| “ | Observe this Hornoad, unimportant creatures that jump up and down. | „ |
Hornoads are creatures that lived on the planet SR388, where they were at the near-bottom of the food chain. Their name comes from a portmanteau of the words horn and toad.
Hornoads first appeared in Metroid II: Return of Samus, where they lived in the tunnels of their home planet. They were very weak and could do little besides jump at Samus as an attack. They would often give missile ammunition when defeated. Machines called Autoads that were behaviorally very similar to Hornoads could also be found on SR388.
Hornoads later made a return during the events of Metroid Fusion. When Samus was escorting Biologic's research team on SR388, she was attacked by an X Parasite mimicking a Hornoad. Upon being hit with a Missile, the parasite reverted to its gelatinous form and infected Samus, eventually leading to the removal of parts of her Power Suit and her inoculation with the Vaccine "Metroid". The portions of Samus' suit infected by the Hornoad-X would later become the SA-X. When Samus was sent to investigate an explosion at the Biologic Space Laboratories research station, she found the station overrun by the X. Hornoads were among the infected and mimicked wildlife and could be found on the Main Deck and in Sector 1. These Hornoad-X had gained the ability to spit globs of acid at Samus, but they remained exceptionally feeble.
The Hornoads found in Fusion have a slightly altered appearance from the ones found in Metroid II; most notably, their color scheme has changed to blue-and-purple, their backs now contain warty protrusions instead of a spiked surface, and their legs are more frog-like in appearance. The X has changed the Hornoad in form and nature- whilst normal Hornoads either have no teeth or conceal them, their X variant modifies their form to have more teeth and very aggressive behaviour. Their purple coloring seems to be restricted to the X-infected/mimicked variants -- natural green Hornoads can still be seen hopping around in the background of certain rooms in Sector 1 before being infected. However, this could simply mean that there are multiple subspecies of Hornoads with slightly different physiology. Either way, the new design has since remained unchanged. In Fusion, uninfected Hornoads will continually spawn from grey-green hives in the background, although no such structures are ever found on SR388.
Hornoads have made cameo appearances in the Concept Galleries for Metroid Prime (as well as New Play Control! Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime Trilogy) and Metroid: Other M.
Official data
Hornoad as seen in Metroid Fusion. This version is either an infected Hornoad or an X Parasite mimic. They are called Hornoad-X.
Hornoad as seen in Metroid II.
Metroid II manual
"Be wary of this hopping enemy."
Metroid Fusion manual
"Native life-form of SR388. These jumping frog-like creatures inhabit caves."
Official Fusion Website
"These amphibious creatures are native to planet SR388, the site of Samus's first mission. Now infected with the X, the Hornoads have become dangerous foes. Samus must destroy these and any other contaminated creatures encountered on the research station."
Hornoad in Metroid Prime concept art. This hornoad has four legs instead of two however.
Trivia
- The Hornoad-X featured in the live action commercial for Fusion has a different design.
- The website data states that SR388 was Samus' first mission. This is not true, her Zero Mission on Zebes was. However, it is more likely the data is talking about her first mission pertaining to SR388.
External links
Gallery
