Wikitroid:Featured article queue/Week 52, 2007



Phazon is a highly radioactive element known for its extreme mutagenic and energy producing properties. The element Phazon has been responsible for the near-destruction of two worlds, Tallon IV of the Chozo and Aether of the Luminoth. In both cases Phazon arrived on the planets via interstellar objects, now known to be Leviathans. On Tallon IV the Phazon devastated and poisoned the ecosystem, eventually destroying the Chozo society that existed there. In Aether, the Phazon Meteor struck the planet and split it into two dimensions, driving the planet and its inhabitants into turmoil.

Many life forms exposed to Phazon radiation expire within seconds. However, some life forms can survive the Phazon exposure, although the price to be paid is horrible mutation of the body and mind. Subjects exposed to Phazon over long periods of time may develop a form of mental breakdown known as Phazon Madness or Phazon Sickness. This condition affects the mind, driving the subject to the point of mental instability and a constant hunger for more Phazon. Life forms that survive Phazon exposure usually gain increased muscle mass and newfound abilities, but suffer a decline in cognitive thought and general lifespan.

Although Phazon is first portrayed solely as a dangerously radioactive destructive substance, Samus, and later the Federation, discovered that the Space Pirates had taken advantage of Phazon's mutagenic properties to create a powerful biologically engineered army of Phazon-enhanced Pirates and other creatures. The Pirates had begun a series of Phazon exposure experiments with native Tallon IV life forms to test Phazon mutagenic abilites, even managing to infuse sapience in inorganic matter (the findings of the Thardus venture). In further experiments, the Pirates had begun Phazon infusion experiments, injecting subjects with pure Phazon. In Metroid Prime, it is the player's ultimate goal to eradicate the source of the Phazon after stopping further Space Pirate experimentation with Phazon.

Phazon originates from the planet Phaaze, a sentient living planet. Phaaze sends living meteors known as Leviathans to other planets in order to infect them with Phazon.

In Metroid Prime 3, an entire system of planets have been corrupted with Phazon. Dark Samus, revived from her defeat in Aether's Dark Dimension, has launched enormous Phazon seeds called Leviathans into planets. It is the player's goal to eliminate these sources of Phazon.

Phazon can react with an unknown chemical to produce Phazite, thicker plates of which can only be damaged by concentrated phazon energy orbs. Thin plates slough off damage, but can be damaged with the Plasma Beam. The Nova Beam phases right through it.