Tractor beam

Samus demonstrates the "tractor beam".

The Charge Beam, in the Prime series, comes with a tractor beam effect. Much like a tractor beam in real-life, the Charge Beam can be used to attract pickups, be it Energy Capsules or ammunition, and this is helpful to Samus Aran, as she may be in the midst of battle and in need of pickups, and be unable to reach them safely. At the end of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, the tractor beam plays its largest role, in collecting Phazon particles to fire back at Dark Samus.

Official data

Prime tutorial

"The Charge Beam can be used to draw in pickups."

Echoes tutorial

"Press and hold A to draw in pickups."

Charge Beam Inventory

"The Charge Beam has a limited "tractor beam" capacity. Use it to pull small objects to you."

Notifications

"The Charge Beam can be used to draw in pickups."

* In Metroid Prime, the "tractor beam" is spelled with apostrophes ', but in the later two games, with qutoation marks ".

Trivia

• In Metroid: Other M, Nightmare's Gravity Manipulator seems to have a sort of "tractor beam" as it attracts Samus' beam shots when the device is active.
• In Metroid Prime, when Samus gains the Phazon Suit, several Energy Capsules and Missile Ammunition pickups hover over a Phazon pool. They cannot be gained by using the Charge Beam, and they do not disappear. This is likely a prompt to step into the Phazon and make use of the suit's protective properties. this also happens after beating some other bosses, including Thardus.
• Metroid Prime: The Official Nintendo Player's Guide refers to Metroid Prime's Snare Beam attack as a "green tractor beam".
• The Greed Corps in chapter 3 of Metroid EX use a tractor beam to attract a comet and freeze it with Samus' stolen Ice Beam.