X Parasite Character Profile: What is the X-Parasite?

This is an article about the X Parasite from the game Metroid Dread for the Nintendo Switch. Learn more about their overview, their backstory, and their role in Metroid Dread!

X Parasite Overview

What is the X-Parasite?

The X parasite is a terrifying creature capable of infesting any organic creature, living or dead. Once infected, they use their host’s genetic information to mimic them completely.

It’s no exaggeration to say that the X is the strongest and most odious of lifeforms. It instinctively prioritizes the preservation and expansion of its species by repeatedly dividing and merging to mimic stronger individuals.

The only thing that can nullify its ability is the Metroid, which was created by the Chozo to be its natural enemy. However, before the events of Metroid Dread, the Metroids have gone extinct.

Now, the only one who can rival the X Parasite is Samus, as she now has Metroid DNA in her thanks to the events from Metroid Fusion.

X Parasite in Metroid Dread

One day, the Galactic Federation received video footage from an unknown source indicating that the X still lived. The Federation dispatched a special unit consisting of seven E.M.M.I. robots to the remote planet ZDR, believed to be the source of the transmission.

Soon after arriving on ZDR, the whole unit mysteriously vanished.

Bounty hunter Samus Aran’s mission to planet ZDR has two objectives. One is to confirm whether the deadly X parasite still exists. The other is to find out why the batch of E.M.M.I. research robots previously dispatched with that same objective have gone dark.

X Parasite in Previous Games

In the events of the 2002 GBA game Metroid Fusion, Samus is hired by biotech company Biologic Space Laboratories (B.S.L.) to protect a field research unit on planet SR388.

Research on the surface goes well until Samus is exposed to and attacked by the X parasite. The parasite puts Samus in critical condition and renders her unconscious. The attacking parasite transforms into the SA-X, a deadly mimic of Samus in her Power Suit at full strength. All hope seems lost as the X quickly multiplies and erodes her body.

To save her life, Samus gets injected with a Metroid Vaccine. She miraculously escapes death, and, at the same time, becomes the only living creature with immunity to the X parasite.

Samus engages in a fierce battle with the SA-X, and succeeds in wiping out the X parasite, destroying the station and planet SR388 in the process. With this triumph, the X Parasites were thought to be extinct...until now.

Metroid Dread Related Guides

List of All Characters

Major Characters
Samus Aran	EMMI	The Chozo
X Parasite	Metroid	ADAM
Quiet Robe