author=Hatch I plan on all weapons being used in some way to open up areas. Charging up things like the Wave Beam in Metroid Prime has been considered, yes.
I have no idea how hard this would be to implement, but is it possible to give the beam it's own light source, so that it illuminates where it is being shot?
That depends on how well I can wrangle ika's canvas to work with light sources the way I intend, but if I can I absolutely plan for shots and explosions to light the way!