Quad Skip
Quadraxis Skip, or Quad Skip as it's more commonly referred to, is a major trick in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes where the Quadraxis fight is entirely avoided by navigating outside of the room's boundaries and avoiding the trigger that initiates the fight. This skips having to collect the Annihilator Beam and allows for the Sanctuary energy to be collected earlier. This is important, as getting the energy is what allows Samus to obtain the Light Suit. The trick entails wallcrawling in the Dark Aether without the Varia Suit, meaning that Samus will be rapidly losing health. This makes collecting energy tanks a necessity, however how many you need depends on how skilled you are at the wallcrawls.
The trick is divided into two distinct parts, and the first half has two different routes to choose from. The routes start in two different rooms:
- Hive Dynamo Access: Slower, but easier to perform
- Aerial Training Site: More difficult to perform, but saves over a minute
It is generally not recommended to go for the Aerial Training Site route unless you are an experienced player who can reliably perform good Extended Dashes. The ATS route not only requires a good extended dash to get out of bounds, but it requires a well-performed Screw Attack that entails an obscure visual cue which isn't easy to learn. On the other hand, a well-performed Quad Skip with the ATS route can get by with 2 Energy Tanks with some leniency, whereas in the Hive Dynamo Access route, it is considerably more difficult to pull it off with just 2 E-tanks. Therefore, the ATS route is recommended once you have mastered the Hive Dynamo Access route with 3 tanks and are looking for ways to further lower your time.
No matter which of the two routes you choose for the first half, the second half stays the same. Because the game refills Samus' health upon collecting the Sanctuary energy, it is immediately possible to perform the Secret World in Hive Energy Controller and rush to the light portal in Aerial Training Site. Because the route uses this portal, activating the bomb slot in Watch Station is effectively required in either of the routes.
Energy Tanks
This section mainly concerns the Hive Dynamo Access route, which is recommended for most players. Depending on how skilled you are, you may need to collect more or less energy tanks heading into the route.
- Watch Station Access - acquired for 2 tank
- Mining Station Access - 2 tank
- Storage Cavern B - 3 tank
- Reactor Core (Sanctuary Fortress) - 4 tank
TODO: Establish possibilities for 5 tank Quad Skip
Naturally, the detours that 5 and 4 tank Quad Skip lose a lot of time, and should only be taken if you aren't good enough at Quad Skip to go lower. The Reactor Core E-tank alone loses around a minute to collect.
If using the Hive Dynamo Access route, it is recommended to take the Watch Station Access tank on your second visit to that room. If doing the Aerial Training Site route, get this tank on your first trip.
1 or 0 Tank Quad Skip
It is theoretically possible to have a 1 tank or even 0 tank Quad Skip, but this is currently considered to be TAS-only. Due to the convenient placement of the Watch Station Access tank, it may still be faster to do Quad Skip with 1 tank even if 0 tank Quad Skip is possible. The TAS below, which was made before the discovery of Extended Dashes, demonstrates a 1 tank Quad Skip.
First Half (Hive Dynamo Access Route)
| Rooms Traversed In This Wallcrawl |
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| Hive Dynamo Access (start) Hive Gyro Chamber Hive Temple Access Hive Temple Hive Controller Access Hive Energy Controller (end) |
Pre-Wallcrawl (Hive Dynamo Works)
Since this route has you take the portal leading to Hive Cache 3, you need to first navigate your way to Hive Dynamo Access, preferably without losing too much health. Here, you must perform Screw Attack into the Morph Ball tunnel. When successful, force your way out of bounds and hit the Terminal Fall trigger. This will respawn you inside the correct portion of Hive Dynamo Works, allowing you to make your way to Hive Dynamo Access. From here, simply Screw Attack across the gap. This is a good chance to use the Nightbarbs scattered around the Grapple point in order to farm extra ammo or health, if necessary.
Hive Dynamo Access
Hive Gyro Chamber
Hive Temple Access
Hive Temple
Hive Controller Access
Once you are in position, quickly perform a Ceiling Warp into the room, touch the door to transition, and boost to the bomb slot. Wait as late as possible to skip the cutscene in order to save IGT and also heal.
Hive Energy Controller
Quickly boost your way into the trigger that initiates the cutscene. If you're here, you have successfully managed to perform the first half of this trick.
- You will start by doing a 3BSJ to access the Secret World in Hive Dynamo Access.
- If you're lucky and the Ing reforms right in the middle of Hive Dynamo Access, you can just jump off of him into the SW.
- From here, you need to land on right on the edge of the hole you just jumped through to land on a standable spot.
- Space Jump to another standable spot on the tunnel, jump against the invisible Hive Gyro Chamber, then fall straight down.
- Jump twice straight up and go slightly forwards at the peak of the jump and let go.
- Jump over to the edge of the curved area beneath the door, and jump up to the door from there.
- Wait two seconds, jump back-left off the door into the Aether, and shoot the canisters for a health drop while walking to Hive Temple.
- Walk left around the Hive Temple door and go right to fall to it.
- Once you see the dark particles on the left of your screen, it's loaded, so jump back-right and Aether Jump to the skywalk.
- Once on the skywalk, just walk over to the Annihilator Door while being aligned with the center of it.
- Morph once the corner of the square decoration disappears on the top of your screen.
First Half (Aerial Training Site Route)
| Rooms Traversed In This Wallcrawl |
||
| Aerial Training Site (start) Temple Security Access Hive Temple Hive Controller Access Hive Energy Controller (end) |
Aerial Training Site
Temple Security Access
Hive Temple
This part of the wallcrawl is simply a matter of navigating around the room's box, making sure to have enough height for the ceiling warp to Hive Controller Access. The room will be loaded by the time you get there, allowing you to gauge where to perform the ceiling warp.
Hive Controller Access
Just like in the Hive Dynamo Access route, quickly perform a Ceiling Warp into the room, touch the door to transition, and boost to the bomb slot. Wait as late as possible to skip the cutscene.
Hive Energy Controller
Quickly boost your way into the trigger that initiates the cutscene. If you're here, you have successfully managed to perform the first half of this trick.
Second Half
| Rooms Traversed In This Wallcrawl |
||
| Hive Energy Controller (start) Hive Controller Access Hive Temple Temple Security Access Aerial Training Site (end) |
Hive Energy Controller
The second half of Quad Skip begins by performing the Secret World in this room with Screw Attack. If successful, the room's geometry in the corner will push Samus out of bounds. From here, turn around to face the door, making sure not to fall down, and jump to the door to transition the room.
Hive Controller Access
Hive Temple
Temple Security Access
Aerial Training Site
You should now be in-bounds. From here, perform a Screw Attack to the end of the room with the portal, grabbing extra energy if necessary. Since you may be in a low-health situation, beware of the pirates, which can deal high damage to Samus. Once Samus makes it to the portal, you have officially performed Quad Skip.
- Screw Attack into the SW in Hive Energy Controller
- Scan Dash to the left after transitioning to Hive Controller Access.
- The background will turn black once Hive Temple starts to load, so wait in the light bubble for 5-7 seconds after this occurs so you can heal before Hive Temple finishes loading
- Once ready, Aether Jump on top of the door and jump straight back and then a bit to the right on your Space Jump
- Keep walking back for a few seconds, turn to the left, and walk diagonally to the right to go past the rocks (use your map to help walk on a good path to the next door).
- Fall on the door and jump off. Walk to the Aerial Training Site and Aether Jump up above its door before it finishes loading. Alternatively, you can jump back-left off the first door and Aether Jump to the skywalk, and fall into Aerial Training Site before it loads by briefly morphing then unmorphing.
- Whichever method was used, touch the door once Aerial Training Site finishes loading and Screw Attack over to the portal. Get health drops from the canisters next to the portal if desired.
- If you failed to open the Watch Station gate, you will need to instead use the portal in Judgment Drop to get back.
Low% Quad Skip
Quad Skip differs significantly under Low% conditions due to the need to use Cannon Ball to negate the damage caused by Dark Aether's atmosphere. This means that the Hive Dynamo Access route must be done while primarily in Morph Ball.
TODO