Geothermal Core
| Connecting Rooms | ||
| North Core Tunnel Plasma Processing South Core Tunnel |
Geothermal Core is a room located in the Magmoor Caverns region of Metroid Prime. It is a large room with a lot of verticality, and spread across the room are various obstacles that call for various items to be used. There are multiple Grapple Beam points, but they can be easily skipped. There are three spinners which require the Boost Ball to activate, though one of these can be activated without the Boost Ball. Once all three spinners are in place, the game leads you to a bomb slot, requiring a Morph Ball Bomb to activate. Once this has been activated, the game will lead Samus to a very large series of Spider Ball tracks that loop around the entire room. Completion of this puzzle allows entry into Plasma Processing, which houses the Plasma Beam.
Most of the required items for this room can be skipped by using various tricks. As described above, the Grapple Beam is easily skipped simply by performing either a dash or a few jumps. Futhermore, it is possible to skip Boost Ball entirely with the Space Jump Boots by skipping the spinners. This is only done in Low% runs, as the method of doing this is otherwise slow and difficult to perform. Spider Ball can be skipped with Space Jump as well, by performing a good R-Jump on the beginning portion of the Spider track. This allows for quick entry into Plasma Processing. Alternate methods are also available.
This room is notable for being especially difficult in Low% runs. Currently Low% strategies involve getting out of bounds in Magmoor Workstation and simply wallcrawling to Plasma Processing instead of actually traversing this room in-bounds, as this room can be exceptionally tricky in-bounds. However, despite its difficulty, it is still fully possible to go through this entire room in-bounds in low% settings. The hardest part is the jump to the bomb slot, as not only is the dash required a difficult one in itself, but it is effectively random whether or not you will be able to get stuck, and therefore be able to activate the bomb slot. This is because getting stuck is incredibly precise, and no consistent setup for it exists. It is also not known to be viable without the Space Jump Boots for humans; it can be done in a TAS, but the dash involved is considered to be inhumanly precise. An easier, more humanly viable method of doing this involves getting Floaty Jump and getting to the bomb slot that way, though this is still only possible in categories that allow for out of bounds.
Additionally, the room also contains a Secret World.
General Information
| Room Layer Information |
|---|
| Default 1st pass enemies 2nd pass enemies Puzzle_Unsolved Puzzle Solved Puzzle Music Don't Load |
Acquiring the Grapple Beam in Storage Depot B disables layer "1st pass enemies" in this room, and enables layers "2nd pass enemies" and "Puzzle Music".
Solving the puzzle in this room by revealing the Spider Ball tracks disables layers "Puzzle_Unsolved" and "Puzzle Music", and enables layer "Puzzle Solved".
On the Spinners Without Grapple
From North Core Tunnel
This is the method most commonly used in runs. Use the rock to Slope Jump onto the terminal, then jump onto the spinners.
Wii
By performing a Bomb Space Jump on top of the terminal, then landing on the standable spot above it, a variation of this method is doable on the Trilogy version.
From South Core Tunnel
Scan Dash off of the Grapple point to land onto the spinner.
Puddle Spore Jump (Wii)
TODO: Description
Spinner Strats
BSJ from Second Spinner to Third
1 Spinner Strat
This is the fastest method of traversing this part of the room. As shown below, using only the spinner below the bomb slot is the faster than using two spinners. This is done by standing on the metal plating near the ceiling, and then using that to jump to the area of the bomb slot.
Recovery Strat
Top Spinner Without Boost Ball
It is possible to activate the topmost spinner without the Boost Ball.
TODO: Video
Activate the Bomb Slot Without Boost Ball
This is considered to be one of the most difficult tricks in the game, and is not considered humanly possible without the Space Jump Boots. This is most often done in conjunction with the Boost Ball skip detailed above.
Floaty Jump Method
It is also possible to use Floaty Jump to activate the bomb slot.
Bypassing the Spider Tracks
There are two parts of the room where Spider Ball is normally required. The first is a small section on one of the spinners that is revealed once the spinner is raised. This is easily bypassed with a simple Slope Jump.
The set of Spider Tracks that span the entire room is more difficult to bypass. There are two methods of doing this.
R-Jump Method
The R-Jump that is required to do this is a combination between a normal R-Jump and a Slope Jump, which makes it slightly more difficult to pull off compared to a regular R-Jump. Note that the standable surface on the platform is actually much larger than it looks visually, so it is still possible to land on the platform even when it wouldn't otherwise look like you could.
Without R
It is also possible to do this method without an R-Jump, though it makes it much harder.
Slope Jump Method Onto Lower Spider Track
This method can be considered easier than the R-Jump method for it being easier to try again if you fail. However, it still carries the risk of falling to the bottom of the room if it fails. First, stand on the metallic padding on the side of the room indicating where the ceiling used to be. Then, once near the lowest Spider track, perform a Slope Jump and land near the top of the track. From there, simply make your way to the room with a few more jumps.
Low% TAS Demonstration by FusionVaria
Spider Track Run
Some runners have chosen to speedrun the Spider Ball track that spans the length of the room. Shown below are the fastest times for RTA and TAS.