Getting started in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond has a bit of a learning curve, even if you’re a longtime Prime player. Samus Aran’s latest adventure does things a bit differently compared to her previous 3D expeditions. Enemies respond to ballistics differently, for one thing, which creates new opportunities for combat strategy. And that’s before even getting into the way most puzzles are built around Samus’ new psychic powers.
Our Metroid Prime 4 beginner’s guide lists eight essential tips to help carry you through your early hours on Viewros.
Stuck? The answer is probably psychic powers
If you’re at a loss for how to proceed at any point during your Viewros expedition, it’s a good idea to see if you can manipulate something with Samus’ charged psychic beam, since that’s often the way forward in Prime 4‘s early hours. Can’t reach a switch on the other side of the room? Try a psychic-controlled charge shot. Facing a boss with multiple weak points? Psychic-controlled charge shot. Shielded enemy that’s only vulnerable from behind? Yeah, you get the idea.
Get creative and be observant
When the answer isn’t psychic powers, it’s probably something else in the environment. Metroid Prime 4 strikes an unusual balance between pointing out things like where a door is and expecting you to solve puzzles without any help. One early instance, for example, sees Samus trapped in a room where the elevator control panel is just out of reach. The solution? Using an industrial arm meant to move motorcycle tires to pick up Morph Ball Samus and drop her where she needs to be. There’s no shortage of similar puzzles across Viewros, so if you can’t figure out what to do, take a look around the environment and see what might mesh well with your current abilities.
Lock on
Locking onto an enemy makes hitting them easier, of course, but it also gives you a handy dodge move that you wouldn’t otherwise have. Press B rapidly while strafing around an enemy to have Samus do a quick sideways dodge. It’s often the only way to avoid taking damage against enemies that fire projectiles or beams. Combat is a lot more common in Prime 4 than in most Metroid games, even compared to Prime 3: Corruption, so you want to avoid taking damage and getting Samus run down as much as possible.
Brush up on your explosives
Metroid Prime 4 likes to assume you’re closely familiar with its language, without bothering to educate you. Normally, that’s not a big deal. If you can’t tell your stealthy psy-bot from a Griever, you can still get by just fine. With some bosses and puzzles, though, you do need to know what the scanner entries actually mean. Take the first time you fight Sylux, for example. His second form is unstoppable except when you attack him with a concussive blast. What’s a concussive blast? The log entry doesn’t say.
So, try to remember this:
- Concussive blast: Requires a morph ball bomb
- Explosive blast: Requires a missile
- Powerful blast or strong force: Usually breaks when you hit it with a charged beam shot
Prime 4 throws out other terms as well, like electric shock and so on, though making the connection between those and one of Samus’ weapons is usually more straightforward. As an example, for stuff that needs an electric shock, use Samus’ electric beam.
Boot up the scan visor — a lot
This is probably second nature if you’ve played any Metroid Prime before, but scanning stuff is even more of a big deal in Metroid Prime 4. Lamorn logs — like Chozo lore chunks in the first Metroid Prime — are few and far between, so most of a location’s history unfolds via the random bits and bobs you can scan. Yes, there’s even lore behind different types of shipping containers and the trucks used to move them.
Even if you don’t care much for the worldbuilding, you should get in the habit of scanning bosses and enemies for clues about how to find their weak points. Some bosses, including Sylux, have different scan logs with hints about their new weaknesses when they change forms as well.
Use your missiles
Tempting as it may be to hoard your most powerful ammunition, you shouldn’t hesitate to use missiles against most foes. Enemies in Metroid Prime 4 are much more responsive to different types of force than they are in other Metroid games. Take the automatons in Volt Forge, for example, or the Grievers in Fury Green. You can just use the power/psychic beam to defeat them, but you can also knock them backwards and interrupt their attacks with a missile blast.
The exception is if you’re in an encounter with a powerful enemy that’s only weak to missiles. Don’t waste them on mobs or anything other than the spot that’s weak to missiles in that case. Even if you do run out of ammo, though, it’s not all that terrible. Bosses have a convenient habit of summoning small enemies or spitting out destructible projectiles that drop ammo.
Explore everywhere
Yes, exploring is the point of a Metroidvania, but it’s easy to get caught up moving forward in this one without bothering to look around. Metroid Prime 4 isn’t interested in pointing out upgrade locations or save rooms for you, either. Its rooms tend to have slightly more complex layouts that make it so you can’t just see everything as soon as you enter, in contrast to something like Metroid Prime Remastered. A missile expansion might be hidden under a slightly unusual floor pattern. A save room may be tucked away at the back of a bigger chamber, with the door set back out of plain sight.
Take notes
You can place map markers in Metroid Prime 4, but they don’t actually tell you everything, like which power-up you need for a specific thing. It’s nice to know where a missile expansion is, but if you don’t remember that you need the psychic pull or boost ball, then that’s not very helpful for planning.
Some important locations don’t lend themselves to map markers, too, either because you can’t see a power-up associated with it or it’s just really easy to forget about. It’s worth making notes for things like remembering to take all those green crystals you scoop up in the desert back to the Lamorn altar. Or that one random pull hatch in Volt Forge that has no distinguishing features and just lurks there, waiting for you to open it. There’s a lot of stuff like that across Viewros, and it’s a good idea to keep up with it all if you want to fill out your log book and aim for as high a completion percentage as possible.
- Security Camera Installation – indoor/outdoor IP CCTV systems & video analytics
- Access Control Installation – key card, fob, biometric & cloud‑based door entry
- Business Security Systems – integrated alarms, surveillance & access control
- Structured Cabling Services – voice, data & fiber infrastructure for new or existing builds
- Video Monitoring Services – 24/7 remote surveillance and analytics monitoring
Author: 360 Technology Group
