The Rapid Fire Missile Technique - Metroid Prime 1

            Lord of the Rings: Two Towers was the first game I got for Gamecube. It was fun but the bosses were incredibly hard because you had to learn their secret. Without the secret, winning was impossible and you would continuously die. However, once the secret was learned, the boss was too easy, especially on subsequent playthroughs. While secrets allow hard bosses to be quickly  programmed, they don't contribute to replay value. I eventually stopped playing the game and sold it.

            On the other hand, I have kept, and still continue to play, Metroid Prime. The game is one of my personal favorites and its replay value is very high, mainly because the bosses don't have secrets. You can do a scan to get a hint, but whether you do or not doesn't matter: that boss isn't going down until you've earned it through sweat, patience, and skill. Not only are boss battles long, requiring constant focus, they also punish players who haven't learned necessary game skills.

            These skills include honing your dodge reflex as well as building muscle memory for toggling weapons. But there is one skill in Metroid Prime that actually is a glitch. It is called the Rapid Fire Missile technique. I learned this skill on my own and then found it on the Metroid Wikipedia, confirming that others had the glitch as well.

            When you fire a missile, the arm cannon rotates, signifying that a new missile is being loaded. However, if you fire a missile and then immediately toggle back to the Power beam, the missile cooldown is skipped. This means the next missile is ready, providing an improved rate of fire. You have to get the timing right but it will come naturally after some practice. It is important to note that Rapid Fire can only be used when you have currently equipped the Power Beam. If you try it on any other beam, the cannon will revert to the beam's shape and take much longer than a normal missile reload.

            Learning this glitch can be a powerful skill in the game, especially when you venture onto Hard mode. And it wasn't fixed when Metroid Prime was rereleased in the Trilogy pack, meaning the game developers kept it to reward advanced players who learned it.

            So try out this glitch and add it to your arsenal of skills in Metroid Prime 1! I wish you luck and have a blast trying the game on hard mode.