------- METROID ------- Complete Walkthrough/Speed Guide By Martacus --------------- I. LEGAL NOTICE --------------- This guide is the property of myself, Mark Schmidt (aka Martacus), and is protected by all applicable copyright laws. You are free to download this guide onto your computer for private use, as long as this legal notice is intact and you don't try to pass this document off as your own work. The latest version of this guide may be found at: http://www.gamefaqs.com --------------------- II. TABLE OF CONTENTS --------------------- I. Legal Notice II. Table of Contents III. Introduction IV. Item List V. Enemy List VI. Complete Walkthrough A. Brinstar 1. Main Area 2. Kraid's Lair B. Norfair 1. Main Area 2. Ridley's Lair C. Tourian - Mother Brain's Lair VII. Speed Walkthrough VIII. Revision History/ Credits/ Contact Information ----------------- III. INTRODUCTION ----------------- Welcome to my first FAQ/Game Guide at Gamefaqs, for the NES adventure game Metroid. Why would I want to write a guide for this game? The reasons are threefold. First, it is a game I am familiar with and enjoy. Second, there are few guides for the game available at Gamefaqs, and I would like to expand that number. Finally, it is a simple game for which to write a guide. This being my first attempt at writing one, it would be wise to do so for a relatively small game rather than some RPG requiring exhaustive research, would it not? I have included two walkthroughs for this game: one complete walkthrough, which will guide the reader through all areas necessary to collect all items (including, at some point, complete maps of all five areas of the game), and one speed walkthrough, which will get one through the game in what I hope is the quickest way possible, omitting the collection of a number of items. In addition to these walkthroughs, I have also included lists of items and enemies. Not all information may be complete at this time, so if there is anything I am missing, please e-mail me and let me know. ------------- IV. ITEM LIST ------------- This is a complete list of all items to be found in the game, along with a brief description of each. As I have no skill with ASCII art, don't expect any pictures. Items will be listed categorically. Note that once you pick up an item, its effect is permanent (with the exception of the Ice and Wave beams) and cannot be turned off, as in Super Metroid. A. NON-OFFENSIVE ITEMS In this category is included basically anything you pick up that isn't a weapon. 1. Maru Mari (Morphing Ball) This spherical item, which you will get almost immediately at the beginning of the game, allows Samus to curl up into a ball half her usual height. You will have to get this item; you literally cannot get anything else without collecting this first. 2. Energy Tank At the beginning of the game, Samus' energy is limited to 99 points. Collecting these tanks will increase her maximum energy capacity by 100 points, and top off her energy to boot. There are eight energy tanks to be found in the game; however, Samus can only make use of six of them. Collecting either one of the other two will simply refill her energy. 3. Varia Collecting this atomic-looking item will cut in half the amount of damage Samus recieves from enemy attacks. Collecting this item is not necessary to complete the game, but it comes in very handy. 4. High Jump Boots These boots are made for jumping, and that's just what they'll do. Collecting this item will increase the height of Samus' jumps. These also are not essential to completing the game, but they will allow you to access a number of places that you would not be able to get to otherwise. B. OFFENSIVE ITEMS Here there be weapons. You'll need to do a lot of killing in this game, so be sure to pick up some of them. 1. Missiles Missiles are the single most important weapons in the game; you cannot physically harm Metroids, Mother Brain, or her Zebetites without them. You also will need them to open certain doors that block most items, as well as some other important areas. They also kill any regular enemy in one hit. Samus' limit on missiles is 255; there are 21 missile tanks (each one increasing Samus' capacity by five), and beating each of the first two bosses will net you a whopping 75. Try to collect as many missiles as possible. 2. Bombs Aside from missiles, these are the second most important weapons in the game; you need them to access areas that you need to get to in order to beat the game. They also are very useful against floor-bound enemies that Samus cannot attack with regular and ice beams. Fortunately, your supply of bombs is unlimited, though you can only drop three at a time. One additional function, helpful though not necessary to complete the game, is to propel Samus a small distance into the air; this can be done repeatedly and is know as "bomb jumping". It is a difficult trick to master (unlike in Super Metroid, where it is easy as pie), but is useful in at least three spots in the game for those with the patience to do so. 3. Long-range Beam At the beginning of the game, Samus' gun has a limited range, no matter what beam she uses. Picking up this item will extend her range to the edge of the screen. You don't need this item to beat the game, but why wouldn't you want to pick it up? Okay, I can think of one reason, but I'll address that in the walkthrough. 4. Ice Beam This handy weapon is half the strength of Samus' starting weapon. Well, not exactly; but only every second shot that makes contact with a given enemy does damage. The other shots will freeze an enemy in place. So it goes freeze, damage, freeze, damage, etc. You will need this weapon in order to defeat Metroids. Technically, you don't need it to beat the game, but it is so insanely difficult to do so without it that I will just assume for the sake of the walkthrough that you do. 5. Wave Beam This powerful weapon is twice the strength of Samus' starting weapon, but it cannot freeze enemies. However, as its name suggests, the beam travels in a wave with an amplitude (ask your math or physics teacher) equal to Samus' height, enabling her to take out floor-bound enemies without needing to use bombs. While you can't beat the game with it (Okay, you can, but see above), its power and range are extremely useful against the powerful enemies in Norfair and the boss lairs. 6. Screw Attack The powerful Screw Attack will turn Samus into a virtual flying missile when she jumps, making her semi-invincible and allowing her to destroy almost any regular enemy she comes into contact with. It is not needed to beat the game, and is a very cheap weapon that makes the game exponentially easier; whether or not to collect it is up to you. ------------- V. ENEMY LIST ------------- There are a lot of different enemies to be seen in Metroid, however there are really only a few different types of enemies "wearing" different sprites. So here is a partial list of the enemies; most of the names I got from the Super Metroid instruction booklet (I misplaced my old Metroid booklet), as many enemies from that game first made their appearance here. All defense figures are using Samus' starting weapon unless otherwise noted. At some point in time I may also list the amount of damage enemies do to Samus, but that will be in a later update. 1. Geemers Geemers are the first enemy you will see; they are the little yellow (or magenta) spiky enemies you see crawling along platforms and floors. They are one of the basic types of enemies, the "crawlers". "Weak" variety crawlers take two hits from the original beam to kill, "strong" ones take four. Expect to see a lot of these throughout the game. 2. Skrees Skrees are found only in Brinstar and Kraid's lair. They hang onto the ceiling until you walk under them, then they spiral down in your general direction. Skrees are a unique enemy type. Again, weak ones (green/yellow) take two hits, strong ones (blue/yellow) take four. 3. Rios Rios look like gigantic insects; they arc down at you from the ceiling and then back up again. They may also follow you on the ground. This is an example of the second major enemy type, the "swoopers". Weak Rios take four hits, strong ones take eight. 4. Rippers Rippers come in two varieties: invincible and semi-invincible. Invincible ones cannot be killed, but can be frozen; semi-invincible ones can only be destroyed by a missile or screw attack (though it appears they take damage from beams, they do not). Note that although rippers in Norfair look different, they function exactly the same (although faster). All they do is fly back and forth in a straight horizontal line. 5. Wavers Wavers only appear in Brinstar. They fly left and right in a floaty, wavy pattern (hence the name) until they hit a wall, at which point they continue in the opposite direction. Weak ones (green) take four hits, strong ones (blue) take eight. 6. Geegas Geegas are the only name I remember from this next enemy group, the "flies", which appear in every region in the game except Tourian. Although weak (the strong variety only takes two hits), they are probably the single most annoying enemies in the game. They pop up out of vents in the floor, and shoot straight at you. They also often appear in large enough numbers that you may not be able to avoid them all. 7. Sidehoppers As thier name suggests, Sidehoppers do a lot of jumping, from both the ceiling and the floor. They are only found in the boss lairs, and they are quite strong, both offensively and defensively. Weak ones take eight hits, strong ones sixteen(!). Although they differ in appearance between the two boss lairs, they function the same. 8. "Gnats" These only appear occcasionally; they take various forms, all of which only take one hit to kill, none of them leaving anything behind when you kill them. They hover in midair until you get close, then swoop down and back up. More of a nuisance than a threat. Always appear in small swarms. 9. Gerutas These inhabitants of Norfair are a second type of swooper. Unlike Rios, they will not follow you on the ground, and as long as you keep your distance, they will swoop up and down in a vertical line, making easy pickings for Samus. Good thing, too, as weak ones take eight hits and strong ones sixteen. Note that in Kraid's lair, there is a type of enemy that functions exactly the same, but look totally different. I cannot think of their name, however (does it matter?). 10. "Squids" I cannot remember the proper name for these enemies unique to Norfair. Think of them as rippers, only they hop up and down in and out of the lava. Purple ones are invincible, red ones semi-invincible. 11. Multiviolas These flaming balls o' doom bounce along the walls, floors, and ceilings of Norfair and Ridley's lair. They are either purple or red, taking either eight or sixteen hits to kill respectively. 12. Dragons These run a close second to flies for the most annoying enemies in the game. They are true cowards, only sticking their heads out of the lava in Norfair to spit fireballs at you, then ducking back down. They are almost never worth going after, except for the one or two that appear in lava that doesn't hurt you. 13. Rinkas As you may have guessed from the name, they are little rings. They only appear in Tourian, and are just as annoying as flies or dragons. They either pop out from the middle of nowhere or from little vents, but usually from the middle of nowhere, and always in large numbers. They do a heck of a lot of damage, too. At least they only take one hit to kill. 14. Metroids They're the name of the game, and boy do they deserve it. These fat, jellyfish-looking things float around, waiting for a chance to latch on to you and suck all your life away. If they do so, you'll have to bomb them off. Pretty tough to do, as it takes about five bombs to get them off and you can only lay three at a time. Of course bombing them off is a pretty worthless gesture, as they will almost immediately latch right back on to you before you get a chance to pop up out of your ball. So don't let them do it. The only way to kill a Metroid is to freeze it, then pump five missiles into it's bloated, pulsating body. Fortunately, they only appear in Tourian, and in fairly small numbers. Just be sure you take them out one at a time. 15. Zebetites These are not so much enemies as obstacles; they are simply big glass tubes filled with some sort of fleshy substance. Even though they don't do anything, they are still dangerous, as A) you MUST destroy them to move on, and B) you have to do this while being fired upon by invincible gun turrets that seldom miss and swarmed by Rinkas, which often also block your missile shots. So take them out as soon as possible. Eight missiles minimum is the way to do it. Just don't let up on the missiles, or they will regenerate their health, making you waste even more missiles. 16. Kraid The first boss, this ugly, pudgy yellow blob attacks by throwing boomerang-like blades from his back and shooting tiny spines from his chest. I will cover beating Kraid in the walkthrough. 17. Ridley He's big, he's purple, and he's a dinosaur. But don't expect him to play nice. As he jumps up and down on his platform, he spits a bunch of bouncy fireballs at you. Again, I will cover beating him in the walkthrough. 18. Mother Brain This is what they call a mastermind, har har har. Really, she's just a big Zebetite in a glass case, and you should treat her as such. Again, the main threat is the guns and the Rinkas, as well as the big pit of lava right in front of her. More detail will be given in the walkthrough. ------------------------ VI. COMPLETE WALKTHROUGH ------------------------ Here it is, the moment you've all been waiting for. In this walkthrough, I will guide you through the planet Zebes, finding all there is to find in a relatively timely manner (ultimately it depends on your skill as a player). If you get through fast enough, you just might get to play through a second time as Samus without her space suit. Take THAT, "Justin Bailey"! Ahem. Anyways, you may be wondering just what Samus is doing in such a godawful place as this, so I'll give a brief rundown of the plot up to this point. On the planet SR388, a peculiar, apparently engineered, lifeform was discovered, dubbed a "Metroid". These Metroids reproduced asexually (under exposure to Beta radiation), and could drain an orgamism of its energy within a matter of seconds. Interesting stuff. So the team of scientists that discovered them collected some specimens, and went on their way back to their lab. But on the way, they were attacked by space pirates from the planet Zebes, who killed the scientists and stole the Metroid samples. Now in possession of a powerful weapon, the pirates wreaked havoc on galactic civilization. Obviously something had to be done. So after it's own efforts to crush the pirates failed, the galactic government called on the aid of ace bounty hunter Samus Aran, a mysterious figure always shrouded in a mechanical spacesuit (though nowadays it is a well-known fact that Samus is a woman, it wasn't back in 1986). After presumably charging a handsome fee, Samus took the case. That's where you, the player, come in. You take the role of Samus as she enters the planet Zebes and prepares to kick some major alien ass. Now that you know the story, let's begin, shall we? ----------- A. BRINSTAR ----------- 1. MAIN AREA Items to get: Maru Mari Missiles (10) Energy Tanks (3) Bombs Ice Beam Long-range Beam Varia At you begin the game, you'll see Samus materializing, with just her beam cannon and 30 units of energy. Shoot the geemers off the walls and pick up any energy balls they might leave behind. Head left over the large rock formation and grab the Maru Mari, which will be sitting on a pedestal guarded by another fierce geemer. Now head back to the right and under the rock formation. Continue on to the door, killing any enemies you see on the way. In this next room, the floor looks fragile, but it can hold your weight. We'll be coming back to this room later on. For now, just continue on to the right. In this next long corridor, skrees will be hanging from the ceiling. Let them come down after you and blast them out of the air, so you can grab any energy they leave behind. Near the end, you will see another large rock formation which you will have to roll under. On the other side, a Rio will atttack. The best way to deal with it is to shoot it as it comes down and jump over it when it swoops at you. Continue on into the blue door. Now you will find yourself in a long vertical corridor. Work your way up the platforms, killing any geemers you see crawling on them and building up your energy. Avoid the yellow rippers; they can't be killed. Continue on until you see a door on the right side of the shaft and go into it. There's nothing to see in this next room, so just continue on. Another vertical shaft, this one gold, will greet you. This time, make your way down to the bottom and enter the door you find there. You should have full energy by now; if not, kill some more geemers to top it out at 99 points. Go through this corridor until you reach the missiles; grab them and head back. One more thing about this room: the flies. They will fly up out of the vents continuously; to stop them from doing so, kill them until one leaves a missile or energy ball, but don't collect it. No more will be able to come up until the item fades away, by which time you should be long gone. Back in the vertical shaft, go back up to the point where you originally entered, this time enter the door on the right side. You will find yourself in a new area, with bubbly-looking rocks, wavers floating about, and yellow sand on the floor. Don't fall into the stuff; it drains your health and hinders your jumps. Keep going to the right; through the doors in your path, and eventually you will reach your first energy tank. Grab it and keep heading right. When you emerge from the door you will be in another vertical shaft; go up until you find a door on the left and go in. In this corridor, watch out for rios and geemers crawling on the floor. At the end, you will encounter your first red door. These doors cannot be opened with your beam; the way to open them is with five missiles. To use missiles, hit the select button and fire. In this next room, you'll see a bird-like chozo statue holding a sphere. shoot the orb and collect the item that appears, the bombs. This is a useful item that can be used to break some blocks, and to attack enemies that are on the ground but are too small to be shot with your beam. To use them, roll into a ball and fire. Anyways, return to the vertical shaft and go back down (you can't go up at this point) and back into the rooms with the sand. Continue on past where you got the energy tank, and in the next room (with a bridge over some sand) bomb the floor a little left of the center and fall through. You will find yourself in another vertical shaft; continue down and go into the door on the left. In this next corridor (hereafter rooms of this type will be referred to as "item corridors") you will find some gnat-type enemies. Shoot these pests down and open the red door; it's five missiles, remember. Go in and collect the Ice Beam. Now that you have this handy new weapon, return to the sand pit you fell through. As you probably noticed on your way down, there is a spot in the sand that you can stand on. From there, fire up at the block you fell through before. Can't jump out? Just keep trying to jump. On the third or fourth try the block should re-materialize, doing a little damage and pushing Samus back up onto the bridge. Now continue back the way you were going, towards the first gold shaft (On your way there, you'll pass through another "bridge over sand" room; DO NOT drop into the vertical shaft here; it is a trap that you'll never be able to get out of at this point. Just move on). Once back into the gold shaft, head upwards. When you reach the top, enter the door to the right. You should be in an area with green blocks and some wavers floating around. Make your way to the right, going through the top pipe when you come to that point (watch out for geemers and breakable flooring in the pipe). You should emerge from the pipe coming out on top of a bunch of blocks. Continue right and into the door. What you need to do in this next room can be a bit tricky, but you can do it. Shoot upwards at the "solid" column of blocks near the middle of the ceiling; jump up to get the rest of them. Now the waver in here should go up through the gap you just made in one or two passes; if not, go out and come back in for another try. At any rate, when the waver reaches the top of its "jump", freeze it and keep jumping until the bottom block re-materializes below you. Now you and the waver should be stuck in this column. Shoot the waver (make sure you don't kill it) and the top block(s), causing Samus to take damage and the waver to pop out of the column into the shaft above. Now freeze the waver again when it drops down, and use it as a stepping stone to reach the door on the upper left. This door leads into a rather long item corridor; make your way to the left, blast the red door open with your missiles, and collect the Varia from the next room. Go back the way you came, bomb your way through the breakable blocks, and continue on to the right. Keep heading right, collect the missiles when you come to them, and continue on to what looks like a dead end. Go right up against the wall. Shoot upwards at the ceiling, and jump up and to the right to enter a secret passageway into a small rectangular room. Kill the rio in here, then use bombs to propel Samus into the small secret passageway that lies three blocks up. When you emerge from the passageway, you will find another energy tank. Enter the door to the right,and you will find yourself at the top of the vertical shaft where we got the bombs earlier. Drop all the way down to the bottom, and head back across the rooms full of sand. Back in the first gold shaft, head straight across to the blue shaft. Back in the blue shaft, head up until you reach the first door on the left. Go in here. An item corridor. Go through here to the end and pick up the Long-range Beam. Retrace your steps to the blue shaft and drop down to the bottom. Go to the left, back towards the beginning of the game. In this next room (the one with the big formation that you must roll under) get the rio to follow you through the tiny passageway. Two blocks to the left of the big formation, there is an energy tank in the ceiling. To get it, freeze the rio that you lured over, about five blocks up (the one empty block plus four from the bottom of the formation). Jump on top of the rio, shoot upwards at the block hiding the energy tank, then jump up and grab it. You can kill the rio when you're done. Continue on your way to the left. In the next room, bomb through the breakable floor and fall down to the bottom of the shaft, then go through the door on the right. Ewww...ignore that ugly face and go down the elevator. Now before I move on to the next section, let me explain why you might not want to get the Long-range Beam, as I had stated in the item list. As any NES-era veteran can tell you, any video game hero worth his (or her) salt can only have three shots on-screen at once. This left many players who wanted to blast everything in sight with a bit of a dilemma: they often found themselves either firing off lots of three-round bursts, which often led to wasted shots, which broke up the firing rhythm enough to let the enemy hit and/or kill the player character, or else they wound up doing irreparable harm to their thumbs as they squeezed off individual shot after shot. This was back in the day before turbo-firing controllers, mind you. Now in Metroid, we have a situation that is slightly different. Samus' shots initially are limited not only in on-screen quantity, but in range as well. That means her shots don't have to travel as far before being replenished, giving her a steadier stream of fire, where missed shots don't mean as much. If you pick up the Long-range Beam, you give up that slight advantage in firepower for the more familiar model described above. Seeing as you lose that slight edge, plus the fact that you don't NEED it anywhere in the game at all (though admittedly it is helpful in some situations), you just may consider skipping out on it sometime. However, in the interest of this being a complete walkthrough, I have included it among the items to get. Now that that has been said, let us move on to the next area! 2. KRAID'S LAIR Items to get: Missiles (20) Energy Tanks (2) After descending the elevator into Kraid's lair, you will find yourself at the top of a large vertical shaft. Go down until you see a red door on the right. Blast it open and enter. Here you will meet your first sidehopper; you might just want to freeze it for now and move on past, as there are also flies coming up out of the sand. Move right until you get the missiles at the top of a pyramid-shaped set of columns, then turn back. If you continue on, you will simply emerge into a dead-end set of rooms with nothing in them. So don't go that way. Back in the starting shaft, continue down until you find yet another red door on the right. Go in. In this next room, you will not get very far before you hit a wall. Standing up, shoot the wall, then bomb jump into the hole you just created. Continue on, bombing out any solid blocks that get in your way, until you emerge into another room. Here, defeat the enemies and grab the energy tank hovering in the middle of the room. To get out the way you came, you will have to make your way up around the top of the pipe formations and bomb jump back into the passage from which you came. Head back to the vertical shaft and go back up. Back at the first pair of doors, take the door on the left. In this room, when you head left you will be greeted by blue skrees and another seeming dead end. Again, bomb jump up into a hidden passage and go through. You will emerge at the base of another mnissile-bearing pyramid. This tank makes 20 missiles total. Continue on to the left, and watch out for those sidehoppers. Go through the next door, and drop down. You will see some sand below you; hop down into it. Instead of taking damage when you hit the bottom, you will fall through the false flooring and fall down a very long shaft. Now that you're at the bottom, you'll find that there's no way back up. So, onwards and rightwards. You will find yourself in a small corridor with a sidehopper; continue on through the door on the right. Different room, same thing, only with a red door at the far end. You know what to do. In the next room, make your way to the right and pick up another missile tank atop a pyramid. Once again, head back the way you came instead of moving on. Back in the blue corridor with the sidehopper, bomb the leftmost block, right up against the blue door. Fall through the gap into a room with green blocks and head through the door on the right. In this next room, you will come face to face with Kraid. Jump over the spikes he shoots out of his chest and blast him with a missile. Ehhh, okay, so maybe it wasn't Kraid. But it was good practice. Anyhow, continue on to the right through the hallway. Eventually it will come to an end. Go into the door, and you will find yourself in a green corridor. Bomb the blocks in the center, and fall through onto a bridge. Open the red door on the left, but don't go in yet. Instead, curl up ito a ball several times until flies start coming up out of the sand pit. At this juncture, just keep swatting flies until your health and missiles are maxed out. You should have four full tanks, and 25 missiles. Got them? Good. Freeze the last fly and go through the door on the left. Samus, meet the real Kraid. Unlike the other one, this could prove to be a tough fight. He attacks you in two ways as he walks back and forth on his platform. First, he shoots a volley of three little spikes at you from his chest. Seccond, he hurls boomerang-like blades from his back which arc throug the air. Pretty tough. Conventional wisdom would tell you to hop over the spikes and blast him with a missile before he reloads. However, you'll get hit by his bommerang-blades doing so, and you run the risk of missing, as he can reload pretty fast and if he reloads before you shoot, your missile will detonate harmlessly on that middle spike which is oh-so-conveniently positioned at the same level as your gun. And to top it off, you get hit a second time by the top spike when he fires. Now you can beat him this way, but you'll surely waste more than a few missiles. If that happens, curl up into a ball and start bombing like mad. You'll be able to finsih him off. However, I have devised a better way to beat him. You'll still take a fair amount of damage, but you won't waste any missiles. When you first enter the room, immediately hop down to his level. When he fires his spikes, wait until that top spike is just about to hit you and then fire with your ice beam. Viola, frozen spike. And guess what? He can't reload that middle spike until it disappears from the screen (of course, he still got you with that top one, so bleh). So jump over it, switch to missiles, and run right up to Kraid blasting away. Just take the hits from the other spikes, and keep firing as many missiles into him as fast as you can at point-blank range. Eventually that frozen spike will unfreeze. When that happens, turn off the missiles and freeze the spike again. Then continue your missile barrage. After all 25 missiles are spent, Kraid will burst into tiny little pieces. And you will suddenly have 75 missiles in stock. Not bad for your trouble. And there is also another energy tank in the lower right wall. Unfortuately, you really can't get it (or get out of the sand) unless you have the High Jump Boots. So take my advice and leave it there. Now that that ugly pus-bucket is out of the way, go back to the right. You're not through yet. You can use the flies to refill your energy and missiles again if you want, but I personally wouldn't recommend it, as it takes a lot of time, and you've already done it once. So make your way to the right, through the short corridor with blue skrees. You will find yourself at the bottom of what I affectionately call the Vertical Shaft From Hell. This is probably the single most frustrating part of the game. You will see a column of breakable blocks. It goes up and up and up. You have to shoot a few, jump where they were, aim up and shoot. Now keep jumping and shooting, jumping and shooting. The blocks underneath you will start to rematerialize, and hopefully they won't hit you and knock you to the right, sending you all the way back down to the bottom to start over again. Fortunately, there are "breather" blocks occasionally on the left side of the column; I believe there are three total on the left, and the last one is on the right side near the top of the column. When you see them, jump up to them and wait for all the blocks to reappear before continuing on. This lessens the chances of you getting knocked off and having to start again. Eventually, you will reach the breather block on the right side of the column. When you get here, you will also note that there is a blue door on the left, with a second, small column of breakable blocks in front of it. Make your way to that door and go in. Go to the left until you reach the missile pyramid and get the missiles. Now we've gotten everything there is to get in Kraid's lair (except that one energy tank). But you still haven't gotten out. So go back to that shaft. Carefully make your way to the top of the long column, and make your way up the little blocks to the door at the top of the shaft (FOR GOD'S SAKE, DON'T FALL OFF!). Go to the left through this long corridor, and eventually you will reach a red door. You've got plenty of missiles, so by all means, fire away. When you emerge from the doorway, you will find yourself back in the entrance shaft, about 2/3 of the way down. However, you can't get back up from here. So what you will need to do is drop down to the bottom, go to the left side of the shaft, and start freezing the rippers and using them as platforms to climb your way back up. Alternately, you could go through the door on the left at the bottom and go left, up, and back to the right through the hallways to emerge on the opposite side of the red door through which you just came. At any rate, you should now easily be able to climb your way back up to the top of the shaft. Jump on the elevator, and say goodbye to this area. Back in the main area of Brinstar, make your way back up the shaft and head through the door on the right. Go right, under the big rock formation, and into the long blue shaft. Go up and into the bridge to the gold shaft, then drop all the way down to the bottom. Head right, past where you got your first missile tank, and keep going, into a room with an elevator. Take this elevator down into the fiery depths of Norfair. ---------- B. NORFAIR ---------- 1. MAIN AREA Items to get: Missiles (60) Energy Tanks (1) High Jump Boots Ice Beam Wave Beam Screw Attack When you step off the elevator, say hello to the two Ridley statues (the guy has quite an ego, doesn't he?), then drop to the bottom of the shaft and go left. In this next corridor you'll be greeted by your first geruta; prepare your usual reception. Continue on to the left, and watch out for those red lumps that appear occasionally--they shoot out a stream of rocks every few seconds. Anyways, you will come to a new formation; this is the new missile pyramid. Okay, they don't look like pyramids, but that's what I've been calling them. Anyways, grab the missiles sitting on top and continue to the left. You will eventually come to a bubbly wall. Dead end? No. Just stop, drop, and roll. A few bombs wouldn't hurt either. So go through the wall, and continue to the left when you emerge. After going through the door at the end of the corridor, drop to the bottom of the shaft and go into the door to the right you find there. Another corridor, just like the other one. Almost. Head right until you get to the missile tank, then head back. It's a dead end this way. So double back until you reach the elevator shaft. This time, continue on through the door on the right. Make your way to the right across the cloudy platforms. eventually you will emerge into another purple, bubbly shaft. Make your way up. At the first door you come to (you can't get any higher without High Jump Boots from here), go in. Now when you reach the wall to the left, it may look like a dead end, but it isn't. Fire your beam at the wall until you locate the hollow passageway, then freeze the squid just below it. Get through the passage, and...hello, it's the new item corridor! Watch out for those dragons in the lava, and open the red door. Jump as you go in so that the last dragon's final shot misses you (if you haven't noticed by now, enemies in this game can still damage you as you pass through doors). In this room, shoot the orb and you'll get...the Ice Beam! Wow! Too bad you already got it. What to do now...hey, where does that pipe down there lead to? Bomb your way down to it and roll through. Bomb the red blocks you come to, and go through the door you find on the other end. Watch out for the multiviolas. In this new shaft, work your way up the right side as you did in the "Shaft From Hell". Fortunatley, it isn't as long. Just be careful of the rippers. When you reach the top, go into the door, blast the multiviolas, and bomb your way through the red blocks as you did before. You'll emerge on the left side of a missile pyramid. Grab the loot and head right. Another one! Score! Okay, continue to the right and through the door. Now, believe it or not, but you're now at the top of that purple shaft you came up initially. But you're standing on the floor! I'll tell you what, stand two blocks to the left of the right wall, drop into a ball, and lay a bomb. You'll be bombing your way through the floor. Once you get down, you should see a door on the lower left. Go into it. As you go left, you'll come across not one, not two, but three, count them, three missile tanks! But you've reached another dead end. So now, go back to the right, into the shaft, and drop all the way to the bottom...or is it? Well, go in the door here for now. In this new corridor, you'll make your way across a long platform with plenty of gerutas and flies with which to bug you. Whn you reach the end of that, continue on and you'll come to another wall you can bomb your way through. It's quite long, but eventually you'll reach the other side. Now freeze either the ripper, the squid, or the multiviola and use it as a platform to reach the top of that column of red blocks. Once on the other side, you'll be rewarded with two more missile tanks, pyramids and all. Double back to the right through the long corridor and return to the shaft. Bomb through the floor as before, in the same spot, and you'll come upon another part of the shaft. Make your way down until you come to another door on the left, and go in. Hey, what do you know, it's another item corridor! Go through the red door, and you'll pick up the High Jump Boots. Now before you get any ideas about heading back to the shaft, I say hold on a minute. Remember that Ice Beam? You've got it, bomb your way down to the pipe again and roll through another big wall. But weren't you just here? Oh well, freeze the ripper or squid again and use it as a platform again. Continue to the left, and do it again. This is the last time, I swear. Hop across the tiny bubble platforms and go through the door. Head across this new bridge room and into the next door. Now you'll see a new room design. But before you stop and gaze in awe at this new room, might I remind you that you have a mission to accomplish? So continue on to the left, and enter a new room, filled with pretty green bubbles. Welcome to the second half of Norfair. There's less to find and it's easy for beginners to get lost in this area, so stick with me and you'll be fine. First of all, notice that this room is merely a palette swap of the purple shaft. That's right, that means you can bomb through the floor on the right side. But first go up and shoot your way through the ceiling. When you come up, there will be a door on the left. Inside is an item corridor that leads to the Screw Attack. With this weapon, life will be a whole lot easier. Now go back and bomb your way through the floor (to the level at which you first entered), then bomb through the floor again. You will see doors to both the left and right. Take the one on the right. In this room, you will be making your way across a field of small stones. At the end of it, you will come to another bubble wall (aren't you getting tired of these?). Bomb through the red block against the wall and start making your way through the wall. On the other side is another field of stones, and then the door. Dead end, or so it seems. Roll up into a ball and lay a bomb right up against the door. Now you can get into the small lava field below. Don't worry, it won't hurt you. Head to the right, shoot the block in front of you, and fall through. Go through the door on the left. In here, make your way across the platform, shoot the block wall in front of you, and roll/bomb jump your way through. On the other side is a series of vertical pipes, and on the farthest one is an energy tank. Just one more to go! Start making your way back. When you reach the bubble wall, you will have to bomb jump from the high stone against the wall into the passage back. Back in the shaft, go through the door on the left. After going through another corridor with red bricks, you will find yourself at the bottom of a shaft with lava at the bottom. Hop into the lava, go as far to the left as you can, and bomb your way through the floor. Guess you weren't at the bottom after all. Now make your way down to the real floor and head into the door on the right. Weird bubbles--they look like they have eyes floating in them. Forget about it and make your way to the right, over the large formations of breakable blocks. In the next room, you will be able to bomb through the floor on the right as you have been; do so and drop down to the bottom. After going through the door on the right, you will find two missile tanks, and a dead end. Nothing to do now but make your way back, up to the top of the shaft. Continue on to the right. In this corridor, be careful not to fall into the lava between the narrow columns; if you do, you won't be able to get out, even with the High Jump Boots. Make your way across carefully, and go into the next room. It's a bridge across lava, with a dragon below. But that's not all. Again, bomb through against the left door, and you will be able to get down into the lava, which turns out to be a false bottom. Now you can blast that dragon with impunity. Anyhow, it's not far to the bottom, where a door is waiting on the left. Go in, and you will find an item corridor. At the end, you will find in the statue's hand the Wave Beam, the strongest beam in the game. Now go back, up, and continue on across the bridge to the right, into another weird eyeball-bubble room. This one also has big block formations, which will simply melt away beneath the power of your Wave Beam. Be sure to head across the top; there is yet another bubble wall where you will need to be at the top to be able to bomb your way through. On the other side, after continuing a ways, is a missile tank, the last one in Norfair. You are now done collecting items here, but first you have to get back. I'll guide you to where you need to go, but only giving rough directions. Go left as far as you can go, to the room with a bubble floor beneath a small pit of lava. Go up through the floor on the left side, then continue up to the top of the shaft. Go to the right, through the bridge between the two "halves" of Norfair, over the squid pits, and through the wall back into the room where the High Jump Boots were. Go back through the item corridor, into the big purple shaft. This time, instead of going back up, drop down to the bottom of the shaft. Go through the door on the left. Make your way across another strange eyeball-bubble room, into another shaft. Fall to the bottom, and go into the door on the right. It's an elevator room, but with two of those ugly heads instead of one. Looks like you've found Ridley's lair. Congratulations. 2. RIDLEY'S LAIR Items to get: Missiles (15) Energy Tanks (2) Again, you will begin this area at the top of a small shaft. At the bottom are two doors, leading left and right. Take the one on the left. Go through this next room, a small passageway made of white blocks. Nothing to see here. The next room looks identical at first glance, but against the right door, you can shoot up through the ceiling. You will have to jump on the closed door to get up and through into the area above. In this room, jump to the ledge (you'll have to have the High Jump Boots to get up here) and enter the door. In this corridor, watch out for the flies as you make your way to the left (be glad you have that Wave Beam!) and get the missiles at the end. Make your way back to the white block room and bomb your way back through the floor. Continue on your way to the left. In this next, very long corridor, you will face a horde of sidehoppers, and small columns of breakable blocks. At the end, you will be faced with a tall pipe with a one-block gap at the top and a shiny red door waiting for you on the other side. Now I could be an ass and tell you that the only way to get there is to bomb jump through the gap, but I'm not nearly that mean. Take my advice and roll back along the floor, bombing as you go. In the middle of some of those stretches between the block columns are breakable spots in the floor, where you can drop down and roll through a passageway in the floor. This passageway will take you under the pipe, and you can bomb your way up on the other side, giving you easy access to the red door. Open it and enter. In this next room, you will find yourself across a narrow corridor from an energy tank. You may be tempted to just run across and try to get it, but that will only result in failure. There is a two-block wide invisible pit that you will fall through if you just keep running. This pit is eight blocks from the right door (the one you came through). So run seven blocks, then jump to the tank. If you miss and fall through, don't worry, there's another energy tank, and you need to fall through that pit anyways. So fall through, whether you got it or not. When you land, once again there will be doors on either the left or the right. This time, go right. You will be in a corridor filled with more sidehoppers. Just fight your way through. This next room presents a bit of a challenge. There is what looks like an easy jump through a somewhat narrow gap to the door on the other side, with a pit below you. However, this jump is probably the single most difficult jump in the game. There are two ways to get across. First, you can just take a regular jump; if you time it just right, you can jump through the gap. However, it's more likely that you will fall doing it this way, so I really don't recommend it. The other option is to bomb jump across, and even if you're not too good at bomb jumping, you have a much better chance of pulling it off this way. The trick is being able to get a second boost into the air. Once you can do that, roll into a ball, give yourself that double boost, and use the second boost to propel yourself across the gap. You made it. Go through the door and collect another missile tank as your reward. Then come back to this room and throw yourself down the pit anyways. At the bottom, you once again get to choose between going left or right. I say, go left. This next long corridor is fairly easy to get through, but try to stay out of the lava on the bottom. When you see a lone sidehopper, you're just about at the end. On the other side of the door at the left end is...DUM DUM DUMMMM! Ridley. And welcome to the second boss. Unlike Kraid, Ridley is quite easy to beat, no matter how you decide to do it. First, let's look at how he attacks. Rather than moving back and forth on his platform, Ridley simply jumps up and down. Every few seconds, he spits out a bunch of fireballs that travel in a bouncing pattern. They can be frozen with the Ice Beam (if you happened to keep it), but are very difficult to dodge if you stay on the platform. Two strategies spring immediately to mind: first, you can stand in the lava directly beneath him and fire upwards at him with the Wave Beam. This will drain your health, but you should only lose about one full energy tank by the time he dies, so that shouldn't be any problem. Second, you may notice the narrow space between the pipes on the left side of the room, in front of the purple door. If you stand there, Ridley's fireballs will not be able to hit Samus--they will simply hit the pipe above her and disappear. From this safe spot you can shoot at Ridley with your beam and suffer no damage. Now, I have found another way to beat him, and you may or may not be able to use it against him. It appears to depend on how the sidehoppers and squids have been jumping, interestingly enough. If they have been jumping high, you won't be able to use it. If they haven't, then you will. You see, when they jump low, for some reason Ridley's fireballs fly differently. They shoot out farther. So what you can do, if this is the case, is simply to run up to him the moment you enter the room, taking the hit as you do so, then stand right there and fire away. Ridley's fireballs will arc harmlessly right over Samus, and you can sit there firing away until he too flies apart into tiny little pieces. Again, you will get a bonus of 75 missiles. You rock. Now take those shiny new missiles, if you wish, and shoot ten of them into that purple door on the left. In this room, you can stand on the lava, except for a small area. So walk along the lava and at the end of the corridor you can pick up the last energy tank. But you might not need it, so if you don't you can just skip it. Anyways, back in Ridley's room, head back to the right. Keep going, through the long hallway full of multiviolas, and you will emerge in a red shaft full of flies. In the interest of getting everything in the game, fall down to the bottom and go into the door on the left. You will pass through another purple hallway like you did earlier, filled with flies. Eventually you will come across the last missile tank (that means you've now got 255 missiles); once you've got it, turn right back around and go back to the shaft. This time, go all the way up to the top. Enter the door you see there on the left. Pass through this last corridor, and you will find yourself back in the elevator shaft. Take it back up to Norfair. -------------------------------- C. TOURIAN - MOTHER BRAIN'S LAIR -------------------------------- Items to get: Ice Beam Sure, you're not in Tourian yet, but I'm including this here for the sake of organization. Back in Norfair proper, go up and then right back to the big purple shaft. Go up, up, up, through the ceiling, and then up to the next door, leading to the corridor with the "cloudy" platforms that takes you to the elevator to Brinstar. Go back up into Brinstar. In Brinstar, go left until you reach the main gold shaft, then go up and right into the blue rocky area, with the wavers. Go right until you reach the shaft where earlier you retrieved the Ice Beam. Go back down there a second time, and get the Ice Beam again. Go back up, left, across the bridge, and into the big blue shaft. Ascend to the top and into the door on the left. Make your way across the area, until you run smack into a red door. Blast it open with missiles (reloading on the flies if you wish) and enter. On the other side, you'll see some familiar faces. That's right, it's Kraid and Ridley. Shoot the statues; they will rise up and a bridge over the lake of sand will materialize. Roll across into the next room and go down the elevator. Now you are in Tourian proper. Fortunately, it is the most straightforward part ofthe game, so there's no chance of you getting lost. Drop down the shaft, and soon you will see metroids coming right for you. You can either destroy them, or freeze them and continue on. To kill metroids, freeze them and then hit them with five missiles. For right now, however, I recommend freezing them and moving on. At the bottom of this first shaft, you will run into a yellow door. This door, like the purple one before it, takes ten missiles to open. As the screen scrolls into the next room, you will see rinkas flying toward you. You will get hit as you go through the door; there's nothing you can do to avoid it. Just move on. Go across the top of the pipe structures and freeze the metroids that attack. Keep going and you will run into a red door. Open it and move on. In this next shaft, you're probably going to lose a bit of energy, perhaps as much as a full tank. Not because of the metroids, but because the rinkas materialize in places you have to walk on, and tend to do so as you are over those spots. Just ignore them and freeze the metroids as you drop down to the bottom. Open the red door and move on. Now comes the part where you get to take out the metroids. There are a lot of them in this room, perfect for refilling lost energy and missiles. The reason why, is because whenever you kill a metroid, they always leave behind an energy or missile powerup, and these powerups give back a whole lot more that they usually do. So start blasting those metroids, and go through the blue door on the left. Here's the tough part. The zebetites in front of you are guarded by invincible gun turrets that are always firing at you, and rinkas that are flying at you as well. It takes eight missiles to destroy a zebetite, but that is only if you don't miss and if all the missiles hit in rapid succession. You're probably going to miss a bit, either getting knocked off the platform or hitting a rinka that gets in your way. But just keep firing at the zebetites, they will start shrinking and eventually disappear, allowing you to move on to the next one. There are five zebetites in all. Immediately after the fifth one, you will see the Mother Brain. The trick is just to treat it as another zebetite, albeit one that takes quite a few missiles to take out. The best place to stand is in the place where the last zebetite was; however, you are quite likely to be knocked either backwards or forwards by the rinkas. If that happens, just jump back up and continue firing. It takes 30 missiles to destroy Mother Brain. Once you destroy Mother Brain, you're still not through. A timer will start to count down from 999, so you had better get out fast. Go through the blue door that appears and start jumping up the platforms. The platforms are small, so you will have to make your jumps count. Fortunatley, the pattern of blocks repeats itself over and over again, so once you get the jumping pattern down, it should be no problem. Par for getting out is having 600 seconds left when you reach the elevator at the top. Now you have beaten the game. Congratulations, and enjoy the ending. When the credits are done, press "Start" and you can play through a second time, this time starting with everything you collected, minus the missiles and energy tanks. Now that you know where everything is in the game, how about trying to get through as fast as possible? ---------------------- VII. SPEED WALKTHROUGH ---------------------- Unlike in Super Metroid, in this game there are not many shortcuts, and most of them have already been pointed out in the walkthrough above. But just think for a moment, how many missiles did you have left after you destroyed Mother Brain? A hundred or so? That means there are about a hundred missiles that you really didn't have to go out of your way to find. Not getting them would really cut down on your time, wouldn't it? That is going to be the key to this speed walkthrough, skipping a lot of the extra missiles and stuff you don't need, and just getting through as quick as possible. The order you do things in is also a bit different, and I expect that you already know your way around the planet fairly well, so pay attention and try to keep up. Anyhow... ----------- A. BRINSTAR ----------- Items to get: Missiles (5) Energy Tanks (1) Maru Mari Bombs Ice Beam Notice that the list of items is shorter. That's reflective of the new philosophy for this walkthrough. To begin with, go left and get the Maru Mari right away. Head right, up the blue shaft, across into the gold shaft, and drop to the bottom. go and get the missile tank, then head back up into the blue rocky area, with the wavers. Head across and get the energy tank, then go on and get the Bombs. Head back, getting the Ice Beam as you go. Once back in the gold shaft, drop to the bottom again and head across to the elevator. Go to Norfair. ---------- B. NORFAIR ---------- Items to get: High Jump Boots Screw Attack (optional) That's right, we aren't picking up any more missiles in here. Just head immediately to the right, to the big purple shaft. Drop down, bomb through the floor, and go down and get the High Jump Boots. At this point, you may wish to continue on and get the Screw Attack before heading back, but that dows take some extyra time. Besides, if you're a real hardcore Metroid player, you won't get the Screw Attack anyways. I would, and I recommend you do so as well, as we're going to a pretty tough place with just one energy tank. But it's up to you. Anyhow, after picking up the High Jump Boots and/or the Screw Attack, head back into the purple shaft, and drop down to the bottom. Take the door there and continue on until you reach the elevator to Ridley's lair. Take it down. ---------------- C. RIDLEY'S LAIR ---------------- Items to get: Missiles (5/10) Energy Tanks (2) When you come down off the elevator into Ridley's lair, take the door to the left as in the first walkthrough. In the second white block room, you may or may not wish to go up and get the missiles from the coridor; I would as they can come in pretty handy. Again, it's up to you. After you did or did not get the missiles, continue on to the left. Bomb through the floor and roll under the big pipe, opening the red door at the end. Jump across the pit (remember, seven steps and then jump) and get the energy tank, then fall down the pit. Go right, to the "tough jump" room, and bomb jump across the little pit. Go and get the missiles, then come back and fall down the pit. Head left and continue to Ridley's room. Now here, I recommend a different strategy than before. Obviously standing in the lava won't work, as you don't have the Wave Beam. If you got lucky, the sidehoppers were jumping low and you will be able to do the "belly up" strategy, but use up your missiles before finishing him off with the Ice Beam. If you can't use that trick, just freeze as many fireballs as you can, then use your missiles on him. You may have to use the fireballs as platforms to hit him. Anyhow, once that's done, use your newly gained missiles to open the purple door and get the energy tank behind it. Head back to the right and continue on to the shaft at the end. Head up to the top, then left to the elevator shaft. Return to Norfair. Back in Norfair, head up, right, up through the floor and back to the left to the elevator to Brinstar. Return there. --------------------- D. BRINSTAR REVISITED --------------------- Items to get: Energy Tanks (1) Varia (optional) Back in Brinstar, head left to the gold shaft. From this point, you have two options. First, head all the way to the top, then go right and get the Varia. With the High Jump Boots, you won't have to lure the Waver to get to it. You can simply jump up to the door. This takes more time, but halving the damage will be a big help later on in Tourian, with all the rinkas flying about and such. But yet again, the choice is yours. Your second option is to just skip the Varia and move on to the blue shaft. Do this if you're really good at the game. I don't think I could do it. At any rate, please note that even if you do get the Varia, I recommend heading back the way you came rather than going on to get another energy tank and more missiles. It just takes so much longer than backtracking. In the blue shaft, head down to the bottom. In the corridor with the big rock formation, as before lure the rio undr the formation and freeze him (higher up than I said in the first walkthrough, as you can jump much higher now) to get the energy tank. Once that is done, continue left and down to the elevator to Kraid's lair. --------------- E. KRAID'S LAIR --------------- Items to get: Missiles (5) Energy Tanks (1/2) Once you get down off the elevator, take the second red door on the right. Go in and through the wall to get the energy tank. head back to the shaft and go down to the next red door. Go through, and head right to the Shaft From Hell. Drop down to the first door, then enter and retrieve the missiles. Head back to the shaft, then drop all the way down to the bottom. Go left, refill on the flies when you get to the bridge before Kraid's room, and face the yellow monstrosity. With more missiles, Kraid is a bit easier, as you don't have to worry so much about wasted missiles. Still, try not to waste too many. Use the "freezing spike" trick I mentioned before to help. Oncee that's done, you may or may not want to get the energy tank in the wall. I say, if you got the Varia, don't bother, but do get it if you skipped the Varia. Now to get out. Head back right to the Shaft From Hell. With the High Jump Boots, it seems more like the Shaft From Purgatory, but still, it's no picnic getting back up. At any rate, make your way up the breakable blocks, head to the top, and go left. In the elevator shaft, go down, then freeze the rippers as platforms to get back up. Continue to the top and head back to Brinstar. In Brinstar, go back to the top and to the right, under the rock formation and into the blue shaft. Head up to the top and head left to the red door leading to Tourian. Before heading in, take stock of what you've got. If you followed the walkthrough, you should have: 170 Missiles (150 from beating the bosses, 20 from missile tanks) 5 or 6 Energy Tanks (5 with the Varia, 6 without) Maru Mari Bombs Ice Beam High Jump Boots Screw Attack (optional) Varia (optional) Refill your missiles and energy tanks on the flies, then head across the bridge to Tourian. ---------- F. TOURIAN ---------- In the interest of speed, I definitely recommend you freeze the metroids and run rather than killing them, as this saves a lot of time. So go down to the bottom of the shaft, freezing the metroids as you go, then bast open the yellow door and enter. Go right, again keeping the metroids frosty, and open the red door at the end. Drop down, ignore the rinkas (i.e. take the hits) and freeze the metroids, and once again open the red door. In this next room, what I recommend is this: kill the metroids you run into until your energy and especially your missiles are topped off, then freeze the rest and move on. Now to finish it up. Once through the blue door, immediately open fire with your missiles, and don't turn them off again until Mother Brain is toast. Having the Screw Attack here will help keep the rinkas at bay. Remember, it's going to take at the very least 70 missiles to get through it all, and very likely more than 100 due to missed or wasted shots. Anyhow, go through the room like I told you before, then head up the long shaft to escape once the time bomb is set. Congratulations, you got through the game very quickly. Pat yourself on the back and go grab a beer. -------------------------------------------------------- VIII. REVISION HISTORY, CREDITS, AND CONTACT INFORMATION -------------------------------------------------------- ------------------- A. REVISION HISTORY ------------------- 1.0 - This version, the intitial release. And a damn good one, if I do say so myself. ---------- B. CREDITS ---------- 1. Me, for gracing the world with this masterful work (you're welcome). 2. Nintendo Power, for printing maps of Norfair and Brinstar many years ago when I was too young to find my way around on my own. 3. Nintendo, for making the game in the first place. 4. GameFaqs, for making this guide available. 5. God, for obvious reasons. 6. All those Metroid players out there who keep this great game alive! ---------------------- C. CONTACT INFORMATION ---------------------- Any feedback to give me? Tips, corrections, comments, suggestions, praise, flames? Want to tell me what game I should write about next? Send them to me at: IM_Martacus@msn.com Be sure to put "RE: Metroid Walkthrough" in the subject header, or I'll just toss it out like so much spam. In closing, let me just say that I hope this guide has been helpful to you. I really enjoy this game, and I wrote this to show my support and because I know others like it. See you next mission...