Proving Grounds

Proving Grounds is a room in the Pirate Research sector of the Pirate Homeworld. It is large and circlular, and contains a lift to link between floors of the base. Gandrayda appears here.

Description
This area is where Samus fights Gandrayda in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. It has four retractable cannons around the centre of the room, and the lift can be locked if intruders are needed to be contained. Several large shutters border the edges of the room, and can be opened to expose the rim of the area to the air of the Pirate Homeworld, and its acid rain.

The lift is central, and can be activated by entering a hologram in the middle of the room. The lift and the exit door of the room can be locked off by use of an energy draining terminal. Samus can restore power to the lift and remove the shield covering the door by using the Grapple Voltage, after defeating Gandrayda.

Battle with Gandrayda
Samus enters the room below this, the Proving Grounds Lift. Samus meets up with Federation Trooper NZG-41, and together they reactivate the lift and travel up it. Samus and the Trooper reach the top. Samus walks towards the door in Proving Grounds, but is suspicious when she does not hear the Trooper following her. Suddenly the Trooper fires at Samus, but she manages to dodge it, and returns aim at the Trooper. NZG-41 then reveals himself to be Gandrayda, and the two Hunters fight.

When the battle starts, Gandrayda will jump, flip and run about the room, making it hard to shoot her. She can create throwing blades that will lock onto and "seek" Samus, though they can be shot down for power-ups. Gandrayda will also use a ground-based impact wave that streaks directly towards Samus.

At 75% health, Gandrayda opens the shutters, covering a portion of the battlefield in deadly acid rain. She'll then continue her attack, and will also begin using new transformations. When Gandrayda's health drops to 50%, she will transform into a duplicate of Samus, who uses the Boost Ball to bounce around the area, then pops up to fire a powerful Phazon beam.

At 25% health, Gandrayda stops transforming and begins to use Hypermode, in which she moves even faster and is invincible to all but Samus's own Hypermode attacks. When her Hypermode wears off, Gandrayda turns invisible. Samus must use the X-Ray Visor to keep track of Gandrayda and attack her until she uses Hypermode again.

Once defeated, Gandrayda screams in agony as she rapidly cycles through different forms (a Space Pirate, Rundas, Ghor, a Berserker Knight and finally Samus). Unable to watch Gandrayda's death, Samus looks away with a clenched fist as a Dark Samus spectre arrives and absorbs her.

After the battle
Afterwards, Samus can drain the energy from the terminal to escape, and board a tram back to her Gunship. The Proving Grounds can be returned to at any time, and it is useful to pass through here after Samus acquires the Spider Ball, so she can almost instanly get to the Craneyard where the Hazard Shield is being held.

Connecting Rooms

 * Proving Grounds Lift
 * Transit Station 1-B