There are few pieces of armor more intricately designed than Samus Aran’s Power Suit. It’s an incredibly versatile outfit capable of firing a variety of missiles, attaching a wide assortment of gadgets, and can even somehow compress its wearer’s entire body into a ball without pulverizing their spine.
Yet, despite its iconic status, the inner workings of the Power Suit are an enigma to most gaming fans. Heck, there are still people out there who don’t even know that the person inside the suit is a woman. However, hints about how the space armor operates have actually been dropped in previous Metroid titles, including a clear demonstration of how the arm cannon works in Metroid Prime.
Samus gains access to quite a few different weapons during her harrowing journeys into highly volatile planets. She collects ice beams, super missiles, power bombs, and other deadly methods of exterminating space pirates. With so many murderous gizmos at her disposal, it makes you wonder how she’s able to switch between them all with such ease.
Well, it turns out that Metroid Prime has a perfectly reasonable explanation for how Samus efficiently utilizes her arsenal. As shown in this Reddit post from user Ganrokh, if you adjust your view to the X-Ray Visor you can clearly see her hand making different symbols when switching weapons. These gestures determine what kind of deadly force will come out of the arm cannon. It also explains why her weapons are identified by strange symbols since those are the gestures she has to do in order to activate them.
With this ridiculously subtle detail, we know how Samus can alternate between freezing and burning her enemies without confusion. It also shows off the insanely advanced technology that the Chozo were able to develop. Sure, your smartphone might have software that makes it possible to identify hand gestures to unlock your screen or open your camera app, but could it pull out a flamethrower based on the shape of your fingers? We sincerely doubt it.
Now that we know this tidbit of information, we can’t help but wonder about other gaming mysteries. Like, what exactly is the science behind Mario’s fire flowers? How is Sonic able to stay in such good shape if all he eats are chili dogs? Why are children in Pokemon allowed to travel around the world collecting monsters instead of going to school? And the greatest mystery of all: where the hell is Metroid Prime 4?
Source: Reddit
