| ! | This is a rare creature/object. It may only be scanned in one or few encounters. |
The Incinerator Drone is the fourth boss in Metroid Prime. It resides in the Burn Dome located in the Chozo Ruins. Originally created to dispose of waste with its high-intensity flamethrowers, it attacks Samus because it perceives her as a threat.
Battle
To defend itself, it will send a pillar of flame into the War Wasp nests overhead, releasing Barbed War Wasps. It can also attack Samus by shooting out horizontal jets of flame, which can be avoided by running, jumping over them, or using Morph Ball to duck near the base of the flames. After several sweeps of flame, a small cylinder with two red glowing spots on either side emerges from the top. These are the only weak points the unit has. After enough damage has been inflicted to the drone, it will tilt its flamethrowers upward and burn the hive above it, causing some Barbed War Wasps to come out and attack Samus. The Incinerator Drone then continues to use its wall of fire to attack. Samus must repeat this process until the Drone is destroyed, leaving the Morph Ball Bomb at its base. Just before its destruction, the Drone sends one final burst of flame upwards, which completely obliterates the Barbed War Wasp Hive, killing any survivors. Barbed War Wasps are not seen again in the game.
Logbook entry
Incinerator Drone
Mechanoid: Incinerator Drone
Programmed for high temperature waste disposal.
Device schematics indicate a high risk of malfunction when internal power core is damaged. Unit has minimal combat programming, but can defend itself if necessary. This drone's intense heat blasts compensate for its lack of battle prowess.
Trivia
- VS. Hive Totem, the Incinerator Drone's battle theme, is shared with the Hive Mecha battle, although it omits the opening chorus.
- This theme was remixed for several Mini-Games in Metroid Prime Pinball.
- Similiarly, they are both drones created by the Chozo.
- The Incinerator Drone is immune to standard Plasma Beam shots. However, Charged Plasma Beam shots and the Flamethrower may still damage the sensors, the latter requiring precise aiming. It also takes two standard Ice Beam shots to damage it as well. This is likely due to Heat-Resistant shielding and the High-Temperatures it emits.
- The Wavebuster (obtained via hacking) can also damage the Incinerator Drone, albeit in an erratic fasion.
- In the Gamecube, Samus can move through the "barrels" of the flamethrowers.
- If Space Jump Boots are aquired at this point, Samus can safely jump on top of the Incinerator Drone (the sensors will not affect Samus in any way).
- When viewed with the Thermal Visor (via hacking), only the flames itself emit any heat signatures.
- Animation data refers to the Incinerator Drone as "monkeyFlamethrower", likely indicating a connection to the unused BloodMonkey character. Additionally, the drone's theme music is titled "rui_monkeylower" in the game's files.
