Early Power Bomb FAQ

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(_) __.-~�����~-.__ ( M | E | T | R | O | I | D )
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\ / ( ) ( ) o / \ ( P | R | I | M | E | 2 )
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Early Power Bomb FAQ
(�����������������������������������) by Paltheos (Brian Lundin)
�~-.__ \�������/ __.-~� Version 1.0, 2/1/10
�~-.__ '-._.-' __.-~� � 2010
_____________�~-.___.-~�______________________________________________________
������������������������������������������������������������������������������
------------------- Contents -------------------

o
Overview
\
\
\ o
\ Secret World Tutorial
\ .'
o...___ \ .'
Acquiring Early Power Bombs..___ \ .'
''o----------------o
,-'|''--.._ Implications
,-' | ''o
,-' | Version History
,-' |
,-' o
,-' Legal Information
o
Closing
______________________________________________________________________________
������������������������������������������������������������������������������
.����������������. The purpose of this FAQ is twofold: The first is to
| | provide a thorough instruction on how to perform this
| Overview | "sequence break", and the other is to make a list of
| ---------------- | ramifications related to it (since, to my knowledge,
�.______________.� there is none).*** Aside from being one of the most
powerful weapons in the game, Power Bombs function like
master opening up many of the game's most potent shortcuts and providing a
number of route alternatives not meant to be available until near the end of
the game. A quick glance at the intended order of item collection, shown
below, should make that point clear.

o Missile Launcher
o Violet Translator
o Morph Ball Bombs
o Amber Translator
o Space Jump Boots
o Dark Beam
o Light Beam
o Dark Suit
o Super Missiles
o Emerald Translator
o Boost Ball
o Seeker Missiles
o Gravity Boost
o Grapple Beam
o Dark Visor
o Cobalt Translator
o Spider Ball
o **Power Bombs**
o Echo Visor
o Screw Attack
o Annihilator Beam
o Light Suit

Power Bombs come 18th in the 22 item sequence. However, by sequence breaking,
it's possible to collect them *6th* instead, as soon as the Jump Guardian is
defeated and the Space Jump Boots recovered. The Power Bomb *Guardian*, deep
in lower Dark Torvus Bog, is, at this point, far out of reach. Thankfully,
collecting a Power Bomb Expansion works to the same end, but all of them are
also out of reach - except for one.

The expansion in question is in Dynamo Chamber on the Light side of Temple
Grounds. It looks well-protected from collection as there are a series of
Power Bomb blocks around it, but these obstacles can be circumvented by
leaving the map in the adjacent rooms, collecting the expansion, and
re-entering the map. Understanding what to do requires knowledge of
so-called "secret worlds". What follows is a tutorial covering the basics.
The well-acquainted may skip forward to the next section.

***Those of you reading from gamefaqs, pacokorn's Sequence Break FAQ is
regretably extremely outdated. A multitude of new tricks have been discovered
since 2005, many of those discussed in this walkthrough included.
______________________________________________________________________________
������������������������������������������������������������������������������
.����������������. The term *secret worlds* refers to zones outside the
| Secret World | conventional game map. The name is a bit of a misnomer as
| Tutorial | they're still very much a part of the game world - you've
| ---------------- | simply left the boundaries the developers have created -
�.______________.� but the name's stuck. Accessing secret worlds is a matter
of finding and traveling through holes in the game map.
Some are large enough to jump through. Others are very small and demand
straining the game's clipping detection to slip through. Inside secret worlds,
puzzles and rooms can be avoided entirely by merely walking over them.
However, physics in secret worlds are dramatically different than within the
game boundaries. Since no terms existed to describe the states of a secret
world and the actions that can be carried out inside, the Metroid community
created some. These have been starred.

What Samus is standing on, what seems to be thin air, is called *aether*.
Jumping in aether is normally impossible; any attempts prompt the jumping
sound effect, but no other change occurs. Engaging Morph Ball triggers an
indefinite fall that stops only when Morph Ball is disengaged or after several
hours have passed and the very bottom of the game world hit. All other actions
- walking, shooting, aiming, and changing gear - are unaffected.

The physics around the map are different from that of regular aether. If you
approaches the edge of the map of the room the game register you as in,
you start to fall until you hit the bottom of that room. This bottom is
called the *standard*, and you can't drop any further from here without
engaging Morph Ball to begin falling to the bottom of the game world. However,
at some height above the game room, usually around the visible top of the
edges of the room, there exist planes where you can walk freely above and
around the room without dropping. These planes are referred to as the
*skywalk*.

There are two ways to reach the skywalk. One way is to *float* up to it. At
some distance away from the physical room (usually far away) Samus' altitude
relative to the room slowly, very slowly, rises. For a moderately sized room,
you may need fifteen to twenty minutes to float up to the skywalk from the
standard. The other, faster way is to *aether jump*. Approaching the room
below the skywalk does not always doom you to falling to the standard. Some
patches of aether around the physical game map allow her to jump, so it's
possible to reach higher planes of aether. The reasons and mechanics aren't
fully understood, but the general community believes that they involve jumping
through some part of the map boundary and then back out again. If you become
stuck on a boundary, (which is sometimes, actually, a goal), you can engage
Morph Ball to bomb your way up the wall (because you're stuck, you can't fall)
or out of the boundary, remembering to disengage once you're out so you don't
fall back down again. The process of manually scaling a room, by whatever
method used, is referred to as *wallcrawling*.

But the skywalk is only a means to an end. Usually, your goal is to use the
Secret World to skip a problematic room or level boundary. Like the "real"
world, you still need to use the doors to get to the next room. On the
skywalk, position yourself above a door and drop down by Morph Ball on top of
the door and blast it. Once it turns gray, move and jump around on top of the
door until two things happen. First, the room next to you loads and appears.
Second, the map indicates that you are in the room you just loaded. The
latter step is especially important for long distance travel. If the game
tries to load three rooms at once, it *will* crash. This step allows the room
you were just in to disappear once you leave.

Sometimes, using the skywalk to reach the top of a door won't work as there's
an obstruction between the skywalk and the door. In these instances, the only
way to proceed is to aether jump up to the door instead. If you still can't
stand on top of the door, then you need to jump through the base of the door
(after shooting it) and hope that the game loads and registers you in the
room you wanted.

There are a few ways out of the Secret World back into the game map. The most
common method involves approaching the door from above, dropping down in front
of it, shooting it, and letting the room load around you. In some cases, you
can fall right back into the room by going Morph Ball on the skywalk
somewhere above the room. Often times this won't work and you'll get stuck on
an invisible ceiling. Other times you can do the same thing and fool the game
into thinking you've fallen off a ledge and have it respawn you inside the
room. You can also load another room and have the game register you as in it,
but go back to the first room instead and clip through a glitchy ceiling,
although this method takes more time.

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������������������������������������������������������������������������������
.����������������. Before we begin, make sure you don't have a low health
| Acquiring Early | or missile count ("not low" is fine) and that the three
| Power Bombs | crates by the door to Dynamo Chamber in Temple Assembly
| ---------------- | Site are intact. If you've destroyed them, move two rooms
�.______________.� over to reset the room. You're free to kill the wasps and
their hives though. Depending on what choices are
.����������������. available to you and what you decide, they may be a
| Exiting | bother.
| the Map |
| ---------------- | There are two secret worlds near Dynamo Chamber. The
�.______________.� first is, as you might have surmised, in Temple Assembly
Site. The second is in Temple Transport B, which is
connected to the latter, and depending on which version of the game you have,
your options may be limited. There are a number of ways to get in both secret
worlds in all the Gamecube releases (regardless of what region you live in).
However, in the Wii releases, "Metroid Prime 2: Wii de Asobu" for Japan and
"Metroid Prime Trilogy" everywhere else, you must enter through Temple
Transport B and only one method of entry still works.

For Temple Transport B, the hole in the map is far above. From the door from
Temple Assembly Site, walk forward and jump on top of the scan pole used to
initialize the elevator. On the left are three segmented, talon-shaped
protrusions and on the right is a tree root jutting out from the wall. Between
them and higher up is a striped, diamond-shaped section of tree that is
lighter in color than its surroundings. A small, wooden branch diagonally cuts
across the diamond. Your target is the upper-left portion of the diamond, past
where the branch intersects it.

However, your normal maximum jump height isn't great enough to reach it. You
need to perform a *ghetto jump* (skip to the next paragraph if you know how
to ghetto jump). A ghetto jump is a basic height gain technique. Lock your
direction with L (for Gamecube) or Z (for Wii), run toward certain walls,
inclines, or objects, and jump *the instant you make contact*, while pushing
toward, around, or away with the directional stick (whatever works best for
that specific ghetto jump). I'll emphasize again that you must jump the
instant you make contact. If you've lost all your momentum from running,
you're too late, and if you haven't hit the object yet you have nothing to
ghetto against. Not all ghetto jumps require running into something - for many
you can just stand in front of a wall and find the right place to stand and
right way to angle the stick to maximize the ghetto effect - but the ghetto
jumps used for getting this expansion do. Also, do not let go of L or Z until
you've finished jumping.

The object used for this ghetto jump is the tree root on the right. Position
yourself on the back end of the scanning pole, closest to Temple Assembly
Site, and start running to the other end. Right before the end, ghetto jump
off the left edge of the tree root, then use your second jump to reach that
upper-left portion of the diamond. Take care not to get caught on the body of
the tree root. You can gain allot of height by doing so, but you'll be unable
to adequately adjust your trajectory to land in the right spot with your
second jump. Use the edge. Once successful, you'll be stuck on an invisible
ledge. Push toward the outside and activate the Morph Ball to break free. Once
you're free, cross over to Temple Assembly Site. When leaving Temple Transport
B, be sure that the game identifies that you are in Temple Assembly Site, as
indicated on the mini-map, and that Temple Transport B has completely
disappeared. Anything less and the game will crash when you try to load Dynamo
Chamber. Scroll down to the *** section to continue.

The hole in the map in Temple Assembly Site is behind the giant tree. It can
only be reached from the spike-shaped rock on the left-back side of the tree,
but that in turn can only be reached via a tricky ghetto jump off the tree
trunk and over the large root on the left (search for "*ghetto jump*" in the
last section if you skipped it and read that paragraph). This ghetto jump
is performed from atop the cage archway by the door to Temple Transport B.
Consequently, the set-up for this secret world takes longer, but the benefit
of going for this one (if you can) is that it halves your trip in the secret
world.

Climb atop the cage and stand on the left, downward-sloping side, run toward
the tree trunk, and use your first jump to ghetto jump off the tree. There's
allot of flexibility here. As long as you start running and hit the trunk
somewhere on this side, it's possible to make the jump, although my experience
has taught me that you're best off starting closer to the left edge, as you
probably won't get enough horizontal distance if you start too far right
(vertical distance is less of an issue). While you're jumping, roll the stick
ever so slowly counter-clockwise. The rationale is that once you've gained
enough height from the ghetto you should focus less on that and more on
covering the horizontal distance to clear the root.

The timing of the second jump is particular. Don't jump for the rock until
you've cleared the root with your first jump. You'll know whether or not
you've cleared it as Samus rolls cleanly over the root when successful. When
you fail, she rolls around it. Bad failures involve her rolling back and away,
while better failures result in her rolling around and then over, but too low
from the rock to make it with the second jump. The difference between
successes and failures is pretty big, and most of the time you can jump back
to the the cage when you think you won't make it.

This is difficult, especially that first jump, but don't relax when you make
it to the rock. This last part is easy, but a simple goof here can force you
to start over. Turn and face the backside of the tree and jump toward the hole
between the tree and the wall on your left. Try to hug the treeside of the
hole and, most importantly, wait until you've dropped a little before using
your second jump. Around the point when it seems your feet are by the large
tree root is fine. If you use it too soon, you'll hit your head on a branch
and fall back down.

Enter Morph Ball after you begin dropping from the second jump to push against
and through the hole. Once you're outside the map, hold a hard right with the
control stick and bomb jump twice. You should fall out and under Temple
Assembly Site. This is an ideal scenario. If you don't hold a hard, straight
right, you may need three bomb jumps. Demorph as soon as you fall out so that
you don't drop too far below the map. If you demorph too early, you may be
stuck inside the tree. Fiddle around with L and R and the control stick and
use bombs to try to shake yourself loose. You may need some time, but you will
eventually fall out.
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������������������������������������������������������������������������������
.����������������. You're now in the secret world of Temple Assembly Site.
| Acquiring Early | Whether by aether jumping or floating, climb on top of
| Power Bombs | the door to Dynamo Chamber. If you decide to float, it's
| ---------------- | not necessary to float to the skywalk of this room before
�.______________.� dropping onto the door. The distance of the physical room
from the point where you begin falling to the standard in
.����������������. this room is short, so as long as you're "fairly high" -
| Navigating | which I've measured out to about 15 minutes of floating -
| and Escaping | and are approaching the door head-on, you can just fall
| ---------------- | on top without using the Morph Ball. If you get stuck on
�.______________.� the wall, fiddle with the control stick in the general
direction of the door until you fall on top of it.

Align yourself on the Temple Assembly Site side of the door and strafe over to
the Dynamo Chamber side to load the room. Now shoot the door until it turns
gray. Now strafe back over to the Temple Assembly Site side of the door. The
map in the upper-right corner should indicate that you're in Temple Assembly
Site. It's necessary that the game believes you're in Temple Assembly Site as
that makes the walls in Dynamo Chamber glitchy and capable of being clipped
through. If you have any trouble with the room loading or map changes, just
keep moving around on top of the door and jump side to side until the game
cooperates.

Now jump straight up once, and at the peak of the jump, jump again over in the
direction of Dynamo Chamber. Enter Morph Ball, perform a double bomb jump, and
demorph at the peak to reach the skywalk of Dynamo Chamber. Walk directly over
the cavern holding the Power Bomb Expansion. Check one more time that the door
to Temple Assembly Site is gray. If it's not, shoot it now from here. Look as
far down as you can and once you can't see much of the cavern, enter Morph
Ball and drop down.

Demorph as soon as you hit the ceiling of the cavern; you can't drop through
simply in Morph Ball. Since this room is glitchy, you may not fall through
immmediately. If that happens, just jump (with a little tilt on it toward
another portion of the ceiling of the cavern), morph, demorph again once you
hit the ceiling. Eventually you'll fall through and grab the expansion.

Good job, but you're not home free yet. There are still two Power Bomb gates
in your way. Use your new, lone Power Bomb to blow open the cavern wall. Now
approach the door to Temple Assembly Site and the grayed out door will respond
to your movement and open up. Dynamo Chamber consequently becomes invisible,
although all the boundaries and Power Bomb gates are still here, but the nifty
part about this is that you can now shoot through the walls. Push against
either wall and shoot the crates by the door in Temple Assembly Site. Provided
you don't have exceptionally low health or missiles, a Power Bomb pick-up
*will* appear out of the first one you shot. Pull it in with Charge Beam and
use it on the Power Bomb gate ahead of you. Now go through the door and
re-enter Temple Assembly Site.

Done. Read on for applications and restrictions. If you'd like to explore, you
can skip the applications, but I suggest you read the restrictions, as some of
them can force you to reset the game.

______________________________________________________________________________
������������������������������������������������������������������������������
.����������������. o Power Bombs tear most early-game enemies to shreds.
| | This includes a number of bosses, who have
| Implications | unsurprisingly been given no protection against them.
| ---------------- | Dark Samus 1 can be heavily damaged by a Power Bomb,
�.______________.� but since she's usually moving away from you, hitting
her for full damage is challenging. A better and oft
.����������������. cited example is the Boost Guardian, who can OHKOed
| | from a direct hit on all but the highest difficulty
| Applications | (then, he has around 20% health left).
| ---------------- |
�.______________.� o The Gravity Boost can be skipped. It has only two
required uses:

1) To reach a bomb slot in Catacombs that opens a portal and sets you en
route to Undertemple Shaft, which leads to Grapple Guardian and the second
point, discussed further below. There are two ways around this problem. You
can either ghetto jump to the top of the laser in Crypt and jump to the
white door from there, which would have been on the way and lets you bypass
the problem entirely, or you can perform an underwater dash from atop some
of the debris by the alcove with the bomb slot to land right in front of it
(if you have a Gamecube version - underwater dashes do not work in any of
the Wii versions). To perform the dash, hold L and push toward the bomb
slot, then jump and press R at the same time. Once you're off, let go of the
directional stick but continue holding L and R. Use your second jump midway
as well (while still holding L and R and not touching the directional stick)
to reach the bomb slot. Important note: If you're also interested in
skipping the Grapple Beam (Gamecube only, at the moment), the latter method
is the best choice - The portal in Catacombs also leads to a room with a Sky
Temple Key, and the only entrance if you choose the Crypt ghetto jump takes
you through the Grapple Guardian's room.

2) To climb to a ledge in Hydrodynamo Shaft that has a portal that takes you
to Undertemple Access and a Dark Torvus Temple Key. However, the doors in
Undertemple Access are both Power Bomb doors and the adjacent rooms can be
reached through either of the method discussed above, so the Hydrodynamo
Shaft portal (and the Gravity Boost) can be skipped.

o Sanctuary Fortress can be accessed extraordinarily early by taking the
yellow door in Ventilation Area A (Agon Wastes) to an elevator. The stretch
of applications varies depending on which version you have. In all versions
this allows you to pick up the Missile Expansion in Hazing Cliff without a
hitch. Hoewver, the following breaks can only, at the moment, be performed
on Gamecube versions of the game. You can acquire Screw Attack as soon as
you pick up the Boost Ball, and the Spider Ball after that, although a tough
series of tricks awaits you - a tricky ghetto jump and mid-air morph over
the spider tracks in Hall of Combat Mastery, a scan dash or roll jump to
cross Watch Station Access backwards, and, if you dare to skip Grapple Beam,
the difficult scan dash/roll jump onto the robot to cross Grand Abyss. If
you come with Grapple Beam to avoid the trouble of Grand Abyss but don't
have Spider, then you need to open the portal in Watch Station by jumping
on top of a Rezbit with its shield up, then onto the Spider track, and then
jump toward the bomb slot and mid-air morph into the bomb slot. The
sequence here can be bent at most to "... Early Power Bomb -> Dark Beam ->
Light Beam -> Boost Ball (skipping the Dark Suit via a ghetto jump to the
portal in Abandoned Base and getting the Boost Ball before Super Missiles
via a tricky bsj over the gate in (Dark) Forgotten Bridge) -> Screw Attack.
At the moment, I'm unsure if explanations for these fit in with the scope of
this guide, so I've left them out. The brief descriptions I've provided are
enough to help the inquisitive find full explanations with little trouble.

o Less advanced than any of those is delaying the Chykka fight. You can avoid
fighting Chykka until you've collected every other major item, if you so
wish, since there's nothing you *have to* use the main entrance to Sanctuary
for, but there are a few things to keep in mind while doing it. If you want
to cross Unseen Way without the Dark Visor (for whatever reason, the only
thing of importance in that direction is the Sky Temple Key which requires
the Dark Visor anyway), shoot into the void until you hit the platform and
follow its trail until it's in range to jump on. You also may want to avoid
Minigyro Chamber. That puzzle can't be solved from the Hall of Combat
Mastery side - you just fall into a secret world instead. The easiest way to
reach the Ing Hive Key in Aerial Training Site is to take the Torvus
elevator to Sanctuary, which lets you reach that wing of the fortress
without any trouble. Chykka delay remains unconfirmed on Wii versions. Since
the conventional early SA (and early Spider) route does not seem to work,
reaching the door to the elevator to Sanctuary in lower Torvus is a problem,
the Ing Hive keys are, of the moment, required in the Wii versions (a bsj
to bypass the gate to Quadraxis is no longer an option), and no one has
reported a secret world route around these problems, the Dark Visor is
apparently required for Wii Sanctuary Fortress.

o The Sunburst can be collected early, since both doors to Grand Windchamber
are yellow doors. You can collect it as soon as you've found the Boost Ball,
Seeker Missiles, and Grapple Beam. If you've collected the Screw Attack
early, a bsj-Screw Attack also lets you reach it.

o The Missile Expansion in Portal Chamber (Torvus Bog) and the Power Bomb
Expansions in Great Bridge (Torvus Bog) and Putrid Alcove (Dark Torvus Bog)
can be acquired as soon as you obtain the Light Beam. Their only
requirements are Power Bombs. The Missile Expansion in Torvus Grove can be
reached the first time you enter the room (ordinarily, this is after
receiving the Emerald Translator). The Missile Expansion in Storage A (Agon
Wastes) can also be obtained earlier; the soonest is right after finding
Seeker Missiles.

o You can now drain the water in Gathering Hall the first time you visit the
room. This has an amusing effect: The Bloggs continue to spawn; they can fly
now, in fact, although the animation around them still creates bubbles. The
only practical benefit of this is that they're no longer a threat. Out of
water, they can't charge at you.

______________________________________________________________________________
������������������������������������������������������������������������������
.����������������. o Even with an expansion, you still need to defeat the
| | Power Bomb Guardian. For some unknown reason, the
| Implications | Flying Ing Cache in Dark Oasis does not spawn until
| ---------------- | he's dead, and without the Cache's Sky Temple Key, you
�.______________.� cannot complete the game.

.����������������. o Do not use a Power Bomb on the Spider Guardian. It
| | kills him in one hit, but has the downside of
| Restrictions | bypassing his prompt to drop the Spider Ball, and as of
| ---------------- | now no way exists to beat the game without it. Beat him
�.______________.� normally.

o Do not use a Power Bomb when caught in the jaws of a Blogg. All Bloggs are
gone at the point you acquire the Power Bombs normally, and the game hasn't
been programmed to restore all Morph Ball functionality after killing one
with it. More specifically, if you kill a Blogg with a Power Bomb, you can't
demorph again and are forced to reset.

o Do not drop down the Morph Ball tunnel in Sacred Bridge before obtaining
either the Emerald Translator or the Dark Visor. Without one of those items,
it's impossible to escape that segment of Temple Grounds. If you save (Great
Temple), then you must erase the file and restart from the beginning to
continue.

.����������������. Version 1.0 (2/1/10)
| Version | ��������������������
| History | Ready and complete. 32KB
| ---------------- |
�.______________.� Commentary: Done(?) I'm undecided on whether or not to
add additional information on related breaks I allude to.
So far I've explained only breaks related to early Power Bombs and for which
additional information isn't available or is difficult to find. "Exceptionally
early Screw Attack", for example, is related, to an extent, but still feels to
be pushing the scope of this guide. All the information for regular early
Screw Attack is readily available and isn't difficult to find. Unless
something makes the matter clear to me, I'll continue to leave it be.

______________________________________________________________________________
������������������������������������������������������������������������������
.����������������. This may not be reproduced under any circumstances except
| Legal | for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any
| Information | web site or otherwise distributed publicly without
| ---------------- | advance written permission. Use of this guide on any
�.______________.� other web site or as part of any public display is
strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright.

All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their
respective trademark and copyright holders. No section of this guide can be
used without my permission. This includes, but is not limited to posting on
your website, making links to my guide, including parts of my guide in your
own, or making reference to any material contained within.

All the sites mentioned below have permission to do the above. Please email me
at [email protected] to enquire about gaining permission to use this
document.

This document may be exhibited only on the following websites:

www.GameFAQs.com.
www.neoseeker.com
www.supercheats.com
www.gamerhelp.com

.����������������. Thanks to Retro Studios for creating another excellent
| | game. It doesn't shine as brightly as its older sibling,
| Closing | but it's still a fine game that I've grown to enjoy the
| ---------------- | more I play it.
�.______________.�
I learned about this sequence break from watching
DJGrenola's 17% speed run; it's what drew me into breaking Echoes. Thanks
allot.

Thanks to all the sites that host this guide.

If anyone has any questions, contributions, or comments about this guide,
please contact me at [email protected].

___________________________
���������������������������
Copyright 2010 Brian Lundin