For other uses, see Elevator (Disambiguation).

Elevators (or lifts) are a common transportation method built into developed areas or spacecraft. Very few inhabited locations do not feature them heavily as an access between areas or within levels of a single location.

Description

Elevators vary in design and method of propulsion. The classic 2-D Metroid games feature slow floating panels that lower and raise Samus Aran along narrow tunnels. The elevators on planet Tallon IV use a traditional rail/pulley system. The elevators of Aether are much faster, utilizing a jet booster to launch the pads down and upwards at high speeds. The simple lifts in the Alimbic Cluster (in rooms such as Ascension and Subterranean) use anti-gravity^[1] to remain afloat. In Metroid: Other M, the elevators are more like modern ones.

Another varying aspect of elevators is their method of activation. Some require the user to simply step on them then use the Up or Down key commands, such as the elevators of Zebes or the ones on the Biologic Space Laboratories research station. In the first two games in the Prime series, Samus must scan a nearby Interface Module to project a hologram. Upon entering this hologram, the elevator will activate. In Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, there are several different methods to activate elevators. These include the use of Hand Scanners, touch-screen terminals, the Grapple Lasso, and the previous scanning method. In Other M, elevators activate immediately when Samus steps into them. To use elevators in Metroid: Samus Returns and Metroid Dread, Samus must stand on a pressure plate in front of them until it lowers.

The elevators on ZDR in Dread resemble torpedoes. When entering one, Samus will run up a short flight of stairs and enter the elevator, which will close her in and then transport her. There are also Shuttles that transport her laterally between areas, and a Transport Capsule that connects Hanubia to Itorash. Finally, elevators on ZDR are etched with Chozo characters that spell "OROMEL"; the meaning of this is unknown.^[2]

Broken elevators

Samus occasionally encounters elevators that, for various reasons, are not functioning properly.

In Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, the Broken Lift is split into two floors that do not connect because the titular elevator between them is broken. The reason for this is that the circuit board on the upper floor has been destroyed. This elevator can never be repaired.

At one point in Metroid: Other M, Samus has to cause a broken elevator to fall and crush a Ghalmanian, simultaneously clearing her path. It is also possible for the elevator to crush Samus and kill her if she does not get into one of the alcoves built in the sides of the room within a certain time limit. Later, Samus also has to use a Morph Ball launcher to bust through the floor of another broken elevator and progress.

At a chronologically later point in Metroid Fusion, the Main Elevator suddenly stops in its tracks, forcing Samus to break her way out of the elevator shaft in order to proceed to the Main Deck. This turns out to be because Nettori has used its vegetation to disable the Reactor Silo, causing the entire B.S.L. station to lose power. Elevators resume function on the station after Samus has defeated Nettori, which also clears out its vegetation.

Upon acquiring the Gravity Suit in Burenia and returning to Artaria from there in Metroid Dread, Samus discovers that the deeper regions of ZDR, including Artaria, have become extremely cold due to an unknown force – later revealed to be Experiment No. Z-57 – blocking the planet's thermal-routing system. This makes many devices such as doors and the very elevator she took to reach Artaria unusable, though fortunately for Samus, the one from Artaria to Cataris remains functional. After Samus defeats Experiment No. Z-57, the routing system resumes operation and so do all devices and elevators that have ceased to function in the cold.

Music

Main article: Silence

• The elevator music from Metroid: [1]
• The elevator music from Super Metroid: [2]
• The elevator music from Metroid: Zero Mission: [3]
• The elevator music from Metroid Prime: [4]
• The elevator music from Metroid Prime 2: Echoes: [5]

Trivia

• Somehow, elevators will automatically "follow" Samus to whatever floor she is on, regardless if she has used them or not. Elevators that only lead between floors of a single room can be observed doing this in the Metroid Prime series.
• When Samus takes an elevator in the 2-D games, all other sprites onscreen may freeze until she steps away. This cannot be seen under normal circumstances.
• In Metroid, elevators double as secondary starting points. When a game is loaded, or continued after death, and Samus was not in Brinstar on Game Over, Samus will respawn on the upwards elevator of the area she was in. Metroid Prime also supports this behaviour, but it goes unused in the final game.
• In Metroid: Zero Mission, there is seemingly an elevator shaft connecting between the Starting Point in Brinstar and Crateria, but there is no actual elevator. Instead, Samus gains access between the two areas by launching upwards using a Morph Ball launcher, or simply dropping down.
  • Even more curiously, an elevator is somehow present here in Super Metroid.
• Also in Zero Mission, if Zero Suit Samus rides an elevator (via hacking the Zero Suit outside of normal gameplay), her sprite will temporarily turn into a glitched variation of the Fully Powered Suit, displaying said suit with an improper palette set used originally for Zero Suit Samus. This is likely due to Zero Suit Samus not being fully programmed to ride elevators, though her front facing sprite still displays correctly after every end of an elevator ride.
• In the Sanctuary Fortress of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, during the second battle with Dark Samus, she manually activates an elevator that would normally require scanning by pounding on an Interface Module with the back of her fist, which suggests that Samus merely prefers to activate them through scanning.
  • On a related note, the fight with Dark Samus in that event is the only time where the player actually moves around an elevator during gameplay (not counting when the elevator is prematurely shut down in Metroid Fusion), as they are generally cutscene-based.
• Currently, Metroid II: Return of Samus is the only linear game that does not feature any elevators. The remake, Metroid: Samus Returns, includes elevators connecting each area, as well as other elevators that connect different parts of an individual area.
  • The elevator platform in Samus Returns features a pattern that rather resembles Mother Brain.
• Captain N: The Game Master features an elevator in The Locker called the Gravulator.

Official Data

Metroid Fusion manual

ELEVATORS

"Stand on elevators and activate them by pressing [Down]/[Up] on the +Control Pad."

Metroid Prime Official Strategy Guide

ELEVATORS

"Throughout the worlds there are many Elevators that allow Samus to travel between the worlds. To activate an Elevator use the Scan Visor to activate it. Once activated, the Elevator works for the rest of the game."

Metroid: Zero Mission manual

Elevators

"Stand on elevator platforms and press [Up]/[Down] to operate elevators."

Metroid: Samus Returns manual

Elevator

"Transports you to different areas or levels."

Development notes

In Metroid Prime and Echoes, sound banks for each area are loaded in while Samus is riding elevators, with the cutscene acting as a hidden loading screen. Jack Mathews added a crossfade effect when Samus arrives at her destination, which he was particularly proud of.^[3] He also hard-coded the cutscenes, meaning that the shafts in between elevator rooms are not rooms themselves.^[4]

Gallery

Japanese Metroid guide

Victory Techniques for Metroid

Famiken Ryu

Famiken Ryu

The elevator on the Ceres Space Colony, from Super Metroid.

Beta Fusion.

Samus rides an elevator, introspecting during a cutscene in Metroid Fusion.

Elevator cutscene in Fusion wearing the Varia Suit.

Elevator cutscene in Fusion wearing the Gravity Suit.

Frigate Orpheon render

Connection Elevator to Deck Beta

Samus in an elevator, Tallon IV.

Samus ascending an elevator in Prime.

Prime elevator platform pattern.

Samus about to enter the elevator hologram in Echoes.

Samus boards an elevator in Echoes.

An Aetherian elevator in motion.

Samus rides an elevator to Norfair in Metroid: Zero Mission. Image is from a Mother Brain cutscene, without eye layers applied. Note Samus's lack of a lower half, as normally a full bodied sprite, as well as the green coloration on the lower corners of the image, were never meant to be seen.

Samus rides an elevator to Norfair wearing the Varia Suit (achieved via Sequence Breaking).

An elevator in the Bioweapon Research Center in Metroid: Other M.

Samus descends into the deeper parts of the Bioweapon Research Centre.

Main Elevator (Main Sector) (Gallery Mode)

Metroid: Samus Returns

Odín Fernández renders

Metroid Dread

Samus riding an elevator in Dread.^[5]

References