Flying Pirate

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Flying Pirates in Metroid Prime.

Concept art which resembles a Ki-Hunter with a what appears to be a Metroid strapped to its back.

A Flying Pirate is a Space Pirate with a jetpack found in Metroid Prime. They shoot many spiraling missiles and simple green beams. Once low on health, some Flying Pirates will perform a last ditch kamikaze strike. In the other Prime games a similar unit is called the Pirate Aerotrooper.

Samus can easily target the jetpack with the Thermal Visor, once acquired. Due to the high combustibility of the fuel used for the jet pack they are highly vulnerable to the Plasma Beam. Despite this, it is often easier to use the Ice Spreader to freeze large groups of them and then pick them off with missiles--the Ice Beam works too, but they are often nimble enough to avoid its slow, non-homing shots.

[edit] Logbook Entry

"Pirates trained and equipped for airborne assault. Flying Pirates are extremely agile in the air, but the heat signatures of their jet packs can be tracked with Thermal Imaging. While their Missiles are extremely potent, their jet packs can be even more so. If the pack fails, they will make a suicide strike."

[edit] Trivia

• When shot with the Ice Beam they remain frozen in the air despite the fact that their jetpack is frozen solid (however the jetpack thruster appears to remain operational in this state).