From the first 2D entries to the latest Prime games, bosses have always been a big part of the Metroid series. From the iconic final bosses to fear-inducing recurring enemies like Ridley, they've always been a highlight of the series.
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond lives up to its promises and gives us some of the strongest bosses in the series. And that doesn't just mean they're simply exceptionally well designed, but sometimes they're also tough as nails. So here they are, from the simplest sandfish to Samus's most terrifying opponent.
10
Varmis
Let's start with Varmis. You can actually meet several Varmis throughout the game, all in the large sandbox in the north of Sol Valley. These are quite docile and even quite shy, burrowing under the sand when Samus approaches. It's only when you need to rebuild the Galactic Federation mechanic that one decides they want to fight.
After swallowing part of the mecha, you have to chase this Varmise around the sand sea, and he has no qualms about trying to devour Samus. Except that's really all there is to it. All Samus has to do is avoid the mouth and bump into the tail. Easy-peasy, you have a whole desert to avoid in the end. However, you have to climb right inside to actually retrieve the stolen mechanical parts.
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond – Varmis Boss Guide
Here's what you need to know to defeat the Varmis boss and get your Mech Part in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond.
9
The first Sylux
As the game's antagonist, you'd probably have quite a presence in the game besides Sylux. And technically it does. It's just that until the actual finale, you're not actually fighting Sylux at all, but a series of mechanoids designed to look and act like him. But that doesn't mean they aren't still a threat.
They're just not a very serious threat. It gives you a taste of what it must be like to go up against Samus, run and shoot, and be incredibly evasive at the same time. The subsequent encounter with Sylux is a fair jump in difficulty, but it still pales in comparison to the final battle for Sylux.
8
Carvex
The first proper boss after the tutorial, Carvex, is the final Fury Green encounter, and at times feels like a callback to the original Flaahgra Metroid Prime, green in the middle of the desert and all. Of course, Carvex is a pretty tough boss in his own right, and it's a pretty significant jump over Aberax in the tutorial.
Carvex forces you to test your new psychic abilities and destroy all three vines at once. Of course, you also need to make sure that none of the vines hit you when they sweep the arena, and also take care to remove the armor around each of the vines. It's all about timing and not losing your sense of direction as you guide the psychic beam around the arena.
7
Hover Shuttle Transport
Later in the game, you'll find yourself deep in the Flare Pool area after meeting Armstrong and Duke, two Galactic Federation soldiers who couldn't be more different. What they do have in common is their skill, which is pretty crucial when the Hover Shuttle Transport starts attacking you when you're trying to navigate an already unstable area.
Hover Shuttle Transport isn't an obscenely difficult boss per se, and it technically isn't. It's more about the difficulty of the encounter as a whole, which involves a burning arena and waves of enemies attacking everyone at the same time. And the fact that only a single part in the front of the shuttle can actually be damaged.
6
Xelios
Xelios is one of the most unique bosses in the game, taking advantage of the looser targeting while also having a lot of visual flair that showcases the unique Lamorn design of many of the game's mechanoid enemies. He's also one of the few bosses that isn't infected with Sylux, which allows him to have a slightly more distinct visual identity.
Xelios is actually a massive cube. Or maybe a dodecahedron is a bit more accurate. It consists of a series of scales that will glow throughout the fight. Shooting them will remove them and expose the core for attack. It's fun to have to weave your way around him as he moves around the arena and literally punches holes in his defenses. For this you also need a disciplined goal.
5
Flight Drone MCU
The Flight Drone MCU is another enemy that is and isn't a boss as it doesn't have a health bar and can also appear later as a boosted enemy instead of being limited to a single encounter. That said, they feel much more difficult than some of the other bosses in the game purely due to the amount of moving parts. Literally.
The Flight Drone MCU, fought in Volt Forge, is essentially a flying CPU unit surrounded by hundreds of smaller units. Like Carvex, you have to take out his three weak points at the same time to damage his core, though your psychic shot can only take three hits, and each of those hundreds of smaller units is rendered independently. So good luck limiting them enough to not hit them when they were trying to hit those weak spots.
4
Keratosis
At the end of the Ice Belt, you encounter another sentient life form, the Viewros, which Sylux fused with the Metroids, stripping them of their ability to think for themselves and only seeking to destroy everything around them, including Chief Samus. Keratos is a large, pointy rock that has essentially no weak points except for a glowing green eye.
Keratos is large and has a lot of ranged ice attacks, although avoiding them when they come at you in ball form is one of the hardest to avoid. After being walloped, Keratos will reveal their true weak spot on their underside, though it will take a lot of careful targeting of their eye before they get enraged enough to reveal it.
3
Omega Griever
At the end of the game, Samus and many of the Galactic Federation troops find themselves descending into the Great Mines in search of the final Master Teleporter key. These mines are also home to some of the most feared enemies in the game, including Grievers who sacrifice themselves to summon hordes of their brethren.
The Great Mines culminate in a battle against the toughest of all Grievers – the Omega Griever. Unlike most others, he is more heavily mutated and can climb walls. It can also grab you with its tongue to draw you in, and it can even fake its own death to lure you in. They also just hit like a truck. But as their health drops, even more of their body hardens, shrinking the parts you can even hit to damage them.
2
Phenoros
At the very end of the Flare Pool, in the depths of the volcano, you'll encounter Phenoros, another of the creatures associated with Sylux's Metroids. Phenoros is hard in general, but is made even more difficult by being a two-part battle. During the first one, you have to chase them down with the Vi-O-La and hit their various weak spots with homing attacks. It takes a while, but it's not hard.
The second phase is difficult. Phenoros will melt you with their attacks and they also have a bite attack that is obscenely hard to dodge. Plus, you have to get some precision targeting to open up their weak spot, which is the only way to really damage them. And if you die at all during the second phase, you have to start all over from the first phase. Good fun.
1
The Last Sylux
Being the antagonist of the game, you'd expect Sylux to be the final fight, and it's certainly the hardest. He's also the longest boss, fighting a total of three stages, none of which were exceptionally short. During the first phase, all the friends you've made along the way help you deal with the tentacled form of Sylux, although they're honestly more of a nuisance and constantly need reviving.
After completely depleting his health, Sylux will pull you into a portal where you'll fight him in sections on rails that are similar to Ridley in Metroid Prime 3. This isn't the longest section, though long enough to not be reckless. There are still at least a few opportunities to get some extra HP in the process.
Afterwards, Samus and Sylux both fight in their own little pocket dimension. While Sylux retains some of his attacks from previous battles, many of them are brand new, such as the ability to summon a black hole that absorbs all but psychic bullets, and he can even enter his own Morph Ball form and steal your energy tanks straight away. Managing your health is hard here with how much you can think of.
Don't hesitate too long before activating the teleporter at the end. Unless you want to do the second and third stages of the fight again.
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond – Diary Scan Locations Guide
A bounty hunter must be careful.
