Few video games come as close to perfection as Super Metroid for the SNES. The third entry in the Metroid franchise, Super takes all the best qualities from the original Metroid and Return of Samus, and simply amplifies them. Exploration is more open ended than ever; the environmental storytelling is downright sophisticated; and the skill based gameplay will have you coming back for more. Super Metroid is the kind of game you beat only to immediately start replaying all over again.
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One of Super Metroid’s biggest improvements over its predecessors concerns boss design. Bosses in previous Metroid games were war of attritions, but Super Metroid turns each one into a proper gauntlet that forces you to memorize enemy patterns and stay on the defensive. While Super Metroid has its share of mini-bosses, it’s the five main bosses who are going to give Samus a run for her money.
Kraid
Kraid is fought in Brinstar and actually features a cheeky reference to the original Metroid in his lair. As you’re approaching Kraid’s boss arena, you’ll run into a smaller version of Kraid who resembles his NES counterpart. Once killed, you can enter the boss arena proper where you’ll find another small version of Kraid.
In the NES original, Kraid was fought at eye level. In Super, he immediately grows into a massive beast who towers above Samus. This is mainly to show off the Super Nintendo’s hardware capabilities, but it makes for one of the most memorable set pieces in Super Metroid. Once Kraid has grown giant, platform up to the top of the arena so you’re level with his mouth.
Your goal here is to shoot Missiles into Kraid’s mouth while he tries to attack you with his arms. You’ll have a very small window of opportunity to deal damage whenever Kraid opens up, so be ready to strike back and dodge his incoming fireballs. Beyond that, there’s not much to fight against Kraid. So long as you can time your Missiles and dodge reliably, Kraid drops dead fast.
Phantoon
Phantoon is the boss of the Wrecked Ship and you’re meant to defeat him before exploring Maridia. While the Wrecked Ship itself is actually one of the easier areas in Super Metroid as far as level design goes, Phantoon can be a challenge. Phantoon can only be damaged by shooting his eye, which he opens very rarely.
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All the while, Phantoon will be dropping blue embers down on Samus that deal contact damage. You need to be careful to avoid Phantoon while also being ready to shoot him in the eye as soon as he’s open. Since Phantoon leaves a very small window of opportunity for damage, the fight can last a while if you whiff your shots.
Phantoon requires the most patience of any boss in Super Metroid. Be sure to have a Charge Attack ready to jump through flames and have your Super Missiles equipped. While regular Missiles will get the job done, Phantoon’s fight is just too long to attempt without Super Missiles.
Draygon
Maridia’s boss, there are actually two specific ways to defeat Draygon. The first is simply by fighting him as intended. Once you drop down into his boss arena, wait for Draygon to spawn from the left and start firing Super Missiles into his orange stomach. Draygon will frantically swim around the room, but this is his only weak point so you need to keep your aim steady.
While this method will eventually take Draygon down, he does a fair amount of damage and it can be hard to stay alive if you don’t have enough Energy Tanks. Instead of fighting Draygon head-on, take advantage of the small window where he isn’t active at the start to destroy all the generators in the arena. Once the generators are broken and sparking blue, simply wait for Draygon to lunge towards Samus and pick her up.
Your timing is going to need to be just right, but quickly equip your Grapple Hook and start firing it towards the closest generator (don’t fret if it doesn’t work immediately, Draygon will put you in position). Once the Grapple Hook latches onto a generator, hold it and you’ll channel damage from Samus into Draygon. Wait long enough and Draygon will fry to death. Samus will take some damage from the voltage, but not enough to actually die.
Ridley
Ridley is actually fought twice in Super Metroid, once in Space Station Ceres during the prologue and again down in Lower Norfair. The first battle against Ridley is simple enough and mostly scripted. You just have to fire at him and take damage until Samus’ health starts beeping, at which point Ridley will escape with the Baby Metroid as Ceres starts to self-destruct.
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Round 2 with Ridley is much harder, both on account of his far more aggressive attack pattern and tighter boss arena surrounded by magma. Falling in will deal damage to Samus even with the Gravity Suit equipped, so you need to keep stable on a very short platform. Ridley will fly into the air, forcing you to fire straight up or diagonally.
While logic dictates that you should unload all your Super Missiles and Missiles into Ridley, he’s actually fairly resistant to both weapon types. Instead, stick to Charge Shots. You won’t be able to fire as often or as aggressively, but the extra damage Ridley takes from a Charge Shot will add up and kill him faster. This is especially handy since Ridley rips through health if the fight lasts long enough.
Mother Brain
Mother Brain is Super Metroid’s final boss and actually has two phases this time around. Phase 1 plays out more or less like the final battle did in the original Metroid. You need to use Missiles to break the barriers in Mother Brain’s boss arena while dodging Rinkas. Once you get to Mother Brain, you need to unload your Missiles into her glass chamber to break it before pummeling her eye.
Once you’ve destroyed Mother Brain’s jar, you’ll both drop to the floor below where MB will reveal that she had a body the whole time. During this phase of the fight, you’ll need to aim diagonally at Mother Brain’s head while firing off all of your Missiles and Super Missiles. If/Once you run out, swap to Charge Shots.
After dealing enough damage, Mother Brain will nearly kill Samus in a scripted sequence before the titular Super Metroid shows up. The Metroid will drain Mother Brain, fully heal Samus, and then get killed in the process. Fortunately, the Super Metroid’s sacrifice gives Samus access to the extremely powerful Hyper Beam. Aim at Mother Brain’s head and just spam your Beam until she’s dead.
Next: Every Metroid Game In Chronological Order
