Nintendo
Who is Sylux, the main villain of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond?
Nintendo surprised everyone not only with the announcement of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, but also with the choice of its main villain: Sylux.
The announcement of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond during the June 2024 Nintendo Direct left no one indifferent. On the one hand, the rumors about the possible cancellation of the title due to its development problems have been silenced. On the other hand, it not only meant the return of Samus Aran in style, but we also saw the return of one of the villains of the saga and great rivals of Samus herself: the bounty hunter named Sylux.
Everything you need to know about Sylux, the antagonist in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond
Sylux was first introduced to the Metroid saga in Metroid Prime Hunters, released for the Nintendo DS in 2006. In that video game, Sylux was one of the controllable characters and was introduced as a space bounty hunter originally from the planet Cylosis. Little is known about him beyond the fact that he professes a deep hatred for the Galactic Federation and Samus Aran for being associated with it.
Sylux’s suit, which is very similar to Samus’, was originally a prototype developed by the Galactic Federation, as were other weapons in their arsenal such as the Shock Coil, the Lockjaw - the “equivalent” of Samus’ Morph Ball - and their ship, the Delano 7. In other words: Sylux has managed to steal all sorts of cutting-edge experimental technology from the Federation for his own use.
Sylux encounters Samus several times during Metroid Prime Hunters but is defeated each time. His next appearance would be a cameo in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, released on Wii in 2007. If we completed the game 100%, there was an extra scene at the end where we could see the Bounty Hunter following Samus’ ship with his ship.
Finally, Sylux last appeared in the saga in the spin-off Metroid Prime: Federation Force, released on Nintendo 3DS in 2016.
It was again a cameo in the post-credits scene if we fulfilled a certain requirement during the adventure; in this sequence, we can see Sylux infiltrating a Galactic Federation research station where a Metroid egg we saved in the game is located.
And it seems that this “real” ending of Federation Force is the one that Metroid Prime 4 takes as its starting point. As in the first trailer, we see Samus Aran responding to a distress call at a Galactic Federation research station to find Sylux, who is now allied with the Space Pirates, along with several Metroid hatchlings that she has apparently trained.
The mutual hatred of the Galactic Federation and the figure of Samus Aran by both Sylux and the Space Pirates themselves would have led to this new alliance, making both the bounty hunter and the interstellar criminal organization more dangerous than ever.
One of the producers of Metroid Prime hinted at Sylux’s return back then
Kensuke Tanabe, producer of Metroid Prime Hunters, stated in an interview during E3 2015 that he wanted to create a new story about Samus, Sylux, and the relationship between the two space bounty hunters, showing how similar and how different they are at the same time. In a separate interview regarding the true ending of Metroid Prime: Federation Force, he reiterated his wish that this ending would serve to further deepen the relationship between Samus and Sylux.
These ideas of Tanabe seem to be the starting point of the story of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, the title, of which he is also a producer. We will have to wait until 2025 to see what direction the plot of the game takes, as it is this year when it will be available on Nintendo Switch.