Revision as of 16:39, 25 June 2013

General Routes

The major routes listed below are general routes used to beat the game. Many sequence breaks and tricks in Metroid Prime 2 can be easily added or removed when doing a speedrun, without majorly affecting the whole overall route. It is assumed that the reader is familiar with the game's map, so only room names with comments are noted.

Grapple-less Route

The Grapple-less route is the fastest route currently used. However, it is very difficult, requiring several more series of wallcrawls and, more notably, the notorious Grand Abyss trick to get Screw Attack without Grapple Beam.

It is not recommended to start with this route.

Grapple Beam Route

The Grapple Beam Route is the most commonly used overall route, as it does not require the one-shot trick to cross Grand Abyss. As the name implies, it involves going to lower Torvus after obtaining light and dark beam, to get Grapple Beam and the dark torvus key down there, then going to Sanctuary to get screw attack and return the Sanctuary energy. Though there are slight variations, depending on which tricks the player uses, the overall route remains the same. The general route is below:

1. Do Item Loss Skip.
2. Get the Early Power Bomb Expansion via ghetto jump in Temple Assembly Site.
3. Do the 101% trick in GFMC Compound to get 10 extra easy missiles.
4. Get VIOLET TRANSLATOR in Great Temple.
5. Go to Agon Wastes.
6. Go directly to the pirate base, defeat Dark Samus, and get DARK BEAM.
7. Go to Dark Agon and get LIGHT BEAM.
8. Go to Agon Energy Controller and get AMBER TRANSLATOR'
9. Go to Temple Grounds, then Great Temple, then to Meeting Grounds. Get SEEKER MISSILES.
10. Go to Torvus Temple and get SUPER MISSILES
11. Go to Lower Torvus and get GRAVITY BOOST early via underwater dashes.
12. Get the dark torvus key in Undertemple Access in Dark Lower Torvus, then go to Undertemple and defeat Power Bomb Guardian for MAIN POWER BOMBS.
13. Climb Dark Lower Torvus, defeat Grapple Guardian, and get GRAPPLE BEAM.
14. Go to the elevator to Sanctuary via Training Chamber
15. Go get Screw Attack Early.
16. Go down to Hall of Combat Mastery and take the scan portal.
17. Skip Echo Visor and either wallcrawl past or fight Quadraxis. Get the Sanctuary Energy.
18. Go back to light world and return the Sanctuary Energy in Sanctuary Energy Controller. Get COBALT TRANSLATOR if you need it.
19. Go to Hall of Combat Mastery and take the elevator to Agon.
20. Go through Agon and take the elevator back to Temple Grounds.
21. Get LIGHT SUIT. Warp to Torvus.
22. Go to Forgotten Bridge, take the portal here, then go to Dark Torvus Arena to get the second Dark Torvus Key.
23. Go to Torvus Temple, getting the last torvus key on the way, and fight Metroid_Prime_2:_Echoes/Boss_Tricks#Chykka to get DARK VISOR.
24. Reload the room and don't get the Torvus Energy.
25. Follow the standard sky temple key collection endgame route.

Endgame Route

The endgame route is always the same. Every route should get dark visor just before starting sky temple key collection.

1. Go to Poisoned Bog and get SKY TEMPLE KEY 1.
2. Go to Lower Torvus, Hydrodynamo Station, then Catacombs. Take the portal to Dungeon and get SKY TEMPLE KEY 2.
3. Go back up to Torvus Temple and take the elevator to Agon Wastes.
4. Do a 3BSJ up to the dark portal in Transport Center and go to Dark Agon.
5. After letting the cutscene trigger warp you, go to Battleground and get SKY TEMPLE KEY 3.
6. Go to Dark Oasis and get SKY TEMPLE KEY 4
7. Take the light portal in Dark Oasis and go to the elevator to Sanctuary Fortress.
8. Go to upper sanctuary and get SKY TEMPLE KEY 5 in Hive Dynamo Works via either Spider Skip or fighting Spider Guardian.
9. While still in Ing Hive, go to Lower Ing Hive and get SKY TEMPLE KEY 6 in Hive Entrance.
10. Go back to light Sanctuary, take the elevator to Agon, go to Agon Energy Controller, and warp to Great Temple.
11. Great Temple to Temple Transport B to Temple Assembly Site. Go to the dark world and get SKY TEMPLE KEY 7 and return to Great Temple.
12. Great Temple to Temple Transport A to Sacred Path. Go to the dark world and get SKY TEMPLE KEY 8 and return to Great Temple.
13. Great Temple to Temple Transport C to Hall of Eyes. Go to the dark world, get SKY TEMPLE KEY 9 at Defiled Shrine, then beat the game.

Minor Route Deviations

Sandigger Wallcrawl

In Mining Plaza, you can get into a secret world via having the sandigger enemy toss you out of bounds. With this, you can wallcrawl directly to Dark Samus 1 and get Dark Beam, saving a lot of time and skipping going around the pirate base.

• Though it is possible to outright skip Dark Samus 1, she should be fought; the spider track shortcut is not activated until she is defeated, and that track is used at least 3 times in most routes.
• You can't get the energy tank in Mining Station Access while wallcrawling. Either get it before wallcrawling (this is for if you go straight to Sanctuary after dark beam) or get it after getting dark beam, on your way to the elevator to Temple Grounds.
• You will miss out on the beam ammo expansion in Central Mining Station. You either have to complete the game with 50 ammo (which sucks) or get the beam ammo in Watch Station (which wastes time).
• There are two points where the game can arbitrarily crash during the wallcrawl; in a race, it is highly recommended to safety save at the save station just by Mining Plaza before doing the wallcrawl.

Quadraxis Skip

You can wallcrawl past quadraxis, meaning you will be skipping annihilator beam. This is ultimately faster than fighting Quadraxis itself, but there are spots where annihilator beam saves time.

• Having annihilator beam helps with fighting Chykka, Emperor Ing 1, and Dark Samus 3. If you're skipping it, you need to resort to other slower methods for fighting them.
• You can't use the shortcut via Sentinel's Path if you skip annihilator. Instead, you have to go backwards through temple access via a ghetto jump with a screw attack, or a 3BSJ, which is slower.

Violet Translator Skip

Though you shouldn't outright skip violet translator in an any% speed run, you CAN get it much later in the game (i.e. while getting light suit), meaning you don't need a detour at the beginning of the game to Great Temple. To do it...

• After your early power bomb expansion, instead of going back in bounds, wallcrawl straight to the elevator to Agon.
• You can't leave Agon via Temple Grounds since the violet gate is in the way. Either use the Sanctuary before Torvus route, or use Sandigger to wallcrawl to Agon's Elevator to Torvus. If you do the latter, you'll have to wallcrawl in Torvus again to get into Torvus Temple.
• After returning the sanctuary energy, you need to return to temple grounds via Torvus instead of Agon.
• You will not have seeker missiles until just before or after getting light suit, depending on which route you're using.
• The "Amber Gate" in Meeting Grounds is actually a Violet Gate. You need to find a way around it.

Spider Skip

The wallcrawl to skip spider guardian saves a few minutes, as it skips an annoyingly long fight with Spider Guardian to get the Sky Temple Key in Hive Dynamo Works.

• If you want to opt out of spider skip, you must get Cobalt Translator while returning the Sanctuary Energy, as there is a cobalt gate in the way to fighting spider guardian.
• After collecting the sky temple key, remember to re-enter the light portal then back to reset the terminal fall.