A remaster of Metroid Prime has been the subject of many rumors and speculation for some time. For a few years now there has been talk of a possible re-release of Samus Aran's adventure, and the announcement finally arrived during the Nintendo Direct on February 8th Metroid Prime Remastered. The surprise launch made the title available on the Nintendo store just a few hours after the event, and the game finally arrived in a physical version on March 3, 2023.
Metroid Prime Remastered is a rather faithful remake of the original: an updated technical sector and the different accessibility options now allow you to enjoy the adventure to the fullest, but the gameplay and structure of the 2002 game remain unchanged.
This allows us to draw up a list of all Samus Aran's weapon and suit upgrades that we can recover during the adventure and we list them in this special, also revealing some secrets on where to find them.
Weapons
One of the first weapons to recover in chronological order is the Missile launcher: a cannon upgrade that will allow us to fire powerful explosive projectiles. Initially, the amount of ammunition that Samus will have available will be limited, but we will be able to increase it by recovering the Tanks scattered around the map. As we said, the weapon will be recoverable without particular problems at the beginning of the adventure, during the exploration of the Chozo Ruins. It will soon prove to be a powerful combat tool, but it will also be necessary to open armored doors and continue exploration.
An upgrade to Samus's cannon that is always found in the Ruins area is the Recharge Ray, which will allow energy to be stored within the weapon to release a powerful charged shot. It can prove particularly useful when it comes to eliminating small groups of enemies, but the Reload Ray also has another peculiar characteristic: during the loading of the shot, in fact, the cannon will attract to itself all the objects at which it is pointed, thus allowing us to easily recover energy and ammunition even at a distance.
Another upgrade that adds to Samus' offensive arsenal is the Wave Ray, which allows you to hurl powerful electrical discharges at enemies. An excellent solution against various types of enemies, but above all the necessary tool to open blocked purple doors. Retrieving the Wave Beam requires you to have already obtained the Star Jump Boots and thoroughly explored the Phendrana Chapel of the Elders.
In fact, as you can imagine, moving forward in the adventure, new skills will be needed to complete the exploration of the maps. Once we have obtained the arachnosphere, we will be able to return to the Chozo Ruins to recover the Frost Ray: a powerful weapon that allows you to freeze certain types of enemies, and can be used in combination with the Recharge Beam. As with the other Ray improvements, however, the Frost Ray is also necessary to open a specific type of doors, namely the white ones.
When events inevitably lead us to visit the inside of the mines, we will soon also come across the Hook radius. This cannon upgrade will allow Samus to cling to pre-established points with a sort of energy grappling hook, having the ability to swing to give herself momentum and thus reach new areas. Be careful though, to obtain this upgrade you will need to already have the Enhanced Bombs available. Just head towards the Mineral Processing Room, follow the rail in the center of the room via the Arachnosphere, and blow up the pile of debris: inside the opening there will be the Hook Ray.
Once you have obtained most of the available weapons, you will need to head towards the Magmoor Caves to recover the most effective Beam upgrade of the entire adventure, namely the Plasma Ray. With this new weapon available it will even be possible to disintegrate some of the smaller targets, but it will also prove to be a valid aid during battles against the most imposing enemies. To recover this very powerful tool it will be necessary to already have the Ice and Hook rays, the Enhanced Bombs, and the Arachnosphere upgrade, and then head towards the Geothermal Core and follow the path that the Hook Ray requires.
Morphosphere
One of the most iconic abilities linked to the entire Metroid series is certainly the Morphosphere: an upgrade that allows Samus to transform into a sphere and quickly roll around the game map. Furthermore, it will be necessary to assume this form to be able to exploit the many tunnels and hidden passages, recover optional upgrades and complete most of Metroid Prime Remastered's puzzles. The Morphosphere will be at our disposal very quickly, after having recovered the ability inside the Chozo Ruins.
The first upgrade dedicated to Samus' "spherical" form will be the Morphosphere Bomb. Once this ability has been obtained, it will be possible to place up to three bombs on the ground while our protagonist is inside the Morphosphere, and this opens up different options: these small explosives can obviously be used as offensive tools, however their main use will be to open gaps in some walls and thus unblock previously inaccessible ways. By placing a Morphosphere Bomb directly under Samus, the explosion will push the protagonist upwards, thus offering the possibility of a vertical jump of our sphere.
Another very useful upgrade for our Morphosphere form is found in the Phendrana Canyon: the Turbosphere, an upgrade that will give Samus the ability to charge energy and use it to rapidly accelerate the sphere. This will allow us to go up the steep ramps scattered across the game map, thus reaching previously inaccessible areas.
At this point, our Morphosphere form will not yet have reached its maximum potential, but the next upgrade is not far away: just face Thaedus, the rocky monster of Phendrana. Once defeated, we will get theArachnosphere, a feature that allows you to take advantage of the magnetic rails scattered throughout the game maps, and which, at this point, we will have already encountered in the areas we have already explored.
Upon reaching the Phazon mines, the first upgrade to recover is also the last regarding the form of Morphosphere: the Enhanced Bombs. This is a vertical upgrade dedicated to Morphosphere Bombs, which increases the power generated by the explosion and allows you to destroy more resistant objects with a single charge. As we said, we will find the Enhanced Bombs in the Phazon mines, in the center of an intricate labyrinth with electrified walls.
Metroid Prime Remastered Suits and Visors
Before leaving the Chozo Ruins you will need to recover the Termotuta, which we will get once we defeat the Flaahgra boss. This, in fact, will allow us to continue exploring the Magmoor Caves: the area is initially inaccessible due to the very high temperatures, and it is only thanks to the Thermal Suit that we will be able to enter the caves without suffering the effects of extreme heat.
- Astrojump Boots, as the name suggests, are instead an enhancement that directly influences the mobility of our protagonist, allowing Samus to perform a real double jump. Obviously these boots will be necessary to bridge large distances and explore new places, but to obtain them we will need to use the ramp to the Turbosphere in the Tallon overworld, to reach an elevated platform.
Il Thermal visor instead, it will be an upgrade entirely dedicated to our visor: once obtained, this will allow us to detect any object that emits heat, including, obviously, enemy targets. To find it, you will need to enter the Phendrana Research Laboratory and deactivate the force field. To do this, simply analyze the three control panels using the Scanner Viewer.
You may have already noticed, but in the opening stages of the adventure Samus' mobility in the water is decidedly compromised. To solve the problem and continue exploration, we will need to find the Gravity Suit. This suit upgrade in fact allows the protagonist to move easily even underwater, and to obtain it we will have to thoroughly explore the Phendrana Gravitational Chamber, passing through the area where we faced Thaedus. The Arachnosphere and the Frost Ray will be needed to make our way to the objective, but at the end of the path we will be able to obtain the Gravity Suit.
We therefore arrive at the final upgrade also regarding Samus' visor, namely the X-ray viewer. As the name easily suggests, this object will allow us to see through solid objects, also allowing us to reveal some secrets and objects invisible to the naked eye. As regards the functions in combat, it is also worth remembering that the X-ray visor is able to lock on to some particularly evanescent enemies, such as Chozo's Ghosts. To recover this visor you will need to have already recovered the Powered Bombs, reach the Tallon overworld and blow up the large rock blocking access to the caves.
Combo attacks
Moving instead towards the Phendrana Observatory, we will be able to obtain our first special attack involving missiles: the Super Missile consumes 5 ammunition, but the destructive power of this weapon can really make the difference against the most difficult opponents.
Returning to the Chozo Ruins, to the Tower of Light, we can instead find the Wavebuster, second special attack linked to missiles, which combines the power of the latter with the Wave Ray: be careful though, because it requires ten ammunition to be activated, and then consumes another 5 for every second of use.
Another special attack is theIce Spreader, recoverable this time by exploring the Shore Tunnel, at the Magmoor Caverns. Ten missiles will always be required to use the attack, but this time we will find ourselves using the power of the Frost Ray, thus obtaining an icy projectile that explodes on impact, scattering ice throughout the surrounding area.
Finally, we have a weapon effect that pretty much explains itself: the flamethrower it will be the last special attack at our disposal, the combination of missiles with the Plasma Beam, and we will find it at the Phazon Mines. The consumption of ammunition will be similar to what we saw with the Wavebuster, therefore ten for activation and five for every second of use, but now you will be able to use real tongues of fire to burn anything in your path.
Phazon Suit and Phazon Beam
We have left the last two upgrades that we will be able to find in the game to the end: the final version of Samus' suit, the Whole Phazon, will in fact be obtainable together with Phazon Ray only during the last stages of the adventure. To receive these final upgrades it will be necessary to defeat the Omega Pirate inside the mines. The Suit will increase Samus' defenses and make her invulnerable to the strange blue substance present in the map, while the Phazon Ray will be a special weapon which can however only be used during the final battle.
