Metroid Prime Walkthrough: Bosses
Here you’ll find a detailed list of strategies, information, and tips in fighting the many bosses of Metroid Prime.
Flaahgra
So, first things first: make sure that you scan Flaahgra AND its tentacles! These count as two separate scans, and this is your only chance to get it! Lots of people miss out in this scan, so make sure that you’re not one of them.
Now that that bit of business is out of the way, let’s set the table. Flaahgra is a giant mutant plant that is responsible for poisoning all of the water in the Chozo Ruins. Nesting inside a giant flower cocoon, Flaahgra is also nigh-impervious to conventional weaponry, so at face value, this looks and sounds like it will be tough. Fortunately for us, Flaahgra falls more into the “boss-as-a-puzzle” category than it does as an intense fight, so as long as you can dodge its attacks and damage it when the opportunity arises, you should be just fine.
Let’s start off with those attacks first. Flaahgra is stationed at the center of the arena, but its reach is still pretty long. The most standard attack will be Flaahgra shooting balls of acid at you; as long as you’re moving, you should be okay – just make sure that you’re locked on and always moving.
In Flaahgra’s later phases, the attacks start to ramp up. Flaahgra will slam its body down towards you, but as with the acid shot, as long as you’re moving, you should be able to avoid this. The only thing you’ll want to be careful of is the foliage that’s left in Flaahgra’s wake. It will poison you, so just watch out. Lastly, the big plant will also use some good old fashioned melee attacks, so watch out for its giant pincers.
Now that we know what we’re dealing with for attacks, how do we actually beat this thing?
You have surely noticed the four giant solar panels surrounding Flaahgra, bathing it in sunlight. These are what powers the grotesque plant, and this is the weakness that we’ll exploit to attack. While avoiding Flaahgra’s attacks, you’ll want to position yourself behind the mirrors and lock on to the Red center of the lower panel. Shoot it to blast the array upwards and stop the stream of sunlight to Flaahgra. Once the mirror is facing upwards, Flaahgra’s tentacles will fall over, revealing a Morph Ball tunnel that you want to get into as fast as you can. Roll to the end and enter the bomb slot; lay a bomb and you will do massive damage.
Now, the first hit is pretty easy, but you’ll notice after that two, and then three, and finally four solar panels are going up and shining light on Flaahgra. The premise is the same – shoot the backs of the panels so they are pointing skyward. Once every panel is up, attack! But be warned – Flaahgra will not just sit there and let you shoot its energy source away. It will actively knock the panels back down unless you stun the creature. Fortunately, a charged shot or missile right to its face will have the big weed stunned, allowing you precious time to run towards the next panel and hit it up.
Take your time and stun Flaahgra in between panels and as soon as the tentacles fall, hustle into that Morph Ball slot. Four bombs will do the job. Follow the strategy, avoid its attacks, and you’ll send this giant plant to the compost bin in no time.
Thardus
As always, start the battle off by scanning Thardus. This is a one time scan, so don’t forget!
Get ready, because Thardus will be a step up from every boss you’ve faced so far. As you can see, Thardus is absolutely massive, being made up of a bunch of… Phazon-infused rocks. Riiiight….
You’ll notice when you start the battle that you won’t be able to lock on to any part of Thardus, and that it won’t give you much time to yet your bearings. Thardus doesn’t have a whole plethora of attacks, but the few weapons in its arsenal hurt a lot. Its standard attacks will involve slamming its fist down on the ground, which can A) smash you like a pancake, and B) send an ice-shockwave pulsating through the ground which can freeze you like a popsicle. Not great. Strafe and jump to avoid these attacks. Thardus will also summon up some random boulders and stones and hurl them your way, but if you’re fast and target lock these small rocks, you can blow them up for ammo and health.
Thardus’s meanest, nastiest attack, however, is when it decides to go into “Morph Ball” mode. Thardus will curl into a ball and start rolling around, damaging you big time if you happen to be in its way. Crude, but effective – who says the simple stuff doesn’t hold up? There’s not really a science or specific method involved to dodging this attack; use whatever you can to make sure you’re not in the way. The Boost Ball works fine, a healthy distance is always good, whatever – just make sure you’re not getting flattened!
So now to actually damage it. You may not be able to lock on to Thardus with your Combat Visor, but your Thermal Visor will pinpoint his weak spot quite nicely. Switch over to Thermal and lock on to whatever limb happens to be highlighted. Launch a Super Missile when you have a shot and you’ll break the stone casing around the limb, leaving the inner core Phazon exposed. Switch quickly back to your Combat Visor, and launch one more Super Missile shot. This should break the appendage and damage Thardus greatly.
After hitting Thardus a couple times, it will start to shriek and summon lightning bolts around it. Stay clear and wait it out; soon enough, you’ll be able to lock on again. Around this time, visibility with your Combat Visor will be quite poor and the arena will be covered in fog. Just keep locked on and avoiding Thardus’s attacks, attacking as usual.
Keep up the pressure and remember, if you run out of missiles, charged Wave Beam shots will damage Thardus effectively. The fight and attack will mostly remain the same from start to finish, so just keep chipping away at the big rock’s health and, eventually, Thardus will fall.
Omega Pirate
Get ready for a brawl. The hulking Omega Pirate will be the toughest challenge you’ve come across yet, and this brute has a lot of tricks up its sleeve that will make your life extra difficult, particularly if you’re challenging Hard difficulty.
First things first, as with every boss battle, make sure you scan the Omega Pirate to record him to your logbook. Once you’ve done that, target him and start the battle.
You’ll immediately notice some similarities between the Elite Pirates you’ve fought so far and the Omega Pirate. Omega will use the same ground-pound attack, so just be sure to jump over the shockwaves and stay out of battering vicinity. Omega also has the same energy absorbing hand as his little brothers, so you’ll have to pick and choose your moments to strike versus firing relentlessly. Furthermore, you’ll have to contend with the turrets mounted to the Pirate’s back; it will shoot out Energy orbs at you that you either avoid or shoot down. Worth noting too – there are pools of Phazon laying around the arena, so be careful not to step on one.
If this sounds like a lot, don’t worry – there’s more! For now, you’ll want to target the Omega Pirate’s various limbs and blast them when you can. You’ll have a good opportunity to hit him when he’s standing still, firing his cannons at you OR when he’s in the middle of (or just after) a ground pound. Super Missiles or charged Plasma shots will do the trick nicely, so keep firing until several of his limbs have been destroyed.
The Omega Pirate will go down, but this fight is far from over. Omega will call a couple of Space Pirates in for backup. Switch to whatever Beam you need to in order to deal with the Pirates, but don’t get too hung up on them. After a second, Omega will start to recharge his health, BUUUT he will be invisible to the naked eye. Switch over to your X-Ray Visor and blast him with a Super Missile shot or two while he’s regenerating. This will do massive damage. If you’ve still got regular Space Pirates on your tail, finish them off (lay a Power Bomb if there are multiple). You’ll get health and ammo from them, which is probably needed.
Rinse and repeat the process of destroying the limbs, combating the regular Pirates, and blasting Omega’s heart with Super Missiles, and soon enough, the Pirate will fall.
Meta Ridley
It’s the battle you’ve been waiting all game for. Samus squares off against her oldest foe in a cinematic clash at the Artifact Temple, but this Ridley is unlike any Ridley you’ve fought before. Meta Ridley is equipped with all sorts of upgrades and weapons that make him the most dangerous version of Ridley that you’ll have faced yet.
As with every battle, the first thing you’ll want to do is scan Meta Ridley. Once that’s taken care of, switch to your Combat Visor and get ready to fight.
Meta Ridley has a single weak spot: his chest. Your job will be to continuously fire either charged Plasma Shots or Super Missiles at it; by now, you should have 100% items, so put all those missile expansions to good use. Knowing where Ridley’s weak spot is and actually staying alive long to exploit it, however, are two different things. You’ll have to pick your spots carefully.
Ridley will start the battle by engaging you from the air; he has a plethora of incredibly dangerous attacks, including a laser beam he will shoot out of his mouth at you. This is simple enough to either avoid or jump over, but Ridley will bust it out frequently, so just watch out. He also has an attack where he will wrap himself in his wings, expose his chest, and fire multiple Missiles at you; this is a great opportunity to pelt the Space Dragon with some offense, provided you can sidestep Ridley’s missiles.
Meta Ridley’s next attack is by far the most annoying, not because it hits all that hard, but because he does it all the time and it takes foreeeever. Ridley will just… fly away and do a couple circles around the temple, and then after what seems like forever, fly over you and drop some bombs. The actual bombs are pretty easy to avoid, so as long as you didn’t fall asleep waiting for Ridley to come back, you should be fine. When he starts to get a bit lower on health, Ridley will fire his laser breath at you in addition to the bombs, so just watch out.
That’s not all though! Ridley will also do what can only be described as a ground pound (his feet will literally start glowing) and slam straight down onto you. Needless to say, this hurts and is a bit trickier to avoid. Not only that but there will be a shockwave when Ridley hits the ground that you want to look out for. Basically, as soon as you see him get close, start putting some distance between yourself and Ridley.
Just keep on avoiding Ridley’s attacks and firing at his chest, and with enough damage, phase two of this battle will begin.
You’ll be able to see when this second phase starts when Ridley loses his wings. This is both good and bad – good, because this portion of the battle will be much quicker; bad, because this portion will also be much more dangerous since you’ll need to fight the Space Pirate enforcer at close quarters. Luckily, once Ridley is grounded, his mouth will become an additional weak spot that you can target. Much like before, however, you’ll need to pick your spots carefully.
Ridley’s attacks will be more melee focused, although he will still launch his laser breath at you; same as before, just jump over it or avoid the laser all together. Ridley’s ground pound will also return, same as before. This may seem like obvious advice, but remember to check where you are. It’s easy to target Ridley and then jump backwards, only to realize you just jumped right off the Artifact Temple. There’s pretty much no more humiliating death than that, do just be aware.
You’ll see Ridley slowly start to cock his arm backwards; this is your queue that he’s about to lunge at you, which, as you probably suspect, does major damage. Now, there’s a risky play you can try here. Right before Ridley lunges, he’ll open his mouth to yell for a second. If you’re fast, you can fire a charged shot/Super Missile at his mouth that will both damage Meta Ridley and stop him in his tracks. If you miss, you’ll find yourself on the receiving end of Ridley’s claws, so judge carefully. Note: if you happen to avoid the lunge, put some distance between you and Ridley, since Ridley will sweep his giant tail around after the attack, doing pretty big damage to any who touch it.
There will be moments where Ridley will just stick his head out and scream, and this is your biggest opportunity to do damage. Blast his mouth and Ridley’s whole head will go flying back, exposing his weak chest. Fire fire fire as many times as you can!
Keep up your offense, be patient, pick your spots, and eventually, Meta Ridley will fall. With a little help from the Artifact Temple’s security systems, Tallon IV will finally have a measure of revenge against the Space Pirates who desecrated their planet.
Metroid Prime
This is it. The final battle. Your entire adventure on Tallon IV has lead to this moment. Take a second to soak in the music, the atmosphere, the big fight feel, and once you’re ready, step forward to fulfill the Chozo Prophecy and eliminate the Worm once and for all.
Metroid Prime is the giant creature the game has hinted about, and the source of the Phazon poisoning the insides of Tallon IV. Evil has been found; now it’s time to finish the fight.
You’ll run after Metroid Prime as it burrows deeper and deeper into the Impact Crater. As always, make sure you scan Metroid Prime. You’ll need to pay special attention to the color of Prime’s body; it will change weaknesses throughout the fight, with the color corresponding to which Beam you’ll need to use to damage it. This should be obvious by now, but Yellow = Power Beam, Purple = Wave Beam, White = Ice Beam, and Red = Plasma Beam. It’s important to note that, for example, if Prime is Yellow, you can use not only your Power Beam, but your missile combo. You’ve acquired all these missiles, and now is the time to let them fly.
I would recommend target locking Prime and continually jumping, strafing, and moving around. Prime has an abundance of attacks depending on its form, but most can be avoided if you’re moving around. Even so, let’s run down a few of the attacks that will be coming your way.
Firstly, as if it wasn’t painfully obvious by the ginormous, hulking frame of this abhorrent creature, but getting into a fist fight with Metroid Prime is strongly discouraged. Keep as much distance as you can, because Prime’s melee attacks hit mega hard.
Second, there will be some variation of a laser beam that Prime will shoot out, no matter what form you’re in. Similar to Ridley’s laser breath, you just want to sidestep this as best you can. Prime will also shoot out multiple acidic missiles, again, similarly to Ridley, so step aside when those start to fly as well. Be careful of the poisonous residue they leave behind.
Metroid Prime also has some color specific attacks. When it’s Purple, there will be a pulse wave that will disrupt your Visor functions; when White, Prime will shoot its frigid breath at you, freezing you.
Once you’ve damaged Metroid Prime enough, it will retreat to the lower level. When you follow, you’ll see that there are rivets in the ground. Use them! When Prime takes enough damage, it will recoil and then start to charge straight towards you. Get into Morph Ball form and roll into the rivets to get to the other side. Prime will stampede right over top of you; be careful not to be too fast though, since it’s back legs can still do pretty heavy damage if they clip you.
Eventually, Prime will also start shooting out two balls of energy that will correspond to whatever color the mutated Metroid happens to be. These are actually pretty welcome, since they move slow and will give you health and ammo once destroyed. Just don’t forget to shoot them!
There’s even more attacks in Prime’s arsenal, unfortunately, and the lower on health Prime gets, the more desperate it becomes. Probably the single worst attack that Prime will bust out is its Snare Beam. This will entrap you and pull you towards the head of Prime, with a switch clothesline waiting for you if you dint escape. Escaping is tough too, since the only way out is to Morph down and use your Boost Ball to get away. This is tricky, but doable. Luckily, Prime uses this attack more sparingly than others.
Metroid Prime hits devastatingly hard, but keep moving and strafing. As it’s health lowers, Prime will become more sporadic with how often it changes color and how soon it lunges from side to side. Remember, missiles are worthless after this fight, so let the Super Missiles fly, and don’t he afraid to use the Wavebuster and Ice Spreader too (I’ve found the Flamethrower isn’t very effective, but by all means, use that as well).
Continue to avoid its attacks and just keep hammering it with everything that you’ve got, and eventually, you will send Metroid Prime to the depths of Tallon IV. Don’t get too comfortable yet, though – this fight is far from over.
Metroid Prime Core
Finally. The final battle.
Emerging from the destroyed husk of Metroid Prime is a new evil – the core essence of Metroid Prime. This entity is entirely made up of pure Phazon, so don’t worry about using your beams or missiles to do damage – they’re no use here anymore. The only thing that can kill this monstrosity is Phazon itself.
This battle is actually not as tough as the first phase in my humble opinion, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t proceed with caution.
The Core really only has one offensive attack, which is a ground pound shockwave, similar to the Elite and Omega Pirate’s. This is simple enough to jump over; just don’t get cocky and forget! Similarly to the first phase, it’s good to keep your distance from Prime, since close quarters combat will still have you taking some major lumps.
Jump over a few shockwaves and eventually, Prime will create a pool of Phazon on the ground and disappear. Rush over to that pool of Phazon; when standing on it, you’ll enter Hypermode and be firing off beams of pure Phazon. These beams are the only thing that can damage the Core. Switch to either your Thermal or X-Ray Visor and lock on to Metroid Prime; as soon as you see it, fire and keep holding until.the Phazon runs out! Prime will freely switch its visibility, so keep your fingers on the Visor switch and be ready to change Visors at a moment’s notice.
Once the Core reaches about 75% health, it will start summoning Metroids when it creates the Phazon pools. It will start off by summoning Tallon Metroids; since your regular Beams are useless, I would have the Ice Beam equipped for this whole fight so you can quickly freeze and kill any Tallon or Hunter Metroids. When Prime starts summoning Fission Metroids, you can either lay a Power Bomb to destroy them or race to the Phazon pool and use your Hyper Beam to get rid of them. Do not engage in a regular Beam fight with them, as it takes too long and is too distracting.
That’s really all there is to it. Avoid the shockwaves, destroy the Metroids as soon as they appear, and keep attacking the Core with your Hyper Beam. The Core of Metroid Prime will be destroyed and you will have officially beaten Metroid Prime the game. Congratulations!
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