Exterior Docking Hangar

Exterior Docking Hangar
The portion of the hangar leading to the frigate's air lock
Game	Metroid Prime
Planet/Ship	Frigate Orpheon
Notablefeatures	Gunship, Force Fields, central pillar, switches, floating rocks, view of Tallon IV
Significance	First room of the game, tutorial, Landing Site
Inhabitants	None

Exterior Docking Hangar (外観ドッキングハンガー, Gaikan Dokkingu Hangā) is an area in the Frigate Orpheon in Metroid Prime. It is the first room explored in the game, the first in the Prime series, and the first Metroid room in 3-D. The Exterior Docking Hangar is where Samus Aran lands her Gunship. To proceed into the frigate, Samus must deactivate two force fields by shooting a number of 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.

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, and was possibly destroyed.

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."

Connecting Rooms

Samus arrives at the Orpheon.

• Main Docking Bay (via Blue Door)

Inhabitants

• Meta Ridley (Seen while departing.)

Scans

Samus's Gunship

Temporary scan

Energy Force Field in place. You cannot reach your gunship.

_{V • D • E}

Force Field

First

Temporary scan

This Force Field blocks the entrance.

Something nearby must be able to deactivate it.

_{V • D • E}

Second

Temporary scan

This Force Field blocks the entrance.

You cannot deactivate the Force Field unless the switches are red.

_{V • D • E}

Switches

Red

Temporary scan

This switch is directly connected to the Force Field barrier.

_{V • D • E}

Gray

Temporary scan

This switch does not seem to be operational.

The control panel on the pillar in this room can turn it on.

_{V • D • E}

Control panel

Temporary scan

Force Field activation switches are now online.

_{V • D • E}

Doors

Temporary scan

Entrance to Main Docking Bay

_{V • D • E}

Unused Scans

"What's the matter? All I said was that Komaytos look like little Metr—"

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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.

In the game's files, a scan entry is associated with the meteors seen flying above the room. However, the meteors cannot actually be targeted with the Scan Visor, so the scan cannot be read in-game.

Meteor Fragment

Temporary scan

Meteor fragment. High concentration of radiation detected. Planet of origin unknown.

_{V • D • E}

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). Their associated unused scan may reference their heat signature.

• 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. [1]
• 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.
• In the hallway holographic deck status displays you can only scan decks alpha, beta and gamma. Also there appears to be 12 decks in total on the orpheon, According to the display. Others decks been inaccessible.

Gallery

Exterior Docking Hangar on the game's map

Samus arrives

Samus first sets foot on the Orpheon.

View of the Orpheon.

Force Field

Interface Module

The Meteors (and the Frigate) seen through the Thermal Visor (via hacking).

The Exterior Docking Hangar seen through the X-Ray Visor (via hacking).

Samus scans the locked Force Field.

Samus turns to see the Frigate exploding behind her.

The hangar during the frigate's destruction.

Meta Ridley escapes

Samus runs back to her ship.

Metroid Prime comic

Press photo of Jason Alexander playing Prime, with the Exterior Docking Hangar visible onscreen.