Light Beam

The Light Beam (ライトビーム Raito Bīmu) is a Luminoth weapon and one of Samus's beam upgrades. 
Samus Aran recovered it from the Dark Agon Wastes during the events of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes.
== Description ==
The Luminoth first experimented with the idea of overloading Dark creatures with the Dark Beam, and when that failed, moved on to the Light Beam, which proved to be a far deadlier weapon in their war against the Ing, due to their weakness to the light energy in Aether's atmosphere.
As with other Luminoth-designed weaponry such as the Dark Beam and Annihilator Beam, this beam uses a limited amount of Light Ammo, requiring 1 Light Ammo to fire a Light Beam shot. When Samus has depleted her supply of ammo, she can charge the weapon in order to fire a regular shot, so she still can activate portals and open hatches. Although the shots have decreased range, they still greatly damage all Dark enemies, such as the Ing.
==Uses==
The Light Beam can activate dimensional rifts on Dark Aether, and open White Hatches. It also has the ability to energize Light Crystals and Light Beacons; their dome takes on an orangeish color on the outside, while looking whiter and slightly digitized on the inside; any Ing caught within are severely damaged or even killed outright.
==Lightblast==
A charged mass of light energy is powerful enough to set many enemies alight. Unlike other charged Beam shots, the Lightblast fires multiple white-hot spheres, rather than one large mass of energy, in a scattershot fashion. These spheres will home in on locked-on targets and set them on fire if applicable. This makes the Lightblast quite similar to the Wave Beam in Metroid Prime. The number of spheres depends on the time the beam has charged, ranging from 3 to 10. Regardless of the charge time, the Lightblast always costs 5 Light Ammo to fire.
==Sunburst==
Once acquired from the Grand Windchamber, Samus can use the Sunburst, the Charge Combo for the Light Beam. Though it uses up 30 Light Ammo, as well as 5 missiles, it creates a slow moving sphere of light that burns passing enemies and incinerates them, making it useful for destroying slow-moving Dark enemies.
==Official data==
===Metroid Prime 2 manual===
;LIGHT BEAM
:"This fires beams of light than can pass through enemies and set them on fire. It can be used to energise Light Crystals, and is effective against dark creatures. Charge it to fire a wide-dispersing Lightblast that will continually burn enemies. The Light Beam can open white hatches."
===Metroid Prime Trilogy manual===
;Light Beam
:"This is a short-range weapon. However, this weapon is effective against dark enemies. This beam uses Light Beam Ammunition."
===Metroid Prime 2: Echoes acquisition message===
"Light Beam acquired!Press [C-Stick (Left) to switch to the Light Beam./Press [+] then point right to switch to the Light Beam. Charge weapon to fire a normal shot when out of ammo.Additional data downloaded to Inventory Screen. Press [START]/[2] to access the Inventory Screen."
===Inventory data===
===Metroid Prime 2: Echoes: The Official Nintendo Player's Guide===
;Light Beam
:"The Light Beam works best against Dark World enemies. It fires a white-hot beam that can set some creatures on fire, and the charged version releases a spread that can strike multiple targets. If you run out of ammo, you can fire a shot by charging the beam."
==Behind the scenes==
Although not immediately obvious from its name, the Light Beam's ability to fire rays of light makes it most likely a type of high-powered laser weapon. This would make it similar in mechanism to the Nova Beam from Metroid Prime 3: Corruption- both weapons can pierce enemies and set them on fire, and share a similar Arm Cannon shape.
Although laser weapons are not commonly portrayed as using ammunition, some types of chemical lasers do consume large amounts of physical material each time they are fired.
==Trivia==
*Ironically, the Light Beam is found on Dark Aether, while its Dark counterpart is found on the light variant of Aether. This may represent Yin and Yang, which is the balance of Good (Light Beam) and Evil (Dark Beam) The rooms the beams are found in are also polar opposites of each other.
*The beam shares several qualities with Metroid Prime's Plasma Beam, including: the projectile itself, its lower range, slower fire speed, and its tendency to incinerate enemies. The arm cannon's shape shares the configuration of the Wave Beam from Prime as well.
*Unused Inventory data mentions a material called Zafrite that can be melted by the Light Beam. This mechanic, while apparently unused in Echoes, appeared in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption in the form of metal alloys that could be melted with the Plasma Beam.
==Gallery==
Light_Beam_rip.png|A render of the Light Beam from Echoes.
Light Beam Symbol.png|Light Beam symbol.
Light Beam Icon Ball.png|Icon seen off-screen while in Morph Ball. Heavily resembles its early beta icon.
File:Lightblast.png|Samus uses the Lightblast on a Warrior Ing.
File:LightBeamDifference_.gif|A comparison between the charging animation for the GameCube and Wii versions.
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Category:Dark Agon Wastes
Category:Beams
Category:Fire weaponry
Category:Luminoth
Category:Luminoth Technology