- This article refers to SkyTown as a whole area. For its other section, see Eastern SkyTown.
SkyTown is a research station in the upper atmospere of Elysia created by the Chozo and populated by Aurora Unit 217 and a small army of maintenance drones. It is the fourth area explored in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. It is connected to the Eastern SkyTown by a SkyTram.
History
Beginnings
The history of SkyTown begins 1500 years ago. Built by the Chozo as a deep-space research facility, SkyTown is a vast network of floating research pods that act as a protective "Web" high above the surface of Elysia. Realizing that maintenance was using up valuable research time, the Chozo created a race of artificially intelligent robots to aid in upkeep, whom they appropriately named the "Elysians". 1051 years ago, the Chozo departed Elysia, leaving the Elysians to continue searching the stars. For the next 200 years, the Elysians continued to monitor the deep space telemetry, until they ran critically low on fuel and materials, at which point they entered a state of hibernation. During this time, they continued to analyze data in the form of "dreams". This is how they witnessed a Phazon meteor impact the planet Tallon IV.
Invaders
After 835 years (16 years prior to the Leviathan impact), the city's defence systems detected the approach of a Galactic Federation ship (or ships). As the Elysians awoke and prepared to defend SkyTown from a possible threat, the GF ship(s) communicated with the Elysians and declared peace. Soon after, the Treaty of Elysia was drafted, and the humans brought much needed fuel and parts to SkyTown, in exchange for access to the city's research instruments and databases. Eventually, Elysia's atmosphere was deemed too harsh to survive in, so the Federation installed Aurora Unit 217 to maintain control of SkyTown's network. This gave the Elysians access to the Federation's Aurora Network, and all the information therein.
Leviathans
Samus first arrives in SkyTown.
The Federation and the Elysians of SkyTown collaborated to avert many disasters and thwart many enemies until five months ago, when the city's systems detected a Phazon meteor striking another planet. At this point, all resources were directed towards finding the source of these meteors, which was discovered one month ago. Unfortunately, soon after this discovery, AU 217 was corrupted with an unknown virus that had infected the Aurora Network, severing all communicaton with the Galactic Federation. A week after that, SkyTown's sensors detected several Phazon meteors, one of which was heading straight for Elysia. The impact destroyed a large portion of the city, and began corrupting the entire planet. Not long after, the city was invaded by Space Pirates, and by two weeks, the Phazon corruption had spread to the Elysians, causing them to go rogue. Bounty Hunter Ghor was sent to help the Elysians by restoring AU 217, but was also infected and joined the pirates. Soon after, Samus Aran was sent by the Federation, and managed to restore the AU 217, defeat Ghor, destroy the shield protecting the Leviathan by dropping a theronian bomb (as well as a section of the city) on it, and destroy the Leviathan, thus stopping the phazon from further corrupting the planet and eliminating the Space Pirate presence there.
Features
- Two landing sites
- One Save Station
- Zipline, Kinetic Orb Cannon and Skytram transportation systems
- Aurora Unit 217
- Theronian Bomb
Life
Daily life of the Elysians of SkyTown involves city maintenance and transportation of materials and fuel to various pods of the city, while AU 217 analyzes information collected by the city's research instruments.
Areas
SkyTown
Eastern Skytown
Inhabitants
- Elysians
- AU 217
Trivia
- SkyTown may be based inspired Cloud City from Star Wars.
- The area's aesthetics draws strongly from the steampunk style.
- Based on concept art, it appears as though SkyTown was originally intended to hover over a landmass instead of being in the atmosphere of a gas giant.
- Jack Mathews, the technical lead for Corruption, revealed in a 2018 interview that he attempted to have the SkyTown concept scrapped when it was shown to him, as he believed it would not run well at 60FPS. According to him, "We had to write a bunch of tools to support it and make the artists jump through a bunch of hoops." However, he is proud of what the Retro Studios team accomplished.[1]
Gallery
References
- ^ Kerwin, Darren, RoyboyX. "Interview: Jack Mathews", Shinesparkers, 2018-01-20. Retrieved on 2018-01-20.
| Areas in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption | |
|---|---|
Bryyo (Cliffside • Thorn Jungle • Fire • Ice • Seed) | |
(SkyTown • East SkyTown • Seed) Pirate Homeworld (Command • Research • Mines • Seed) | |