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.
Connecting rooms[]
Samus arrives at the Orpheon.
- 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[]
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.
Unused Scans
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
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. |
Development notes[]
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]
Trivia[]
- The Exterior Docking Hangar along with the Main Docking Bay are known as 01_intro_hanger internally.
- 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. [3]
- 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.
Gallery[]
.jpg "Orpheon Screenshot HD (2).jpg (1.37 MB)")
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.
- ^ 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 | 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" |
