Summary
Theterrifying extraterrestrialknown as Ridley might be the most recognizable of Samus Aran’s villains, but the truth is, she has faced off against a plethora of very menacing and unique bosses over the years. Because Samus always starts with little more than an Arm Cannon in each of the games, she’s designed to feel severely underpowered when facing the biggest enemies, but considering just how many entries there are in the series, it makes sense that there were a few bosses who slipped through the cracks andended up being a little too easy.
This was usually a pretty rare occurrence since all theMetroidgames provide at least somewhat of a challenge, but there were certainly still a few boss encounters where Samus could breathe a little easier than usual. These are all theMetroidbosses who were a little lackluster in difficulty that could have been made a little more challenging during development.
7Mogenar (Metroid Prime 3: Corruption)
While it can take more than a few shots to take down Mogenar for good due toits pretty big health pool, this boss found inMetroid Prime 3is covered in weak spots which makes it very easy to dish out tons of damage. Upon approaching Mogenar, the beast will use its abilities to connect an energy generator to each of its shoulders, its stomach, and its back, providing Samus with glaring targets that she must blow up while in Hypermode.
Admittedly, this early-game boss does have a few attacks that can trip Samus up if players aren’t paying attention, especially the Phazon Shockwaves, but so long as Samus is quick enough before Mogenar recharges its health, it’s one of the easier fights inMetroid Prime 3. A handy trick to help make this fight even easier is to fire out anIce Missileright as Mogenar is about to use the laser attack. This will slow him down considerably, leaving his weak spots wide open to be attacked.
The Plated Beetle is such anunderwhelming bossthat after Samus first encounters it and eventually receives the Morph Ball for doing so, it essentially gets demoted to a regular enemy when it appears later in the game. That first fight can be a little tricky if players aren’t fast enough to dodgethe Plated Beetle’sram attack, but it really doesn’t pose much more of a challenge than this, simply aim for the big weak spot on its abdomen, and it’ll eventually fall.
The key to avoiding the Plated Beetle’s attacks is by keeping an eye on the horns on its head. These will begin to wiggle when it’s about to charge, so holding in a charged shot and evading the attack before unleashing it on his weak spot is the best method for handling the Plated Beetle without taking damage.
5Cretaphid (Metroid Prime Hunters)
Samus faces multiple Cretaphids throughout her journey inMetroid Prime Hunters, and while they do get more advanced and challenging as they go on, the first one found inthe Celestial Archivesis very manageable and forgiving in its difficulty. Despite Samus being very ill-equipped to take down an enemy as big as this so early on in the game, it’s actuallyvery straightforward and pretty simple to predict.
The first Cretaphid will use a quadruple laser attack to damage Samus, but these are very easy to avoid, and all Samus needs to do is aim her Beam shots at the blue spots that are scattered around the tower to deal damage. Once these are taken down, the core of the Cretaphid will be revealed, leaving it wide open for a few more charged shots before it’s finally defeated.
Luckily, despite many fans worrying ifMetroid Dreadwould be able to replicatethat classicMetroidformulaafter so many years, the game managed to successfully retain the signature difficulty of the series, along with plenty of brutally challenging bosses, but the Escue is the exception in this case. Since this electrified Quetoza will fire so many projectiles on the screen, it can initially seem pretty intimidating, but the one thing that makes it a breeze to defeat isthe Screw Attack.
The Screw Attack will be able to completely negate all of Escue’s projectiles and will also protect Samus from taking any impact damage when bumping into the enemy. The lightning-fast dash attacks are still nonetheless tricky to avoid, so it can be a little hard making it out without a single scratch for anyone attempting a no-hit run, but the Screw Attack does make this encounter more of a nuisance than a real challenge.
Considering the Charge Beam Beast is the very first boss that Samus comes up against inMetroid: Zero Mission, it’s technically the first boss encounter chronologically in the entire series, and it does just feel like little more than a warm-up for Samus' first mission. Theunnerving parasitic creatures’main attack is driving its head towards Samus to attack her, but this is a very slow attack that doesn’t take much effort to avoid.
The thorn attack can be a little more difficult to dodge, but it’s not anything that will end up causing a game over so long as the player is constantly on the move. It will only take 3 missiles to the eye for the Charge Beam Beast to be defeated, but if the fight goes on for too long, it will grow bored and disappear, popping up later in the game instead.
2Ridley’s First Encounter (Super Metroid)
Ridley is undoubtedly the most iconic boss in the entirety ofMetroid, and while he usually pushes Samus to her absolute limit in most fights, this wasn’t exactly the case at the beginning ofSuper Metroid. After venturing further into the Ceres Station, Samus comes across Ridley cradling a cased Metroid larvae, but the fight that ensues is far too easy, especially compared to his battle later on.
Ridley’s only two attacks at this stage are his spinning tail, which is easy to avoid by keeping a fair distance away from him, and fireballs which more or less just act as a tutorial for the movement in the game. One thing that lowers the difficulty of Ridley is that he can be defeatedwithout even needing to land a shoton him. Basically, if Samus damages herself enough in the fight, Ridley will eventually decide to fly off which is a very handy trick that essentially skips the fight altogether, but he’s still very easy if the player decides to tackle him head-on anyway.
1Arachnus (Metroid 2: Return Of Samus)
While the Arachnus is technically an optional boss inMetroid 2, it’s very easy to run into and possesses a very important item that will become extremely useful later down the line, though it is a bit of a joke in terms of difficulty. The small and armored creature poses as an Item Sphere at first before leaping toward Samus to initiate the fight, but the battle that ensues is asslow, bland, and simpleas a boss fight can get.
Arachnus will alternate between a small ball form which it will always resort to if damaged by Samus' Arm Cannon, and a regular form where it will fire slow-moving projectiles from its mouth which couldn’t be easier to dodge. For most of the fight, the Arachnus won’t be even trying to damage Samus and will just bounce around the map in its ball form, which doesn’t help its case for being a “boss.” With that being said, it’s still very much worth seeking the boss out since it will drop theSpring Ball itemwhich will allow Samus to jump around while in her ball form and can make many sections of this otherwise pretty difficult game a lot easier.
