Sector 3 / Pyrosphere



The Pyrosphere (also referred to as Sector 3 / Pyrosphere) is the extreme heated, Lava-filled area of the Bottle Ship. It mainly consists of caverns with rocky ground suspended over lava, with one desert area filled with sand. The enemies in this area are mostly from Zebes' Norfair, along with several new lava-inhabiting creatures.

The name came from a press release by Nintendo of Europe, which also confirmed the name of the Cryosphere. It was also revealed in this press release that the Varia Suit would be needed to access certain super-heated areas of the sector, as with most other lava areas in the series. 

Samus is authorized by Adam to use the Ice Beam, Varia Suit, Grapple Beam, Super Missiles and Plasma Beam here. Rooms in the area include the Floor Observation Room, Blast Furnace Observation, the Environmental Test Floor, the Desert Refinery and the Geothermal Power Plant.

Anthony Higgs is scheduled to run a search through here. He is encountered twice, the first while battling a Rhedogian and the second being with Ridley, who pushes him off a ledge falling to his doom, only to freeze a Magdollite and slide down a pipe. He later makes his reapperance in the Bioweapon Research Center and takes Madeline Bergman with him and Samus.

Power-Ups

 * 13 Missile Tanks
 * 1 Energy Tank
 * 5 Energy Parts
 * 3 Accel Charges
 * Ice Beam (authorized for use by Adam)
 * Varia Suit (authorized)
 * Grappling Beam (authorized)
 * Super Missiles (authorized)
 * Plasma Beam (authorized)

Enemies

 * Asborean
 * Desbrachian
 * Dessgeega
 * Dragotix
 * Fly Pod
 * Goyagma
 * Mella
 * Mystery Creature (shed skin)
 * Nova
 * Pow
 * Rhedogian
 * Ridley
 * Sandfang
 * Vorash

Nintendo of Europe press release
"Or picture the Pyrosphere, an area filled with volcanoes and magma. Some areas here have such high temperatures that Samus’s health decreases if not equipped with the heat-resistent Varia Suit."

Pyroclasm in the Pyrosphere
"The Pyrosphere, a simulated volcanic area encompassing Sector 3, was predictably awash in magma flows, lava pools, and a host of beasts adapted to extreme heat. Nonetheless, finding an erupting volcano caught me off-guard, especially when it began raining chunks of flaming rock on me. The Varia feature of my suit quickly became necessary."

Metroid.com
"The Pyrosphere, a simulated volcanic area encompassing Sector 3, is predictably awash in magma flows, lava pools, and a host of beasts adapted to extreme heat. A pyroclasmic volcanic eruption necessitates the Varia feature of Samus's suit."

Trivia

 * Another location named "Volcano Island" can be seen on a computer monitor in the developer interview video on Metroid.jp. It is unknown if this refers to the Pyrosphere or another area.
 * Ironically, Pyrosphere shares the same sector number as the likewise fiery Sector 3 in the Biologic Space Laboratories research station from Metroid Fusion.
 * The Pyrosphere is the only sector onboard the Bottle Ship to share the environment of a BSL sector of the same number.
 * The desert area of the sector contains a controversial glitch that completely halts progress. The temporary solution from Nintendo prevents the bug from ever happening. What causes the bug is if after Samus obtains the Ice Beam, she defeats the enemies in the next room and then backtracks to the room where she was authorized to use it, thus locking the door permanently. As for those that were unfortunate enough to trigger the glitch, Nintendo has set up a program that allows players to send in their save data on an SD card so that their data will be fixed. It is unclear whether or not a re-release of the game with the bug completely fixed is planned.

Gallery
Pyrosphere