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The Exterior Docking Hangar (外観ドッキングハンガー Gaikan Dokkingu Hangā) is a room on the Frigate Orpheon. It appears in Metroid Prime. It is the first room explored in the game, the first in the Metroid Prime series, and the first Metroid room in 3-D.
Description[]
The hangar is an open walkway exposed to the vacuum of space, although with gravity technology and Force Fields in place to prevent anyone from drifting or falling overboard. Meteor fragments float overhead, and can be shot to break them up. The walkway is blocked by two large Force Fields, which can be disabled by shooting four targets around them. The game provides a tutorial for targeting and shooting to remove these obstacles. Past the second Force Field is a raised step, which triggers another tutorial for jumping. There is nothing else after this aside from the exit.
Role[]
The Exterior Docking Hangar is where Samus Aran lands her Gunship. To proceed into the frigate, Samus must deactivate the Force Fields by shooting their switches. The second set must first be activated by scanning an Interface Module attached to a central pillar. The hall that the door leads to is considered part of the hangar in the game's map, but the scan of its door names it as a separate room.
At the end of the escape sequence caused by the destruction of the Parasite Queen, Meta Ridley is seen at the hangar. Samus attempts to follow him in her Gunship, but loses track of him and lands on the nearby planet, Tallon IV.
The room is not encountered while exploring the Orpheon wreckage after it crashed into the Tallon Overworld. It is possible that the hangar was destroyed in the crash.
Connecting rooms[]
Samus arrives at the Orpheon.
Samus arrives at the Orpheon in the remaster.
- Main Docking Bay (via Blue Door)
Official data[]
Tutorials[]
"Press and hold 
/
to lock onto targets."
"The next set of Force Field controls are offline.
Scan the central pillar to activate them.
Press 
to switch to the Scan Visor./Move cursor into the top zone and release 
to enter Scan Visor."
"Scannable objects appear as orange targets 
.
Press and hold / to scan a target."
"Press 
/ or 
/
to return to the Combat Visor."
"Tap 
/
to jump."
"Use the Beam / to open doors.
Once shot, doors will open when you approach them."
Scans[]
Samus's Gunship
Energy Force Field in place. You cannot reach your gunship.
Force Field
First
This Force Field blocks the entrance.
Something nearby must be able to deactivate it.
Second
This Force Field blocks the entrance.
You cannot deactivate the Force Field unless the switches are red.
Switch
Red
This switch is directly connected to the Force Field barrier.
Gray
This switch does not seem to be operational.
The control panel on the pillar in this room can turn it on.
Meteor Fragment
Meteor fragment. High concentration of radiation detected. Planet of origin unknown.
| ! | Non-canon warning. This article or section contains information that may not be considered an official part of the Metroid series in the overall storyline by Nintendo. |
Unused[]
Unused scans in the Exterior Docking Hangar have been discovered through datamining of Metroid Prime Remastered. They read as follows:
The Galactic Federation data banks catalog this planet as Tallon IV. Unstable energy patterns detected emitting from the planet's surface.
Zebian-class research frigate. The exterior design of this ship looks oddly familiar, but is not registered in any current database.
A security barrier restricts access to this area. A surge of energy may be enough to deactivate the Force Field.
Security codes are needed to access all floor elevators. See deck commanders to receive temporary security clearance.
Unregistered docked spacecraft must be inspected by the assigned deck commander.
Any sightings of Galactic Federation probes or spacecraft must be immediately reported to deck commanders.
Development notes[]
Far view of the area past the Force Fields.
Clark Wen recalled Shigeru Miyamoto playing a demo of Prime during development, and enjoying the ambience in the Exterior Docking Hangar. His feedback gave Wen the confidence that his approach to the sound design of Prime was the right one.[1]
According to Jack Mathews, the tutorial in this room was important for new players since "there weren't that many twinstick games back in this day".[2] The tutorial was created by Zoid Kirsch and Mark Pacini.[3]
The Exterior Docking Hangar along with the Main Docking Bay are known as 01_intro_hanger internally.
Trivia[]
- The Exterior Docking Hangar is similar to the Hangar Bay in that they both have connecting hallways from the Landing Site that are considered part of the bay in the Map. Both have force fields blocking access to these hallways, and have "hangar" in their names.
- Rocks and debris that fly over the Hangar can be shot and destroyed, with a loud crumbling sound resulting. They also appear to have a small heat signature as seen with the Thermal Visor (via hacking). They were unable to be targeted to read their scan until Metroid Prime Remastered.
- Samus's Gunship moves forward very slowly in this room. If one lets the game idle over a day or two, it will have entered the area where Samus walks around. However, it does not have any form of collision detection and is simply the model. [4]
- In the original GameCube version, the first Blue Door in this room can actually be opened with a Missile. This is also the case in Reactor Core Entrance.
- The hallway holographic deck status displays indicate that the Orpheon has twelve decks in total. Only three - Alpha, Beta and Gamma - are referenced in scans.
- In the Soundtrack Gallery of Metroid Prime Remastered, an image of this room is used to represent the medley Samus Arrives.
Gallery[]
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References[]
- ^ Kiwi Talkz. "#112 - Clark Wen Interview (Metroid Prime, Sound Design, Kenji Yamamoto, Mixing, SFX, Game Audio )". YouTube. October 23, 2021. Retrieved April 25, 2022. (starts at 29:14)
- ^ (2015, December 7). Extra Life 2015 (Part 2) [Stream]. Crackdown. Twitch. Archived from the original on June 10, 2022.
- ^ Kiwi Talkz. "#121 - Zoid Interview (Metroid Prime, Cameras, Scripting, Sequence Breaking , Programming etc.)" YouTube. January 22, 2022. Retrieved July 25, 2022. (starts at 23:50)
- ^ GameXplain. "Metroid Prime Drift?! Wild New Gunship Glitch Discovered Nearly TWENTY YEARS Later". YouTube. November 23, 2019. Retrieved April 25, 2022.
| Ridley | |
|---|---|
| Forms | Mecha Ridley • Meta Ridley • Omega Ridley • Proteus Ridley • Little Birdie Mystery Creature • Clone • Black Ridley • Neo-Ridley • Fake Ridley • Ridley-2 • Ice Ridley |
| Areas/Rooms | Ridley's room (Ridley's Lair) • Biotech Research Area 2 • Exterior Docking Hangar Phendrana Shorelines • Artifact Temple • Generator Shaft • Pirate Homeworld Leviathan Core Landing Site • Geothermal Power Plant • Neo-Ridley's room |
| Attacks | Plasma Breath • Kinetic Breath Weapon • Meson Bomb Launcher • Ultrathermal Flamestrike Projector Multi-Missile System • Phazon-enhanced armorskin • Fireball shockwave • Hyper claw slash Arcing-fireball attack • Rocket • Spike Bomb |
| Music | Ridley's Chamber • Tourian • Vs. Ridley • Vs. Meta Ridley • Omega Ridley • Nemesis Ridley |
| Other | Biography • Gallery • Greed • Judge Racklas • Space Dragon • Chapter 17 Ridley in Super Smash Bros. • A Piercing Screech • 65: Ridley • "Ridley is too big" |