Hazard Shield

From Wikitroid, the Metroid wiki

The Hazard Shield (or Hazard Suit) is a suit enhancement that protects Samus Aran from the environmental hazards of Fuel Gel and the Acid Rain of the Space Pirates' Homeworld.

In Metroid Prime 3, the Hazard Suit replaces the role of the Phazon Suit as a suit that reduces overall damage in addition to allowing Samus to move through harsh environments that she would normally not be able to travel through. It is of Space Pirate technology, designed so that they may operate safely in their Homeworld's constant acidic rainfall.

The suit's appearance, at first, is rather unimposing when compared to other, more notable suit upgrades such as the Varia Suit or Gravity Suit. As opposed to changing the overall color, design, or shape of the suit, the Hazard Suit simply adds glowing hexagonal plating to her already existing shoulder pads, increases their size a bit, and adds an extra plate just below the back of her neck. However, when coupled with the fact that she gains blue vein-like stripes on the suit as the game progresses, it starts to become similar in appearance to Dark Samus. Nevertheless, the fact that the suit is rather intimidating may be due to the fact that unlike past suit upgrades, which were remnants of ancient Chozo technology and therefore designed to integrate with Samus' Power Suit, the Hazard Suit is a piece of technology designed by the Space Pirates to enable them to exist on their own planet, and therefore may not integrate as flawlessly with the Power Suit as other upgrades can. It may also be because the Hazard Shield upgrade only enhances the defensive shield on the power suit instead of adding another layer of armor.

The Hazard Suit is found on the Space Pirate homeworld, and provides an orange visual 'force field' effect on Samus' armor and arm cannon when she enters hazardous environments that the suit protects her from. While it turns darker along with the rest of her suit during the rest of game, after Samus defeats Dark Samus and is freed of corruption, the hazard shield is shown to be completely purple, a similar shade to the Gravity Suit.

Samus Aran’s Suits
Power Suit | Varia Suit | Gravity Suit | Fusion Suit | Omega Fusion Suit | Zero Suit | Bikini Phazon Suit | Dark Suit | Light Suit | PED Suit | Hazard Suit