Terminal Fall

Terminal Fall triggers are a mechanic that was introduced in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes and kept in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. When activated, a terminal fall trigger will reduce the player's control over Samus for a short time, including removing the ability to use the L button in Echoes, and then place her in a preset spot, damaging her for 10 health in the process.

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes

In any room where terminal fall triggers exist, there is at least one preset spot where Samus will be warped to after the terminal fall sequence is called. However, things get more complicated when there are multiple spots that Samus can warp to. In rooms where there are multiple spots, there are checkpoints that Samus may pass through in order to update where the game thinks Samus should be placed after she falls. Even if she doesn't activate one of these checkpoints, one of these spots will be used as the default spawn point if the terminal fall trigger is activated. This can be abused in certain rooms to gain a speed advantage.

Terminal fall abuse has applications in speedruns, including in Sandcanyon during the Dark Beam wallcrawl to instantly warp to the other side of the room, and during Vault Skip to instantly warp to the other side of Grand Abyss after having gotten Screw Attack. Other times, it may be desirable to hit a checkpoint and activate the terminal fall trigger in order to warp to a section of the room early.

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

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• See also: Fall Respawn Skip