biology

Mother Brain

Mother Brain is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mother Brain rather than just read about it. In short: Mother Brain (Japanese: マザーブレイン, Hepburn: Mazā Burein) is a character in the Metroid video game series by Nintendo. She is main antagonist of Metroid (1986) and Super Metroid (1994).

Key takeaways

Mother Brain belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mother Brain to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mother Brain from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Mother Brain (Japanese: マザーブレイン, Hepburn: Mazā Burein) is a character in the Metroid video game series by Nintendo. She is main antagonist of Metroid (1986) and Super Metroid (1994). Mother Brain has been killed multiple times by the 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 (1994), she has had a single large eye. Mother Brain has made several appearances in other media, including the animated series Captain N: The Game Master. Mother Brain was named the 9th-best video game villain by IGN and the 36th-best by the Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition.

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 (which is shared with its human matrix, Madeline Bergman, from whom Mother Brain was originally grown). Mother Brain appears as a summonable helper character ("Assist Trophy") 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.

Reception Mother Brain was named the ninth-best video game villain by IGN and the 36th-best by the Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition. In particular, the boss fight against her in Super Metroid has been well-received, with 1UP.com staff finding it one of the most emotionally moving battles in video games and GameSpy writer Ryan Scott calling it "jaw-dropping". Boston Phoenix editors Ryan Stewart and Mitch Krpata named Mother Brain the fourth-greatest boss in video game history, as of 2009, stating that while she had triumphant roles in Metroid and Captain N, she did not come into her own until Super Metroid. They cited the overall quality of the ending for why she was so notable in this role. Nintendo Life writer Nile Bowie considered her one of Nintendo's most iconic villains, discussing how difficult the fight with her was in the Metroid remake Zero Mission. He remarked about how much harder he found it, noting that YouTube comments on a video of the boss fight affirmed how he felt about the difficulty. He felt that the Zero Mission version of this fight was easier in some ways and harder in others, noting improved controls as a benefit, while the speed of the fight and comparatively constrained space a detriment.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mother Brain

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mother Brain claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mother Brain before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mother Brain ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mother Brain

In research: Mother Brain appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mother Brain in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mother Brain is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Artificial intelligence characters in video games, Extraterrestrial supervillains, Female characters in video games, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mother Brain outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Mother Brain in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mother Brain means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mother Brain out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mother Brain in simple terms?

Mother Brain (Japanese: マザーブレイン, Hepburn: Mazā Burein) is a character in the Metroid video game series by Nintendo. She is main antagonist of Metroid (1986) and Super Metroid (1994).

Why does Mother Brain matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mother Brain?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mother Brain.