Hyper Beam (Super Metroid)

The Hyper Beam was first officially introduced in Super Metroid (although Metroid Prime 3: Corruption used the Beam first in terms of chronology). The Hyper Beam is a special and incredibly powerful beam. The beam itself is a long line of shifting rainbow colors that travels at very high speeds towards its target.

Super Metroid
Samus Aran acquires the Hyper Beam during her battle with Mother Brain on her second mission to Zebes. It is stolen from Mother Brain by the Metroid Hatchling, and Samus gains it when the hatchling explodes over her, its particles being absorbed by Samus and creating the Hyper Beam. Samus uses the Hyper Beam's immense power to defeat Mother Brain and finish her mission.

The Hyper Beam replaces all the other beams in Samus's inventory, and it is immensely powerful. It can pass through walls and enemies, and it destroys obstacles that are impenetrable by other beams. The projectile looks like the charged Plasma Beam, but flashes different colors. It lacks Charge Beam functionality; holding the button simply rapid-fires it. Strangely, the beam is purple and is spread out more when Mother Brain fires it, but this could be due to Mother Brain's different weapon systems.

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
In Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Samus's Phazon Enhancement Device gave her a beam similar to the Phazon Beam when entering Hyper Mode and appears as a bolt of blue electricity. This weapon could be considered as a refined and controlled version of the Phazon Beam used in the battle against the Metroid Prime. Also, in Corruption, unlike the other appearances, this Hyper Beam has a charge function. When charged, it fires a large number of bolts at a continuous speed (similar to a machine gun) for a short time; this blast is similar, but still quite different, to Dark Samus's scattershot variant of the Power Beam. The charged beam has limited lock-on capabilities similar to the Shock Coil, another Galactic Federation weapon.

The Hyper Beam is fueled by Phazon from Samus's own body, causing Samus to lose a fair amount of energy while firing. Each individual shot of the Hyper Beam uses 4 energy. A charged Hyper Beam shot, depending on how long it is charged, can use up to almost half of an energy tank (this amount increases even more on higher difficulties).

Please note that this variant of the Hyper Beam relates to the PED Suit and Hyper Mode. The two beams are not directly related.