Metroid Prime Pics

Transport to Magmoor Caverns West - Metroid Prime (2002, Gamecube)

Study; ballpoint pen and watercolor

Overgrown Ruins - Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (2007, Gamecube)

Study; ballpoint pen, watercolor, acrylic on paper

Versus Ridley - Metroid Prime (2002, Gamecube)

Study; ballpoint pen, watercolor, india ink, acrylic

Aether is described as a "rogue planet." If you're not an astronomer, that might not mean much to you, but I assure you it's more than just flavor text. In astronomy, a rogue planet is one that does not orbit a star. It was formed in a solar system, but has since been ejected and now drifts through empty space.

In real life, a rogue planet would be very cold and dark. Without a nearby star to shower it with solar energy, a rogue planet could not sustain life in the same way as earth.

Aether is very much the opposite of cold and dark. During its golden age, it's described as a natural paradise abundant with life. What's more, the planet is suffused with a golden glow that shines light on its surface, even in the absence of a star. Next time you play around in Metroid Prime 2, take a careful look at the sky. I guarantee you won't see a sun anywhere!

How is it possible for Aether to have light and life when there's no sun to provide it? Well, Aether is a very unusual planet. It's permeated by a miraculous energy field that the Luminoth call the Light of Aether, and they worship this lifegiving wellspring of energy as a central pillar of their culture. When the Luminoth stretched their energy sources thin, they created energy controllers to regulate the Light of Aether, feed it with other energy sources, and spread it across the world so that everyone could benefit from it.

These appear to be skyboxes for the Temple Grounds and Agon Wastes, respectively. They come from the Metroid Prime 2: Echoes Bonus Disk, which I am hearing about for the first time! It contained some pre-release material for Metroid Prime 2, including an early demo of the game.

The most notable features in these skyboxes are the sun and the moon, which are absent from the final game. Apparently at some point in development they decided to make Aether a planet without a sun, and removed it from the skybox. They also removed Aether's moon, which I suppose makes sense in the end. If Aether gets split into two parts as a result of the Leviathan impact, what happens to its moon? It's an open question that doesn't really contribute anything to the story, so best to remove it entirely.

With that said, though, I have to object to one point here, since I've spent a lot of time staring at every bit of this game:

Next time you play around in Metroid Prime 2, take a careful look at the sky. I guarantee you won't see a sun anywhere!

There are actually quite a few rooms where a sun can be seen- from a quick skim through the game's level data, nearly 40 different rooms contain scripting for a lens flare effect labelled "Sun". The skyboxes used in the final game also still contain a visible sun across every major area (excluding Sanctuary Fortress' overcast skies), although the Bonus Disc's moon is nowhere to be seen.

Neat thing I did recently: modded a Photo Mode into Metroid Prime Remastered, including the ability to stop time and fly around at will.