Metroid Fusion/Boss Strategies
From SDA Knowledge Base
Metroid Fusion is notorious for its difficult boss battles, and as such, strategies are provided for all bosses.
Contents
Arachnus
Any%
You should be coming into this fight with 20 missiles. Simply stand in front of him and spam missiles. He takes 15 missiles to go down, and his core-x takes 3 missiles, requiring 18 missiles total.
Arachnus has a random chance to roll, which he is invincible during this animation. If you are spamming missiles, you will usually tink 2 missiles on him; however, this is fine as you can afford to waste two missiles without having to rely on the core-x's drops.
Always leave at least one missile for the core-x (two if you want to double missile it at the start). If Arachnus is not down when you're at one or two missiles, then use your power beam to finish him. This should generally only happen if he rolls at least twice, which is very bad luck.
100%
This is more difficult than any%, as you come into the fight with only 19 missiles (thanks to being forced to get the second e-tank). If Arachnus rolls even once, you generally won't have enough to finish off the core-x without getting drops (You will lose 2 missiles, meaning 17 missiles, and Arachnus requires 15, so you will have 2 left for the core-x, which isn't enough). So try to predict if he'll roll or not and pause in your missile spam to minimize your chances of tinking missiles when he rolls.
If you tink more than one missile, you must get drops from the core-x.
1%
The 1% strategy for Arachnus is the same as any%, except to fire missiles only if the player knows he will hit Arachnus with the missile. It is best to save 1 or 2 missiles for the core-x. Otherwise spam beam shots to damage Arachnus. Don't be afraid to take hits, as you can take several, as long as you don't actually touch Arachnus himself.
Charge Beam Core-X
This fight is the same in all three categories.
Hit the ball in the chozo statue's hand by firing a curved diagonally downward missile (fire a missile diagonally while running), so you can hit it slightly earlier than with your beam.
Stand on the edge of the lower platform, where Samus is standing on it but still able to shoot missiles down. The core-x will be stuck below the platform, aiming diagonally, so it cannot hit Samus. Shoot missiles down when its eye opens; it takes 4 missiles to finish it.
You can finish it in two rounds rather than four if you can manage to do two double missiles, as this is the only beam core-x where it is viable to double missile it outside of TAS. Jump into the ceiling above, and just after you start falling, fire your first missile, then fire the second missile as late as possible before landing. The timing is very precise, but as long as you have enough missiles, there is no reason to not go for it.
Assuming you're going to attempt every double missile, you should come in the room with at least 8 missiles to guarantee you will not lose time, but also have enough missiles for every possible double missile attempt (trying to double missile it if you've already hit the core-x with three missiles is useless). If you have fewer than 8 at the eye door, then grab the red-x.
Videoof doing two double missiles
Zazabi
This fight is the same in all three categories.
Zazabi is a very random boss. He should typically be taken out in 4 rounds.
It is important to note that once you do enough damage in one round to destroy a segment, any extra damage before the next round does not add on damage.
When Zazabi is jumping around, pay attention to how he's jumping. If he suddenly jumps at a slower horizontal speed, then he's about to open his mouth. Get in position and fire your charge shot upward, followed by a few missiles. The number of jumps he does in the first three rounds is completely random; in the last segment, he will always open his mouth.
For the first three rounds, one well-aimed charge shot is enough to end a round. However, it is very easy to be slightly off on the aim and have only half the charge shot hit. So it is advisable to fire an extra missile to ensure that you finish the round, in case the entire charge beam doesn't hit.
The fourth round requires a charge beam and two missiles to finish him. It is recommended to fire three missiles instead of two though, for the same reasons as above.
Deal with the Core-X as usual. It takes four missiles to finish it, or two double missiles.
Serris
This fight is the same in all three categories.
Serris has 50 health, so he can taken out with two close-range charge shots (a full hit with the flare does 26 damage). It is important to finish him in as few shots as possible, as every time he takes damage, he starts speed boosting, and he is invincible while speed boosting.
Serris has several patterns he can use:
- Straight across the room, left to right
- Straight across the room, right to left
- Zigzagging the platforms left to right, then jumping out right to left
- Zigzagging the platforms right to left, the jumping out left to right
- Serris dives out of a random gap and dives into another gap two gaps away
When the fight starts, Serris will always do the fourth pattern. You can consistently hit a full charge by either:
- Climb on the very left edge of the ceiling runs and aim left. Serris will fly straight into you; you can hit him here.
- Stand on the right edge of the 2nd platform from the right (the platform you step on when the floor crumbles) and aim diagonally up-right. Serris will come down directly in front of you.
The first option is generally the most preferred, and is faster as it hits Serris earlier. You should always be on one of the two center platforms, or on the rungs above them.
Dodging Serris is very easy once you know his patterns, and you want to dodge his speed boosting attacks since he's invincible during this time. Holding the ceiling runs will dodge all of his patterns except the latter half of both zig-zag patterns. If he uses a zig-zag pattern, then drop down after he zig-zags, then grab the rungs after he jumps over you.
For the second charge beam shot, the strategy comes down to reacting to which pattern Serris does and hitting him up-close. Pause buffering is a good starting strat, especially if you are focusing only on in-game time.
- The easiest pattern is the first two; you can easily just shoot him from standing on the platform just before he hits you.
- If he zig-zags right to left, you can shoot him on the 2nd platform from the left, or shoot him on the rungs above the 2nd platform from the right
- Vice-versa if he zig-zags left to right
- If he uses the last pattern, with a single small dive, and he ends his dive near you, you can hit him with a diagonal shot. However, his hitbox will be farther than if he was diving from a zigzag, so it is very difficult to hit him with a flared charge shot; it's advisable to simply wait until a different pattern.
Finish the core-x as standard. It takes 5 missiles, or two doubles and a single, to finish Serris. The room can make it very awkward to land a double missile on it; to lure the core-x in a higher position, either lure it low then walljump off the top of a wall to lure it high, or grab the rungs then drop down so it swings past you high up.
BOX
This fight is functionally the same in all three categories. However, you want to make sure to miss as few missiles as possible in any% and especially moreso in 1%, as you need every single super missile in 1%; if you use more than 10 super missiles in 1%, you will likely lose time later on as you need all 5 remaining super missiles.
BOX takes 10 super missiles to defeat. Run up to BOX aiming diagonally down while it's stuck in the wall. Get close to it, jump and shoot a charged beam and a missile diagonally down. If BOX is hit at the very start, he will immediately start jumping, which is what you want. The charge beam's purpose is not to deal damage (it doesn't affect how many missiles it takes to finish BOX), but rather, as insurance to make sure you can hit BOX to make him jump in case the missile misses.
After the initial hit, immediately grab the right edge of the rungs above. If you're fast, you can squeeze in some super missiles by shooting diagonally down-right before BOX is directly below you. When he is below you, you have just enough time to pump 4 super missiles directly down before he opens his cannon.
When he opens his cannon, climb to the left above the bomb. When he puts away his cannon, you can fire more supers diagonally down-right before he jumps again. Ideally he should be dead at this point.
If he is not yet done, then climb to the right edge of the rungs again (the fire pillars won't hit you) then wait for him to jump below you. Fire missiles directly down.
If he's still not dead, then just repeat the above two paragraphs.
Mega-X
Firing missiles at the mega-x while in the data room does NOT do anything!
When entering the boss room, come in with a charged beam, as it is the only weapon that damages it. It will appear once you jump right of the edge of the center platform. It will always start at the very top-left corner of the room.
Any% / 100%
You can finish the Mega-X with four full flared charge shots. The most consistent method of doing these is to straight jump into the Mega-X, take damage, then shoot your beam while inside of it. Make sure to NOT spin jump or else you will pseudo-screw attack it.
1%
This strategy vastly differs from Any%, as without any energy tanks, Samus cannot reliably 4HKO Mega-X with flare shots without dying. As such, it is best to predict where Mega-X flies and hit it with charge shots from far away. The key is to not take damage during the fight.
The core-x takes 6 super missiles to finish. Three double super missiles will defeat it.
Wide Beam Core-X
This is the same in all three categories.
Similar to fighting the Charge Beam Core-X, after shooting the X scientist, stand on the right edge of the top left platform. Here, the core-x will get stuck underneath and aim diagonally, so as long as you stay above it, it can't hit you.
The Wide Beam Core-X takes four ice missiles to finish. Feel free to fire all four missiles while on this safe spot.
The faster strategy is to lure it down to the sweetspot of the Wide Beam ability after hitting it with two ice missiles. On the platform above, lure it left to give it some space, then while falling down, shoot your third ice missile left horizontally into its open eye. Wait a little at the right side of the bottom floor, then run left, jump and hit it in the middle of your ascent with the last missile when its eye opens at the sweetspot. At the height of your jump, fall right into the ability.
videoof sweetspotting it quickly.
Yakuza
The general strategy for Yakuza is the same for all three categories; minor difference will be mentioned. This is the most complicated, trick-filled, and fast-paced fight in the game, making it likely the most difficult boss to speedrun overall.
Phase 1
The moment you land and the ground shakes, you can damage Yakuza before he comes down because his mouth is open to shoot fire. Stand in the center of the room and jump up, firing ice missiles while jumping up repeatedly. You'll hear him screech if you're damaging him; the missiles will only hit if you're jumping up.
After that, Yakuza will crawl around the room between 1-4 times randomly. To skip part of him crawling around the room once, you can jump into his claws to get grabbed, then break out by mashing left and right; this saves a little bit of time as long as you get grabbed higher up. Obviously you shouldn't do this in 1%.
To dodge him crawling, simply morph in the corner. This usually works; it only does not work if he starts crawling from the very opposite corner of you (i.e. if he stops at the very top left corner and starts crawling, he will grab you if you're morphed in the bottom-right corner).
Whether you get grabbed intentionally or dodge his crawl, whenever he eventually opens his mouth, fire one charge beam then a volley of missiles. As long as you damaged Yakuza before the fight started, you should easily be able to finish this round the first time he opens his mouth.
Yakuza has 1000 health. Once you have dealt at least 500 damage to him, he will start round 2 and reset to 500 HP. Thus, doing extra damage does not help unless you can somehow bring him to 0 health in one round.
Phase 2
Have a beam charged while Yakuza is transitioning. Just when his legs break off, you have just enough time to squeeze in a charged wide beam shot along with two ice missiles to quickly take off 125 damage, before he starts jumping.
There are two strategies you can use here: missile strat or charge beam strat. The missile strat is faster than the charge beam strat, but much more difficult and requires a strong instinct of knowing how yakuza moves randomly. In 1%, the charge beam strat must be used as you do not have enough missiles for the missile strategy.
Missile Strategy
The faster and more difficult option. The idea is to hit Yakuza with a missile as quickly as possible after each jump by jumping up with him and aiming properly. However, you have almost no time to predict where he'll go, so you need to have a very strong instinct of this round in order to use this strat. After hitting him with a missile in the air, land, then immediately jump to where you think he'll be next, and shoot a missile into him again. Repeat.
If you find the charge beam strategy too difficult to time, then feel free to fire missiles from the ground instead. While this is significantly slower, it gives you much more time to know where he'll be, and more room for error.
videoof the full fight with the missile strategy.
Charge Beam Strategy
For this strategy, Samus will stay on the ground the entire time, using charged wide beam shots. Each complete space jump takes just enough time for Samus to barely charge her wide beam. So after Yakuza finishes a space jump, hit him with a charged wide beam shot then immediately start charging again and repeat.
If you miss a shot, then it is recommended to skip Yakuza's next space jump to ensure you have a fully charged shot. It is very easy to release the shot just before it's fully charged.
You must use this strategy for 1% as you do not have enough missiles to use the Missile Strategy.
Regardless of how you defeat Yakuza's second form, defeat his core-x as usual. It takes 6 ice missiles to defeat his core-x.
videoof a 1% fight with the charge beam strategy
Nettori
Nettori has 2000 HP, and is one of the longest bosses in the game. Before entering the arena, immediately drop a power bomb just before falling down the crumble block, as it clears the pollen early in the fight to let you get on the safe spot, and also damages Nettori.
There are two safe spots that Samus can stand on reliably safely without getting hit by the pollen.
1. Samus cannot be hit by either flower if she is crouched on the very left edge of the right platform.
2. The left flower will stop dropping pollen if Samus is standing on the very righ edge of the right platform; the right flower will not hit Samus.
It is recommended to stand on the right edge, as it brings Samus closer to Nettori and allows her to damage the boss more quickly, but it is somewhat negligible and comes down to personal preference.
Strategies on which weapon to use depends on the category, as this is the one fight where having a high missile count changes how to damage Nettori.
Regardless of which strategy you use, after phase 1, Nettori starts firing plasma shots. If it fires a high shot, crouch to dodge it. If it fires a low shot, do a short hop and shoot at Nettori high. Regardless of which height it shoots at, you can always hit it with an ice missile at standing position.
After the plant is down, defeat the plasma beam core-x as standard. It takes five ice missiles to finish it.
100%
Samus's best form of DPS is spamming ice missiles, at least humanly possible. Planting power bombs will only slow down shooting ice missiles, and does only 10 more damage, so it is not worth planting power bombs (except dropping one for starting the fight). Charge beam should not be used either, except as the very first shot when starting the fight.
1%
Be prepared for a very tediously long charge-beam spam fest, as you only have 15 missiles and 10 power bombs.
Use a charge shot, then immediately after shooting it, fire a missile then start charging again. Repeat this until you're out of missiles. Whenever there isn't a power bomb on the screen, plant a power bomb in between charge shots as well. It is important to prioritize not taking a hit nor fall into the flowers, as the plasma beam does a lot of damage to Samus, and two hits will kill you.
Any%
This fight can vary depending on how many missiles you have, and is the most complicated strategy; it is basically the 1% and 100% strats put together. 50 ice missiles are exactly enough to finish Nettori, so adding on the initial power bomb and wave beam shot, you can finish Nettori in about 48 missiles. In the ideal fusion any% route, you'll only have 40 missiles, but if you collected more expansions and have at least 50 missiles, then feel free to use the 100% strat.
Otherwise you'll have to compensate for the missing missiles. Take 48 - the number of missiles you have, and that's roughly how many charge beams and power bombs combined you will need to compensate. It is advised to fire an extra charge shot or two, as it is very easy to tink a missile on nettor's plasma shot. So follow the 1% strat until you've compensated for those missiles, then start spamming ice missiles.
Nightmare
Any% / 100%
Phase 1 & 2
While Nightmare is still spawning, stand right below where his weakpoint will be, with a beam charged. Just when the fight starts, shoot it up and follow it with a missile to end phase 1 instantly.
Stay below his weakpoint, using charged plasma shots to continuously damage it. Make sure that you get good clean shots that stay inside the weakpoint as long as possible, so the plasma beam deals maximum damage. You shouldn't lose more than 100 health by tanking hits, as long as you're shooting clean charged plasma shots. You should end this phase in around 4-5 shots. If you can time it well, firing a missile between each shot helps speed it up as well.
Phase 3
While waiting for Nightmare's mask to fall off, grab the ladder on the left with a charge beam and get ready to aim right to his face. Just when it breaks off, release the plasma beam shot and mash on your ice missiles. Keep spamming ice missiles until he touches you and knocks you off (jump away early if you have less than 100 health, but you really shouldn't), then watch his patterns and react accordingly. Try to lure him into the center-right side of the room so he stops, and you can grab the ladder and pump missiles into him again. As long as you came into the fight maxed on missiles in any% (at least 40 missiles), you should easily finish Nightmare in two rounds during this phase. Try to finish nightmare as close to the right side as possible, as nightmare is the only non-core-x that also has a sweetspot (he slowly floats to his death spot before actually dying, so the closer he is to it, the less time he'll waste). Finish the core-x as standard.
1%
Nightmare in 1% is notorious for ending 1% runs as well as being the most difficult boss for 1% challenge runs. None of his attacks do at least 100 damage, but almost everything does at least 50. A rule in mind is that you can only take one hit safely before dying.
Phase 1 & 2
This phase is significantly different, as you can't afford to take any hits. Instead, space jump in the top-left corner to lure him high up when he starts. Fall down, shoot a charged plasma shot up from below. If round 1 isn't done, then repeat until phase 2 starts.
You want to make sure he's very high up when starting phase 2 (aka when the high-gravity starts). He'll take a long time to hover all the way down; during this time, stand below him and repeatedly shoot plasma charged shots. As long as you're fine with your timing, you should easily finish this phase before he gets anywhere near you; run to the left and grab the ladder as in the any%/100% strat.
Note that you want all three parts of the plasma beam to hit his weakpoint in phase 2. The right arm wiggles left and right; if it's on the left when you shoot your plasma shot, then the right beam will tink on his arm. Once you can see Nightmare, time your shots so they go to his weakpoint while the right arm is swinging right, so it doesn't block it.
Phase 3
Instead of pumping missiles as in any%/100%, you should keep alternating between charged plasma beam shots and ice missiles. Ice missiles are easy to squeeze in between plasma beam shots without slowing down your charged shots too much. When nightmare gets close, space jump out and space jump in the upper-right corner; observe which way he's going to chase you, and dodge accordingly, luring him into the sweetspot so he stops and you can start spamming shots again.
While nightmare chases you, you should have a charged plasma shot, and try to R shoot his face while space jumping whenever the opportunity arises. Every little bit helps, and you need every little bit you can get.
Also, sometimes you'll have to jump through his arm to dodge. You can safely pseudo-screw attack through his arms without taking damage, which is more reason to constantly have your plasma beam charged.
Be sure to save one missile for the core-x.
BOX-2
Ridley
The key to fighting Ridley is to use charged wave beam shots. Because of Ridley's huge hitbox, well-aimed shots will stay inside of him longer and potentially do several hundred damage per shot. However, his tail blocks wave beam shots, so always make sure your shot isn't going to be blocked early.
100%
The fastest strategy is to fight Ridley while on the ground.
At the start, stand to the right of Ridley. the moment Ridley comes out, jump and fire a charged wave shot diagonally down. Do it again. As he starts rising up, fire a charged wave shot diagonally up so it travels with him a few more frames. He'll fly to the right after; stand slightly right of the center of the room and shoot a charged wave shot up.
From here on out, Ridley's movements are essentially random. Prioritize shooting diagonal charged wave beam shots, but if his tail is blocking the way, don't be afraid to use vertical shots (or even jump and use a horizontal shot).
If your timing is very good, you can fire a diffusion missile in between every charged wave beam shot. If done optimally, adding a missile between every charge shot saves one or two extra charged wave beam shots in the long run. However, you should only fire missiles in between if your timing is very, very, very right.
1%
The easiest and most reliable strategy to defeat Ridley in 1% is the corner strategy.
While waiting for the fight to begin, charge your beam and keep B held the entire fight. Aim diagonally down and hold L the entire fight, without ever pressing up. Start space jumping in the upper left corner; Ridley will not be able to hit you here, and will simply hover back and forth as long as you time your space jumps correctly. R-shoot the beam diagonally down-right while Ridley stupidly hovers below you and repeat. It is recommended to shoot your beam while he hovers to the right, as the shot will stay inside of him longer, dealing more damage.
Be careful not to touch Ridley's tail during his death animation!
Any%
Generally you should follow the 100% strategy. However, if you find yourself taking too much damage, near death, or simply unable to fight him on the ground without dying, then you can also use the 1% strategy as it is only marginally slower.
SA-X
The strategy is the same for all three categories. Be aware that a single hit will kill you in 1%, however.
Phase 1
When entering the big room before the Operations Deck, the fight activates when you approach the locked door at the top-left corner, when the room rumbles. Immediately when the room rumbles, run off right, stand on the right edge of the left platform, and fire a missile right. If well-timed, you should freeze the SA-X just as it lands on the right platform.
Do a straight jump high then fire a charged wave beam shot diagonally down with a missile immediately after (Hold L the entire time). The wave shot should heavily damage the SA-X, and it should be hit by the diffusion missile just before it thaws, so it stays frozen. Repeat this until it crouches in pain. The perfect fight finishes the SA-X in four charged wave beam shots, though five is generally standard.
Timing of the shots is key, as you have absolutely no room for error. You must start charging your beam the instant you fire your missile, you must fire your charge beam the moment it finishes charging, and you must fire the next missile almost at the same time as when you fire your beam. It's almost required to R-shot the charge beam so you're already ready to fire the missile within the next few frames. It's also almost required to let go of R the moment you shoot your missile, so you start charging as early as possible.
If you let the SA-X free, and it gets off the right platform, then fight it on the ground level. Freezing it should be easy; just keep in mind that you can't freeze it while it is screw attacking.
If the fastest strat proves to be too difficult and/or risky for you (and understandably so; it requires a lot of practice and is one of the most difficult strategies in the game), then when starting the fight, just go to the ground level and the SA-X will land to your left. You can use an easier diagonal strat by using shorter jumps while right next to it, which is only marginally slower.
If you can't use the diagonal strat, or it messes up your timing, then feel free to shoot your beam+missile horizontally from the ground level instead. It is much easier, though it will take roughly 7-9 shots to kill instead of 4-6.
Phase 2
Have a charged wave beam and stand right in front of it as it transforms into monster SA-X. Just after it finishes transforming, shoot the wave beam diagonally up-forward into it, then charge another beam and shoot vertically up. If done well, the second shot will kill it because the beam will travel with monster SA-X as it jumps up, doing a ridiculous amount of damage. Run to where it lands with a charged wave beam and shoot it during its death animation. The reason you want a third charged shot is insurance in case the first two didn't finish it, but you need to be near it after it lands for it to activate Phase 3.
Phase 3
This is the most dangerous beam core-x in the game, because the ice beam it shoots does over 100 damage, which will kill you in one hit in 1%, and should still be avoided in any%. Note that the Ice Beam Core-X cannot damage you while you are screw attacking; its ice beam doesn't damage you while screw attacking, nor does touching it. Use the typical strat of standing over the edge of a platform while the core-x hovers below you stupidly; just be careful not to hit its eye with a diffusion missile while it's still wiggling or else it might shoot straight up and hit you. Hit it after it stabilizes and aims diagonally. The Ice Beam Core-X takes 6 diffusion missiles to kill; after 5 missiles, start space jumping up to the top then shoot a missile down to kill it near the sweetspot; immediately go into spin to screw attack so the ice beam doesn't damage you.
Omega Metroid
The speedrunning strategy is the same for all three categories.
After watching the SA-X get swiped by the Omega Metroid, charge your beam while jumping into the ice beam ability. Your beam will charge during the acquisition animation, which will let your first shot deal more damage.
The key to defeating Omega Metroid is to deal damage to it so fast that it continuously staggers. While it is against the right wall, there is a specific spot that Samus can stand such that by shooting diagonally into Omega Metroid's body, the center beam of the ice beam travels through it, dealing damage for every frame it is inside it.
Run towards the Omega Metroid to lure it to swipe you, dodge it by running left, then run into position during its cooldown from swiping. Once you're in position, start shooting the ice beam as fast as possible, and if you are shooting it quickly enough, it'll continuously stagger until it dies. If you feel like you're not in position, lure it to swipe again. At all costs, do not let Omega Metroid walk left or else you will lose your position, and you will have resort to the slower strategy of repeatedly running in, shooting a few times, then running out.
For 1%, be sure to practice this strategy as much as possible. One hit will kill you. This strategy, once practiced, is arguably safer than running back and forth as there are very few chances of Omega Metroid to swipe you.
Videoof defeating the Omega Metroid quickly
