<|||Metroid Prime 2 – ECHOES|||>

The In-Depth Guide To: ARM CANNON BEAMS

By: Dimcity

*** Please send some more suggestions everyone! These are the only ideas I have
in mind for Beam Usage, so please send in some more ideas. As for the errors,
you can notify me on that but I would prefer suggestions.


The Table of Contents

1a. Legal Stuff
1b. Contact Information
1c. Simple Description of the FAQ
1d. Version History

2a. Beam Descriptions
2b. Effective Beam Strategies (In General)
2c. Ammo Consumption Help

3a. Power Beam Strategies
3b. Dark Beam Strategies
3c. Light Beam Strategies
3d. Annihilator Beam Strategies
3e. Best Uses of Each Beam

4a. Charge Combo Description
4b. Super-Missile Strategies
4c. Darkburst Strategies
4d. Sunburst Strategies
4e. Sonicboom Strategies

5. Which Beam for Which Boss?

6a. Missiles Information
6b. Seeker Missiles
6c. Best Uses of Missiles

7a. Thanks
7b. Crediting Information

~ 1a. The Legal Stuff ~

Now, I know that this is just a small FAQ on Beam Usage for Metroid Prime 2:
Echoes, but even if anyone happens to want to use any of its information,
PLEASE CONTACT ME ANYWAYS. Remember, these are all personal strategies, and all
information comes from methods I utilise in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes’ game play.
Just E-mail me: [email protected]. If you have MSN Messenger, you can
add me and talk to me. Make sure if you are contacting me that you put your
subject as ‘FAQ’ or ‘MP2 FAQ’, or anything along the lines of those.

~ 1b. Contact Information ~

E-mail: [email protected].
I also have MSN Messenger.
If you have a question, just E-mail or talk to me through the messenger. And if
you have a better way of using the beam’s, if it’s an effective way, I’ll add
your method and add you to the crediting information. I also accept criticism,
as long as it’s constructive enough to empower this FAQ!

~ 1c. Description ~

This Beam FAQ will show the best ways to use your four beam weapons, the best
places to use them, and when to use their super-power Charge Combos. I’ve also
included a section that includes which boss they are most effective against and
why. There’s also a short section on missiles.

~ 1d. Version History ~

1.0     > The birth of my guide.

1.1 > Fixed a few typos, added a variation to Freeze and Destroy in the Dark
Beam strategies section. Also added a few explanations on Section 5: ‘Which
Beam for Which Boss?’

1.2 > Fixed a stupid Missile mistake. Also added a few explanations on Section
5: ‘Which Beam for Which Boss?’


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2a. Beam Descriptions

THE POWER BEAM
Classic Samus-Aran alien ass-kicker since the beginnings of her bounty-hunting.
For each and every game it’s been in, it’s always been that last resort
extremely high rate of fire beam that never goes wrong! The Power Beam has
unlimited ammo, and a charged shot will fire a big burst of energy. It’s a
quick charge which is very effective and does a bit of damage.

Damage – Very Low

Rate of Fire – 6 to 7 Power Beam shots per second (or Very High)

Opens – Only Blue Doors.

Dark/Light Attributes – Works effectively in both worlds but does not provide
extra damage.

Destroyed Boxes/Stationary Life-providing Organisms – Drop out energy units.

Ammo – N/A

THE DARK BEAM
For such a heavy-duty gun the Dark Beam shoots quite swiftly with a nice little
swish sound every time you shoot, releasing a flying purple unit, shaped like 3
waves connected at their ends. For the MP1 players this beam is pretty much a
beefed up version of the Ice Beam – purple looks better and the rate of fire is
faster. A more reliable weapon when it comes to ammunition. If you run out of
Dark Ammunition, you may charge the Dark Beam to fire a standard shot. A
charged Dark Beam (while you have ammunition) will fire a small ball of dark
energy that will entangle all enemies near it or hit by it and freeze them for
a certain amount of time. This is very effective against speedy enemies, even
though it may be hard to hit them.

Damage – Very High (Low against Dark Creatures)

Rate of Fire – 1.5 to 3 Dark Beam shots per second (or Slow).*

Opens – Blue Doors and Black Doors (according to the map).

Dark/Light Attributes – Many people think the Dark Beam actually does extra
damage to normal Aether creatures but in fact it’s not very significant. It
does do less damage to Dark Aether creatures however. The Dark Beam also
nullifies Safe Zone crystals and beacons (I don’t know why you would really
want to, but it looks pretty cool).

Destroyed Boxes/Stationary Life-providing Organisms – Drop out Light Beam
ammunition.

Ammo – Dark Beam ammunition (obtained through Light Beam/Annihilator Beam
destroyed objects)

*The reason why the amount of shots/second is so varied is because the Dark
Beam has a very bizarre metronome feature. If you happen to press A
consistently the Dark Beam will fire at least 3 shots per second, but if you
bash A, you can end up with a slow rate of fire. It is quite hard to explain,
but you will get it if you test bashing A and pressing A consistently.

THE LIGHT BEAM
If anyone remembers Metroid Prime, the Light Beam is very much like a Plasma
Beam that looks like the Wave Beam. The Light Beam shoots a stream of short-
ranged light energy that travels in one direction, piercing through any enemies
it may hit. The thing about the Light Beam is that if you really want to use it
for non-Dark Aether uses such as hitting multiple enemies in a line, it takes a
lot of practice and skill. It is worth it though. The Light Beam uses Light
ammunition, and like the Dark and Annihilator Beams can charge a shot if you
run out to shoot a standard stream of light energy. It can also burn enemies on
some rare occasions. A charged Light Beam will shoot five super-powered units
of light, which is very powerful. Against large enemies, all five of these
units can hit at once.

Damage – Moderately High

Rate of Fire – 1.5 to 2 Light Beam shots per second (or Very Slow).

Opens – Blue Doors and White Doors (according to the map).

Dark/Light Attributes – The Light Beam deals extra damage to Darkling creatures
and Ing creatures, which makes it very effective in Dark Aether. It can also
lighten up nullified Safe Zone crystals or beacons, and can energize them so
that Dark Aether creature will be damaged when they touch the Safe Zone.

Destroyed Boxes/Stationary Life-providing Organisms – Drop out Dark Beam
ammunition.

Ammo – Light Beam ammunition (obtained through Dark Beam/Annihilator Beam
destroyed objects)

THE ANNIHILATOR BEAM
The most unique beam ever added to a Metroid game. The Annihilator beam has a
rate of fire as fast as the Power Beam, and is _almost_ as powerful as a Light
or Dark Beam. It also has a homing attribute, which means for non-lockable
enemies (such as an ‘about-to-mess-up-your-system’ Aezbit) it’s very useful.
Many people think the Annihilator Beam (I’ll call it the Anni beam) is as
powerful as both beams, but really the damage is not that incredibly high. And
even though it fires very quickly it certainly won’t last long, even with 250
Ammo. The Annihilator Beam uses both Light and Dark Ammo, which means it costs
one of both for each shot. If you run out of one type of ammo (let’s say 50
Light/0 Dark) then you MAY NOT FIRE without charging for a standard shot.
Fortunately destroyed objects will drop out tons of light AND dark ammo, which
is incredibly useful. The Anni Beam can also super-energize Safe Zone crystals
and beacons, making them not only destroy Dark creatures, but actually lure
them into the Safe Zone. A charged Anni Beam will fire out a Sonic Blast. This
is basically just a large blast which damages all enemies in the area with
massive damage.

Damage – Average

Rate of Fire – 5.5 to 6.5 shots per second (or Fast)

Opens – Blue Doors and Gray Doors (according to the map).

Dark/Light Attributes – Works perfectly well versus both types of creatures.
Dispatches the weaker enemies in Light Aether quickly and lights up Safe Zone
crystals in Dark Aether to aid you in your battles.

Destroyed Boxes/Stationary Life-providing Organisms – Drop Light and Dark
ammunition.

*The Annihilator Beam is also used for some Sonic Door puzzles (using the Echo
Visor to correspond the correct sounds according to what the door’s sequence
is)

~ 2b. Effective Beam Strategies (In General) ~

Here are some strategies you can use with any beam, depending on their rate of
fire and their power.

STRAFING
When Strafing, obviously you are going to have a locked target, right? So
remember to check around you first to see if there are any other threats, and
then you can focus on your locked target, regardless of any incoming smaller
minions. Always strafe, even if the space is small, you’re pretty much dead, or
if you’re in Dark Aether without the Dark Suit. It will save your life multiple
times. If you are aware of your surroundings and the geography of the area, you
can even strafe but defensively side-jump to a platform that can lead to the
next room you need to go through.

BUTTON-MASHING
For the Power Beam, this and strafing is the only method you should be doing.
This is also very effective with the Dark and Light beams. Even though they
require ammo, they have a slow rate of fire which allows you to sort of pay
attention to your ammo. For the Anni Beam, DO NOT BUTTON MASH. Look at your
enemy, see if it has a guard, and see if firing Anni shots one after the other
is effective against your enemy or not. You can end up wasting over 20 Light
and Dark ammo if you are not careful, and believe me, you will be in a tricky
situation if you end up with zero ammo. Especially against the last few bosses!
In conclusion, the Light and Dark beams shouldn’t worry about button-mashing.
But with the Anni beam, be logical. Please. If you’re fighting the Emperor Ing
or something then fine, you might be in a bit of an ‘OH MY GOSH’ state and end
up using too much ammo. But if you know what you’re doing, button-mashing is
for different situations.

NO MORE AMMO!
Run out of ammo? The best strategy is to either fire charged Anni shots at
boxes or stationary objects, or in a boss’s case fire them at the minions. When
you’ve run out of ammo, the game seems to know that you have run out of ammo
which means destroyed objects will release over 40 or 50 units of Light and
Dark ammunition. If you’re fighting a tough enemy, don’t be afraid to release
your auto-lock on them and quickly run off to get some more ammo. It’ll be
worth it when you do.

~ 2c. Ammo Consumption Help ~

Until you get the Anni beam, obtaining ammunition is difficult. Especially the
fact that it’s hard to find the expansions. So obviously the first thing you’ll
think of is to get one type of ammo by using the opposite beam, and then using
the new ammo you got to retain the ammo for the beam you used before
(confusing, eh?). This way is sort of effective, but trust me it will really
get on your nerves. You could find an ammo station in the Dark Aether areas.
But seriously, who has the time (or who wants to for that matter) to backtrack
all the way to an ammo station when you’re just going to use it again? This is
a question asked by many MP2 players. YOU SHOULD! If you managed to reach there
with ease anyways, then why can’t you save some ammo going back to where you
initially were? If you can save your ammo until you reach where you were, it is
definitely worth it. Check the Beam Strategies section if you want to know how
to battle and use ammo effectively.

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~ 3a. Power Beam Strategies ~

QUICK SWEEP
Quick sweeping is to destroy a cluster of weak enemies quickly. The Power Beam
is obviously the best to use versus War Wasps or Crawlings. To execute,
obviously keep bashing A, but also keep bashing L so you can quickly lock-on to
different targets quickly. In some cases enemies such as Sandbats will fly in a
certain pattern (such as orbiting a certain object). It’s best to fire in one
spot rather than auto-lock, as when you start bashing A all the enemies flying
through the target you are firing at (blindly) will be destroyed.

FIRE AND CHARGE
This is a strategy most often used versus the tougher enemies. The deal is to
fire like crazy at an enemy (such as a Warrior Ing) and then release a charged
shot. This strategy requires a lot of strafing, as you want to get the charged
shot in as quickly as possible.

LAST RESORT/PANIC FIRE
If you’re in a sticky situation (ex. You’ve got no ammo and there’s no way to
re-supply fast enough) then this is basically when you switch to the power beam
and bash A in panic. This may sound quite stupid, but it’s not a joke!
Naturally you’ll want to dispatch your enemies as soon as possible, so the
Power Beam will probably be the first idea to reach your head.

~ 3b. Dark Beam Strategies ~

DARK PUMMELLING
Pummelling, or constantly hitting, enemies with this strategy is a lot like
button-bashing, but is more effective if you’re against the faster enemies.
Note that this depletes your ammo very quickly. This strategy is very useful,
however, if you have a very low maximum ammo capacity and don’t want to entrap
the enemy. It’s quite effective against Space Pirates and the Chykka boss, too.

FREEZE AND DESTROY
A simple charged Dark Beam shot and then mashing A like there’s no tomorrow.
It’s effective but very costly. Unless you have light beam ammo to back you up
when you need Dark ammo or an Anni beam, then be careful that you don’t run out
too quickly. This is extremely useful against speedy or flying enemies as it
gives you time to fire accurate shots. “The thing I do differently is after
blasting an enemy with an Entangler shot, I blast them with missiles. That'll
shatter them but good.” ~ Pauldhobby

This was an idea of Pauldhobby – and believe me it’s effective and great fun!
Hehe... I reckon it’s actually a lot better than destroying with your Dark
Beam, and I bet it fairs well against Pirate Commandos. Thanks!

FREEZE AND RUN
A charged Dark Beam shot on a quick or strong enemy then running. Not
recommended if you want to have fun.

~ 3c. Light Beam Strategies ~

HEATWAVE
Never mind the cheesy name I like to call it! This is shooting enemies with
your Light Beam until they’re engulfed with flames. This is more of a strategy
used versus the tough enemies, such Dark Pirate Commandos, Ing Hunters, or
Warrior Ing. After they’re on fire, you can either wait till they die. If
you’re fighting Pirate Commandos then keep shooting as the fire won’t exactly
kill them. This has low ammo consumption and is easy to execute.

PIERCING SWEEP
You know how the Light Beam pierces? Well this is basically getting your
enemies up in a line to pierce them. As it’s a sweep, this is obviously more of
a strategy versus weaker enemies. This takes a lot of practice to master as it
is quite difficult to line up enemies (War Wasps for example). If you can
master it, it saves a lot of time and ammo. See, if you can’t sweep with the
Light Beam, then you’re making use of its slow rate of fire disadvantage.

CRITICAL SWEEP
This strategy should be used either against clusters of small enemies or packs
of Dark Aether enemies. Just fire a charged shot BLINDLY at a group of enemies.
It would be a better idea to get used to firing Light Beam charged shots first
so you can get an idea of the area the five shots cover.

FINISHING BLOW
This technique should be used against large enemies, no matter their toughness.
This is basically when you fire a charged shot from the Light Beam onto a large
enemy so that all five shots will strike them.

~ 3d. Annihilator Beam Strategies ~

SAFE SHOTS
This is a strategy used to dispatch of any smaller targets that get in your
way. If you run into Shriekbats (the hanging dive-bombers) and you don’t want
to aim directly with your Power Beam, then this is when you fire nowhere and
the homing shots will kill them. Safe shots are also used against any incoming
threats coming your way. Some examples are boss minions – the second phase of
the Ing Emperor will shoot small particles at you which you may want to get rid
of by firing the Anni beam. The homing will target them instead of the emperor,
which means you will be safe again after they’re gone.

REPEATED FIRE (NO MERCY)
This is actually button bashing, but what you mainly want on your mind is to
get rid of the target as soon as possible. Targets such as Pirates are easily
killed with repeated fire and even though it consumes a lot of ammo, it gets
the job done. Repeated fire into a large pack of enemies is extremely effective
also (blindly). You may think this is related to Safe Shooting, but it’s not as
this is more direct and offensive.

GEDDON SWEEP
Geddon is short for Armageddon, but it feels too superior and glorious to put
such a name. Geddon Sweep’s are against multiple tough enemies, or spread out
packs of medium-strength enemies. The strategy consists of either blindly
firing like crazy OR constantly shooting charged blasts blindly. Both of these
take up a TREMENDOUS amount of ammo, but will easily destroy anything that gets
in your way. It is the Annihilator Beam, right?

MOVE!
A silly little strategy I added here. Whenever you need to reach somewhere but
some enemies are in your way, this is when you fire like mad and don’t care who
it hits or where it hits as long as you can reach where you want to go.

:: Extra Notes On The Beams ::

- Never ever fire the Light Beam at (Dark) Frozen enemies. It will unfreeze
them (I’m sure you’ve sort of figured that out anyways)
- Even though you may be tempted to use an Anni Beam against small packs to
kill quickly, use the Power Beam as it takes up much less ammo.
- Make sure you have your targets set up when using an Anni Beam strategy as
the homing can be re-directed to a random target far away, and the target in
front of you can harm you.
- Try and get used to firing blindly with the Light Beam. It’s piercing
abilities and charged shot are very useful if you can manually kill the enemies
(without auto-lock).
- If you personally prefer to use the Anni Beam almost all the time, you should
adapt to the other beams. You can easily be more effective with a Light Beam
for example if you take the time to look at it.

~ 3e. Best Uses of Each Beam ~

Power Beam:
- Eliminating small enemies quickly.
- Endless supply of shots so charged shots are strong and useful against the
tougher enemies.
- Charged shots can stun enemies sometimes.

Dark Beam:
- Eliminating any type of enemy (except fast ones)
- Freezing fast enemies.
- Secure yourself with freezing.
- High damage and low ammo consumption means less to worry about.

Light Beam:
- Very high damage over time.
- The piercing and ember abilities that come with it do heavy damage to large
packs and are killed quickly.
- Dark Aether creatures are killed with ease.
- Charged shots do heavy damage to a large area.

Annihilator Beam:
- The homing requires less auto-lock.
- Average damage and extremely high rate of fire deals a tremendous amount of
damage.
- Generates both types of ammo to re-supply quickly when destroying objects.
- The charged shot excluding Beam Combo’s is the most powerful in the game.

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~ 4a. Charge Combo Description ~

Charge Combo’s are the combination of five missiles and a charged-up beam shot
after pressing the button Y. They take up a huge amount of ammunition but are
very effective against large packs of enemies and tough enemies. They’re slow
to execute, however, and usually not that effective against many bosses. Also,
two of the four charge combos are slow travelling which renders them useless
vs. flying enemies or fast enemies.

~ 4b. Super-Missile Strategies ~

The Super-Missile is a combination of a charged up Power Beam shot and five
missiles after pressing Y. It releases a homing missile which does a huge
amount of damage against single targets. Super-Missiles can also open up Green
Doors.

ANTI-AIR
Since the Super-Missile is homing, it can easily get rid of air enemies. It
travels super fast in air also, which means it usually won’t miss your target.

BOSS BASHER
The Super-Missile is quick to execute with little ammo needed, so whenever a
boss is vulnerable to damage for a short amount of time, the Super-Missile is a
great choice.

~ 4c. Darkburst Strategies ~

The Darkburst is a combination of a charged up Dark Beam shot and five missiles
after pressing Y. The Darkburst however, costs 30 Dark Ammo to execute also. It
fires a large ball of darkness which travels slowly to its target, eventually
sucking them into the ball dealing insane damage to it and its surroundings.

TERRAINS AID
Firing the Darkburst at the ground in the middle of a pack of enemies is very
effective. It’ll deal damage to all enemies and in most cases will destroy them
unless they have high hit points or defence. Make sure you know they won’t run
out of it otherwise you’ll be wasting too much ammo.

SURPRISE BURST
For such a slow-moving shot, the Darkburst is hard to use against auto-locked
enemies due to its sluggish speed. A good idea would be to fire it from afar;
assuring you that it will hit the target you fired it at and send them into
oblivion! It can also suck in any enemies near your target that you may have
not seen.

SUSPICION
If you can’t see your targets and they start harming you, you could find any
evidence of it being around you (invisibility for example) and fire a Darkburst
near the area you saw their evidence.

~ 4c. Sunburst Strategies ~

The Sunburst consists of a charged up Light Beam shot and five missiles after
pressing the button Y, but also costs 30 Light Ammo. The Sunburst is basically
a light version of the Darkburst, but is more of an area of effect attack
rather than the ‘suck you into oblivion’ feature the Darkburst has.

TERRAINS AID
Basically the same as the Darkburst’s Terrain Aid. The large area of effect can
hit enemies in a cluster or multiple enemies.

DARK HUNTING
The Sunburst will easily destroy Ing creatures with ease. I suggest you use the
Sunburst against Warrior Ing and Hunter Ing. Surprisingly, the Sunburst will
actually damage invisible Hunter Ing! It will also harm Bloggs (the triple-
mouthed water creatures) if fired in front of there face, too. If you ever
happen to get stuck in an area with three or four Warrior Ing, try and lure
them into one spot and Sunburst them! Sometimes I super-energise crystals, wait
till the Warrior Ing reaches the crystal, de-energise it, and then Sunburst.
It’s more satisfying to Sunburst enemies to death rather than Safe Zone them to
death *evil laugh*.

~ 4e. Sonicboom Strategies ~

The Sonicboom consists of a charged Annihilator Beam shot and five missiles
after pressing Y, but costs 30 Dark and Light Ammo.

ANNIHILATING
The Sonicboom has huge damage, a huge area of effect, and fires so quickly.
Basically it should be used against anything that’s tough and powerful, even
fast moving flyers. It is only ever so useful against bosses.

TERRAINS AID
Same as the Sunburst and Darkburst, but mainly for creatures near a wall I
would say. It’s a bit hard to fire an area of effect combo on the ground at a
distance.

MOVE! 2
If an enemy is ‘in your face’ or has surprised you, Sonicboom can quickly
eliminate them and make you safe again. Use with caution though. Don’t end up
using this against some Crawling! It costs a lot of ammunition and you’re going
to need as much ammo as you need to Sonicboom later on.

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~ 5. Which Beam For Which Boss? ~

Here’s a quick list of which beam(s) are most effective against each boss,
guardian, and mini boss.

If there’s a combination of Beam/Other Beam, then the first one would be
suggested. For example, a Light Beam/Power Beam against a dark enemy would mean
that a Light Beam would be great, but a Power Beam is sufficient too. If the
boss has N/A, then that means that it’s a Morph Ball boss.

DARK ALPHA SPLINTER
Power Beam (only beam available)

MORPH BALL BOMB GUARDIAN
Power Beam (only beam available)

JUMP GUARDIAN
Power Beam (only beam available)

DARK SAMUS 1
Power Beam (only beam available)

AMORBIS
Light Beam

Amorbis is a dark guardian, so the Light Beam will get rid of their horn
shields (on their heads) in no time or will get them to attach themselves to
the sphere in the middle faster.

BOOST GUARDIAN
Light Beam

This is another dark guardian. Charged Light Beam shots works wonders on this
guy. I suggest you don’t constantly fire at him as he will quickly retreat into
boost ball mode again.

ALPHA BLOGG
Power Beam/Dark Beam

I personally would use the Power Beam, as I prefer safety over dispatching
enemies quickly. Super-missiles are great against this sea abomination –
practice the timing a few times first, however, as the Alpha Blogg is quite
powerful and is not easy to dodge after you fire a Super Missile. The Dark Beam
works too but you can only get around one or two shots in, and they do a bit
less damage than Super-Missiles.

GRAPPLE GUARDIAN
Light Beam/Power Beam

The Light Beam works perfectly well at the start when he doesn’t turn around as
much (ever since 3D games were made there’s always been those annoying bosses
that have vulnerable back points and never turn around), but the Power Beam is
much better later on if you have trouble getting his Grapple to touch a pillar.

CHYKKA LARVAE
Light Beam/Dark Beam

The Chykka Larvae is actually a Dark and Light creature, but I find that the
Light Beam works best because of its charged shot (when the Chykka surfaces
onto the edge of the platform). It does massive damage and can get his tongue
off you (if it caught you) very quickly.

CHYKKA ADULT
Dark Beam

The Chykka Adult is a Light creature, so obviously the Dark Beam will do more
damage. It takes a LOT of ammo to bring it down, unfortunately, so please be
very careful with your ammo consumption and make sure that you don’t end up
using it all.

DARK CHYKKA ADULT
Light Beam

This Chykka Adult is Dark, so obviously a Light Beam will do the trick. Charged
shots will destroy it in no time as no matter how far you are all 5 will hit
the huge egg sac.

SPIDER GUARDIAN
N/A

POWER BOMB GUARDIAN
N/A

DARK SAMUS 2
Light Beam

The Light Beam works very well against Dark Samus 2, especially charged shots,
as it can do extra damage to her much faster overtime. On paper it may look
like the Dark Beam is more effective, but theoretically the Light Beam is. More
damage and less ammo consumption is more effective for those short 3 or 4
second chances to damage her.

QUADRAXIS
Power Beam

The Power Beam works best mainly because of the Super Missiles – it’ll knock
down his kneepads quickly and will also dispatch of the antennae on the side of
his head when he’s in the head form.

ING EMPEROR
Annihilator Beam/Power Beam

The Annihilator Beam is the best to use here as the tentacles are constantly
moving all around the place, and it’s not easy to hit them with slow beams such
as the Dark or Light Beam’s. The Power Beam is mainly a secondary choice if you
don’t feel like using ammo and can risk losing an extra half of an energy tank.

ING EMPEROR PHASE 2
N/A

ING EMPEROR PHASE 3
Annihilator Beam

Yes, you may be wondering why it is not more effective to use the opposite-beam
polarity stuff, but technically (and I mean technically) it is easier to use
the annihilator beam. The fact that the other two beams are so slow, and that
the chance to damage the emperor is so small is a low amount of time, and that
switching to them is slow, shows that the Anni beam is much more effective.
You’re prepared, it’s fast, and you know what you can do next.

DARK SAMUS 3
Dark Beam/Light Beam

I will have to re-elaborate on this as there have been some debates on this
actually... Send me your opinion through e-mail. In fact, I’ll make this part a
mini-debate.

Remember to take personal preference into account. If there are two beams
listed, this means to choose whichever one you prefer.

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~ 6a. Missile Information ~

Missiles are shot with a simple Y, homing in on enemies with the power of a
charged Power Beam shot. It has a slow rate of fire, but can be combined with
charged up Beams to fire Combo’s or can be fired at multiple targets
simultaneously with Seeker Missiles.

Missiles are great for last-resort situations or when you do not want to use
ammunition.

You can also search for Missile Expansions. They’re simple expansions which
will increase your maximum missile capacity by 5.

~ 6b. Seeker Missiles ~

Seeker missiles are used to shoot multiple targets at once. They’re used to
open secret pathways or doors in puzzles, or open purple doors by shooting all
five purple spots around the door with five missiles at once. You can also fire
two to five missiles on one target, also! This is very effective and very
powerful. Missile ammo is easy to expand and obtain so it the ammo shouldn’t be
a problem. The only problem is that you have to wait a few seconds till all
five dots will appear on your target. They are also used against bosses (such
as the Adult Chykka).

Seeker missiles are also used to kill the monkey-like enemies in Sanctuary
Fortress, in the Sanctuary Temple Entrance area (Quadraxis’ lair in the Dark
World). ~ Magnus

~ 6c. Best Uses of Missiles ~

- Effective against every enemy.
- Does not have Dark/Light attributes, so Dark Aether creatures will not take
more damage, but won’t take less either.
- Is homing so it will track down your target.
- Ammo is easy to expand and obtain.
- The rate of fire is quite fast for something as powerful as charged Power
Beam shots.
- Destroys large objects easily.
- Good last-resort weapon when you have no ammo and you need to dish out heavy
damage quickly.
- Seeker missiles provide crowd control and huge damage to single targets.
- A sleek trick can be executed by pressing A after each missile you fire – you
can fire missiles much faster this way. ‘In case you didn’t notice, Retro had
removed this trick now’ (not the exact words) – Matt. Thanks!

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

~ 7a. Thanks ~

Well, that’s my simple Beam FAQ for ye. I’d like to thank a few people for
this...

CJayC first for posting this up! And an excellent site!

My friend Magnus, for long MP2 discussions which gave me a few of these ideas.

My mother, for letting me buy Metroid Prime 2: Echoes in the first place.

And finally my brain, for letting me use some hours of my life to toy around
with these beams and finish MP2 in three days.

~ 7b. Crediting Information ~

Crediting goes to me, Dimcity.

Pauldhobby, who gave the idea of shooting missiles after entangling enemies
with the Dark Beam.

Matt (by e-mail) who corrected me on my silly A and Y trick :) And some
Darkburst and Sunburst strategies.

Magnus for some typo’s and some Seeker Missile info.

Read the legal terms if you’re going to use this guide.

**I had received a few emails from people who put suggestions, but if they are
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