Air pressure

Air pressure is an environmental obstacle encountered by Samus Aran throughout multiple instances within the Metroid Prime series, and once in Metroid: Other M. Certain rooms on space vessels will trap her inside until the air repressurizes or depressurizes, either with or without Samus's intervention. Once the pressure returns to normal, Samus is able to continue.
On the Frigate Orpheon, the Air Lock is depressurized upon Samus entering it for the first time. This causes pieces of debris and Parasite carcasses to float in midair, although Samus is curiously unaffected by the lack of gravity despite not having the Gravity Suit. To repressurize the room, Samus can scan an Interface Module, at which point the floating debris will drop to the floor and the door to the Emergency Evacuation Area will open. While she is escaping from the Orpheon later, the room begins to depressurize automatically, with Samus's HUD notifying her when this is done. Oddly, a fire blocks the door to the Deck Alpha Access Hall during this sequence, which should not be possible.
On the G.F.S. Olympus in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Samus is intentionally sucked out of an air lock in the Disposal Chamber and re-enters the Olympus through a porthole. She eventually emerges in a small lift chamber that is part of Repair Bay A. As gameplay resumes, the room takes a moment to re-pressurize, fogging up Samus's visor as it does so. Once re-pressurized, the door into the Repair Bay proper opens.
Two rooms within the G.F.S. Valhalla are depressurized as a result of hull damage resulting in openings to deep space. When Samus opens a door into one of these rooms from a pressurized zone of the Valhalla, the open doorway will howl and force Samus inside via air pressure if she is too close to the open door. When exiting out of a depressurized room, the air pressure will forcefully push her back, with non-harmful debris flying her way each time a door opens. The howling air also slightly blurs Samus's vision. Oddly, Samus isn't floating in these depressurized rooms despite not having the Gravity Suit. This is even more evident where in one room, a deceased Marine body can be witnessed floating toward Samus.
In Sector 1 / Biosphere of the BOTTLE SHIP, there is a corridor with a similar premise to the Air Lock. When entered, the door to the next room is locked and the room is pressurized. A sensor mounted above the exit must be shot to open the door; at which point the room's pressure will vent. Like the Air Lock, it is possible to return to the previous room without repressurizing the corridor, which should be impossible. If there are any Geemers left alive in the room when it pressurizes, they will fall to the floor and shrivel up like a dying spider.
==Development notes==
In the Air Lock, Samus can still exit into the previous room while it is repressurizing. A more egregious case occurs during the escape sequence, when the doorway to the Deck Alpha Access Hall is blocked by fire that somehow persists after the room depressurizes. Metroid Prime tech lead Jack Mathews acknowledged in a livestream that the discrepancies in gravity and the burning fire were nonsensical, but unable to be helped. He explained that the depressurization on the return trip acted as a hidden loading screen, with the room's re-pressurization only happening once the game had loaded the Exterior Docking Hangar.
==Gallery==
Repair Bay A repressurizing.png|Repair Bay A
Port Observation Deck Valhalla Air Pressure Door.png|A depressurized room in the Valhalla.
Pressurized corridor depressurizing.png|"Pressurized corridor"
==References==
Category:Obstacles
Category:Frigate Orpheon
Category:GFS Olympus
Category:Biosphere