The Any% category for Metroid Fusion is the easiest and most straightforward category. The player does not need to worry as much about dying and missile management like in 1%, nor does the player have to worry about item placement and advanced room strategies like in 100%.

Thus, it is highly recommended for new players to start learning with Any%, as everything players learn in Any% can carry over to both 1% and 100% categories. This category forces the core basics and strats that all players should learn and practice for all categories.

A tutorial video series for Metroid Fusion Any% is available in a youtube playlist by kirbymastah

Current Fastest Time

Unrecorded: 0:46 by Biospark

Leaderboards for Metroid Fusion Any% can be found here

Expansions

Due to the straightforward nature of Metroid Fusion's progression, there is no significant routing. Simply knowing where to go to beat the game generally follows the ideal route.

Routing differences in Metroid Fusion generally comes down to which energy tanks and missile tanks to collect.

Energy Tanks

The ideal number of energy tanks to collect is exactly one, as the others do not help with speed in any way.

However, it is strongly advisable to collect more energy tanks, especially in races, depending on your skill level. Considering that Biospark gets 2 energy tanks in races, and the next best players (kirbymastah, jaggerg, and dragonfangs) collect 3; new players should opt for several more. Below is a list of cheap extra energy tanks that the player should get, ordered by how much time they cost from less to more. In other words, the player should get the energy tanks near the top of the list until they are comfortable.

1. E-tank in sector 6, the room before the SA-X encounter, before Varia Suit. This costs less than a second to get as long as you plant the bomb before getting the e-tank, so the bomb goes off during the acquisition animation. This e-tank should NEVER be skipped.

2. First e-tank in the game, just before Arachnus, in plain sight.

3. E-tank before Yakuza, in the room with the space pirates, in plain sight.

4. E-tank in sector 1, in the toad room after the first stabilizer, in plain sight inside a morph ball tunnel.

5. E-tank in sector 2, just before Zazabi, in plain sight.

6. E-tank after BOX. Be sure to shinespark left in the hall above BOX so you can get the e-tank from above.

7. E-tank in sector 5, just before fighting Nightmare, in plain sight. Use the morph ball tunnel above to get it. If you can get this with the crumble block strat instead, then get this instead of e-tank #6.

8. Second e-tank before Arachnus. Shoot a missile at the left block of the right part of the ceiling to reveal a tunnel and climb through. This costs a lot of time, but gives you another early e-tank to work with for the rest of the game.

When starting a run, it is recommended to try collecting all 8 above in a run. The player should see how many e-tanks the player can take off, and remove e-tanks from the bottom of the list until the player is comfortable.

Missile Tanks

Standard

For any%, missiles early on save a significant amount of time. The optimal missile tanks to collect in a speedrun are listed below, which are six missile tanks adding up to 40 missiles.

1. Missile tank on Main Deck, in the dark shaft after getting Missiles, in plain sight on the right side.

2. Missile tank on Main Deck, in the room left of Missile Tank #1.

3. Missile tank on Main Deck, above the navigation room Samus stops at after obtaining Morph Ball.

4. Missile tank on Sector 3, notoriously named BOB as it is unskippable on console. You can't miss this.

5. Missile tank on Main Deck, on the bottom floor of the animals room, after saving the animals.

6. Missile tank on the Main Deck, found by speed boosting into the left wall of the Main Elevator that goes down to the sector selection hall.

The first three missile tanks give just enough missiles to reliably complete sector 1 and 2 without heavily relying on missile drops. BOB is unskippable. The only time missiles are really needed before Missile Tank #5 is during the meltdown segment, and having 15-20 missiles is more than enough. Missile Tank #5 and #6 are collected as they save time against Yakuza, Nettori and, Nightmare, and both missile tanks cost little time.

Back-Up

The missile tanks below are missile tanks collected if a certain strategy fails; they can also be collected if the player wishes to get more missiles than the ones above.

1. After fighting BOX, and going to sector 6 after, there is a chance that the player will not have enough missiles to take out the super missile barrier. If this is the case, and the player messes up shinesparking through the super missile barrier, then the fastest back-up strat is to bomb the wall to the left of the barrier and collect the missile tank there, rather than collecting drops and refills.

2. An extra missile tank can be collected, depending on the player's luck. On the main deck, in the dark hall with the spitter enemies in the ceiling, before returning to the ship after power bombs, if the player is unable to obtain a speed boost due to enemy placement, then it is faster for the player to simply power bomb the next room and collect the missile tank in the way. This is a good backup strategy as it does not require redoing the speed boost, and the extra missile tank saves time against Nettori and makes Nightmare slightly easier on missile count.

3. If the player wants another missile tank, there is one hidden in a morph ball tunnel in the space pirate room just before fighting Yakuza.

Route

This section will detail strategies for every single room in the Any% Route of Metroid Fusion. Each bullet point is one room (sub-bullet points are additional notes for that current room). Any line that starts with "Navigation Room" means step on the switch and go through the text from the computer.

Numbered expansions refer to those in the Expansions section

Main Deck Beginning

• After being beamed down by the ship, run left
• Run left into the next room
• This room is notorious for a complicated set of walljumps, dubbed the Sesshomaru walljump strategy. There are two methods to start the strategy:
  • Jump along the left wall then walljump at the peak, walljump off the adjacent yellow platform, walljump higher up on the same wall, walljump three times between three yellow platforms, walljump at the top left corner, then land on the second-top yellow platform
  • Immediately upon entering the room, walljump off of the left side of the yellow platform above, and land on the yellow platform to the left of it. Run left, then walljump off the top of the left wall adjacent to it, walljump three times between three yellow platforms, walljump at the top left corner, then land on the second-top yellow platform.
  • If the sesshomaru walljump strategy is too difficult, then feel free to simply do the first walljump of the second strat above, grab the ledge of the platform above and climb, do it again, then climb the ledge of the yellow platform to the left. This is a few seconds slower and not as sexy.
• Keep running left. Be sure to not shoot the ground out of boredom, as there are two breakable blocks that will slow you down if you shoot them.
• Keep running left.
• Navigation Room. Go left.
• Do two short hops to climb the platforms to the left, then two more to the right. Grab the ledge of the platform high above, hop off of it to grab the ledge of the top-left platform and climb it. If this is too difficult, then feel free to simply climb up the first ledge then jump to the second one, though this is marginally slower.
• Run off the ledge, then go into a spin before touching the left platform.
• Get on the second platform, then while aiming diagonally down, do a vertical jump and shoot a few shots. At least two need to hit the toad to kill it. Return through the right door.
• Climb up the left ledge of the center platform. Either walljump off of the left platform, or climb the ledge of the top platform. Walljumping is marginally faster if a proper unspin cancel is done on the top platform.
• Run off the ledge then immediately go into a spin to the left. Make sure not to press left while spinning or else you'll grab the ledge too. When you land on the left side, run right, doing a short spin jump to skip the gray platform.
• Navigation Room. Go right.
• Either walljump the right edge of the gray platform, or simply climb the right ledge. Walljump off of the top of the right wall to reach the higher gray platform, then go through the door on the right.
• Run right. If the toad somehow finishes spawning here, you're doing something wrong.
• Save Room. Run right.
• Grab the right ledge of the gray platform above and climb it. Jump right once, then jump high to grab the left ledge of the top gray platform. If the zombie is spawned on the right side, he will hit you unless you are nearly perfect with your execution; it is recommended to shoot it if it is on the right side unless you can consistently get past it without getting hit.
• Navigation Room. Just before the door transition on the right, do a spin jump.
• Jump up the steps and go through the top-right door.
• Take the elevator and go through the monologue.
• Go left.
• Run left until you see the ledge. Jump up of it, then do another jump to grab the ledge by the door.
• Run left through this Navigation Room.
• Get MISSILES.

• Run right
• Navigation Room. Go right.
• Jump across the two midair platforms and use a missile to blow open the hatch on the right. Run through the hidden path.
• Immediately fire three missiles to the right to destroy the barrier. Drop down the crumble blocks and hold left to grab the ledge of the pillar. Climb up of it, fall to the left and shoot the bottom left corner and run off of it. Spin to the right and fall down more crumble blocks. Run left and fall down more crumble blocks. After the crumble blocks, spin right then immediately jump to climb the ladder. Climb it, then fall to the right and spin left. Fall off of the following landing, and spin right to grab MISSILE TANK 1. Run left.
• Run left and use a diagonal shot to uncover MISSILE TANK 2 in the top block of the steps. Get it, then run right.
• Run right.
• Jump up the platform, shooting the two zombies in the way, and approach the eyedoor. Kill it, get the Red X, and run in.
• Do two walljumps to reach the top quickly. Fall down and spin left to walljump to the next platform. Get ENERGY TANK 2 and fall down the following crumble blocks to fight Arachnus. Defeat him to get MORPH BALL
  • If you want another early e-tank, feel free to get the back-up ENERGY TANK 8.

• Roll into the tunnel in the bottom left. Climb the ledge of the giant block and fall left. Climb the ledge into the wall and roll through.
• Roll of the ledge, unmorph just as you roll off, spin right and walljump off of the wall to reach the top of the ladder. Roll off and into the tunnel at the bottom, then grab the ledge on the left. Ledge hop, shoot twice to clear the two blocks, grab the ledge, and roll through. Unmorph as you roll off the ledge, and start firing diagonally down to kill the zombies while running left. Morph through the following tunnel.
• Go left.
• Go left past the save room.
• Go left.
• Run off the ledge then spin right. Use a jump extend to clear the ground without landing on it, then spin left as you pass it. Run left without grabbing the platform.
• Navigation Room. Go left.
• Do two short spin jumps to climb the first two platforms. Climb the next two with short spin jumps, then morph into the tunnel.
• Grab MISSILE TANK 3, then roll back left.
• Climb this room the same way as earlier in the run.
• Either jump all the way across the gap, or run off the ledge then immediately jump upon landing. Roll through, then unmorph and run left.
• Run left.
• Take the elevator down, and watch the SA-X cutscene.
• Go left after reaching the bottom of the elevator
• Take the elevator down to Sector 1.

Sector 1: Charge Beam

Note: Missile management is very important before obtaining Charge Beam. If Samus is at full health, all drops are guaranteed to be missile drops. As such, it is important to take as little damage as possible, to guarantee as many missile drops as possible.

Note 2: Furthermore, every stabilizer has two possible placements upon entering the room. Adapt accordingly; those that significantly change strategies will be noted.

• After arriving via elevator, go right
• Navigation Room. Go right.
• Go right.
• Go right.
• This room can be done quickly in two ways. If properly done, both are exactly the same speed.
  • The easier and more consistent method is to run off the ledge, spin left, then spin right after passing the left platform. Run right through the bottom-right door.
  • The swag method is to do a pixel-perfect spin jump to the right, just before running off the ledge. If done perfectly, you will make it past all the platforms without landing.
• Run right. Spam your beam forward. The second-to-last bubble needs to be shot diagonally up-right or else it will suck a few health from you. Just after running up the small slope, shoot three fast missiles forward to destroy the barrier without stopping.
• Grab the ledge above, then do another jump to the top. Run right, fall into the gap and run left. Stand on the platform by the stabilizer and shoot three horizontal missiles. While waiting for the door, grab as many drops as you can.
  • If the stabilizer is going down the moment you enter the room, you have little room for error to be able to shoot missiles into it from the platform before it goes too high. If you are too slow, you will either have to wait, or try to do short-hop missiles while waiting.
• The moment you enter the room, shoot a missile diagonally down, (wait about 1/4 of a second) then two forward, then one diagonally up-right. If timed properly, the first four toads will all be killed without stopping. Jump on the ledge and shoot a missile diagonally-down to kill the last town without stopping.
  • ENERGY TANK 4 is available here if you want it. Simply shoot the left wall beside the e-tank and roll through after killing the first four toads.
• Run off the ledge, then spin left. Go into the left door.
• Run left. There are three armored enemies on the ground here; use diagonally-down missiles to kill them without stopping. The last one may be on a higher slope; if so, shoot a missile forward while on flat ground to kill it.
• Run off the ledge then spin right. Shoot a missile down along the right wall to kill the first pirate there. Start falling against the right wall and shoot two missiles downward; morph after the missiles to slow down, so the missiles fly ahead of Samus. The two missiles should hit up to two pirates on the right wall. If you want to be safer, after one missile hits a pirate, feel free to unmorph, shoot another missile down, then morph again, in case there are three pirates on the right wall.
  • Regardless, there is no guaranteed way to make sure you never get hit; sometimes a pirate on the left wall may jump into you as you fall, which a missile won't hit because it was previously on the left wall
• Run right, using a diagonal missile to take out the underwater crab.
• Jump on the first platform. Fall off and grab the right ledge of the platform you were standing on, then spin jump right off of it. Get on the ladder on the far right, climb up, and shoot three missiles left into the stabilizer. While waiting for the door to open, kill the toads on the bottom with your beam to grab their drops.
• Run right, using a diagonal missile to take out the armored enemy.
• Climb the shaft with two chained walljumpgs. Grab the ceiling rungs and climb right, and fire one missile into the stabilizer. If the stabilizer is going up, fire two more; if it's going down, then wait until it rises again, then fire two more. Climb left, fall on the lower platform then jump on the pillar. Make your way to the bottom-right door quickly before it opens.
• During second half of the door transition, hold up and R, then immediately press B to fire a missile along the left wall to take out a pirate. Grab the left ledge of the yellow platform and spin jump off of it to the left ladder. Use a series of jumping from the left ladder to the yellow platforms to climb this room. While on a yellow platform, if there are pirates on the ladders, take the time to use missiles to kill them.
• While running left, spam your beam diagonally up to open the gate.
• Keep running left and into the water, shooting your beam forward to kill the grab at the bottom left. Before reaching the left wall, shoot your beam diagonally up to uncover the morph ball tunnel above. Jump to grab the ledge of it, ledge hop and shoot your beam to uncover the rest of the tunnel, then morph through and go left.
• Fall down through the crumble blocks, morph through the tunnel, then walljump off of the ladder to reach the eyedoor. Kill it, grab the Red X if you have fewer than 8 missiles, and run through the door.
• Fight the Charge Beam Core-X here and get CHARGE BEAM.

• Upon acquisition of Charge Beam, grab the right ledge of the platform closest to your left. Spin jump right off of it to grab a platform to the top-right, and climb it. Jump across the two small gaps and go through the door.
• Shoot diagonally before jumping to clear a square block. Jump again to reach the door.
• Run right while spamming your beam to kill the toads. To destroy the stabilizer in one shot, have a beam charged, then jump into it from above and take damage. Hold left, and release your beam the moment the entire beam is inside the weak point, so both the beam and the flare hit. Charge your beam and take the door on the bottom-right after it opens, while holding L to aim diagonally up.
• Release B during the door transition so the gate immediately opens upon entering the room. Run right.
• Walljump off of the left ledge of the top platform to reach the top-left door, and go through it.
• Jump on the left platform, then right, then walljump to reach the next left platform, then right, then go through the top-right door.
• While running right, shoot your beam diagonally down then forward to clear the blocks without stopping. Keep shooting forward to kill the toads as you run to the right side. Jump on the next level, shoot as you run left, then shoot up to clear the blocks above. Get on the next level, run right, and shoot a curved missile diagonally down to kill the last toad from far away. Charge your beam as you run below the stabilizer, then shoot it and two missiles up (three is ok if you want insurance from missing the charge beam). Run right to fall down crumble blocks, then head back to the bottom-left door and exit when it opens.
• Run off the ledge, land on the platform, then immediately jump left and continue. Have a beam charged.
• Use your charged beam and two missiles (or three if you forgot to charge your beam) while aimed diagonally and running left to kill three toads without stopping.
• Run up the hill then jump on the right ledge (so you don't power grip). Jump left to the top level, run across. When you run off the ledge, spin right then left as you pass the left ledge.
• Run left, spamming your beam to kill the bubbles. Taking light damage isn't a big deal here.
• Run left up until the center of the room. Jump on the lower left platform (shooting diagonally down as you land to kill the zombie, or using a pseudo screw), then jump on the higher left platform. Head left.
• Go left.
• Go left.
• Navigation Room. Go left.
• Take the elevator up to the Main Deck.
• Go right.
• Go right.
• Take the elevator down to Sector 2.

Sector 2: Bombs & Hi Jump

Note: Sector 2 is one of the more difficult parts of the game, due to the Red Zoros dealing 45 damage (which is very high at this point in the game). Take care to not take too many hits to die, and constantly have your charge beam charged, as you will be using it constantly.

• Run right.
• Navigation Room. Run right.
• Run right.
• Run right. If you are very paranoid about Sector 2 killing you, then feel free to take the refill here, but it will cost you several seconds.
• Follow the zigzagging path, but do not kill any red zoros in the left half of the room while climbing down. On the second downward left hill, shoot the beam down-left to take out only the right breakable block at the end, so you can fall down it without touching the red zoro by it. Charge your beam as you fall down, then shoot it right as you run right to take out the red zoron on the small hump. Climb up the left side of the platform above. If you are fast and the red zoro on the right wall is lower, then you can walljump on the left wall and skip it. Otherwise you want to stand below it and kill it with a charge shot, then walljump the left wall. Climb the right ledge, then the right side of the higher platform, then jump up to the highest platform and go into the top-right door with a charged beam.
• Run right and use the charge beam diagonally down to kill the first zoro. Time two missiles appropriately to kill the second without stopping.
  • The timing for the two missiles on the second zoro depends on which way it's crawling. If it's crawling towards you, you need to fire them a lot earlier than you think. If it's crawling away, then fire them later.
  • The timing of the double missile here is very difficult and tight. Feel free to stop and shoot the second zoro if you can't get it consistent, as you're better off stopping to kill it than taking damage and slowing down even more.
• While charging a beam, jump up the higher ledge. If the zoro on the higher right wall is lower, then you can skip it; otherwise kill it with your charge beam. Walljump on the 2-block left wall, then the right wall, and land on the second-highest platform (charge your beam while doing this). Climb up the highest platform then kill the top red zoro with a diagonal charge shot while running left.
• Fall off and unlock LEVEL 1 LOCKS, then run right through the blue door.
• Make your way to the bottom-left door, ignoring the zoros, and charging a beam through the door.
• Traverse this room the same way you traversed it the first time.
• While charging a beam and aiming diagonally down-left, run off the ledge, and fall down the one-space gap between two platforms. Don't move left or right until you land, then run off, fall straight down, and kill the red zoro there. Run left and open the door, while charging a beam.
• Let go of B during the door transition to kill the one zoro on the higher ground. Keep running left.
• Walljump off of the left wall of the ceiling above to grab the left ledge on the top floor. You should easily pass by the flying enemy if you're reasonably quick; if not, have a charged beam so you will pseudo screw attack it. Run left, jump on the higher ledge, the go into the left door.
• Get BOMBS. Run right.

• Have a charged beam. Run off the ledge, then spin jump to pseudo the flying bug, and also land on the one-block higher ledge. Run off the right ledge and spin left while charging your beam. Kill the one grounded zoro with your charge beam, then bomb the bottom-left corner of the room. Roll through the following tunnel, then as you pop out, unmorph and run left, firing two missiles straight to kill both flying bugs. Stop to kill the red zoro with two missiles if it's close to the right; otherwise charge your beam to kill it as it will be on the left.
• Morph and follow the morph ball tunnels, using bombs to bomb jump. After rolling left then right, fall down and spin left. There may be a red zoro or two blocking the left bomb block; if so, use 2 missiles each to get rid of them then bomb it. While bombing the second bomb block after the pit, charge your beam, unmorphed. After it's destroyed, shoot it and two missiles right to kill the two red zoros blocking the morph ball tunnel before rolling through. While waiting for the bomb on the right to go off, charge your beam again, then when you land, morph to automatically shoot it to kill the last red zoro. Proceed through the morph ball tunnels and take the bottom-left door.
• Fall down, spin right, and go through the next door with a charged beam.
• Just as you run off the ledge, shoot your beam to kill the flying bug charging at you, then plant a bomb on the floor below. Fall and spin left, then fall and spin right, avoiding the crumble blocks below.
  • If you fall down the crumble blocks, you'll fall into the notorious blue zoro pit, the only spot in the game with a blue zoro. At all costs, do NOT touch the blue zoro. Even if the blue zoro is crawling next to a red zoro, touch the red zoro to run through the blue one. Bomb the single block on the right to get out.
• Climb into the first ledge which will make you morph. As you roll off, unmorph, spin left, then walljump to clear the gap with the red flat enemies. Bomb the spot two spaces from the right wall to uncover a pillar. Stand on it and climb & morph into the next tunnel. If the next red enemies are on the left, then roll off, unmorph, spin left, and walljump over again. If they are spread out, or on the right, then fall to the ground, then use missiles to kill them while running to the door.
• Jump on the center platform, then the right platform, then the platform above with a red zoro. Jump on the wedge above, walljump on the left wall next to you, then land on the right side. Jump again on top of the two-space pillar, then fall to the right to the door with a charged beam. You should not have to kill any red zoros.
• There is a strange hopper enemy in the middle that will shoot spikes when you damage it. Just when you land on the bottom floor, release your charge beam and shoot two missiles. Do a short spin jump over the spikes that are shot, and keep going right.
  • One full charge beam shot is enough to kill it. However, it may crouch at a certain time, meaning only half the charge beam will hit, and maybe even one missile will fly over it. Two missiles are enough to guarantee you will kill it.
• Go right, ignoring the red zoro. Do not shoot the ground.
• Go right of this save room.
• Go right, taking the bottom path. The owtch should be nowhere near you to hurt you.
• As you enter the room, shoot down while falling straight down, then spin right after you pass the broken floor. Charge your beam to one-shot the eyedoor whenever it becomes vulnerable.
  • If you want to get ENERGY TANK 5, instead of shooting down to break the floor as you enter, run right and get the e-tank on the higher ledge. Run left off the ledge, shoot straight down and spin right to land by the eyedoor.
• Defeat Zazabi and get HI JUMP. Use two hi jumps to grab the ledges and get out of the room on the left.

• Use a walljump at the spot you broke in the left part of the ceiling to reach the door on the top-left
• Go left.
• Go left.
• Go left. Have a beam charged.
• Run left, getting rid of the enemy the same way you did before. Bomb the floor on the left side of the room and fall through.
• Wait against the left wall for the SA-X to go through the door. A safe cue to start running right is just when the SA-X fires its beam to open the door. Run to the right, shoot diagonally down to destroy the blocks, then run left.
  • If you have over 300 health, you can skip waiting for the SA-X. Refer to the 100% section on how to do it, but if you are good enough to do the SA-X skip, then you are good enough to skip some of the e-tanks you have.

(WIP)

Sector 4: Speed Booster

• Go left after coming down the elevator.
• Navigation Room. Go left.
• Go left.
• Go left.
• Jump on the first platform. Then jump across the entire gap; to make it without power gripping, you will probably need a few jump extends. Drop down the left and go through the door.
• Go left, with a charged beam.
• Jump to the platform above, then spin jump to the top left of the corridor, pseudo-screw attacking the crab in the top-right corner. Plant a bomb at the 2x3 block, then run through it and run off the ledge to the left, while charging your beam. Just when you touch the electric water, jump on the square platform. Hope across the set of square platforms, using R-shots and/or pseudo-screw attacks to kill the two crabs occupying them. Go to the top left door with a charged beam.
• Immediately shoot your charged beam diagonally down to kill the crab immediately in front of you, and charge your beam again. Jump across the water, then run off the ledge and go into a spin to pseudo-screw attack the crab on the left wall. Go through the bottom-left door with a charge beam while holding L to aim diagonally up.
• Let go of B during the door transition, while holding left and L; you will instantly kill the crab on the ceiling. At the edge of the platform you're starting on, morph then spring ball left, planting a bomb against the ceiling. Unmorph and you'll land in the electric water, on a higher platform. Jump left to land on the left platform (you may need a few jump extends), then jump right and around out of the water to the higher ground. Use a missile or charge beam to kill the crab on the ceiling while running left, and plant bombs to destroy the wall. Keep going left, and through the door, making sure to have your beam charged.
• Let go of B while holding up to shoot your charge beam up, destroying both the block above and the owtch lurking above. Walljump off the wall above the door to land on the left wall directly above. Instead of climbing across the ceiling rungs, run off left, then spin right and walljump across. Shoot up, get on the higher level, then shoot a charge beam or missile + normal beam to both take out the owtch in front of you and the block. Roll through the tunnel, unmorph and charge your beam while walljumping off the right wall. You should pseudo-screw attack the last crab. You may get hit by an owtch overlapping with the crab; if so, use a missile to kill it or the crab (whichever the pseudo-screw doesn't get). Climb across the runs, shoot down and fall on the left, then shoot up once to destroy both blocks, walljump the left wall, and go through the door.
• Run down the slope of this save room while shooting your beam to destroy the crack in the wall. Jump and morph and roll through.
• Bomb the blocked tunnel. Go through the door, jumping as late as possible before going through the door if you can.
• Straightforward room. Go left.
• Jump on the left ledge, then right. Walljump off the higher right wall, then left wall, to reach the top. Charge your beam as you fall into the water and kill the eyedoor.
• Defeat Serris and get SPEED BOOSTER. Go through the top right door.

• Run right across the stretch of land and shine charge at the end. Go to the lower floor and use a low-height shinespark to the left to kill all the owtch. From the left wall, run right to start a speed boost and destroy the blocks on the bottom-right, while charging your beam.
  • To do the low-height shinespark here, make sure you're in between the vertical 2-block gap. Either press A twice very quickly without pressing a direction, then press left, or while holding left, alternate between A and B repeatedly until you shinespark.
• Fall straight down while aiming diagonally down-left. When you land on the bottom floor, run left, using the charge beam to kill any owtch in your way. Fall down at the far left, having your beam charged.
• Fall off left and spin to land on the square block, killing the crab on it with a pseudo screw attack. Use another pseudo screw attack or a well-placed diagonal missile to kill the second crab as you jump on the left block. Go through the top-left door with a charged beam.
• Do this room the same way as before.
• Do this room the same way as before.
• Go left nonstop.
• Run left to start a speed booster, and shine charge just as you step on the button to lower the water level. Shinespark right when you regain control. Go through the right door.
• Go right.
• Go right and roll through the one-space gap. Fall down and run left, using diagonal-down missiles or charge beam to kill crabs in the way. A few spaces right from the open electricity, start running right to start a speed boost. Do NOT touch the wires.
• Keep speed boosting right.
• Keep speed boosting right. The moment you destroy the far right speed boost blocks, press B and start holding it as you go through the door.
• Just when you land from the speed boost, release B to kill the bottom crab. Start charging your beam, stand in the center, and shoot it up when the gold crab spawns on the ceiling. Go right.
• Jump up both ledges. Jump right across the giant gap, using a few jump extends if necessary. Jump across the last gap and go through the door.
• Go right.
• Go right.
• Navigation Room. Shinecharge on the switch, then shinespark right after talking to Adam. Jump with speed boost before going through the door. You should do this upon exiting every single sector from now on.
• Press up or B just above the center of the elevator to stop your speed boost, then go up the elevator.
• Go right.
• Go right.
• Go right.
• Go right. Take the elevator down to Sector 3.

Sector 3: Super Missiles

Note: Sidehoppers can be hit by shooting forward instead of diagonally down, meaning straight super missiles or three straight normal missiles from far away will kill them. However, only half a charge beam will hit when shot forward, so to OHKO a sidehopper without missiles, you must aim diagonally down and hit them with a flared charge beam.

Note 2: You need 10 missiles minimum for BOX (you probably want a few more for insurance), and two more afterwards to guarantee you won't lose time. After that, to do the start of sector 6 optimally, you need three super missiles to destroy the missile barrier. Take care to keep an eye on your missile count.

• Go right.
• Navigation room. Go right.
• Go right.
• Go right.
• Keep holding right to start a speed boost and break through the wall until you start falling down crumble blocks. After you reach the bottom, run left, shooting your beam to break the blocks, and go through the bottom-left door.
  • On the second set of speed boost blocks you break, if you press down the frame you land, you can shine charge, fall down, then shinespark left from the floor to save a little bit of time. Pause buffering is recommended; if you press down too early, you won't destroy all the blocks and you'll have to run around.
• You'll start a speed boost as you enter this room. Shine charge, spinjump to the ceiling, then shinespark left against the ceiling. Morph, go into the top-left corner and bomb it to go into the hidden room.
• Step on the switch for LEVEL 2 LOCKS. Start going right.
• You'll start another speed boost. Just before reaching the second short hill, do a full jump while speed boosting to go through the speed boost blocks, then start running right again.
• Run right nonstop, shooting your beam to destroy the blocks in your way. You'll speed boost a slight bit.
• Jump right and around to the platform above, then up to the next platform. Morph so you can roll under the stretchy, and roll to the right wall to fall through crumble blocks. Shoot the gate, go left a bit, then starting 1-2 blocks from the door, start running right.
• Keep running right and you'll destroy some speed boost blocks. Fall through and take the bottom-right door.
  • A faster but more difficult strategy is to shine charge just as Samus destroys the first speed boost block (a visual cue for it is the black pillar in the background). Samus will shine charge just over the ledge of the non speed boost block, but also destroy it. Fall down, go through the door, and shinespark up the next room, taking care to avoid the stretchy in front of you.
• Assuming you're not shinesparking up here, jump to the ladder above, and just keep climbing. Neither stretchy should hit you. Go through the left door at the top.
  • If you want to speed this up a little, do a walljump off the right wall just above the second stretchy to skip a small chunk of climbing. If you walljump earlier, the second stretchy will notice you earlier and hit you, slowing you down more.
• Bomb the center of the wall ahead to uncover a morph ball tunnel. Roll through to get BOB, or MISSILE TANK 4; try to plant a bomb just before you get BOB, so the bomb goes off to destroy the 2x2 square block above BOB during the item acquisition cutscene. If not, just unmorph against the left wall and shoot it. Regardless, morph and hop into the top tunnel, and plant a bomb near the right side to destroy a ceiling block. Unmorph, hop and shoot into the next tunnel to destroy the block at the end, then roll through it and go through the top-right door, charging your beam.
• Just after landing from running off the ledge, release your beam and start spamming missiles. As long as you're not very unlucky, you should easily kill all three sidehoppers without stopping, and then you can speed boost jump through the door after opening it.
  • You should make sure to have at least 10 missiles after this room; it usually takes around 9-10 missiles to do this room cleanly. If you have fewer than ~20 missiles, then it is recommended to just stop and use diagonal flared charge beam shots to kill some sidehoppers to compensate.
• Keep running right nonstop into the right door.
• Step on the button to get SUPER MISSILES.
  • There is a difficult trick that saves a little time called the data room spark. Pause buffering is highly recommended, as it is a very precise trick. The idea is to shine charge as late as possible, but also stay on the button as long as possible before shine charging. So just when you're on the left edge of the button, hold left to start skidding and slowing down, then press down just as Samus is about to run off the button. She'll stay on the button for a little bit longer and shine charge on the right edge of the button, and get super missiles. You then have a very small window to shinespark left after acquiring super missiles, and then you have to make sure that you open the door so you don't run into it. If this is done correctly, you'll speed boost through the entire hall before super missiles.

• Assuming you don't get the data room spark, run left.
• Keep running left and you'll start a speed boost through the door.
• You have two options here. You can either shinespark left to activate the BOX fight then go back right, or do a precise speed-boost jump just after the door transition. Shinesparking is much easier, but also a half second slower; regardless, there is a big gap in the room. Either use a full spin jump with a few jump extends, or drop to the block below and jump across.
  • If you want to do the speed boost jump strat, you must know exactly where the BOX fight is triggered. After the jump, cross the gap, then run left until you touch the very right edge of the large black box in the background, then start going back right.
    • Note that the trigger for BOX and the trigger for the rumbling sound are actually different. If you trigger the BOX fight from as far right as possible, you will not hear the rumble.
• Fight BOX. Climb out of the room by standing on the stalactite that fell, then walljumping off the ledge of the right higher platform. Do two full high jumps to climb out. Alternative, you can do a chain of three walljumps, but if both strats are done optimally, walljumping is slightly slower.
• After climbing out of the pit, run left, charging your beam. Aim diagonally up to take out the flying red enemy, then shoot a super missile forward before running down the slope to take out a sidehopper (if you're low on missiles, use a diagonal flared charge beam on the sidehopper instead). You'll start speedboosting through the left door.
• Hold down during the door transition to shine charge. Fall down, then shinespark into the bomb block by the morph ball tunnel (this is faster than bombing it). Morph into it, then as you fall out of the tunnel, unmorph and fire a super missile diagonally down-left to take out the first sidehopper. As you run left, fire another one straight left to kill the second sidehopper. Bomb the blocks at the left, then roll through the tunnel.
• Pop out of the tunnel and just follow the zig-zag path back to the top-left corner, using your beam to take out the first flying enemy, and a pseudo-screw attack for the second one.
• Go left.
• Go left.
• Navigation room. Shinespark left.
• Take the elevator up to the main deck.
• Go right.
• Go right.
• Go right.
• Go right.
• Go right.
• Take the elevator down to Sector 6.

Sector 6: Varia Suit

Note: After obtaining Varia Suit, you'll encounter one of the most annoying enemies in the game: Puffers. Damaging and/or killing them causes them to release smoke, which has a huge hitbox and will damage you in return. Thus, it is best to just avoid them all together, or even just run into them sometimes. A pseudo-screw attack will not kill them with your current beam either.

Note 2: To make matters worse, each puffer has four possible random behaviors (most enemies have 2). You will have to basically improvise every time there is a room with at least two puffers.

• Run right after taking the elevator.
• Navigation Room. Go right.
• Go right.
• Go right, having a beam charged and starting a speed boost.
• Do a speedboost jump from the edge of the ledge you start on, to jump almost all the way across the room. The charged beam is there as insurance to make sure you don't get hurt by the bottom-right bug; if you jumped a little too early, you will pseudo-screw attack it instead.
• Make your way to the bottom of the room and shoot three supers to destroy the barrier. Go to the top-right door.
  • If you don't have enough super missiles for the barrier, then an alternative strat that is barely slower is to shinespark. So upon entering the big room after the recharge room, shine charge, jump on the safe spot on the floor between two bugs, then shinespark right into the slope. As you enter the next room, shine charge, make your way to the bottom, then shinespark right through the barrier.
  • If you fail the shinespark method, and you don't have enough missiles, then feel free to bomb the bottom-left wall to get a back-up missile tank (the first one listed). This missile tank should only be collected as a last resort, as the only reason it is recommended is because it is faster than farming for missiles in the previous room or backtracking to the recharge room.
• Run right, stunning the ice-x if you want.
• There's another ice-x at the top-right; stun it if you want. Just fall down this room as typical and head for the bottom-right door.
• Run right and you'll reach a stack of 3 square blocks; there is an ice-x hidden in the bottom one. Get past this among one of three ways listed below. Just when starting to fall, hug the left wall and shoot the one-layer wall to go through it. Spam your beam forward as you run left, jumping over the gap; you should usually stun the ice-x up ahead and be able to run under it. Go through the bottom-left door.
  • The fastest method at the start of this room is to shoot forward twice to uncover and stun the ice-x , then shoot diagonally up once to break both blocks above. Then do a short hop over the stunned ice-x and fall down the shaft.
  • The easier method is to destroy only the bottom block and keep running right, tanking the hit from the ice-x. While you take damage, by the time you recoil, you will be up against the left wall while falling, so there won't be much recoil.
  • The slowest but safest method is to simply shoot the top two blocks and jump on top of the bottom block. This is slower as you're landing an extra time and running off the edge, but is recommended if you're low on health and can't afford to risk getting hit by ice-x.
• Run left under the three ice-x and shine charge at the ledge, just as you destroy the speedboost blocks. Fall to the bottom, then shinespark left into the slope, opening the door on the left and running through it.
• Jump over the energy tank while speedboosting, then plant a bomb against the bottom-left corner. Immediately get ENERGY TANK 1, so the bomb goes off during the item acquisition cutscene. Roll into the hole, roll through the tunnel, then as you unmorph above the door, shoot down to open it and run or roll right.
• Go to the right wall and plant a bomb to go in the bottom morph ball tunnel to see the SA-X. The power bomb it plants does 20 damage, so if you have less than that (this should only happen in 1%), then hide in the bottom-left corner to avoid it. Otherwise just stay below where it plants the power bomb until it goes off. Then after the SA-X starts walking again, do a very short hop to catch its attention, and stay standing right by the morph ball tunnel. It will run left and jump over you; immediately get on the higher platform and run right, taking care to jump over the one-space gap. Fall down the crumble blocks and go to the left door.
• Shoot left at the bottom floor, then go through the tunnel to get away from the SA-X safely.
• Shoot diagonally down-left to destroy the center block, then fall down; land directly below the left side of the gap. Shoot right exactly once to destroy two square blocks, and go through the door with a charged beam.
  • Shoot ONCE. Remember that the charge beam is two beams put into one, so if you shoot twice, then you will uncover an ice-x on the right side.
• This part is tricky. Aiming diagonally up-right, just as you land on the bottom floor, shoot your charge beam, then immediately super missile straight forward. The flare will kill the closest flies, and half of your charge beam will kill two of the farther flies each. The missile will kill the one on the far bottom-right. This clears your path to do a clean jump over the pillar without stopping. Kill the eyedoor with a flare charge beam or a super missile. Be sure to get the Red-X if you have fewer than 6 missiles, more if you want to attempt to double-missile the core-x.
• Watch the Mega-X absorb the Varia Suit data. You can missile it for fun, but it doesn't do anything. Go right.
• Defeat the Mega-X and get Varia Suit. Go through the right door.

• Go right.
• Do a short hop then a full jump to reach the ladder. Climb up to the top and go through the top-right door with a charge beam.
  • You can speed up climbing the ladder a little with two walljumps. The first one, walljump from the left wall when it sticks out towards you, then back to the ladder. The second one, walljump off of the ledge to your left near the very top.
• Whether you can walljump or have to wait and climb up the ladder a bit depends on the puffer placement. Regardless, you have a charge beam so you can pseudo-screw attack the worm on the ladder. Use your best judgement to determine whether to walljump underneath the puffer or climb up the ladder and jump over it. Have a charged beam as you go through the top-right door.
• Use an R-shot or pseudo-screw attack to kill the owtch on the ceiling and go through the tunnel. At the exit of this hidden area, hang off the very edge in morph ball. You can then spring ball straight up, unmorph at the peak, and grab the ladder, then do a series of two more walljumps to reach the top quickly. Use diagonal missiles to kill the owtch on the floor in your way as you run to the top-right door.
  • If you miss the spring ball, and fall down, a good backup strat is to jump into the right wall and walljump at the very peak, then you can use a series of walljumps to reach the top quickly.
• After running off the starting platform, shoot a missile up just to the left of the ceiling above you. There is an owtch where half the time, it'll be right there in the way of your climb. While charging your beam, jump up to the ceiling platform, then walljump off the right wall (pseudo-screw attacking the owtch if it's on the wall). Grab the ladder on the left, climb up a bit, then jump off and make your way to the top-left door.
  • There may be a puffer in the way of your jump from the ladder. Use your best judgement; if it's lower, you can jump over it. If it's directly in the way, then take a hit and jump through it.
  • If that darn puffer isn't in front of the ladder, then it's in front of the door that you're trying to go through. Either jump over it or roll underneath it, but killing it is slower as you will take damage from its smog.
• Run left, using a missile to kill a worm on the floor. Charge your beam as you go through the left door.
• Release B during the door transition; there is a worm on the left wall that may get in your way, and the charge beam will kill it if it gives a bad pattern. Proceed through this room, using super missiles to kill worms in the way. Avoid killing puffers; rolling underneath or jumping over them is preferred. As you go through the top-left door, have your beam charged and aimed diagonally down, holding L and B while running through the door.
• During the door transition, release B while holding L to kill the fly directly in front of you. Just after you run down the first slope, shoot two missiles forward to kill two flies in your way, then just before reaching the wall, one more missile diagonally down to kill the one lurking in the corner.
• Go left.
• Go left.
• Navigation Room. Shinespark left.
• Take the elevator up.
• Go left.
• Go left.
• Go left.
• Go left.
• Go left.
• Go left.
• Take the elevator down to Sector 5.

Sector 5: Ice Missiles

Meltdown

Save the Animals

Sector 5: Power bombs

Main Deck: Space Jump

Sector 2 - Plasma Beam

Sector 5 - Gravity Suit

Sector 4 - Diffusion Missiles

Sector 6 - Wave Beam

Sector 1 - Screw Attack

Endgame