                                 MMMMMMMMMMMMM
                                   MMM    MMM
                 888    888D8888 888888 88888    888  88 8888
                 888  88888888888888888 8888888888888DM88888888D
                88M888M88D88MMMM M888MM 88MMM88M88 M88M88M88MMM88
               88MM8MM88M88M      88MM 88888888M88 M888888M8? MM88
              888M M D888888888M  88MM 8888888MM88  M88M88M88  M888
             888M   Z88M88MMMMM   88MM 888MM88 M88, M88M88D888 MM88
            888M    888888M      888MM 888MM888 M88 M888M88M88  MD88
           888MM   888M8888888+  888MM 888M,M88 M888888MM888N8888888
           MMMM    MMMMMMMMMMMM   MMMM MMMMMMMMM MMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMM
                                     M    MMM
                                   MMM    MMM
                                 NMMMMMMMMMMMM

________________              ___________________               _______________
FAQ/Walkthrough |            | Author: Banjo2553 |             | Copyright 2010
===============================================================================
Welcome to my guide for Metroid II: Return of Samus for Game Boy. This is the
second installment to the Metroid series. Like my other 2D Metroid guides, I
will provide mini-maps of where to go, as well as brief descriptions of the
more in-depth stuff. Now, the original Metroid didn't have a map system, and
this one doesn't either, but the difference with this game is that the room
layout is a bit unorthodox. Not only do a lot of rooms in the game overlap each
other (provided it was all one coherent map), they aren't shaped in squares and
such. So forgive me if my maps are slightly off.

Out of all Metroid games, I find this one to be the most overlooked for some
reason. Sure, it's not as great as the game that came after it (Super Metroid),
or even as great as Fusion, but it's still a good game and it did a lot for the
Game Boy's limitations. Sprites and environments were very detailed (major
upgrade from Metroid on the NES, despite the lack of color), the music was a
bit creepy (though is a bit lacking), and the Metroids still proved to be a
viable threat, considering they're the main enemies in this game. But, more on
that in the Story section.

Aside from the walkthrough, there will be other sections describing items, item
locations, enemies, and all that separately. Hope you enjoy this, and I hope
the ASCII above looks legible. Oh yeah, as this guide uses ASCII maps, it is
advisable to view this with a fixed-width font, otherwise the maps will look
awful and inaccurate. I used Lucida Console for this.
===============================================================================
 .---.          .---.         ||
{_   _}        /  ___}        ||
  | |          \     }        ||
  `-'  able of  `---' ontents ||
===============================

I. Story
II. Gameplay
III. Walkthrough
  a. First Step
  b. Ancient Civilization?
  c. Valuable Ruins
  d. Metroid Massacre
  e. Last of the Moheek-ans
  f. Omega Trouble
  g. The Last Metroid
IV. Items
  a. Upgrades
  b. Energy Tanks
  c. Missile Pods
V. Biology
VI. Legal Notices
VII. Credits

_______________________________________________________________________________
                         /¯\
------Story-------------'   \ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯ ¯  ¯  ¯   ¯   ¯    ¯
                             ¯
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
This is the story taken from the official Metroid II instruction manual. Enjoy,
because the game itself does not start with its story at all.

------------------------------
In the year 2000 of the history of the cosmos, representatives of many
different planets in the galaxy established a congress called the Galactic
Federation. A successful exchange of cultures and civilization resulted, and
thousands of interstellar spaceships ferried back and forth between planets.
When space pirates appeared to attack the spaceships, the Federation Bureau
created the Galactic Federation Police.

There are many unknown planets throughout the galaxy. Many of these are causes
for concern to the Galactic Federation. To take care of this, they employ Space
Hunters, the greatest of which is Samus Aran.

Samus' greatest achievement has been the destruction of the pirates' Metroid
plans on the planet Zebes. In the year 20X5 of the cosmos, an unknown life-form
was discovered on planet SR388 by a Galactic Federation deep-space research
ship. The research crew took a sample of the creature and placed it into a
suspended animation stasis capsule and dubbed the life form "Metroid". On their
way back to their home base, the research ship was attacked by pirates who
stole the stasis capsule containing the life-form!

The Metroid in suspended animation could easily be brought back to life, and
exposure to beta rays was all that was needed to cause it to multiply. This
highly dangerous creature will cling to any other creature and suck away its
victim's energy.

Samus, by order of the Galactic Federal Police, successfully and singlehandedly
penetrated the space pirates' natural fortress on the planet Zebes. After a
series of intense battles, Samus destroyed all the Metroids she encountered.
Her destruction of the reactivated Mother Brain at the center of the fortress
crushed the pirates' evil plans.

After serious consideration of how terrible and destructive the Metroid life
form was, the Galactic Federation sent another research ship to SR388. This
trip was to make sure there were no more Metroids left on the planet.

After a short time the Federation received an emergency notice from the
research base. They had lost contact, and the research ship was missing. The
base had already sent a search and rescue party, but after their initial
contact, the rescue ship was not heard from again.

A special combat group was assembled consisting of armed soldiers from the
Federation Police and was immediately dispatched to SR388. After transmitting
their primary landing data, they also were never heard from!

Rumors spread fast, and again, the whole galaxy was seized with the fear of
Metroids.

With this limited information, the Federation was positive that a Metroid must
still be surviving, hiding deep in the planet underground. Even one living
Metroid could easily wipe out an entire planetary civilization. So, the
Galactic Federation called its members to an urgent conference to find a way to
overcome this menace. They quickly came to one conclusion, which was unanimous
and simple......Give Samus Aran the order to exterminate the Metroids!

The underworld of SR388 is a complicated structure of multi-layered domes and
spaces. Some of these contain the ancient ruins of some unknown civilization.
These are home to many life forms living on the planet.

Samus, charged with her mission from the Galactic Federation, hurried to the
planet SR388.

Samus' confrontation with the Metroids has started again. You must help Samus
save the Galaxy from the Metroids!

_______________________________________________________________________________
                         /¯\
-----Gameplay-----------'   \ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯ ¯  ¯  ¯   ¯   ¯    ¯
                             ¯
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
Having being on the Game Boy, the controls for this game are pretty simple
compared to the later Metroid games. The whole gameplay is evolved and more
complex than the NES Metroid, however.

A Button: Jump
B Button: Shoot weapon
Control Pad: Up makes Samus aim up, left/right makes Samus move in those
 directions, down makes her crouch. Controls are same when in the air, except
 for down, which makes her aim directly below her.
Start Button: Pause game. Press again to unpause.
Select Button: Switch between beam and Missiles.

And those are the basic controls. If you want to reset the game, press and hold
A, B, Start, and Select at the same time. Samus's controls get more complex as
she gains abilities and weaponry, but that will be covered in the items and
walkthrough sections. Samus can use her Morph Ball ability by pressing down
while crouched.

When it comes to Beams in this game, it still retains the permanent Beam switch
like in the original Metroid. Once you get a Beam powerup, you're switched to
that. If you want a different one, you'll have to find it. Also, this game
features a save option: find a special save station in the game and stand on
it. It will ask you to save. If you do, the next time you load the game, you
will be placed at that point. This feature returns in all future Metroid games,
so it's a really nice addition.

_______________________________________________________________________________
                         /¯\
----Walkthrough---------'   \ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯ ¯  ¯  ¯   ¯   ¯    ¯
                             ¯
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
So this is the big part of the guide. I bet you want to know how to get all
items in this game, eh? Well, this is the right guide for you. It even provides
nice-needed maps in this game to help you out, rather than just pointing out
which directions you need to go and hope you know what I'm talking about.

ANYWAY, when you boot up the game, you'll be taken right to the title screen.
No intro or anything. The "music" is also a bit jarring, but if you listen to
it for a while, there's an actual tune that comes up. Not too many people know
about it, at least I don't think. You'll be presented with three save files
that can be switched between by pressing left and right on the Control Pad.
Each file can be deleted if you highlight it, press select, then hold down on
the Control Pad and press Start. Choose any empty file to start your game...

Map Legend:
* = Ship
S = Save Station
X = Metroid
O = Item
E = Energy Refill
M = Missile Refill
EM = Both refills
: = Missile Door

=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
First Step
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
     |     |
     |     |_____________  _____
     | *                 ||     |
      ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| || |¯| |
                       | ¯¯ | | |
                        ¯¯¯¯  | |
                              | |
                              | |
                              | |
                              | |
                              | |
                             / _ \
                 ___________/ | | \______________
                |             |_|  S             |
                | |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| |
                | |                             |
                | |                            \|/
   __           | |                             '
  |EM|__________| |
  |X              |
   ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

- The game starts you off right on the planet's surface, with no intro. Again.
 So yeah, starts you right off. The entrance to the planet's caves can be found
 by moving right from here. The other side is just an unscalable wall. As you
 can see, your HUD is displayed below. It shows your current energy level as
 well as additional Energy Tank reserves once they are collected, your Missile
 ammo reserves (you start with 30), and then the amount of Metroids you are
 required to kill in this game. There's a total of 39. Doesn't sound like much,
 but the game is longer than you think.

- Once in the caves, you'll find your first enemies. Yumbos and Hornoads. No
 threat. At the end, you'll see a drop-off. Just...drop down. Here, you'll have
 to jump and shoot downwards through a bunch of blocks, but you can skip all
 that if you immediately use Morph Ball and roll through the fake wall to the
 right. Valuable time-saver! Shoot down through the blocks to continue
 downward. Keep going down while dodging/shooting Tsumuris and Yumbos, and
 eventually you'll reach the bottom, where you have a choice of two paths. The
 right path leads to the cave being blocked by lava at the moment, but there's
 a Save Point there. Save if you want to, but ultimately start heading left.

- There's nothing much in these halls. No enemies here, just rough terrain.
 The cave will eventually dip down in a zig-zag fashion. There's a few Yumbos
 and Tsumuris in the way...if you choose to go that way. Again, there's a
 hidden passage to skip all that. At the top, there's an upper ledge on the
 left wall. Jump up there, use the Morph Ball, and roll towards the wall to
 drop past all that stuff. Yay! Continue left.

- You'll run into a couple of Hornoads and quite a few Yumbos along the way,
 but it's nothing huge. Eventually, you'll see a Metroid on the floor...and a
 creature is coming out of it. Apparently this Metroid has just evolved and
 molted out of its old shell. This is an Alpha Metroid. Evolved Metroids can no
 longer be able to suck life energy out of a victim, and they're not as fragile
 to cold. However, they're still vulnerable with high-calibur weapons. It takes
 5 Missiles to down an Alpha Metroid, and they have to be aimed at their
 underbellies.

- Metroid count: 38

- The first Metroid of the game. After defeating it, an earthquake occurs. I
 wonder what happened? This is a dead-end, but there's an energy refill and
 Missile refill station here, so use the Morph Ball to reach them and un-Morph
 to use them, then start backtracking back up to the Save Station. Head right
 from there this time, and at the end, you'll realize there's no more lava!
 Start heading down...

=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
Ancient Civilization?
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
                                         ___
                                        |   -->
     |                                  |  |
    \|/                          _______|  |
   _|'|                         |          |
  |   |____                     | |¯¯¯¯¯|  |
  |        |                    | |     |  |
   ¯¯¯¯¯¯| |____________________| |     |   Go here later
         |                        |      ¯¯¯
          ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯|   |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
                   (Lava)

- Nothing much to do at the moment, just go down the cave, avoiding Moheeks and
 an un-named Skree-like enemy. There's also Seerooks here, which are pretty
 much a Yumbo redesign. Either way, you'll eventually see some lava. Cross it,
 and you'll soon get to a music change.

- Welcome to Area 1. Follow the caves while dealing with some new enemies:
 Chute Leeches and Mumbos. Both enemies can deal a lot of damage, but you can
 get past them if you take things easy. Jump past some lava pools, and you
 will eventually have to climb up and right to a large vertical corridor. You
 have two choices here: go up? Or go down? Well, go up. Avoid the Needlers and
 take the entrance at the top.
 _____________________________________________________________________________
/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\
                   _____________________________________
                  |          M                 E        |
                  |                                     |
                 /                                      |
                /              ____________________     |   __
               |              |                    |    |__|  |
               |      ________|¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯|  |         X|
               |     |         ¯| O       O |¯| |  |    |¯¯¯¯¯
     _________/      |_________  ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯  | |__|    |_________
  -->                     S    |              |                   |
     ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| |              | |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯||¯
                             | |____      ____| |              ||
                             |      |____|O     |              ||
               ___________   | |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| |________     _||_
              |O  :       |__| |              | |      O |    |   |
              | O |            |___________   |   O    O |    |O  |
               ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯|O  :       |__| |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯      ¯¯¯
                               |   |            |
                                ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

- Continue right, avoid the Gawrons, and you'll emerge in a large cavern with
 some ruins of an ancient civilization. This is one of many ruins that you'll
 find in the planet, and these usually are havens for powerups. Walk right,
 kill more Chute Leeches and some new Gullugg enemies, and you'll eventually
 walk through the front entrance of the ruins and find a new Save Station.

- Save if you wish to, and head down. You'll come across a hall to the right,
 but don't take that yet. Keep going down and enter the hall at the bottom.
 Cross the room here and you'll find a door. This is a Missile Door, and these
 require 5 Missiles to open, usually. Shoot it open and head inside to find a
 shrine! There's a statue holding an Item Sphere. Shoot it and collect the item
 inside to get the Bombs! Now you can lay Bombs while in the Morph Ball by
 pressing the Shoot button. We can test these out right now as well. See the
 Missile Pod below? Well use the Morph Ball and plant a Bomb right above the
 Pod to blow away the floor and you'll be able to reach it! Each Missile Pod
 increases your Missile count by 10.

- Another feature of the Bombs is that if you keep the Morph Ball on top of a
 Bomb you just planted, its explosion will pop up the Morph Ball a bit. This is
 called a Bomb Jump, and with some fancy timing and setups, you can use
 multiple Bombs to get up pretty high. However, this "Multi Bomb Jump"
 technique isn't needed that much, as there's a powerup we can get that lets
 you climb high distances anyway.

- Exit the shrine and make your way back to the vertical hall here in the
 ruins. Take that right turn you missed before. In here, it appears to be empty
 with just a Wallfire. Destroy it and inspect the wall it's on by using the
 Morph Ball. There's a hidden passage right above it! Use a Bomb to destroy the
 weak block in the way, and on the other side, you'll find a coveted Energy
 Tank! This item increases your total energy by 100, and also gives you a full
 refill!

- Head out onto the next vertical shaft. Go to the very bottom while avoiding
 more Wallfires, and take the hall at the bottom. Walk to the other side, and
 you'll see a familiar Missile Door. Open it, head inside, and shoot the Item
 Sphere to find the Ice Beam! This increases the power of your Beam and also
 freezes any enemy it doesn't directly kill, allowing you to use them as
 platforms! Quite handy. Head back to the vertical hall, and take the first
 right.

- Glorious! This room has a whopping total of three Missile Pods here! You can
 only get two at this moment though, you can get the one in the ceiling a bit
 later. First, get the two on the floor, then exit this room. Go up the hall,
 and take the next right turn to exit the ruins. Walk right, and you should see
 a Metroid shell on the ledge above you. Ominous...walk right into more caves,
 but it's just a short little area.

- Use the Morph Ball and the Bomb Jump technique to get past the barrier, and
 walk right to fall down a fake floor! At the bottom, use the Bomb Jump
 technique to get out and down to a secret room! There's an item here as well!
 Get beside it and use the Morph Ball to reach it. You now have the Spider
 Ball! By pressing down while in Morph Ball mode, you can scale any wall! Quite
 an ingenious little item, I wonder why it isn't in more 2D Metroid games. The
 Metroid Prime games certainly made good use of it!

- Anyway, now that we have this, we can get out of here. Once back outside the
 ruins, freeze a Chute Leech, and use it as leverage to get onto the ledge with
 the Metroid shell. (Actually, you don't even need it, it's just easier to
 shoot the Chute [lol] Leech so it doesn't bother you.) Use your new Spider
 Ball ability to climb the wall here and find a secret room. Inside...is your
 second Alpha Metroid! Kill it the same way you did before, just beware of the
 spikes in the room.

- Metroid count: 37

- That's all in the room, so you can exit. Now, normally you need to go back
 into the ruins from here, but if you took a lot of damage during the Metroid
 fight, I suggest climbing the walls in the Metroid room by using the Spider
 Ball until you're above the ruins, and continuing until you find an energy
 refill. Either way, take the back entrance of the ruins close to the Metroid.

- Once inside, go back down the vertical shaft and take a right to return to
 the room with those three Missile Pods. Now that you have the Spider Ball, you
 can reach the third one. Grab it, then head back to the vertical shaft. Go to
 the very top using the Spider Ball, and you'll find one last room with two
 more Missile Pods. Grab them, and say bye-bye to this place. You can exit the
 ruins by going to the left side of this room and Bombing the rock out of the
 way. Drop down to the bottom, and head left out of the ruins cavern
 completely, though it would be advisable to go in and use the Save Station.
 We've got one thing left to do: explore the tunnels beneath the ruins.
 _____________________________________________________________________________
/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\
    ___
   |   <--
   |  |
  _|  |
      |
  ¯|  |
   |  |_________________
   |       E            |
    ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| |
                    __| |__________________
                   |                      X|
                   | |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
       ____________| |_____
      |X                  X|
       ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

- This map above shows the last three Metroids you need to vanquish before you
 can progress down through where you crossed over that lava before. Just head
 down to the bottom of the shaft once you exit the ruins area. In here, you
 will find a Metroid shell. Surefire sign there's some around here. The
 objective in this room is to shoot through the wall barriers and kill the
 Gulluggs in the way. There's a hidden Morph Ball tunnel in the ceiling that
 can skip all this if you use the Spider Ball, however. There's also an energy
 refill there.

- At the end, you'll seemingly come to a dead end. However, Samus can shoot
 sand barriers down and create holes to walk/Morph Ball roll through. So do so
 here to reach the deeper parts. Fall down, avoid the Mumbos, and you'll see
 another Metroid shell. Go right from here. Follow the really long corridor
 here filled with Chute Leeches and some kind of floor hazard. Thorns maybe?
 I dunno. After a scene transition, you'll soon encounter an Alpha Metroid.
 Nothing new really. Kill it and head back. Take a left this time and go down
 the next shaft.

- Metroid count: 36

- ANOTHER Metroid shell. Yep, there's three down here, counting the one you
 just killed. It doesn't matter which path you take at this point, both are
 dead-ends that lead to Alpha Metroids. Take either path and kill those
 Metroids, and an earthquake will occur, signifying that the lava just lowered.
 Head back out of here the way you came in, and refer to the map at the
 beginning of this section to find your way to where the lava used to be.

- Metroid count: 34

=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
Valuable Ruins
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
                          |
                         \|/
                        | ' |_
                        |     |
                        |¯¯¯¯ |
                        | |¯¯¯
                        | |
     ________________   | |
  <--     X          |  | |
     ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| |  | |
                   | |  | |_
                   | |  |   |
                   | |   ¯| |
                   | |  |¯ /
                   | |  | |
                   | |   \ \
                   | |    \ \___
                   | |     \    |
                   |  ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯  |
                    ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| |
                            (Lava)

- Upcoming are some more ruins, more powerups, and more Metroids! But first you
 have to go down the cave here until you reach the "bottom" where the lava is
 preventing you from going further. Go left and up towards the ruins up ahead.
 There's some new enemies in the way, but they don't really serve a purpose
 other than being platforms. These are Septoggs. Further up ahead from the
 Septoggs though is another Alpha Metroid! Kill it, then keep going to arrive
 at the second ruins area.

- Metroid count: 33

 _____________________________________________________________________________
/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\
                          _______________________________
            ________     |                               |
          _|X       \____|                               |
          |E_____________        _____________  ____     |
          _____________O |      |   ___       ||    |    |
         |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯  |      |  |   |______||_   |    |
        / ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯       |  |O  :         |  |    |
       |                        |   ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯   |    |
   ____|                        |  ____|¯¯¯|  O     |    |
  |   ___                       |_|       X|__ \____|    |_______
  |  |  /              |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| ¯¯¯¯|            |
  |  | |               |     ________         B     |            |
  |  | |               |    |O |  :  |___           |______      |
  |  | |               |    |_____|¯¯¯¯¯¯A                 |     |
  |  |_|               |___________________________________|     |_
  |                    _   S                          S            <--
  |  |¯|¯¯¯¯¯  ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯|¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯|             |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
  |  | |               |            ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
  |  | |               |_____   |¯¯|¯¯|     |¯B¯¯¯¯¯|_____
  |  | |                    O|  |O :  |_____|             |
  |  |  ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| |O  ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯A¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| |
  |  |                     | | \_________|_             | |___
  |  |                     | |  ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| |            |     |
  |   -->                  |  ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ X|            | |¯| |
   ¯¯¯                      ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯   _         | | | |
                                     |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯O¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯  | | |
                                     | |¯|    O       |¯¯¯  | |
                                     | |  ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯   ___| |
                                     |  ¯¯¯¯¯¯|O¯¯|     |O  : |
                                      ¯¯¯|   O|O  |_____|   |¯
                                          ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

- Just a little note. The letters "A" and "B" refer to Spider Ball passages
 that take you to different rooms. Just link the As and Bs together.

- Pass the Senjoos and go save at the Save Station just inside, but now get
 back out and use the Spider Ball to start climbing the ruins here. Take down
 Chute Leeches and more Senjoos, and you'll eventually go inside the ruins for
 a bit with a tunnel. Crawl in and you'll find a Missile Pod! Crawl back out
 and drop back down to the bottom. Head past the Save Station.

- Walk through the grand hall. You'll pass a couple of pillars in the
 foreground, those will be important. Take down the Autrack at the end, then
 keep going to find another Save Station. What's the point of having the two so
 close together? Oh well. Head out to the other side of the ruins.

- Continue walking left and you'll see the bridge has broken, revealing water
 below. Drop down, avoid the Chute Leeches and Needlers, and find the
 underwater passage. After the scene transition, before you go down, use the
 Spider Ball to reach the Missile Pod up in the corner. Now head down, and
 follow the passage to the end, where an Alpha Metroid is! The placement of
 this one is a bit tricky, so you might want to lure it to the more open part
 of the passage to take it down more easily.

- Metroid count: 32

- Emerge from the water (which curiously did not affect your movement) at the
 other side, and you'll find a Spider Ball passage up at the ceiling. This is
 the vertical "line" represented on the map above. Before going up there
 though, there's something else. The blocks on the left wall are fake. You can
 pass through them. Use the Morph Ball to get inside the wall, then un-Morph
 and just walk left to a Missile Pod! Head back, and go up that passage with
 the Spider Ball.

- At the top, you'll emerge in a hidden room above where the grand hall is.
 Open the Missile Door here. Head inside and get your...item? Huh, it's not
 here. Well maybe it's hidden deeper down in here. Use Bombs to blow up the
 floor beneath the statue and the Spider Ball up the left wall inside the small
 chamber...and you'll get to a bunch of Item Spheres stacked together! Most of
 these are empty, but if you Bomb enough of them, you'll find the item you're
 looking for. Pick it up to access....the Varia Suit! This nice item increases
 your defensive capabilities by 50% (or is it 25%?). You also get some nice
 shoulder pads, which will then become iconic for Samus's suit in future
 Metroid games.

- Head out the same way you came in. The exact same way. Back to outside the
 ruins. (Have I mentioned the Morph Ball looks awesome now? And is it just me,
 or does Samus run faster now? Hm...) Head left into a vertical shaft filled
 with Tsumuris. Climb up to the top, and when you emerge, use the Spider Ball.
 When you get to the ceiling, stop. Drop a Bomb in the corner where the wall
 and ceiling meet, and you should see a weak part of the ceiling disappear.
 Keep planting Bombs (make sure you're away from the explosions) to create a
 path, and follow it to a hidden Missile Pod.

- Return and scale the ceiling until you find a hidden room. Enter it to find
 a Metroid shell, and shortly thereafter, an Alpha Metroid. Kill it. Now, if
 you're low on energy, you're in luck. Head to the left side, and look in the
 ground carefully. You should see an energy refill in there. Plant a Bomb
 above it to destroy the weak floor, then drop down to refill. Yay! Now exit
 this room and make a BIG jump to the somewhat top of the ruins.

- Metroid count: 31

- You should land in front of a rock blocking a passageway. Before bombing it
 away, use the Spider Ball to climb up to the top here. There's a plant here
 that throws blobs...it's called a Blob Thrower. How original. Anyway, this
 plant is only vulnerable from the opening on top, so it requires jumping above
 it and firing down at it. Could be easily done by freezing a blob to use as
 leverage. Anyway, head right until you find a hole in the roof. Fall down,
 being careful of the other Blob Thrower.

- Inside, head left to find a Missile Door. Blast it open and head inside.
 Shoot the Item Sphere, and...woah, what the heck? Oh cripes, this is a
 creature! This thing is called Arachnus, and it's a bit of a mini-boss. He's
 invulnerable to weapons when in his armored ball mode, and he always gets into
 that mode whenever you shoot at him. He is vulnerable to Morph Ball Bombs,
 however. So shoot to prevent him from shooting at you, and plant Morph Ball
 Bombs where he will land. After a few Bombs, he will die, leaving behind the
 Spring Ball! This item lets you jump while in Morph Ball form. Extremely
 handy, makes having to wait with Bomb Jumps nonexistant. This was actually
 optional, but what the heck, right?

- Get back out of here, and head back to where you saw that rock. Bomb it, and
 roll through. Inside, you'll find an Alpha Metroid just molting from its
 shell. Kill it, then Bomb the floors here for a secret Morph Ball passage in
 the small chamber.

- Metroid count: 30

- At the bottom, Spring Ball along the left wall to find another secret
 passage. Bomb your way through, avoid the Autoads on the other side, and
 destroy the Missile Door. Enter, and grab the Wave Beam from the statue! This
 replaces your Ice Beam in exchange for a more powerful weapon that fires shots
 in a wavelength pattern. The beam can also go through walls. Exit and head
 back. Go right this time.

- You'll enter a vertical shaft with a bunch of blocks that can be shot. Drop
 down and look towards the right side and you'll find a part of the wall
 outlined with lighter-colored blocks. This is a fake wall, so walk through it
 and drop down the next vertical shaft. Shoot down the Missile Door at the
 bottom and head inside for your next powerup, the High Jump Boots! These do
 exactly as how they're titled: they make you jump higher. Much higher. Before
 getting out of here though, there's a couple of pickups behind here. Bomb the
 floors in front of the statue to reveal a way into that small chamber, and
 take the Morph Ball passage here to a place where you can find a Missile Pod
 and an Energy Tank! You'll see another Missile Pod on the other side of the
 wall, but we're gonna get that next. We have to backtrack though.

- Back to the vertical shaft with the shootable blocks. Get to the very bottom
 this time and head left. Inside, avoid Wallfires and collect the two Missile
 Pods before carrying on. Follow the next vertical shaft down, head right, and
 that Missile Pod you saw before is now yours. Now backtrack all the way out of
 the ruins. Remember that vertical shaft to the left of the ruins that was
 filled with Tsumuris? Yeah, go there. We're going down it now.

 _____________________________________________________________________________
/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\
                            ___
                         -->   |
                            ¯| |
                             | |
                 ____________| |______________
                |      X                     X|
                | |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
                | |
   _____________| |___________________________
  |S  X                          X            |
   ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

- As you can see from the map, this is Metroid haven. Prepare your Missiles,
 we're in for a bumpy ride...as we're not just going to encounter Alphas
 here...

- After the little drop off, you can go left or right. Go right. Eventually,
 you'll encounter an Alpha Metroid...evolving. It now becomes an even larger
 Gamma Metroid. This new Metroid type has more durability, and can now generate
 electricity as both an attack and to shield itself from Missiles. It uses the
 electricity periodically, so find out the open window and fire Missiles at it.
 It takes 10 Missiles to kill a Gamma Metroid. Return.

- Metroid count: 29

- Take a left this time, and you'll encounter an Alpha Metroid. Kill it and
 continue left. Take a drop to another fork in the "road." Go right.

- Metroid count: 28

- Shoot through the sand, and continue right as normal. You'll encounter an
 Alpha Metroid. Kill it, then head back left--there's nothing of interest
 further right. Go left, shoot through the sand, and you'll encounter another
 Gamma Metroid. Kill this, and an earthquake should occur, signifying the lava
 has lowered once again. There's an energy refill behind where that Gamma
 Metroid was, if you need it. Now just backtrack ALL the way to the lava
 passage, so refer to the past few maps to get there, if you need the help.
 It's a long way, I know.

- Metroid count: 26

=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
Metroid Massacre
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
             |                  ____________________
            \|/                |                    -->
            \'\                | |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
             \ |               | |
             / |               | |
           /¯ /                | |
          / /¯                 | |
         | /                   | |
         | \                   | |_   (You go here later)
          \ ¯\                 |   -->
           \  |                | |¯
    _______/ /                 | |
   |   ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯|           | |
   | |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯|  |           | |
  (Lava)        |  |           | |
                |  |___________| |
                |                |
                 ¯¯¯¯¯¯\   /¯¯¯¯¯
                        | |
                       (Lava)

- Head down the twisty corridors, being aware of Yumbos and those Skree-like
 enemies. Eventually, you'll reach another path blocked with lava. Head right,
 and you'll find more lava after a small, twisty, maze-like corridor. There's
 a new enemy as well, the Halzyn. Normally, their wings block shots, but the
 Wave Beam can make it much easier to kill them. Continue on to enter the third
 ruins area.

- You'll encounter some Yumbo replacements here, called a Pincher Fly. They're
 pretty much just the obtrusive flying enemies. Climb up this shaft, all the
 way to the top, ignoring the halfway passage. Up at the top, you'll see new
 Gawron-like enemies. These are Yummes. They pretty much pop out of the ground
 constantly for a while just like Gawrons. Just pass by them and enter the
 third ruins area.

 _____________________________________________________________________________
/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\
                     _____________________
                    |               E     |
                    |                     |
           _________|                     |
          |                _______   ___  |
          |               |       | |   | |
       ___|               |        |    | |
      |      _______      |       \|/   | |
      |     |       |     |    O   '    | |
      |     | _____ |     |     \_______| |
     _|     ||O    ||     |      ¯|¯¯¯¯¯| |
  -->___    ||_   _||     |       |___O | |
      |/    |  | |  |     |       ¯¯¯¯  | |
      |     |  | |  |     |             | |
      |     |  | |__|     |             | |
      |  ___|  |          |             | |
      | |       ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯              | |
      | |                               | |____
      |M|                               |      |
       ¯                                 ¯¯¯|  |
                                            |  |
                                            |  |
                                            |  |
                                            |  |
                                            |  |
                                            | X|
                                             ¯¯

- As you enter, you can find a Missile refill a bit below from here, within
 some sand. The main thing you want to do though is to climb up the sides of
 the ruins as the Spider Ball until you get between the two towers, as shown in
 the above map. You will encounter a new enemy, the Gravitt. It's a spiked
 enemy that hides in the ground until you approach. Wave Beam can make them
 easy.

- Once between the towers, you'll find you're in a sand pit. Shoot your way
 down further, and find the entrance to the left tower. Careful of hidden
 Gravitts down here. Once inside, shoot away the sand, and either jump up or
 use the Spider Ball to climb up. You'll find yourself in a shrine. Collect
 what's in the Item Sphere to get the Space Jump! This brand new item allows
 Samus to practically fly in the air. To use it, do a somersault jump. You'll
 notice she spins a lot faster now. What you have to do is time another jump in
 just the right way and you'll jump in mid-air. Keep doing it with the proper
 timing and you'll be able to fly to new heights! Much faster than the Spider
 Ball. Don't worry, the timing is a bit off (you have to jump again sometime
 after you start falling), but once you master it, it's a great ability. Exit
 this tower and Space Jump up to the right tower.

- Follow the roof here, and you'll see a hole. For now, don't take it. Just get
 on the other side. Use the Proboscum robots as platforms as you descend, and
 watch for the left wall for a rock wedged in a Morph Ball tunnel. Once you
 find it, Spring Ball over there, hook onto the wall with Spider Ball and Bomb
 the rock. Head inside. Head left and you'll see an Energy Tank. Bomb the block
 and you'll also destroy weak sections, both above and below. Grab the Tank
 and go down. At the bottom, go right, then Spring Ball. Go right and you'll
 get the Missile Pod you saw while you were outside! Now get back out the way
 you came in and drop to the bottom.

- Shoot your way down the sand and you'll see a Metroid shell. Oh boy. Head
 right to a vertical shaft. Drop to the bottom to find...a Gamma Metroid! Kill
 it, then backtrack. Head all the way back to the top of the ruins where you
 saw that hole. Drop down it.

- Metroid count: 25

 _____________________________________________________________________________
/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\
                            |
                           \|/
                          _|'|_
                      ___|     |
                     |  S   O  |
                     | |¯|     |
                     | |  ¯¯¯¯¯
                     | |  ___
                     | | |O  |
                     |  ¯¯¯¯ |
                     | |¯|   |
                     | | |   |
         ____________| | |   |                  _______
        |O :           | | X |   _____          |¯¯¯¯¯|
        |  |       |¯| | |   |  |O    |_________|_   _|__________
         ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯   ¯  |   |  |         X      |   |           |
                         |   |   ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯     ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| |
   ______________________¯| |¯                              ___| |
  |O :                   ¯   ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯}----------------------{   | |
  |  |       |¯|   X   |¯|      O   |                       ¯| | |
   ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯   ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯   ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯                         |   |
                                                              ¯¯¯

- From the entrance, shoot through the sand and find a path to a Missile Pod.
 Head left from here to find a Save Station, then drop down to the bottom of
 the vertical shaft while avoiding the shots from the Autracks. Go to the room
 to the left, destroy some Autoads and an Autrack, and shoot down the Missile
 Door. Inside, grab the Spazer Laser Beam! This is a basic beam, but it's
 pretty powerful and fires three shots perpendicular to each other, covering a
 wide radius. This can go through walls just like the Wave Beam.

- Head back, and Space Jump up the vertical shaft, entering the room to the
 right about halfway up the shaft. Once you enter, you'll fall, and you'll
 immediately encounter a Gamma Metroid. This fight is tough, as the terrain is
 weird and you need to use the Space Jump to keep up with it, unless you lure
 it to the bottom. Either way, be careful, Missile it down to nothing. Once it
 is gone, Spider Ball up to the upper right corner to find a hidden part of the
 room where another Missile Pod is waiting. You'll have to Bomb the corner in
 order to get in.

- Metroid count: 24

- Drop down to the bottom of the room now, and shoot through the sand to drop
 down to the room below. I suggest going right, now, especially if you took
 heavy damage from that Gamma. Make sure to grab the Missile Pod. Carefully
 Space Jump up this spike-lined hall. It's a bit nervewracking if you have low
 health. After that little ordeal, head left now. Get through the Automs and
 and the Shirk, and you'll find a Metroid shell. Not a good sign...

- You'll have to find a Morph Ball tunnel somewhere above the shell, which
 shouldn't be too hard. When you seemingly reach the top, stay there, Bomb, and
 move to open the rest of the path. Head through and drop down the other side.
 There's no Automs or Shirks here, but there is...an Alpha Metroid. Just an
 Alpha? At least that's easy. Kill the Alpha and continue on just a little
 further. Inside this (thankfully) hazard-less room, get around all the
 obstructions to get yourself another Energy Tank! Yay for energy refills! Now
 backtrack ALL the way back to below where you fought that last Gamma, and head
 left from there.

- Metroid count: 23

- There's another Gamma Metroid in here, and that's the reason why I wanted you
 to go get the Energy Tank first. More energy + an energy refill if you needed
 it. So kill that Gamma and continue left. Destroy the Autoads, and blast open
 the Missile Door. Inside is...the Plasma Beam. A Beam change already? Well,
 whatever, it's a good change. At least I think so. It's the most powerful Beam
 in the game. It can go through walls, it can penetrate enemies...it's just an
 overall good weapon. The only thing is that the shots are narrow, so it
 requires a bit more aiming than the Wave Beam or Spazer Laser Beam. Either
 way, we've cleaned out the ruins, it's time to explore the vast tunnels
 beneath it. Refer to the previous maps if you need help, especially the first
 map of this section, as it tells you the next passage we need to go through.

- Metroid count: 22

 _____________________________________________________________________________
/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\
     ___________
  -->          S|              ____
     ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| |          ____|¯¯|_____
              | |         |   X|  |    X|
   .          | |         | |¯¯    ¯¯¯¯¯
  /|\         | |         | |
   |          | |         | |
  |=|_________| |         | |___________
  |    X        |         |             |
   ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| |         | |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| |
              | |_________| |         | |
              |    X        |  _      | |
              | |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| | | |     | |
              |=|_________|_|_| |  _  | |
              |            X    | | | | |
               ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| | | | | |
                              | |_| | | |
                              |     | | |
                              | |¯| | | |
                              | | | | | |
                              | | | | | |
                               ¯  | |_| |
                                  |     |
                                  | |¯¯¯
                                  |X|
                                  | |
                                  |E|
                                   ¯

- A little note about the map. See the "=" symbols? Those are places where it's
 a one-way. More specifically, you can only go through those parts from below,
 so make yourself aware of that.

- Head over to the Save Station, and prepare to fight a lot of Gammas. Drop
 down, avoid the Pincher Flies (it's more annoying to kill them if you don't
 have the Wave or Spazer beams), avoid the first hall to the left, and go to
 the second hall to the right. Kill the Gamma Metroid and continue right via
 the passage below. In the next shaft, go up while avoiding TPOs, which are
 new versions of the Pincher Flies, as far as attack pattern is considered.

- Metroid count: 21

- Skip the first hall to the right, and just get to the top, where you'll find
 an Alpha Metroid. Clear out some of the webbing (?) here so you'll get a clear
 shot, and kill the Alpha. Now, use the Spider Ball and find a passage up in
 the ceiling. Follow it, and you'll find a Gamma Metroid in the next room!
 But you're blocked off. So walk back, and jump into the Metroid shell to find
 a hidden passage below. Follow it, clear out some webbing, THEN kill the
 Gamma. Make your way back to the TPO shaft and take the right passage.

- Metroid count: 19

- Follow this room to another vertical shaft, this time a long one. Just drop
 down, there's no enemy threat. Enter the passage at the bottom. Drop a little
 and you'll find another Gamma Metroid. Kill it. If you need energy, drop to
 the bottom, shoot away the damaging plants, and use the Morph Ball to get to
 it on the right.

- Metroid count: 18

- Climb up and take the passage on the left. In this place is another Pincher
 Fly replacement, the Meboids. Pay no attention to them and just climb up to
 the next passage. You'll see a Gamma Metroid! Emerge from the lower passage
 and fight it. Once it's dead, head left through the fake wall. Shoot away the
 plants and continue left. Jump up and you'll emerge through a Metroid shell.
 Note that you can't go back down. Climb up some more, and take the left
 passage. Kill the last Gamma Metroid down here, and an earthquake will occur.
 Yay for less lava!

- Metroid count: 16

- Go left through the fake wall, and jump up when you can to appear back in a
 familiar area...refer to the very first map of this section. You're just to
 the right of the two lava pits. Head left, and you'll find the lava here has
 not lowered yet. Okay, keep going left to the other pit. Aha! That one's
 lowered! Go down there.

 _____________________________________________________________________________
/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\
   ____________________
  |                   X|     |
  | |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯     \|/
  | |                       /'/
  | |                      | /
  | |                      | \
  | |                       \ \
  | |                        \ \
  | |                         \ \
  |  ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ /
   ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| |¯
                           (Lava)

- Pretty simple little area. Go down until you see a lava pit. (New wall enemy:
 Skorp!) Judging by the map, there's only one Metroid here, so head left.
 This hall is covered with lava at the bottom, and some new enemies are here.
 These are Octrolls. They shoot up from the lava, then float back down in a
 similar manner to the Chute Leeches. They're basically a larger and stronger
 upgrade to the Chute Leeches, except they usually drop large energy pickups.
 Just take them out and continue left.

- Eventually, you'll reach the cave going upward. Climb up, then head right.
 More Octrolls. Kill them and continue on. Eventually, you'll reach a Gamma
 Metroid! Kill it, and an earthquake will appear. Alright, maybe we can finally</pre><pre id="faqspan-2">
 continue downward. Backtrack. Once you get to where the lava pit was, we'll...

- Metroid count: 15

- Wait, the lava hasn't gone down here? Oh, MAN. Climb back up. Refer to the
 first map of this section, and head right. Oh, the other lava pit is empty,
 so let's go down that.

 _____________________________________________________________________________
/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\
                                    _____________________
                                   |                     |
                                   | |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| |
                                   | |              |¯¯   ¯¯|
                                   | |              |X     M|
                                   | |               ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
      ___________________     _____| |
     |                   |   |       |
     | |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| |   | |¯¯¯¯¯
  |¯¯   ¯¯|            | |   | |
  |E     X|            | |   | |
   ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯             | |___| |
                       |       |
                        ¯¯¯¯¯| |
                             | |   |
                             | |  \|/
                             | |  /'/
                             | | | /
                             | | | \
                             | |  \ \
                             | |   \ |
                             | |___/ |
                             |      /
                              ¯¯¯¯¯¯

- Follow the caves down. Get past the Pincher Flies, head left, then up, past
 some Halzyns. You'll eventually get to a fork in the road. Head left, then up.
 Go past a couple of Pincher Flies, then head left through a lava-filled room
 with Flitts. These weird creatures don't harm Samus, they merely act as
 platforms. They can unreliably vanish though, so it's advisable to use Space
 Jump to cross this room. Once past that, take a left once you drop a bit to
 use an energy refill, and go around to find an Alpha Metroid. Kill it. Now
 backtrack to the fork and go up this time.

- Metroid count: 14

- Get past the Halzyns, then head right and up. You'll find a new enemy up
 here, the Moto. It's a front-shelled rhino-like enemy. In other words, shoot
 it at the back to kill it. At the top, head right through another lava-filled
 room with Flitts. These are stationary and can vanish. Mega Man fans can
 probably recognize what's going on here, but it can easily be passed with the
 Space Jump maneuver. At the end, go right after the drop for a likely
 much-needed Missile refill, then find the Gamma Metroid and kill it. After
 that, another earthquake will occur, signifying that lava has again lowered.
 Do some backtracking all the way to the area featured in the map above this
 one, and you'll find that the lava is...gone! Success!

- Metroid count: 13

=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
Last of the Moheek-ans
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
                                    |
                                   \|/
     ___________                   /'/
  <-- X         |                 | /
     ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| |                 | \
              | |                  \ \
              | |                   \ \
              | |                    \ |
              | |                    / |
              | |                   / /
              | |                  / /
              | |                 | /
              | |___              | \
              |     |              \ \
               ¯¯¯| |               \ \
                  | |                \ |
                  |  ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ |
                   ¯| |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
                   (Lava)

- Climb down, avoiding a Glow Fly, some Moheeks, that unnamed Skree enemy, and
 Skorps. At the bottom, head left. You'll come to a new enemy: Drivel. This
 bat-like enemy drops an acidic fluid whenever Samus passes underneath it, so
 it's best to take it out from a distance instead of taking the risk. Skreeks
 also pop out of the lava here, and shoot fireballs. These creatures look
 basically like...giant bird heads with legs. Creepy. Anyway, pass by them,
 eventually you'll get to a barrier. There's two very pixellated blocks in the
 barrier. Missiles can knock them out of the way.

- And there's a lava pit here. Time to climb and find more Metroids. Seven, to
 be exact. At the top (with the horde of Pincher Flies), head left, and you'll
 come to a Gamma Metroid. Kill it, then head left to arrive at the last ruins
 area of the game.

- Metroid count: 12

 _____________________________________________________________________________
/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\
                          O   O
                          |   |
                      ______________
                      |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯|
                     _|____________|_
                    |                |
                    |                |
                    |                |______________
                    |                              X|
                    |                |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
                    |                |
                    |  __  ____  __  |
                    | |  || O--||  | |
                    | |  ||    ||  | |
                    | |  ||____||_ | |
                    | |  ||¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ | |
                    | |  ||_____O  | |
                    | |  ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯   | |
                    | |  |¯¯¯|¯¯|  | |
                    | |  |    O |  | |
                    | |   ¯||¯¯¯   | |
                    | |   _||_     | |
                    | |  |    |____| |
                    | |  |X          |
                    | |   ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| |
                    | |_________   | |
                    |  _______  |  | |   __
                    | |   ____| | _| |  | X|
                    | |  |O   : ||M  |  |  |
                    | |  |____| | ¯| |  |S |
                    | |  |O   : |  |  ¯¯   |
   _________________| |  |____| |  |      O|
  |  X                |  |O   : |  |       |
   ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| |  |____| |  |       |___________________
                    | |  |O   : |  |                       X   |
                    | |  |    | |  |       |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
                    |  ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯  |  |       |
                    | |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯   |       |
                    | |_________   |       |
                    |      S    |  |       |
                    | |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| |  |       |
                    | |       | |  |       |
                    | |       | |  |       |
         ___________| |       | |__|       |_
        |  X          |       |              <--
         ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| |        ¯¯¯¯|       |¯
                    | |_           |       |
                    |  |          _|       |
                    |  |         |O        |
                     ¯¯           ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

- Basically, this one's just a tower of sorts. We're gonna work our way up and
 around, starting from the left side. Starting off, walk onto the bridge here
 and fall through the Metroid shell. Drop to the bottom of the water, then head
 left to find a Morph Ball passage. At its end is a Missile Pod. Grab it and
 get back out. Enter the ruins after shooting away the obstruction.

- Space Jump up the hall here, at the top hit the Save Station. Exit via the
 left entry. Drop down a little bit from here and take the left passage you
 see. Space Jump through the spiky room here, and when you screen transition,
 you'll find a Gamma Metroid...and it's evolving into a Zeta, shedding its
 Gamma shell. Zeta Metroids are probably the most annoying Metroid types in
 this game. These become bipedal creatures with tails, but mostly still fly
 around rapidly. It can't be damaged from above or below, only on the sides,
 and it occasionally spits globs of damaging fluid.

- That said, even these annoying Metroids have a pattern, though it may not
 seem like it at first. Point is, don't panic and move everywhere. They just
 follow your movements. Stay crouched and they never hit you. Find the timing
 between them not moving and when they dive down and attack with their globs,
 and after they hit, move from under them just enough so that you're beside
 them, jump up and shoot two Missiles, then crouch again to dodge the attack.
 Lather, rinse, repeat.

- Metroid count: 11

- Space Jump up from the Save Station, and you'll immediately find another
 passage to the right. This leads to a hall with a bunch of item rooms, but
 they're all just Beam powerups you picked up before. (Jump through the ceiling
 at the end to reach the Beam hall.) Ice, Plasma, Wave, Spazer. These are just
 here in case you liked a particular Beam before and wanted to stick with it.
 My personal favorite is the Spazer, but you can go with what you want, if you
 want to switch Beams. Just beware of the Gunzoos patrolling this room.

- Head up regardless. If you ended up back outside from the top of the Beam
 room, go down a bit and enter the first left passage you see. Space Jump
 through the spiky hall, and at the end, face a Gamma Metroid. Now exit this
 tunnel here and Space Jump up to the top of the ruins. You'll see Motos and
 Ramulkens here. Ramulkens are just top-shelled creatures that hop around, only
 vulnerable from the bottom. So I'd suggest avoiding the Ramulkens. Walk right,
 drop down the first hole you see.

- Metroid count: 10

- Blegh, it's pitch black down here. Really hard to see where you're going. All
 I have to say is, Bomb your way down until the Morph Ball is about in the
 lower half of the screen. Bomb your way right and you'll get a Missile Pod.
 Roll back left, Bomb, move left again, Bomb, Spring Ball up and right, then
 go right. Keep planting Bombs in your wake so you know you're moving. When you
 stop, Bomb again and move until the Ball is close to the right edge of the
 screen. Move left a bit, activate Spider Ball, and move right. You'll
 eventually climb out, where you'll see...an Energy Tank! Grab it, then drop
 back down. Bomb, move left until you can't, then Spider Ball out.

- Space Jump up to the right, and enter the passage you see up there. Space
 Jump through the spiky passage, and at the end, battle a Gamma Metroid in the
 midst of sand. It'll be a bit difficult since the sand spawns off-screen, but
 once it's dead, head back out.

- Metroid count: 9

- Climb down the right side of the ruins this time, but watch the left wall.
 Eventually you'll see a rock blocking a passage on the other side of it.
 Spring Ball over there, activate the Spider, then Bomb that rock. Head inside.
 After a bit of room, you'll encounter another Zeta Metroid. After that's
 killed, Spider Ball up through the hole in the ceiling here. In the room
 above, Bomb your way out, then go right to the rock. Bomb it, and follow the
 passage behind it to the actual shrine. Shoot the Item Sphere to get the
 ultimate weapon: the Screw Attack! This combines with your Space Jump to make
 for a deadly combination. Now you can fly, destroy enemies by ramming into
 them, and become invulnerable with this. Awesome! Now exit.

- Metroid count: 8

- Now there's a bit to do back up at the top. Once there, find a way to Spider
 Ball along the cavern walls until you get to the roof. About where the roof
 meets, plant Bombs somewhere along there until a passage opens up. Bomb your
 way through until you see a passage at the top. Follow it to get an Energy
 Tank and another Missile Pod. Now drop down the right side of the ruins. You
 will see a Missile refill, so use it. A Gamma Metroid is also around the
 corner of the cavern wall. Spider Ball along it to find it. Kill it in this
 little room without scene transitioning, then go to the left side of this
 little room to find an energy refill. Spider Ball up the left wall to find the
 entrance to it. Now drop down. Plant a Bomb beside the spikes next to the
 right wall to find a passage. Drop down it to get the last Missile Pod in the
 game. Back up there, that was also the last Energy Tank in the game. So no
 more item finding!

- Metroid count: 7

- Drop down along the cavern wall to find another entrance. Enter, Space Jump
 through the spiky corridor, and at the end, face a Zeta Metroid, the last
 Metroid of this area. After its death, an earthquake signifying the lowering
 of the lava will occur. It's time to exit these ruins, but perhaps a save at
 the Save Station should be due first. Refer back to the first map of this
 section and go down the now empty lava pit...

- Metroid count: 6

=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
Omega Trouble
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
                                                 |
                                                \|/
                                                /'/
                                               | /
                                               | \
                                                \ \
   _______________________                    |¯¯  ¯¯|
  |          X  X         |                   | |¯¯| |
  | |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| |                   |  ¯¯  |
  | |___                | |___       _________|¯¯  ¯¯|
  |     \               |     |     |           |¯¯| |
   ¯¯¯¯\ \               ¯¯¯| |     | |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯|  ¯¯  |
        \ \_________________| |     | |        ¯¯¯¯¯¯
         \                    |     | |
          ¯¯¯¯\  /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯      | |
            |¯¯__¯¯|                | |
            | |  | |                | |
            |__¯¯__|                | |
              / /                   | |
             / /                    | |
         |¯¯¯  ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯  |
         | |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
        (Lava)

- Go down the somewhat circlular rooms in the beginning and head left, past the
 lava and the Skorps, then head down some more. Head left at the bottom and
 deal with all sorts of enemies. Moheeks, Skorps, Glow Flies, Yummes. At the
 end, you'll get to a fork. Left is just a lava pit, so go up. You'll get to a
 fork after the circular part, so just go left. Follow the cave (it's fairly
 simple), past the Pincher Fly horde, and then right. Eventually you'll come
 up to an Alpha Metroid that just shed from its normal shell. Easy kill.

- Metroid count: 5

- An earthquake will happen, so some lava has lowered, apparently. Go back
 around to the bottom of this loop around and you'll find that the way down has
 been blocked by lava. Damn, the game pulled a switch on us! So are we stuck?
 Well, head back to where you found the Alpha Metroid...you have a nasty
 surprise.

- A Zeta Metroid is up here, and it evolves into the Omega Metroid! This is a
 much larger Zeta, but is also slower. It fires electric balls at Samus
 constantly, and occasionally tries to ram into her. Use the Screw Attack to
 counter that. Like Zetas, Omegas can only be hit from the front and back, but
 their back is actually their weakest point. Good luck hitting their back with
 Missiles, because otherwise, it takes 40 Missiles to kill one. After it's
 killed, another earthquake will occur. Seems like we may have a way out,
 finally.

- Metroid count: 4

- Getting really close! Head out of this loop of a cave, and make your way to
 the lava pit marked on the map above. It is now empty. Head down.

 _____________________________________________________________________________
/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\
                         _
                        |S|
                        | |
                        | |
   ____________         | |
  |X           |________| |
   ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯|            |__
          |¯¯__|¯¯|?|¯¯¯|__  |__________
          | | _____________|           X|
          | ||X              |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
          | | ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
          | |
          | |
          | |__
          |S   |
           ¯¯| |
             | |
             | |
             | |__
             |    |
              ¯¯| |        |
                | |       \|/
                | |       |'|
                | |_______| |
                |           |
                 ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

- Note, for the sake of this area, since this is mostly hallways and it is a
 rather big area, the map above will be scaled down a lot due to space saving.
 It's still accurate, just expect to take longer trips than you see. The "?"
 marks a passage to go when all but one Metroid is left.

- Follow the passage shown, taking down all sorts of enemies (Moheeks, Glow
 Flies, Skorps). Eventually, you'll reach the lair of the Omega Metroids,
 signified by a Save Station and the change of music. Space Jump up from here,
 enter the passage at the top, then here, take the left passage at the top.
 Jump through this oddly Norfair-like room (bubble pillars), and at the end,
 you'll face an Omega Metroid. Remember, these guys are painful, but not as
 annoying as Zetas.

- Metroid count: 3

- Head back, and take the right passage this time. Follow the bubble pillars,
 you'll get to a hole in the floor. This is the way forward for later, just go
 right some more. At the end, you can head all the way to the top for a Save
 Station, or go down and right for another three-way fork. It's advisable to
 save after every Omega, so go do that. After saving, go to that three-way fork
 and take the right passage.

- At the end of the bubbly passage is yet another Omega. Kill it. Remember,
 their back is their weakness. You can kill them with 15 Missiles or less if
 you utilize that. Just be patient about it. Also remember to Screw Attack into
 it for about a second every few seconds, to avoid its ram attack. After that
 one's killed, head back, then take the final left passage. Follow the very
 long passage, and you'll see one last Omega Metroid at the end. Kill it.

- Metroid count: 1

- Earthquake time. Lava must've lowered somewhere. That lava is where the "?"
 mark is shown, which leads (a long path) to the Queen Metroid's lair...it's
 the last Metroid left, and we have to kill the one that keeps spawning them.
 It's our mission. So backtrack, save if you want, and go down that pit you
 skipped...

 _____________________________________________________________________________
/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\
                   _|=|_
                  |O    |
             ___  |     |
          <--   |  ¯| |¯
             ¯| |   | |  _____
              | |   | | |E   M|
              | |   | | |_   _|
           ___| |___| |___| |___
          |                     |
          |                     |
          |                     |
          |                     |
          |                     |
          |                     |
          |                     |
           \                   /
            ¯¯¯|           |¯¯¯
               |           |
                ¯¯\     /¯¯
                   \   /
            ________| |
           |         S|
           | |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
           | |______________
           |                |
            ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| |
        __________________| |
       |                    |
       | |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
       | |____________________
       |                      |
        ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| |
                       |    | |
                      \|/   | |
                      |'|   | |
                      | |   | |
                      | |   | |
                      | |   | |
                      | |   | |
                      | |   | |
                      | |___| |
                      |       |
                       ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

- Follow the eerily empty cave passage that twists and winds around. You'll
 come across some sort of viscous liquid in pools that slow your movement. I'd
 advise staying out of them, as you can fall through holes in the floor.
 Eventually you'll find a Save Station. Save. Space Jump up through the ceiling
 from here to arrive at a big cavern. Start Space Jumping up towards the right.
 You'll see Septoggs flying around, but they don't harm you. Space Jump up
 through the right-most ceiling hole where a Septogg is and you'll find an
 energy refill and Missile refill. Use those, and drop down onto the Septogg.

- Space Jump up through the middle ceiling hole now. Keep Space Jumping up,
 eventually you'll reach a broken-down shrine with a torn-apart statue. Huh.
 An Item Sphere is behind the statue here. Open it and grab the Ice Beam. Trust
 me, this Beam "downgrade" is necessary. Drop back down to the large cavern,
 and Space Jump up the last (leftmost) ceiling hole. Change of music...head up,
 and left to a scene transition. Final area...let's do this.

=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
The Last Metroid
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
    ________________________
   |            X       X   |
   |X|¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| |
   |X ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯|     |X|
    ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| |     | |
   <--¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯X |   __| |
      ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯   |   X|
       ________        | |¯¯
      _||_  _||_       | |
      |  |  |  |_______| |
      |  |  |     X     X|
      |  |   ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
      |  |_
      |    <--
       ¯¯¯¯

- Climb up the room here in this ruined royal palace area. At the top, Spider
 Ball up. You'll see an egg above. Must be a Metroid getting ready to hatch.
 Er...wait a minute...what's going on?

- Metroid count: 9

- Woah...seems like we've suddenly got more Metroids to deal with. Wonder what
 kind those are? Well, roll right and into the next room. Move right a little
 to find a...Metroid! Yeah, just a regular Metroid in its normal, unevolved
 state. So if you've played Metroid (or simply, other Metroid games), you'll
 know the way to kill these. If not, then freeze them with the Ice Beam, and
 shoot five Missiles at them to kill them. If they latch on to you, your energy
 will deplete, so knock them off with Morph Ball Bombs.

- Keep following the halls this way. The only enemies are the Metroids
 themselves, so be cautious and make sure they don't beat you at the pass.
 Your Metroid count will quickly deplete back to 1 as you near the Queen's
 resting place, where you can hear her roars and foot stomps. A short
 earthquake will happen once all the regular Metroids are killed. Make your way
 to the Queen now...

- Once you drop down to the Queen's chamber, the Queen will almost immediately
 lunge her head at you. Dodge that attack. She'll then retreat while shooting
 globs of acid that somewhat home in on you. Use Screw Attack to avoid damage.
 What you're supposed to do here is just...shoot the Queen's head with
 Missiles. If you shoot a Missile at the Queen's mouth when it's open, she
 will be stunned briefly, allowing you more time to fire more Missiles. It
 takes 150 Missiles to kill the Queen...but why not do it a more satisfying
 way? Stun her with a Missile while her mouth is open, then turn into the
 Morph Ball, roll into her mouth, down her throat, and into her stomach. (If
 you have trouble getting past her mouth, just stop moving and start again.)
 The acids inside will eat away at your energy, but you can severely damage the
 Queen by planting Bombs inside. You'll get spat out. Repeat the process about
 10 times and the Queen will be killed. The method isn't recommended if you
 don't have much energy left. If you feel like you might be killed, you can
 exit via the passage below the Queen to give you a chance to heal. You'll be
 dropped off at the broken down item room where you got the Ice Beam...but by
 doing this, the Queen's damage will have healed up by the time you get back.

- Once the Queen is dead...walk to the cavern that was behind it. You'll spot
 the egg you saw before. Get yourself ready...and it's hatched! Wait...it's
 not attacking....it thinks Samus is its mother? Huh. Maybe we can keep this
 one.

 _____________________________________________________________________________
/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\
                    |                                   |
                    |                                   |
                    |                                   |
                    |                                   |
                    |                 |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯|       |
                    |                 |         |       |
                    |                 |         |       |
                    |                 |         |       |
                    |                 |         |       |
                    |                 |         |       |
                    |                 |         |       |
                    |                 |         |  *    |
                     ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯           ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
                            | |
                            | |
                            | |
                            | |
                            | |____
                            |      |
                             ¯¯¯¯| |
                         ________| |
                        |          |
                        | |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
                ________| |
               |          |
               | |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
       ________| |
      |          |
      | |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
      | |_
      |  <--
       ¯¯¯

- This should be self-explanatory. You escape back to your ship. You can take
 your time though. You'll find weird barriers along the way that only the baby
 Metroid can take down (must be Metroid food?), so have the Metroid fly into
 said barriers so you can continue. Eventually, you'll make it to the surface
 of SR388. After so long! Space Jump up and to the right to get up onto a hill.
 On the other side of this hill is...your ship! Drop inside and the game will
 end, cutting to the credits. Nice job on clearing the game! (If you notice,
 the cave you used to first enter SR388 is now blocked. Must've been all those
 earthquakes that eventually did it in.)

 ______________________________________
|..__________________________________..|
|:/               End                \:|
 ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
And so, that's the end of the game. Alongside the credits, Samus in her Varia
Suit is seen running in the player's direction. After the credits, your time
for beating the game is displayed, and depending on how fast you beat the game,
Samus will do different things.

------------------------
Ending #1
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
How to get: Finish in over 5 hours.

What Samus does: Continues running.

------------------------
Ending #2
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
How to get: Finish in between 3 and 5 hours.

What Samus does: Jumps off screen, then drops down, landing. She then stands
 there.

------------------------
Ending #3
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
How to get: Finish in under 3 hours.

What Samus does: Jumps off screen, then drops down. When she lands, her suit is
 shed, revealing a fit woman in a bikini. She then unties her hair.

_______________________________________________________________________________
                         /¯\
------Items-------------'   \ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯ ¯  ¯  ¯   ¯   ¯    ¯
                             ¯
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
This section covers all collectible items in the game. Not only do you find
basic ability upgrades, but you can also increase your suit's power with
various items to make you virtually unbeatable! But exploration is key with all
these. There's even an optional upgrade that makes things easier.

 ______________________________________
|..__________________________________..|
|:/             Upgrades             \:|
 ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
These are items that are mostly found in the ruins found in the depths of
SR388. Whenever you find ruins, you'll most likely pick up at least one new
ability, so they're always a bit fun to discover. These items are labeled in
the order you can usually get them in.

------------------------
Bombs
¯¯¯¯¯
How to find: These are in the first ruins area, sometime after your first (few)
 Alpha Metroid(s). To get this, enter the ruins via the front entrance. Pass
 the Save Station, go to the bottom of the vertical shaft, and follow the hall
 at the bottom to find a Missile Door. These are usually signs that an item is
 behind them. Shoot it open with 5 Missiles and enter. Shoot the Item Sphere
 that the statue is holding and go grab the Bombs!

What they do: Bombs can be used to attack enemies while in Morph Ball mode by
 pressing the Shoot button. Mostly though, Bombs are used to destroy weak
 sections of floors and walls to reach hidden passageways. If the Morph Ball is
 on top of a Bomb when it explodes, the Ball is popped up a short distance in
 what is called a Bomb Jump.

------------------------
Ice Beam
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
How to find: This is in the first ruins area, sometime after your first (few)
 Alpha Metroid(s). To get this from the Bombs, return to the vertical shaft,
 and take a right. Destroy the Wallfire, go through the hidden Morph Ball
 passage, and exit out onto another vertical shaft. Go to the bottom here, go
 left, and open the Missile Door. This item is behind there. (This item can
 also be found in the last ruins area along with the other three Beams, and
 also in the broken Chozo Statue room below the Queen Metroid's resting place,
 found by also Space Jumping up the middle of the cavern below said room.)

What it does: It enhances the power of your Beam and also freezes any creature
 it doesn't immediately kill, allowing you to use the frozen creatures as
 temporary platforms.

------------------------
Spider Ball
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
How to find: This is in the first ruins area. After getting the Ice Beam, go up
 the vertical shaft close to it and take the second right to exit the ruins.
 Keep going right and eventually you'll fall down a fake floor in a little
 cave. At the very bottom is this item!

What it does: By pressing down on the Directional Pad while in Morph Ball mode,
 the Morph Ball will be able to scale walls and ceilings of any kind. Letting a
 Bomb go off on you or pressing the Jump button can deactivate the move.

------------------------
Varia Suit
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
How to find: This is in the second ruins area. Get to the left side outside the
 ruins, and head underwater. Go right, through the underwater passage, and
 emerge from it at the end. Use the Spider Ball up the ceiling passage, then
 in the next room, open the Missile Door. Enter to find a shrine with a statue,
 but no Item Sphere. Hm. Bomb the floors above the small chamber below to
 destroy a weak part of the floor, head in, and go up the left wall of the
 chamber by using the Spider Ball to find a room stacked with Item Spheres.
 Curiously, all the empty ones require Bombs, whereas the real one, between the
 two blocks, contains this item, and has to be shot.

What it does: This enhances your suit, adding the bulky shoulders as a cosmetic
 effect, but also decreases the suit's defenses by 50%. I'm also convinced that
 it makes Samus run faster as well.

------------------------
Spring Ball
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
How to find: This optional item can be found in the second ruins area. Head to
 the roof of the ruins, and somewhere between Blob Throwers is a hole. Drop
 down and follow the passage, past the Missile Door, to a secret shrine. Shoot
 the Item Sphere to fight Arachnus. Take it down (use Bombs) and this will be
 left in its remains.

What it does: It effectively lets you jump while in Morph Ball mode. It has the
 same jumping height as your normal jump. This can make using the Spider Ball
 easier in some ways, as well as cutting down the time you'd normally need to
 Bomb Jump.

------------------------
Wave Beam
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
How to find: This item is in the second ruins area. Get to the left side
 outside the ruins, and scale the ruins walls by using the Spider Ball. About
 halfway up, you'll find a rock blocking a path just before a next wall climb.
 Bomb this rock away and head inside. In the room with the Alpha Metroid, Bomb
 some floors until you find an entrance to the small chamber below, and head
 down the secret Morph Ball passage. At the bottom of the drop, find the Morph
 Ball passage within the left wall, Bomb your way through, pass the Autoads,
 and shoot down the Missile Door. Inside is this coveted item. (This item can
 also be found in the last ruins area along with the three other Beams.)

What it does: This Beam is more powerful than the regular Beam, firing shots in
 a wavelength pattern. The shots are able to pass through walls. Note that once
 you collect this, any Beam you had before will be replaced.

------------------------
High Jump Boots
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
How to find: This is in the second ruins area. Read the above on how to get the
 Wave Beam, but instead of going left after the Morph Ball passage drop, go
 right. Fall down the right side of the adjacent vertical shaft and you'll find
 a fake wall somewhere in the middle. Walk through, drop down the next shaft
 and find a Missile Door at the bottom. Blast it open, and head inside to
 collect your prize.

What it does: The name is self-explanatory. It greatly increases Samus's
 jumping height. Nearly doubles the height, I believe.

------------------------
Space Jump
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
How to find: This is in the third ruins area. Once outside the ruins (not the
 tunnels below), climb your way up and over the first tower by using the Spider
 Ball, and get between that tower and the other one. Shoot down through the
 sand pit and enter the left tower. Inside after a little bit of climbing is
 this item.

What it does: This item allows Samus to virtually fly if mastered. Start a
 running jump, and about a second after you start falling, jump again and you
 should go higher. You can keep doing this limitlessly, provided you have the
 timing down for each jump. This is a great ability in itself, but can be
 combined with something else to make it even better...

------------------------
Spazer Laser Beam
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
How to find: This is in the third ruins area. To get this, get on top of the
 right tower outside the ruins and go down the hole. Here, head left, fall
 down to the bottom of the Autrack-infested shaft, and head left some more,
 past Autoads and an Autrack. You'll get to a Missile Door. Blast it open and
 head inside to collect this Beam. (This item can also be found in the last
 ruins area along with the three other Beams.)

What it does: This powerup replaces your current Beam with a tri-beam laser.
 It is a bit more powerful than the Wave Beam, and can hit up to three enemies
 with one shot. The Spazer Laser Beam can also go through walls, just like the
 Wave Beam.

------------------------
Plasma Beam
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
How to find: This is in the third ruins area, surprisingly not too far from the
 Spazer. In that Autrack-infested vertical shaft, enter the right-side passage
 in it. Drop down afterwards, shoot through the sand and go down, then head
 left until you see a Missile Door. Yep, the Plasma Beam is behind there. (This
 item can also be found in the last ruins area along with the other three
 Beams. Simply enter the ruins from the left side above the Save Station, and
 jump/drop through the floor/ceiling at the end of the halls.)

What it does: This is the most powerful Beam in the game. Not only does it take
 down most enemies in at least a couple of shots (especially the tougher ones),
 but it can also go through walls. Collecting this replaces whatever Beam you
 had previously.

------------------------
Screw Attack
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
How to find: This last item can be found in the fourth ruins area. It's around
 where you have 12 Metroids left to kill by the time you enter it. Space Jump
 up the ruins on its right side until you find a rock blocking a passage on the
 other side of it. Plant a Bomb there (Spring Ball from the cavern wall, Spider
 Ball, then Bomb) and enter. Kill the Zeta, follow the tunnel in the roof. Bomb
 your way out, then find the rock on the right side of the room, Bomb it, and
 follow the passage to the shrine. Just shoot the Item Sphere to grab it.

What it does: This ultimate item powers up your Space Jump by emitting deadly
 energy that can kill any enemy that you touch during the Space Jump, and can
 also keep you invulnerable to anything but environmental hazards.

 ______________________________________
|..__________________________________..|
|:/           Energy Tanks           \:|
 ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
These are rare items. When you find one, not only does your energy get
refilled, you also gain an extra 100 energy to keep you living longer. Valuable
items that are worth getting. Samus can only carry 5 Energy Tanks with her in
the game, but there are 6 in total, the last one simply being an energy refill.

------------------------
Energy Tank #1 [ ]
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
How to get: This is found in the first ruins area, sometime after your first
 (few) Alpha Metroid(s). To get this, enter the ruins via the front entrance.
 Pass the Save Station, go down the vertical shaft and take a right when you
 can. Destroy the Wallfire here and go through the hidden Morph Ball passage
 above it. Bomb the weak block in the way, and this Energy Tank is yours!

------------------------
Energy Tank #2 [ ]
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
How to get: This is found in the second ruins area, the place you need to go
 when the Metroid count is around 33. To reach this, you have to go pretty deep
 in the ruins. Head to the left outside of the ruins, and scale the ruins walls
 with the Spider Ball. Up around halfway is a rock that can be Bombed. Do so
 and head inside. Take down the Alpha Metroid, and find the hidden passage
 below. Once you take that and fall down a Morph Ball passage, go right to an
 adjacent drop shaft. Drop down the right side and you'll find a fake part of
 the wall clearly marked. Head inside, drop down, and blast open the Missile
 Door. In here, find ANOTHER hidden passage via Bombing, and you'll eventually
 reach a hidden room with this Tank and a Missile Pod.

------------------------
Energy Tank #3 [ ]
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
How to get: This is found in the third ruins area, the place you go to when
 the Metroid count is around 26. Once outside the ruins (not in the tunnels
 below), climb up around the ruins walls to get to the sand pit between the
 two towers. Get the Space Jump from here if you haven't, and Space Jump to the
 top of the right tower. Drop off the other side (not down the hole), and find
 a rock wedged in the left wall. Get over there with the Spider Ball somehow,
 and Bomb the rock. Inside, you'll see this Tank behind a block.

------------------------
Energy Tank #4 [ ]
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
How to get: This is found in the third ruins area. Enter the hole in the roof
 of the right tower, and make your way down a vertical shaft filled with
 Autracks. About halfway down is an entrance to the right. Take that, drop to
 the bottom of this room, shoot through the sand, drop down, go right. Follow
 the path until you get to a Metroid shell past a Shirk and a couple of Automs.
 Use the Spider Ball along the left wall while laying Bombs in your wake to
 find a passage further along. Get past the Alpha Metroid, and in the next
 room, go through all the obstacles to get this Tank.

------------------------
Energy Tank #5 [ ]
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
How to get: This is found in the fourth ruins area, where your Metroid count is
 around 12. Just get to the very top of the ruins, which appears to be very
 much like a tower. Up here, you'll very plainly see an Energy Tank below a
 Metroid shell...but you can't get it from there. Drop down the other hole. In
 this pitch black room, once you drop, Spring Ball up and right, and drop Bombs
 in your wake so you know you're moving. Keep Bombing your way through until
 the Morph Ball is close to the right edge of the screen and you can't move.
 Move left a bit, and then Spider Ball right. You'll climb up and emerge where
 the Energy Tank is.

------------------------
Energy Tank #6 [ ]
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
How to get: This is close to the above Tank. Spider Ball along the cavern walls
 surrounding the ruins until you get to the roof. Around there, plant Bombs
 until a passage opens up. Plant Bombs further in the passage until you reach
 a passage at the top. Follow it to get this, along with a Missile Pod.

 ______________________________________
|..__________________________________..|
|:/           Missile Pods           \:|
 ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
There are 22 Missile Pods in the game, and each Pod increases Samus's payload
by 10. As she already starts off with a good number of 30 when you start off
the game, the total gets up to 250. This shows all Missile Pods in the order
you can get them in. Checkmark boxes are beside each to keep track of what
you've gotten, just like with the Energy Tanks.

------------------------
Missile Pod #1 [ ]
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
How to get: This is found in the first ruins area, sometime after your first
 (few) Alpha Metroid(s). To get this, enter the ruins via the front entrance.
 Pass the Save Station, go to the bottom of the vertical shaft, and follow the
 hall at the bottom to find a Missile Door. Open it with 5 Missiles and enter
 to find a shrine where you can find the Bombs! If you don't have them, grab
 them, and Bomb the floor above where the Missile Pod is to break part of the
 floor and allow access to this.

------------------------
Missile Pod #2 [ ]
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
How to get: This is found in the first ruins area. After the first Pod, head
 back to the vertical shaft and take a right. Destroy the Wallfire and take the
 hidden Morph Ball passageway. At the other side, you'll find another vertical
 shaft. Go down and take a right. This is found along with two other Pods!

------------------------
Missile Pod #3 [ ]
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
How to get: This is found in the first ruins area. This is found in the same
 room that Pod #2 is in.

------------------------
Missile Pod #4 [ ]
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
How to get: This is found in the first ruins area, and is in the same room that
 Pods #2 and #3 are in. The difference here is that this one is up in an alcove
 close to the ceiling, and can only be reached once you have the Spider Ball,
 so you'll have to come back later.

------------------------
Missile Pod #5 [ ]
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
How to get: This is found in the first ruins area. From the room where Pods #2,
 #3, and #4 are in, get back to the vertical shaft and climb to the very top
 via the Spider Ball. Up at the top of the shaft is an entrance to the top room
 of the ruins, and it contains two Missile Pods for the taking.

------------------------
Missile Pod #6 [ ]
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
How to get: This is found in the first ruins area, and is in the same room that
 Pod #5 is in. Metroid and Metroid II seem to have a thing for stacking Missile
 Pods so close to each other.

------------------------
Missile Pod #7 [ ]
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
How to get: This is found in the second ruins area. As you emerge at this ruins
 area (should have a Metroid count of 33), use the Spider Ball to climb up the
 ruins' walls. Eventually you'll get to a tunnel that extends to a scene
 transition. Crawl in and find this Pod!

------------------------
Missile Pod #8 [ ]
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
How to get: This is found in the second ruins area. Get to the left side of the
 ruins, and go down into the water. Head right to enter the small underwater
 portion of the ruins, and before you go down, use the Spider Ball up the right
 wall to get this.

------------------------
Missile Pod #9 [ ]
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
How to get: This is found in the second ruins area. From Pod #8, continue down
 through the watery passage. Take down the Alpha Metroid if you haven't, and
 emerge. The left wall here is actually fake and can be passed through. Enter
 it via the Morph Ball, then you can un-Morph, jump up and left, and just walk
 through the hidden passage to get this.

------------------------
Missile Pod #10 [ ]
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
How to get: This Missile Pod requires a bit of maneuvering to work right.
 First, in the second ruins area, get to the left part outside the ruins, and
 go up the vertical shaft filled with Tsumuris. At the top, use the Spider Ball
 in the ruins cavern and move up towards the ceiling. Plant Bombs right when
 you reach the ceiling to find a weak part of the ceiling. Keep planting Bombs
 and moving away so the explosions don't deactivate your Spider Ball, and
 eventually you'll reach a tunnel that was enclosed before. Follow it to get
 this.

------------------------
Missile Pod #11 [ ]
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
How to get: This is in the second ruins area. This is in the same room with
 Energy Tank #2, so refer to that if you want an in-depth description. Basic
 info: Go up left ruins wall, Bomb way in, find hidden passage, go right, go
 through fake wall in drop shaft, drop, go through door, find hidden passage,
 viola.

------------------------
Missile Pod #12 [ ]
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
How to get: This is in the second ruins area. Using Pod #11's info, go to the
 vertical shaft that has the destructible blocks. Don't go through the fake
 wall this time, just drop to the bottom and go left. You'll find two Missile
 Pods here.

------------------------
Missile Pod #13 [ ]
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
How to get: This Pod is in the second ruins area, in the very room Pod #12 is
 in.

------------------------
Missile Pod #14 [ ]
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
How to get: This Pod is just a little further from #12 and #13. Just head left,
 down, then right (it's a linear path) and this Pod is waiting for you!

------------------------
Missile Pod #15 [ ]
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
How to get: This Missile Pod is in the third ruins area. Refer to Energy Tank
 #3 for specific details, as the Pod is just close to the Tank. From the Tank,
 go down, right, then Spring Ball up. Head right to get this Tank. For a
 general area though, you have to get to the right side of the ruins where the
 spike-lined wall and Proboscums (retractable platform robots) are, and bomb a
 rock to get inside.

------------------------
Missile Pod #16 [ ]
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
How to get: This is in the third ruins area. Atop the right tower of the ruins
 is a hole. Drop down it to get to a sand-filled room. Shoot your way through
 (some sand doesn't disperse) until you find a Missile Pod in the middle of
 the room.

------------------------
Missile Pod #17 [ ]
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
How to get: This is in the third ruins area. From #16, go left and drop down
 the vertical corridor. About halfway is a passage to the right. Take that.
 After killing the Gamma Metroid if you haven't already, Spider Ball up the
 right wall and plant a Bomb at the corner between the wall and the ceiling.
 Enter the little room and Spring Ball up the left wall to get this.

------------------------
Missile Pod #18 [ ]
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
How to get: From #17, drop straight down and shoot through the sand to emerge
 at another room. Go right a little bit to find another Pod.

------------------------
Missile Pod #19 [ ]
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
How to get: This is in the fourth ruins area, when you have around 13 or 12
 Metroids left. From the entrance of the very area, drop through the Metroid
 shell that's on the bridge and drop to the bottom of the water. Head left to
 find a Morph Ball passage with this Pod inside.

------------------------
Missile Pod #20 [ ]
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
How to get: This is in the fourth ruins area. Head to the very top of the ruins
 and drop down the only hole in the roof that you can to enter a pitch-black
 room. Bomb your way down until the Morph Ball is at the lower half of the
 screen, then Bomb your way right to find this.

------------------------
Missile Pod #21 [ ]
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
How to get: This is in the fourth ruins area. Climb up the cavern walls
 surrounding the ruins until you reach the roof. Plant Bombs along the roof
 corners to find a passage. Keep Bombing your way through, and at the top, you
 will find this along with an Energy Tank.

------------------------
Missile Pod #22 [ ]
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
How to get: This last Missile Pod can be found...surprisingly (not), in the
 fourth ruins area. Space Jump up the right side of the ruins, along the cavern
 wall. Eventually you'll get to a little ledge with some spikes and a Pincher
 Fly flitting around. This is actually just below a Gamma Metroid. Drop a Bomb
 on the right side of the spikes to find a passage. Inside is the Pod.

_______________________________________________________________________________
                         /¯\
-----Biology------------'   \ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯ ¯  ¯  ¯   ¯   ¯    ¯
                             ¯
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
Like all Metroid games, there's a plethora of local life forms that just make
your life harder. Unlike all Metroid games, there's not really many bosses to
speak of, except for the creature near the end. Nonetheless, this lists all
the creatures featured in this game in alphabetical order, and I try to be as
descriptive as possible so you know which enemies I'm talking about. And yes,
I try to be scientific with these descriptions due to Metroid Prime's scanning
system, haha.

------------------------
Alpha Metroid
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
This is the first stage of a normal Metroid's evolutionary cycle. They shed
their old bodies as a shell, and sport many evolutionary advances. Their tusks
form as limbs, their nucleus becomes their underbelly, and they grow a shell
and eyes. Due to the changes, the need to drain the energy of victims is no
longer needed, and their resistance to cold is decreased. A side effect is that
their nucleus is vulnerable to high-calibur explosives without having to be
frozen.

Five Missiles are required to kill an Alpha Metroid.

------------------------
Arachnus</pre><pre id="faqspan-3">
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
This creature absorbed the power of the Spring Ball. This large creature
features a long neck, long and sharp claws, a hard back shell, and the ability
to fire shots of energy from its mouth. It can roll into an armored ball,
making it invulnerable. As such, it tends to stay in this form if threatened.
It is only susceptible to localized explosives (Bombs) when it isn't in ball
form. There's only one of these creatures around, which suggests they might be
an endangered species.

------------------------
Autoad
¯¯¯¯¯¯
This robot can be found hopping around in some ruins beneath SR388. They attack
in much the same way as Hornoads do, but their true purpose is unknown. Perhaps
as sentries?

------------------------
Autom
¯¯¯¯¯
This defense robot moves along the ceilings of tight corridors and activates
its flamethrower to scorch any intruders that pass by it. A simple, but
effective sentry, as it is invulnerable.

------------------------
Autrack
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
This mechanical robot usually travels along walls with its neck retracted.
When an intruder enters its sight, its neck stretches and the cannon shoots
out a large laser beam. It then retracts, reloads, and repeats the process
until the intruder is defeated. This robot is made with very durable metals,
and takes a lot to destroy one.

------------------------
Blob Thrower
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
This is a plant-like creature, with its only weakness being its bulb. It can
extend and fire Blobs from its "mouth", which in turn slowly float down in an
irregular pattern. They're pretty dangerous, I'd recommend avoiding them if
you don't have the Wave Beam.

------------------------
Chute Leech
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
These four-eyed creatures are flat, much like a leech, and hide in gaps in the
floor or in lava. When prey nears, they jump up and float down in an erratic
pattern in an attempt to catch their prey in their mouths located underneath
them. Their tough hide makes them hard to be overtaken.

------------------------
Drivel
¯¯¯¯¯¯
This bat-like enemy flits back and forth in a slight downward arc. It drops
acidic fluid down onto any prey that passes underneath it, leaving said prey
to be food for later. It is advisable to take it out from a distance.

------------------------
Flitt
¯¯¯¯¯
This is an amoeba-like creature that moves in set paths, does not harm other
beings, can be stood on, but also can vanish at random times. A pretty rare
enemy, they're usually found in otherwise impassable lava rooms.

------------------------
Gamma Metroid
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
The Gamma Metroid is the next step in a Metroid's normal evolutionary cycle.
For the most part, Gammas just have minor changes from Alphas. Not only do they
grow bigger, but their tusk "legs" lengthen, their horns become more
pronounced, and their hide becomes more durable. Gammas have the ability to
generate localized electric pulses to attack their prey, and can also deflect
projectile attacks in this manner.

Ten Missiles are required to kill a Gamma Metroid.

------------------------
Gawron
¯¯¯¯¯¯
This odd floating creature appears in many gaps in the ground and charges
straight after its target. It appears to have a spherical body, and its large
mouth in the front features many sharp teeth with which to pierce prey against
walls.

------------------------
Glow Fly
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
This fly hangs on walls, and dashes toward their prey when they approach. If
missed, they latch onto the opposite wall. These appear to resemble terran
fire flies, in which they use a similar process of generating light in their
abdomens.

------------------------
Gravitt
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
This creature has a "helmet" of hard-packed sand with spikes on top, and likes
to hide underground. When its prey approaches, it springs out and attempts a
rush attack.

------------------------
Gullugg
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
This creature has bat wings that help keep it in rapid circular flight. A
genetic defect causes one eye to not be fully developed, which could be a
reason for its flight pattern. A single sharp spine protrudes from what's
presumably its mouth, and it can pierce the skin of many creatures that get in
its way.

------------------------
Gunzoo
¯¯¯¯¯¯
This robot is outfitted with twin incendiary mortar cannons and an anti-gravity
levitator. It usually patrols some of the most sacred parts of the ruins and
has a fairly tough armor. A penetrating weapon makes quick work of these
sentries, however.

------------------------
Halzyn
¯¯¯¯¯¯
This creature flies around by flapping its hard wings vigorously, but the poor
thing can't keep a straight flight path due to how heavy its wings are. On the
plus side, its wings are so durable that they act as a shield to attackers.
They are only vulnerable from the body itself, so attacks from above or below
make the Halzyn helpless.

------------------------
Hornoad
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
This large, bipedal creature resembles that of a toad. It has spines on its
back, and moves around by hopping around. It's not much of a threat to bigger
lifeforms, and is low on the food chain.

------------------------
Infant Metroid
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
The larval Metroid. Such Metroids cannot attack and thus must be protected by
their parent until growth to adults. Metroids have a primitive maternal
instinct: it assumes that whoever is near it during birth from its egg is its
mother or parent. Samus encounters a freshly-hatched Metroid after her massive
Metroid genocide on SR388. It senses Samus as its mother, and does not attack.
Despite her mission, Samus keeps the infant alive and takes it back to her
ship.

------------------------
Meboid
¯¯¯¯¯¯
This is a small, amoeba-like creature that flies in a simplistic left to right
fashion. So far, it is unknown what it feeds on. It's not found in very many
areas of SR388 either.

------------------------
Metroid
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
This creature is a native to SR388, as far as Federation space knows. This
dangerous creature can drain the energy of victims it latches on to,
essentially "killing" the victim. It floats by unknown means, its only known
weakness being susceptible to freezing cold. Only then will its body become
brittle enough to be destroyed with explosives. Samus was ordered to kill
every last Metroid on SR388 to prevent a chance of a galactic-scale wipeout.

------------------------
Moheek
¯¯¯¯¯¯
This fish-like creature makes its home in lava. Due to constant exposure to the
lava's heat, its skin is pretty durable. Its limited intelligence limits it to
an instinctive feeding path along floors, walls, and even ceilings. When it's
not in the lava, its poisonous tendrils deliver a powerful toxin to anything
that touches it.

------------------------
Moto
¯¯¯¯
This rather large, two-appendaged creature walks short distances from its
original spot in search of food. Its limited path suggests it isn't at much of
a hindrance. As protection, the Moto has a spiked shell that it wears much like
a mask. The only way to kill one would be to shoot it at the back.

------------------------
Mumbo
¯¯¯¯¯
This fly-like creature flies back and forth, much like other flying creatures
of SR388. Its slim body has a single eye that spans most of its body. The fangs
on its side can generate a painful sting to anything that tries to eat it.

------------------------
Needler
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
This creature has a spherical body and is covered in needles. It moves along
the floors, walls, and ceilings, and appears to only be a nuisance to others.
Its hide isn't very durable however, which seems to be why they are an
endangered species.

------------------------
Octroll
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
These multi-tentacled creatures like to hide in lava, and jump out when prey
approaches. They then float down in an irregular pattern, their bottom mouth
ready to swallow their prey.

------------------------
Omega Metroid
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
The Omega Metroid is the pinnacle of a Metroid's normal evolutionary cycle. It
mainly grows more powerful and resilient, but can also fire electric energy
balls from their mouths to paralyze prey. They occasionally also use their
brute force to ram into prey and knock them out. They still retain their
ability to fly. Their vulnerabilities are still front and back, but they have
decreased durability in their back, making them weak to explosive shots from
that side.

Omega Metroids take 40 Missiles normally to kill, but with their weakness, 15.

------------------------
Pincher Fly
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
This small flying creature flies in a similar pattern to Yumbos. It has small,
leaf-like wings, and pinching claws protruding from its body. It only attacks
those who stray too close to it.

------------------------
Proboscum
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
This harmless robot is clamped to a wall, its beak being a bit of a platform
for Samus. Its true purpose is unknown, but as of now the robot is out of order
and its swiveling beak extends and retracts beyond its control.

------------------------
Queen Metroid
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
The Queen Metroid. Only a select few Metroids have the specific DNA pattern to
be able to evolve into a Queen. Once evolved, Queens become much like a
four-legged crocodile, with a long, stretchable neck and a broad head with
multiple eyes. As she's the Queen of all Metroids, she can genetically produce
offspring asexually. She can spit acidic globs to take down her prey, and she
can swallow prey whole and let her powerful digestive enzymes in her stomach to
break down her food. For Samus, this can be taken advantage of if you first
stun the Queen with a Missile to her open maw...

The Queen Metroid takes 150 Missiles to kill, but 10 Bombs in her stomach to do
the same...a more risky maneuver but a quicker one.

------------------------
Ramulken
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
This creature wears a shell almost like a hat. It is invulnerable from all
sides except its vulnerable legs, with which it uses to hop around as a form of
locomotion.

------------------------
Seerook
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
This tiny flying creature behaves similarly to the Yumbo. It sports small horns
and intimidating mandibles similar to the later stages of a Metroid's evolution
in order to scare away potential predators. They are otherwise harmless.

------------------------
Senjoo
¯¯¯¯¯¯
This appears to be some sort of android-like creature, appearing both natural
and cybernetic. It flies around somehow and has spikes all over its body. Its
attack pattern is fairly weird, it doesn't move unless Samus moves, and it
moves away from her. If she moves too close to the Senjoo's original location,
it will then swoop from below and attack her.

------------------------
Septogg
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
This is a rather large flying creature that flies upside down, most likely due
to its weight distribution. They are harmless, and serve to only be moving
platforms to Samus.

------------------------
Shirk
¯¯¯¯¯
This sentry robot uses an anti-gravity levitation system to fly around, and it
uses its spikes to penetrate intruders. Its armor isn't too strong however, as
it can be broken down a bit easily.

------------------------
Skorp
¯¯¯¯¯
This scorpion-like creature has sawblade-like claws with which it uses to shred
through rocks and prey. They pop out of walls to attack, then they retreat. For
Samus, they are pretty good for reliable Missile drops.

------------------------
Skreek
¯¯¯¯¯¯
This creature looks literally like a bird's head on legs. It hops from the
ground or lava and spits bullets from its mouth before retreating.

------------------------
TPO
¯¯¯
The TPO is a maintenance drone that flies around in a simple horizontal
pattern. Pretty much, this is similar to a Pincher Fly.

------------------------
Tsumuri
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
This creature crawls along the ground by secreting slime from its body and
slides along it, much like that of an earth snail. Its body is covered in a
protective spined shell that keeps it from being eaten by larger bioforms.

------------------------
Wallfire
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
This is an immobile sentry that spits fire at intruders, hence the name. It's
shaped much like the heads of the ancient civilization that built it.
Unfortunately, it's not too durable and can be destroyed with not much trouble.

------------------------
Yumbo
¯¯¯¯¯
This mosquito-like creature flies around and doesn't actively attack anything
larger than it. If anything gets too close to it though, its stinger can
deliver a sharp sting. Its sharp stinger has feathers stuck to it, and is able
to rotate it to help its flight pattern, making up for the rather small wings
that were given to it.

This is one of the first enemies you face in the game. The first encounter is
in the Surface Area.

------------------------
Yumme
¯¯¯¯¯
This creature pops up from the ground and flies straight towards its prey via
natural chemical rocket propulsion, using its horn to "lance" its prey. Its
armored shell is designed in such a way to promote complete body movement,
which is why it can curve its body to ascend.

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Zeta Metroid
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Zeta is the next stage in the normal Metroid evolutionary path. Shedding its
shell of its previous form (Gamma), Zetas now have a bipedal form, a mouth, a
notable head, and even a tail. They are invulnerable from the top and bottom.
Zetas still have the ability to fly, and they do so rapidly. Occasionally they
spit globs of a powerful enzyme used to break down their prey.

Zeta Metroids take 20 Missiles each to kill.

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Unknown Life Form 2
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Code-named ULF 2, there's no known name for this enemy. They act much like
Skrees of Zebesian origin, but apparently make their nests in the ceilings. One
roosts on the ceiling, and dive-bombs straight to the ground whenever a
potential threat approaches. Another of its kind shortly arrives to further
protect its hidden nest. If one is destroyed, they no longer come out.

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The words in this FAQ are copyrighted. Do not copy this FAQ and claim it as
your own, or else you'll meet severe penalties. ONLY GameFAQs, Neoseeker, and
Super Cheats are allowed to host/display this FAQ, no exceptions. Nothing
personal, it just gets confusing to keep track of which FAQ is up-to-date and
which is not, so I will decline any requests to put my FAQ on your site. Again,
nothing personal.

My e-mail address is gmaster2647@gmail.com . You can email me for questions,
comments, or even suggestions, just make sure your emails are coherent. I will
not accept spam or hate mail, as they will get deleted. I will also delete any
emails that are not coherent. In other words, do not use l33t internet speak or
chatroom shortened words.

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Nintendo - For making a good sequel to the original Metroid. Improved mechanics
 from the original and made it a bit more playable.

You - For reading and enjoying my guides. I wouldn't be continuing to write
 these without you guys!

**See you next mission!** (Super Metroid, hehehe)