The Geothermal Core is a room in the Magmoor Caverns on Tallon IV. It appears in Metroid Prime. It has three pillars in a large pool of magma that each require power from a Spinner. By using the Spinner, the Rotating lift platforms on the pillars rise and release access to a Bomb Slot. Activating this Bomb Slot will cause the pillars to raise the ceiling, and a large and long Spider Ball Track will be revealed that lines the wall in a mazelike pattern. Samus has to roll across tracks, plates, and tubes and occasionally even has to drop several meters in order to reach the next track. At the end of the track, there is a door that leads to the Plasma Processing room, with Bendezium (in PAL, Japanese, and subsequent versions) blocking the door. Later in the game, both Puddle Spores will disappear from the room.
Connecting rooms[]
- South Core Tunnel (via Blue Door)
- North Core Tunnel (via Blue Door)
- Plasma Processing (via White Door)
Inhabitants[]
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- 2 Puddle Spores (before acquiring the Grapple Beam)
- Plated Parasites (after acquiring the Grapple Beam)
Scans[]
- Platforms
- "Rotating lift platforms are in working order."
- Bendezium
- "Collapsed Bendezium wall section is structurally unsound."
Trivia[]
- A few Sequence Breaks exist to reach the top of the room and obtain the Plasma Beam without some of the required equipment (he Boost Ball, Spider Ball, and Grapple Beam can all be skipped.[1][2] An alternate method can additionally skip the Space Jump Boots).[3]
- In the original NTSC version of the game, there is nothing blocking the Plasma Processing door. In the PAL, Japanese, Trilogy, and Remastered versions, Bendezium has been added that blocks the door. In the Player's Choice edition, the door remains locked until Grapple Beam is acquired (this lock has no scan, unlike most other door locks encountered).
- Geothermal Core is the only room preventing 21% inbounds from being possible. Under 21% conditions, it is impossible to obtain the Plasma Beam without either going out-of-bounds to achieve a "Floaty Jump" or wall-crawling directly to the Plasma Beam because of this room.
- Under 22% conditions, it is possible to scale this room inbounds using either the Boost Ball or the Space Jump Boots.
- The Spider Ball Track is possibly the most difficult in the game. Because of the large distance, the enemies crawling on the wall, and the long falls Samus has to make, it is easy to fall down to the bottom of the room and have to start over again. Annoyingly, when Samus unmorphs on top of the Bendezium debris covering the door to Plasma Processing, she may roll off the platform and fall down; this may be circumvented by detonating the Power Bomb while still attached to the track.
- After activating the first Spinner, the background music stops playing until the Bomb Slot is activated.
- The internal name for this room is "13_Over_burningeffigy", indicating that the room was originally intended for the Tallon Overworld; the "burningeffigy" part might refer to an earlier version of Thardus, a boss that was originally slated to appear in this area instead of the Phendrana Drifts.
Gallery[]
