
After you get the Spider Ball, X-ray Visor, and Nova Beam, go back to the Chozo Observatory in the eastern part of Skytown. Use the Spider Ball to access all the bomb slots in the room to download maps that give away the locations of ALL items on all four planets (this doesn't include the Valhalla). In addition, the Space Pirate Homeworld isn't acquired through the Spider Ball. Go to the bottom of the room and look for a blue square. Use the X-ray Visor and Nova Beam to shoot the red dot. This opens a panel above you which gives away the item locations on the Pirate Homeworld.
There are two foreign language Easter Eggs in the game, both Dark Samus related. In the beginning, if you examine the life support system, the screen will fill with seemingly-random letters. It's actually French, though, and reads "Vous mourez si votre resistance est forte," which translates to "You die if your resistance is strong." Near the end of the game, you will also find some German text, which reads "Kampfen Gandrayada, die Zahl von einer falschen freund." This translates to "Fight Gandrayada, the figure of a false friend" (though the German is technically grammatically incorrect).
To quickly kill 1,000 enemies (and achieve the Friend Voucher easily), try using the Morph Ball. The bugs that grab onto you as you scale walls can be destroyed with the bombs from the Morph Ball. Doing this continuously for a little while will net you 1,000 kills rather easily.