Kraid appears in the most recent trailer forMetroid Dread, chained to a wall, and attempts to scare Samus - though she retains her cool and simply begins to charge her arm cannon. Kraid’s two appearances in the series could not be any more different, and it’s shaping up to look like his third fight with Samus could also have a lot of interesting mechanics. How exactly Kraid got in this position is unclear as of this writing, but fans of the series should be happy to see at least one-half of the space pirate duo returning inMetroid Dread.
Metroidfrom 1986 and its genre-defining sequelSuper Metroidfrom 1994 saw its main character, Samus, battling all kinds of devious space pirates. Among the highlights in each game have always been their boss fights. In both, Samus came toe-to-toe with two of thehighest-ranking space pirate captains, Ridley and Kraid. While the former has seen more love in the series and has appeared in every mainline game exceptMetroid 2: The Return of SamusandMetroid Prime 2: Echoes, Kraid also should not to underestimated in a fight.
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Kraid in Metroid and Metroid: Zero Mission
Samus and Kraid both made their debut in8-bit graphics on the NES. Kraid is not the easiest boss to reach, as there are many hidden paths and secret doors within Brinstar, and the player is likely to come across a “Mini Kraid” enemy before the actual boss. These “Mini Kraid” enemies are fragile and have slightly different colors than normal Kraid but remain the same size; they also respawn like normal enemies. Once the actual boss fight begins, Kraid appears to be roughly the same height as Samus, and his reptilian stylings and green shading tends to resemble Bowser.
In the 2004 remakeMetroid: Zero Mission,Kraid gets a substantial rework. Among these are the removal of the Mini Kraid enemies, as well as a massive size increase to match his appearance inSuper Metroid. The final boss of the firstMetroid,Mother Brain, also got a revampinSuper Metroid. Many mechanics are the same as the original fight, such as Kraid’s stomach spikes and claw attacks. In this second fight, Kraid now has a weak spot in his mouth that Samus can shoot whenever he opens it to screech. Given his brief appearance in theMetroid Dreadtrailer, it seems likely that his weak spot will be carried over to the new title. In both the originalMetroidandZero Mission, upon defeating Kraid he explodes and is presumed dead.
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Super Metroid, Super Big
As previously mentioned, Kraid received a sizable change in the classic 16-bit gameSuper Metroid. Kraid becomes the largest enemy in the entire game, and one of the biggestbosses that Samus has fought. Much of his boss fight is similar to that in the “first” fight fromMetroid,and especiallyMetroid: Zero Mission. This encounter inSuper Metroidis when his mouth became a weak spot and he gained the ability to launch stomach spikes. Unlike his other appearances, upon being defeated inSuper MetroidKraid simply tunnels beneath the floor instead of exploding.
Super Metroidis the third game in the main series timeline, with onlyMetroid Fusionand the side gameMetroid: Other Moffering added lore prior toMetroid Dread. This means Kraid’s ambiguous death scene inSuper Metroidcould just show him escaping, after which he is seemingly captured between that title andDread. However, it’s also possible that Kraid died inSuper Metroid,as theMetroid Primeseries indicates space pirates have access to cloning abilities that would explain Kraid’s much larger appearance inSuper Metroid,as well as Ridley’s many different appearances. In any case, whether this giant reptile is Kraid himself or a clone, players should be sure to aim for the mouth when encountering him inDread.
