Metroid: Zero Mission (GameBoy Advance)
9% Run Boss FAQ (Normal Difficulty)
E-Mail: ShadowXOR@LoneShadow.com
FAQ (c) Copyright 2004 ShadowXOR
http://www.loneshadow.com/
Version 1.01

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Table of Contents
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1. Version History
2. Introduction
3. Bosses
 (a) Brinstar Worm
 (b) Spore Larva
 (c) Ridley
 (d) Kraid Worm
 (e) Kraid
 (f) Mother Brain (Barriers)
 (g) Mother Brain (Herself)
 (h) Chozo Mirror Orb
 (i) Mecha-Ridley
4. Credits
5. Contact
6. Copyright Notice

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1. Version History
-------------------

Version 1.01 (02/24/04) - Corrected some grammatical mistakes and
some of the sentence structure to make things more clear.  I also
changed the Copyright Notice section to reflect the addition of a
few more hosts.  You will also notice that the bosses are in a
different order, as I found it to be the best order to fight them
in.  Another addition was the list of the nine items required to
beat the game.  This version is considered final and will not be
updated unless someone e-mails me some great strategies, or I
find a huge mistake in the FAQ.

Version 1.0 (02/20/04) - This is the first and hopefully last
version of the FAQ.  All sections are complete.  Unless there are
errors, or someone writes in with an extremely useful technique I
have not found, there will be no future updates.

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2. Introduction
----------------

This FAQ is for those of you attempting a 9% run through
Metroid: Zero Mission on normal difficulty.  It can be very
frustrating at times, but overall it's a pretty fun experience.
This FAQ will also be VERY useful to anyone trying to get 15% or
below.  While it becomes SIGNIFICANTLY easier by getting even one
extra percent, I wrote this with 9% in mind, the bare minimum.
Even if you're not doing a low percentage run, the boss
strategies can be very helpful, as I outline the best ways to
beat them.  Don't bother to attempt it if you get frustrated
easily or you are not willing to put in the effort, as it is VERY
challenging!  These are the strategies I used to beat the game
with 9% on normal, and I used absolutely NO saved states, or
cheats of any kind.  For those of you who don't know what the
bare minimum requirements are for a 9% run, I outline them below
in the best order to acquire them:

 - Morph Ball
 - Missiles
 - Bombs
 - Varia Suit
 - Plasma Beam [Unknown Item - Crateria]
 - Power Grip
 - Ice Beam
 - Gravity Suit [Unknown Item - Ridley]
 - Space Jump [Unknown Item - Kraid]

If you think to yourself, "Wait, you just CAN'T skip X item!  How
did he do that?" don't e-mail me about it.  I will not answer
those questions.  My FAQ is a boss FAQ, not a walkthrough.
Please check another FAQ for this information.

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3. Bosses
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(a) Brinstar Worm - Mini-Boss [Unofficial Name]

This mini-boss is VERY easy.  You can kill him the first time you
encounter him.  He must be hit in the eye with three missiles to
be defeated.  If you don't hit him every time you have the
opportunity, he'll escape before you have the chance to kill him.
That's O.K. because you'll cross his path again and again, but
it's much easier to just end it now so that he's not in your way
later on.  His head will bust through the roof, trapping you.  It
will descend into the middle of the room, revealing his eye,
which you should quickly shoot a missile into.  Next, he will
close his eye and thrust downward.  Go into morph ball mode and
dodge left or right.  As soon as he begins ascending, roll under
him, stand up, and pop a missile in his eye when it opens again.
Then he'll thrust downward at you one more time, so just repeat
the strategy stated above.  And that's the end of him.  If you
happen to miss that last shot, he'll begin shooting spikes off
his body (which you can shoot to collect energy and missiles).
After he is done with that, he'll give you one more split-second
opportunity to hit his eye, but it's much shorter then the
others.  Once he is defeated, move on without picking up the
Charge Beam.

=================================================================

(b) Spore Larva - Mini-Boss [Unofficial Name]

This is another easy boss.  He has two sacks on his body that
will intermittently shoot out a bunch of spores that fly in all
directions.  They are easy to kill, and will provide you with
energy and missiles.  There are plenty around so it's easy to
survive.  There is also a Ripper floating around in a figure
eight, but he doesn't do much damage at all.  To kill the boss,
you'll have to freeze the Ripper and use him as a platform to
shoot the tentacles holding the Spore Larva to the ceiling.  He
has three tentacles on each side of his cocoon.  Freeze the
Ripper as he is approaching the wall on either side and it should
provide the extra height to give you a diagonal shot of that
side's tentacles.  If you don't have a decent diagonal shot, just
jump and shoot them.  If the Ripper is unfreezing before you're
done destroying the tentacles on that side (his freeze time is
fairly short) then just jump, aim down, and refreeze him.  Once
all six tentacles have been destroyed, the Spore Larva will lose
his hold on the ceiling and come crashing down.  Thus, the Spore
Larva has been defeated.

=================================================================

(c) Ridley

Ridley is a serious push over.  At first he seems REALLY hard,
but once you know his pattern, he's easier than your future
battle with Kraid.  If you execute this right, you won't even be
hit.  At the beginning, the two blocks closest to each door will
be destroyed.  Ridley will come down and start firing a barrage
of small fireballs at you.  Simply fire your beam straight at
them and they will be destroyed.  Next, he'll fly a little higher
up in the air and shoot some larger fireballs at you.  Simply
jump under him.  He'll swoop down, and it will appear as if his
feet will touch you, but they actually just overlap Samus without
harming her.  As long as you stay under the foot that is closest
to the direction he is going, you'll be fine.  As he floats back
and forth, walk in unison with Ridley underneath that foot and
you won't be hit.  Just don't straggle to far back or his tail
will whip you.  Also, don't run too far forward or he'll grab you
with his front claw, pull you into the air, and drain your energy
while shooting small fireballs in your face.  Continually shoot
missiles into his underside.  Those large fireballs you saw him
fire earlier come in useful now, as he'll occasionally fire more
of them, and they drop energy/missiles when destroyed.  The
fireballs are conveniently shot in front of you most of the time
so that you can shoot them, and then walk right into them to
collect the energy/missiles that they leave behind.  Simply
continue doing this and he'll go down soon enough.  Just keep
pumping those missiles into his underside.  You can tell when he
is almost defeated because he will begin to turn red.

=================================================================

(d) Kraid Worm - Mini-Boss [Unofficial Name]

So that no one gets confused, I'm calling it the Kraid Worm,
because it is located in Kraid.  It has nothing to do with Kraid
himself.  Luckily, this boss is also fairly easy.  Be sure and
grab the Varia suit before fighting him though, it will make
things considerably easier.  Not only will he damage you less,
but if you fall in the acid, it won't harm you.  The worm will
hide in the acid until his teeth/claws begin to move, indicating
that he is about to attack.  Just stand on one of the lower
blocks, and right before he lunges for you, jump onto the zip
line.  You'll easily dodge him and be dropped onto the lower
block on the other side.  Immediately pump all five of your
missiles into his (painfully obvious) weak point.  Now that you
have no missiles, jump onto the ledges where either of the doors
are located.  He can't melee attack you from where you are, so he
lunges upward and begins shooting projectiles at you.  Shoot the
projectiles and collect the power-ups that appear.  Once you have
replenished your energy and missiles, hop back out there and give
it to him again.  Rinse and repeat.  If you fall in the acid,
just hop back up, simple as that.  Occasionally he may cause the
acid to rise.  If this happens, just jump to the highest block
and you'll be safe.  But hopefully you have the Varia suit and
won't even have to worry about it.  Keep it up and he'll be down
in no time.

=================================================================

(e) Kraid

Kraid appears to be a little difficult at first, but once you get
his pattern down, it's only a matter of time.  It only gets hard
towards the end of the battle.  You'll start off on a decently
sized platform connected to the door.  He will begin throwing his
boomerang-like claws at you in pairs of two.  You can, and must,
destroy these to collect additional energy and missiles
throughout the battle.  Occasionally he'll throw an odd swipe at
you with his hand.  It's easy to dodge, just don't get too close
to him.  You have to shoot his eye, causing him to open his
mouth.  Once his mouth is open, he is vulnerable.  Just pop your
remaining four missiles in his mouth to do some damage.  Now
dodge his attacks while collecting energy and missiles from his
claws.  Once you have done a certain amount of damage, the part
of the platform connected to the door will break off.  He'll
start shooting spiked platforms out of his stomach and into the
wall.  They will disappear after a few seconds.  You might want
to jump down, and go up every time the spiked platforms give you
the opportunity.  It is easier to collect energy and missiles
down there.  If you stay up top, his hand swipe attack takes up
nearly the entire length of the platform, which can make things
very difficult.  Once you have done some more damage to him, the
small platform will also be destroyed, leaving you with nothing
but his spiked platforms to jump on.  Use them as stairs, jumping
on them as they come out, while being sure not to get hit by
them.  Your morph ball can help you dodge them if needed.
Continue collecting missiles at the bottom, and then jumping up
his spiked platforms as they shoot out to get to the top.  Then
unload all of your missiles into him.  Continue doing this until
the fall of Kraid.  Once he is defeated, continue on to the next
boss, who will probably make many of you quit your 9% run
altogether.

=================================================================

(f) Mother Brain (Barriers)

I have separated Mother Brain and her barriers into two distinct
sections.  I did this because the barriers alone require their
own strategy, and they will take a long time to get through
depending on your skill level.  There are two things you're going
to have to watch for.  Rinkas (the small orange rings that home
in on you) will be your source of energy and missiles.  If they
hit you, they'll do a small amount of damage.  Your one other
problem is the array of guns at the top that rotate while
shooting at random intervals.  You only have five missiles at
your disposal if you're on a 9% run, and unfortunately, each
barrier takes seven missiles to destroy.  For the first barrier,
stand on the middle of the platform the door is located on.
You're going to have to destroy a Rinka directly in front of you
(it must drop a missile pack), launch all five of your missiles
into the barrier, grab the missile pack, and then unload those,
barely destroying it in time.  It can be useful to freeze the
Rinkas so that they don't hit you while you're trying to finish
off a barrier.  The barriers regenerate quickly, so if you're not
fast enough you'll have to drop below and kill some Rinkas to
collect more missiles.  It's easier to collect power-ups at the
bottom because the guns can't fire on you.  Thankfully, Nintendo
is merciful, so you can go save after destroying each barrier,
and the barrier will remain destroyed.  Be sure and fill your
energy and missiles before saving.  The second barrier is going
to be a bit harder because there are even more guns firing at
you.  The main problem you'll most likely have here is that right
when you get your missile pack set up, a gun will usually hit
you, knocking you into it, forcing you to collect it.  That's not
what we want, considering we need an extra missile pack ready to
collect after firing our first five missiles.  I prefer to stand
between the middle and right side of the platform.  This doesn't
put you directly in the way of all three guns as the middle does,
and you have plenty of room to destroy Rinkas in front of you.
Just use the same strategy as above, setting up the missile pack
in front of you and launching your barrage of missiles.  Once
it's destroyed, go back, fill up on energy/missiles, and save.
The third barrier takes the challenge up another notch.  This
time the main platform is separated into three pieces.  I prefer
to stand on the far right piece, while repeating the same
strategy as stated above.  It will take some time, but you'll get
it.  After destroying it, once again fill up on energy/missiles
and save.  The fourth barrier is by far the worst.  There are
only two blocks, and the area below them is full of lava.  If you
fall, be sure and jump back up immediately.  It can be
frustrating when you jump up, grab onto a platform, and then get
hit by a Rinka, knocking you back into the lava.  Just keep at
it!  Stay on the right platform and use the same strategies I
have outlined above.  Once you've taken it down, go back for one
more energy/missile fill and a save.  Now jump back through all
four broken barriers to encounter Mother Brain herself.

=================================================================

(g) Mother Brain (Herself)

I consider this the hardest boss fight in the game, second only
to Mecha-Ridley.  Big thanks go out to Kaleb.G for finding the
best strategy to beat her.  If you aren't much of a skilled
gamer, then this will seem impossible, but then again, I doubt
many unskilled gamers would be attempting a 9% run.  First,
you're going to have to destroy her protective casing.  Just jump
back and forth between the two blocks, shooting her casing with
missiles.  There are two guns and two Rinkas to worry about.  The
guns are constantly firing and can be pretty annoying.  You just
have to do your best to dodge them, as not much else can be done.
However, you can freeze the Rinkas to give you a small window of
time where you have less to worry about.  Once the casing is
destroyed, you're going to have one more thing to worry about.
Mother Brain will shortly begin shooting large beams of energy at
you.  When her eye is closed, she is preparing to attack.  She
will flash briefly before opening her eye, and then she will
release her energy beam.  Luckily she doesn't fire them too
often, but they still make it far too difficult to stay on top of
the blocks.  You'll need to hang off of the right edge of the
left block with your Power Grip.  Neither of the guns can hit you
from here, and you can shoot both of the Rinkas with diagonal
shots once they come within close range of you.  This makes it
easy to replenish your energy/missiles.  It can be helpful to
jump back and forth between the two ledges to collect the power-
ups that the Rinkas leave just out of reach.  Once your missiles
are replenished you'll have to jump onto the upper blocks, dodge
her energy beam, crouch, and unload your missiles into her eye.
Just as I did for Mother Brain's casing, I like to freeze the
Rinkas before attacking so that I don't have so much to worry
about, and so that I can kill them for power-ups afterward.  Be
sure not to fall below the level of the blocks, otherwise she
will close her eye again for another beam attack.  This is O.K.
when you're going down to collect energy and missiles, but you
don't want that happening when you're trying to attack her.
Occasionally she will fire her energy beam while you are just
hanging there collecting energy and missiles.  If she begins to
start flashing, drop into the lava to dodge her attack.  You will
take much less damage falling into the lava and jumping back up
then you will if you are hit by her attack, which will most
likely knock you into a Rinka or bullet, causing even more
damage.  Just continue this strategy of dropping down to build
up, then jumping up to attack.  You'll have her down after MUCH
practice and a little luck.

=================================================================

(h) Chozo Mirror Orb - Mini-Boss [Unofficial Name]

The only thing that makes this boss even remotely hard is the
fact that you can only be damaged by it twice, no matter which
attack hits you, before dying.  Other than that, it's pretty
easy.  You only need to hit it four times to defeat it.  At first
the orb will just sit there, showing suitless Samus in it.  If
you shoot it while she is shown, it will damage you.  You can
shoot even the weakest charges at the mirror of yourself and it
will still do full damage to you.  However, only fully charged
shots will harm the boss.  Wait until the orb shows a blue
glowing symbol in it, and then shoot it.  Now the Chozo picture
on the wall will emit a ghost image of itself that will fly
around carrying the orb.  Occasionally it will stop and shoot a
bolt of lightning at you from above, which you obviously must
dodge.  Just wait for the blue glowing symbol to appear and shoot
it.  Now the ghost will begin to move faster around the room.  It
will also shoot the lightning bolts more frequently.  Shoot the
blue symbol when it appears again.  Be careful, the symbol may
occasionally disappear quickly.  This will cause you to shoot
your mirror image, damaging yourself.  After having shot the
symbol for the third time, the speed of lightning and movement
will once again increase.  In addition, when any lightning bolt
strikes the ground now, it will split into two bolts of lightning
that travel in opposite directions along the floor.  Thus, you
must dodge it as it comes down, and then jump over it as it
shoots along the floor towards you to completely avoid it.  Don't
stay to close to the wall either, because if you jump over it,
then it will continue straight up the wall.  Just shoot the blue
symbol one more time to defeat the boss.  You'll then receive
your fully powered suit, which supports the unknown items: Plasma
Beam, Gravity Suit, and Space Jump.  It may take a few tries, but
this boss shouldn't be too much trouble.

=================================================================

(i) Mecha-Ridley

This is it; the culmination of your so-called Zero Mission.  All
of Mecha-Ridley's attacks do a lot of damage, so you can't afford
to be hit often.  Avoid his claw attack at all costs, as it is
extremely powerful.  The only spot that you will not be hit by
the claw is by crouching or morph balling in the lower left hand
corner.  He will begin by attacking you with his claw.  Just hide
in the lower left to avoid it.  When he pulls his claw back, jump
and shoot missiles at the encased glowing orb in his chest.  He
will do random attacks at random times, so you will always have
to be paying complete attention.  Occasionally he'll shoot a
barrage of fireballs at the ground and ceiling.  To avoid them,
you must space jump in between the two streams.  Every now and
then he'll fall back and shoot three missiles at you.  You must
shoot these to collect energy and missiles.  Sometimes they won't
give you anything at all, so let's hope luck is on your side.
Just be sure you don't land on his claw on the way down from
grabbing the power-ups.  Occasionally his claw will block your
shot, or the missiles will be at the wrong angle to shoot, and
they'll hit you.  The missiles take away forty points of energy,
and they can knock you into his claw.  This will mean instant
death due to the damage from the missile AND the claw.  If you
are hit by a missile and he is following up with his claw,
quickly duck.  Hopefully, this will save you from death.  Once
you break the casing around his weak spot, he will begin firing
lasers in random directions, and he'll stop using the fireball
attack.  This is unfortunate because the fireball attack is easy
to avoid, but the lasers usually aren't.  Hopefully he isn't
shooting the lasers at you, but if he is, then just jump over
them.  If he claws at you when you try and dodge the laser, it's
over for you.  The huge problem with Mecha-Ridley is basically
EVERYTHING he does is random.  He randomly uses random weapons in
conjunction with other random variables.  This can cause serious
issues.  Sometimes he'll fire a laser, missiles, and a claw swipe
all at once, which will mean unavoidable death.  He may, or may
not do multiple attacks of the same kind, all in a row.  If
you're lucky, he'll continuously fire his lasers at the roof,
giving you a better chance at defeating him.  Just continue
dodging his attacks and firing away at his weak point.  As his
energy dwindles, he will give you smaller and smaller openings to
hit him.  He'll also begin blocking more often with his claw.
Don't waste missiles; wait for his weak point to show up and hit
it.  Just think that for every few missiles you waste, you're
going to have to dodge more attacks to collect more missiles.
Hopefully with this info, a little luck, and a lot of skill,
you'll take Mecha-Ridley down.  And after you take him down, good
luck on the escape!  You'll need it. :)

=================================================================

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4. Credits
-----------

GameFAQs (http://www.gamefaqs.com/) - Thanks to GameFAQs for
having such a great site, and hosting my FAQ.

Nintendo (http://www.nintendo.com/) - Thanks to Nintendo for
creating this great game.

Kaleb.G (http://www.kalebgrace.com/) - Thanks to Kaleb for
letting me use his computer all the time, correcting some of my
grammar, and for finding out that you can save after destroying
Mother Brain's barriers.  He also provided that GREAT strategy
for defeating Mother Brain that is invaluable on a 9% run!

Samus.co.uk (http://www.samus.co.uk/) - Thanks for having such a
great forum to discuss all the latest Zero Mission developments,
as well as some great information regarding the entire series.

Myself (http://www.loneshadow.com/) - Thanks to me for not being
so lazy and actually getting this FAQ done.

Lyzz - Thanks for being supportive through anything and
everything.  If I wasn't in the good moods she puts me in, I
never would have written this FAQ.

=================================================================

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5. Contact
-----------

Website - http://www.loneshadow.com/
E-Mail - ShadowXOR@LoneShadow.com
AIM - ShadowXOR
Name - Cody S.

Please feel free to contact me with any mistakes, questions,
comments, and thanks, as long as they regard my FAQ.  You will be
credited for any information you provide.  DO NOT ask me for help
through areas in Metroid: Zero Mission that are unrelated to my
FAQ, such as how to get an energy tank, etc.  Other than this,
you can e-mail me about just about anything else, including my
website.  DO NOT request to host my FAQ; your request WILL be
denied.

=================================================================

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6. Copyright Notice
--------------------

This FAQ is (c) Copyright ShadowXOR 2004.  All rights reserved.
This FAQ is not to be hosted on any sites that I have not given
permission to.  Once again, DO NOT request to host my FAQ; your
request WILL be denied.

My FAQ should ONLY be hosted on the following websites:

GameFAQs - [http://www.gamefaqs.com/]
GameSpot - [http://www.gamespot.com/]
LoneShadow.com - [http://www.loneshadow.com/]
Samus.co.uk - [http://www.samus.co.uk/]

If you see this FAQ hosted anywhere else, please contact me.