Wikitroid:Featured article queue/Month 09, 2008

The Annihilator Beam is one of Samus Aran's beam upgrades, found only in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. It is a secret Luminoth weapon that was installed on Quadraxis when it was built: therefore, upon defeating Quadraxis on Dark Aether, Samus acquired the beam.

The Annihilator Beam is not as powerful as its name might indicate, although it has a super-fast rate of fire, on par with that of the Power Beam. Normal shots have a homing effect, allowing the aiming in the general direction of an enemy to shoot it, the attack automatically homing in and damaging/destroying the target; this makes this beam extremely useful for taking down large hordes of small enemies, or firing barrages at more powerful foes while being able to dodge their attacks more easily. It is similar in function to the Wave Beam in Metroid Prime in many ways, and the arm cannon takes on the same shape as the Plasma Beam from Metroid Prime.