Metroid Prime Trilogy art booklet

The Metroid Prime Trilogy art booklet is a small extra that came packaged with copies of Metroid Prime Trilogy. It has 5 folded, two-sided panels printed with "metallic ink on high quality premium gloss paper". The front shows various Concept art from the Prime series, some of it not previously released. The back features a detailed timeline of events leading through the Trilogy.
==Story==
===Phaaze===
"No one knows when Phaaze was born.A planet completely unique in an infinite universe, unlike any that came before it.Phaaze was alive. A conscious, sentient being."
Like all living creatures, Phaaze did its best to ensure the continued survival andprosperity of its race. Every 100 years, seeds, similar in form to meteors, would be firedfrom Phaaze to planets far away. These seeds, these children of Phaaze, were calledLeviathans. Leviathans had the ability to generate wormholes, allowing them to travel togalaxies unbelievably far away.
When a Leviathan strikes a planet, it creates a Phazon Core which emits a strong toxincalled Phazon all over the planet. Phazon is a powerful substance with the ability tocompletely corrupt living beings through genetic mutation. Over the course of acouple years, Phazon corrupts the entire planet, at which point the planet is reborn asa Phaaze clone."
===Samus Aran, Bounty Hunter===
"Samus lived with her parents on the planet K-2L, a human colony in the GalacticFederation domain. When Samus was three years old, K-2L was attacked by a band ofSpace Pirates lead by the brutal ruffian Ridley. When the Space Pirates left and the smokecleared, a single figure remained standing. It was Samus Aran, the sole survivor of theattack on K-2L.
Samus was rescued from the charred ruins of K-2L by the Chozo, a race of beings whoresemble giant birds. They had received the colony's distress signal during the attack,and came to assist. The Chozo took Samus back to their homeworld, Zebes.
Being a highly technologically advanced race, the Chozo crafted a power suit for Samus that gave her incredible strength. They trained her to become a fearsome warrior. Onceher training was complete, Samus parted ways with the Chozo and became anintergalactic bounty hunter.
Samus carried out countless missions. Many that other bounty hunters deemedimpossible. She became the most famed and capable bounty hunter in the universe,yet she was not fulfilled. Samus didn't become a bounty hunter to achieve fortune or fame.Her purpose was to avenge the death of her parents by slaying Ridley and the restof the Space Pirates.
Before long, the opportunity to fulfill her purpose would arise."
===The Battle Begins===
"Having established a reputation as an unstoppable warrior, Samus is summoned by theGalactic Federation, the sovereign government of a group of civilized planets.
Zebes, the planet where Samus was raised, has become the Space Pirates' base ofoperation. The Federation gives Samus orders to infiltrate the planet and eliminate theSpace Pirates, along with the mysterious floating life-forms called Metroids. Metroids arereported to absorb energy from other creatures, and the Space Pirates are trying to usethem as bioweapons. After battling her way through countless creatures and SpacePirates, Samus defeats Ridley, then demolishes Mother Brain, the central computer ofZebes' ecosystem and leader of the Space Pirates. Mother Brain's destruction causes theSpace Pirates' base to explode. Samus narrowly escapes."
===Prime===
"As fate would have it, some of the Space Pirates also escape the explosion on Zebes. Agroup of them leave in search of a power source to reinforce their soldiers with. They findTallon IV, a planet struck by a Leviathan 50 years ago. The Space Pirates immediatelybegin using the mutagenic properties of Phazon to experiment on living things.
Three years after Samus's battle on Zebes, Samus is once again summoned by theGalactic Federation. After being briefed by the Federation, Samus travels to Tallon IV toinvestigate the reports of the Space Pirates. Nearing the planet, she intercepts a distresssignal belonging to the Space Pirate ship Orpheon, which is in orbit around Tallon IV.Samus enters the ship and quickly discovers the cause of the distress signal: the ParasiteQueen, a giant mutated creature born from the Space Pirates’ Phazon experiments.Samus defeats the creature, but it falls into the ship’s reactor, causing the ship to burstinto flames. Samus loses almost all of the functions of her suit while escaping from the Orpheon. During her escape, Samus spots her nemesis, Ridley, genetically rebuiltfollowing their fight on Zebes. Ridley flies off towards Tallon IV. Samus gets back to hership and follows him to the planet’s surface.
While exploring Tallon IV, Samus discovers ruins from the Chozo civilization. Almost as ifthe Chozo knew she would find her way there, Samus discovers there is an item hiddenon the planet that can restore the Power Suit’s lost functions. She also learns frominscriptions in the ruins that the Chozo had hoped to completely eliminate Phazon andbelieved that one day a savior would come to do just that. She decides to destroy thesource of the Phazon along with the last of Space Pirates. The task is not an easy one. ThePhazon radiates from the Phazon Core, located at the bottom of the crater where theLeviathan landed. The only entrance to the crater has been sealed by the Chozo with amystical lock that can only be opened by finding 12 artifacts that the Chozo have hiddenon the planet. Samus scours the planet for the artifacts, dispatching many enemiesbefore finally obtaining all 12.
As Samus makes her way to the crater, she is confronted by Ridley, the last hope of theSpace Pirates. Samus crushes Ridley by exploiting a weakness in his chest and continuesto the crater.
When she reaches the crater, Samus encounters Metroid Prime, a Metroid that hasmutated into a terrible creature after absorbing a great amount of Phazon energy fromthe Phazon Core. Metroid Prime, serving as the Phazon Core’s guardian, attacks Samusand a fierce battle ensues. However, during the fight, a powerful ability hidden withinSamus emerges. Empowered by the will of the Chozo, Samus harnesses the power ofPhazon to defeat Metroid Prime. In its final moments, Metroid Prime grows unstable andattaches itself to Samus’s Phazon Suit, tearing it away from Samus before exploding.
It seemed that the Phazon threat had been eliminated, but this was not the case. AfterSamus left Tallon IV, the few remaining cells of Metroid Prime began to secretly multiplyusing the gene information taken from Samus’s suit."
===Echoes===
"At about the same time the Leviathan landed on Tallon IV, another Leviathan arrived at adifferent planet.
The name of that planet was Aether.
Aether, where a race called the Luminoth had settled, was facing unprecedented dangerdue to the crash of the Leviathan. The impact from the Leviathan divided Aether into twodimensions: Dark Aether and Light Aether.
Dark Aether, a world where dark energy swirled freely, was home to a brutal, ruthless racecalled the Ing. Light Aether, on the other hand, was an enlightened world where theLuminoth lived in peace. Eventually, the Ing began to cross into the other dimension andattack Light Aether.
Samus is sent to Aether to investigate the disappearance of a squad of GalacticFederation soldiers. The soldiers had been in pursuit of Space Pirates in the area beforecommunication with them was lost. Upon arriving at Aether, Samus is attacked by theIng, and most of her suit’s abilities are stolen. Samus then continues her exploration andfinds that the missing Galactic Federation soldiers have been killed by the Ing.Investigating further, Samus meets U-mos, the chief of the Luminoth, and learns justhow dire the Luminoth’s situation is. U-mos knows that Samus is the Luminoth’s onlyhope for survival, so he asks for Samus’s help. She agrees to eradicate the Ing and destroyDark Aether. If all of the planetary energy is restored to Light Aether, Dark Aether willcease to exist. Samus finds an Energy Transfer Module which transfers energy from DarkAether to Light Aether.
Samus travels to Dark Aether to combat the Ing horde. While battling the Ing, Samus isconfronted by Dark Samus, her mirrored form that emerged from the remains of MetroidPrime on Tallon IV. Dark Samus has come to Aether to absorb Phazon in order to increaseher power. Samus, able to travel between the light and dark worlds with the technologyof the Luminoth, repeatedly does battle with Dark Samus, the Ing, and the Space Pirates,who are harvesting Aether’s Phazon to use as a power source. Over the course of manybattles with the Ing, much of the planet’s energy is restored to Light Aether. At long last,she arrives at Dark Aether’s headquarters, the Sky Temple.
Samus enters the Sky Temple and does battle with the leader of the Ing, Emperor Ing.After a fierce battle, she defeats Emperor Ing, withdrawing the last of Dark Aether’senergy, which destroys Dark Aether. As Samus attempts to escape the crumblingdimension, she is once again confronted by Dark Samus, whose form is now completeafter absorbing a large amount of Phazon. Samus has interfered with Dark Samus’ searchfor Phazon many times, and Dark Samus now views her as a mortal enemy.
Samus and Dark Samus engage in an epic battle while Dark Aether crumbles. AlthoughSamus is at a disadvantage due to the immense, Phazon-fueled power of Dark Samus, shehatches a plan to defeat her rival. Samus uses Dark Samus’s own Phazon energyagainst her and destroys her darkened counterpart. Once the battle is finished, Samus returnsto Light Aether, barely escaping disaster. The revived Luminoth see her off, and Samusleaves Aether.
Will peace come once more to the galaxy?"
===Corruption===
"Unbeknownst to our heroine, particles of Dark Samus’s Phazon energy floated into spaceand began to mold themselves into human form.
Although peace returned to Aether, the Space Pirates continued to harvest Phazon fromthe planet. Little did they know, particles of Dark Samus that floated into the spacearound Aether took notice of this activity. Once the pirates finished loading some of theremaining Phazon onto their ship, Dark Samus infiltrated the ship and made her way tothe Phazon storage bay. There, she quickly absorbed all of the stored Phazon, allowingher to be reborn. And in the blink of an eye, the Space Pirates’ ship and all aboard werebrought under her control. They became puppets to her will. Anyone infected by DarkSamus’s Phazon energy would obey.
While searching for Phazon energy to increase her power further, Dark Samus detectsthe faraway planet Phaaze, the original source of all Phazon. Dark Samus begins hertrek across the galaxy to Phaaze. On the way, she encounters a Leviathan that appearsfrom a wormhole. Dark Samus infects this Leviathan and is able to control it, giving herthe power to open wormholes at will. This allows her to travel to Phaaze quickly. ForDark Samus, a chance to control the source of all Phazon is a chance to conquer theentire universe.
Upon reaching Phaaze, Dark Samus absorbs an enormous amount of Phazon, reachingan extremely high power level. With this newfound power, she vows revenge againstSamus and the Galactic Federation.
Dark Samus plans to gain control of the Aurora Units, the organic supercomputers thatare the hub of the Galactic Federation network. They are loaded at important Federationbases and on important battleships. All Aurora Units are connected with each other in thebroad network, making it possible to access an enormous database.
She attacks the Federation battleship Valhalla and grabs the Aurora Unit. She theninstalls the stolen Aurora Unit on Phaaze, causing it to be infected by Phazon. Theinfected Aurora unit allows Dark Samus to control Phaaze, giving her the ability to choosewhen and where to launch Leviathans.
First, Dark Samus sends a Leviathan to one of the Space Pirate homeworlds and places allSpace Pirates completely under her control through the Phazon infection. Meanwhile,the Aurora Unit infected with Phazon sends the Phazon virus to the other Aurora Units inthe Galactic Federation. Noticing that the Aurora Units seem to be infected by some kindof virus, the Galactic Federation disconnects them from the network and begins workingon a vaccine. Being unable to use the network makes this process more difficult.
If the Federation came under attack at this point in time, they would be at a severedisadvantage. Therefore, they establish a base of operations in the battleship Olympus,a Federation ship orbiting the planet Norion. In order to deliver the vaccine to the AuroraUnits and investigate the cause of the virus, the Federation summons four highly skilledbounty hunters: Samus, Ghor, Rundas, and Gandrayda.
Admiral Dane, the commander of the Olympus, and the four bounty hunters meetaboard his ship. During their strategy meeting, a group of Space Pirates led by DarkSamus suddenly attacks Norion.
At the same time, a Leviathan appears from a wormhole and charges toward the planet.The only way to stop the Leviathan is to reboot Norion’s defense system, which has beenknocked offline by the Space Pirates.
With the help of Galactic Federation soldiers equipped with PED suits, a new weapon thatconverts Phazon energy into offensive power, Samus and the other bounty hunters areable to stop the Space Pirates and destroy the Leviathan. However, just before they canreactivate Norion’s defense system, Samus and the other bounty hunters are attacked byDark Samus, who suddenly appears in the control tower of the defense system. Thebounty hunters are knocked unconscious, and Dark Samus’s Phazon energy is planted intheir bodies.
A week passes before Samus regains consciousness in MedLab Delta on the Olympus.The Phazon infection inside the bodies of Samus and the other hunters isconfirmed, but luckily, there are no ill effects, and they are miraculously able to coexist.This means that the PED suits can harness the wearer’s internal Phazon for increasedpower. The Galactic Federation gives Samus and the other hunters PED suits so they canutilize the Phazon in their bodies.
The Federation immediately asks Samus to eliminate the Phazon Cores that Leviathanshave formed on the planets Bryyo and Elysia. She is also asked to administer the virusvaccine to the Aurora Unit installed on Sky Town, a floating city created by the Chozo,located on the planet Elysia. Although the other three bounty hunters had alreadyembarked on this same mission, none had been heard from since leaving, and they werepresumed missing. The Federation also asks Samus to investigate their whereabouts.
Samus heads to Bryyo and enters Hyper Mode, a state of increased power fueled byPhazon energy. Hyper Mode makes Samus immensely powerful, but she notices that ifshe stays in Hyper Mode too long, something unusual happens. Whenever she activatesHyper Mode, the cells in her body that have been corrupted by Dark Samus’s Phazonenergy are activated. If Samus becomes overloaded with Phazon energy, the corruptedcells will take over her body and mind, placing her under Dark Samus’s control.
Samus learns that the three other hunters have already lost their will to Dark Samus, andare completely under her control. She reluctantly defeats the corrupted bounty huntersRundas and Ghor, destroys the Phazon Core on Bryyo and Elysia, and administers thevaccine to Sky Town's Aurora Unit, which cures it.
The Galactic Federation receives a communication capsule that Gandrayda sent prior tobecoming completely corrupted. From this capsule the Galactic Federation learns thecoordinates of the Space Pirate homeworld, and also learns that a Leviathan has landedthere. Admiral Dane gathers a fleet of battleships and relays to Samus that they’reheading to the Space Pirate homeworld.
Samus ventures on to the Space Pirate homeworld. The Phazon contamination in herbody is progressing as time passes, and she doesn’t have much time before she iscompletely corrupted. Samus encounters Gandrayda, the last corrupted bounty hunter,and destroys her. The Galactic Federation fleet arrives, and Samus asks them to lower thedefense shield that protects the Space Pirate base. Samus makes her way to Phazon Corewith the help of Federation solders [sic]. When she reaches the core, she is assaulted by hernemesis, Ridley, who has been rebuilt again and strengthened since their last fight. Aftera vicious fight, Samus dispatches Ridley and destroys the Phazon Core.
Finally, after myriad battles, the time comes to assault Phaaze, Dark Samus’sheadquarters and the source of all Phazon.
Samus and the Federation fleet travel to Phaaze after Samus opens a wormhole bycontrolling a Leviathan. The Space Pirate army is guarding Phaaze, and a fierce battlebreaks out between the Federation fleet and the Space Pirates. During the battle, Samuslands on Phaaze by herself. The high concentration of Phazon on Phaaze is almost toomuch for Samus to handle, and it’s only a matter of time before she is completelycorrupted. Dark Samus, now at her most powerful, appears before Samus as she heads tothe core of Phaaze, and the two superpowers engage in battle. Dark Samus joins with thestolen Aurora Unit, raising her power to unheard of levels. The battle rages on with anintensity unequalled in all space and time. Harnessing the power of Phazon with her PEDsuit, Samus finally destroys Dark Samus and the infected Aurora Unit, which also destroysthe Phazon in Samus’s body.
When Dark Samus is destroyed, Phaaze begins to collapse, and Samus races to escapethe planet. Admiral Dane orders the Federation fleet to retreat through the openwormhole, which disappears just as the last ship in the fleet flies through it.
And with that, the battle is over. However, Samus is nowhere to be found. Just whenthey’ve given up hope of Samus’s survival, a communication from Samus appears on thecommand screen of the Olympus:
Mission Complete.
Samus's ship flies off into the depths of space, thus closing the curtain on the storyof Phazon."
==Regional differences==
Similar to the changes made between the PAL and NTSC scans in Metroid Prime, the art booklet also has one regional alteration.
====Phaaze and Phazon's destruction====
Original text (NTSC):
"Harnessing the power of Phazon with her PED Suit, Samus finally destroys Dark Samus and the infected Aurora Unit, which also destroys the Phazon in Samus's body."
Altered text (PAL):
"Harnessing the power of Phazon with her PED Suit, Samus finally destroys Dark Samus and the infected Aurora Unit. After their destruction, Phaaze dies and all the Phazon in the universe ceases to exist. The Phazon evaporates from Samus's body."
==Errors==
In addition to regional differences, the booklet has some errors with its plot descriptions. It states that Samus discovers an item on Tallon IV that can restore the abilities she lost during her escape on the Orpheon, when in reality, she had to track down each individual upgrade and re-obtain them gradually. 
In Corruption, it is stated that Samus recovered from initial Phazon Corruption by Dark Samus one week later, when in all versions of the game it says that she recovered a month later. This appears to be a typo. It is also written that Samus asks the Galactic Federation armada to disable the defense system on the Pirate Homeworld. In-game, it is her that is required to disable the system by deactivating its generator.
==Gallery==
File:Chozo.PNG
File:Ridely.PNG
File:Mpt2.PNG
File:Mpt3.PNG
File:Mpt4.PNG
==External links==
*Trilogy Packaging at Metroid Database
ru:Арт-буклет Metroid Prime Trilogy
Category:Books
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Category:Prime Series