Missile Launcher

A Missile is a weapon in the Metroid games that has appeared in all of them so far. It is a more powerful weapon than the normal uncharged beam. They are always acquired upon finding a Missile Tank, or in Fusion, through an "update" from the Galactic Federation. Missiles are useful in crumbling rock, and in the Prime games, can seek targets.

Missile Expansions, sometimes called Missile Tanks, can be collected, which increase Samus' missile supply by 5 (on Normal difficulty), and 2 (Hard) in Metroid: Zero Mission and the Japanese version of Metroid Fusion.

Metroid Prime Series
In the Metroid Prime series, a player must first obtain the Missile Launcher (which automatically provides a capacity of up to 5 missiles), then can further expand their Missile reserves by collecting Missile Expansions. Each Missile Expansion increases the maximum missile capacity by 5. There are several uses for missiles in the Prime series, and missiles can be combined with other weapons for special attacks. Missiles of the Prime series always feature the ability to home in on locked enemies, although they still may miss. Some enemies can have a jamming effect on homing missiles, causing them to become erratic and miss their target. A few Space Pirates in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption are equipped with sloped battle armor that simply deflect missile attacks, making missiles useless against them.

Super Missiles, a more potent form of missile capable of opening Green Doors (Metroid Prime 2: Echoes only) and clearing away Cordite. In the first Metroid games, Early Super Missiles had their own seperate ammo reserve. However, in the Metroid Prime series a Super Missile attacks draw from ordinary missile reserves, using up five missiles per attack.

There are several Charge Combos in each Prime game, each one having a different effect but dealing massive damage often over a wide area at an exorbitant missile cost.

In Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, there is an upgrade called the Hyper Missile. This is a powerful attack using up one standard missile, but can only be used in Hypermode. It has a large drain on Phazon reserves, but creates a very large explosion that can defeat many enemies in only one hit. Another Corruption feature is the unique Ice Missile upgrade (obtained by defeating Rundas), which actually turns all normal Missiles into Ice Missiles, which have no negative characteristics or disadvantages over normal missiles and have the added abilities to slow down or freeze enemies, freeze liquids in the environment, and open doors protected by shields vulnerable to cold-based weaponry.

The Seeker Missile is yet another missile-based upgrade. This adds an additional 5 missiles to the maximum missile carrying capacity, and allows the ability to lock on to up to 5 different targets, then simultaneously fire a missile at each. A single enemy may be locked on to multiple times to expose a weakness or just do more damage at a time.