Nameless' Metroid Prime Secret World Tutorial By nameless CONTENTS 1. Introduction 2. Chapter 1 - The Secret World: Why Is It There? 3. Chapter 2 - Secret World Mechanics: How to get around. 4. Chapter 3 - Things to do and places to see. 5. Chapter 4 - How to enter the secret world. 6. Chapter 5 - Speculation: Could there be others? 7. Acknowledgements 1. Introduction For those of you who have been sleeping under a piece of phazon ore, there is a "secret world" in Prime. Yes, the latest installation of the glitch-plagued series is not without its monumentous yet entertaining and much welcome flaws. As we know, Metroid 1 was the first in the series to display the existence of explorable areas that were not part of the intended game. Metroid 2 extended this trend by possessing a similar glitch that allowed gamers to get even more out of the game than the programmers ever dreamed possible. It has been estimated that, together, these worlds increased the explorable area of either game by 20 to 80 percent. Gamers were disappointed when Secret World explorers failed to discover a reproducible secret world in Super Metroid and similar with its sequel, Metroid Fusion. Apparently the programmers had all but eradicated any possibility of digging up restricted areas... or had they? After eight years of waiting, the Hunt is on once again, and so far at least one Secret World has been confirmed in the most unlikely of games: Metroid Prime. 2. Chapter 1 - The Secret World: Why Is It There? The Secret Worlds in Metroid 1 and 2 occur because of the way the map engine is programmed in the game. A unique glitch in either game (explained elsewhere) allowed players to scroll off of the intended map. The computer, confused by erroneous coordinates, was forced to display data which it thought to be accurate by the construct of the programming. The Secret World in Prime does not occur because of a glitch. In Prime, the programmers used branches, stones, high mountains, and force fields to block the player from leaving the intended playing area. They did NOT use invisible walls such as in Mario 64, et. al. This makes for a much more realistic game and allows the player to logically conclude why they cannot leave an area (i.e. it's too high, there is a tree branch in the way, the force field blocks it, etc). Fortunately, stubborn Metroid players refused to accept this and tried in vain to jump out of or into every single crack and every little hole in the game. Most of the time, the designers were successful and placed the rocks or branches just right so that the player could not fit through any of them, all except for one place. Now, keep in mind, the entry point to the world is not due to the boundary being "weak" there. Your ability to shoot through this crack and others like it is evidence of this. The only reason you can fit through is because the designers didn't make the crack small enough, hence your ability to jump through it (we'll get to that later). Once you exit the room through the said crack, you will enter an area with rocks, some ground, walls, and even part of the crashed frigate. It would be easy to believe that at this point the game is "glitched." But it is not. According to the global map, you are still firmly in the game. If you don't believe this, look at your map. The room is highlighted indicating that you are in the active room. Your avatar is outside of the room so the computer is accurately displaying your proper coordinates. So why all the rocks and stuff? Well, think about it. The programmers want you to have the most realistic experience possible, so in the event that you were to look out of one of those cracks in the ceiling, you should be able to see some background elements. If you look at your map, the Frigate Crash Site is one room away and the location of the frigate is on the left side. If you look out of the proper crack, you should be able to spot the frigate. So all that stuff you are seeing in the world, is actually part of the room you are in, it's just the background scenery which was placed there so if you look out, you will not see a void. The reason you pass right through walls etc. in the secret world, is because there is no reason to add collision coding for those models since it would take up excess memory for no reason. If you still have trouble picturing this, imagine unknowingly finding yourself on the set of an old western movie. You walk through the town noticing all of the detail. You look up above the rooftops and see an old water tower sticking up above the buildings, and on the other side, you see a church steeple. What a realistic old town. You walk down the dusty old street and see a door that says "Restricted." You walk through it and step out into the parking lot of Universal Studios! You turn around and see plywood paneling. The water tower is simply made out of lumber. And the church? It's just a steeple on stilts erected on the asphalt. The whole thing was just an illusion! But you can still walk over to the water tower. It serves no purpose but it's there for effect. That's why the secret world is there. You might say, but why is there ground and stuff? You can't see the ground from the cracks in the room! Well, think about it. In the room where the REAL frigate is, they placed a perfectly good model of the frigate. This model probably included the frigate itself, part of the rock wall, and probably some ground. Why not just use this same model, excluding collision coding, for the background scenery in the proceeding room? Further evidence of this is the fact that if you walk away from the room you get into the secret world in, you can go to parts of the existing map. If you look at your map, you will clearly see your avatar directly on top of where the Landing Site is for example. But there's nothing there! The reason for this is because that room, and all other rooms, can only be loaded by entering a door. If you don't believe this, go over to where the two doors are in the room with the tree (Transport Tunnel C). Go to the one that would lead back to the elevator room. Select Ice Beam and aim just at the bottom of the door. Shoot it and it will open. Now, being careful, jump up towards where the door is. This will take some practice since you can only jump at certain times (more about jumping later). If you can get yourself close to the door, it will open and you will see the elevator room pop onto the screen. This is because the room will only load when a door is open. Furthermore, only the rooms adjacent to the "active" room can be accessed. The programmers just laid out an enormous void and made it so the rooms will only load up in it when the player goes through a door which leads directly to them. This is to save on memory. If the entire map were active, the memory requirements would be prohibitive. One more thing, you will notice that the only thing you can shoot is the walls for the room that you came from (the one with the tree). This is because, that is the only part of this area that the programmers put collision detection in. So now we know a little about how the Prime engine works. I think I've exhausted this discussion, so let's move on to how you can get around. 3. Chapter 2 - Secret World Mechanics: How to get around. Once you enter the world, you will immediately notice that you can only jump. This is boring, so try to move off of the top of the room and onto the ground below. Once you are on the ground, you will be able to walk around, but you can't jump! Oh, well, we'll find a way around that later. For now, just walk around and explore for a little. Just, whatever you do, don't roll into a ball or walk under the floating room with the tree in it... Have fun? Good, now for the good stuff. There is a reason why you can't jump in the lower part of the world. Every time you press the jump button, the program checks to see if you are in contact with ground. If you are, it will increase the distance between you and the ground until it reaches a maximum or collides with a ceiling, and then you will fall back until you collide with more ground. When you step off into the void, you fall for a distance until the computer reads a null value. This signals the computer to stop your fall. When you press the jump button again, the computer checks to see if there is ground under you and since there is none, it doesn't allow you to jump. It still thinks you are falling. So basically, you are falling and standing at the same time, which means you are kind of "floating”, I guess. If you notice, when you pass under the tree room, you will fall down a little more. This may be because the existence of the floor above you tells the computer that there is ground present and to fall. But, when it reads another null value, it stops your fall again. We can exploit this glitch to allow us to jump. Occasionally, you will be able to jump. Here is what I have found to be most effective: If you look at the tree room (the place where the programmers intended you to be), and move your control stick up a nd down a little while holding the R button, you will be able to jump sometimes. You will have an opportunity to jump about every 5 to 10 seconds. I think this happens because the presence of the room in your field sometimes gives the computer a positive value and makes it think that there is ground present. This is just theory, however. You can use this to test out that room loading experiment I mentioned earlier. Now, when you roll into a ball, you will immediately begin falling. This is because the ball is a different model and the algorithm the computer uses is different. Instead of taking the distance from the ground to the center of your viewing area, the program merely uses an absolute system with the ball since it is an object and can display collisions, etc. Computer says there's no ground there? Okay, let's fall! That's how it works. There are some cool things you can do, though, like dropping bombs and watching them go up and up and up... If you let off a power bomb, the screen will turn white for a moment and then fade back to black. If you go back into first person, you will land and Samus will make the "oof!" sound. If you have the Phazon suit, her hand looks really cool when she looks at it against the black background. Just some cool stuff I noticed. 4. Chapter 3 - Things to do and places to see. Here are a few things you may want to check out when you are in the secret world: 1. Walk out a ways and turn around, you will see the big oak tree (which is a complete model) with big branches extending out into the mist. It looks really eerie. I'd like someone to take some screenshots of this. 2. Look at the Frigate. Cool huh? If you walk around it (or through it) you will see some bits and pieces of its model including a cool circular pronged structure. 3. There are some strange round rocks that just kind of float around. 4. Notice that the walls closest to you on the tree room are invisible, but if you jump up against them, you will still collide with them. I believe this saves memory by only making them visible from one side. Your s hots, however, will pass through them sometimes. 5. Try the room loading trick I mentioned at the other door. It is harder to do, but sometimes you can get the cave corridor to load complete with enemies! Again, shoot it with the proper beam near the bottom, move towards it while continuously pressing the jump button and moving the control stick. Sometimes, you will stick on the ledge and the room will stay loaded. But then you fall off and the door closes and the cave disappears :(. 6. Look at the door from behind. It looks open, but there is a big steel "X" over it. It's not really open; it just has the same effect as the wall. Also notice there is a small yellowish screen behind the door. This probably gives the next room an opaque color and makes it look more distant (and possibly blocks enemies from entering). The following were added by Ridien 7. Use the Ice Spreader on the tree and on the invisible parts of the passage. You can get really cool looking stuff, along with suspended ice shatters on the invisible part. 8. Killing enemies. I don't know if this can be reproduced, but by the entryway leading towards the Frigate Crash site, you can kill a Zoomer and it's face it's stuck there for a moment in midair. Weird. 9. Open the other door. You have to blast it before you jump into the secret world, and then jump towards it later. 10. Use the Thermal and X-ray Visors. DAMN, that's cool. 11. Go to the ends of Tallon IV. Walk through the Frigate (I think it looks best this way) and keep walking out into the blackness. You'll pass some weird floating gray objects in the sky and eventually get to a place that really LOOKS like the end of the world. The clouds in the sky fold down into a dark, stormy flowing wall. If you walk into it and look back at the Secret Worlds, you'll be stuck, but you can see a weird black-and-white image of it if you adjust the camera angle properly. 5. Chapter 4 - How to enter the secret world. Why did I leave this 'till last, you ask? Dunno, just seemed appropriate. Perhaps it's not. Anyhow, here is what to do: Go to the place called Transport Tunnel C located in the Tallon Overworld south of the Frigate Crash Site. The only way to access it is through the Chozo Ruins which I will leave to you. There is a log that obstructs the path and goes from the wall halfway up the tree. On the other side, there is a lower log. You want the highest one. Get on the log and walk all the way up it until you are facing the tree. Tilt your control stick slightly to the left until you see the crack. Hold down R and tilt your control stick all the way back until you are looking straight up. Simultaneously release R and press L so that you are locked on in this position. You will notice that the crack kind of goes around the tree and that there is a wider opening near the bottom of the screen but close to your position. That is your target. Still holding L, jump but only jump. Now, as soon as you jump, push your control stick forward and to the right. When you are lined up underneath the large part of the crack, jump again. After about 5 to 10 attempts (or one if you are really lucky), you should rise up through the crack and land on top of the building. Try different things, including your orientation with the crack. Maybe position your view further to the right or left of the initial crack. If you get your head stuck in the crack and hang there for a second or two, you know you are on the right track. Keep trying and don't give up! It is easy to begin believing this is just a big hoax, but believe me, it is real. Hopefully we will get some more screenshots to prove it. 6. Chapter 5 - Speculation: Could there be others? So, is this the only secret world in Metroid Prime? Absolutely not! You can bet that anywhere you see scenery you will find a secret world. Is this the only place you can access a secret world? Possibly. So far, no other entry points have been discovered. There is rumor of an entry point in the Phendrana research station THROUGH one of the walls, but this has not been confirmed. Also, in one of the access tunnels to Thardus' Quarantine Cave, there is a small crack in the ceiling. On two separate occasions, I got my head stuck in that crack while attempting to jump through it. Perhaps further experimentation will yield satisfying results. There are other areas, especially in the Chozo Ruins where there are holes very close to the ground that look like you may be able to jump through. The only way to find out is to keep exploring. Metroid fans have taken exploration to a whole new level. In the generations that Metroid has been in existence, we have failed to accept the limits of this intriguing game. Could such a realistic and immersive game simply stop at the preset boundaries? Or does it keep going into places previously thought inaccessible? We have proven that it does, and as long as new installments come about, we will be there to exploit every glitch and find out how to get the most out of our beloved Metroid games. The MPSWH (Metroid Prime Secret World Hunt) is on, don't give up until you have found them all! 7. Acknowledgements Special thanks to: Gonmon - For being the first to discover and report on the secret world. If it were not for him, we would still be sitting around wondering if there is more to do in Prime than open the second image gallery. Ridien - For adding several items to the things-to-do section and lending some good advice about the tutorial. All images taken and generously donated by the MPSW King himself, Gonmon.