Metroid Prime 2: Echoes

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes is, as you may have guessed, the sequel to Metroid Prime. It's got several improvements like re-adding the screw attack and wall jumping that was cut out of the original game and a more intense storyline focusing on the battle between the Luminoth and the Ing over the planet of Aether. It's also got complex puzzles, more creative bosses, and a smooth rise in difficulty.

The only questionable thing is the Dark and Sky temple keys fetch quest toward the end of the game, due to how lengthy and tedious it is. It's also absolutely packed with unused content, likely due to a sudden deadline pushed by Nintendo. It's also notable for being one of three PAL GameCube games (the other two being The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition and Geist) to completely lack 50Hz support.

Prototype Info Prerelease Info

Unused Enemies#

To do: See if the enemies that could be loaded can be.

There were a few enemies that didn't make the cut. Unfortunately, for most of them, all that's left are some namedrops in various files. Most of these are darklings and Prime 1 leftovers; there are a couple totally unique ones, though.

• Chozo Ghost: Still has a fully functioning loader and a .rel file; it can probably be spawned in-game if the assets are ported from Prime 1.
• Chykka 3: This is a string present in the logbook hierarchy files sandwiched between Chykka and Dark Chykka. No other clues what it was about.
• Dark Pirate Aerotrooper
• Dark Shriekbat
• Dark Sporb
• Dark Triclops: Presumably cut at the same time as the normal Triclops.
• Glider: Like with Chozo Ghost, it has a loader and a .rel file (Ripper.rel), and it could theoretically be spawned with ported assets.
• Kenobite: Mechanical versions appear in the final game as the Mekenobite, but the presumable organic basis is nowhere to be found. It can be assumed to have behaved much like the Mekenobite.
• Minirees: Also referred to as "Infant Shriekbats".
• Phlogus: This would've been the Light World variant of the Dark Phlogus. There's references to it in several files, including the logbook hierarchy files and some of the Dark Phlogus's scan and animation data.
• Reaper Vine: Another one with a loader and a .rel file (SpankWeed.rel). Like with Chozo Ghost and Glider, it could probably be spawned with ported assets.
• Triclops: This is a separate listing from Mechlops.
• Zoomer: Yet another Prime 1 enemy with a loader and a .rel file. Technically this also includes Parasite, Grizby, and Crystallite, since they were all the same object in Prime 1.

Removed Upgrades#

Dark, Light, and Annihilator Bombs#

Watch on YouTubePower Bombs were originally going to have dark- and light-themed variants in the form of Dark, Light, and Annihilator Bombs. There's a few unused scans detailing how these would have worked that would have shown up in the inventory screen:

• Dark Bomb (ce14d6c5.STRG)

The Dark Bomb combines the power of the Dark Beam with that of the Power Bomb.

When in Morph Ball mode, press [C-Right] to select the Dark Beam, then press [Y] to drop a Dark Bomb. 

Samus's Notes:
Dark Bombs release a field of dark matter tendrils when they detonate. These tendrils can entangle and hinder enemies.

Dark Bombs are not effective against Denzium.

• Light Bomb (2571e5ba.STRG)

The Light Bomb combines the power of the Light Beam with that of the Power Bomb.

When in Morph Ball mode, press [C-Down] to select the Light Beam, then press [Y] to drop a Light Bomb. 

Samus's Notes:
Light Bombs do not detonate on release. They explode when an enemy enters their detection radius, or when another Light Bomb goes off.

Light Bomb explosions are white-hot, and can set enemies on fire.

The brilliance of Light Bomb explosions can blind and stun dark creatures.

The Light Bomb is not effective against Denzium.

Notably, this text says to use C-Down to select the Light Beam, which is used to select the Annihilator Beam instead.

• Annihilator Bomb (14d50089.STRG)

The Annihilator Bomb is a potent explosive, combining the Power Bomb with the energies of the Light and Dark Beams.

When in Morph Ball mode, press [C-Left] to select the Annihilator Beam, then press [Y] to drop an Annihilator Bomb. 

Samus's Notes:
When an Annihilator Bomb detonates, it emits a cloud of Light and Dark energy particles. These deadly particles will seek all enemies within a radius.

The Annihilator Bomb is not effective against Denzium.

Notably, this text says to use C-Left to select the Annihilator Beam, which is used to select the Light Beam instead.

Unused Multiplayer Powerups#

To do: There's a decent chance the multiplayer powerups still exist and can be used in-game with some minor tweaks. Needs testing.

In Metroid6.pak, unused text strings exist for the following:

• Absorb Attack

Absorb Attack lost!/Absorb Attack acquired!

• Dark Shield

Dark Shield lost!/Dark Shield acquired!

• Light Shield

Light Shield lost!/Light Shield acquired!

Unseen Morph Ball HUD Elements#

To do: Most beam icons are white and get dynamically recolored by the game. Try to rip the colored versions, and get the Morph Ball icons transparent like how the game renders it. First-person's Annihilator icon is made of two separate textures overlayed in 3D space, see its file page for more info.

While in Morph Ball form, several HUD elements go unused from being offscreen. Using Dolphin emulator's free look to move the camera back allows these HUD elements to be seen. These elements consist of...

• Unique horizontal beam ammo bars, which have slightly different visuals when compared to first-person's vertical beam ammo bars. Depending on the beam equipped prior to morphing, the bars can be dim or bright, and will fade to red and back when a specific ammo is low like the first-person version.
• Beam ammo numbers, which will fade to red and back when a specific ammo is low like the first-person version.
• A unique plus shape of beam icons. The icons used here seem to be early beam icons.
• Beam name, displayed shortly after switching beams. Because it is not possible to switch beams in Morph Ball form, this HUD element only appears if Morph Ball form is entered immediately after switching beams in first-person.
• The mini-map, seen in the top-right of the first-person HUD.

These HUD elements seem to be leftovers for the cut Dark, Light, and Annihilator versions of Power Bombs. After being cut, these related HUD elements were likely moved offscreen instead of properly getting removed to save development time.

Here are the Morph Ball beam textures compared to the first-person beam textures:

Beam	Morph Ball (Unseen)	First-person (Used)	Notes
Power			Circles are differently sized. First-person has a smaller gap between the circles.
Dark			First-person dots are bigger.
Light			Completely different designs.
Annihilator			Morph Ball is using a placeholder-like design of a light and dark circle, while first-person uses a more complex graphic.

Unused Text#

Airthorn Scan#

Airthorns are a swarm enemy that only appear in Dark Transit Station in Dark Agon Wastes as decoration in the background of a Morph Ball tunnel, where you can't scan it or interact with it. By going out of bounds, however, they can be scanned, revealing that they have a name, a full logbook entry and a backstory. Although the scan doesn't appear in the logbook, the amount of detail suggests it was probably originally intended to.

Mechanism: Airthorns
Rogue airborne mechanoids.
Targets are small and travel in packs for safety. Avoid contact.
The Luminoth made the Airthorn to patrol local airspace. The small, speedy machines were a boon to the war effort until their programming failed. Now rogue, they serve the Ing as fiercely as they served their creators.

Rezbit Weapon Virus#

One of the string files for the UI has an interesting string called RezbitWeaponVirus that references an unused Rezbit attack that would've disabled your weapons:

Weapon systems have been infected with the Rezbit Virus. Should recover momentarily.

Early Intro Text#

Another FrontEnd.pak STRG file (64066d10.STRG) contains an early version of the intro text:

Galactic Federation troopers investigating Space Pirate activity are missing.
Contact with the troopers was lost 8 days ago.
Locate troopers and render assistance if necessary.
Uploading last known coordinates of troopers.
Dasha System

Unused Main Menu Text#

A couple strings are left over referencing a demo for the 2004 Gamer's Summit:

MainMenuGamersSummit

2004 Gamer's Summit Demo

There's another string referencing an Extras menu. The Extras menu in Prime 1 contained the Fusion Suit and NES Metroid, but Prime 2's menu doesn't have an Extras tab. Evidently it did at one point, until whatever was behind it was cut.

Extras

Unused Final Report String#

There's a string at the end of the GFMC Compound transmission (00e70990.STRG) that goes unused.

I'm fading fast...it's up to you now. Hit 'em where it hurts.

Early/Internal Names#

The files that set up the logbook/pause menu hierarchy have quite a few alternate names for objects, enemies, upgrades, and logbook categories:

Unused Hints#

There's an unused hint named "Trooper" that points towards Main Energy Controller.

Enemy forces attacking local sentients.
Locals are gathered in a nearby structure.
Establish contact and render assistance.

Assist local sentients.

Unused Lightbringer Behavior#

Watch on YouTubeLightbringers are an "enemy" which act as mobile Light Crystals. Quite useful. However, the only ones in the game disappear after getting the Space Jump, before getting any of the alternate Beam weapons.

Despite this, using glitches to skip the Space Jump reveals that Lightbringers have unique reactions to all three Beam weapons! The Light Beam supercharges them, and the Dark Beam nullifies them, just like the normal crystals/beacons. However, the Annihilator Beam destroys them, a behavior unlike the standard crystals, but which is actually mentioned in the Lightbringer's scan data! They drop an Ultra Energy when destroyed; you can also use a charged Dark Beam shot to freeze one and fire a missile at it. This behavior would suggest that the Lightbringers were intended to see greater use than they wound up getting.

00_scandummy#

A debug room called 00_scandummy is present in Temple Grounds. It's attached to Defiled Shrine, but since it seems to be attached using a virtual dock, there doesn't seem to be a way to actually enter it in-game. The room geometry is just a box with a flat metallic material on it; there's no lighting or lightmap on the material so it appears pitch-black. Aside from the dock attaching it to Defiled Shrine, the room contains PointOfInterest objects for every inventory scan file in the game, including a few for unused items.

Removed Music#

An early listing of the game's streams present on the disc references eight tracks which are not present in the final game. Many of these seem to have been replaced, as pirates_kyu.dsp is nowhere to be found but pirates_kyu-3-32.dsp is on the final disc and is used. It stands to reason that pirates_kyu.dsp would have been a predecessor of this track.

e3-landing.dsp
escape32.dsp
Moth-Temple-open32.dsp
multi-defbgm-speed32.dsp
pirates_kyu.dsp
recharge.dsp
Ruminas-after32.dsp
zonbihei32.dsp

Additionally, some strings in FrontEnd.pak reference several Prime 1 music tracks that were evidently intended to be playable in multiplayer at one point:

MusicSelectionRidley
MusicSelectionPrime2
MusicSelectionOmegaPirate

Emperor Ing Oddities#

The penultimate boss of the game, the Emperor Ing, has a few discrepancies in its final phase which suggest the fight was to be a much more complex, strategic affair than it wound up as.

"Further exposure to Phazon has mutated the Emperor Ing. It is now capable of shielding its vulnerable areas with energy barriers. Beams of opposite polarity can damage these barriers, however. Heavy damage to these barriers will cause them to drop, exposing the creatures weak spots. Target the weak spots to immobilize and damage the enemy."

This text from Mutated Emperor Ing's scan data mentions it putting up barriers around its weak points, of which there were multiple. The description suggests you need to switch beams to match the barrier color at the moment, and destroy the barrier before letting loose on that weak spot...but there is nothing like this in any phase during the Emperor Ing battle.

Watch on YouTube

However, If Samus performs the Screw Attack at a tiny area of space just behind any one of Emperor Ing's five feet, it will take massive damage. It has no reaction to being damaged in these locations; it just continues moving, and no barriers are put up. Some data remains in the game which suggests how the fight would have worked.

There are empty Ing "eye" sockets at the joint of each leg. A piece of concept art in the Image Gallery reveals that these were intended to have fleshy orbs matching the color of the core in them, which were presumably the barriers. It can be assumed you'd have targeted and destroyed these (thus breaking their barriers, and leaving the empty sockets on the model) before attacking the weak point they protected. This piece of concept art also reveals with a Samus scale indicator that Emperor Ing was roughly the size of Quadraxis so it's possible the original idea for breaking leg joints in a large spider like enemy was reused for the first phase of the Quadraxis fight.

It should be noted that the game handles damage to these weak points and damage to the core differently; if the Emperor Ing is damaged using one of the weak points on his legs while the core is any color but red, and beam damage is dealt to the core after this but before it changes color, all of the damage dealt through the old weak points will be completely recovered. This means that the game keeps track of the damage dealt to these weak points separately, which suggests they were to be destructible. The code allowing the Emperor Ing to heal in this situation probably has something to do with the barrier color switching.

Regional Differences#

Title Screen#

Japan includes a "press start" while international does not.

Japan	International

References#