Metroid Zero Mission (GBA)

Boss FAQ 

Version 1.2 (2/18/04)

By Cloud Strife J Copyright 2004

email: John0309@aol.com

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Revision History
3. Legal Stuff
4. The Bosses
5. Credits

1. Introduction

This FAQ is designed for people who are having trouble killing the bosses or minibosses
in Metroid Zero Mission. Note that the names of the bosses are not all official yet.
Most of the bosses can be difficult to defeat if you do not know what to do. Be warned,
this FAQ contains spoliers for Metroid: Zero Mission. This FAQ is not intended for
sequence-breakers or low % runners yet, since some of the minibosses can be skipped.
There are a total of 10 (11 if you count the 2 larvae separately) bosses and minibosses
in this game that you can fight. Most of the bosses can be killed with missiles or super
missiles, and it's just a matter of you having enough to defeat them in most cases.

2. Revision History

1.0 (2/10/04) - First Version. Includes 9 fightable bosses and minibosses with a basic
strategy for new players.

1.1 (2/12/04) - Some more info added on the Bosses. FAQ was rejected for lack of content.
All 10 bosses are now up, and strategies I used in hard mode to defeat them. The Giant
Wasp is now confirmed to be optional completely, as well as the 2 Worms in Norfair.

1.11 (2/16/04) - I got an email saying that the first boss (the Giant Centipede) could
escape from you at any level of difficulty, and that you had to run out of missiles to
make him escape. I did some testing to find out whether this was true, and I found out
he will escape regardless of whether you fire missiles or not, he just his to open his
eye about 4 different times, and sometime after that, he will escape. Thanks to\
lonemalegerudo for this info.

1.2 (2/18/04) - I was just reading on the MZM Board on GameFAQs that it is possible to
beat Kraid without activating the zip line. This makes the Hand Claw boss in Kraid's Lair
now Optional.

3. Legal Info

This FAQ is protected under copyright laws and may not be reproduced under any
circumstances, without my express permission. Doing so may result in fines or jail
sentences to you, so just don't do it. I don't wanna call my lawyer either, but I will
if I have to. 

4. The Bosses

A. Giant Centipede Worm (Unofficial name)

This guy is the very first boss most of you will likely face. He appears after you get
the missiles the first time around, and he crawls through the rocks in Brinstar, blocking
your pathway. His weakness, however, is his eye. Duck and morph out of the way when he
swoops down on you to avoid damage, he can be tough. Use your missiles carefully to poke his
eye out 3 times, and then he'll bite the dust. If you need more health/ammo, shoot his
spikes that come out from each of the segments. The Charge Beam appears from him when you
win. In any mode, he may escape about to different sections of Brinstar, you find him once
after you get the missiles, the second time in the shaft above with the flies, and the
third time is when you have the bombs and are going to Norfair. You won't get the Charge Beam
from him until you defeat him and shoot 3 missiles into his eye before he escapes. He will
escape after opening his eye about 4 times. The charge beam you get is always optional (you
don't have to collect it when you defeat him). 

B. The Claw (Unofficial name, optional)

This one is in Kraid's Lair. He is just beyond the area where you power up all of the
ziplines in the upper parts of Kraid's Lair. However, it has just been found out that he
is now an optional boss. You need to know how to bomb jump really well as well as having
the power grip, the speed booster, and screw attack after you defeat Kraid. Obviously,
using the ziplines comes as a great advantage to you when fighting this boss. When you
see him starting to flex his claws in the lava, jump up and catch the zipline, and then
if he crashes into the ledges, shoot him with a barrage of your missiles when you get to
the other side. His weakpoint is obvious since it's a part of his arm that is colored
differently from the rest of him. You should have no trouble defeating him, but if you
need to refill your ammo, stay on the same side, but don't let him grab you. Instead, 
shoot the small particles he shoots out his fingers with your beam, and they will give you
ammo and health. He should be down for the count after a few barrages of missiles. For hard
mode, just use the same strategy pretty much as you should be okay. If you are sequence
breaking and have the Varia Suit before fighting him, he should be a piece of cake since
the acid will not hurt you if you fall down. 

C. Kraid 

The Infamous Boss of Brinstar (or should I say Kraid's Lair). He is located at the bottom
left portion of his lair. If any of you have played Super Metroid before, defeating him
is similar to the way you would here in Zero Mission. Otherwise, just shoot him in the
eye to make his mouth open and then feed him some of your missiles. He'll get mad about
this obviously, so you'll have to stay with him. Jump on all the spiked platforms he
shoots out of himself and stay on them. If you're lucky, you can take him out quickly
before you fall down. Collect your prize behind him: The Speed Booster. If you are 
sequence-breaking and have the super missiles, he should be a peace of cake. In hard
mode, just use the same strategy because he's not really that much more difficult. If you
still cannot defeat him, just be patient, since you have to feed his mouth full of
missiles, and the timing has to be right. 

D. The Caterpillar Larvae (Unofficial name, optional bosses)

As you go deeper into Norfair, you'll eventually pass these two worm-like creatures.
If it is the case that you find one of them from the right side, you'll need to go around
to the other side and fight them. Most people on the Zero Mission board have commonly
asked about these guys, and the trick to defeating them is to know their weaknesses.
The first one is weak against the wave beam, and you'll need to fire at it from below 
to harm it. The second one is the one that blocked your path from the other side, but you
can defeat him with bombs once he charges at you. Most people often get confused on this
because you actually have to push him back in order to get in some more hits so he will 
charge at you. Just bomb him as much as you can when he comes running at you.

E. Spore Spawn - Larva Form (Unofficial name)

This miniboss actually has a small resemblance to Spore Spawn in Super Metroid, but he
looks more like a worm than a plant. He is located just before the entrance to Ridley's
Lair deep in Norfair. In fact, I almost mistaked him for Spore Spawn, since the music
is somewhat similar. There is also a flying ripper which looks like a beetle that you
can freeze with your ice beam to use to your advantage to hurt him. He will explode some
spores at you which you can shoot to get more ammo and energy. To hurt him, jump up on
the frozen beetle and then shoot his vines that are supporting him on the ceiling with
missiles. You have to do this on both the left and right hand sides in order to defeat
him. He'll fall down eventually after you break his supports and then you can enter
Ridley's Lair. In hard mode, use the same strategy with your ice beam and the flying
ripper, and he shouldn't prove to be too much of a challenge, since you can get more
ammo and health from his spores.

F. Giant Wasp (Unofficial name, optional boss)

This guy is in a part of Ridley's Lair towards the beginning. He is really fast and
can be annoying. Although he is entirely optional if you are sequence-breaking in the
game, you still need to fight him to get one pack of super missiles if you are going
for 100%. To defeat him, aim for his stinger, (push the aim-up button), and shoot it
with missiles. When he flies to the left, run after him and shoot missiles diagonally-up.
Watch out for his stingers, cause they can hurt you, but you can get ammo and health
from them. A few missiles into his stinger should do the trick, and he'll explode into
his own nest, revealing the pathway to your super missiles. In hard mode, he takes a lot
more hits to kill, but use the same strategy to beat him. In hard mode, you might want
to stay in a very low place and duck down and wait for him to come up and try and sting
you. When he leaves towards the left, shoot diagonally-up-left at his stinger with your
missiles (or super missiles if you are sequence breaking and have them).

G. Ridley 

Ridley is the co-leader of the Space Pirates, and is a Space Dragon. He breathes fire
and has a tail. He can also grab you and hold you for a while, but he dislikes missiles.
Ridley can be a pain. He's located at the bottom of his Lair, just as Kraid is. Once you
get into his room, you have to go and collect the unknown item in the next room in order
to initiate combat. You have to have very fast reflexes and dodging skills if you want
to defeat him, especially on hard mode. Avoid his grab and his tail at all costs, they
will do the most damage to you. Just feed his mouth some of your missiles or super
missiles, and especially let loose a barrage when/if he grabs you. He gets faster and
turns orange and then red when he is damaged, so be careful. He'll eventually succumb,
but he can be very difficult to defeat if you do not have enough energy tanks or
missiles. His fireballs should provide you with some ammo and health. Once you've
defeated him, he'll scream out a whole lot and explode. On hard mode, you have to be
very fast and have a lot of patience with Ridley, especially if you don't have all of
the collectable items. Duck to avoid him, and shoot his fireballs when you can to get
more ammo and health. He actually can be hit in the stomach as well as his mouth. He
takes quite a few hits, and is not a pushover like Kraid is, but he'll eventually kick
the bucket soon after he turns red.

H. Mother Brain

Mother Brain is not as easy as she is in Super Metroid, or even the original Metroid.
Just getting into her lair is hard enough. She is located in Tourian, after all the 
metroids you've faced, and behind a bunch of barriers. When you get to her, Freeze the
fire rings and be careful not to fall into the lava. To defeat mother brain, you must
first break open her glass case with your missiles. Once the case is open, she'll get
mad and fire a bunch of wave-like beams at you. Jump over them as soon as you hear them
charging up. Aim for her eye when she opens it, and shoot it with as many missiles and
super missiles as you can. Make sure you keep freezing the fire rings and avoiding the
turrets. Just keep shooting at her eye quickly after you've avoided her wave-shots with
missiles. On hard mode, she is very difficult, so make sure you have as many upgrades
as you can at this point in the game.A good strategy would be to freeze the rinkas as 
much as you can and screw attack through them when they come towards you if you need 
more health or ammo. You can also jump up to the top right turret and shoot some rinkas
offscreen for easier health and ammo. Stay on the right platform as far right as you can
to avoid the turret fire and make use of the screw attack. Listen for Mother Brain's
electricity and that is your cue to jump out of the way and then let loose on her. She'll
bite the dust and then the self-destruct sequence will activate. You'll have less time
to get out on hard mode than you will on the easier modes.

I. Chozo Warrior Orb Trap (Unofficial Name)

You don't have a suit and are armed only with a pistol for this fight. This battle is
located in Chozodia, in the space pirate mothership. You'll see a cutscene with Samus
before this battle, and then you'll see the whole Chozo scenary. It's more of a trap
that the pirates used with ancient Chozo technology than a boss fight. To win this
battle, you must shoot the orb when Samus is not being displayed inside the orb. If
you hit it while the orb still shows Samus, you'll be damaged. Also, after it takes a
few hits, you'll see orbs start to glow on the chozo artifact. Samus's chozo replica
will then move around and try to hit you while carrying the orb. Duck and try to avoid
it. You'll also see the screen flash, which means lightning is going to strike you, so
jump out of the way.  On Hard mode, just use the same strategy, but you'll have to
dodge more lightning and the orb will move faster. 4 hits on the orb will earn you
a new fully-powered suit, capable of using the 3 unknown items you may have found
earlier on Zebes.

J. Meta-Ridley (Unofficial name)

This is the last boss in the game. He is in the Pirate Mothership, in Chozodia. He is
not too hard, but he can be if you don't know where his weak spot is. His weak spot is
his heart, and you'll see it flashing. Shoot it with super missiles and missiles, and
it will damage him. Try to avoid and dodge his claws, since by now you will have the
space jump most likely. Just keep moving. If you are having more trouble than you think
you should have, you might need to get some more items. You can break out of Chozodia
to get back to Crateria and other parts of Zebes, because there is a glass tube similar
to the one in Super Metroid, which can be destroyed once you have power bombs.  In hard
mode, you'll have limited ammo to deal with him, so you'll have to dodge a lot of his
lasers and screw attack his missiles for more ammo and health. Staying at the top left
corner with the space jump is often a good dodging technique, but you have to watch his
lasers, because they can still hit you even while you're up there. Just aim for his
heart when he lifts his arms up, and it will be a clear shot. Just keep at Meta-Ridley
and he'll break down and then you'll have to escape the ship.

5. Credits

CjayC - For posting this FAQ on www.gamefaqs.com.

www.metroid2002.com - For hosting some killer movies of Metroid Zero Mission.

The Metroid Zero Mission Board on GameFAQs - For all of their contributions while
playing this game.

LLCoolDave - For making a movie of an MZM pure speed run (used to be on Metroid 2002.com).

lonemalegerudo - For helping correct me on when the first boss escapes.

TFergusson - For making movies of a MZM 15% run on hard mode.

Nintendo - For making a game that's completely awesome!