Revision as of 12:28, 12 July 2010

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Techniques

BSJ (Bomb Space Jump)

Discovered by XtraX

After the bomb space jump or BSJ was discovered in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, it was found that it also works (albeit in a more limited way) in Metroid Prime. The difference in Prime is that it is much harder to persuade the camera to give you an instant unmorph, which reduces the usefulness of the trick. Nevertheless, where they are possible, BSJs provide more height than any other type of jump known.

The idea behind a BSJ is to perform some sort of bomb jump such that a piece of scenery moves between Samus and the camera during the jump. This will cause an instant unmorph when X is pressed to unmorph after the jump. Under these conditions, it is possible to perform a full space jump immediately after the instant unmorph, giving you a full space jump's worth of height plus whatever you got from the bomb jump.

As in Echoes, the timing involved in pressing B for the jump after the instant unmorph is critical to making the trick work. It must be pressed immediately after the instant unmorph occurs. Indeed, it is probably impossible to press it too soon after the unmorph. You will almost certainly want to change your grip on the controller so you have one finger on X and another on B. If you are failing consistently to make a BSJ that is known to work, you are probably waiting too long after pressing X to press B.

Not all bomb jumps can be used in this way. The Triple Bomb Jump, UBJ and HBJ and some DBJs are for some reason not compatible with this technique. Single bomb jumps, 3BJs and "2BJs" (a 3BJ minus the last bomb) represent your best bet.

As mentioned, it is trickier in Prime to get the instant unmorph required for this technique to work. One guaranteed method is to roll through a door, keeping the camera behind you in the doorway, and bomb jump from this position.

Examples of the BSJ include Secret Worlds: North Quarantine Tunnel and Secret Worlds: Landing Site.

Dash Jump

Discovered by Varsis Erion, TreborSelbon

Dash jumping is a technique that gets extreme distance, much more than any space jump is capable of. There isn't much height gained, but when something is very far away and not much higher than your starting point, this is usually the perfect thing to use.

The dash jump is actually derived from an intended move in the game, the regular dash where you press B while strafing to the side and locked on something. The difference comes in releasing L just after pressing B to remove the lock on; doing this causes Samus to fly off to the side at a high speed. Using your second jump makes her go even further and adds a respectable amount of height to the jump.

To explain it in full: first lock on something with L. When ready to dash, move left or right and press B, then let go of everything as fast as you can after pressing B. Never hold B or L; holding B makes you rapidly lose height until you hit the ground, and still holding L after you've started the jump won't let you dash jump in the first place. There are also very few situations where you'll want to actually hold left or right, so let go of the stick when you press B. These are all common mistakes to make when starting to learn dash jumps.

Dash jumps can be done with any visor. Valid targets are anything you can lock on: enemies, stalactites, grapple points (when you have the grapple beam and are close enough to attach to one), and so on. When using the scan visor, you can also dash from any scan point, but there is one thing to know about this. If the target is in scanning range and it's been previously scanned to completion, holding L for too long will cause the screen to freeze so you can read about the target. To be able to dash, you need to be fast enough that you release L before the screen freezes. This doesn't apply to objects that are considered out of scanning range, yet still close enough to be locked on.

Additional info:

• Scan dashes do not work in any version of the game but the original North American release.
• The height gained from a dash jump depends on whether you have space jump and use the second jump in the dash. The first jump gets very little height (almost nothing), while the second is more like a dash and a jump at the same time. Due to this, it's possible to dash to places higher than your starting point, as long as you use the second jump. A great example of this is the Observatory dash.
• If you need to move forward or backward in the middle of a dash jump, hold the stick up or down to slowly go in that direction. This is known as "bending" the dash. Some dashes are much harder (or can't be made at all) without bending. Two great examples are Geothermal Core and the Thardus dash. Bending a dash forward or backward doesn't reduce distance, so don't hesitate to do so if it'll help you avoid bumping into something. Turning left or right does, however.
• If you don't have space jump and need to test how high your destination is, fire at it with power beam shots. If they hit the ledge, it's higher than you are, and so you probably wouldn't make the dash.
• A dash jump can be stopped early by pressing or holding L. It reduces Samus' momentum at a very fast rate until she stops, and is very useful when you don't want to go too far.

Examples of Dash Jumping include getting the Space Jump without the Boost Ball, getting the Frost Cave Missile Expansion without needing the Grapple Beam, getting through Metroid Quarantine A without the Spider Ball and negating the Thermal Visor Glitch.

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Early Items

SJF (Space Jump First)

Discovered by DEVILBIT, z0idi

SJF Video

Notes:

• In Landing Site, get on the Gunship and take a look at the ledge right of it, against the wall and in between two doors. This ledge is your destination from the Gunship.
• You have to Dash Jump from the bottom right of the ship to this ledge, but since there are no enemies in Landing Site, you'll have to Dash Jump from a scan point. Switch to the Scan Visor and look for a Glowing Spidervine just above the door past the waterfall, the one that leads to the Artifact Temple. This scan point is conveniently out of your range from the Gunship, yet close enough that you can still lock on to it.
• When ready, move as far back on the Gunship as you can go without falling off, then go to the right edge of the turbine and Dash Jump from the Spidervine. There are two different styles people use here; some wait a bit after locking on to the Spidervine, while others dash jump the instant they lock on. Both work, just make sure you release L as soon as you hit B to dash, or you'll probably have trouble getting on the ledge.
• Since this Dash Jump uses the Scan Visor, an alternate method is needed for the Japanese, European, Australian and North American Player's Choice (included with the Metroid Prime 2 demo disc) versions of the game. If you have one of those versions, use the method shown below.
• Go through the door below the Spidervine and enter Temple Hall, a room on the path to Artifact Temple. Three Seedlings reside here. Lock on to the closest one and head back to the Gunship in Landing Site; even when the door closes as you move away, you'll still be locked on to the Seedling as long as the target doesn't pass over the closed door.
• When you reach the Gunship, jump on it and do the rest like the NA version, the only real difference being you're using a Seedling for your Dash Jump instead of the Glowing Spidervine outside Temple Hall. Be careful not to move farther than you need to when going back to the Gunship. If you go even a bit behind it, the lock-on will break. You're still barely maintaining it when on the Gunship at all, so keep that in mind when positioning Samus for the Dash Jump.

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External Links

• Metroid 2002 - Metroid Prime
• Metroid 2002 - Metroid Prime Discussion