The entrance to Kraid's Lair in Super Metroid.
Kraid's Lair, also known as Kraid's Hideout, Mini-Boss hideout I or simply Kraid, were two distinct areas on planet Zebes. The first lair appeared in Metroid and its remake, while the second one, built in another location within Brinstar, was visited during Super Metroid. These places are where Samus Aran battles the Space Pirate enforcer, Kraid.
Kraid's Lair also appears in Super Smash Bros. Melee as a stage named Planet Zebes: Brinstar Depths.
Description
Both of Kraid's Hideouts had their entrances decorated with a large statue of an unknown creature featuring a disproportionate head similar to a Geega's. The statue's appearance remained mostly unchanged between Metroid and Super Metroid, but the former's remake heavily redesigned it to resemble a reptile-like being with its mouth closed.
In Samus' first mission on Zebes, Kraid's Lair was completely separate from Brinstar, and consisted mostly of structures crafted out of natural stones colored white. Despite this, vegetation was persistantly growing in several segments of the region. Pools of acid were common hazards to be found; a few of these were actually holograms used to hide passages. Several isolated rooms, including Kraid's chamber, contained blue colored metals, while others featured Air Holes as well. As Samus reached closer to the Pirate's room, the surrounding environment was no longer built out of stones, but instead with green metal, panels and fences; Fake Kraid was located in these synthetic corridors. Both rooms outside and inside Kraid's chamber contained ceilings made to resemble eyes and sets of teeth. Noticeably, an extensive vertical shaft containing long rows of Fake Blocks can be found in this region, which required Samus to carefully shoot and move quickly before the blocks would reform on her.
In the remake Metroid Zero Mission, the layout of Kraid's Hideout was slightly changed. The background of the entire region now featured ruins and crumbled architecture. There was also sophisticated technology to be found in the area, such as Zip lines and their power source, the Ancient Chozo machine, along with Morph Ball launchers. One of the large pools of acid now contained a mini-boss known as the Mua. Rooms with purple stonecraft seemingly replaced all blue colored rooms.
By the time Samus returns to Zebes during Super Metroid, the original lair belonging to Kraid was inacessible, with its only entrance entirely closed off with Brinstar's blue cavernous rocks. Kraid was to be found in a new lair, located near the red swamp segment of Brinstar, though carefully hidden with Super Missile Blocks. It was largely industrialized, with scarce signs of greenery and plant life, save some vines and Kraid's chamber. Some rooms were built with the same synthetic, green metal seen during the previous mission on Zebes. Contrary to the original hideout that mostly featured dangerous wildlife, there was a large presence of Space Pirates in the form of green Kihunters and Green Zebesians which guarded Kraid and Mini-Kraid; the corridor containing Mini-Kraid featured a ceiling crafted into a threatening face similar to those found in the boss' chamber in the previous hideout.
Power Ups
Metroid: Zero Mission
Super Metroid
Enemies
- Beetom (Super Metroid only)
- Gadora (Metroid: Zero Mission and Super Metroid only)
- Geega (Metroid: Zero Mission only)
- Green Space Pirate (Super Metroid only)
- Kihunter (Super Metroid only)
- Kraid
- Menu (Metroid only)
- Mini-Kraid (Metroid and Super Metroid only)
- Mua (Metroid: Zero Mission only)
- Reo (Metroid: Zero Mission only)
- Ripper (Metroid and Metroid: Zero Mission only)
- Sbug (Super Metroid only)
- Sidehopper (Metroid and Metroid: Zero Mission only)
- Skree (Metroid and Metroid: Zero Mission only)
- Baristute (Metroid: Zero Mission only)
- Zeela
Official data
Metroid: Zero Mission manual
"This is the lair of the largest boss in the fortress - Kraid."
Trivia
- Thanks to Zero Mission's improved graphics and additional content, Kraid's original Hideout was ultimately revealed to have once been an important Chozo region before the gigantic Pirate settled in it, as it featured numerous ruins and destroyed structures, along with Chozo machinery.
- Kraid's Lair in Super Metroid contains the famous mysterious dead soldier, seemingly killed a considerable amount of time before Samus returned to Zebes.
- The ceiling made to resemble eyes and teeth in Kraid's second hideout can harm Samus if she were to jump and touch the sharp structures that make up the fangs. This is somewhat difficult to avoid as a result of Mini-Kraid launching its belly spikes from across the corridor.
Gallery
