper-advanced Chozo technology the duality phaser, an ingenious device that literally allows her to be in two places at the same time. When she activates this, she can continue to battle lava-dwelling serpents while simultaneously enjoying hot, fudgey brownies back on the ship. This device does have the odd side effect of causing her to curl into a ball and roll through tunnels in one phase of her existence. Hence, the "Morph Ball."
Perhaps the most interesting implication of all this is that when you, the player, double-tap down on the D-pad, while you are making Samus roll into a ball, you're primarily causing McTavish to pull another pan of brownies from the oven.
@Dr_Corndog 🤣
One of the pictures from Metroid Prime show there's a light inside the ball. So, the electric chozo one is correct then?
It's like Cirque du Soleil meets the PBA.
@KingMike Did anyone think an article whose opening sentence described Ridley as, amongst other things, "flappy" was anything else?
The third one is hilarious and is now officially canon in my head!
@Ikana64 Oh God I remember that log entry. It is insane how much they admire her abilities. But also tragic they try to emulate, to horrifying levels. Ow ow ow ow owwie
I just love the metroid prime log book entries talking about the failed space pirate morph ball technology
Yay first post in years. Also, who is using my online name in Nintendo mobile games?
“Schroedinger’s Vom” wins it for me 🤪
The way this works is even more occammy AND respects the animations in metroid games young and old: it is a combination of Samus rolling herself up like a ball PLUS a chozo oribular dimension, that does the rest. It is a dimension that has a different shape in the inside, then on the outside. On the inside, it is shaped like a person trying to roll up like a ball, and on the outside: it IS a ball!
And while rolling, she actually stays still. The universe rotates and is later edited out in video for our viewing comfort.
Well, I'd go with the energy theory, if I decided not to be boring and vote.
Funnily enough, Metroid Prime actually give some detail on space pirates trying to replicate her morph ball, with predictable results.
It’s a pocket dimension Samus enters and from which she can view the ball’s surroundings and control it. This also explains where all those bombs are stored (and her missiles).
Bigger on the inside.
@CharlieGirl Same here. In fact, this article and your comment reminded me of this strip from Brawl in the Family:
http://brawlinthefamily.keenspot.com/comic/title-566/
I like the hamster ball/ shrunken Samus theory just for the giggles.
Everyone is seriously underestimating how flexible Samus is.
@nukatha Wouldn't that be .268 liters, or in other words 268 milliliters?
@BulbasaurusRex
no
@nukatha Except for grams, don't the base units match up when converting within the metric system? As such, a cubic meter should hold a liter of water. I suppose I did mess up in not considering how the conversions then become exponential when dealing with volume, but .268 cubic meters should still hold a lot less than a liter of water, let alone 268 of them.
@BulbasaurusRex
Think about this: A liter is a personal water bottle.
A cubic meter is a cube, 1m on each side. It is equal to 1000 liters.
Well Samus armor is Chozo tech, so you can imply that a morph ball is simply a Chozo egg (Chozos are cyborg birds). So, what happens to Samus? She liquefies into sentient chozo yolk ^^
Remember in Metroid Prime when you get the morph ball? She jumps up and spins like she is doing a screw attack, then the shell of the morph ball closes around her. She does that and the ball just shrinks to the size we see. She is the size of the ball however.
The morph ball bombs come from her energy shields. She compresses the energy into a ball and drops it. The amount of energy is stored in a separate tank, reserved just for bombs, that’s why she can only place 1 at a time and then they recharge.
@strongest_link I agree, sometimes the simplest answer is the correct one, lol.
@BloodNinja Mario just thinks he is growing, and when he takes a hit, reality sets in and he realizes that he isn’t really the big guy he thinks he is and the mushroom only healed him.
@JasonDare Pretty much the best explanation I've heard of this
I know everyone hasn't read the Metroid Manga but wasn't it explained In that.
If I remember right Just like we'll learn more about the Chozo in Metroid Dread
didn't the Chozo teach samus how they Ball up in their armour by Becoming energy and she has an outer body experience thats how they navigate, unless I had a weird dream I'll have to dig back into it and update this soon
(Update: I can't seem to find any backstory on this and no articles suggesting the same thing, this may just be a case of me ingesting information at a younger age possibly fan made stories and creating my own headcanon 😅.
I could've sworn remembering a Chozo like grey voice explaining the morph ball as samus struggled to get to grips with using her power suit and didn't like the feeling of the outer body experience I remember images like a manga aswell and then she 'has' to use it to flee in a small tunnel on zebes to escape a situation 🤔)
The morph ball is a meter in diameter. A flexible person could probably curl up that small. Why is that not an option?
@R008in "out of body experience", fwiw
Thinking about the morph ball is like thinking about how mushrooms makes Mario bigger and smaller. It is a video game. Sometimes you need off the wall game play features to make the game more interesting and fun.
I picked 2# becouse it sounded cool lol
@siavm
Talking about mario eating those mushrooms 1up or giant mushrooms haha.
I was looking at toad and the red mushroom... Its actually toads head mario is eating haha.
I think I read somewhere long ago it was a glitch caused by crouching. It was left in by the devs and gameplay was made to suit it.
What happens in the morph ball stays in the morph ball.
Something else... I always thought she is very bendable and the ball is configured in a way to accommodate her bones and joints in a way where she's able to roll comfortably inside the ball. It's probably quite cramped, though!
I’d never thought of it before but the Pokeball answer seems plausible.
Metroid takes place in the distant future of Pokémon. The Chozo are descended from Ash and utilise an advanced version of his technology.
Ridley is obviously an as yet unseen evolution of Charizard.
Ditto ultimately evolves into the X parasite.
@Jacoby probably Gunpei jokoi
The Morph Ball has this age-regression function where she reverts back into a fetus. The embryo is encased in a protective fluid and can control the movement of the ball telepathically.
I do really hope the next pokemon lets you buy Morph Balls from the shop and catching a Ditto with one evolves them into Samus.
Humans must be the only species that literally begin life as a ball and promptly forget how liberating it can be.
You know, I get it; you are what you are. From my perspective, arms and especially legs just get in the way more often than you realize. OTOH, it's quite amusing to watch humans slide down the snow-covered hills on their backsides or bellies when they could just try rolling.
Skating, I will grant, is pretty cool, if you use feet to get around.
Also, how does she see where she’s going?
i believe Samus tranfire herself into energy, when she turn into the Morph Ball, in the first Metroid Prime, theres a Space Pirate log that mention, his attempt to reverse engeniers the Morph Ball, all the test subject was left broken and mangled, in the Metroid Prime series when Samus turn into a Morph Ball you see a energy, that Samus transfering her concience in that form.
She's doing what every guy wish he could do and would never leave the house if they could.
#3 & #4 are pretty much the same thing
there is the possibility that she gets converted into a data being rather than a simple energy being like humans that enter the digital world in most of the digimon franchise.
it also goes the other way around with digimon being converted into a body made of flesh &/or metal mixed with data while in the real world while still being data beings beneath the surface
the power suit gets stored insider her body when its not in use so its possible the whole thing gets converted into data when its stored.
Thank you Simpsons for the word embiggen
@hlang whoops how did I make that mistake 😅 glad this article pops back up every once in a while. Finally noticed my error 😬
Multiple games show her curled up in a ball when morphed. The ball is a meter wide. Why do these articles keep getting made with such stupid theories when the games already show us that she can just fit inside?
I was of the opinion that Samus rolled in a ball, but that the metal ball surrounding her distorted space, effectively shrinking her, a bit like a Dr Who TARDIS. So she feels the correct size, and doesn't get dizzy, with all the rolling around.
I also have questions about the save stations dotted around the maps. Does Samus die and then get recreated by a save station, or is it some kind of time travel? Could she encounter her own dead body? My theory is that the suit and station create is a form of quantum entanglement, that gets broken when Samus dies, defaulting back as if the post-save gameplay never happened, or creates a new entanglement when encountering another save station.
She already rolls into a similarly small 1x1 tile ball during the peak of her jump. I think it just samus in a really tight fetal position while her armor shapes itself into a ball.
No, she is a contortionist, capable of crawling into a little ball, then shifting the weight of her body to move in the direction needed. She can use her arm cannon inside to trigger bombs.
It's probably a combination of 2 and 4. The morph ball is a lot like a poke ball, giant creatures like kyogre fit in the balls and Samus guys in hers. In the pokemon anime, and I think some games, the pokemon don't come out looking exactly like themselves. When coming out they are a blue essence and when going in they're red. When she's a ball it could be the chozo energy technology but that's pretty much how poke balls are. So this could also maybe work as a theory for poke balls work.
@nukatha But what about the rest of the suit? Especially the shoulder pad generators in the Prime trilogy. If she's just curling up into a ball, then surely the suit must be, too. Then how, may I ask, does everything else also fit?
I went with the "convenience" thing. Or rather, the "MST3K Mantra", where the phrase is "It's just a game, you should really just relax".
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