Dark Alpha Splinter

Battle

Samus Aran encounters a Dark Alpha Splinter in Aether's Great Temple, in the Temple Sanctuary. After Samus has dealt with numerous Dark Splinters and momentarily battles the Alpha Splinter, a black fog appears and shortly engulfs the large Alpha Splinter, converting it into the Dark Alpha Splinter. Samus is unable to prevent this transformation, as the Alpha Splinter possesses much durability to withstand Samus's current arsenal. Soon the transformation is complete and the Dark Alpha Splinter commences with battle.

The creature attacks by strafing close around its target, trying to keep it in front of itself. It begins attacking by first launching a blast of dark matter to attack from a safe distance, then immediately follows up with a leap forward at high speed, attempting to slam into its prey and impale them with its sharp legs. It continually repeats this predictable pattern until defeated. All Samus needs to do is simply dodge and return fire to eliminate the threat. Both the creature's size and Darkling symbiote provide the Dark Alpha Splinter with a great durability, causing the battle to last for a while.

Once defeated, the Dark Alpha Splinter falls, leaking of dark matter fluid. It then explodes in a short blinding light, soon revealing its source of brightness. The Ing that possessed the creature has the Energy Transfer Module, which Samus receives as a reward. The group of Ing that appeared and possessed all of the Splinter creatures within the Temple Sanctuary were about to steal the planetary energy from the Energy Controller and end their war with the Luminoth.

Manga

The Dark Alpha Splinter also appears in the Episode of Aether manga, though it is depicted as a far larger creature than in-game, as well as having a body capable of reflecting Beams. It is also not fought in the Great Temple, rather, it is seen in a different GFMC Compound than that in-game, and attacks Klaus Schneider until Samus intervenes. Klaus urges her to kill the creature before it is possessed by the "black fog", but she is too late, and her weapons are useless until she performs an Overblast. Later, another Dark Alpha Splinter attacks, and Miguel Luis Garcia assists Samus in destroying it. The latter Splinter is more in-line with the in-game boss.

Official data

Logbook entry

Development notes

Paul Tozour was responsible for the artificial intelligence of the Dark Alpha Splinter.^[1]

Unused Logbook data exists within the Metroid Prime 2: Echoes Bonus Disc. In it, its entry greatly differs from the final version, providing more information on the creature's natural behavior. It appears that some parts of its Logbook entry were moved to the Alpha Splinter's entry in the final game, a creature that is not listed in the Bonus Disc's Logbook. The Dark Alpha Splinter's placement in the Data Network is of a beta branch, being placed within the "weapons" portion of the Sub-Guardians section. This hints that the creature may have been originally intended to be guarding an obtainable weapon. Curiously, the Bonus Disc entry mentions that the Dark Alpha Splinter is unable to create a cocoon. Although it is unknown if a Dark Alpha Splinter can indeed create a cocoon, an unpossessed Alpha Splinter has the capability to create a cocoon, as seen in the final game.

Trivia

• Just like with the smaller Dark Splinters, the Dark Alpha Splinter bears a heavy resemblance to the Warrior Ing encountered later on scattered throughout Dark Aether.
• Oddly, the Dark Alpha Splinter is actually easier to kill than the regular Alpha Splinter. This is because it leaps towards Samus's exact location, whereas the Alpha Splinter predicts where Samus will end up after dodging and leaps at that point. In terms of strength and resistance, however, the Dark Alpha Splinter is superior to its light counterpart.
• If the Dark Beam is obtained via hacking, the Dark Alpha Splinter can be frozen in the exact same manner as a Dark Splinter.
  • There appears to be a slight difference between a frozen Alpha Splinter and a frozen Dark Alpha Splinter, despite visibly appearing identical when frozen. One difference is the legs. A Dark Alpha Splinter's frozen legs appear more solid purple and colorful.
• Unlike the Dark Alpha Splinter's unpossessed counterpart, the battle can be completed "normally" if Power Bombs are used via hacking.

Gallery

Samus battles the Dark Alpha Splinter.

Samus scanning the Dark Alpha Splinter.

Episode of Aether

The Dark Alpha Splinter frozen with the Dark Beam (via hacking or Sequence Breaking).

The Dark Alpha Splinter seen with the Dark Visor (via Sequence Breaking).

Logbook entry from the Metroid Prime 2: Echoes Bonus Disc.

References