Power Bombs Before Bombs
Power Bombs Before Bombs (PBBB) is a sequence break in Metroid Prime in which the Power Bomb expansion in Magma Pool is retrieved before getting the regular Morph Ball Bombs in Burn Dome. In the any% route, this saves well over a minute due to, among other resulting routing differences, not having to perform the Infinite Speed glitch in Magma Pool. It requires a wallcrawl that starts at Main Plaza's Secret World.
Route
| Rooms Traversed In This Wallcrawl |
||
| Main Plaza (start) Piston Tunnel Training Chamber Training Chamber Access Magma Pool (end) |
PBBB
The route starts to deviate from the double-IS route after obtaining Morph Ball in Ruined Shrine. Once in Main Plaza, the loading trigger for Piston Tunnel must be touched, after which the wallcrawl starts from Main Plaza's secret world. Once at Training Chamber Access, it is important not to transition immediately to that room, as Magma Pool will automatically load and make the trick impossible. An R-Jump must be performed at the same time the room is transitioned. This is to quickly get to the other side of the room. Once there, Samus needs to be at a specific height range for the trick to work. If at the desired height, then the player needs to start using Pause Delay in order to delay the load of Magma Pool. Visual cues from the map need to be used in order to verify that Samus is in the correct position. If done correctly, Samus will collect the Power Bomb expansion and drop down to the bottom of Magma Pool's box. After this, Samus needs to get back in-bounds, which can be done by performing a ceiling warp. Once inside Magma Pool, transition into the room and quickly Scan Dash to the other side. After this, the route remains the same up until Samus gets regular bombs.
TODO: Attach image of necessary height range https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/341268305123868678/774046599499612190/test.gif
IBBF and Life Grove Without Boost
After acquiring the Morph Ball Bombs in Burn Dome, the route does the Ice Beam Before Flaahgra wallcrawl. Once Ice Beam is acquired, the X-Ray Visor needs to be obtained, which entails going through Life Grove Tunnel and Life Grove without the Boost Ball. This has the added risk of falling down Life Grove Tunnel without Boost, a potential run-killer if the runner isn't able to get back up quickly.
Room by Room Guide
Main Plaza
After obtaining the Morph Ball, you will be ready to start this sequence in Main Plaza. Start by heading to the loading trigger for Piston Tunnel. This is generally done by either performing a Slope Jump onto the standable spot of the tree, or by performing a Scan Dash to this spot. From there, Slope Jump again to the loading trigger. Once there, turn around to lock onto a nearby scan point and Scan Dash to the platform with the missile expansion on the other side. Note that if you fall down after touching the load trigger to Piston Tunnel, you will need to climb back up to reactivate it, as you will have unloaded Piston Tunnel by this point. Once on the side of the room with the missile expansion, pick up the missile expansion and proceed to do the Main Plaza Secret World. Once near the top of the room, there will be two invisible seams of collision that Samus can stand on. Use one of these to walk to the other side once again, getting ready to transition into Piston Tunnel. Once at the other side, use the topmost bit of wall as a visual cue and stand on it. Then carefully look down, setting up your jump onto the top of the Morph Ball tunnel leading to Piston Tunnel, and carefully make your jump. From here, transitioning into Piston Tunnel is as simple as walking on top of the door.