Portal

Portals are rifts in the fabric of space, that can transport matter across large distances or to other dimensions, without permanently scattering their atoms. They first appeared in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, and transported Samus from Aether to Dark Aether, or vice-versa. There were also artificial Portals (portals created by intelligent species for matter transportation) in Metroid Prime Hunters.

There are three kinds of portals: "natural", artificial portals, and randomly occuring dimensional rifts. Several enemies in the series have been seen utilizing their own type of portals.

Portals
Portals on Aether are transdimensional links to the opposing world. Portals are links that help prevent the subject's atoms from being scattered across the interdimensional void.

Portals were first discovered on Aether as a side-effect of the Phazon meteor impact. After the initial attraction to these strange appearences, the Luminoth began to fear them as an unknown evil poured from them. At first these dark creatures evaporated in Aether's light, but began to overshadow local creatures.

As war began between the Luminoth and the shadowy Ing, the Luminoth developed synthetic portals to venture into the enemy's territory. However these portals are unstable and last for only short periods of time.

Portals were built by the Luminoth during the war. The first portal discovered by Samus, in the Agon Wastes, had to be activated through a series of tasks in order to power it with solar energy. These portals are always two-way (entering a portal on Aether brings Samus to a portal on Dark Aether, so she can return immediately) and the ones on Dark Aether are invariably protected by a field of light. Samus encounters both naturally formed and synthetic portals on Aether. They must be activated by being scanned.

The Ing Horde have been witnessed creating portals out of thin air, at will. Small in size and opened for a very short time, the Ing can only enter the light dimension in the form of a "black fog" when using these portals (as gas particles, they can resist the light atmosphere for an undetermined amount of time), and remain so until they possess any physical being. They choose their destinations carefully, always appearing near their victims. The Warrior and Emperor Ing are capable of using their portal-creation abilities in combat. In Warrior Ing, they may channel piercing beams of light through several mini-portals in quick succession. The Emperor can create many portals to appear near foes, and use its tentacles through them for close combat attacks wherever the foe may be. Dark Samus also seems to be capable of creating her own portals, as when she is first encountered she somehow manages to create a Dark Portal to get to Dark Aether. The portal stays in position long enough for Samus to get back to Light Aether through it, and diappears shortly afterward. Space Pirate scans also say Dark Samus 'teleported' in and out of their base, inferring that she does have the ability to create portals to get from one location to the next. During the events of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, there were several Warp Sites that acted similar to portals. However, these portals only transferred beings to a different location, and were not interdimensional. They resembled Save Stations and were scarce. One linked Bryyo Fire to Bryyo Ice, and there was one that linked the Space Pirate Homeworld to the Leviathan Battleship. Pirate Commanders are known to carry devices that allow them to teleport from one location to another, as well as instantly summoning Commandos for aid when necessary. Other, larger portals appeared in Corruption, called Wormholes. These Portals could transport anything from individual beings to spaceships and meteors great distances. The ability to create these rifts was a trait of the Leviathans, gigantic, living Phazon meteors that were launched from the planet Phaaze, with the sole purpose of corrupting other planets with Phazon. The Leviathans could rip open Wormholes after launching, and travel through them to reach planets great distances away. It is believed that the wormhole that was created by the Leviathan that impacted Aether had some role in the planet's inderdimensional crisis.

Rifts
Rifts are tears in the space of the world, and can function as portals, appearing as flattened, swirling vortexes. Unlike the other portals Samus encounters, they are not supported by machinery to allow them to open and close. Rifts are instead activated by firing the corresponding energy to energise them. For example, firing light energy at a Light Rift will allow transport back to Aether. The Annihilator Beam, however, can activate both portals as it contains both light and dark energy. Attempting to use a rift that has not been energized will cause the user to be forced back by some form of static discharge, although this is harmless.

Rifts can be one-way, that is, entering a rift on Aether does not necessarily lead to one on Dark Aether. In this case Samus will have to locate another Portal with which to return to the light world. Another thing of note is that rifts will often cause damage to the area around them, usually this produces a circular crater in the wall or surrounding area around them. This crater also seems to contain flecks of purple, which could be some form of substance imbued by the rift during transport.

Space Pirate use
The Space Pirates found that there were large amounts of Phazon on Dark Aether, and started venturing there. In the Agon Wastes, they had a portal site, then inactive. Samus turned it on, releasing War Wasps into the room at the same time. They also have the Dark Beam enabling them to open and keep open rifts. The Pirates were able to use portals on their Homeworld, enabling quick transport between the orbiting Leviathan.

Dark Portals

 * Aerie
 * Catacombs
 * Command Center
 * Dynamo Storage
 * Dynamo Works
 * Generator Room
 * Hall of Combat Mastery
 * Hall of Honored Dead
 * Hive Chamber B
 * Main Research
 * Mining Station B
 * Portal Terminal
 * Sacred Path
 * Transit Station
 * Transport Center
 * Vault
 * Watch Station

Light Portals

 * Abandoned Base
 * Aerial Training Site
 * Culling Chamber
 * Duelling Range
 * Dungeon
 * Feeding Pit
 * Hive Cache 2
 * Hive Dynamo Works
 * Hive Portal Chamber
 * Hive Summit
 * Judgment Drop
 * Phazon site
 * Portal Site
 * Profane Path
 * Staging Area
 * Trial Grounds
 * Vault Attack Portal

Trivia

 * It should be noted that, whenever Samus enters a portal in Echoes, she will always have the Power Beam in the cutscene while she travels between dimensions, no matter which beam she had when she entered.
 * Also, when Samus turns into small particles, the original Varia Suit coloration will be displayed (although these bright colours could merely be signifying Samus being an entity of the light world).


 * In the Command Center in Agon Wastes, is the first Dark Portal that requires the use of the Dark Beam. If Samus walks into it from the side, she will be inside of the unopened Portal without being pushed out.
 * In Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, Samus can scan both types of portals, but they share the same Logbook entry, albeit with obvious differences.
 * In Metroid Prime: Episode of Aether, Portals do not need energizing, and suck people in themselves.