Saving the galaxy from life-sucking parasites is no easy task. These bosses won't make it any easier.
- Metroid Fusion has two:
- The first third has been relatively easy thus far, SA-X encounters aside. Then comes the B.O.X. Security Robot, who right away tries a Dynamic Entry and is invulnerable while attacking. To damage it, Samus has to hang from monkeybars on the ceiling and shoot down into its core, which is easier said than done - particularly as all of the robot's attacks are all designed to knock you off the ceiling to get trampled by the thing.
- In the second third, after exiting with the Power Bombs from Sector 5 (ARC), the power goes completely out. Thus begins possibly the hardest section of the game, with no save points between your ship and the save point on the other side of the boss battle. And between you and the boss battle are X-infected Ki-Hunters and Space Pirates that do lots of damage to you if they hit you. But then there's the boss itself. A giant spider who utilizes space-jump biology, it likes to spit fire into the corners and center of the room and then bounce from wall to floor to wall in an attempt to grab you. If it does, it will sap your health, lift you up, and slam you down for massive damage. The second phase of the fight involves it space-jumping around you and dropping bombs on you. It does this so fast, the most effective strategy is literally to just fire missiles upward or at an angle and hope they hit.
- Metroid Prime Trilogy:
- In Metroid Prime:
- The Hive Mecha caused more trouble for some players than possibly all the other bosses combined. Here's the deal: you fight entirely from a circular platform in the middle of toxic water. The Ram War Wasps released by the Hive Totem circle you, and attempt to hit you. If they connect, you may very well fall into the water, which is hard to move around in (and therefore get out of), and which drains your energy extremely quickly. It also depends upon how good you are at quickly cycling between targets. However, a perceptive player will notice that the War Wasps show up on Samus' radar in the top-left corner of the screen, which makes the battle significantly more palatable and even teaches an important lesson about paying attention to your HUD.
- Flaahgra, the plant-monster main boss of the Chozo Ruins. In addition to a ring of toxic water like the one described above, Flaahgra features hard-hitting attacks from its scythe-like arms, the ability to shoot projectiles, AND the power to create an impossible-to-pass wall of plants that hurts you on contact. It's also the first boss that requires a strategy beyond "shoot its weak point": you have to run around the room and hit the large mirrors that are directing sunlight onto the monster to temporarily stun it and give yourself a chance to attack its root system in Morph Ball mode. The problem? Flaahgra knows about this weakness and, if you're too slow, will flip the mirrors back into place, meaning you have to go back to redo each one (and thus give the plant even more time to flip other mirrors). Furthermore, each round of the battle adds an extra mirror, each of which requires either multiple shots, a single Charge Shot, or a Missile blast—all while you're trying to avoid the huge monster that's swinging at you constantly. You can temporarily stun Flaahgra by firing either the Charge Shot or Missiles, but if you haven't found the former or are skimping on exploring and getting Missile Expansions for the latter, you're in for a nasty surprise. In short, unless you come into the battle well-equipped and having perfected techniques like strafing and dodging, you're going to be plant food—multiple times.
- Metroid Prime 2: Echoes:
- The Splinter fight in the Great Temple will wake your ass up. It's a three-stage Sequential Boss; the first form is five Dark Splinters, the second an Alpha Splinter, and the third is the Dark Alpha Splinter. The first and third fights are laughably easy if done right, but if you haven't mastered circle strafing and dodging, the second form of that fight will tear you apart.
- Amorbis, the fifth overall boss yet still the first of the Temple Guardians, and therefore the first of many Marathon Boss opponents you will face across the game. The reason for this is because you actually have to defeat six giant worms in order to score victory. And good luck figuring out the requirement of the Morph Ball to ultimately defeat them without using a guide. Ironically, they become one of the easiest bosses if you decide to play a No Dark Suit run by using a Ghetto Jump to Sequence Break into Torvus Bog.note
- The 5AM call from a swarthy hotel receptionist in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is Mogenar. Being the fifth boss of the game (after Ridley, for Pete's sake), yet still being the first Leviathan Guardian, Mogenar demands a canny amount of accuracy, athletics, and downright suicidal bombing runs on his feet. Heck, Mogenar descends into That One Boss territory for some people: Harder than anything that has come before, and a damn sight harder than anything that appears later.
- In Metroid Prime:
- Metroid II: Return of Samus: The Alpha and Gamma Metroids weren't all that difficult to deal with; one reliable way to deal with them was to get below them and shoot up. That's not an option with the Zeta Metroid; shooting it from below results in a Sound of No Damage. Also, you can't run from it unless you leave the room—the Zeta scrolls with you. Add the fact that it's actually smaller than a Gamma Metroid, moves faster and more aggressively, and has a ranged attack, and you have the toughest foe in the game except for the Final Boss.
- Another Metroid 2 Remake throws the Ancient Guardian at you when you try to leave the Golden Temple and head to the second area of the game. It has four attacks that each have different "safe" areas to avoid them, it reacts to your movements which can sometimes make its attacks undodgable if they go off in the wrong spot, and the spiked walls steadily close in as you do damage. It also drops in without any warning in an area that was previously safe, giving you no warning or preparation and if you don't figure out its quirks in time it'll easily kick your ass. It's also your first warning that this fan-remake is full of some nasty surprises that weren't in the original Metroid II: Return of Samus and that you'd better be on your toes.
- Metroid Dread: The Corpius is the first "proper" boss fight in the game (assuming you don't count the E.M.M.I.), and it's here to show reckless blasting won't be of much help. In its first phase, it needs to be shot in the head, which it will occasionally shift up and down and force you to aim properly. Its second phase is when it goes invisible and needs to be shot in the glowing bulb in its tail, which requires use of free-aiming all while it's constantly moving that tail around trying to stab you. And the Corpius has high enough health to make the fight last (and will even start shifting between the two phases) while you, as this is very early-game with few Energy Tanks and Missiles, need to be constantly moving around to avoid taking hits that really can't be afforded.
