Acid Worm

Acid worm should only be fought in 100%.

Before Cleanup

This is the standard strategy used, as most routes fight acid worm before fighting Kraid. Acid worm takes 30 missiles to finish off, and can be taken down in 2 rounds.

Take the zipline, and when you land on the left side, fire three missiles forward into it. Wait a little bit, then fall into the acid and line yourself by pressing against the block you were standing on while falling to the ground. Fire around 15-17 missiles up when it crashes into the wall above you.

After this round, wait a bit, then walljump back up. Immediately drop back in the same spot in the acid, so it'll crash into the wall. Move a pixel or two to the left (for some reason, missiles will tink if you fire from exactly the same spot as the first round), then fire more missiles (probably around 10 more) to finish it off.

It's important to wait a bit after the first round, since if you go up too quickly, it'll use its attack to rise the acid level.

During Cleanup

You should be using this strategy if you did AWS in early Kraid, so you'll have super missiles and plasma beam for this fight.

Come in with a charged plasma shot. Take the zipline, and fire it straight down just as you pass by it, so it'll damage it. Just before dropping off the zipline, fire a super diagonally down-right, then three supers straight after you land. You can squeeze one more super missile by shooting it diagonally down-right as it goes down, but it's safer to shoot a few normal plasma shots instead. Wait a little, then drop into the acid and fire your plasma beam up when it hits the wall above you; this should finish it.

Kraid

No Super Missiles

Kraid takes 15 normal missiles into the mouth to kill, and an extra missile for each time you need to open his mouth. At least 25-30 is recommended for newer players; more experienced plays should be able to beat him regularly with 20 at max.

Hold left before the fight starts. When it starts, spam normal missiles forward to slam a few into his mouth while positioning yourself on the very right edge of the platform. Positioning here is important as Kraid can't slash you for the beginning chunk of the fight. Do short hop, and shoot a missile forward with each hop into his mouth. Repeat very quickly.

Alternatively, you can do a slightly higher hop, shooting one missile during the ascent and another during the descent. This is faster, but also more difficult to time.

Ideally you should be able to finish him in two rounds (before he closes his mouth the second time, including the time he closes his mouth at the very start).

This is the standard strategy for 100% or Kraid First Any% runs.

Super Missiles

Make sure you have at least 3 supers before coming into the fight.

Hold left before the fight starts. When it starts, simply shoot three super missiles forward quickly and Kraid will go down instantly. If the third one was a bit late, you can fire your fourth one into his mouth with a short hop. Kraid takes exactly 3 supers to kill.

This is done in Ridley First Any% runs.

Imago Cocoon

There are six vines, three on each side, and only missiles and super missiles damage them. Each vine takes 3 missiles to blow up (one super missile works too). The outermost vines can be reached by shooting missiles straight up from the ground. When entering the fight, the ripper will always be at the center, flying down and towards the right wall.

Note that in 100%, you always want to be left with exactly one super missile tank, as there is a green door you need to open immediately upon entering Ridley. So if you're coming in with 4 supers, you should use exactly 3 of them on the cocoon.

Ice Beam

You should use this strategy for any%.

Destroy the outermost left vine from the ground while waiting for the ripper to go towards the right wall (if you're fast, you can destroy the outermost right vine too). Freeze the ripper, then jump on it and start firing missiles up-left to destroy all the right vines. Hop off, then go to the left wall, walljump to the top, and fire two missiles right then one right-up while falling (if well timed, all three will hit a vine). Repeat to finish the left side off. When freezing the ripper, make sure it's relatively low, as you don't have hi jump to reach it with a jump if it's higher up against the right wall.

Hi Jump

You should use this strategy for 100% if you did late ice beam. You should be coming in with 4 super missiles (6 if you're using lower norfair cleanup route).

Destroy the outermost right vine from the ground. Hi-Jump right and fire a super into the next right vine; repeat (you may get hit by the ripper). Go to the left side and fire three missiles straight up. Blow up the next two vines via either hi-jump+super, or walljump to the top and fire two normal missiles forward and one diagonally up while falling.

Ice Beam + Hi Jump

You should use this strategy for 100% if you did early ice beam. You should be coming in with 4 super missiles probably.

Destroy the outermost left vine from the ground, and quickly hi jump to super missile the inner two vines on the left side. The ripper should be somewhat high on the right side of the wall; freeze it, get on it, and destroy all the right vines with normal missiles.

Imago

You should be fighting Imago after you have several super missile tanks, and only in the 100% category (he is never fought in any%), as the only thing this fight accomplishes is another super missile tank. Make sure that you have 8 super missiles before leaving Ridley to fight Imago.

Imago takes exactly 8 super missiles to kill. Wait at the left side of the room and crouch. When he appears in front of you, start running right and shoot all 8 of your super missiles forward. After your 8th super missile, run back left and wait for him to crash into the wall and die.

You can still one-round imago with only 6 supers; you have enough time to pump 10 normal missiles into him before he reaches the right side, after firing 6 normal missiles. This is still slower than coming in with 8 supers though, and should only be used as a back-up, or if RNG was not favoring you with super drops after defeating Ridley.

Ridley

This is a boss?

Mother Brain

The glass of mother brain takes 20 normal missiles (or 4 super missiles) to shatter. Mother Brain itself has 700 health, which is equivalent to exactly 7 super missiles, or 35 normal missiles. Come into this fight with 4 supers and several normal missiles (at least 35).

Shatter the glass first, jumping back and forth to dodge the turrets and the red rings. Once it is shattered, Mother Brain will open its eye. Shoot four normal missiles then one super into it. Dodge its beam, then try to land on the ledge just next to it; you can stand on the very right tip of it safely. Crouch, aim diagonally up-left, and shoot four normal missiles then one super missile. Immediately morph so its attack shoots over you, then unmorph, and repeat while crouched. You should do this a total of 3 times to finish it off. Essentially you finish it in four rounds, using 4 missiles and then one super for each. (You can replace one of these rounds with 3 missiles and one super to save a tiny bit of time).

• If you fall into the lava, and you have high jump, you can just do a straight jump out of the lava and on the right tip of its tank again.
• The turrets can't reach you from the tip of the tank. However, the red rings will; take the time to freeze them in the middle of firing missiles.
• Don't rush the missiles if you're not used to it yet. Its eye will stay open for a very long time, and will only close once you do enough damage to it, or fall in the lava.
• You can also use double super missiles per round. Simply fire one super after shattering its glass, then when at the sweetspot on the right tip of the tank, unmorph and fire two supers just as it shoots its beam (it'll barely miss you). If the first super hits it early enough, its eye will still stay open. However, this strategy requires you to come in with 7 supers as opposed to only 4.
  • The double super strat seems to save time, but honestly it doesn't save much. You can easily use extra supers to save time on the glass and go back to the standard strategy anyways.

Chozo Statue

The chozo statue, also nicknamed Charlie by the zero mission community, is taken down with four fully-charged stunner shots. The mirror is vulnerable only when it flashes, and requires fast reflexes; when the mirror lights up is random and cannot be 100% predicted. Keep in mind, everything that does damage in this fight does 50 damage on normal mode.

The first round, the mirror is in the very center and will not attack. Shoot it when it lights up.

The second and third round, it will bounce around the room slowly. As long as you are constantly moving left and right or walljumping, it will not fire lightning; keep moving so the lightning doesn't hinder your aim when the mirror lights up.

The last round is when it moves very erratically, and it will fire lightning regardless of whether you're moving or not. Be careful of the lightning, as when it hits the ground, it splits into two sparks that travel across the ground; jump over these.

Mecha Ridley

Any%

Mecha Ridley (also nicknamed Iron Ted by the zero mission community) has 560 health in any%, and is easily taken down with 6 supers, or 5 supers and 3 normal missiles.

His first pattern is random, but he will usually swipe his arm; because of that, you should NOT start with supers, as you want to conserve them until after his first attack. Thus, start shooting normal missiles rapidly until his first attack ends. Quickly pump in 5 super missiles into his chest (short hop then shoot your missile), and he should go down.

100%

Mecha Ridley's health goes up dramatically if you have all 100 items, and he does considerably more damage as well, making this fight much more difficult than in any%. He takes several super missiles to destroy, but at the same time, you should probably have at least 20. It's important to miss with as few supers as possible, since you want a few super missiles for hitting the workbot to escape chozodia.