Obstacles Guide

Obstacles Guide

Riddled throughout Aether's dense environments are a multitude of doors, machinery and both natural and unnatural obstacles blocking access to areas.

Every obstacle in your path has a way around, most of the time you'll just need the right piece of equipment to get the job done. Read on below for a list of the various types of obstacles you'll find and ways around them.

Doors and hatches

Doors and hatches serve to keep Samus from accessing the deeper regions of the planet. To open each one you'll need the use of a certain weapon.

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Blue Doors

Most of the doors bordering areas emit a blue hue, use any weapon to open these.

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Black Doors

Only a blast of the Dark Beam can open these doors.

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White Doors

Use the Light Beam to open these doors.

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Red Blast Shield

A single missile will take apart a red blast shield.

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Green Blast Shield

Green blast shields can only be penetrated with a Super Missile.

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Yellow Blast Shield

Use a single Power Bomb to breach yellow blast shields.

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Purple Blast Shield

Target all five pods surrounding purple blast shields with the Seeker Launcher and release five missiles at the same time to blow them open.

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Gray Doors

Doors emitting a gold/gray glowing hue can only be opened with a blast from the Annihilator Beam.

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Sealed Doors

When two small locks adorn a door you won't be able to access it until certain conditions are met (usually the eradication of all hostiles nearby).

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Luminoth Doors

Doors with a semi-transparent golden shield covering them can only be accessed after visiting U-Mos, or by returning a region's planetary energy in your possession to the corresponding Energy Controller.

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Ing Webtrap

These nasty little spider web-like creatures will cover certain doors in Dark Aether, trapping you inside rooms and areas. Defeat their masters in the same area (usually Warrior Ing) to clear access to the door.

Miscellaneous obstacles

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Brinstone

Anything containing traces of Brinstone can be destroyed with a single missile or Morph Ball Bomb.

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Talloric Alloy

Objects laced with Talloric Alloy can be eliminated by placing a single Morph Ball Bomb nearby.

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Denzium

Objects composed of Denzium can be destroyed with a single Power Bomb.

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Rock pillars

Rock pillars you can target with L (Z in the Metroid Prime Trilogy) can be dislodged with a single missile.

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Crystal pillar

Short stout pillars with a purple cluster of crystals embedded on the side can be moved by energizing the crystal cluster with a blast of the Light Beam.

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Light / Dark Lift Crystals

Tall pillars with a small crystal attached to the side found on the surface of the Dark Agon Wastes can be raised or lowered by shooting the crystal with the opposite-polarity beam.

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Liftvine Crystal

Round pods often found in the murky ponds of Dark Torvus Bog can be raised into a handy platform by shooting the purple crystal embedded in the center with the Light Beam.

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Trans-dimensional Security Door

Often you'll discover large ornate wall panels obstructing pathways and alcoves. Scanning the panel reveals that the power source is not present in the current timespace, so without the right gear you can't do much with it.

Once you've secured the Dark Visor you'll find it key to unlocking these panels. Switch it on and look around the panel, searching for five small red highlighted pods surrounding it.

Now the Seeker Launcher comes into play. Stand back, lock onto all five pods and unleash a five-missile torrent to strike all at once to instantly swing open the panel.

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Sonic Security Door Version 1

These large sealed doors mostly inhabit the Sanctuary Fortress. Scanning the sealed door reveals that a sonic security system is keeping it locked in place, and only by disabling the sonic emitter can the door be opened. Only problem is that even though you can hear the emitter pulsing a signal at the door, you can't see it at all.

That's where the Echo Visor comes in. Once you've recovered it from the heights of the fortress, switch it on and stand back from the door. See the sound waves striking the door? Look around to spot the emitters, they'll show up as small orange icons on your visor. Shoot each with a single shot to disable them, with all shut down the door will promptly open.

Sometimes you'll find a different object sealed via a sonic emitter, use the Echo Visor again to spot the invisible mechanoid beaming the signal and destroy it to unlock the object.

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Sonic Security Door Version 2

These sonic-security-sealed doors may look a lot like the standard variety, but switching on the Echo Visor reveals a different setup. With the Echo Visor active these doors display four padlock icons atop the door with an orange icon in the center. Only once you've scored the Annihilator Beam can you interact with these doors.

Shooting the orange icon on the door with the Annihilator produces four audible tones emitted from each padlock. Stand back and look around the area near the door, see those icons hovering above what look like three small terminal posts? These objects are tone emitters, shooting them with the Annihilator will send a distinct tone to the door.

The trick to opening the door now is to memorize the sequence of tones, then reproduce the same sequence by shooting the right tone emitters. Attempts at finding the right order have no limits, so experiment till you successfully reproduce the right sequence to open the door.