Metroid Prime Game Diary: Hard Mode

[Weltall]

I've never made a serious attempt to play MP in Hard Mode, and now I will, while keeping a game diary as I did with my conquest of Master Quest some months back.

DAY 1

[size=3][size=1]Game Time: 2:27
Percentage: 27%
Chozo Artifacts: 1
Beams: ●●●●●
Missles: 55
Energy Tanks: 99 ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■
Suit: Varia
Current Location: Tallon Overworld

[size=2]Let me first start out by admitting that I'm a big fan of sequence breaking, and I tend to do it as a matter of course.

Haven't had much trouble so far, though I got careless trying to escape from the Space Pirate Frigate and was down to only 3 energy when I got to the elevator in which Samus loses all of her upgrades. Made it out, though. You get re-energized by that, which makes no logical sense, but whatever.

Once on the Tallon Overworld, I got the Space Jump Boots right away. With them, I was able to get two upgrades early on in the Chozo Ruins plaza. One is the Missile expansion on the half-pipe, which is just a matter of simply space-jumping. The second is the energy tank on the high ledge. It's also a matter of space-jumping, and isn't very hard to do. With the Missiles already in tow, I can skip the Hive Mecha, but I opted to take it out anyway to add to my scans and to claim the expansion.

Having the Space Jump Boots actually enables you to bypass fighting the Giant Beetle boss. You can jump over to get the Morph Ball and jump right back out without ever even seeing it. With my Morph Ball and missles, I went back to the Overworld to claim two more missle expansions.

From here, I basically followed the game's path for awhile. I made my way through the Ruins and got the Bombs, Charge Beam, and every available expansion. Defeated Flaaghra easily. Made my way to Magmoor.

I went through Magmoor the same as the Ruins, the linear way, and to Phendrana, whereupon I immediately made for the Boost Ball upgrade and then the Sheegoth boss. Sheegoth's a little tougher in Hard Mode because you have to make use of the crates in the corners for extra missiles. But, I won, and got the Wave Beam. Now it was time to deviate completely from the game's path.

I made my way back through Magmoor and to the area before the Furnace in the Ruins. There are two paths through the Furnace via Morph Ball. One takes you on the lower path and to the Energy Tank. The other requires the Spider Ball.

However, there's a glitch with this particular Spider Track that allows you to clip it and jump up its length, after which you can simply roll into the pipe. Eventually this path takes you to a Wave beam door. This leads to the room with the Chozo statue and the Beam Switches. There's also a Chozo ghost here, which isn't too hard.

Normally, the Spider ball is required to activate the Beam Switches, but you can also do it with a little creative jumping (there is a small ledge jutting out that you can reach with Space Jump and from there to the activation point). Having done that, I used the Wave Beam switch, which propels me into the upper room. This let me reach the Ice Beam. I backtracked to the Statue room (which is now populated by three Ghosts, a decent challenge). Defeating them, I used the Ice Switch to get an Energy Tank, and here I stopped for the night.
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