| ! | This is a rare creature/object. It may only be scanned in one or few encounters. |
The Hover Shuttle Transport is a mini-boss in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond.
Description[]
The Hover Shuttle Transport first appears in a cutscene attacking Samus Aran, Ezra Duke, and Nora Armstrong in a tram as they return from setting the Flare Pool cloud seeding facility into maintenance mode. Due to Armstrong's efforts to speed up the tram, it is unable to destroy the vehicle before it can arrive at the station, sheltering its passengers from the Hover Shuttle.
It returns when the trio attempt to make their way to the Flare Pool caldera entrance, using its beam to weld the opposite door shut as they cross a short bridge before attacking.
Battle[]
It begins combat by deploying four Psy-bot Soldiers, and alternates between two attacks. The first is a sustained blast with its purple laser weapon, which is capable of destroying the bridge columns that would otherwise provide cover. It takes a moment for the beam to destroy a column, giving Samus a brief window to reposition if she's behind it. The second is a pair of missiles fired one after the other, after which it strafes to the side to avoid return fire, then fires a second pair. These missiles can be shot and destroyed to provide health and ammo pickups. Its weak spot is the blue canopy at the front of the vehicle, which can only be properly aimed at when firing head-on.
After sustaining enough damage, the Hover Shuttle will switch to the other side of the bridge, now with its canopy visibly cracked and with electricity arching across its hull. This switch allows Samus to use pillars as cover again until they are destroyed. Its missile attacks remain the same, but now instead of aiming directly at Samus with its laser, it will aim to one side of her before sweeping it towards her.
In both phases, Duke and Armstrong will support Samus. They are capable of hitting the Psy-bots, but due to their poor aim and the falloff of their weapons, they are unlikely to hit the Hover Shuttle itself. In turn, the Hover Shuttle itself focuses its attacks exclusively on Samus.
Once it is damaged enough, the Hover Shuttle will spin out and crash, firing its laser wildly and cutting off the path to return to the entrance of Flare Pool before falling into the lava below the bridge. As it does so, its pilot bails out, revealing themselves to be a Psy-bot Mimic of Sylux.
Official Data[]
Hover Shuttle Transport
Their development was completed during the Machine Era at a time of constrained energy supply. Because their operation required a significant amount of aviation fuel, they were never mass produced. They were later equipped with laser weaponry and missile launchers for combating Grievers.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- At the start of its battle, Sgt. Duke calls the Hover Shuttle Transport a cruiser. In modern military parlance a cruiser refers to a ship smaller than a battleship but larger than a destroyer, which would be significantly larger than the single-pilot transport.
- The Hover Shuttle Transport has compartments to carry eight Psy-bots for deployment, and in its earlier cutscene appears to have all of them filled. However, despite deploying only four during its battle, all eight appear empty in the cutscene afterwards.