Power Beam

Samus Aran's Power Beam, known as the Normal Beam in the 2D games and Metroid: Other M, is her basic weapon, and it comes with her Power Suit. The Power Beam does little damage to enemies, although it can easily kill earlier, weaker enemies. In the scans from the Prime Trilogy state that the beam is good at clearing the room of weaker enemies. It is Chozo technology that has probably been sent by the Chozo to other alien species. It is possible that the Power Beam is an ancient weapon, as when Samus first used an up-to-date version on Mother Brain, the shields were immune to it, but when Grey Voice attacked with a Century Old Weapon, it was able to penetrate the shields, as Samus's Beam does when she fights Mother Brain. It is a form of weaponry that replaced guns by having a good rate of fire and much more power. Over the course of the Metroid games, Samus has received various upgrades to her beam:


 * Long Beam
 * Spazer Beam
 * Wide Beam
 * Wave Beam
 * Ice Beam
 * Plasma Beam
 * Charge Beam
 * Dark Beam
 * Light Beam
 * Annihilator Beam
 * Nova Beam
 * Diffusion Beam

Also, depending on the suit she wears and the situation she is in, she can sometimes absorb things in her environment using her suit and transfer the power to her beam. This ability is demonstrated in Super Metroid, when she gains the powerful Hyper Beam to defeat Mother Brain (though the weapon was first acquired by the Baby and then transfered to her arm cannon), in Metroid Prime when she acquires the Phazon Beam to defeat the Metroid Prime, and in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, when she draws in shards of pure Phazon shot at her by Dark Samus and fired them back at her dark nemesis.

In Metroid Prime Hunters, Samus's beam has a rapid-fire effect. It fires four shots at once, a fifth beam a second later, then begins to charge.

On a side note, in Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt the Power Beam used an ammunition system. This is the only game where it has done so. If the player ran out of ammo they would no longer be able to fire the Power Beam fully automatically, and would be unable to use Missiles. This may have been a product of the training hologram, however.

Official Metroid Prime website
Weapon effect: Highly effective offensive tool

Weapon range: 3-10 m

Weapon potential: High

"The Power Beam is the basic energy unit produced by Samus Aran's standard Arm Cannon. The Power Beam is expelled from Samus' Arm Cannon. Close observation indicates that this is the Bounty Hunter's most frequently used offensive tool. The Power Beam may be charged, dramatically increasing the weapon's effectiveness. Ineffective against advanced shields and engineered enemies."

Metroid Prime manual
"This is Samus's standard beam, which you can fire continuously by rapidly tapping the A Button. As with all beam weapons, the Power Beam becomes much stronger once Samus finds the Charge Beam power-up. Once Samus has found the Charge Beam, press and hold the A Button to charge up her shot, then release the A Button to fire a powerful blast."

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes manual
"Fire the Power Beam continuously by rapidly tapping the A Button. It becomes much stronger when Samus uses the Charge Beam. Hold the A Button to charge (which also engages a tractor beam effect that draws power-ups toward Samus), then release it. The Power Beam can open blue hatches and has infinite ammo."

Metroid Fusion manual
"This is the standard beam Samus posesses at the beginning of the game."

Metroid: Zero Mission manual
"This is Samus' standard beam weapon."

Metroid: Other M On-Screen Tutorial
ATTACK Press 1 to fire your beam.

Metroid: Other M manual
"Press 1 to fire a beam. Press and hold 1 and release to fire a powerful Charge Beam."

Metroid: Other M Status screen data
"Controls: Fire with 1. Press and hold 1 until fully charged and release to shoot a Charge Beam ."

Glitch Beams
There are also three semi-functional glitch beams in Super Metroid. These can be accessed by collecting the required beams and using a glitch to activate Spazer and Plasma simultaneously.
 * Spacetime Beam, a combination of Ice, Spazer, and Plasma.
 * Murder Beam; aka Suicide Beam, a combination of all beams available: Charge, Wave, Ice, Spazer, and Plasma.
 * Chainsaw Beam, a combination of Wave, Spazer, and Plasma.
 * Strange Beam, a combination of Wave, Ice, and Spazer.

All "Glitch Beam" names are unofficial and derived by fans.

Metroid Prime Hunters
In Metroid Prime Hunters, the Power Beam has infinite ammo but is weak offensively; however makes up with rapid fire (especially in Story Mode). A normal shot does around 6 damage. The Power Beam is a common weapon with many MPH players, especially in small arenas without the Imperialist. As with many other weapons, the Power Beam does more damage with a headshot.

Trivia

 * In the Prime trilogy the beams affected the Arm Cannon in their own unique way when charging. In the case of the Power Beam, beams of light would appear from the sides of the Arm Cannon. In the New Play Control! and Metroid Prime Trilogy versions of Metroid Prime, this effect is absent. However, this graphical effect is retained in the re-releases of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.
 * The Power Beam was supposed to appear in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance as well as several other weapons of Samus' and Samus herself, however, she ultimately did not appear in the final game because Nintendo did not give the developers permission to include her. This iteriation of the Power Beam appears to be based on that of Prime.
 * In the first Metroid Prime, the symbol for the Power Beam is a hand print presumably combining its index finger with its middle finger, and putting it together with the ring finder, with the pinkey and thumb sticking out. This is the hand configuration Samus must have to activate the Power Beam.
 * According to Metroid: Zero Mission, the Power Beam does 1 damage.
 * The Power Beam is also called "Energy Beam."
 * In Metroid Prime, the Power Beam was modelled and skinned by Gene Kohler.
 * In Metroid: Other M, the standard beam weapon is known as the "Normal Beam".