Kraid appears in the most recent trailer for Metroid Dread, chained to a wall, and attempts to scare Samus – though she retains her cool and simply begins to charge her arm cannon. Kraid's two appearances in the series could not be any more different, and it's shaping up to look like his third fight with Samus could also have a lot of interesting mechanics. How exactly Kraid got in this position is unclear as of this writing, but fans of the series should be happy to see at least one-half of the space pirate duo returning in Metroid Dread.
Metroid from 1986 and its genre-defining sequel Super Metroid from 1994 saw its main character, Samus, battling all kinds of devious space pirates. Among the highlights in each game have always been their boss fights. In both, Samus came toe-to-toe with two of the highest-ranking space pirate captains, Ridley and Kraid. While the former has seen more love in the series and has appeared in every mainline game except Metroid 2: The Return of Samus and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, Kraid also should not to underestimated in a fight.
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Kraid in Metroid and Metroid: Zero Mission
Samus and Kraid both made their debut in 8-bit graphics on the NES. Kraid is not the easiest boss to reach, as there are many hidden paths and secret doors within Brinstar, and the player is likely to come across a "Mini Kraid" enemy before the actual boss. These "Mini Kraid" enemies are fragile and have slightly different colors than normal Kraid but remain the same size; they also respawn like normal enemies. Once the actual boss fight begins, Kraid appears to be roughly the same height as Samus, and his reptilian stylings and green shading tends to resemble Bowser.
In the 2004 remake Metroid: Zero Mission, Kraid gets a substantial rework. Among these are the removal of the Mini Kraid enemies, as well as a massive size increase to match his appearance in Super Metroid. The final boss of the first Metroid, Mother Brain, also got a revamp in Super Metroid. Many mechanics are the same as the original fight, such as Kraid's stomach spikes and claw attacks. In this second fight, Kraid now has a weak spot in his mouth that Samus can shoot whenever he opens it to screech. Given his brief appearance in the Metroid Dread trailer, it seems likely that his weak spot will be carried over to the new title. In both the original Metroid and Zero Mission, upon defeating Kraid he explodes and is presumed dead.
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Super Metroid, Super Big
As previously mentioned, Kraid received a sizable change in the classic 16-bit game Super Metroid. Kraid becomes the largest enemy in the entire game, and one of the biggest bosses that Samus has fought. Much of his boss fight is similar to that in the "first" fight from Metroid, and especially Metroid: Zero Mission. This encounter in Super Metroid is when his mouth became a weak spot and he gained the ability to launch stomach spikes. Unlike his other appearances, upon being defeated in Super Metroid Kraid simply tunnels beneath the floor instead of exploding.
Super Metroid is the third game in the main series timeline, with only Metroid Fusion and the side game Metroid: Other M offering added lore prior to Metroid Dread. This means Kraid's ambiguous death scene in Super Metroid could just show him escaping, after which he is seemingly captured between that title and Dread. However, it's also possible that Kraid died in Super Metroid, as the Metroid Prime series indicates space pirates have access to cloning abilities that would explain Kraid's much larger appearance in Super Metroid, as well as Ridley's many different appearances. In any case, whether this giant reptile is Kraid himself or a clone, players should be sure to aim for the mouth when encountering him in Dread.
Metroid Dread is releasing on October 8, 2021 for Nintendo Switch.
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