Metroid Dread has to feature one of the coolest portrayals of Samus Aran that fans have ever seen.  I’ve already written a review of the game, but finding myself unable to quit talking about it quite yet, I decided it would be fun to rank all of the game’s bosses that Samus so expertly vanquishes, from the worst to the most awesome.  Because who doesn’t love a good list?  Plus, I’ll also be providing a few tips for some of the tougher boss encounters (so you’re welcome…).

10: Central Units – These weird robot brain things appear multiple times in the game and must be defeated in order to temporarily obtain the Omega Blaster, which is used to get sweet vengeance against the EMMIs.  They don’t really do anything but shoot at you from a few turrets around the room, and they take way too many hits to defeat.  You can’t even really lose to these things because you can keep getting health pickups from the projectiles.  Frankly, these guys are lucky to even be on this list.

9: Escue – This oversized flying beetle spends much of its battle electrified, making it immune to damage, so that’s fun.  This is just a generally annoying and tedious battle, but at least there is a trick that will make its defeat much faster.  If you speed boost into the room, you can use Shinespark on the boss for massive damage!

8: Golzuna – Golzuna has three phases, the first two of which can be defeated within seconds.  Even phase three is a pushover once I discovered that I can simply jump over the creature’s head to the other side of the room in order to avoid certain attacks.  Man, I feel silly…

7: Robot Chozo Soldier – You fight these guys a decent amount, sometimes even in pairs.  They mainly just run around and shoot at you.  So I respond by doing what I do best.  Fleeing like a coward and shooting missiles from a distance before zipping over to the opposite end of the room when they follow me.  Just stay on the move, and they should go down easily.

6: Drogyga – I kind of hate this underwater boss, but it only made it this high on the list because the previous entries just didn’t feel like proper boss encounters.  If you’re unsure why I hate this one, well, then you must have missed the word “underwater”.  If you’re struggling this one, make sure you’re shooting those buttons on either side of the room to drain the water once you’ve done enough damage.  (A lot of people didn’t see those at first.  Myself included.)  And don’t forget to charge your weapon as you cross over to the other side of the room to save time.  Also, some well-timed parries can help this battle to end just a bit faster.

5: Chozo Soldier (spear edition) – More boss enemies that we encounter several times, but these guys are kind of fun to battle once you learn their attack patterns.  You will just need to be fast and adept at parrying because these guys can’t be defeated unless you parry properly at the end.  Just parry right after you see the flash of light, and you shouldn’t have much trouble.

4: Corpius – This scorpion-like creature was pretty tough for such an early boss fight.  This beastie can turn invisible and likes attacking with its long tail.  This was a thoroughly stressful battle, but it also marked the first time I really needed to be on my toes.

3: Kraid – Ah yes, Kraid, a classic Metroid boss.  Despite being restrained, Kraid put up an admirable fight.  Also, Samus’ reaction to this old enemy of hers is just too epic.

2: Experiment No. Z-57 – This was a rather unique and challenging boss battle against a massive creature that enjoys hanging from the ceiling and shooting giant deadly beams at me.  It’s more fun than it sounds.

1: Raven Beak – Dread ends on a high note with my favorite boss in the game, the Chozo Raven Beak.  This multi-part battle is fast-paced and, surprisingly, a whole lot of fun.  By now, I had 100% of my abilities and upgrades and could unleash a whole army’s worth of missiles against my adversary.  In short, it was a super satisfying end to an amazing game.  Just be aware that during phase 1, once he starts glowing gold, you can only damage him through parries.  Once he beckons for you to come closer, run up and parry, then shoot as many missiles at him as you can!

Screenshot taken by Cary