This setting determines where Samus begins the game:
- Ship: Samus begins in Landing Site at the Ship.
- Random: Samus begins in a random room somewhere on Zebes.
- Escape: Samus begins in Mother Brain Room at the start of the escape sequence.
If "Random" start is used, generally Samus will not be able to save or refill at the starting location. The
player will need to find the Ship in order to complete the escape sequence. In some cases, reaching an initial
save station could be challenging, though the quality-of-life option "Guaranteed early save station" limits
how bad it could be.
With the "Escape" option, Samus will start with all items, and all that is required to beat the game is to
make it back to the Ship in time (possibly after saving the animals). Save stations do not work during the
escape, but map stations do. This option can be combined with the "Maps revealed from start" option (under
"Other options"); otherwise it will likely take many escape attempts in order to find the Ship.
By clicking the gear icon on the right, it is possible to select a custom start location, among all locations
used in the pool for "Random" start. Depending on the difficulty and other settings, some custom start locations
may cause the randomizer to fail to generate a seed.
Details
For Random and custom start locations, the logic ensures a pathway exists from the starting location to some
"hub" room with enemies that can be defeated with Power Beam and which drop all types of resources (energy,
Missiles, Supers, and Power Bombs). The logic follows certain rules with respect to this hub room (similar
to how the Ship is treated when not using randomized start):
- There is always a path from the starting room to the hub and back without needing to collect items.
- Items are only in logic once there is a path to the item and back to the hub without using the item.
- The hub room is shown as the starting and ending point of routes in the spoiler map.