Threat Assessment

The Threat Assessment (also known as the Warning Gauge, Environmental Threat Meter, or Threat Detector) is a gauge that indicates environmental hazards (such as Phazon or lava) in Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. The Threat Assessment will grow as Samus Aran draws closer to the danger. In Prime, when the hazard may harm Samus, the gauge will beep and display the word "Warning". If Samus comes into contact with the hazard, she will receive damage and the gauge will display "Damage". In Echoes, the Threat Assessment gauge is also visible when in Morph Ball.

After being absent in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, the Threat Assessment feature returns in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, but rather than being a gauge that fills up like in previous games, now it is represented with an exclamation mark surrounded by three concentric arcs on each side; as Samus gets closer, the arcs progressively light up.

If Samus uses the Thermal Visor or the X-Ray Visor, numbers will appear beside the bar to inform of the distance from Samus and the harmful substance, with 9.9 being the farthest and 0.0 being the closest.

Sammy Hall

Official Data

Metroid Prime manual

THREAT ASSESSMENT

"This gauge warns Samus of nearby environmental dangers. It rises in accordance with the proximity of the threat-when the threat is extremely near, the word "Warning" will appear. If Samus is actually being injured by the hazard, the word "Damage" will appear."

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes manual

THREAT ASSESSMENT

"This gauge warns Samus of nearby environmental dangers. It rises in accordance with the proximity of the threat."

Metroid Prime Trilogy manual

Metroid Prime

Warning Gauge

"This gauge fills up as you get closer to something dangerous in the environment, such as high temperature or poison."

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes

Warning Gauge

"This gauge fills up as you get closer to something dangerous in the environment, such as high temperatures, poison gases or Dark Aether's atmospheres."

Metroid Prime and Metroid Fusion: Prima's Official Strategy Guide

Threat Assessment

"It warns you when Samus is near volatile substances or dangerous environments like extreme heat. As you draw closer to a dangerous area, the Threat Assessment meter will fill. When you're very close to an area or object that could be harmful, an exclamation point appears at the top of the meter. Should you draw any closer to the object or area, you'll begin to take damage unless Samus is wearing a suit with the ability to protect her."

Metroid Prime: The Official Nintendo Player's Guide

THREAT METER

"The Environmental Threat Meter rises whenever you're near a dangerous natural substance, such as lava."

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes: The Official Nintendo Player's Guide

THREAT DETECTOR

"If you are in danger from the environment (such as poison gas or radiation), an exclamation point will appear."

Trivia

• The Scan Visor is the only visor without this gauge.
• In the Frigate Crash Site, Samus comes across a crate oozing Phazon. If the Phazon Suit is obtained via Sequence Breaking, the Threat Assessment will still warn her of the danger and claim she is taking damage.
• In Echoes, the air of Dark Aether will show no indication of warning until contact, due to its overwhelming prevalence.
  • This also applies to Phazon in the original North American GameCube version of Prime, aside from the Phazon crate at the Frigate Crash Site.
• The reason for the meter's exclusion from Metroid Prime 3: Corruption may be the presence of Phazon flowing within Samus's own body for most of the game. However, this does not explain why it is not present before Samus's corruption; additionally, while working on her PED Suit, the GF scientists could have easily reprogrammed her Threat Assessment meter to ignore the Phazon radiating from Samus's body. Therefore, the likely reason for its exclusion is developers' decision or oversight. There is no known in-universe reason for the meter's absence in Metroid Prime Hunters.
• In Prime, the Threat Assessment's sound effect is pitched down in the European and Japanese versions. This change was carried over to the Wii and Remastered versions.
• The Threat Assessment exists within the multiplayer mode of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. However, it is moved offscreen, as it generally serves little to no purpose in this mode. It also does not appear to work in the presence of the only two hazardous materials available (Phazon from Spider Complex is located underneath a grate flooring and is unavailable to make contact with, and the Threat Assessment does not activate when Samus is near or receives damage from Dark Water in Shooting Gallery).
• During the Metroid Prime 4: Beyond – Announcement Trailer, the functionality of the Threat Assessment UI element either had not been implemented yet, or it was bugged.
• In Metroid Prime Remastered, when using either the Thermal or X-Ray Visors, the Threat Assessment meter no longer displays the distance number whenever Samus is near a hazard.

Gallery

Using camera manipulation, one can see the Threat Assessment meter positioned out of normal viewing range for all players in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes Multiplayer.

The unused Threat Assessment meter seen in a 2-player Echoes multiplayer match.

The new UI representing hazard proximity in Beyond.

Threat Assessment at max warning in Beyond.

How the Threat Assessment looks in Morph Ball mode.