Metroid Prime This guide was written by, and is copyrighted to, Ryan Parra. If you have any questions about the guide, or if you would like to ask my permission to use this guide elsewhere, then email me at ChaosUnit22@aol.com, or Instant Message me at ChaosUnit22. Don't use this guide and claim it as your own. If you want to use it, ask me first. I?ll probably say yes, but you still have to give me the credit. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Introduction. The Chozo are in peril. After centuries of technological advancement and deep space exploration, this race of beings had regressed into natural simplicity, adopting the fertile planet of Tallon IV as their home, and looking inward to reach an enlightened plane of existence. For a while, the Chozo lived in harmony with the native creatures, and built their homes and temples from the natural materials Tallon IV provided them. Soon, the Chozo were able to leave their physical bodies behind and exist as omniscient spirits. Then, twenty years ago, a meteor struck their planet. Tallon IV was a biological paradise, teeming with unique life forms. However, the meteor carried with it a deadly mutagen known as Phazon. The Phazon polluted the planet?s ecosystem, killing and mutating the native species. What the Phazon did not kill, it mutated into corrupt new forms. Eventually even the Chozo spirits began to feel the Phazon?s effects. They either slipped into insanity or disappeared to an unknown realm, leaving only their ruins behind. The Chozo spoke of a ?Worm? that came along with the meteor. Before their demise, they used their once- forsaken technology to seal away the Worm within the meteor?s Impact Crater, so that only the holder of twelve Chozo Artifacts could enter its lair. But this was not enough. Soon after the extinction of the Chozo, the Space Pirates arrived, seeking the power of the Phazon for their biogenetic experimentations and to rebuild their forces after their defeat on Zebes. Their research and mining brought them to the Worm, which they called Metroid Prime. Their experiments also took place aboard the Space Pirate Frigate, Orpheon, but lately, things haven?t been going so smoothly for them?. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Walkthrough. When using this guide, all you really need to know is that important items will be in CAPITALIZED print. This includes new Log Book entries, power-ups, expansions and more. The walkthrough section of this guide is divided into fourteen chapters: 1. The Space Pirate Frigate. 2. Obtaining the Missile Launcher. 3. The Morph Ball. 4. Toxins at the Ruins. 5. Fire and Ice. 6. High Waves. 7. Phendrana Labs. 8. Return to the Ruins. 9. The Gravity Suit. 10. A Miner Threat. 11. The Treasure Hunt. 12. Phazon Corruption. 13. An Old Friend. 14. The Worm. ============= Chapter 1: The Space Pirate Frigate. ============= The game of Metroid Prime is the first of the Prime series, which takes place between the original Metroid game and Metroid 2: Return of Samus. After destroying the Space Pirate base on Zebes, Samus went in pursuit of the remaining Space Pirate forces to try and eliminate them once and for all. She was able to intercept a distress signal coming from the Space Pirate Frigate, Orpheon, in orbit around Tallon IV. Being the bounty hunter that she is, Samus moves in to investigate. The Space Pirate Frigate is the only area in the game that you can?t revisit again, but you will have a chance to explore the vessel once it?. (Sorry, I can?t spoil that for you). Nevertheless, some of the elusive creatures and information found aboard the Orpheon can only be scanned during your initial tutorial run through the ship. If you want a full Log Book, scan. After Samus docks with the frigate, you?ll assume control over her. You start in the Exterior Docking Bay, a room boxed in with special force fields that prevent you from falling off into space. The only way to progress is by going through the energy field that bars your way to the next portion of the room. The field is powered by four nodes located along its side. After you play around and get used to the game?s controls, target each of the power nodes and blast them with the Power Beam to disable them. The shield will deactivate once all four nodes are shut down. Walk out to the second section of the room. Your progress through this area is also barred by an energy field, again powered by multiple nodes. This time however, the nodes are lacking power. You need to reenergize the system by scanning the blue control panel on the center pillar of the room. Afterwards, shoot all six power nodes to shut down the force field. You?ll need to look up to shoot the topmost two nodes. Now jump up to the third section of the room and follow the walkway to a blue door. Shoot the door to open it, and then step inside the frigate. You can skip through these next three small passageways, scanning when you need to. In the last potion of the Docking Bay, you can scan the holograms on the wall for information about the ship?s status. When you reach the Air Lock, you won?t be able to continue until you re-pressurize the room. Scan the control panel to do so. You?ll know when the room is re-pressurized when the floating debris falls to the ground and the door ahead glows blue. Continue to the Emergency Evacuation Area. This room is a waste. Whatever happened here ended with several dead Space Pirates and the dominating carcass of a large, insect-like creature. Before you go too far in, scan the smaller creatures you see feeding on the Space Pirate?s body to your right. The PARASITE is fairly common aboard the frigate; you probably saw a few running beneath the floor crawlspace of the last room. Despite that fact, they can only be found on the Orpheon, and you?ll lose your chance of scanning any for your Log Book afterwards. Parasites aren?t deadly. Like most enemies, you?ll suffer minor damage if you make contact with one, but it takes only one Power Beam shot to kill them. After dealing with them, head around the fire and across the balcony, blasting more Parasites as you go. Turn left and prepare for your first real threat, if you can call it that. The injured Space Pirate ahead will start shooting you if you get to close, so take it out from afar. Because of its injuries, its aim will be hindered and it will take only a few shots to put it out of its misery. Like all pirates aboard the ship, you won?t add it to your Log Book if you scan it. Take the door on your right. The Deck Alpha Umbilical Hall is blocked off by a pile of rubble. Charge up your Power Beam and unload onto the debris to clear it. The door at the end of the passageway takes you to the Map Facility. As soon as you open the door to this room, a short cut-scene will interrupt your fun to show you two Parasites fleeing down a small tunnel along the right wall. Roll into your Morph Ball and follow them to the small room with the glowing hologram. Scan the hologram, before you step into it. When you step into a MAP STATION, you can download the schematics for each area that the station corresponds to. This station will show you the layout of the frigate. There are only four Map Stations in the game, and if you download one before scanning it, there will be nothing to scan afterwards. Be sure to scan one of them (preferably this one) before using all four. After your map is updated, roll back through the tunnel and use the door at the end of the Map Facility. To use the elevator to Deck Beta, scan the control panel and a hologram will appear in the center of the lift. Walk into it and you will rise to Deck Beta. The first room after the lift, the Deck Beta Conduit Hall, is blocked by more rubble, fire and some live wires. Touching the fire will harm you. Use your Morph Ball to roll under the rubble, but wait for the live wire current to flicker off so that you don?t take additional damage. The following room is the first Biotech Research Area. The room houses a dormant Parasite Queen contained within the large stasis tank in the center of the room. This monstrous creature is not unlike the dead beast you saw earlier. The Space Pirates are somehow enhancing regular Parasites to grow many times their normal size, mutating them and building an army of giant Parasite Queens. But if the Emergency Evacuation Area and the distress signal is any clue, you can tell something went wrong with their experiments. Anyway, turn left and walk around the upper part of the room, cleaning up Space Pirates as you go. You?ll encounter another crippled individual, as well as another who is able to stand and actively attack, but isn?t much more of a threat anyway. When you kill an enemy, it will sometimes leave behind a pickup. Pickups glow and make unique whirring hums, and they can be drawn towards you using your Charge Beam. Pickups provide energy and restore your ammunition. The different types can also be scanned for Log Book entries. By now you may have seen the small purple units, or SMALL ENERGY units. These restore ten of your health points. In the following corridor after the Biotech Research room, turn left for a nasty surprise, an AUTO TURRET. These stationary defense weapons are programmed to attack whenever they sense you nearby. They fire damaging bolts of energy, and it?s wisest to quickly dismantle them as soon as possible. Don?t bother scanning this one yet; just shoot it with a missile and scan the yellow pickup it leaves behind, a MISSILE AMMO unit (which replenishes five missiles to your Missile Launcher). The next room is the Biohazard Containment. Somewhere from the depths of this room, you?ll have another Auto Turret shooting at you. Luckily, you can take cover behind the stasis tank in the room, which contains the grisly remnants of a failed Parasite Queen experiment. Flip on your Scan Visor and find the computer monitor with the red scan symbol, and scan it. It is your first and only opportunity to scan Pirate Data: FALL OF ZEBES. It?s the only Pirate Data entry that can?t be revisited if you accidentally miss it, so scan it now! Also, turn to the left and scan the control panel along the left wall. This panel will disable the Auto Turret. Not all turrets have a corresponding panel to shut them down, but it sure makes fighting them a lot easier. Now that the turret is pacified, scan it for an easy Log Book entry if you didn?t get the last one. If you wish, collect data on the rest of the room?s creepy- crawly contents, and then head to the back of the room. Scan the control panel back here to activate the small lift that takes you up to the upper level of the room. The top section is made up of a balcony that encircles the room. As you travel to the door on the opposite end, you?ll have to level a few pirates. The first few are easy, but the third one is particularly nasty. It hasn?t sustained many injuries, and it?s about as tough to take down as the pirates you?ll fight later in the game. Don?t hesitate to use missiles on it. Collect any dropped pickups and head for the door. A final dieing pirate will attempt to stop you by the door; laugh at him, mop him up and continue. Head down the Deck Beta Transit Hall and to the Cargo Freight Lift to Deck Gamma. The top of the cargo lift is guarded by another Auto Turret. Take it out of commission the old fashion way, and then scan the nearby panel to activate the lift to Deck Gamma. Enjoy your pleasant ride down; there?s another vicious Space Pirate at the bottom that will attack. Kill it with missiles and then go after the Parasites feeding on the pirate carcasses. You should have them scanned by now. If not, do it now because the next and final time you see them will be when you?re in a hurry. After the room has been cleared, scan the panel down here to energize the large door ahead. It still won?t open unless you use the use the device on the floor marked with a spherical hologram. The panel told you to insert a metal sphere?like your Morph Ball. Roll into the mechanism and the door will open. Be quick to destroy the two turrets in the next room. Charge up your beam to draw in the Missile Ammo. The door ahead of you opens up just like the last one, but we?ll worry about that in just a second. Use the regular blue door on your left to save your game, using the SAVE STATION. Unlike Map Stations, there are plenty of reusable, scan-able Save Stations scattered throughout the game. They allow you to save your progress and they restore all of your lost health. Give this one a scan and then make sure you heal and save. Back outside, scan the control panel and use the Morph Ball to open the large door like you did with the previous one. The next room is the Reactor Core. When Samus enters the Reactor Core, she?ll be attacked by a live PARASITE QUEEN. This mutant beast is your first boss, the first true test of your skills. Like all bosses, the very first thing you should do when fighting her is scan her. Bosses can only be fought once, and thus you only get one chance to scan them. Not only that, but scanning the Parasite Queen in particular will prove useful when fighting her. The first thing you need to know is that when you target the queen, you?ll lock onto her fleshy stomach. But after you scan her, you?ll discover a new weakness in her mouth, and you?ll target the mouth from that point forward. Yes, you can win without finding this weak spot, but it takes longer and it deprives you of her one-shot scan. So go ahead, scan her like you mean it. All you need to do to win this battle is shoot her repeatedly with Power Beam shots and or missiles. The trick is that the Parasite Queen is perched inside a dual force field system around the ship?s energy core. The blue field will deflect your shots, but the orange field is weak enough to shoot through. In return, the queen can attack through both fields. The force fields will rotate around the queen, meaning you?ll have to practice your strafing techniques to get shots in. Lock on to the queen and dash to the sides. This will also help you avoid her attacks; she fires jets of volatile acid from her mouth. The battle itself isn?t all too difficult. Use up your missiles, and then feed her Power Beam shots to finish her off. Keep moving in order to get a shot through the blue force field. Sometimes the fields will scramble, so you will need to wait until they reset themselves. Again, this battle shouldn?t be too difficult. And if it is, well, that?s what the Save Station was for. When the Parasite Queen succumbs, she?ll fall into the reactor core, destroying herself and the core in the process. With the core gone, the entire ship will become unstable and self destruct in seven minutes! That means you need to get moving now. Samus?s Power Suit, being the technological wonder that it is, will start to blare an alarm and tell you to ?evacuate immediately?. The door you entered from won?t do, but luckily there?s another door that should be right in front of you. Head forward, up the steps and through the passageways. Take the next lift back up to Deck Beta. On the way out, scan the panel on the wall in front of you to deactivate a hidden Auto Turret. Enter Biotech Research Area 1. This is the bottom section of the room, not the upper balcony you explored previously. Already, the ship has turned into a war zone. The Space Pirates here are trying to subdue the awakened Parasite Queen. You won?t have to fight either of them; as soon as you take a few steps in, a large explosion will kill everything in sight. Head behind the stasis tank and up the pieces of rubble to the second floor. Turn right and head down to the other door. Three Space Pirates will attack you up here. Dispatch the first two with missiles. The third might get killed for you by another explosion which will reveal a new path through the ventilation systems. The entrance to the system is to the right of the door (which you can?t use anyway). Go ahead and use your Morph Ball to quickly make your way through the ventilation shafts. Roll into the openings in the walls to continue through the tunnels. The shafts are all basically the same, with some added turrets along the way (roll out of the Morph Ball to deal with them). Most are infested with swarms of Parasites. You?ll take damage when you roll through them, but it isn?t anything to worry over. Additionally, you?ll reach an area that you?ll have to bomb through, and another in which the tunnel is blocked off by a large piston. Wait for the piston to retract, and then continue before it pumps out again. Eventually you will reach the end of the tunnels and emerge in Biotech Research Area 2. It?s Ridley! Samus stumbles upon the most intriguing of the Space Pirates? research projects, the resurrection of one of their leaders. Samus defeated the dragon-like Ridley on Zebes when she destroyed their base and the commanding Mother Brain. The survivors of her purge went on to revive their winged aggressor and scout for new base locations; hence their presence on Tallon IV. The cybernetic-enhanced Meta Ridley will break out of his restraints and escape through the ceiling. Now you?ll notice a chasm blocking your way to the door on the far end of the room. To get across, you?ll need to implement your Grapple Beam. The Grapple Points ahead of you are marked with special Grapple icons. Fire your Grapple Beam as indicated and swing across. As soon as you reach the end of your swing, let go and then immediately reattach yourself to the second Grapple Point, and then swing across to the other side. Enter this door and continue. The next passage has another blue panel that needs scanning. Well, you don?t need to, but if you don?t, there will be another Auto Turret raining death upon you. Turn the corner and head towards the lift. Avoid the damaging currents of electricity down this passage. When you scan the lift?s control panel, you?ll trigger a cut-scene. A violent explosion slams Samus against the wall, damaging her Power Suit. When you recover, you?ll be at full health, but at the price of losing almost all of your gear. That includes the Varia Suit (you?ll notice your suit looks different), Missile Launcher, Morph Ball (and its bombs), Charge Beam and Grapple Beam. Basically, all you have left is your default Power Suit, Power Beam, Combat Visor and the Scan Visor. Yay. Now ride the lift to Deck Alpha. The Deck Alpha Mech Shaft is a short passage with a few sharp turns that dumps you at the Air Lock. Good news: that?s only a room away from freedom. However, since you pressurized this room earlier, you need to wait a few seconds for it to depressurize so that the door becomes active. Dash through the next passage to complete your escape to the outer docking bay. If you didn?t make it in seven minutes, you?ll die and be forced to restart at the Save Station (before the boss battle). When you step outside, a cinematic will take over. Samus narrowly escapes from the crumbling Space Pirate Frigate as it self- destructs. Meta Ridley has also escaped and is fleeing for the nearby planet, Tallon IV. Samus will give chase, but end up losing the tracking signal and be forced to continue reconnaissance on foot. ============= Chapter 2: Obtaining the Missile Launcher. ============= Samus lands her ship upon the lush rainforests of the planet?s first major area, the Tallon Overworld. Tallon IV is divvied up into five main areas each connected via a system of transport elevators. There is also one final area that can be reached at the very end of the game. Tallon Overworld is a place characterized by rainy weather, thick vegetation and plenty of wildlife, but comparatively little intrusion from any civilization. You can always return to the Landing Site if you need to use your GUNSHIP. Your ship acts as a multipurpose station. It allows you to save your progress, restore health and restore any ammunition. You should also scan it at some point for a Log Book entry. There are several doors leading out of the Landing Site, but of those doors, only three are accessible to you right now. Take the door on your right, leading to the Canyon Cavern. When you enter this cavern, several disturbed BEETLES will attack. You won?t be hurting for opportunities to scan these creatures, but you may as well. Beetles are aggressive insects that surface from their subterranean dens whenever they sense movement above. They attack you by ramming you, so shoot them all before they get that chance. The passage on your left takes you to a door, leading to the Tallon Canyon. The canyon is home to a variety of new species, all of which will add a new page to your Log Book. The yellow plantlike object in front of you is a SAP SAC. These are only dangerous if you shoot them; they?ll explode with enough force to harm you or kill any creature that is too close. Ruptured Sap Sacs sometimes leave behind pickups and you may even get one to leave behind a LARGE ENERGY unit. These health pickups are slightly larger than Small Energy units, are red, and heal 20 lost health points. If you don?t find it now, keep your eye out for it. Further down the canyon you will see a waterfall to your left. Crawling among the rocks are common creatures called ZOOMERS. Zoomers keep to themselves, but can defend themselves with their spikes when necessary. They are still fairly easy to destroy though. GEEMERS on the other hand, are a bit tougher. You?ll find a Geemer above you, crawling around the ledge on your right, opposite to the waterfall. Geemers are variants of the Zoomer, but are invulnerable to any type of beam weapon except for missiles and the late-game Plasma Beam. Lastly, scan the mushrooms growing in the corners of the waterfall pond. These are BLASTCAPS, which can be shot to reveal pickups. Blastcaps are poisonous though, so after you shoot one wait for the toxic gas to disperse before you approach. Keep walking towards the half-pipe-shaped rock formation past the overhanging bridge. Kill the two beetles that attack, and then continue to the blue door. The tunnel ahead takes you to a transport. You can easily destroy the Zoomers crawling around here by shooting the Sap Sacs nearby. Head through the door at the end. This, your first transport, will take you to the Chozo Ruins. Scan the bird-shaped control panel and then step into the elevator?s hologram to ride upward. The Chozo Ruins area was once home to the very beings who raised Samus as a child. The Tallon Chozo are now extinct, but their crumbling ruins are filled with clues and lore as to what led to their demise, and how they existed before their way of life was brought to an abrupt end. Walk through the next two doors until you reach the Ruins Entrance. There are Beetles here to kill. Also, if you have the hint system option turned on, you?ll get a notification now about strange seismic activity occurring deeper within the ruins, in a room called the Hive Totem. That is your next destination. Before leaving through the door up ahead, scan the shimmering section of wall above it. These weird symbols are pieces of Chozo Lore, entries in your Log Book. This piece is Chozo Lore: FOUNTAIN. The Chozo Lore pieces each tell a part of the Chozo?s story. You?ll find more as you explore deeper into Tallon IV. After the introductory cinematic in the Main Plaza, step down into the clearing and eliminate the dozen or so Beetles that pop up. The Main Plaza connects many sections of the Chozo Ruins together, with many doors leading to and from the room. The door you should be interested in right now is the far left door at the back of the room. Cross the half-pipe configuration and head up the steps, and then turn left to find your door. You should now be in a tunnel called the Nursery Access. After the turn, check out the swarm of insects crawling towards you. SCARABS are common throughout the tunnels of the Chozo Ruins, and can be quite a nuisance. Like Parasites, they travel in swarms, but differ in that they will eventually stop moving to try and block your path. If you get too close to them, they explode. Kill them all before proceeding. The next tunnel, Eyon Tunnel, is named after its inhabitants; EYONS. These organisms look like eyes attacked to the wall. They can concentrate energy in the form of a laser beam and shoot it at anything in their line of sight. Eyons can?t be destroyed without the Charge Beam, but you can shut them for a few seconds by simply shooting them. After you get past them, head to the next room. The Ruined Nursery has a Save Station right next to it, but you?ll need to find a way up to it before you can use it. First, scan the Chozo Lore on the opposite wall (EXODUS). To get up on the ledge on your right, head to the back of the room and use the steps from there, taking out the two Beetles along the way. At the blue door, turn back towards the room?s center and scan the yellow structures on the ceiling and opposite wall. These are HIVES, which are homes to vicious WAR WASPS. The wasps will attack you as soon as you get up onto the ledge. Shoot them quickly before they attack. They?ll hover near you, and then swoop in for a ramming attack. You can also use missiles to destroy the Hives before the wasps emerge; that way you?ll prevent any of them from appearing. So, from the blue door, jump to the ledge on the right wall (the wall opposite of the entrance door) and locate the door leading to a Save Station. Use it, then head back out and go through the other blue door. You?ll be interrupted by a swarm of Scarabs as you pass through the next small room, the North Atrium. Kill the swarm, and then proceed to the next room. The Ruined Gallery is another Hive infested room. First, take out the War Wasps. Then, scan bellow for a new entry. TANGLE WEED is the grassy stuff. Ignore it for now, and make your way across the ledges on the right side of the room to the other side where a door is. Head on through. The path in the Totem Access slopes downwards, patrolled by new creatures called PLAZMITES. These fireflies are relatively harmless, and are actually beneficial in some areas. Because of the light they emit, they can sometimes be your only means of seeing where you?re going, so shooting them would leave you in the dark. This isn?t really a problem here, but you should still watch your step when you go through the room. The water in the Chozo Ruins is being polluted by an unknown source, and its toxicity levels are high enough so that you?ll take damage from contact with it. The crate in the middle of the room can be opened with the Power Beam to reveal pickups. You?ll see more of that Tangle Weed stuff too. It?s harmless, but you?ll be slowed down if you try walking through it. Anyway, there?s a door at the far end of the room that you should now head through. Your goal is reached, for you are now in the Hive Totem. You aren?t out of danger yet though. Head to the center structure of this slanted room, accessed by steps made by collapsed rubble near the toxic water. Downhill, to your left, is a metal bridge that spans the toxic pond to a glowing item. This is you first power-up, but you?ll have to fight for it. Once you try and cross the bridge, a cut-scene will interrupt and your first mini-boss battle will commence. The large machine above the power-up lowers to block your path across the bridge, while the Chozo statues to either side of the bridge begin to spill green water into the room, trapping you on top of the center island. While the HIVE MECHA isn?t really a boss, you only get one chance to scan it. Got that? Only one chance. Point your scanner below the water level and look for the red scan symbol. The Hive Mecha is a mechanical wasp hive designed to interact with hive dwellers. This unit houses a nasty new breed of War Wasp, the RAM WAR WASPS. When the battle starts, the Hive Mecha will release several of these red insects, which will begin to zoom around you at high speeds. Make sure to scan one, because like the Mecha itself, these only appear this one time. Don?t bother trying to get a lock on a circling War Wasp. Instead, study your radar and wait for one of the yellow dots to stop moving. When one does, look for the hovering War Wasp and blast it out of the air before it strikes. When all of the wasps have been eliminated, the Hive Mecha will reveal a weak spot. Target this red area and give it a few shots of the Power Beam until the Hive Mecha closes itself and rotates. The cycle will need to be repeated two more times. More wasps will be released each time you damage the Hive Mecha. After the third cycle, the Mecha will surrender its captured power-up and the water level will recede to normal. Cross the bridge and collect the MISSILE LAUNCHER. Your trusty missiles will allow you to open the door ahead of you, sealed with a MISSILE DOOR LOCK blast shield. Scan the shield first, and then blow it apart with a missile. The small chamber beyond contains your first ENERGY TANK, which restores all of your energy and increases your maximum health capacity by 100. You can also bust up some crates in the room to collect Missile Ammo. There is nothing else you can do here now, but do take note of that tunnel in the back of the room. Now return to the Ruined Gallery. Destroy the wasp Hive as soon as you enter the gallery. Now, jump down to the room?s lower level, but don?t touch the water. Turn around and shoot the Blastcaps, and then fire a missile at the cracked section of the wall across the small pond. The wall will crumble and reveal a space containing a MISSILE EXPANSION. These items allow you to carry five extra missiles. There are 49 expansions in the game, meaning you?ll end up with a maximum capacity of 250 for the Missile Launcher (the launcher itself also provided five of those missiles). Jump back across to solid ground and head for the back of the room?s lower section. You?ll find another door with a Missile Door Lock to your right. Bring it down and enter to download the Chozo Ruins map via the Map Station. After that?s done, climb back up to the upper ledges and take the door back to the Ruined Nursery. Once you get there, use the Save Station nearby. ============= Chapter 3: The Morph Ball. ============= After saving, backtrack to the Main Plaza. Defeat any Beetle opposition and head down to the clearing in front of the tree, where the main Beetle population lives. Across from the tree is a door covered by a Missile Door Lock. Blast it to bits and enter the exposed doorway. The tunnel beyond is crawling with Scarabs, as expected. There are in fact two swarms that you have to fight through. The door at the end of this tunnel takes you to the resting place of your next power-up (that was quick, wasn?t it?), the coveted Morph Ball. Climb over the formation ahead of you and hop down into the clearing. The Morph Ball in the back of the room is sitting there waiting for you, but as soon as you approach it, a wall will rise up from the ground and deny you access. At that point, you?ll be ambushed by a huge colony of vicious Beetles. You can?t turn back now, so the only way to make it out alive with the Morph Ball is to fight this wave of Beetles. Try to keep moving and always stay locked on to a target. Don?t think twice about using missiles if you can get the Beetles in a cluster, but don?t get too carried away with them either. A lot of them will drop health, so collect that when you can. After you?ve decorated the floor with every last Beetle?s guts, the ground will rumble and a new breed of nasty will surface from the ground. The angry PLATED BEETLE is another mini-boss. Scan it now if you wish, but don?t worry if you forget; unlike the Hive Mecha, there will be plenty more of these baddies to fight later in the game. So how do you fight it? Frontal attacks are useless against the Plated Beetle because of the hard shell around its head. The only way to damage the bug is to shoot its red backside, but the beetle will always do its best to be facing you so that its weakness isn?t exposed. The only time you can damage it is when it charges. Get reasonably close to the bug and wait as it shuffles from side to side. Watch for its antennae to twitch, and then dash out of the way. As the beetle charges past you, make sure you maintain your lock on it and fire a missile when you see its red rear. Whenever the Plated Beetle is about to charge, it will twitch its antennae and make a loud shriek. If you run out of missiles, pelt it with Power Beam shots when it exposes its weak spot. Repeat this process until the beetle dies. Claim your MORPH BALL prize after the battle and then use it to exit the room, through the small tunnel in the rock structure. The Morph Ball, in combination with the Missile Launcher, will allow you access to new places in Tallon IV. The Morph Ball itself is neat, but you?re still defenseless with it until you reclaim its explosives. Before we get to that though, it?s a good idea to collect expansions that you previously couldn?t get without the two aforementioned power-ups. Go back to the Ruined Nursery and use the Save Station. From here, go back to the empty Hive Totem and enter the small room behind the bridge. Remember the hole in the back of the room? Roll into Morph Ball mode and enter the new path. Navigate through the small maze of pistons and to the other side of the tunnel, where you?ll be dropped off at a new elevator, which leads to a new area known as the Magmoor Caverns. Without the Varia Suit, you won?t survive long after taking the elevator, so ignore it for the moment and use the door on your right. The small Vault Access has a piston in the corner that will lift you up to a new Morph Ball tunnel. Roll through the set of pipe lines and eventually you?ll end up at the Vault. There?s a large cage in the middle of the room that blocks off an expansion, but you need Morph Ball Bombs to get that. You can still scan for Chozo Lore: BEGINNINGS, though. Use the door on the other side of the room and kill the Beetles within the following room, the Plaza Access. The door at the end takes you to a part of the Main Plaza that you can?t reach from the other side, and resting on the ledge is an ENERGY TANK. After that?s all done, head all the way back to the Tallon Overworld area. Reenter it by using the lift on the other side of the Main Plaza and Ruins Entrance. Once you get there, stop at the Tallon Canyon. When you clear the area of enemies, turn towards the waterfall and hop onto the rocks that the Zoomers were crawling on. Climb upwards and then turn to face the platform where the Geemer lives. Kill it using a missile, and then hop across. From there, turn right and cross the bridge, then enter the doorway ahead of you. This next cavern is home to a new enemy, a BLOODFLOWER. To kill this plant, wait until it hurls a green spore at you. You can target the spore and shoot it, which will cause it to bounce back at the Bloodflower, killing it. This Bloodflower in particular is easy to kill alternatively by hitting the Sap Sacs above it, which will incinerate the flower when exploded. Make your way to the other side, avoiding the water (it?s clean, but it slows you down and prevents you from jumping high). Blast the door with a missile and enter the next room. The Root Cave is huge. Jump or drop down to the very bottom of the shaft. There?s a Beetle nest down here, so watch out. Fight or flight, and head for the door that?s down here. This takes you to yet another Transport Tunnel, but it leads to the same area as the one back up in the Chozo Ruins, so you should wait to take this elevator until you?ve acquired the Varia Suit. You can still grab the MISSILE EXPANSION beneath the steamy bridge though, avoiding the sneaky Zoomers as you do so. After you grab that, turn back to the Root Cave and climb back up to the top using the platforms and tree formations (again, avoid those Zoomers). Return to your Gunship at the Landing Site. You can collect another MISSILE EXPANSION by using the Morph Ball to roll underneath the small hole behind your ship. You may want to shoot the Tangle Weed down before that so that you can roll through at normal speed. Now, go to the other end of the Landing Site. Wade into the small pond and locate the cavern to the left of the waterfall. You can also get there by rolling into a hidden tunnel along the left side of the room, from your ship?s point of view. Either way, you should end up looking at a new doorway. The Waterfall Cavern is home to a few Blastcaps, but nothing too threatening. Roll under the rock obstruction blocking your way and exit by using a missile on the door on the other side. Prepare your Scan Visor before stepping through to the Frigate Crash Site. The huge clearing that is the Frigate Crash Site is separated down the middle by a large pond. You can?t cross this pond yet, but you can scan one of the two creatures up ahead on the shoreline, guarding a ruptured crate. These are jetpack-equipped FLYING PIRATES. Flying Pirates are actually very dangerous, and right now they?re way out of your league. Luckily, these two will flee once they see you, but try to scan them before they escape. The reason you?ll want to scan them now is because when you next fight them, you?ll want to devote all of your efforts into actually fighting them, not scanning them. They?re that deadly. After you?ve spooked them off, turn back towards the Landing Site. There is nothing more you can do at the Frigate Crash Site, but if you?re determined to explore it some more, stay away from the crate that the pirates were guarding. It?s oozing deadly Phazon, a blue substance that will cause heavy radiation damage if you touch it. From the Landing Site, return to your ship to get your bearings. Facing forward from the front of it, and look for a set of mossy stone steps above the entrance to the Waterfall Cavern. These lead to a path behind the waterfall, and eventually to another blue door. Climb and walk this path until you?re at the door. Beyond it, scan one of the three new creatures crawling on the ceiling. SEEDLINGS are very similar in behavior to Zoomers, but they are a bit more aggressive and have the ability to launch their spikes at you. Kill them and then shoot the Tangle Weed out of your way so you can cross to the next doorway. After the Temple Hall are the Temple Security Station and the Temple Lobby. The lobby is merely an empty tunnel, but the security station contains a hologram of some Pirate Data (ARTIFACT SITE) and a Missile Door Lock blocking you way. You?ll also be shown a short cinematic introducing you to the Impact Crater. This is the game?s final area, but you aren?t actually in it right now. This is just the gateway to the crater. After passing through the Temple Lobby, you?ll be inside the Chozo?s sacred Artifact Temple. The Chozo built the Artifact Temple directly over the Impact Crater. It was designed to contain a great evil within the crater, and keep out anyone who would want to exploit that evil, like the Space Pirates. The only way through the temple?s ancient seal and to the game?s final area is by collecting the twelve Chozo Artifacts that act as keys to unlock the seal. At the large window up ahead, turn to either side and scan the Chozo Lore entries along the far walls: STATUARY and BINDING. The right path is blocked by rubble, so turn left and take the path down to the outside area of the Artifact Temple. You?ll find the first Chozo Artifact at the base of the Artifact Temple?s central pillar, the ARTIFACT OF TRUTH. After you collect it, seven of the pillars around the room will activate and allow you to scan them. These pillars provide clues as to the whereabouts of the other Chozo Artifacts. Note that when you scan a clue, it registers as a Log Book entry. This is misleading; the Artifact section in your Log Book doesn?t need to be scanned in order for the Log Book to be completed. You just need to find them all. Still, if you don?t know what you?re doing, it?s a good idea to scan the clues to help you during your quest to collect the artifacts. After you?re done, return to your ship and save your game. ============= Chapter 4: Toxins at the Ruins. ============= The Morph Ball is crucial to a bounty hunter who needs to explore every last corner of Tallon IV, but you still need a way to defend yourself whilst using it. The Morph Ball Bombs fill that void, so it?s important that you track them down as quickly as possible. Additionally, it?s about time we return to the Chozo Ruins and clean up the polluted water supply, and then find a way through Magmoor Caverns? crushing heat. With your Arm Cannon raised, and Scan Visor at the ready, be prepared to take down the greater evils that lurk within the Chozo Ruins. It all starts at the Main Plaza. At the back of the Main Plaza, there?s a set of steps that lead up and around to the left and across the bridge. Watch out for the gap over the entrance to the Nursery Access. The bridge is patrolled by a lone War Wasp. If it notices you, it will retreat into its Hive at the other end of the bridge. More wasps will attack if you try to cross the bridge, so shoot the Hives from afar and eliminate the scout. On the other side of the bridge, use the door on your right. Use the Morph Ball to make it across this winding tunnel, which is blocked in some parts by fallen tree branches. Try to roll fast enough so that you can zip by the Scarabs before they drop from the ceiling. This tunnel leads to the Ruined Fountain. The Ruined Fountain was clearly named after the stone fountain in the back of the room, which is currently spewing sickly green water into the air. You will also see Chozo Lore: HATCHLING behind the fountain, and several Plazmites flittering through the air. This room is fairly dark, and you won?t be able to see very well of you gun down all of the Plazmites, so keep them alive. You?ll need the visibility to get through the flooded portion of the room. From where you entered, you?ll want to reach the door on the left wall, not the one up ahead and to the left behind the fountain. To get across, use the stones along the right side of the room to get to the back. Avoid the fountain?s plagued water and jump over to the platform with the desired door. When you reach the door, head through and equip your Scan Visor. Turn the corner and quickly scan one of the SHRIEKBATS flying at you. These flying creatures usually hang from ceilings, but are very territorial. When you approach their roosting site, they?ll dive-bomb you in a kamikaze fashion, accompanied by the high-pitched shriek that earned them their name. Turn another corner and open the next door with a missile. The grand Arboretum contains a large amount of vile water, and a huge tree growing right in the middle of the room. Use the platforms around the tree to get to the other side safely. Turn left from the door and scan the vine-like plant swinging its scythe at you. REAPER VINES grow from crevices in the wall and are only dangerous if you get too close to them. Just stay out of reach of its deadly blade and you?ll never get hurt. In instances where you must get past them in order to proceed however (like now), just target the vine?s eye and shoot it. It will retract into its crevice for a few seconds. Only with the Plasma Beam can you actually destroy a Reaper Vine. Anyway, shoot down the first two and jump onto the platforms in the water. Hop up to the platforms surrounding the tree to get to a wooden bridge. Cross the bridge and turn left. There are more Reaper Vines growing down this sloped path, but you can roll safely past them with the Morph Ball. Use a missile on the door down here and go through this next small passage. This next room is the Gathering Hall. To your right is a path that leads to a Save Station, behind the Missile Door Lock. After saving, enter the door opposite to the Save Station door, fighting off the Shriekbats and Blastcaps in your way. Turn the corner at the Watery Hall Access room and shoot down more Shriekbats. At the bottom of the sloped path, just about at water level, there?s a section of the left wall that?s weak enough to blast through with a missile. Expose and grab the MISSILE EXPANSION behind it, and then continue through to the Watery Hall (beware of more Shriekbats as you turn the last corner, and use a missile to open the door). The Watery Hall is a quick detour, but a highly valuable one at that. To your left is a platform with Blastcaps on it. Shoot them and step onto the platform. Turn around and scan the symbol on the wall above the drainage pipe. There are three more runic symbols in this room that need to be activated in order to gain access to your next power-up. Hop across to where the Reaper Vine is, shoot it and proceed. Shoot all of the Blastcaps on the next long platform and scan the runic symbol beneath them. Keep crossing platforms until you can go no further. There will be another runic symbol to scan on the wall. Now head back to the beginning of the room. Notice the suspended platforms that lead up above ground level. Make your way across them, fighting off Reaper Vines as you go, until you reach a metal gate with the four runic symbols on it. Three of them should be lit up, representing the three you?ve already activated. To your right is the fourth. Scan it and a fifth will be revealed on the gate. Scan it to open the gate and gain access to the area beyond. Up ahead, grab the CHARGE BEAM and scan Chozo Lore: METEOR STRIKE. The Charge Beam is nothing new to you; it lets you charge your beam weapons for a more powerful shot. Also, keep in mind that while you?re charging your shot, the energy from your Arm Cannon will draw in any pickups lingering in the air. Use the Charge Beam whenever pickups are otherwise out of your reach. Most importantly (at the moment anyway), you can now destroy Eyons with a charged shot. Once you collect the Charge Beam, six previously-dormant Eyons will trap you inside. Destroy them all and head back to the Gathering Hall. Now, about those Morph Ball Bombs. Starting from the Save Station at the Gathering Hall, face the left door to the Arboretum but jump up onto the platform directly above it. Hop platforms as you go around the room, shooting Shriekbats and Blastcaps when necessary. When you get to the opposite corner (above the Watery Hall Access door), turn around and jump onto the platform on the wall behind you, further up. Make sure you clear off all of the Blastcaps before hopping over. On the wall ahead is a small hole that loops around to the center platform. Kill the Shriekbats that swoop down from the opposite doorway, and then jump over to the door. Blast the Shriekbats in the next room and head through the next door. Now you will be in a tunnel with a few more Eyons to deal with. Also notice the raised section of the tunnel with a sealed Morph Ball tunnel. It will provide a shortcut on your way back through the tunnel, so that you don?t have to mess around with the Eyons. You will now reach the next large room, the Energy Core. After you defeat the Shriekbat horde, scan the door with the weird lock on it, on the opposite end of the room. This is a LOCKED DOOR system, and no weapon you have can break the lock. Once you clear the room of enemies or accomplish a certain task, the Locked Doors will remove themselves from the door they were sealing. Since you can?t reach it anyway, turn and head down the left wing of the room. Avoid any water puddles and Shriekbat attacks. You?ll find a Morph Ball tunnel at the end of the wing. At the end of this tunnel is the door to the Burn Dome. Prepare for battle! The Burn Dome is home to a malfunctioning disposal unit known as the INCINERATOR DRONE. Like the Hive Mecha, this mini-boss is one- of-a-kind, so definitely take a few moments to download its Log Book entry. Also like the Hive Mecha, the Incinerator Drone fights alongside a unique breed of War Wasp, but very much unlike the Hive Mecha, this drone is quite capable of defending itself without the wasps. It will attack you by spouting a jet of flames from the two nozzles it has on either side. The drone rotates slowly, so just lock on and strafe to avoid the flames, or jump over them if you must. The drone is invulnerable until it reveals its weak spot, a red light from the top of its ?head?. When it raises its head, target the red spot and blast away. When the drone takes damage, it will send a jet of flames upwards, right into the large War Wasp Hive. As you can imagine, this will anger its inhabitants, the BARBED WAR WASPS. While not as numerous as the Ram War Wasps, this species has the ability to launch its poisonous stingers at you, and then regenerate them for additional barrages. Also, they?ll appear constantly from their damaged Hive, not just when the drone takes damage. As the battle progresses, the Incinerator Drone will get more creative with its flamethrowers. It will sometimes spew its flames at an angle, preventing you from jumping over to avoid the damage. Just blast wasps and avoid the fire as best you can while you wait for the drone to reveal its head. Damage the head about three or four times and you?ll win the battle. Afterwards, the drone will send a final jet of flames at the Hive (destroying it) and then self-destruct. The power-up it leaves behind is the MORPH BALL BOMB. Now your balls will do some damage. Your acquisition of the Morph Ball Bomb upgrade paves the way for new opportunity; you can now track down the source of the ruin?s polluted water and put and end to its filth. Before you take on whatever dangers await you though, it?s recommended that you backtrack through the ruins to collect as many expansions as possible. They?ll help you in the near future. Your bombs will help you find most of those expansions. In fact, there?s one in this very room. Along the wall is a covered drainage tunnel that can be bombed open to reveal a chamber beyond. Don?t worry about the water in the ditch; it won?t touch you. Roll down the tunnel to the hidden chamber and grab the MISSILE EXPANSION. Now exit the Burn Dome, and use a bomb-jump (lay a bomb and let it propel you upwards) to return through the small tunnel. When you emerge in the Energy Core, turn left immediately and locate the path blocked off by a large, grunting creature. This beast is a STONE TOAD. As ferocious as it looks with its curving tusks and large size, it is completely docile until you roll into a Morph Ball. When you do, it?ll inhale you into its mouth and try to eat you. Don?t worry though; it will spit you out soon enough. When you?re in its mouth, lay a bomb to give it a nasty case of indigestion. Once he?s out of your way, enter the chamber behind him. The power core machine in here is currently offline. On one wall, you?ll find a MORPH BALL SLOT. These round holes energize nearby systems when you bomb them. Bomb-jump up to the Morph Ball Slot so that it holds you in place, and then feed power to the nearby machine with a bomb. As soon as the machine starts working, a timer will start, giving you a short amount of time to find the next machine. The first will drain most of the water within the Energy Core. Roll out to the main part of the room through the hole in the window. On the other side of the room, enter the second chamber and repeat the bombing process before the timer finishes (when the bleeps start to get faster, you only have a few seconds left before the toxic water refills the room). When you power the second machine, platforms in the main room will lower, allowing you to get to the third and final machine. A new timer will start to tick as well. Climb up to the room?s entrance and then turn around to cross the platforms to the hallway that they lead to. Fallow the path to the last machine, and give it power. A second set of platforms will descend from the ceiling and make a path to the Locked Door, which now unlocks itself. Head back to the main area (at your own pace, since the timer has stopped) and use the platforms to get to the doorway. Go through this winding passage to reach the entrance to the Furnace. Once inside, roll into your Morph Ball and use the small tunnel. When you return with the Spider Ball upgrade, you can explore the rest of the furnace by climbing that magnetic rail system. At the end of the tunnel, you?ll be rewarded with an ENERGY TANK within the Furnace chamber. Now, return to the Gathering Hall. Remember, if you want to avoid those Eyons in the Energy Core Access, use your bombs to expose the tunnel that runs underneath the floor. Where to now? How about the Watery Hall? Once you get there, climb up to the area where you found the Charge Beam and the Eyons. Along the wall closest to the entrance, next to an Eyon, you?ll find a covered hole, just like the one back at the Burn Dome. Bomb it open, and then travel through the next set of tunnels until you get to the Dynamo. On the way, you?ll have to bust down two Missile Door Locks. At the Dynamo, fire a missile and the metal covering on the wall to reveal the caged MISSILE EXPANSION. Now, head all the way back to the Ruined Shrine, where you fought the Plated Beetle. Save and heal at the Gathering Hall if you wish. When you get to the Ruined Shrine, face the back of the room. On the right wall is a discolored patch of rock that conceals yet another tunnel. Break it with your bombs and collect the MISSILE EXPANSION. Watch out for the angry Beetles that still dwell within the shrine. Now head to the Ruined Nursery. When you get to the Ruined Nursery, notice that along the wall that you entered from is some sort of maze. Roll in to Morph Ball form and bomb-jump to get into the lower section of the maze. You won?t make it very far in from here, but you can use your bombs to dislodge a sandstone block that will cause the metal block above it to fall into place, clearing the upper path. Now head to the top entrance to the maze, from the upper ledge of the room. Make your way through the maze, dislodging the lighter-colored blocks in order to get through. Hopefully you killed the War Wasps before going into the wall, or otherwise they?ll make your job painful as you go. At the end of the maze is a MISSILE EXPANSION. Now move on to the Ruined Gallery. Eliminate the War Wasps and drop down to ground level. On the right side of the room (directly opposite from the door leading to the Map Station) is an elevated hole in the wall, just large enough for your Morph Ball to roll through. If you check your map you can see that the hole goes around back behind the wall and loops back to another hole a little farther up. Bomb-jump into the tunnel, and then roll through to get the MISSILE EXPANSION. Continue through this area of the Chozo Ruins and take the path you took before to reach the Vault (go to the Hive Totem and through the door where you got your first Energy Tank, then roll through the tunnel until you reach the lift. Don?t use the lift, but take the door on your right and travel through the Morph Ball tunnel). The cage in the Vault can be lifted with the Morph Ball Bombs, by using the blue circular slots on the opposite side of the structure. These act similarly to Morph Ball Slots. Roll into all three slots and use a bomb to unlock each one. Of course, to complicate things, they?ve positioned the slots at varying heights and put metal covers on the lower two. Use an extra bomb to blow the cover off of the lowest slot, and then bomb the inside. Now, position yourself underneath the second slot and bomb-jump up to it. When you reach the top of your ascent (just about level with the slot), plant a second bomb to blow off the cover. Now bomb-jump into the slot and energize it like you did the first. The third slot has no metal cover, but its height makes it the trickiest to unlock. You need to perform a double-bomb-jump in order to reach it, which requires some skill and coordination. First, drop a bomb. Right when it is about to detonate, drop a second bomb. The first bomb will propel you into the air. Drop your third bomb at the peak of your ascent. When you fall back to the ground, the second bomb should blast you back upwards, right into the third bomb. Now, if you timed it right, you?ll fly even higher up, enough so that you can enter the final slot and raise the cage. Grab the MISSILE EXPANSION, and then return to the Gathering Hall to save. By now you should have all 55 missiles and three Energy Tanks that you can obtain at this point. From the Gathering Hall, go to the nearby Arboretum, the room with the Reaper Vines and the huge tree. The door to the Sunchamber is high up in the room, but there?s a metal gate that will prevent you from using it. This gate is controlled by four runic symbols, just like the Watery Hall gate. The symbols are hidden throughout the room. First off, go to the wooden bridge on your left, and then hop down a platform or two. Look downwards and find the platform overgrown with what looks like red Tangle Weed. Shoot the weeds out of the way and scan the symbol concealed beneath them. The second symbol is on the tree itself, right above the bridge. Now, while facing away from the tree when you?re on the bridge, turn right and climb up along the ledge. War Wasps who?ve nested on the great tree will occasionally emerge to attack. Try to eliminate their Hives before they can emerge. Pretty soon, the ledge will get too small for you to walk on. Roll into the Morph Ball and slip through the crevice, bombing the sandstone blocks in your way. When you emerge from the crevice, scan the third runic symbol up ahead by the steps. Climb up these steps and then get ready to roll through another crevice. This one is blocked by more of that red Tangle Weed, or VENOM WEED, to be more appropriate. Venom Weed will hurt you if you touch it, so get it out of the way before rolling through. Hop up the steps afterwards and then turn around to jump to the platform behind you. Jump over the small bridge and to the ledge with the locked runic gate. The final symbol is on the tree behind you. With the gate out of the way, use a bomb and a missile to get to the next set of rooms. The next two rooms are the Sunchamber Lobby and the Sunchamber Access. Both are small passages filled with Venom Weed and Reaper Vines. Once you make it past them, head into the Sunchamber. Once you step inside, there will be no turning back. The boss of the Chozo Ruins is a monstrous weed known as FLAAHGRA. When you enter its lair, vines will grow over the door, trapping you inside. After you scan Flaahgra, scan one of its spiny tentacles. The FLAAHGRA TENTACLES are treated as separate Log Book entries, and like Flaahgra itself, they can only be scanned during this battle. Flaahgra is unharmed by any form of attack, but you can momentarily stun the creature after enough punishment from the Power Beam or Missile Launcher. Flaahgra receives energy from one of the solar arrays in the room. If you alter the direction of the sunlight by altering the array itself, you?ll cut Flaahgra?s source of power and expose its weakness. After smacking Flaahgra around with missiles find the solar array that?s shining light onto Flaahgra?s body and fire shots at the red dot. The dish will flip upwards, cutting Flaahgra?s solar supply. The great plant will momentarily faint and retract its tentacles from the four channels around its pool that connect to Flaahgra?s base. Roll up into the Morph Ball and activate the Morph Ball Slot at the end of the channel before Flaahgra wakes up. This will drop Flaahgra?s health by a quarter. Now, two solar arrays will flip down and revive Flaahgra. You need to repeat the process again, only this time you need to take out both of the arrays before Flaahgra faints. You?ll want to keep stunning Flaahgra as well, because it won?t take too kindly to you when you start flipping the arrays up, and will try to flip them back down. After both arrays are flipped, enter one of the three remaining Morph Ball channels and bomb the next slot. Afterwards, rinse and repeat, this time flipping three arrays before the boss faints. On round four, all four arrays in the room will be reflecting light onto Flaahgra. Things get complicated here, because you don?t have a lot of time while Flaahgra is stunned to flip up solar arrays. Stun it when necessary until all four arrays are out of commission. Locate the last remaining channel and deliver the final bombing blow to the vile boss of the Chozo Ruins. But wait, what about Flaahgra itself? It isn?t just going to sit and look pretty throughout the battle as you try and kill it. It has a few attacks of its own, but nothing too deadly until the damage starts to add up. It can fire blasts of concentrated solar energy at you from afar, or cut you down with its mantis-like scythes if you get too close. Flaahgra also has the ability to produce a wall of poisonous vegetation. It uses this trick to block you off from any pickups that appear. Also, don?t get too close to the tentacles, or else they?ll slap you around, and don?t touch the water surrounding Flaahgra, for it is as poisonous as ever. After Flaahgra has wilted into nothingness, the entire water supply throughout the Chozo Ruins will purify. The vines blocking the door to the Sunchamber Access will remain however, until you have to come back later. To get out, use the Locked Door on the other side. To unlock it, simply collect your new reward, the VARIA SUIT. Now you can survive in areas with high temperatures, like Magmoor Caverns. ============= Chapter 5: Fire and Ice. ============= The time has come to leave the Chozo Ruins behind and explore new areas in Tallon IV, each more exciting but more dangerous than the last. The road to your next power-up is through the Magmoor Caverns, and the quickest way to it is the Transport to Magmoor Caverns North elevator, not more than three rooms away from the Sunchamber. Alternatively, you can also use the transport by the Root Cave in the Tallon Overworld, but who wants to go all the way over there right now? Not me. The room following the Sunchamber is the Sun Tower Access. It?s a fairly quiet room, and a small one at that. The first part of the room is empty of any wildlife save the Tangle Weed at the far end. Because the water here is no longer toxic, you can wade through it in safety. Past the Tangle Weed, you?ll find a passage on your right that leads to the end of the room. The first portion of the passage is blocked off by a stack of crates. Blow them open to reveal a mass of pickups inside. Whenever you defeat a boss, you?ll usually find a great quantity of pickups right afterwards to recuperate from the battle. Among the Missile Ammo, you should also find a new pickup, ULTRA ENERGY. These yellow units are the best healers, restoring one full Energy Tank?s worth of health (100 health points). Scan one, and then continue. At the end of the Sun Tower Access, you?ll find a new enemy. Scan it. This is a PULSE BOMBU, an energy-based life form that hovers in the air, dropping charged blasts of energy on anything below it. Because they are made of pure energy, they constantly shed the excess energy in the form of these blasts. This also means that your current weaponry is useless against them. There are only two ways to kill a Pulse Bombu: the Wave Beam, and water. Currently, you have no Wave Beam, but if you shelter some deep hatred for bombus and you?re determined to see the end of this one, let it touch the water in the beginning of the room and it will blow up. Bombus will attract to you if you hold your Charge Beam; you can lure the bombu into the water with it, if you?re so inclined. Just don?t let the thing touch you. Anyway, it?s not the end of the world if you get hit by it once, so just avoid it and enter the Sun Tower. The Sun Tower will be a bit more interesting on your return trip later, but there really isn?t anything you can do in it right now except collect a few Log Book entries. Drop down to the very bottom and scan Chozo Lore: CONTAIN on the wall. There are also four Hives down here, and an additional new Log Book entry to scan, but it?s best to deal with all that when you come back with the Spider Ball. Head out the door to Transport to Magmoor Caverns North, the lift you?ve been avoiding for so long. Use the lift to get to Magmoor Caverns, a new area. The volcanic cave system of the Magmoor Caverns area acts like a crossroad between the bigger areas. While there are a few important items to find here, there is no boss of Magmoor Caverns, and none of those items are accessible until later in the game. The Burning Trail has a large vertical drop right after the entrance, just like the Sun Tower. The Varia Suit isn?t necessary just yet, but this is about as far as you can go without it. If you try and enter any subsequent rooms, the crushing heat from the lava will overwhelm you and drain your energy quickly. If you need to climb back up the Burning Trail shaft, use the moving platforms. At the bottom of the drop, walk forward and kill the Shriekbats that attack. (And you though you were through dealing with them. Don?t worry; this is the only room in Magmoor Caverns that has them). Turn left up ahead and try to locate the door with the Missile Door Lock along the left wall. It can get hard to see down here with all the steam fogging up your visor. Save and then continue through the Burning Trail. Turn right, kill the bats and then scan the bug on the platform up ahead, in the lava. This is a GRIZBY, a creature with a shell that can withstand anything you shoot at it, save missiles. Destroy it and cross to the other side of the lava pond. The Varia Suit can withstand the air temperature of Magmoor Caverns, but it won?t protect you against lava or flame. Kill the two Grizbys in the next room and cross the lava by hopping from platform to platform. Jets of flame will spout out from the sides of the room every few seconds, so take care to avoid getting burned. There is another new creature tunneling just below the ground?s surface on the other side. This annoying little bug is a BURROWER. The Burrower spends its time tunneling just bellow the surface. When it senses you, it will jump up from the ground and spit goop at you. Kill it while it?s in the air. The Lava Lake produces an introductory cinematic of the Magmoor Caverns. After the intro, a large fire serpent will rise from the lava and attack. MAGMOORS are the fiery predators that this area was named after. They?re rather tough to take down, but aren?t really as threatening as they look. Sure they can breathe fire, but they flinch every time you hit them with something strong. Blast it in the head with a few missiles and Charge Beam shots to defeat it. Now turn right and scan one of those green mine-like creatures floating through the air. These are PUFFERS, gas-filled organisms that burst when shot. They leave behind a cloud of noxious gas that lingers in the air for a few seconds. The gas is harmful, so wait for it to dissipate before approaching. Start hopping across platforms to get to the cave?s opposite side. The floating, metal goblet-shaped platforms won?t be able to maintain your weight, and will sink slowly into the lava once you?re on them. Move quickly so you don?t get caught between Puffer gas and the scalding lava. After landing on the first stable platform, a second Magmoor will attack. Kill it, and then proceed to the other side of the cavern. Head behind the crates and drop a Morph Ball Bomb near the rock to expose a tunnel leading to another chamber, which is in fact an extension to the Lava Lake. This latter half is also filled with Puffers. Cross the platforms here and head through the door. The Pit Tunnel is blocked off by a metal structure in the center of the room. When you get the Space Jump Boots, you can leap over the obstruction, but for now you?ll have to make due with rolling under the floor. There?s a small space just before the metal portion of the floor that you can roll under, but scan one of the TRICLOPS before going through. A Triclops is a scavenging insect that usually appears in places where you must use the Morph Ball. They gather food in their powerful jaws, but won?t be able to distinguish your Morph Ball from a tasty morsel. When rolling under the floor, drop a bomb near a Triclops so that it goes for that instead. If you do get caught by a Triclops, it will carry over to the entrance and spit you back out, causing some damage. Kill or avoid the trio of Triclops, and then roll out on the other side. The Triclops Pit, named after the Triclops, is a very large cavern filled with Triclops and Puffers. When you get to the main area, shoot down all of the Puffers. There are a lot, including some guarding the path to the door (up ahead, slightly to the left), and more circling the rocks on your right. If you want to skip through the room, jump to the exit door by crossing the series of platforms. However, if you want an expansion, you?ll have to find a way to the door on your right, which you probably can?t see unless you draw up the map. Jump down to ground level onto the metal floor. Turn around to face the rock you just leapt from, and locate the small cavern. By the entrance, there?s a tunnel just large enough for the Morph Ball to slip through. This takes you underneath the floor. Battle your way through the patrolling Triclops horde and head to the back right corner of the floor, behind a large rock. Locate the exit tunnel and roll out to find the blue door. At the back of the Storage Cavern, you?ll find a MISSILE EXPANSION. Roll back through the floor, all the way to the beginning of the room. Use the left door to exit the Triclops Pit. Enter the Monitor Tunnel, a small cavern filled with Puffers. Pop them all and cross the room by using the moving platforms. Monitor Station, even larger than the Triclops Pit, is the last major room in Magmoor Caverns that you?ll explore this time through. The large metal outpost up ahead is guarded by four Auto Turrets. Try to take the three visible turrets out from the entrance door before they notice you. Now, eliminate the Puffers scattered throughout the edges of the room. Cross over to the door on your left, but ignore it and jump over to the center structure. The fourth turret is up on your left. Destroy it before it senses you. Now jump over to the left cavern wall by using the floating platform, and make your way left up the ledge. At the end, turn away from the wall and leap over to the glass bridge running parallel to the station. Enter the top floor of the building, where the Space Pirates keep their reports on Magmoor Caverns. The metal bridge up here takes you to the exit door. Transport Tunnel A takes you to the Transport to Phendrana Drifts North. It?s easy enough to get through with your Morph Ball, if you don?t plan on picking up the hidden Energy Tank. This tank is probably the toughest to secure, but they?re always worth it. To reach it, you need to perform at least three double-bomb-jumps. As if that wasn?t tricky enough, the locations you must jump up from are made of weakened metal blocks that break after being hit twice, and they?re the only thing keeping you from falling into lava. If you mess up, you?ll get burned. Start at the beginning of the tunnel and find the first metal block. Double-bomb-jump up to the hidden ledge, and roll to the left to find another double-bomb-jump location. Jump up to the second ledge, and roll to the end. Perform the final double-bomb-jump to reach the ENERGY TANK. If you can?t seem to perfect your double-bomb-jumps, try listening to the background music. The drum beat is timed perfectly for when you need to drop bombs. Follow the drum pattern, dropping bombs on beats 1, 3 and 4. If you do mess up and fall into the lava, use a bomb to get out. After you have the tank, roll through the bottom path and take the elevator to the icy Phendrana Drifts. The frozen landscape and frigid temperatures of Phendrana Drifts are a striking contrast to the molten caverns and blazing heat of Magmoor Caverns. Phendrana is the site of another section of Chozo ruins, a Space Pirate fortress and a system of crystalline caverns deep in the mountains. As always, stay alert as you encounter new enemies and find new treasures. Move through the Shoreline Entrance and blast the ice walls that block the path. The ice can be brought down with a missile or a charged beam shot. Step outside when you get to the Phendrana Shorelines. This winter wonderland is the hub of the Phendrana Drifts. It?s large and it has six doors leading to various places, including a Save Station on the opposite side. Scan the creatures flying around the room. FLICKERBATS fly in cyclical patterns but won?t bother you unless you get in their way or disturb them. Until you acquire the X-Ray Visor, they?re practically invulnerable. They possess optical camouflage that renders them partially invisible and able to avoid your auto-targeting. This also makes scanning them a longer ordeal than usual. In the back of the room, near the Save Station, you?ll find a CRYSTALLITE. Like Zoomers, Crystallites are content with crawling around walls and floors, doing their thing. They are covered in a shell of hardened ice that will deter all of your weapons except for missiles and the Plasma Beam (the latter of which you don?t get until the end of the game). After saving, you?ll want to reach the door on the right side of the room (facing away from the Save Station), on a ledge. The door is currently locked, so even if you do find a way up to it, it won?t do you any good until you scan the control panel that unlocks it. The panel is located behind the drainage gate on ground level, below the door. Use a missile to take down the gate, and scan the panel in the back of the small chamber. Watch out for the Crystallite too. With the door unlocked, turn around and head to the opposite side of the room. You?ll find a ledge on the other side of the Save Station that leads up to the door. Blast the Crystallites that get in your way as you jump over to the door. Shoot down the ice formation in the next tunnel and scan the bombu on the other side. SCATTER BOMBUS, like Pulse Bombus, are made of pure energy and can only be defeated once you get the Wave Beam. These types usually block tunnels. They don?t drop explosive charges like the Pulse Bombus do, and they don?t attract to you if you charge your beam weapons, but they do emit three electrical energy beams that they rotate around them, effectively blocking the tunnel. You can slip between these energy tendrils using the Morph Ball. If you get close to a Scatter Bombu outside of Morph Ball mode, it will mess with your visor, causing static. Do your best to avoid the bombu and get to the end of the passage. There?s another Scatter Bombu near the end as well. Ice Ruins East is shaped very similarly to the Watery Hall back in the Chozo Ruins. The path will curve to the right, directly into an open clearing. Two ferocious BABY SHEEGOTHS will awaken and attack with no mercy. Despite being just babies, these beasts are very dangerous and tough to kill. The front of their bodies is immune to your attacks, and the only weak area they have is their back, which is covered in a layer of ice. To expose the fleshy backside of a Baby Sheegoth, blast off the icy shell by getting behind it. Like the Plated Beetle, Baby Sheegoths will always try and face you in order to protect their weak backsides. Baby Sheegoths attack by ramming you, shooting ice blasts at you, and freezing you with ultra-cold breath (use the B Button to free yourself if you get frozen). Lock onto a Baby Sheegoth and strafe or jump so that you face its back. Pound it with ammunition until the pink back is exposed, and finish it off with a missile. Anyway, you?ll notice that the exit door is too high up to reach from ground level. Turn and climb the ruined structures along the outside wall. Jump over to the roof of the building with two Crystallites on it, and then leap from there to the path with an additional Crystallite pair. From here, you can reach the doorway. The Plaza Walkway is home to a group of ICE BURROWERS. Scan them immediately, because this is the one room you can find them in, and they?ll disappear from the game forever shortly. They look and behave identically to regular Burrowers, and are defeated in the same manner. Take the door at the end to a new portion of the Phendrana Shorelines. Walk up the snowy path and enter the next room. This leads to Ice Ruins West. Avoid the three Pulse Bombus as you cross. Ice Ruins West is not all that different from its eastern counterpart, in both appearance and predatory inhabitants. Contend with the pair of Baby Sheegoths first and head to the very back right corner of the room, where you?ll find a door with a blast shield. Unlock it with a missile and proceed. You can explore the rest of the room when you come back with better equipment. Continue through the Canyon Entryway and avoid the Scatter Bombus. Enter the Phendrana Canyon. Hop down to the bridge bellow and turn around to scan the piece of Chozo Lore behind the crates, THE TURNED. Below the bridge you are on is a Baby Sheegoth. Hop down to kill the beastie, and then walk forward to the edge of the ice canyon. Just before it, locate the blue control panel next to a Crystallite. The panel, when scanned, will align the platforms in the canyons so that you can cross to the tower on the other side. Jump from platform to platform to reach the tower, but move quickly because the platforms crumble after a few seconds (if you need to restart, scan the blue panel again to realign the platforms). At the base of the tower you?ll find the BOOST BALL, your first completely new power-up. While in the Morph Ball, charge the Boost Ball with the B Button and release to gain a burst of speed. You can travel quicker with it, and use the half-pipe configurations that you?ve been seeing all over the place. To escape, you?ll have to test out your new toy. Boost up onto the side of the canyon and use the accumulated momentum to reach the right edge of the half-pipe. Follow the path back to the entrance, and head back to the Phendrana Shorelines. As you step out onto the ledge, Meta Ridley will fly overhead?. ============= Chapter 6: High Waves. ============= Our next stop is back in the Tallon Overworld. You need to return to Magmoor Caverns the same way you came out, via Transport to Magmoor Caverns West. After taking the elevator to the land of fire, enter the Monitor Station and destroy the four perimeter defense turrets. Now head down to the door on the lower wall opposite to the door leading to Phendrana. This path is a shortcut back to Tallon Overworld. Walk across the glass bridge in the Shore Tunnel and enter a cave called Fiery Shores. Here, you need to hop across the lava pit and avoid the flame jets coming from the ceiling. When the jets aren?t shooting flames, jump across the pit to the larger part of the room. Kill the Magmoor in the lava and jump over to the rock with the lone Triclops. In order to get through the room safely, you need to roll through the small tunnel in the wall, which will dump you further ahead, past the lava. The only danger in doing this is the Triclops. If it grabs you, the mean little creature will spit you into the lava. Do him in and then use the tunnel. Walk through the rest of the room, avoiding the fire spouts and lava pools. In Transport Tunnel B, you?ll be immediately attacked by a Magmoor. Smash up the serpent and then roll up the stone ledge on the left side of the room. Follow the metal track across the lava pit, and don?t worry about falling off it because you won?t. On the other side, go through the door and take the transport up to the Tallon Overworld. If you didn?t explore the area near the Root Cave earlier, there will be an expansion under the bridge in Transport Tunnel B of Tallon Overworld. Climb up to the top of the Root Cave and make your way to the Tallon Canyon. The canyon has a half-pipe near the door to the Chozo Ruins transport. Use the Boost Ball to skate up to the top of the half-pipe. Kill the prowling Zoomer and walk across the bridge. The Morph Ball tunnel on the other side needs bombs to open. Bomb the three sandstone walls to get to the Gully. The Gully leads to the Landing Site. It?s very small, but the thick undergrowth makes it hard to spot the three Zoomers in the room, until it?s too late. Use the radar to detect the creatures on your way through. When you get to the Landing Site, stay on the ledge and turn left. Head along the path and leap over the gaps so that you don?t fall to ground level. The door on your left at the end takes you inside the Alcove, a hidden room containing the SPACE JUMP BOOTS. This new power-up allows you to jump doubly high by jumping again while in midair. Use it to escape the Alcove, and then save at your ship. Return to Magmoor Caverns again, the same way you came. Make your way through Transport Tunnel B to get to the Fiery Shores. When you get to the main part of the room, locate the pair of crates blocking a ramp, which looks vaguely like a ribcage. After you destroy the crates, roll into ball form and head up the ramp. Bomb yourself up the steps and onto a catwalk. Be very careful here. There are no sides to the catwalk and you can fall very easily so move slowly. At the end of the catwalk is a MISSILE EXPANSION. Drop down onto the platform below but watch out for the Triclops. Now make your way to Monitor Station. At the station, destroy all of the Auto Turrets and Puffers, and then make your way to the top level of the structure. Walk on to the bridge that leads to Transport Tunnel A then look up to your left. You should see a platform. Space Jump onto it and then jump again to the bridge directly above the one below that you just jumped from. This bridge takes you to the roof of the station. The device in front of the computer monitors is a SPINNER. Spinners are similar to Morph Ball Slots in that they activate or perform certain functions like raising bridges, opening gates and moving platforms. To use a Spinner, enter it in Morph Ball form and use your Boost Ball once inside. The fast rotation of the ball will power the Spinner and raise the broken bridge that is shown. Spin the device until the bridge locks into place. Leap from the end of the bridge to the new ledge. Turn right and follow the ledge to the Warrior Shrine door. This chamber was built long ago by the Chozo to honor their warriors. They left behind the ARTIFACT OF STRENGTH, resting in the hands of the Chozo warrior?s statue. Now return to Monitor Station and take the nearby transport back to the Phendrana Drifts. After a quick save next to Phendrana Shorelines, turn left from the Save Station and locate the platform suspended in the air by a gas burner, closest to the temple. You can use your Space Jump Boots from the edge of the pond to reach the platform, which in turn lets you reach the temple ledge. The door behind the pillars takes you through a tunnel. Smash the ice obstacle and avoid the Pulse Bombu. To prevent it from attracting to you, use a missile to break the ice. There are Scatter Bombus further down the tunnel as well. The majestic Chozo Ice Temple contains a new kind of enemy, but first you must deal with a foe of old, the Baby Sheegoth. Afterwards, scan the silvery- white bugs crawling around the structures on the walls. These are ICE PARASITES, rare cousins of the Parasites you found on the Orpheon. They are hardier than regular Parasites, so it will be tougher to kill one. Ice Parasites are very rare, so take this opportunity to scan it. Now start climbing the platforms and ledges around the room, killing the Ice Parasites and Crystallites as you go. When you reach the top of the Chozo Ice Temple, leap across to an icy hallway decorated with busts of revered Chozo individuals. At the end of the hallway, you?ll see a frozen Chozo statue and a gate on your right, blocking a door. The bust on the gate is inscribed with a clue as to how to open it. Scan it, and then ?seek his twin within this room?. The twin is one of the Chozo busts in the previous hallway. The statue to find is the replica of the Shaman. Once you find it, shoot it with a missile to reveal a Morph Ball Slot. The slot will raise the gate blocking the door when activated. In this next tunnel, get into your Morph Ball and roll into the path. You need to bomb the first metal block to access the lower tunnel, where two more sandstone blocks support a heavier black stone block. Blast away the bottom blocks and the top one will fall into place, clearing the path above. Repeat this process again on the other side in order to make it through the tunnel. The final room within the Phendrana ruins is the Chapel of the Elders. There are four sealed chamber in all four corner of the room, concealing the guardians of the Chozo?s sacred chapel. When you try and get to the other side of the room, two of the chamber walls will lower and release one Baby Sheegoth each. When you kill one Baby Sheegoth, another chamber will open and release its captive, meaning you?ll have to fight two at a time until all four are defeated. After all four die, a terrifying fully-grown SHEEGOTH will smash through the wall in the back of the room. Sheegoths are scary beasts, and if you thought the babies were ill-tempered, wait until you fight this thing. To make matters worse, this specimen is even larger than the Sheegoths you may encounter later in the game, making it stronger and tougher to kill. The Sheegoth has a resilient shell of ice crystals on its back that absorb your beam weapons and transfer the energy to the Sheegoths ice blast attacks, so don?t ever use your Power Beam. The Sheegoth will attack just like its babies, by charging you, spitting ice blasts at you and freezing you with its breath. The good news is that Sheegoths don?t have good stamina. Whenever the Sheegoth uses a breath attack, it will hyperventilate and be forced to rest for a few seconds. When it does, it will emit steam from its ears. This is a good time to use your missiles against it. You?ll know the Sheegoth is taking damage if it flashes red with each hit. This method will take a while, but it?s the safest way to bring down a Sheegoth. The second way is quicker, but more dangerous. Roll into the Morph Ball and pepper the Sheegoth with bombs. If it freezes you, free yourself with a bomb. Either way, the Sheegoth will eventually keel over and the WAVE BEAM in the back of the room will be yours. Collect the Wave Beam and the health that the Sheegoth left behind, and then look for additional pickups inside the crates in the corners. The Wave Beam is an electrical weapon that fires three streams of oscillating energy. In truth, it isn?t really stronger than the Power Beam, but it?s a lot cooler and has many more uses. It can open purple doors, activate energy-bases systems, home in on enemies like a missile, and it can rip through mechanical enemies like Auto Turrets and energy-based foes like bombus. Use the Wave Beam to exit the Chapel of the Elders and kill the bombus in the Chozo Ice Temple and Temple Entryway. When you reach Phendrana Shorelines, save your game. ============= Chapter 7: Phendrana Labs. ============= The next section of the game puts you deep into Space Pirate territory, and it also puts your new Wave Beam to good use. When you return to Phendrana Shorelines, you?ll find that the place had been taken over by a pair of Baby Sheegoths. For the most part, you?ll probably end up ignoring them though. It is worth noting however, that Baby Sheegoths are easier to kill with Space Jump Boots and the Wave Beam. The boots let you make a quick leap behind the beasts to get at their backs, and the charged Wave Beam will paralyze foes when hit. Your new footwear will also provide a few Shortcuts in Phendrana Shorelines. From the ledge above the Save Station, you can leap to the nearby gas platform and then again to the door to the Ruins Entryway. This way, you can get to Ice Ruins West without having to go through Ice Ruins East. Also, you can use the pillars in the middle of Phendrana Shorelines to leap from the entrance to Ice Ruins East to the Chozo Ice Temple. Spiffy. Now, you?ll want to go to Ice Ruins West. After putting down the two Baby Sheegoths, find the building on your right that contains a Crystallite and a piece of Chozo Lore (CIPHER). Space Jump up to the top of the building. Find the side opening to the outer area. You should see a STALACTITE hanging up ahead. Scan this new Research entry for your Log Book. There are only a limited amount of Stalactites in the game, and you can?t scan them after shooting them down. Lock onto the Stalactite?s fracture point and fire a missile to bring down the structure. The downed Stalactite will make a platform to the top of the building behind it. To your left is a pair of Crystallites. Shoot them and jump to where they just were, and then scan the Shriekbats hanging from the cave up ahead. These are ICE SHRIEKBATS, and like the Ice Burrowers, they disappear forever after you find your next power-up. Scan them before you kill them all, or before they kill themselves in their suicide dive-bomb attack. From below their former roost, turn right and jump over to the ledge with the Crystallite and the purple door. Use the Wave Beam to open it. Head through the Courtyard Entryway, which leads to the Ruined Courtyard. The entryway tunnel is infested by a group of Scarabs and a lone Pulse Bombu. The Ruined Courtyard has a large platform in the middle, and your goal is to reach the top of this platform. Turn right and activate the Spinner to open the hatches on some of the fountains at the top of the room. On the other side of the room, directly across from this Spinner, is another Spinner. Activate it to open up the remaining fountains and activate a Morph Ball Slot within the room. The slot is on a ledge above this Spinner device, and to reach it you must climb atop the icebergs down here until you reach the platform. Before you activate the slot you may want to eliminate as many Flickerbats as you can so that they don?t bump into you while you try and make your way through the room. You?ll have to manually target them in order to kill them. Now activate the Morph Ball Slot. Water will start pouring in from the fountains, filling the room. The rising water level will also cause some of the room?s floating icebergs to rise as well, effectively making a series of platforms for you to cross. A timer will start, counting down until the water level recedes again, so don?t dawdle. Hop across the icebergs and reach the other side. Directly across the platform with the Morph Ball Slot is a platform with a small hole in it. Use your Morph Ball to roll inside the hole. Inside this small chamber is an ENERGY TANK. Now roll through the hole in the corner and you will emerge near one of the Spinners. Wait for the water level to lower before repeating the water-filling process. Note that the Courtyard Entryway door will lock when the room is full of water, to prevent the neighboring rooms from flooding. This time when you jump the icebergs, jump onto the platform on the center structure. From there, jump to the rock platform sticking out from the wall and then make your way to the top of the large center platform. There are three doors up here; a purple door, a Missile Door Lock, and another door that you can?t use because it lacks power. Enter the door with the Missile Door Lock to save your game. Now head back out and enter the purple door. Get ready for some heavy Space Pirate action. The Specimen Storage room is the entrance to the Space Pirates? massive fortress and laboratory complex. Right from the start, your presence will be unwelcome. The Auto Turret in the room can be disabled with the scan of a button, to the right of the turret?s position. But as soon as the turret is down, you?ll be attacked by a SHADOW PIRATE. Scan it before it gets to you. Shadow Pirates are deadly members of the Space Pirate forces that wield cloaking devices, making them perfect assailants for areas with low visibility. However, because a Shadow Pirate?s cloaking gear eats a lot of energy, the pirate is limited to melee attacks. Use missiles and the Wave Beam to take this thing down. Continue to the door at the far end of the passage once you?ve killed the pirate. Step into the Research Entrance and immediately target the Auto Turret in the back of the room. You don?t want this thing shooting at you while you deal with the room?s remaining dangers. If you step too far in, you?ll trigger a short cinematic in which a security drone alerts the pirates of your intrusion, locking the doors on you on its way out. The room will fill with SPACE PIRATES. These are the standard warriors of the Space Pirate forces, and the same types you fought on the frigate. Back then, they weren?t that difficult, but these pirates are fully prepared and healthy. Space Pirates are by far the toughest enemies you?ve had to face. They?re fast, agile, powerful, tough to kill and can even dodge your shots. Don?t let them outwit you; use the Wave Beam and missiles, which home in on locked targets. The beam will stun a pirate, so follow up with a missile while it?s paralyzed. After you?ve killed the pirates, head to the back of the room and enter the door on your right. This is the Map Station of Phendrana. Download it, and then head back outside. To enter the door above you, use the ramp on the opposite wall. Kill the two Scatter Bombus in the next tunnel and proceed. Research Lab Hydra is blocked off by a security force field. Scan the blue panel to the right of the field to deactivate it, and then get ready to kill pirates. There are a lot in here, partly because this is a multi-story room. Activate the lift in the back of the room to reach the walkway, and then continue killing pirates until you reach the very top. Kill the Auto Turret up here too. After you?ve cleared out the room, head back down to ground level. There are five pieces of Pirate Data to scan in this room. Three are at ground level, while the remaining two are the very top. They are: PHAZON ANALYSIS, MINING STATUS, SECURITY BREACHES, PARASITE LARVA and GLACIAL WASTES. These logs will give you some insight into the Space Pirates? bioresearch and mining programs on Tallon IV. Also, if you?ve been following this guide from the beginning, you should?ve just unlocked Image Gallery 1 (in the Main Menu) by filling 50% of your Log Book. Hurray! At the top floor of the room, locate and shoot the purple door on the ceiling. Take down the three Auto Turrets in the next cavern. It?s worth noting that the Wave Beam will have unique effects on mechanical enemies like turrets. Rather than exploding like they usually do, a turret defeated by the Wave Beam will go haywire and start firing random blasts at random thing for a few seconds before finally bursting. Collect pickups from the crates in here as well, and then use the purple door up ahead. The Observatory is being patrolled by half a dozen Space Pirates. One of them will drop down from above directly in front of you. After you waste them, hop down and head towards the computer terminals on the other side of the room. To either side of the blue panel is a computer screen, with Pirate Data: PHAZON PROGRAM and Pirate Data: CONTACT, respectively (the left log may not appear until you scan the panel). Scan the blue panel to activate a Morph Ball Slot as shown. Jump up to the Morph Ball Slot by using the platform to the right of the computer area. Activate the slot to power another slot, higher up and across the room. Head to this slot by using the other platforms around the room, and activate it. This will activate the four Spinners at the base of the lower hologram projector in the center of the room. Hop down and use all four Spinners to initiate the hologram sequence. The upper hologram projector will lower and produce a replica of the star system. It depicts several orbiting planets, including the two central to the current Metroid story; ZEBES and TALLON IV. Scan their holograms to update your Log Book. Now, climb to the top of the room using the outer platforms. The lowered upper hologram projector will be in position so that you can reach the power- up resting on it, the mighty SUPER MISSILE. The Super Missile is the Beam Combo for the Power Beam. Charge up the Power Beam and then fire a missile while charging to unleash the devastating force of five missiles. Not only are Super Missiles powerful, but they can be used to break certain materials. Beware though; because they use up five missiles per shot, they can eat through your missile reserves quickly. After you collect the power-up, use a regular missile to break open the door up here with the blast shield over it, which leads to a Save Station. Now head across to the purple door to proceed through the pirate base. The next tunnel is home two a few bombus and, oddly enough, a pair of Crystallites. Shoot them and unlock the door at the end of the passage. The next room is a small elevator that leads up to the Control Tower. Scan the blue icon and ride to the top of the tower. Go through the purple door up here. The Control Tower is a pirate outpost at the very top of Phendrana. As soon as you enter, a group of pirates will attack. The large crates stacked up in this room provide excellent cover for both you and the pirates. After you kill them all, two Flying Pirates will enter the fray. Flying Pirates are formidable opponents equipped with jetpacks, lasers and rockets. They are very agile in the air and tough to kill. To worsen the matter, when a Flying Pirate is defeated, it will make a last-ditch suicide run towards you, damaging you with the jetpack explosion. Hopefully you already scanned these things back by the Frigate Crash Site in Tallon Overworld. If not, you?ll have to do it now while they?re gunning at you. A Flying Pirate?s agility makes it difficult to hit with non-homing weapons like the Power Beam. That?s why you should stick with missiles, the Wave Beam, or even better, the Super Missile. The latter will demolish a Flying Pirate in a single hit. After you kill the first two, an additional trio will show up. After they are gone, the doors will unlock and you can proceed to the next room, which is the elevator tower that takes you back down to the labs. Before you go, break all of the smaller crates in the room for pickups. Famous Exit the East Tower and kill the bombus patrolling the next tunnel. This tunnel leads to the second main research lab in Phendrana, Research Lab Aether. Walk in towards the stasis tank, and you will be introduced to the illustrious METROID. Metroids are the parasitic larvae of creatures native to a planet known as SR388. During the Zebes operation, the Space Pirates were planning to use Metroids as a new biological weapon. They have the ability to drain the life force out of any creature in seconds. After you scan the beastie, it will break out of its stasis tank and attack. Metroids are tough to kill. Their only true weakness is cold temperatures; when you get the Ice Beam, you can freeze a Metroid and then follow up with a shattering missile. Until then though, your weapon of choice should be the Super Missile. Metroids attack by latching themselves onto your face and draining away your energy. If you get one on you, roll into a Morph Ball and drop a bomb to shake the Metroid off. Also, if you see the Metroid sparkling with energy, don?t shoot it because it?s momentarily invulnerable. After you?ve pounded the Metroid with everything you?ve got, it will die. You?re not in the clear yet though; a Space Pirate will jump through the side window and attack. Like the Research Lab Hydra, Research Lab Aether is a multi-story complex with several pirates to kill. There are also five Pirate Data logs to scan after all the dust has settled. On the top floor, where the Metroid was, scan for Pirate Data: META RIDLEY and METROID STUDIES. On the floor bellow is Pirate Data: PHAZON INFUSION. Finally, METROID FORCES and METROID MORPHOLOGY are found on the bottom floor. There are also two expansions in here. An ENERGY TANK is trapped inside one of the stasis tanks on the bottom floor. Use a missile to break open the glass. The second goodie is located along the crossway between floors. Head up from the bottom floor using the small lift and walk along the ramp. Ahead of you along the ceiling of the bottom floor is a platform that connects to a catwalk. Hop onto the platform and roll into your Morph Ball to travel across the catwalk. Like the one in Fiery Shores, it requires that you move slowly and carefully so that you don?t fall. At the end of the catwalk is your MISSILE EXPANSION. There?s also an additional Metroid inside one of the lower stasis tanks, but it won?t break free unless you break the tank with a missile. After you collect your rewards, blow up the stack of crates on the bottom floor and enter the purple door beneath them. The door leads to an access tunnel to the Research Core. Within the tunnel you?ll be attacked by a new type of beetle, the ICE BEETLE. These beetles are similar to the regulars only the have a shell of ice on their backs that makes them tougher to kill. They are also rather aggressive. There are two Ice Beetles in here to kill. Now move on to the Research Core. The Research Core is a dimly lit room with tight security. The room has four levels, and each of the walkways is connected by ramps on the side of the room. Be quick to engage the Space Pirate on the top level, because the battle will likely alert the two Flying Pirates in the lower levels. After defeating all three pirates, scan one of the computer terminals on the top level. The monitor marked with a red scan symbol is one of the three override controls for the force field in the center of the room. Two more controls can be found as you move down to the lower levels. On the second level from the bottom, you?ll find the second control. Finally, scan the computer terminal on the bottom floor to fully deactivate the force field. Watch out for the Auto Turrets on the bottom floor as well. With the shield down, you can collect the item in the center of the room, the THERMAL VISOR. This new visor allows you to see in the dark by shading everything in purple, pink or yellow. Heat sources like enemies, power-ups and pickups will glow pink or yellow. The Thermal Visor is a handy item, but note that it won?t work in most of Magmoor Caverns, for obvious reasons. After you collect the visor, the entire research complex will lose power, leaving you stranded in the dark. Quickly switch on your Thermal Visor so that you can battle the two Shadow Pirates that attack. Even cloaked enemies like Shadow Pirates will be much easier to detect with the Thermal Visor. Now head up the ramp that leads to the next level. As you make your way back up to the top of the room, three Metroids will breach their containment tanks along the wall and attack. Deal with them quickly. At the top of the room, you?ll notice that the door is lacking power, and won?t open. It requires energy from the nearby power conduit. Using thermal imaging, locate the conduit (the yellow circle right next to the door) and lock onto it. Use your Wave Beam to energize the system and restore power to the door. Now make your way back out of the labs. The Ice Beetles in the Research Core Access have been replaced by two SENTRY DRONES. These security drones are deadly adversaries that start by putting the room into lockdown, meaning both exit doors will be locked until you eliminate the drones. They attack with lasers and machine guns, and have visor-disrupting abilities similar to those of Scatter Bombus. Use the Wave Beam to defeat them quickly, and then make your escape. Research Lab Aether now has an Auto Turret firing at you from the back of the room, and an additional turret at the very top, where you first fought the Metroid. Speaking of the critters, there are two more live Metroids within the stasis tanks on the bottom floor. If you shoot the tanks with missiles, the Metroids will break free. Why would you? Well, because Metroids attack both friend and foe. They?ll not only go for you, but they?ll also help in eliminating the Shadow Pirates in the room. The pirates may in turn be able to weaken or kill some of the attacking Metroids as well. Eliminate the leftovers and then climb to the top of the room. Don?t stop for anything as you pass through the Control Tower and the surrounding tunnels. Make your way back to the Observatory and take the opportunity to heal and save at the Save Station. Defeat the Space Pirates down below and collect additional health and ammo from crates. Kill the Sentry Drones in the Observatory Access cavern as well. When you reach Research Lab Hydra, eliminate the Auto Turret firing at you. Avoid the tanked Metroid and turn your attention to the solid stasis tank next to it. The tank is covered in a substance known as Cordite, which breaks apart easily with the Super Missile. Shoot the tank with a Super Missile to reveal a brand new MISSILE EXPANSION. If you want, you can release the Metroid up here and the others on the bottom floor to aid you in fighting the Shadow Pirates. Fight your way through pirate, Metroid and bombu alike, until you reach the Research Entrance. While this room isn?t dark, you still need the Thermal Visor to see the Auto Turret and the Shadow Pirates through the mist. Finally, after dealing with them, you can pass through the Specimen Storage room to escape the dreaded labs. At last, natural light! Now supply yourself with Missile Ammo via the crates in the room, and save your game. You may have trashed the Space Pirates? research facilities and stolen their prized Thermal Visor, but one project in Phendrana remains to be stopped; their Phazon animation project. Take a break, grab a snack and then get ready for a boss battle. From the Save Station at the Ruined Courtyard, cross over to the door directly across from you. The door requires power from a nearby conduit. The conduit is above the door behind an ornamental Cordite sculpture. Break open the sculpture?s cover with a Super Missile and then use your Thermal Visor to target the conduit, and shoot it with the Wave Beam. The door will activate and you can now enter the Quarantine Access. Kill the Pulse Bombus in here and proceed to North Quarantine Tunnel. Move quickly through the Morph Ball tunnel to avoid the annoyingly-placed Pulse Bombus and enter the door on the other side. The vast Quarantine Cave is the site of you third boss battle. Hop down from the ledge to begin. The piled boulders in the middle of the room will spring to life and form a huge rock behemoth. Meet THARDUS, the boss of Phendrana Drifts. Thardus is an animated and sentient golem brought to life by the corruptive nature of the Phazon it has been infused with. Thanks to the Phazon radiation surrounding the boss, targeting it is impossible if you use the Combat Visor. Switch to your Thermal Visor after you scan Thardus to get a lock on the boss?s revealed weak spot. Use a Super Missile or charged Wave Beam blasts on the weak spot to cause damage to Thardus. After enough punishment, Thardus?s Phazon radiation will overload your Thermal Visor, forcing you to revert back to the Combat Visor. Now, Thardus?s weak spot will be glowing blue, and you can lock onto it to continue your attacks. After you cause enough pain to Thardus, his weak spot will be destroyed, but a new one will be revealed. You need to switch back to the Thermal Visor in order to find the new spot. Repeat this process about half a dozen times until you go through every major rock on Thardus?s body. The final weak spot is his head. Sometimes, the larger stones will get in the way of his weak point, so wait until you have clear shot before you fire, especially if you?re using ammo- consuming Super Missile blasts. Twice, Thardus will stop the battle to change the local weather. First, he?ll summon a massive blizzard, and then he?ll stop again to calm the storm. While the blizzard is raging, it will be difficult to see Thardus and your surroundings. Thardus has four different attacks. He?ll swing a massive fist of boulders at you when you get too close to him. Also, he sometimes lobs stones at you. This attack is actually quite useful; if you target the approaching boulders and blast them, they?ll reveal much-needed pickups. Just watch out for the burst of Phazon radiation following the destruction of each rock. Thardus?s third attack is a river of ice that he?ll conjure to encase you in ice. This attack can be avoided if you jump over it. Lastly, his nastiest attack is his rollout move, where he rolls up into a tight ball and rolls around the room, causing massive damage if he hits you. You can use your Boost Ball or Space Jump Boots to avoid the attack. Do your best to avoid Thardus?s attacks and hang in there until you drop his life bar to zero. While the technique is simple, defeating Thardus will take great skill and effort. After you defeat Thardus, the great golem will come crashing down and reveal his bounty: a bunch of Ultra Energy units, Missile Ammo and the SPIDER BALL. The Spider Ball allows you to travel on magnetic rail systems while in Morph Ball mode to explore new areas. At any point you can scan one of these SPIDER BALL TRACKS for Research entries. After you collect everything, use the Spider Ball to climb the rails around the room and enter the door that leads to the South Quarantine Tunnel. Bypass the bombus and ride the new elevator to the Magmoor Caverns. ============= Chapter 8: Return to the Ruins. ============= When you arrive at the south end of Magmoor, turn around and shoot a missile at the Save Station door and save. Now walk around the elevator and take the opposite purple door. Walk down the passage, but watch out for the flame spouts on the ceiling that frequently expel fire. Take the purple door at the end. The Magmoor Workstation contains a hidden Energy Tank, but first you must destroy the three Flying Pirates in the room. Hop down to ground level and turn on your Thermal Visor. Most areas in Magmoor Caverns are too hot for the visor to work properly, but the Magmoor Workstation isn?t one of them. There are three power conduits in the room that will energize the small machine under the entrance door. All three are located near the walls, next to the three channels under the floor. After you power all three with the Wave Beam, the machine will cool the lava in the west channel and form a path under the door to the west chamber. Find the opening in the metal grate covering the floor and roll through. Watch out for the two Triclops underneath the floor. Roll down the west channel until you get inside the chamber at the end. Scan the computer terminal on the wall. This will cool the lava in the east channel. Roll back through the floor and enter the channel. You don?t have long before the rock liquefies again, so don?t take forever. Repeat the process once you?re inside the east chamber. The path to the northern channel will be exposed, and you?ll be given a few seconds to reach the chamber before the channel fills with lava again. Inside the north chamber, you?ll find the ENERGY TANK. Now get out of the floor and use the door to the left of the entrance, facing into the room. The other door in the room leads to a dead end, so don?t even bother. Scan the PUDDLE SPORE in the South Core Tunnel. Puddle Spores can?t be defeated, but if you shoot one while its insides are exposed, the clam will flip over and you can use it as a platform to cross the pool of lava, where you?ll have to get rid of two pesky Burrowers. Two more Puddle Spores allow you to cross the massive Geothermal Core, the next room. Afterwards, enter the North Core Tunnel. Rather than killing the Magmoor in this lava pool, shoot the Stalactite above it. You?ll kill two birds with one stone this way, for the falling structure will crush the Magmoor and also provide you with a platform to reach the other side of the room. The Twin Fires room is very similar to the Lava Lake, on the other side of Magmoor Caverns. Destroy the Puffers floating around the room and shoot down the Stalactite on your right. Use this and the subsequent platform to cross the chamber. Kill the Magmoor near the center of the room too. As you cross to the room?s second chamber, roll into the Morph Ball to get past the horizontal flame spouts, which will burn constantly. On the other side, bring down the Stalactite to kill the Magmoor just like the one in the North Core Tunnel. Cross over to the door and avoid the flame spouts on the way out. In the next room, you won?t be able to cross safely unless you use the hidden Spider Ball Track. The track starts in a small hole on the right side of the room. Follow the track to the end, and enter the Transport to Tallon Overworld West. Instead of taking the elevator up to the Tallon Overworld, continue your journey through the caverns. On the way through, you?ll notice that the Auto Turrets and Puffers in the Monitor Station are gone, replaced instead by two Flying Pirates. The same fate has befallen the Puffers at the Triclops Pit as well. Keep moving until you reach the larger chamber within the Lava Lake. If you shoot the central pillar with a Super Missile, the structure will break and a Chozo Artifact will be revealed. Jump over to the pillar and collect the ARTIFACT OF NATURE. Afterwards, head through the Burning Trail (save if needed) and take the elevator at the top to the Chozo Ruins. From the transport, enter the Sun Tower. Now that you have the Spider Ball, you?ll be able to properly explore this place and get back inside the Sunchamber. Take out the four Hives at the base of the tower to avoid War Wasp bombardment. The Spider Ball Track on the far side of the room will allow you to ascend to the top of the tower, but the track is blocked a little ways up by a runic gate. Locate the four runic symbols in the room to move the gate out of the way. Two of them are located behind two of the four pillars in the room. The other two are hidden behind the Cordite sculptures on the right and left wall. After you scan all four, look up past the gate and scan the moving creatures on the wall. These are OCULUS. They can?t be destroyed and any shot fired at them will deflect off into another direction. Climb up the track until you reach the broken section. You can continue upwards by bombing yourself up to the sandstone block of Spider Ball Track. Just wait for the Oculus traffic to pass before doing so. From the block, bomb yourself to the track that follows, but make sure you don?t mess up. The sandstone block will crumble once you bomb yourself up from it. Continue until you reach the top of the tower and head through the door. Ooh! What was that thing? A white, translucent creature will flee down the path at the Sun Tower Access. Follow the sound of its screeches and use the door on the far end to enter the Sunchamber, where the boss of Chozo Ruins once resided. Now, prepare to fight a nasty new mini-boss, or should I say, three of them. Three balls of smoke will emerge from the center of the room and take form. They each turn into CHOZO GHOSTS. Chozo Ghosts are the corrupt spirits of the Chozo, and will appear to defend the sacred locales of the Chozo?s ancient civilization. Ghosts are immune to natural energies such as fire, ice and electricity. In other words, the only weapon that will have any effect on them at all is the Power Beam, and the Super Missiles. Chozo Ghosts are also painfully difficult do defeat without the X-Ray Visor. They continually appear and disappear in between each relentless attack. When the Chozo Ghosts attack, they fire blasts of damaging ectoplasm at you that will disrupt your visor if you get hit. Try to lock onto a Chozo Ghost and hit it with everything you?ve got before it disappears again. Usually, a charged Power Beam shot and a Super Missile will be enough to kill a Chozo Ghost, but it?s impossible to tell which ghost you?ve already hit, and it?s equally impossible to tell where one will pop up next. Sometimes, a Chozo Ghost will go for a stronger blast by charging its energy in its hands for a few seconds. This is a great opportunity to get a strong hit on a ghost. When a Chozo Ghost is defeated, it will depart from existence and usually leave behind a decent pickup. After defeating all three, the vines blocking the other door will finally disappear, and a new Chozo Artifact will appear on top of Flaahgra?s carcass. Space Jump over the water and collect the ARTIFACT OF WILD, your fourth Chozo Artifact. Now head through the unblocked door and through the Arboretum to the Gathering Hall, where you can save. From here you have a choice. You can head up to the Antechamber and collect the Ice Beam, or you can take a small detour through the Ruined Shrine, to the Tower of Light. Here? you?ll find the Beam Combo for the Wave Beam. Except for the Super Missile, Beam Combos are entirely optional for beating the game, but they?re also very cool and powerful, so don?t miss out on them. From Save Station B, next to the Gathering Hall, head to the nearby Ruined Fountain. Remember, all of the water in the ruins is clean now, so don?t worry about falling in. This includes the water spewing out of the fountain. Enter the fountain and roll up into the Morph Ball. The water pressure from the fountain will propel you up to a Spider Ball Track. Grab onto it, and then follow it behind the wall to a MISSILE EXPANSION. Now return to the Main Plaza. When you get to the plaza, you can collect two more expansions. After killing the War Wasps and the Plated Beetle, aim a Super Missile at the large knot on the tree. A hole will be revealed, which you can jump into from the upper level of the plaza. The first MISSILE EXPANSION is inside. The second MISSILE EXPANSION is at the top of the half-pipe underneath the bridge. After collecting both expansions, head to the Ruined Shrine. An expansion remains yet to be collected within the shrine. Face the back of the room and use the half-pipe formation to boost up to the left ledge. Find the hole in the wall and roll though to find the MISSILE EXPANSION. Now boost over to the other side of the half-pipe. The tunnel here leads to a section of Spider Ball Track that will take you to a purple door. Use the door and navigate through the next tunnel to reach the Tower of Light. The ancient Tower of Light is flooded at its base, but you don?t need to worry about what?s underwater just yet. Leap up to the platform across from the entrance, and then thrice more to the first central platform. Look around the room, and use the Scan Visor to find weakened sections of the tower?s support pillars. Three missiles are enough to damage each weakened section, and damaging all four will cause the entire tower to collapse a bit. The platforms above you will now be within jumping distance, so leap onto the first and then turn to scan the PLATED PUFFERS that emerge below. Well, you?ve seen Plated Beetles and you?ll soon encounter Plated Parasites, so it?s only fair that Puffers get their own mutant strain of tough-to-kill variants. The armored skin of a Plated Puffer can only be ruptured with a missile, but otherwise they are identical to the regular kind. They?ll usually end up bumping into something anyway, so just don?t bother wasting any ammo. Continue climbing the tower, and repeat the process of destroying the four support columns further up. Two of the columns up here have Oculus prowling on them, making it just a bit trickier to hit the actual structure. After all four of these columns are down, climb up to the final set of platforms before the Plated Puffers arrive, and destroy the final four columns (this time, all four have Oculus on them). When you reach the very top of the tower, collect the WAVEBUSTER. The Wavebuster is the Beam Combo for the Wave Beam. It fires a continuous beam of devastating energy that automatically seeks out enemy targets, even without a lock. However, use it sparingly, for it costs ten missiles to fire and five every second to sustain it. Now that you have this powerful new weapon at your disposal, return to the Gathering Hall and save. To get to the Antechamber, you?ll have to go from the Gathering Hall to the Energy Core. As you climb up to the top of the Gathering Hall, equip the Thermal Visor. Shriekbats and Blastcaps stick out like sore thumbs under thermal imaging, and you can even lock onto the bats while they?re roosting as well, something you can?t do while looking through the Combat Visor. At the top of the room, jump up onto one of the red cylinders to either side of the door. From there, jump to the platform above the doorway, and use a Morph Ball Bomb on the metal grate to reveal a MISSILE EXPANSION. Now continue to the Energy Core. Skip through the Energy Core and through the passage leading to the Furnace. When you get there, climb up the Spider Ball Track to the top section of the Morph Ball tunnel. The blocks you have to cross over will disappear almost as soon as you touch them, so you have to be quick and combine your boosting skills with your bombing skills. Boost across the blocks and lay a bomb as soon as you hit the solid ledge. Hopefully, by the time t