Lava Dive Room
| Lower Norfair Elevator | Adjacent rooms | Kronic Boost Room |
|---|---|---|
Historically this room has previously been called the "Gravitron", presumably because of the perception that you need Gravity Suit to get through.
Lava Spark
It is possible to perform a shinespark from the bottom of the lava pool and reach the entrance of Lower Norfair.
First, perform a short charge while entering this room from the previous room, then crouch at the edge of the lava pool (to charge the shinespark) and fall in. Damage boost off of the first Namihe's fireball and shinespark directly up when you are above the bottom of the pool.
This is the most optimal strategy for this room if Space Jump has not been collected. An alternative strategy if Space Jump is missing is to do a Gravity Jump.
Due to lava's physics, a player can perform a diagonal shinespark instead of a vertical shinespark and still have the shinespark travel directly upwards. Besides having a different animation, a diagonal shinespark will carry Samus approximately five pixels right as it travels upwards. This is helpful in instances where the spark was activated later than preferred, as it will shift Samus back to the right and help ensure that the shinespark does not end below the flooring of the entrance to Lower Norfair. This is called a "Shicken Spark", since Kottpower was the first runner to main this strategy.
Compared with a Gravity Jump, Lava Spark saves slightly less than four and a half seconds. In PRKD a Gravity Jump will usually save a slight amount of health, while in PKRD the damage reduction from Varia will allow the Gravity Jump to save much more. Note that the Lava Spark, and a Gravity Jump in PKRD, will both take advantage of the Elevator Pause effect.
Lava Dive
Without Gravity Suit, you will need to do wall jumps to reach Lower Norfair. This technique is described in the route for Any% GT Code, though it is also used for GT Classic and RBO.
Any% KPDR
If you miss the Kronic Boost, you can boost off of the Namihe's flame. This does 50 damage instead of 3 though, which might make traversing Lower Norfair much riskier.
Otherwise, you can just run down the stairs until you pass the third Namihe, then Space Jump up to the platform leading to the elevator.
Or you can Space Jump through the lava with a Pseudo Screw, which allows you to move through the flames without taking damage.
Running down the stairs and Pseudo Screwing through the lava appear to be about the same speed optimally, so the choice is down to individual execution.
Max% GT Code
Most methods of getting through the Lava Dive in this category involve a Gravity Jump since no energy tanks are allowed prior to the GT Code, but a very tough Varia-only method is possible.
