A Light Shaft is a beam of light that appears in the different temples on Aether. They allow Samus, once she has acquired the Light Suit, to quickly travel from one Energy Controller to another along the shafts from the Light of Aether. These transports are instantaneous and link all four temples.
Four other light shafts also appear in other areas. These "lesser" shafts merely carry Samus to a different spot in the room, rather than transporting her across the whole map. One is in the Fortress Transport Access in the Temple Grounds, which allows Samus to reach a hidden Energy Tank. Another is in the Sanctuary Map Station in the Sanctuary Fortress, which leads to a Missile Expansion. A third one is at the Entrance to the Ing Hive on Dark Aether, where it is used to acquire one of the Sky Temple Keys, the Key of S-Jrs. The final one is in the Sky Temple Gateway. This one is more like the main Light Shafts, as it links up to the Sky Temple Energy Controller rather than just moving Samus around the planet, though its width is far less than the four main shafts. There are also some unusable light shafts that can be seen in some open rooms in Sanctuary Fortress. They are unreachable even by the Screw Attack but their existence could mean the Luminoth used Light Shafts as regular means of transportation.
If Samus touches one of the minor Light Shafts in Morph Ball form, she will not travel along it even if she is wearing the Light Suit. She will travel along the shafts connected to Energy Controllers, however.
In some rooms on Dark Aether, there are what seems to be dark variants of Light Shafts. They are red in colour and damage Samus when she steps into them, regardless of her suit. They have no use to Samus but the Ing may have used them as transportation as the Luminoth may have used Light Shafts. Sometimes, there are also blue-colored shafts in Aetherian rooms, most notably Transit Station, that simply blind Samus' visor with light and don't transport her anywhere or damage her.
Scan[]
"Teleport system active. Step into hologram to initiate teleport."
Trivia[]
- The Light Shaft connecting both the Sky Temple Gateway and Sky Temple Energy Controller does not actually require the use of the Light Suit to utilize. This can only be viewed by hacking, as the Light Suit will already be in possession of Samus by then due to the Suit being naturally required for obtaining many Sky Temple Keys for progression.