The Impact Crater is the area deepest down in Tallon IV's surface, located southwest of the Tallon Overworld and east of the Magmoor Caverns. It is where a Leviathan from Phaaze, which brought the Phazon to Tallon IV, crashed. Inside the Impact Crater, Metroid Prime thrives. The Artifact Temple was built above it by the Chozo to contain the Phazon and stop it from spreading, though their efforts only managed to slow the corruption. Samus must obtain all twelve Chozo Artifacts to enter this area. It is likely that the Impact Crater was formed from the husk of the deceased Leviathan.
Areas and main rooms[]
The Impact Crater consists of only twelve rooms, that can be divided into two areas:
Upper caves[]
The crater's interior
This subarea is horizontal and is the site for the elevator to the Tallon Overworld, the Crater Entry Point (which doubles as Save Station), a Missile Station, two Crater Tunnels (A and B), and the Phazon Core.
Metroid Prime's abode[]
This is the subarea where Samus fights Metroid Prime and consists of the Phazon Infusion Chamber, five Subchambers (1 to 5), and the Metroid Prime's Lair.
Fauna and flora[]
The huge suspended rock that contains the Artifact Temple.
The Impact Crater contains Red Phazon, and only a few life-forms can survive in it, such as Lumigeks and Fission Metroids. The main life-form in the area is Metroid Prime, a horribly mutated Metroid.
Development notes[]
"Evacuate immediately" is present in the Impact Crater sound effects package, suggesting a playable countdown was planned after the defeat of Metroid Prime. The presence of a hole in the wall of the Metroid Prime Lair (which is visible when viewing the room's wireframe) furthers this theory.
An unused scan in the Observatory, found through datamining of Metroid Prime Remastered, names the Leviathan that struck Tallon IV as Meteor Ovus and states it impacted the planet a century prior to the events of Prime. Ovus is similar to ovum, the Latin for "egg", and is related to "oval". This may be a reference to the meteor being the source of Phazon on Tallon IV, thus an "egg" or womb of sorts for the corruption it brings. It may also refer to the Chozo Lore found on the planet, which refer to a worm nursed in a serpentine womb spreading poison across the planet.
Trivia[]
- The coordinates 40.08.02 are the planetary location of the "massive energy spike" on Tallon IV: Scans of the Spiral Sector detected a massive energy spike emanating from a Wanderer-class planet identified as Tallon IV. Scout reconnaissance was immediately dispatched to the center of the spike, a land mass at heading mark 40.08.02 [...]
- Interestingly, the Impact Crater has twelve rooms, and Samus has to collect twelve Chozo Artifacts to enter.
- In the New Play Control! and Metroid Prime Trilogy versions of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, Phazon-filled rooms of Dark Aether will play the Impact Crater theme instead of the area's regular theme. Among these rooms are the Phazon Pit, Phazon Grounds, and Phazon Site.
- The Impact Crater pinball table in Metroid Prime Pinball plays the Phazon Mines theme instead of the Impact Crater's own music. The Impact Crater theme from Prime is used in the Metroid Mania minigame, however.
- Transitioning between the Impact Crater and Tallon Overworld will play a voice clip stating the area's name. Voice clips for the other areas can be found in the game files, but are bugged and do not play.
- The Impact Crater can be viewed through windows in the Temple Security Station in the Tallon Overworld; the Workstation Tunnel in the Magmoor Caverns; and Elevator A, Elevator B, and the Phazon Processing Center in the Phazon Mines. No meteor is visible on the bottom of the crater from any of these perspectives, indicating that the Leviathan itself has decayed away completely.
- The introductory cutscene for this area does takes place on the Tallon Overworld, in the Temple Security Station. This would seem to place the latter room, as well as the following rooms Temple Lobby and Artifact Temple, between areas, a unique situation in Metroid Prime.
Gallery[]
.png "Artifact Temple Remastered (outside).png (2.15 MB)")
See also[]
| Areas of Tallon IV | |
|---|---|
| Tallon Overworld | Chozo Ruins | Magmoor Caverns | Phendrana Drifts | Phazon Mines | Impact Crater | |
| Leviathans | |
|---|---|
| Seeds | Impact Crater • Bryyo Seed • Elysia Seed • Pirate Homeworld Seed • Leviathan Battleship |
| Biology | Leviathan womb • Leviathan Infant • Leviathan optical organ • Phazon Core • Tentacle |
| Guardians | Metroid Prime • Emperor Ing (speculated) • Mogenar • Helios • Omega Ridley |
| Inhabitants | Butterfly • Fission Metroid • Lumigek • Missile Blocker • Parasitic fungus Phazon Leech • Scorchbug • Scritter • Swarmbot • Seed platform • Protozoan • Phazon Maggot |
| Technology | Leviathan Command Codes • Wormhole • Leviathan-class capital ship |
| Items | Hyper Ball • Hyper Grapple • Hyper Missile • Force Ball |