Landing Site (SR388)

The "Landing Site" is an unnamed room on the Surface of SR388, where Samus's Gunship is located. It is featured in Metroid II: Return of Samus and its remake Metroid: Samus Returns.
==Description==
At the start of Samus Aran's mission to exterminate the Metroids, she lands her Gunship in this area. The Gunship remains parked at this site throughout the duration of her mission. She can return to it at any time to recharge on Energy and Missiles, as well as saving the game in Samus Returns.
The landing site is a massive area, the largest room on the Surface in both games. It is located between two massive insurmountable cliffs, with one smaller plateau in the middle dividing the room into left and right halves; Samus cannot scale this large rock formation until she acquires the Spider Ball. The Gunship is landed on the right side of the plateau, and she begins her journey through a tunnel at the base of the right cliff. At the end of the mission, Samus returns to the Surface via crystal-filled tunnels leading up to the left side of the area, and she must scale the plateau to return to the Gunship with the baby. In Samus Returns, a new Save Station is located on the far left side of the landing site, allowing her to save without needing to access her Gunship.
The landing site is a tranquil area, largely inhabited only by exotic alien flora. In Samus Returns, the right side of the landing site remains devoid of any creatures, but weaker enemies now populate the plateau and left side of the area. Samus Returns adds the first signs of the ruined SR388 Chozo civilization, with several crumbling ornate structures leading to the tunnel on the right side.
After the Queen Metroid is exterminated and the baby hatches from a Metroid Egg, the tunnel on the right side is blocked off. In Return of Samus, this prevents backtracking, and the game ends once Samus and the baby enter the Star Ship. In Samus Returns, this ensures that Samus must return to her Gunship by approaching from the middle plateau, which triggers a cutscene that begins the Proteus Ridley boss battle. During the battle, the Gunship is moved into the background, and Samus cannot leave the right half of the room; a low cloud cover prevents her from scaling the middle plateau.
==Connecting rooms==
In both games, the landing site connects to the first tunnel on the right side; this becomes blocked off after the Queen Metroid is killed. In Samus Returns, crystals on the left side block off the crystal-filled tunnels leading into Area 8; in Return of Samus, since these tunnels are technically loaded as the same room as the landing site, this actually connects all the way back to the Queen's nest.
In Samus Returns, the left side of the plateau has a Gigadora-covered door leading to a room with a Grapple Point puzzle. The left cliff has a set of Power Bomb Blocks connecting to a room full of Pit Blocks, which exit back out into the landing site through a wall of Fake Blocks.
==Inhabitants==
===Samus Returns===
*1 Gigadora
*7 Gulluggs
*3 Hornoads
*4 Moheeks
*Proteus Ridley
==Trivia==
*Nintendo Power volume 31 refers to this landing site as "a wide, vertical cave that opens upward to the planet's surface"Nintendo Power volume 31, pg. 55, suggesting that the cliffs on either side of the room are actually the walls of a cave. However, the Super Game Boy Player's Guide states that Samus lands on the outer surface, and Samus Returns clearly shows the landing site on the planet surface rather than in a cave.
==Gallery==
Samus's Gunship - Metroid II.png|Samus standing next to her Star Ship in Return of Samus
M2 Phase 1 Tunnel Entrance.png|The tunnel entrance in Return of Samus
Phase 1 Baby.gif|Samus and the baby Metroid approaching the Star Ship
SupergbPIC.jpg|The landing site on the boxart for the Super Game Boy
Snessgb.jpg|The landing site on the cover of the Super Game Boy Instruction Booklet
JP Other M Guide 169.jpg|The landing site in Nintendo Official Guidebook for Metroid Other M
Samus standing atop her Gunship in MSR.jpg|Samus standing atop her Gunship in Samus Returns
MSR Surface Statues.jpg|Crumbled Chozo architecture near the tunnel entrance
Samus Returns Crystals.jpg|Crystals blocking the tunnel to Area 8
Samus Returns stormy Surface.jpg|The stormy weather at the end of Samus Returns
Proteusridley3.png|Samus and Proteus Ridley battling in front of the Gunship
File:MSR Artbook Gunship stormy Surface.jpg|Metroid: Samus Returns Artbook
==References==
Category:Rooms
Category:Boss Rooms
Category:Surface
Category:Landing Sites
Category:Save Stations