Sabergauth

The Sabergauth,Shinesparkers. "Top Facts You Didn't Know About Metroid". December 16, 2022. Retrieved December 16, 2022. alternatively known as the IceBoss,"IceBoss_Taunt.MOV" video file on Derek Bonikowski's website is an unused boss creature in Metroid Prime.
==Physical appearance==
The Sabergauth loosely resembles a furless, blue-skinned primate, with its most distinguishing features being its six limbs (two pairs of arms and two legs), its tusks and the crystals which cover most, if not all, the creature's dorsum along with the back of its arms. Its facial features, however, share greater similarities with those of a baboon's.
==Surviving material==
Greg Luzniak conceptual art depicts the creature standing several meters taller than Samus Aran and refers to it as the Ice Boss. It was modeled and skinned by Mike Sneath.
It was first discovered in an animation video that Derek Bonikowski listed on his website as one of the "Selected animations from the Metroid Prime series of video games". The video was removed from the website some time later, presumably because it was confidential. Its initial name was derived from the file, "IceBoss_Taunt.MOV". In 2022, Shinesparkers revealed that its real name was Sabergauth via an anonymous former Retro Studios employee.
In the Bonikowski animation, the Sabergauth exhibits behavior similar to that of a gorilla by standing upright and beating its chest with its first pair of arms while roaring before reverting back to its standing animation, in which it takes a partially flexed posture that seemingly allows its body weight to be pressed against the ground through the second pair of arms' knuckles. The name of the video implies that it performs this action to taunt Samus. Mike Sneath's animation reel features the Sabergauth charging at Samus.
The Sabergauth was intended for the Phendrana Drifts. Its crystal formations and blue skin are shared by the majority of bioforms present in the Phendrana Drifts, and Luzniak's artwork depicts it in an arctic area. According to Mike Sneath, the creature was created during the first year of development on Prime, but was cut because Nintendo felt it was more suited for an RPG game than Metroid. Sneath also denied that the Sabergauth was related to the Sheegoth."Hey popofish69. At 1:09 that is a creature that was made during the first year of development on Metroid Prime. Many of the characters created in the first year were either cut or modified. The reason for this is that Nintendo felt that some of early characters looked more like monsters for an RPG game and not for the Metroid world. So no this is not another Sheegoth but it was creature that was originally designed for the Iceworld. Cheers!" - Mike Sneath https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGUv8PyPnPM (private video)
The Sabergauth is one of few creatures in the Metroid series to be or resemble a mammal.
==Trivia==
*The act of removing this intended boss of the Phendrana Drifts possibly influenced the decision of moving Thardus from its original location, the Magmoor Caverns, into the snow area to fill in the ape-like creature's spot. Consequently, the Magmoor Caverns remained the only main area of the game without a boss.
*The Ice Titans found on Excelcion in Metroid Prime: Federation Force resemble the Sabergauth. It also resembles Bullymongs from Borderlands 2, with both creatures being large, tusked and six-limbed blue primates associated with ice.
==Gallery==
IceBoss animation frame.png|Frame from Bonikowski's animation.
IceBoss gif.gif|Mike Sneath model and animation.
==References==
ru:Ледяной Босс
Category:Species
Category:Bosses
Category:Unused Bosses and Species
Category:Tallon IV
Category:Phendrana Drifts
Category:Giants
Category:Derek Bonikowski
Category:Greg Luzniak
Category:Mike Sneath
Category:Mammalian
Category:Arctic Creatures