History AwesomeBosses / Metroid

** The encounter with the Omega Pirate is a contender for the hardest boss in the game, but it's also amazing. One of the best parts is when you first enter his arena; he waits within a capsule at the end of a Phazon-lined cavern, towering above even the Elite Pirates you've fought until now (with a unique track that never plays anywhere else in the game). He breaks out and the battle begins, a truly fearsome confrontation that will test your mobility, aim, and strategy as he summons waves of Beam Troopers and hammers you with Phazon attacks. One of the coolest moments is when he goes invisible in order to start healing, roaring what sounds like ''"FINISH HER!"'' before laughing as Samus fights off the Troopers. Plus, you get the [[spoiler:Phazon Suit]] afterwards, one of the coolest upgrades in the game. How do you get it? [[spoiler:The dude just melts on top of you!]]

** The encounter with the Omega Pirate is a contender for the hardest boss in the game, but it's also amazing. One of the best parts is when you first enter his arena; he waits within a capsule at the end of a Phazon-lined cavern, towering above even the Elite Pirates you've fought until now (with a unique track that never plays anywhere else in the game). He breaks out and the battle begins, a truly fearsome confrontation that will test your mobility, aim, and strategy as he summons waves of Beam Troopers and hammers you with Phazon attacks. One of the coolest moments is when he goes invisible in order to start healing, roaring what sounds like ''"GET HER!"'' before laughing as Samus fights off the Troopers. Plus, you get the [[spoiler:Phazon Suit]] afterwards, one of the coolest upgrades in the game. How do you get it? [[spoiler:The dude just melts on top of you!]]

** The encounter with the Omega Pirate is a contender for the hardest boss in the game, but it's also amazing. One of the best parts is when you first enter his arena; he waits within a capsule at the end of a Phazon-lined cavern, towering above even the Elite Pirates you've fought until now (with a unique track that never plays anywhere else in the game). He breaks out and the battle begins, a truly fearsome confrontation that will test your mobility, aim, and strategy as he summons waves of Beam Troopers and hammers you with Phazon attacks. One of the coolest moments is when he goes invisible in order to start healing, calling Troopers and roaring what sounds like ''"GET HER!"'' Plus, you get the [[spoiler:Phazon Suit]] afterwards, one of the coolest upgrades in the game. How do you get it? [[spoiler:The dude just melts on top of you!]]

** The encounter with the Omega Pirate is a contender for the hardest boss in the game, but it's also amazing. One of the best parts is when you first enter his arena; he waits within a capsule at the end of a Phazon-lined cavern, towering above even the Elite Pirates you've fought until now (with a unique track that never plays anywhere else in the game). He breaks out and the battle begins, a truly fearsome confrontation that will test your mobility, aim, and strategy as he summons waves of Beam Troopers and hammers you with Phazon attacks. One of the coolest moments is when he goes invisible in order to start healing, calling Troopers and yelling in muffled English ''"GET HER!" Plus, you get the [[spoiler:Phazon Suit]] afterwards, one of the coolest upgrades in the game. How do you get it? [[spoiler:The dude just melts on top of you!]]

** The encounter with the Omega Pirate is a contender for the hardest boss in the game, but it's also amazing. One of the best parts is when you first enter his arena; he waits within a capsule at the end of a Phazon-lined cavern, towering above even the Elite Pirates you've fought until now (with a unique track that never plays anywhere else in the game). He breaks out and the battle begins, a truly fearsome confrontation that will test your mobility, aim, and strategy as he summons waves of Beam Troopers and hammers you with Phazon attacks. Plus, you get the [[spoiler:Phazon Suit]] afterwards, one of the coolest upgrades in the game. How do you get it? [[spoiler:The dude just melts on top of you!]]

** The [[spoiler:Queen Metroid]] encounter in ''[[VideoGame/MetroidOtherM Other M]]'', which definitely delivers as far as 3D boss translations go. Special mention goes to the climax, where you [[spoiler:''blow it up from the inside out with a Power Bomb while your health ticks away like there's no tomorrow.'']]. There's a bit of overlap with ThatOneBoss. While fighting it, you've also got a growing swarm of Metroids during the fight [[spoiler:while you put mommy down]]. This is the first and only time in the entire game where you run into the bastards, and they get killed just as you would expect; freeze 'em, and blast 'em with missiles. Doesn't seem too bad, but keep in mind there's a lot of them, and you have to switch to first person to fire missiles. So let's review: You've got to freeze one, stop and leave yourself vulnerable to the other three or four, aim at the one you froze, and hope to blast it with enough missiles before one of its buddies takes a bite. And if one DOES take a bite, it will drain your health FAST and you probably won't get yourself free before the frozen one thaws. [[spoiler:''All the while avoiding their rampaging mother.'']] It does get better as you wear down their numbers, but dealing with them is far from easy. Still, all this makes it so satisfying to watch the actual boss get vaporized.

* ''VideoGame/MetroidSamusReturns'': It's widely agreed that Diggernaut is the coolest boss in the game, and not just because of its cool design. You encounter it several times before the boss fight, a classic ''Metroid'' staple to up the tension. When you finally fight it, you're thrust into a brutal war that's a lot more intense than the battles you've had so far with the wildlife of [=SR388=]. Diggernaut does tons of damage, so every move matters - fortunately, you can get creative with the recently-acquired Spider Ball to avoid many of its attacks. It can be a long and grueling battle, but it's worth it for the way Samus [[spoiler: [[OffhandBackhand effortlessly deals the final blow]]]].

** Quadraxis from ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime2Echoes'' is pretty sweet too, being a HumongousMecha and all. It's a '''much different''' version of the Quads you've been fighting all throughout the Sanctuary Fortress and Ing Hive, except instead of being about your size, it's twenty times bigger. Then it uses the Annihilator Beam against you, other forms of lasers, spinning attacks that literally draw you in for a good chunk of damage if you don't backpedal and shoot a Super Missile's worth of damage to undo the vortex spin, and is just generally huge. After hitting its weak points on its knee joints, it's dismantled. But you're not done yet! Then it tries to repair itself, where you blast the core with beam attacks in Echo Visor mode (yeah, most of the body was destroyed halfway through the fight already) before attacking its floating head, and THEN after that, you finally hit it again a few more times by planting bombs in its head by using the Spider Ball and Boost Ball up there. After that, you're finally done, where the head flies around and destroys everything else, and Samus makes a ThreePointLanding from morph ball mode, while the head bounces around behind her, and the Annihilator Beam appears for the taking. You literally dismantle it bit by bit, and it is epic, with the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTbagKhTaNk dark, menacing music]] being the icing on the cake. It's even more awesome if you fight Quadraxis on a [[SelfImposedChallenge No Dark Suit Run]].
** Also from ''Echoes'' is the Adult Chykka. After the hell that is Torvus Bog, a fast and furious fight with a giant mutant dragonfly is just the palette cleanser necessary. After killing the (laughably easy and ''very'' boring) Larvaform Chykka, it turns into a cocoon and metamorphoses in a matter of seconds, then bursts free. The first phase of the fight features you stunning it with your weapons, then blasting its wings off. Then, it falls into dark water and becomes Darkform Chykka, which you kill by... unloading your Light Beam on its egg sac-filled stomach. All the while, it spawns hordes of Chykklings to assault you.

* Also, [[EvilCounterpart Dark Samus.]] Period. ''Any'' fight with her is pretty much guaranteed to be ''absolutely epic'', what with her using your own powers against you ([[spoiler:or in ''Prime 3'', the other hunters' as well]]), often [[ToxicPhlebotinum Phazon]]-enhanced, and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnYAqv1jgzI this]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFOqGV-6bck music]] playing in the background. It doesn't hurt that it's a nice break from fifty-foot monstrosities that you have to crawl all over to defeat, feeling something more like a superpowered shootout.
** In ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime2'', after defeating the Emperor Ing after everything you've been through and all of its three forms and damage you've taken, you're treated to the familiar sight of the escape countdown. The problem? Just as you get out of the Temple, Dark Samus interrupts your escape and starts the true final boss fight. No healing beforehand allowed, and the timer is '''still counting down'''. Plus you get that awesome escape remix, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-A1_ce2PxhA complete with emergency beeps so you won't forget the timer is still up.]]

* ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime3Corruption'':
** All of the [[spoiler:corrupted hunters]] double as this and a [[spoiler:TearJerker]].
*** The fight with [[spoiler:Ghor]] gets a lot of build-up, as you meet him earlier in [=SkyTown=] as he taunts and sabotages your efforts. Then, you get a transmission from your Gunship that it's under attack. You race back to the landing platform to find [[spoiler:Ghor, in full battle armor, beating the ever-loving shit out of your whip! Then he throws it at you and the fight begins]]. The subsequent battle is a very creative one, involving clever use of your bombs, Ice Missiles, and Boost Ball to take down your oversized opponent.
*** [[spoiler:Gandrayda]]'s battle isn't too shabby either. After being assisted by what seems to be a stranded GF trooper, [[spoiler:he suddenly attacks you from behind, revealing him to be Gandrayda in disguise]]. In the battle that follows, she takes on the forms of previous enemies including [[spoiler: a Berserker Knight, a Pirate Aerotrooper, Rundas, Ghor, and even ''Samus herself'']]. Even when she's not using her shapeshifting powers, she is incredibly acrobatic and throws electric blades at you as she swirls around the arena.
*** The battle with [[spoiler:Rundas]] is the most heart-wrenching of them all, occurring earlier in the game when your friendship with him is still fresh. During a scuffle with some Space Pirates, ice suddenly appears and kills them all, before [[spoiler:Rundas]] appears to stare you down. For a second, you wonder if he's still an ally, but he makes his intentions clear and the fight begins. He soars around the stage, hopping from pillar to pillar, shooting sheets of ice and swinging giant mauls as you frantically try to rip his armor off. The frantic nature of the battle is only heightened by the beautiful and terrifying soundtrack, possibly the best boss theme in the game. When it's over, [[spoiler:Rundas seems to momentarily come back to his senses, before he is suddenly impaled by his own icicles - whether it was Dark Samus' doing or self-termination is left vague]].
* ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM''

* ''VideoGame/MetroidSamusReturns''
** It's widely agreed that Diggernaut is the coolest boss in the game, and not just because of its cool design. You encounter it several times before the boss fight, a classic ''Metroid'' staple to up the tension. When you finally fight it, you're thrust into a brutal war that's a lot more intense than the battles you've had so far with the wildlife of [=SR388=]. Diggernaut does tons of damage, so every move matters - fortunately, you can get creative with the recently-acquired Spider Ball to avoid many of its attacks. It can be a long and grueling battle, but it's worth it for the way Samus [[spoiler: [[OffhandBackhand effortlessly deals the final blow]]]].

** It's widely agreed that Diggernaut is the coolest boss in the game, and not just because of its cool design. You encounter it several times before the boss fight, a classic ''Metroid'' staple to up the tension. When you finally fight it, you're thrust into a brutal war that's a lot more intense than the battles you've had so far with the wildlife of SR388. Diggernaut does tons of damage, so every move matters - fortunately, you can get creative with the recently-acquired Spider Ball to avoid many of its attacks. It can be a long and grueling battle, but it's worth it for the way Samus [[spoiler: [[OffhandBackhand effortlessly deals the final blow]]]].

*** [[spoiler:Gandrayda]]'s battle isn't too shabby itself. After being assisted by what seems to be a stranded GF trooper, [[spoiler:he suddenly attacks you from behind, revealing himself to be Gandrayda in disguise]]. In the battle that follows, she takes on the forms of previous enemies including [[spoiler: a Berserker Knight, a Pirate Aerotrooper, Rundas, Ghor, and even ''Samus'']]. Even when she's not using her shapeshifting powers, she is incredibly acrobatic and throws electric blades at you as she swirls around the arena.

** The encounter with the Golden Torizo is surprisingly intense. While moving through lower Norfair, you stumble upon a chamber where a Chozo Statue falls from the ceiling. Cool, so it's upgrade time? ''Wrong.'' The thing stands up and turns golden, then starts walking towards you, just like the normal Torizo found earlier in the game. However, this one is much stronger and more agile. Not only that, but it can catch your Super Missiles out of the air and throw them back at you. What a beast!

** The secret fight with [[spoiler:Phantoon]] is a welcome treat. He's a ''lot'' bigger than you might remember him, taking up nearly the entire screen with his size. He hits you with an insane onslaught of fireballs, tentacles, and creepy hands that will have you mashing the D-pad to SenseMove more than you thought you ever could. Because of all the SenseMove opportunities your Charge Beam charges insanely fast, letting you hit [[spoiler:Phantoon]] back just as hard as he's hitting you. The Lethal Strike used to finish the battle is also epic, as Samus [[spoiler:rides Phantoon's gross eyeball stem and launches the finishing blow directly into his pupil]].

* Also, [[EvilCounterpart Dark Samus.]] Period. ''Any'' fight with her is pretty much guaranteed to be ''absolutely epic'', what with her using your own powers against you ([[spoiler:or, and in ''Prime 3'', the other hunters' as well]]), often [[ToxicPhlebotinum Phazon]]-enhanced, and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnYAqv1jgzI this]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFOqGV-6bck music]] playing in the background. It doesn't hurt that it's a nice break from fifty-foot monstrosities that you have to crawl all over to defeat, feeling something more like a superpowered shootout.

** All of [[spoiler:the hunters]] in ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime3'' double as this and a [[spoiler:TearJerker]].

* The Vorash fight is quite impressive. This thing has already almost eaten you on multiple occasions, so it's nice to finally go to town on it. It stalks the floating lava platforms which you stand on, occasionally breaching like a whale to launch fireballs at you. Fortunately, it has a Grapple Beam point lodged in its mouth too, meaning you can grab the thing and yank it out of the lava and onto dry ground. That's right - Samus is going fishing for giant lava shark monsters.
* Nightmare is back in ''Other M''. Despite some cheap exploits and the eventual use of the Gravity Suit to shit on it, Nightmare gains a ton of new moves instead of simply floating around like in ''Fusion'', such as limping at a fast speed to body-ram Samus at one point, and wailing like a screaming baby when its face is revealed. NothingIsScarier indeed.

* In a memorable moment of ''Fusion'', your AI mission control tells you that your only option for accessing your next upgrade at the moment is in a section where one of the station's more interesting specimens has escaped. So what else is new? What's new is that you aren't going to kill this one, because it's an experimental weapon designed by the federation which the researchers nicknamed [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Nightmare]]. And it will {{Curb Stomp|Battle}} you with your current loadout. As you wander through the damaged sector, [[ParanoiaFuel a shadowy figure darts across the screen]] at random intervals accompanied by [[HellIsThatNoise synthetic screeching]]. Later, you return to the area, to find it completely trashed -- the same bulkheads that stand up to the SA-X are torn like tissue paper. And your mission is to kill it because it's going to destroy the station if you don't. All of this is nothing compared to what happens as you fight the thing, however -- firstly, it is most definitely a cyborg and not a robot. An [[BodyHorror incomplete cyborg]]. As its [[MadeOfIndestructium Indestructium]] armor and GravityMaster powers screw with your ability to even land a solid hit on the thing, you fire away at the [[AttackItsWeakPoint stitched-together face]]. And this is where you discover that the [[FacialHorror stitched-together face covering is in fact a vast aesthetic improvement over the abomination it covered]].

* Yakuza, the literal [[DemonicSpiders Demonic Spider]] from ''Metroid Fusion'' is both fondly and [[ThatOneBoss fearfully]] remembered. Something about a Robot Spider that spends its time either spitting fireballs and German Suplexing you... you never forget.
* The SA-X. You've spent the entire game running in fear, hiding in dark corners, trying to keep away from something orders of magnitude more powerful than you. Now, ''it's your turn''.
* In spite of their brutal difficulty, or perhaps BECAUSE of their difficulty, just about any of the boss fights in ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime2'' could fit this. They can be so controller-smashingly frustrating that beating any of them is almost on par with beating a ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls''/''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' boss. Try finding someone who didn't cheer upon watching the Boost Guardian convulsing and expiring.
* In a memorable moment of ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion'', your AI mission control tells you that your only option for accessing your next upgrade at the moment is in a section where one of the station's more interesting specimens has escaped. So what else is new? What's new is that you aren't going to kill this one, because it's an experimental weapon designed by the federation which the researchers nicknamed [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Nightmare]]. And it will {{Curb Stomp|Battle}} you with your current loadout. As you wander through the damaged sector, [[ParanoiaFuel a shadowy figure darts across the screen]] at random intervals accompanied by [[HellIsThatNoise synthetic screeching]]. Later, you return to the area, to find it completely trashed -- the same bulkheads that stand up to the SA-X are torn like tissue paper. And your mission is to kill it because it's going to destroy the station if you don't. All of this is nothing compared to what happens as you fight the thing, however -- firstly, it is most definitely a cyborg and not a robot. An [[BodyHorror incomplete cyborg]]. As its [[MadeOfIndestructium Indestructium]] armor and GravityMaster powers screw with your ability to even land a solid hit on the thing, you fire away at the [[AttackItsWeakPoint stitched-together face]]. And this is where you discover that the [[FacialHorror stitched-together face covering is in fact a vast aesthetic improvement over the abomination it covered]].
* In ''[[VideoGame/MetroidOtherM Other M]]''....Nightmare is back. Despite some cheap exploits and the eventual use of the Gravity Suit to shit on it, Nightmare gains a ton of new moves instead of simply floating around like in ''Fusion'', such as limping at a fast speed to body-ram Samus at one point, and wailing like a screaming baby when its face is revealed. NothingIsScarier indeed.
* The Vorash from ''Other M'' is also quite impressive. This thing has already almost eaten you on multiple occasions, so it's nice to finally go to town on it. It stalks the floating lava platforms which you stand on, occasionally breaching like a whale to launch fireballs at you. Fortunately, it has a Grapple Beam point lodged in its mouth too, meaning you can grab the thing and yank it out of the lava and onto dry ground. That's right - Samus is going fishing for giant lava shark monsters.

*** [[spoiler:Gandrayda]]'s battle isn't too shabby itself. After being assisted by what seems to be a stranded GF trooper, he suddenly attacks you from behind, revealing himself to be [[spoiler:Gandrayda in disguise]]. In the battle that follows, she takes on the forms of previous enemies including [[spoiler: a Berserker Knight, a Pirate Aerotrooper, Rundas, Ghor, and even ''Samus'']]. Even when she's not using her shapeshifting powers, she is incredibly acrobatic and throws electric blades at you as she swirls around the arena.
*** The battle with [[spoiler:Rundas]] is the most heart-wrenching of them all, occurring earlier in the game when your friendship with him are still fresh. During a scuffle with some Space Pirates, ice suddenly appears and kills them all, before [[spoiler:Rundas]] appears to stare you down. For a second, you wonder if he's still an ally, but he makes his intentions clear and the fight begins. He soars around the stage, hopping from pillar to pillar, shooting sheets of ice and swinging giant mauls around as you frantically try to rip his armor off. The frantic nature of the battle is only heightened by the beautiful and terrifying soundtrack, possibly the best boss theme in the game. When it's over, [[spoiler:Rundas seems to momentarily come back to his senses before he is suddenly impaled by his own icicles - whether it was Dark Samus finishing him off or self-termination is left vague]].

*** The fight with [[spoiler:Ghor]] gets a lot of build-up, as you meet him earlier in SkyTown as he taunts and sabotages your efforts. Then, you get a transmission from your Gunship that it's under attack. You race back to the landing platform to find [[spoiler:Ghor, in full battle armor, beating the ever-loving shit out of your whip! Then he throws it at you and the fight begins]]. The subsequent battle is a very creative one, involving clever use of your bombs, Ice Missiles, and Boost Ball to take down your oversized opponent.

*** The battle with [[spoiler:Rundas]] is possibly the most heart-wrenching of them all, occurring earlier in the game when your friendship with him are still fresh. During a scuffle with some Space Pirates, ice suddenly appears and kills them all, before [[spoiler:Rundas]] appears to stare you down. For a second, you wonder if he's still an ally, but he makes his intentions clear and the fight begins. He soars around the stage, hopping from pillar to pillar, shooting sheets of ice and swinging giant mauls around as you frantically try to rip his armor off. The frantic nature of the battle is only heightened by the beautiful and terrifying soundtrack, possibly the best boss theme in the game. When it's over, [[spoiler:Rundas seems to momentarily come back to his senses before he is suddenly impaled by his own icicles - whether it was Dark Samus finishing him off or self-termination is left vague]].

* [[EvilCounterpart Dark Samus.]] Period. '''Any''' fight with her is pretty much guaranteed to be '''absolutely epic''', what with her using your own powers against you ([[spoiler:or, in ''Prime 3'', the other hunters' as well]]), often [[ToxicPhlebotinum Phazon]]-enhanced, and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnYAqv1jgzI this]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFOqGV-6bck music]] playing in the background. It doesn't hurt that it's a nice break from fifty-foot monstrosities that you have to crawl all over to defeat.
** In ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime2'', after defeating the Emperor Ing after everything you've been through and all of its three forms and damage you've taken, you're treated to the familiar sight of the escape countdown. The problem? Just as you get out of the Temple, Dark Samus interrupts your escape and starts the true final boss fight. No healing beforehand allowed, and the timer is '''still counting down'''. Plus you get that awesome escape remix, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-A1_ce2PxhA complete with emergency beeps so you won't forget the timer is still up.]]

* All of [[spoiler:The Hunters]] in ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime3'' double as this and a [[spoiler:TearJerker]].

* Ridley in any ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' game.

* ''Super Metroid'' on the SNES, the final fight with Mother Brain. After suffering a huge attack and being brought to your knees, [[spoiler:the young Metroid that you saved in the previous Gameboy installment which thinks Samus is its mother shows up, sucks a bunch of energy out of Mother Brain, and transfers it to you, saving your life and powering you up.]]
** Tearjerker: [[spoiler:The Metroid gets blown up about five seconds after saving your life. Then, [[MamaBear Samus gets pissed.]]]]
** The entire fight is awesome, from beginning to end. [[spoiler:Unloaded dozens of missiles on its head and think it's dead? It rises out of the ground attached to a giant organic robot and the crowning music of doom begins to play. As the battle goes on and you damage it more, it starts releasing even more powerful attacks, finally leading up to that epic laser beam that leaves you on your knees, barely able to move. And then, after Baby saves you and sacrifices itself, the music changes to the theme heard up on the surface, and it sounds perfectly appropriate for the [[CurbStompBattle asskicking]] that you deliver to Mother Brain afterwards.]]
* Metroid Prime, especially on Hard Mode/Hypermode. It has two phases, the first being an armored form that not only requires you to use just about every weapon in your arsenal to beat it down, but also uses said weapons ''against you!'' Being on the receiving end of a charged Plasma Beam blast HURTS. What's worse, it's only vulnerable to one type of beam at a time. You have to constantly switch beams, dodge its incredibly damaging attacks and chase it deeper and deeper into the crater it resides in as it desperately tries to get away from you. Then, just when you think it's over, turns out it has a second form which has you [[CurbStompBattle blasting the living crap out of it with your brand new Phazon beam]], complete with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42A3uigYXsQ this absolutely epic music.]]
* Quadraxis from ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime2Echoes'' is pretty sweet too, being a HumongousMecha and all. It's a '''much different''' version of the Quads you've been fighting all throughout the Sanctuary Fortress and Ing Hive, except instead of being about your size, it's twenty times bigger. Then it uses the Annihilator Beam against you, other forms of lasers, spinning attacks that literally draw you in for a good chunk of damage if you don't backpedal and shoot a Super Missile's worth of damage to undo the vortex spin, and is just generally huge. After hitting its weak points on its knee joints, it's dismantled. But you're not done yet! Then it tries to repair itself, where you blast the core with beam attacks in Echo Visor mode (yeah, most of the body was destroyed halfway through the fight already) before attacking its floating head, and THEN after that, you finally hit it again a few more times by planting bombs in its head by using the Spider Ball and Boost Ball up there. After that, you're finally done, where the head flies around and destroys everything else, and Samus makes a ThreePointLanding from morph ball mode, while the head bounces around behind her, and the Annihilator Beam appears for the taking. You literally dismantle it bit by bit, and it is epic, with the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTbagKhTaNk dark, menacing music]] being the icing on the cake. It's even more awesome if you fight Quadraxis on a [[SelfImposedChallenge No Dark Suit Run]].
* Also from ''Prime 2'': Adultform Chykka. After the hell that is Torvus Bog, a fast and furious fight with a giant mutant dragonfly is just the palette cleanser necessary. After killing the (laughably easy and ''very'' boring) Larvaform Chykka, it turns into a cocoon and metamorphoses in a matter of seconds, then bursts free. The first phase of the fight features you stunning it with your weapons, then blasting its wings off. Then, it falls into dark water and becomes Darkform Chykka, which you kill by... unloading your Light Beam on its egg sac-filled stomach. All the while, it spawns hordes of Chykklings to assault you.
* The Spider Guardian is either a wickedly frustrating ThatOneBoss, or one of these. It really depends on your personality; you have to be ''very'' patient and keep a cool head throughout the fight. Get frustrated or try to rush things and you will get slaughtered.

** Or her original form, Metroid Prime. You end up having to use nearly every weapon and even all your visors against this monstrosity of a MarathonBoss, and some attacks formerly thought useless have some use here! (Except [[AwesomeButImpractical the flamethrower]].)
** In ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime2'', after defeating the Emperor Ing after everything you've been through and all of its three forms and damage you've taken, you're treated to the familiar sight of the escape countdown. The problem? Just as you get out of the Temple, Dark Samus interrupts your escape and starts the true final boss fight. No healing beforehand allowed, and the timer is '''still counting down'''. Plus you get that awesome escape remix, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-A1_ce2PxhA complete with emergency beeps so you won't forget the timer is still up.]]
* Amorbis in ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime2''. In the higher difficulties, given you have relatively few powerups to find, they're monsters. And that's without going into how awesome it is to kill them by '''jamming bombs inside their throats.'''
* Flaahgra is similar to Amorbis with the bombing. It is a giant monstrous fly-like plant, which attacks in all sorts of manners, and you have to flip mirrors over in order to get into the tunnels (giant vines guard the tunnels) to damage it with bombs. It is clever enough to flip the mirrors back over, and you're required to flip more mirrors on each hit. This is the first major boss in the game aside from the Parasite Queen, which was just a warm up boss.
* The [[spoiler:Queen Metroid]] from ''[[VideoGame/MetroidOtherM Other M]]'', which definitely delivers as far as 3D boss translations go. Special mention goes to the climax, where you [[spoiler:''blow it up from the inside out with a Power Bomb while your health ticks away like there's no tomorrow.'']]. There's a bit of overlap with ThatOneBoss. While fighting it, you've also got a growing swarm of Metroids during the fight [[spoiler:while you put mommy down]]. This is the first and only time in the entire game where you run into the bastards, and they get killed just as you would expect; freeze 'em, and blast 'em with missiles. Doesn't seem too bad, but keep in mind there's a lot of them, and you have to switch to first person to fire missiles. So let's review: You've got to freeze one, stop and leave yourself vulnerable to the other three or four, aim at the one you froze, and hope to blast it with enough missiles before one of its buddies takes a bite. And if one DOES take a bite, it will drain your health FAST and you probably won't get yourself free before the frozen one thaws. [[spoiler:''All the while avoiding their rampaging mother.'']] It does get better as you wear down their numbers, but dealing with them is far from easy. Still, all this makes it so satisfying to watch the actual boss get vaporized.
* Kraid from ''Super Metroid''. The first time he explodes, you think you've beaten him, then ''BAM!'' the real Kraid appears; where the fake Kraid is barely taller than Samus, the real Kraid is ''two screens tall'', making for an epic confrontation that spans nearly four screens all seamlessly connected to each other while you shoot at him above a pit of spikes. ''And he's only the third boss!'' If you had played and beaten the first ''Metroid'' game, this becomes even more effective. The original Kraid from ''Metroid'' was much smaller, not much bigger than your own sprite. So those smaller Kraids you encounter on the way would have seemed about the right size. The true Kraid must have been a big surprise to Metroid vets.

* The Vorash from ''Other M'' is also quite impressive. This thing has already almost eaten you on multiple occasions, so it's nice to finally go to town on it. The thing has a Grapple Beam point lodged in its mouth too, meaning you can grab the thing and yank it out of the lava and onto dry ground. That's right - Samus is going fishing for giant lava shark monsters.

** Especially noteworthy in ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime3Corruption'', where the first Ridley encounter is fought entirely in ''free-fall''.
** The Meta-Ridley battle in the first ''Metroid Prime'' is epic enough when a giant space dragon is bombarding you with bombs, missles, and fire breath. Then, you get his health 3/4 of the way down and, for the first time in the series, we get to see how Ridley fights when grounded. [[ThatOneBoss Turns out he can kick your ass three ways across Tallon IV.]]

** His appearance in ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'' is unique for the game. All the other bosses have predictable patterns and specific weak points you need to hit to kill them. Not Ridley. He has no weak spots, instead just having tons of health to compensate. He's also by far the fastest of the bosses and zips around the room chaotically. There really isn't much strategy to his fight: just kill him before he kills you. This was the fight that solidified his status as the Awesome Boss of the series. And all of this applies to the revamped Ridley encounter in ''Zero Mission'' as well as Ridley-X in ''Fusion''.

* Quadraxis from ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime2Echoes'' is pretty sweet too, being a HumongousMecha and all. It's a '''much different''' version of the Quads you've been fighting all throughout the Sanctuary Fortress and Ing Hive, except instead of being about your size, it's like 20 times bigger. Then it uses the Annihilator Beam against you, other forms of lasers, spinning attacks that literally draw you in for a good chunk of damage if you don't backpedal and shoot a Super Missile's worth of damage to undo the vortex spin, and is just generally huge. After hitting its weak points on its knee joints, it's dismantled. But you're not done yet! Then it tries to repair itself, where you blast the core with beam attacks in Echo Visor mode (yeah, most of the body was destroyed halfway through the fight already) before attacking its floating head, and THEN after that, you finally hit it again a few more times by planting bombs in its head by using the Spider Ball and Boost Ball up there. After that, you're finally done, where the head flies around and destroys everything else, and Samus makes a ThreePointLanding from morph ball mode, while the head bounces around behind her, and the Annihilator Beam appears for the taking. You literally dismantle it bit by bit, and it is epic, with the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTbagKhTaNk dark, menacing music]] being the icing on the cake. It's even more awesome if you fight Quadraxis on a [[SelfImposedChallenge No Dark Suit Run]].

** In ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime2'', after defeating the Emperor Ing after everything you've been through and all of its three forms and damage you've taken, you're treated to the familiar sight of the escape countdown. The problem? Just as you get out of the Temple, Dark Samus interrupts your escape and starts the true final boss fight. No healing beforehand allowed, and the timer is '''STILL counting down'''. Plus you get that awesome escape remix, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-A1_ce2PxhA complete with emergency beeps so you won't forget the timer is still up.]]

* Also from ''Prime 2'': Adultform Chykka. After the hell that is Torvus Bog, a fast and furious fight with a giant mutant dragonfly is just the palette cleanser necessary. After killing the (laughably easy and ''very'' boring) Larvaform Chykka, it turns into a cocoon and metamorphoses in a matter of seconds, then bursts free. The first phase of the fight features you stunning it with your weapons, then blasting its wings off. Then, it falls into dark water and becomes Darkform Chykka, which you kill by...unloading your Light Beam on its egg sac. All the while, it spawns hordes of Chykklings to assault you.