Editing Metroid Prime (section)

== Plot ==
=== Setting ===
[[Retro Studios]] wrote an extensive storyline for ''Metroid Prime'',<ref name="sakamoto">{{Cite web |date=September 1, 2003 |title=Exclusive: Metroid designer Yoshio Sakamoto speaks! |url=http://www.computerandvideogames.com/95708/exclusive-metroid-designer-yoshio-sakamoto-speaks/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120630195506/http://www.computerandvideogames.com/95708/exclusive-metroid-designer-yoshio-sakamoto-speaks/ |archive-date=June 30, 2012 |access-date=July 1, 2009 |publisher=[[ComputerAndVideoGames.com]]}}</ref> which was considered a major difference from previous ''[[Metroid]]'' games. Short [[cutscene]]s appear before important battles, and a scanner in the heads-up display extracts backstory-related information from objects.<ref name="IGN" /> The ''Prime'' trilogy is set between the events of ''[[Metroid (video game)|Metroid]]'' and ''[[Metroid II: Return of Samus|Metroid II]]''.<ref name="history" /><ref name="time">{{Cite web |last=McLaughlin |first=Rus |date=August 24, 2007 |title=IGN Presents The History of Metroid |url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2008/08/15/ign-presents-the-history-of-metroid?page=3 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407063850/http://www.ign.com/articles/2008/08/15/ign-presents-the-history-of-metroid?page=3 |archive-date=April 7, 2014 |access-date=February 17, 2008 |publisher=IGN}}</ref>

The game takes place on the planet Tallon IV, formerly inhabited by the [[Characters in the Metroid series#Chozo|Chozo race]].<ref name="MP3 Tallon IV">{{Cite video game |title=[[Metroid Prime 3: Corruption]] |developer=[[Retro Studios]] |publisher=[[Nintendo]] |platform=[[Wii]] |level=GFS Valhalla - Stairwell |date=August 27, 2007 |quote='''Logbook - "Tallon IV Incident"''': Planet Tallon IV, formerly a Chozo colony, was struck by a stellar object 50 years ago. The object was later determined to contain large quantities of Phazon. The Chozo were able to stave off the spread of Phazon, at the cost of many Chozo lives. The survivors abandoned the planet, fleeing to an unknown location. Decades later, Hunter Samus Aran responded to a distress call in the sector and discovered a Space Pirate Phazon mining station there. Aran eliminated both the pirate and Phazon threat from the planet, though not without cost.}}</ref> Five decades ago, the Chozo race fell after a [[meteor]] impacted on Tallon IV. The meteor contaminated the planet with a corruptive, mutagenic substance that the Space Pirates later named Phazon,<ref name="MP3 Tallon IV" /><ref name="meteor">{{Cite video game |title=Metroid Prime |developer=Retro Studios |platform=[[GameCube]] |level=Chozo Ruins - Watery Hall |date=November 17, 2002 |quote='''Chozo Lore - "Meteor Strike":''' A meteor came, casting a dark shadow of debris over the land with the violence of its impact. Though we perceived this from beyond space and time, it was but a curiosity: a brief flare in the universe. But the meteor brought with it corruption. A Great Poison burst forth into the land, clawing at life with such violence that we were ripped from our peaceful state and find ourselves wandering as shadows of the mortal forms we left behind, searching for why we are here.}}</ref> and also brought with it a creature known to the Chozo as "The Worm".<ref name="worm">{{Cite video game |title=Metroid Prime |developer=Retro Studios |platform=[[GameCube]] |level=Chozo Ruins - Crossway |date=November 17, 2002 |quote='''Chozo Lore - "Worm":''' The prophecies tell of the coming of the Worm. Born from parasites, nurtured in a poisoned womb, the Worm grows, devouring from within, until the world begins to rot. The words of the seers have come to pass, for there, in the depths of the world, the ravenous Worm lurks and feeds. From the stars it came, blighting Tallon with its Great Poison.}}</ref> A large containment field emitter of the Artifact Temple in the Tallon Overworld area was built as a seal to the meteor's energies and influence within the crater where it landed,<ref name="Contain">{{Cite video game |title=Metroid Prime |developer=Retro Studios |platform=[[GameCube]] |level=Tallon Overworld - Artifact Temple |date=November 17, 2002 |quote='''Chozo Lore - "Contain":''' And so, before it is too late, we now make our last stand. We have begun to build a temple to contain this darkness: at its heart we will place a Cipher, a mystical lock powered by twelve Artifacts and filled with as much power as we Chozo can harness in our ethereal states. Even when we are done, it may be too late.}}</ref> which the [[Characters in the Metroid series#Space Pirates|Space Pirates]] attempt to disable or bypass in order to gain better access to extract the Phazon.<ref>{{Cite video game |title=Metroid Prime |developer=Retro Studios |platform=[[GameCube]] |level=Tallon Overworld - Temple Security Station |date=November 17, 2002 |quote='''Pirate Data - "Artifact Site":''' Field team reports are in on an aged structure of alien design built on the surface of Tallon IV. Studies show this structure projects a containment field. This field bars access to a prime source of energy within a deep crater. Science Team believes the field is powered by a number of strange Chozo Artifacts. We have found some of these relics and studies on them have begun. As this field could hinder future energy production operations on Tallon IV, we must dismantle it as soon as possible. If this means the destruction of the Chozo Artifacts, it will be done.}}</ref> The containment field is controlled by twelve Chozo artifacts that are scattered around the planet.<ref name="manual" /><ref name="binding">{{Cite video game |title=Metroid Prime |developer=Retro Studios |platform=[[GameCube]] |level=Tallon Overworld - Artifact Temple |date=November 17, 2002 |quote='''Chozo Lore - "Binding":''' The congregation of Artifacts that hold the Great Poison at bay still hold strong. Fearful of the potential within the Artifact Temple, the invaders known as Space Pirates tried to destroy it, only to fail in every attempt. We scattered the Artifacts across the planet for their protection, and only a few have fallen into invader hands. Failing to understand them, they now seek to unmake them. Again, they fail. They are right to fear these things. Great power sleeps inside them. Prophecy calls for their union, come the day that the unholy Worm is met by the great Defender. We can only hope the Artifacts are not destroyed by the invader, for then all will be lost. So, we do what we can to preserve the Artifacts, and to guide the Newborn to them.}}</ref>

=== Story ===
[[Samus Aran]] intercepts a [[distress signal]] from the Space Pirate [[Spacecraft|frigate]] ''Orpheon'', whose crew have been slaughtered by the Pirates' own [[genetically modified]], experimental subjects, using a mysterious radioactive substance called Phazon. At the ship's core, she battles with the Parasite Queen, a giant version of the tiny parasites aboard the ship. The Parasite Queen is defeated and falls into the ship's reactor core, initiating the destruction of the ship. While Samus is escaping from the frigate, she encounters a cybernetic version of [[Ridley (Metroid)|Ridley]] called Meta Ridley, who also escapes. During her escape, an explosion damages Samus' suit, causing some of her abilities to malfunction. Samus escapes the frigate and chases Ridley in her gunship towards the nearby planet Tallon IV.<ref name="game guide">{{Cite web |last=Michael |first=Bobby |date=June 29, 2003 |title=''Metroid Prime'' Walkthrough |url=http://www.gamespot.com/articles/metroid-prime-walkthrough/1100-6030712/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151008041728/http://www.gamespot.com/articles/metroid-prime-walkthrough/1100-6030712/ |archive-date=October 8, 2015 |access-date=October 21, 2015 |website=[[GameSpot]] |publisher=[[CBS Interactive]]}}</ref><ref name="game">{{Cite video game |title=Metroid Prime |developer=[[Retro Studios]] |publisher=[[Nintendo]] |platform=[[GameCube]] |date=November 17, 2002}}</ref>

After landing in the Tallon Overworld, Samus explores nearby areas of Tallon IV and discovers ruins of an ancient Chozo settlement. As she explores the ruins, she learns that the Chozo on the planet had been killed off by the Phazon infesting the planet, which originated from a meteor that impacted on the planet many years ago. After regaining her lost abilities in the ruins, as well as defeating a mutated plant creature that was poisoning the local water supply, Samus finds her way to the Magmoor Caverns, a series of [[magma]]-filled tunnels, which are used by the Space Pirates as a source of [[geothermal power]]. Following the tunnels, Samus travels to the Phendrana Drifts, a cold, mountainous region which is home to another ancient Chozo ruin and a Space Pirate research laboratory used to study the [[Metroid (fictional species)|Metroids]]. After obtaining new abilities, Samus explores the wreckage of the crashed ''Orpheon'' and then infiltrates the Phazon Mines, where she learns the outcome of the Phazon experimentation project, including the Metroid Prime, a creature that had come to Tallon IV with the meteor. Advancing deeper into the mines, Samus fights her way through the Phazon-enhanced Space Pirates and obtains the Phazon Suit after defeating the monstrous Omega Pirate.<ref name="game guide" /><ref name="game" />

At some point, Samus discovers the Artifact Temple that the Chozo built to contain the Metroid Prime and to stop the Phazon from spreading over the planet. To gain access to the meteor's Impact Crater, Samus must collect and unite the twelve Chozo artifacts. As Samus returns to the temple with the artifacts, Meta Ridley appears and attacks her. Samus defeats Ridley and enters the Impact Crater, where she finds the Metroid Prime. After she defeats it, the Metroid Prime absorbs Samus' Phazon Suit and explodes. Samus escapes the collapsing crater and leaves Tallon IV in her ship.<ref name="game guide" /><ref name="game" />

If the player completes the game with all of the items obtained, Metroid Prime reconstructs itself into a body resembling Samus.<ref name="Best Ending">{{Cite video game |title=Metroid Prime |developer=[[Retro Studios]] |publisher=[[Nintendo]] |platform=[[GameCube]] |scene=Ending (100% items collected) |date=November 17, 2002}}</ref>