Wikitroid:Featured article queue/Month 09, 2012

The Wave Beam, named so for its wavy pattern and because it fires "wave energy", is a beam that Samus acquires in most games, with the exceptions of Metroid Prime: Hunters, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (though she gains the Annihilator Beam in Echoes, the Volt Driver in Hunters, and both the Grapple Voltage and the Nova Beam in Corruption, which all share a few similar properties with the Wave Beam). It fires wave energy (often in the shape of a sine curve) that can usually go through walls.

In Metroid and Metroid II: Return of Samus, the Wave Beam generated a single bolt that moved forward in a helical manner and passed through walls. It also acted as such in Super Metroid, as long as the other beams had been turned off. It was one of the more powerful beam weapons. In Metroid: Zero Mission and Metroid Fusion, the Wave Beam was a beam that could go through walls. In these games, it stacked on to the beams that Samus had acquired thus far. In Super Metroid, it could be added to any other combination of beams to make them go through walls and give them a helical trajectory, or be used alone, making a purple waving ball. In Metroid Fusion, it adds a wall penetrating effect to the already-acquired Charge, Wide, and Plasma Beams. In Zero Mission, it added a widening effect and a wall passing effect to whatever beams Samus has by that point. On its own, it has a white colour with a slight purple hue. (continue reading)