=============================================================================== Metroid Prime -- Low Percent Run Walkthrough Written by TreborSelbon =============================================================================== Introduction This walkthrough is designed to help players new to a Low Percent Run (though it is also useful for experienced players too). I wrote this walkthrough while playing on hard mode, so everything in here will work on both difficulty levels. When needed, I tried my best to distinguish between the two modes. Suggestions and comments are welcome (contact information is at the bottom of the FAQ). While a low percent run can fall into several categories, this FAQ is concerned only with the lowest percents, meaning no expansions of any kind. So far, the lowest confirmed is 27% (leaving out the Thermal Visor and the Grappling Beam). Here are the items: Missile Launcher Wave Beam Ice Beam Plasma Beam Charge Beam Super Missiles Morph Ball Morph Ball Bombs Boost Ball Spider Ball Power Bombs Space Jump X-Ray Visor Varia Suit Gravity Suit Phazon Suit & Beam 12 Artifacts Grappling Beam (OPTIONAL) Thermal Visor (OPTIONAL) Since the actual gameplay doesn't change by skipping the Thermal Visor, it is pretty much ignored in this FAQ. As for the grappling beam, gameplay will change, so I'll distinguish between strategies with it and without it. =============================================================================== Version History Version 1.0 -- 1/19/03. First release. Pretty simple layout, yet very detailed and descriptive. Version 1.1 -- 2/8/03. Finished adding all the info for the new low: 27%. =============================================================================== =============================================================================== Space Pirate Station As with any other type of game, this should be fairly easy. Hopefully, you've had practice by now and you know about where everything is in this space station. If you die here, you should seriously reconsider a low percent run. This part of the game is very straight-forward, so I won't bother walking you through it. I'll just mention something really quickly. Make sure you know where the Turrets are. These things can easily eat away your life if you're not careful, especially on hard mode. Just get down the pattern to their shooting and step out and blast them. Tallon Overworld From the ship, turn around and enter the door that's just up the ledge. Work your way though here, killing the enemies only if they get in your way. Head to the Chozo Ruins elevator. Chozo Ruins From the elevator, head like you are going to pick up the Missile Launcher. Make sure you save and continue on. Once you get to the Hive Totem room, fight Hive Mecha. Look straight ahead and shoot repeatedly where the Ram War Wasps come out. This way, you'll take out a few before they get a chance to gang up on you. Then, just wait for them to stop circling and take them out quickly; if they knock you off into the acid, you'll likely die in hard mode. Grab the Missile Launcher and head back the way you came. Once again, save, and head back towards the Morphing Ball. Those Bettles shouldn't give you trouble as long as you keep moving. Once the Plated Beetle appears, shoot him twice in his hindquarters with a misslie to kill him quickly. If you're not good at dodging his dash, do it like this: wait for him to move sideways twice. Then, give him time to make a schreeching noise before you sidestep. Collect the Morphing Ball and head back to the Main Plaza. Head to the upper level and across the bridge. Ignore the War Wasps and head into the door. Continue on until you reach the big room with the huge tree in the middle. Go through the door on the lower level, and you'll eventually end up in the Gathering Hall. Save at the Save Point. Once you get back into the Gathering Hall, head into the door directly in front of you. Once you reach the Watery Hall, scan the runes to open up the gate and collect the Charge Beam. Head back to the Gathering Hall and save. Now, go through the door on the upper level. Eventually, you'll wind up in the Energy Core. Head down the left tunnel to access the Burn Dome. Beat the Incinerator Drone for the Bombs. This is the first boss that tests your skill. While he's not difficult, here you will learn the key to being successful in a low percent run: concentration. By this I mean you have watch 2 or more things at once while fighting. On normal mode, it's not so bad because his flame jets aren't that big a problem. Then, you can concentrate solely on the Barbed War Wasps. But on hard mode, you need to be pretty decent at dodging those jets WHILE killing the wasps. The best way to do this is to lock onto a Wasp. Then, while rapidly pressing the A button, only pay attention to the flame jets, avoiding them as much as possible. Make sure you can do this well, because you'll definitely need it later on. Anyway, after defeating him, collect the bombs and head back to the Gathering Hall. Save and head to the Arboretum. Scan the runes and head to the door at the top. Make your way through these rooms until reach the Sun Chamber. Full life is a must. Beat Flaagrah for the Varia Suit. First off, his most damaging attack is when he swings his claws at you. I've found no sure-fire way to dodge them, so you'll have to experiment. Some times I've sidestepped them, other times I've just backed up so he would miss, and other times I've jumped over them. Just do a combination of these (or one method that works best for you), and hope he doesn't use it often. It's pretty easy to avoid those balls he shoots at you, just be awake and sidestep them. When he lunges at you and makes a hedge of poisonous weeds grow, just remember where he put it. It can do tons of damage if you stay in it too long. Just hope he doesn't do this between you and a mirror that you need to flip, causing you to either wait or go all the way back around. The first round is extremely easy. Just shoot the mirror to your left with a shot from the Charge Beam. Roll into a ball and bomb his roots. The second round isn't so bad either. Shoot one mirror until it flips up. Then proceed to blast Flaagrah until he gets stunned, all the while dodging his attacks. If he flips the mirror back down, flip it up and go around to the other mirror. You should have enough time. Do the same thing for the third and fourth rounds: Flip mirror, stun him, flip all the mirrors you can. If he recovers from the stun and flips a mirror down before you can get all of them, stun him again and go back to work. After you get the Varia Suit, go through the door and keep going until you reach the elevator of Magmoor Caverns. Magmoor Caverns and Phendrana Drifts Save at the Save Point and continue. It's fairly straight forward from here. Head through the caverns until you reach Lava Lake. From the patch of ground leading to the second half of the room, blow up the central pillar with four missiles. On the right side of the base of the pillar, there is a spot where you can easily jump on. It may not be obvious at first, but it's the biggest part of the base. After you collect the Artifact of Nature, head through the tunnel to access the second half of Lava Lake. Continue on to the Monitor Station. Watch out for the Turrets here. Take the door on the second level. This takes you to Phendrana Drifts. Head to the Save Point on the left. Then, go get the Boost Ball. Be aware of the Baby Sheegoths, especially in hard mode. Once you get the Boost Ball, head back to Magmoor Caverns and to the Monitor Station. Take the door directly across from you when you enter (it's on the lowest level). Head through these tunnels until you reach the elevator to Tallon Overworld. Tallon Overworld Head up through the Root Cave, ignoring enemies as you go, unless, of course, they get in your way. Exit through the only door you can go through at the moment. Head through here and out into Tallon Canyon. Use your Boost Ball in the half pipe to reach the upper door. Continue through here until you get the Space Jump. Exit and save in your ship. While you're here, you can grab the Artifact of Truth if you want. Anyway, you need to head back to Phendrana Drifts. So go back the way you came, through Magmoor Caverns. When you get to the Monitor Station, head up to the top using the Space Jump and Boost Ball to get the Artifact of Strength. Head to the Drifts like you did last time. Phendrana Drifts Save your game, then head up to the Chozo Temple. Work your way through the temple until you reach Sheegoth. Clear out the Baby Sheegoths first, obviously. Now, without missiles you'll have to do a bit of improvising. Roll up into a ball and drop bombs about Sheegoth's feet. It's very easy to get hit, so do the best you can by using the Boost Ball to get out of trouble. I find it easier if you just keep making one big circle around the screen. Drop all three bombs when you get near Sheegoth. She won't have time to attack, and you get off without taking much damage. If you need any life, bomb the boxes in the corners of the arena. Once she goes down, collect the Wave Beam, leave the Temple, and Save your game. Now, there are a couple of options open to you. You can continue the game as normal (which is what this part of the walkthrough will do), or you can collect a few items out of order to make things a little easier down the road. I will add this item skipping in the next update, but until then, a great resource is zell99's website (listed at the bottom of the FAQ). Although zell's site isn't a walktrough, it has some good info on the specifics of out-of-order collecting. Plus, it has info not listed in this FAQ like skipping the Gravity Suit and, in turn, the Crashed Frigate. The final percent would still end up at 27% because you'd have to collect a Power Bomb expansion to access the Mines early. I'm not sure which 27% method is faster, as no one has completed a speed run using this latter method (not that I know of, anyway). Continuing on, head through the door above the Save Point, go through the Ice Ruins, and into the Ruined Courtyard. Make your way up and into the Research Facility. Head through here until you reach the Observatory. Watch out. Especially on hard mode, these Space Pirates you've been fighting are no joke. Learn their patterns, and get good at dodging their shots. The ones you'll fight later are even worse. Collect the Super Missiles, save, and head back out. For a 27% run, the Thermal Visor is off limits. If you're satisfied with 28 or 29%, however, go ahead and collect it. Head back out to the Ruined Courtyard and save. Now, head into the door directly across from the Save Point to eventually face Thardus. With the lone exception of the Parasite Queen, this is probably the easiest boss in the game. He has only 3 attacks, and they are all incredibly easy to avoid. Just double jump over his Ice River, roll up into a ball and boost around the edge of the stage to avoid his rolling attack, and just blast all the little rocks he summons. With the Power Beam, even on hard mode, they go down very quickly, so I suggest using it (rapid fire). If you want to use the Wave Beam, it only takes 2 shots on hard mode, feel free to, but keep in mind it shoots slow. After he fogs up the arena, it gets a little trickier. Without the Thermal Visor, you'll have to be pretty close to get off good shots (before the targets become exposed and you can lock on), so make sure your reflexes are top notch. As you are facing him, his weak points go like this: left leg, left arm, right arm, right leg, left ear-type thing (you know what I'm talking about), right ear-type thing, and finally his chest. Use your Super Missile sparingly, and only when you can lock on. Save them for the latter rounds, when it becomes easier to hit your targets. Collect the Spider Ball when you beat him. Magmoor Caverns and Tallon Overworld Use Spider Ball to leave the room opposite of the door you came in. There's all kinds of nasty enemies back there which you don't want to face. Take the eventual elevator down to Magmoor Caverns. Save your game in the room behind you and head back throught the purple door. Behind the next door are three Flying Pirates with nasty missiles. Use the doorway to hide and dispatch them quickly. You can easily die here if you're not careful, especially on hard mode. From where you entered, go through the door on the left and continue on. Keep going until you reach the next elevator. Work your way back to your ship and head for the Chozo Ruins like you did before. Chozo Ruins Head towards the Gathering Hall and save, then go to the Furnace. Use the Spider Ball to gain access, then take the door on the left. When you get to the Hall of the Elders, make sure you refill your missiles before you fight the Chozo Ghost. It's not as bad this time, so just keep moving and try to follow his movements at all times. Exit through the door behind the forcefield and use the pool to get up to the Ante Chamber, which contains the Ice Beam. Now, you have a couple of choices. That hole in the wall beside the Save Point will take you to your ship, but there's one problem: there's a Missile Expansion in the way. You can bomb and maneuver way around it, which is a little tricky and may take several tries. The other option is to backtrack all the way through the Ruins and take the elevator by which you entered the ruins. I find it easier just to avoid that missile; plus, there are no annoying ghosts to kill. Tallon Overworld and Magmoor Caverns After you use the lift, head to your ship and save. From here, head to the Caverns. You need to go the the Drifts, but you need to get the Artifact of Nature first (if you didn't get it already for whatever reason). If you had to go get it, gead back to the elevator you came down and go past it. If you already got the Artifact, keep going until you reach another elevator. Save and head up (you should be right past Thardus' lair). Phendrana Drifts Enter the door above the Spider Ball tracks. At the Frozen Pike, you'll want to take the higher door directly across from you (it's on a lower level). Save your game in the Frost Cave, and continue. Watch out for the Hunter Metroids. One hit on hard mode (without any continuous draining) will do about 40 damage. Keep going until you reach the Gravity Chamber, collect the gravity suit, and return to the Frozen Pike via the other path (you should've made one big circle). Magmoor Caverns and Tallon Overworld Backtrack from here through the Caverns and to Tallon Overworld exactly the same way you came. Once you get back to your ship, head to the Frigate Crash Site. Cross the water and enter the white door. From here, it's very straight forward, so just keep going. Fairly early, there's a small room with two Turrets, both pointing straight at you. These guys have an annoying tendency to shoot through the closed door (once you've already shot it), so the best way to handle them is to freeze them before you finish them off. The only real problem in here is the fact that you'll have to locate those annoying power conduits without the Thermal Visor. Thanks to kip, here's a description of every room. Big room: 2 are on the ground level just above the dirt ground. try making a circle around the room and looking for that rusty gate thing (one of them is longer vertically in shape than the others). one of them is left of the platforms going up to the exit (not entrance), one of them is to the right of those platforms. if you got both of those, then the last one should be on the wall right next to the door going to the next room. just turn left/right and shoot at the rusty gate. Room next to save point: 2 conduits. both of these are by the huge door going to the next room, on opposite sides. they're not very high off the ground. easy to see. Room with the energy tank behind the glass: 3 conduits. one is next to the glass you destroy to get to the energy tank. after hitting it, jump up to the higher ground. now jump up 2 platforms, then turn around and jump to the third platform which is farther out. on this platform, keep looking around until you see a rusty gate. shoot the conduit and continue going to the top of the room. at the top by the exit door is the third rusty gate, you should be out of the water before looking for it. Room with dead parasite queen: 3 conduits. one conduit is right next to you when you enter the room. turn right slightly and look ahead at the pillar-looking structure. you should see a rusty gate, shoot it. then proceed to the elevator which isn't working anymore. before you go down look around for a rusty gate on the nearby wall. shoot it and drop down to the bottom level. in here, look for an already open cell with a rusty gate. shoot it (the cell you can destroy with a super missile just has a missle expansion). Though it's not really important to mention, in the room above, kill the Aqua Drones while standing on the upper level for an easier time. Room with aqua pirates: 3 conduits. one is near where you start. when you enter the room turn left slightly and walk forward. before dropping down to the bottom ground level, turn left again and carefully inspect the wall. shoot the rusty gate by the big round thing. drop down to the bottom. now make circles around the room until you find the other 2 rusty gates; both of them are down here at the bottom floor, by a set of platforms which act as stairs to a door. At the Great Tree Hall, enter the first door you come to (lowest one above the water). Eventually, you'll come to the elevator to the Phazon Mines. Phazon Mines This is easily the hardest area of the game. Take out the Turrets and save before you even think about going into the mines. It'll be a while before you reach the next Save Point. Disable the forcefield and head inside. This is going to get nasty, so be on your toes. In the first room are some Mega Turrets. Just have your scan visor ready, step inside, and scan the Turret controls (they're on the right-hand wall) to disable them. In the next room, you'll be attacked by three Shadow Pirates. Go up to the hole in the fence and be ready for them. The first two attack one at a time, but the last one isn't far behind the second one. Back up to give yourself some room, if you need it. When you see a silhouette of a trooper, uhleash a fully-charged ice blast. On normal, it'll kill them instantly. On hard, you'll have to follow up with another attack to kill it off, and a strong one at that. Just do it with a missile. Re-charging the beam takes too long, and they attack fast. Next up at the top of the ramp is three Wave Troopers. They seem to all attack at once, so do the best you can. Back down the ramp for added room and protection. On hard, these guys take a long time to kill. So, just stand at the bottom of the ramp, strafing out from behind cover firing charged shots. If you're lucky, none will make it down the ramp. If they do, just retreat a little more, using anything you can find for some cover. A very good tactic to use for Wave Troopers is to shoot a charged shot at one to stun it. Then, while it's stunned, start charging the beam again. Shoot as soon as you can to keep him stunned. Repeat until he dies. He shouldn't get a shot off. This works for any set of Wave Troopers. Two Shadow Pirates lurk in the next room. Once you knock down part of the fence-like structure, one will appear. When you knock down the next part, another will appear. Like before, stand in the hole you made and wait for the silhouette before you shoot. Freeze them, then a missile. Of course, since they appear one at a time, feel free to take them out with the Ice Beam if you want to save missiles (they usually give them back, though). In the next room, there are two normal Space Pirates, two Wave Troopers, and one Power Trooper. Fortunately, they are on different levels. On the floor are the Space Pirates. Just Freeze them and take them out at your leisure. On the next level are two Wave Troopers. Try your best to take them out from the floor. Use double jumps to get a lock. Go no higher up the platforms than you have to (it's better if you don't go up at all). Use the Phazon Elite tank and the platform it supports for cover. It might take a while, but eventually, they'll move into a position where you can hit them. If you back up as far as you can, the shots have a better angle at clearing the platform the Troopers are standing on. On the third level is a Power Trooper. I would save my Super Missile right now, while you still have some cover. Use the same method on him as you used on the Wave Troopers you just got through beating. If you can keep him pinned behind those computers, he a piece of cake. In the next room, just jump off and try to stay near the center of the column. You should take no damage. The next room consists of two Power Troopers and no cover at all. It looks like you're going to have to use the doorway. Shoot a few shots from the doorway (on the right side of the pillar), then start charging your beam up. As soon as you see him (he'll come from the right), let him have the Super Missile. On normal, it's easy because he dies. On hard, keep pounding him until he goes down. If you're quick enough, the other one shouldn't have been alerted yet. When he comes over, do the same to him. You'll probably be without your Super Missile with him, but that's not your biggest problem. Your biggest problem is the door. Seriously. You have to be right up next to the door to keep it open, so don't get too far away. And, I'm sure you've seen by now, when the door closes, you lose your lock. That's not good. He knows where you are, but you don't know where he is. When he goes down, rotate the central pillar and head up to the white door. Kill the Wave Trooper using the repetetive semi-charged shot strategy and exit through the door. Keep going until you reach the elevator, go down it, and you'll come to the next level of the mines. If you ask me, the toughest part is now over. But don't think you're out of the woods yet. The first room past the elevator is no problem; just shoot the explosive box sitting on the ledge. The next room, however, has three Ice Troopers, and an Elite Pirate. It's not as hard as it sounds, as a forcefield keeps the Ice Troopers from reaching you before you destroy the Elite Pirate. Speaking of the Elite Pirate, he's a piece of cake. Use your beam of choice and unload charged shots. They'll only hit him when he's not using his hand shield, but you already knew that. Jump over the wave-quake and nail him. Keep moving and he'll rarely use his Plasma Cannon. When he does, just stay away from it. Oh, and there's really no need to use the Super Missile here; save the missiles for the Ice Troopers. The first two will come down the ramp in fairly short succession, while the third waits behind. As before, freeze and missile them. You can take out the first two without even going up the ramp; just shoot them from below (you should be able to see them through the mesh floor). Use the boxes to refill your health and missiles and exit through the door in the ceiling. In the next room, just do a huge double jump over to the gap in the half pipe. You shouldn't take any damage. The next room consists of two Wave Troopers and three Power Troopers. Inch around the left side of the little office-type room in which you start while facing right. Kill the Wave Trooper there using the walls for cover. Don't venture out too far, as another Wave Trooper will fall from the ceiling onto the floating platform in the middle of the room. If the first one happens to fall off (to where you can't shoot him without stepping out on the main platform), ingnore him temporarily and concentrate on the guy on the floating platform. If he falls off, kill him. Strangely, the Power Troopers won't notice you unless you hit them. Anyway, after you kill the two Wave Troopers, the only ones left are those on the floor. Use the railing as cover (they can't shoot between the rails), and take them out one at a time. Another good spot to use for cover is right where the catwalk starts to slope downward. It's a good angle for picking them off, and it also provides a decent level of protection from their blasts. Just keep in mind that on this ramp, there is no wall behind you, and you can easily fall off. If you fall to the bottom floor, be prepared to die, because those Power Troopers show no mercy. Don't use your Super Missile, as you need it in a little while, and you might not get a refill. Once they're done, do the best you can to refill your life using the boxes and head to the next room. When you reach the Central Dynamo, have your Power Beam out. You can't hit him when he shoots the lasers, so you'll have to dodge them as best you can. When he uses his turrets, hit him with a Super Missile. On normal mode, he'll go down. On hard, however, you'll also need to hit him with a charged Ice Beam shot. Other beams may work, but I know the Ice Beam is the strongest, so I used it. Once again, you'll have to wait until he uses the turrets before he's vulnerable. After he goes down, you probably won't have much life left, so use the boxes to replenish it (if they contain any energy). Make sure you are very careful when navigating the electric maze. With low life, even a couple of miscues will cause you to start from the beginning of the Mines. After you've collected the Power Bombs, save your game and head back the way you came. Be warned, though; if you have to restart your game from this Save Point, you'll have to fight four Ice Troopers to exit the room. Use whatever is available for cover (the door to the Save Room works well). If you get low on health, just use the Save Point; the enemies won't respawn. When you get back to the Omega Research room, you'll notice those annoying Troopers are gone. That's a good thing, considering an Elite Pirate took their places. He's considerably easier to defeat, as you should fight him the same way you fought the earlier one. Get the map data if you want, and continue backtracking throughout the mines. In the next room, roll up into a ball immediately, roll into the half pipe, and drop a power bomb. Go through the hole and scan the switch, thus, removing the toxic fumes from the room. Yet again, keep backtracking through the mines. The next room is rather tricky. There are five Shadow Pirates hanging from the ceiling: two upstairs and three downstairs. Fortunately, you can kill them one at a time, making it easier to survive. I'll do my best to descibe their locations. You can kill these in any order, so chose the order that best suits you. Ok, you see that blue forcefield-type thing to your right? Now, line up your cursor so that it's just to the left of the end of that forcefield. Now, look upwards. Shoot a Ice Beam shot (charged preferably) just to the right of the cog (the gear that's spinning closest to the wall). If it hits successfully, you should see no freeze pattern on the wall behind you. Now, kill him like you would any other Shadow Pirate: stand stil and hit him with a charged Ice Beam shot when his silhouette appears. Because you've already hit him while he was on the ceiling, a normal Ice Beam shot will finish him off. Now, for the other one. On the ceiling, there are two orange, vent-like structures. Shoot at the point of the one on the left. Kill him as well, and head down the ramp. Stop when you come to the next ramp. You should be eye level with the top floor of the catwalk. Shoot a shot directly out from where you are standing (down the middle of the ramp, but it should hug the underside of the floor). Now, just wait for him to come up the ramp. The next one is easy to find; you can actually see him. Inch down the ramp while facing right. You can't miss him. Again, wait for him to come up the ramp and blast him. Go down to the turn of the ramp. Face the far corner of the room (you should be looking over the Elite Pirate tank). Now, move your cursor to the right a little so that you are lined up with the first little beam that runs the length of the upper catwalk. You know what to do from here. When all five are gone, head out through the purple door. Go up the elevator to enter the last stretch of exiting the mines. Because you will bypass several rooms, this is considerably easier than the first trip into the mines. When you get to Ore Processing (the room with the rotating central pillar), use the rotation controls to line up the yellow tracks. You can get the Grappling Beam if you want, but the game can be completed without it; hence, 27%. If you decide to get it, just use the grappling points to exit the Mines. If you decide not to get it, you can jump on a little ledge that runs around the outer wall, or you can just Space Jump across using the L-lock double jump method. To use this method, start by L-locking your view down. Then, when you start the first jump, release L. This will extend your first jump quite nicely. Now, you can Space Jump as normal. Once you arrive at the Main Quarry, you can fight the Pirates if you want to. If you don't feel like fighting, just jump down and make a mad dash for the Save Point. If you didn't kill the Space Pirates before, kill them now. Once again, if you get low on health, just run back into the Save Point. Exit through the corridor to the right and take the elevator to Tallon Overworld. Tallon Overworld When you come back to the Great Tree Hall, head through the upper white door to reach the Life Grove. Collect the X-Ray visor and drop a Power Bomb to clear out all the walls. I'm sure you know how to collect the Artifact of Chozo. Do that, and make for the exit. Fight the three Chozo Ghosts to leave. Use the Super Missile at will, since you can now track the Ghosts at any time. Back in the Great Tree Hall, head through the next highest white door and take the ramp to Chozo Ruins. From here, head to the nearest Save Point, continue through the hole in the same room, and take the elevator to Tallon Overworld. Once again, avoid the missile expansion, head to your ship, and save. From here, head to Magmoor Caverns. Magmoor Caverns Take a left from the elevator and head to the Geothermal Core. Time to get the Plasma Beam. There's one catch, however; you don't have the Grappling Beam (if you do, then collect the Plasma Beam as you would any other time). Getting it without the Grappling Beam requires a little skill. From the door you entered, look to your left. Jump on the boulder sitting against the wall (it's about the height of Samus). Turn around and face the door. To the left, there is a box-type thing hanging on the wall. Double jump on the little ledge sticking out of the face of it. Turn left again. Now, you'll have to jump on the point of it. It's a flat surface, so you can land on it. Use the first jump for distance, and the second jump to line it up. You should already be facing the first platform with a spinner on it. Use an L-lock double jump to get there. Manipulate the pillars, navigate the magnetic tracks, and collect the Plasma Beam. Exit the Geothermal Core through the left-hand door and make your way to the Save Point just past Magmoor Workstation. The Flying Pirates are now very easy. One charged shot from your Plasma Beam is enough to take them out on normal or hard mode. From Transport Tunnel C, head to the right through the Workstaion Tunnel and take the elevator to the Mines. Phazon Mines To get past the long corridor with the grappling points and Phazon, all you need to do are one L-lock double jump and one regular double jump. The first big room you come to is the Phazon Processing Center. Take out the Turret on the ceiling first. Take out the necessary Troopers, and head through the door about halfway up the room. Continue on, and you'll end up in Elite Control. Yes, the Shadow Pirates are still here. After you take them out, you can do one of two things: either head out the upper door and make your way to the Omega Pirate, or head out the lower door and make your way to Elite Research for an Artifact. In this walkthrough, we'll go back to Elite Research, mainly because it's easier to get out of the room we are currently in. Just run for the far door. You'll be violently chased by the Shadow Pirates, but don't stop to kill them. Have your Wave Beam ready, so you won't have to switch when you get there. Once you get to Elite Research, carefully blow up the four Turrets and defeat the Phazon Elite for the Artifact of Warrior. We have done a lot since the last save, so if you want to find a Save Point, head back to Ore Processing and use the grappling points to get out of the mines (or, if you don't have the Grappling Beam, just L-lock double jump across). Anyway, once you are back at Elite Control, eliminate the Shadow Pirates using your Plasma Beam and X-Ray Visor and exit through the upper door. Nothing's new from this point on, so keep going until you get to Dynamo Access. You have to fight a Elite Pirate in very close quarters. Just use your Plasma Beam and dodge his attacks. It's not tough at all, just make sure you don't get backed into a corner. Take care of the Ice Troopers in the next room and save your game. From here, make your way through the lower level of the Mines. It's very straight forward, so there's really nothing I can tell you as far as directions. In the very first room past the Central Dynamo, there are four Mega Turrets. There's no need to kill them, however. Just roll under the floor (using the hole to the right). When you come out of the hole, scan the switch that disables the cameras. In the next room, let the Metroids do the dirty work for you; that is, let them handle the Space Pirates. Stand at the top of the ramp and wait for them to come up. Freeze and missile them. There are quite a few Metroids from here on out, so do your best to save your missiles. On normal mode, a charged Plasma Beam shot is enough to kill them. On hard mode, it'll take two charged Plasma Beam shots. A rule of thumb is to freeze and missile them if there are two or more aware of you and to use the Plasma Beam otherwise. When you get to the Hunter Metroids, you'll need to be especially careful. With this little life, if one locks onto you, more times than not, you'll die. It's as simple as that. Freeze and missile these guys as soon as possible. To exit that same room without the Grappling Beam (Fungal Hall A), you need to do a L-lock double jump to the last giant mushroom. It may take a few tries, as it's a fairly long jump. In Fungal Hall B, you can reach the last mushroom by Space Jumping from a small rock nearby (to the left of the mushroom if you're facing the door). In the room past the Void Bombus, two Plasma Troopers will drop from the ceiling. Without entering the door, you should be able to take out both of them. Use fully charged shots while using the doorway for cover to wipe them out. The amount of shots it takes depends on how long you let the Troopers burn between them. To reach the other side of the Phazon pool, you'll have to do an L-lock double jump from the platform you normally grapple from. Across the Phazon pool are two more Plasma Troopers. Take them out one at a time, while using the pillar encrusted with a Spider Ball track as cover. It will probably be easier and more benefitial to take out first the one that jumps on the platform. Behind the forcefield is another Plasma Trooper and two Wave Troopers. The Wave Troopers won't attack until you enter the room, so finish them last. Use the base of the platform you are standing on as cover for the Plasma Trooper, and use the ramp or frame of the doorway as cover from the Wave Troopers. Save your game when you finish with them. After you leave the Save Point, head through the upper door. In this room is a Plasma Trooper guarding the entrance to the Omega Pirates holding tank. Kill the Plasma Trooper, melt the ice, and go back and save. The Plasma Trooper won't reappear (thanks to kip for pointing this out), but now there are Metroids outside of the Save Point room. Also, if you restart your game from this Save Point (which is very likely considering who you're about to face), you'll have to face two Metroids to get back to OP. They reappear, so make sure you have full life when you face him. Now, this is easily the hardest battle in the game. kip posted a huge writeup on the message board at GameFAQs explaining, in great detail, how to beat him. As this battle relies largely on luck, be ready to be pissed like you've never been pissed before. So, without further adieu, here it is: anyway, the first concern was the fact that he called another wave of pirates/replaced any dead ones after you damage him enough to the point where he kneeled down, after he switches phazon spots to regenerate at (you know, the first time you do it, he kneels down and teleports to another phazon spot). i could never survive more than 2 waves because i would have fight 5/6 beam pirates every time he went invisible, it was too much. any time i got 3 power troopers was an almost guaranteed restart. so, i kept playing around with that and eventually found that if you don't damage him to the point where he kneels down and screams, he doesn't call the second wave/replace any dead pirates (after he switches to another phazon spot, it's okay to do it the first time). my strat was to shoot a fully charged plasma beam as soon as he appeared, then 8 normal shots. if i hit him any more than that he would kneel down. a few seconds later he would put on his armor and fight again. with that problem out of the way, i didn't have much trouble surviving until the third/fourth time he went invisible unless i got bad luck, as in getting power bomb ammo instead of ultra energy when i needed it most, 3 power troopers instead of ice/plasma, etc. sometimes i couldn't see the pirates come down to attack me though, once they were there i was already dead if they were all power troopers. to fix this, i always went to the phazon spot at the north end of the room as soon as i destroyed the last piece of op's armor. i always went to the end of the room and then turned around facing the door. i looked up near the ceiling and locked my aim while charging up a plasma shot. this let me see the first 2 pirates as soon as they appeared (third one comes later). if they were plasma, i'd immediately lock on and release my shot and quickly kill them all before OP came back to regenerate (3 plasmas/ice can be killed before he does you see, so you can damage him in peace without worrying about them). if they were ice, i'd use my missiles to ice beam/missile. if wave/power, i'd kill one then dodge the rest as best i could while fighting OP. so far i (hopefully) explained how to avoid fighting more than 3 pirates every time OP becomes invisible, and how to get the jump on the pirates as soon as they appear (or at least not get jumped on). another problem i had for a while was the phazon pools. since you have to be locked on to OP the view is a bit screwed up, it's not always easy to see the phazon pools. even though i could react fast enough that i didn't take more than 2 damage each time, i was stepping into them so often that i didn't have the energy to fight the beam pirates. i fixed this by memorizing the location of all 3, and then glancing at the map in the upper right part of the screen every few seconds (one side is where you came from, a phazon spot is at the end of every other side). i would know whenever i was near a phazon spot and just double dashed the other way around OP to avoid it, or i'd double dash through it and take 0 or 1 damage. also, never let him back you up into a corner, don't let your movement become restricted ever. getting hit by OP himself should never happen under normal circumstances. another problem i had was figuring out a way to kill him the fourth time he went invisible, instead of only leaving him with a bit of life left and having to fight a 5th wave of pirates. if you use the strategy to avoid fighting more than 3 pirates each wave, it's important to do the 1 fully charged plasma shot followed by 8 normal shots. doing that each time should leave him with not much life left the fourth time he goes invisible, assuming you're there to pound on him as soon as he appears (i stopped fighting the other pirates). the fourth time he went invisible i used a super missile to finish him though, but it might not have been necessary. i explained what i did against beam pirates already; any plasma or ice that appeared i killed them all before OP appeared to regenerate. if you get 3 wave or power troopers, or a mix of those two, you probably won't be able to kill all of them before OP regenerates, so you have to dodge as best you can. wave pirates usually aren't TOO hard to dodge because they like to slash at you up close, which is easily space jumped over. but power troopers are gonna make you curse a lot. when OP puts his armor on and beam pirates are still alive, run near OP before he attacks so that he doesn't use his long range weapon (1 hit kill if it hits). then stay near him and get him to kill any beam pirates with the shockwave attack. if a pirate is hanging on the wall and shooting at you, shoot at him to make him fall down, then he'll come over to you attack you and you can use OP to kill him. so i guess i should summarize it now. a lot of this battle IMO is luck, what it is, is basically a battle against 4 waves of 3 beam pirates (the first is always 2 however). you need ultra energy when you need it, not power bomb ammo. all ice/all plasma troopers (or a mix) are a free pass to the next phase of the battle. however all power troopers is probably game over but you should just keep playing if OP has half his life or less, since you never know what'll happen. all wave doesn't seem to be able to be killed before OP appears but they're much easier to survive against compared to power troopers. I told you it was huge. The way it worked when I did it was like this: the first round, I shot him with a charged Plasma Beam, 8 normal Plasma shots, and a last charged Plasma Beam. He kneeled down at this point, then summoned the Troopers. Next time, I shot him with a fully charged Plasma Beam, causing him to kneel down. When he reappeared, I hit him with a charged shot and 8 normal shots. Didn't kneel down. This still keeps him from replacing the pirates. I did the same for the next round. Finally, for the last round, I hit him with two charged shots. On hard mode, beware. You'll have to last twice as long, and be eight times as lucky (don't ask about the math). Look on the bright side, it's all downhill from here. But, don't get too comfortable. Just because the rest of the bosses are a little easier doesn't mean they won't beat you to a pulp. Once you beat him, head back to the Save Point. Unless, of course, you want to run the run the risk of dying and fighting him over. Now, keep backtracking through the mines until you pick up the Artifact of Newborn. Then, head back to the Omega Pirate's lair and exit through the upper door. Use the door at the top of the Phazon Processing Center to head to Magmoor Caverns. Magmoor Caverns and Phendrana Drifts Take the elevator just beyond Magmoor Workstation to Phendrana Drifts. We now need to get to Phendrana's Edge, so head out the door behind you and make like you did when you went for the Gravity Suit. To get up without the Grappling Beam, head to the broken bridge. Get on the side with the most exposed tree branches and look back towards the other side of the bridge. Now, look to the left under the floating platform. You see that tree against the wall over there? That's where you have to jump. To get that far, stand on the left-most branch and double jump over there. It helps to do an L-lock double jump. Now, climb up the little branch that moves out behind you. Turn around and Space Jump up to the platform. Power Bomb the wall and the top and enter the room to collect the Artifact of Spirit. Head back to the Frozen Pike. Enter the door on the left-hand side to enter the Research Facility. Exit through the upper door and continue on. In Research Lab Aether, you'll have to kill the Metroid at the top before you kill all the Space Pirates. If you don't, the door won't open. If time's not important to you, just go back a few rooms after killing the Metroid. The Pirates will respawn, and you will be able to exit. This takes you to the towers. Kill all the enemies and collect the Artifact of Elder. From here, go back to the Phendrana Shorelines. Collect the Artifact of Sun from the Choze Ice Temple and head to Magmoor Caverns via the Shorelines elevator. Magmoor Caverns and Chozo Ruins From the elevator, head to the Monitor Station and take a left. Go to the elevator and take it to the Chozo Ruins. Take a left and head to the Sunchamber. Beat the three Ghosts for the Artifact of Wild. Continue on to the Hall of the Elders for the Artifact of World. Again, you'll have to fight more Ghosts. From here, head all the way back to the Main Plaza, ignoring the enemies unless they get in your way. Now, go to the Tower of Light and collect the Artifact of Lifegiver. Since that's all of the Artifacts abroad, head to Tallon Overworld and save at your ship. Collect the remaining Artifact at the Artifact site to fight Ridley. This is a lot easier than the Omega Pirate. On my hard mode run, I beat him on my first try. Dodging all those Pirates really helped. He has two forms, as I'm sure you know. For the first two-thirds of his life, he's in the air. For the last one-third, he's on the platform with you. While he's in the air, use the pillars for cover from his beam and missiles. On normal mode, he'll flinch after every charged shot with the Plasma Beam. On hard, he doesn't, so you have to do a lot more dodging. When he flies at the platform, double jump or dash to avoid his beam and double jump to avoid the missiles. When he finally gets on the platform is when he's the most dangerous. He'll start dashing at you, and every once in a while, he'll shoot his beam. On normal, his dash will do about forty points of damage. Now, just imagine that on hard mode. Just double jump to avoid the beam. After you wear down about half of his remaining life, his dashes get quicker. The best thing you can do is get as far away as possible and double dash left or right when he charges. Yes, it's possible to dodge every one of his dashes. Once he bites the dust, head into the Impact Crater and save. In the Phazon Infusion Chamber, avoid the Fission Metroids the best you can. You can use a Power Bomb about halfway up to kill them both, so they shouldn't bother you. Now, for Prime. This is where all your practice pays off. His first form is actually quite easy as long as you take your time. Use your first few tries to learn how to read his attacks. When he summons those little orbs, they become your biggest priority. One hit from those and you die on either mode. Just whip out your Plasma Beam and shoot them with a semi-charged shot, taking out the left one first. This way, your arm cannon doesn't block your view of Prime. While taking out the one on the right, keep an eye on Prime. He has a tendencey to shoot beams and missiles at you while you're occupied. Just double jump over the beams and sidestep the missiles. As for his snare beam, there's no real way to avoid it, so just hold back and double jump over and over again. Maybe you'll get lucky. When he gets to the last subchamber, he will start dashing during attacks. If you're paying attention and you don't have any orbs to kill, roll into the rut. Most of the time, however, he'll do it so quickly you won't be able to avoid it. It only does 19 on hard mode, so it's nothing to worry about. Now, the fun part. This is considerably harder that the first form. It wouldn't be if you had the Thermal Visor, but that isn't the case. Because you don't have that particular Visor, your best option would be to concentrate on staying alive while he can only be see by it. A very good hiding place is behind his shell. Use the Scan Visor to see track his scan point, and shift accordingly so he doesn't bump into you. Thanks to Thog for pointing that out. Now, it's easy to dodge the wave-quake. The timing might be a little tricky at first, but you'll get used to it after a few tries. Freeze and missile the Metroids and Hunter Metroids. The easiest way to do this is to run in close while Prime is recovering and shoot a charged Ice Beam shot at the Metroids. Then, missile them while backing away quickly. The Hunter Metroids are easily the most dangerous part of this whole fight. If you don't kill them the first time, don't expect to live, unless you are the luckiest person on the face of the earth. Roll into a ball as soon as he starts summoning the Fission Metroids. Lay a Power Bomb, and get out quickly. If all this is done fast enough, neither Prime nor the Metroids should hit you. If you run out of Power Bombs or missiles, just stand in a Phazon Pool and tap the A button to kill them; they die in one hit and you don't want to waste that Phazon. =============================================================================== =============================================================================== Legal Crap This FAQ is the 2003 Copyright of me, TreborSelbon. Any of the Metroid stuff is the property of Nintendo. This FAQ is for personal use only. Don't take it, change it, sell it, promote it, or use it in any way, shape, or form without asking me first. Basically, if you need this FAQ for something other than personal use, I MUST give you permission. Websites are not covered under personal use. If anyone reads this anywhere other than the sites I specifically mention below, let me know immediately. =============================================================================== Special Thanks As you might have seen already, I didn't do all this myself. I would like to thank kip, zell99, Videogaming, Thog, and everyone else who inspired me to make or had a hand in the actual making of this FAQ. Of course, I'd like to thank CJayC for hosting my FAQ on such an awesome site: http://www.gamefaqs.com Also, zell99 for a great Metroid Prime site. It has a ton of vids and info about all the new discoveries that have been found by GameFAQs board members: http://membres.lycos.fr/zell99/metroid =============================================================================== Contact Information Email: spudrobert2@hotmail.com AIM: TreborSelbon MSN: Use the hotmail account above. You know how hotmail is...lots of spam. So if you send me an email, make sure I can make out that it's about the FAQ. If it's not clear, it may get deleted. I'm on AIM and MSN every night, so feel free to IM me. I'll gladly take any questions, suggestions, or comments about the FAQ. ===============================================================================