Mini-Kraid

Mini-Kraid
Samus Aran battling Mini-Kraid.
Featured in	Metroid Super Metroid
Location	Kraid's Hideout
Attacks	Shoots spikes from its stomach and spits an unknown substance from its mouth.
Weakness	Missile, Screw Attack (Metroid) All weapons except for Grapple Beam (Super Metroid)
Reward(s)	Access to Kraid

Mini-Kraid, also known as False Kraid (にせクレイド), Sclayd, and baby Kraid, is an enemy in Metroid and Super Metroid. His appearance varies in both games, but he always maintains his trait as a far weaker version of the actual Kraid.

Metroid

Mini-Kraid as he appears in Metroid.

There are several paths that lead to the actual Kraid, so the player may not even encounter Mini-Kraid. He is a brown and blue version of the regular Kraid, but of equal size. He dies from a single Missile or at the slightest touch of the Screw Attack, but constantly respawns like a regular enemy once Samus leaves the room and re-enters.

This imposter was potentially the source of much frustration for first-time players of Metroid, as they may have thought, after killing him, that they had achieved one of the requirements of the Stone Statues to access Tourian. As a result, the players would leave Kraid's Hideout prematurely, unknowingly leaving the authentic Kraid alive.

Super Metroid

A few rooms before Kraid, Samus will encounter this smaller version of Kraid. Before she sees him, spikes will fly towards her, very similar to how Bowser attacks in Super Mario Bros, requiring quick dodging and Morph Ball maneuvers if players wanted to avoid any damage. As she progresses through the room, she will eventually come face to face with Mini-Kraid.

Mini-Kraid continually shoots spikes from his stomach and will occasionally spit rock-like projectiles from his mouth which will deal some damage. A few Missiles or one Super Missile will easily kill Mini-Kraid. He will respawn once Samus re-enters the room.

Kraid in Metroid was approximately the same size as Super Metroid's Mini-Kraid, and fought much like the latter, leading players to believe they were fighting the real Kraid when Super Metroid was first released. However, upon defeating this fake Kraid, nothing happens, though one of the next rooms contains the much larger, authentic Kraid.

Official data

Concept art of Kraid and Mini-Kraid from Metroid

Nintendo Power Volume 29

Kraid's Hideout (pg. 43)

A WIMPY IMPOSTER

"This midget monster imposter is easy to defeat, but it's not the real Kraid."

Super Metroid Players' Guide

"You'll meet this ugly little fellow standing outside Kraid's lair. He may look nasty, but a couple of rockets with [sic] complete the job."

Super Metroid Nintendo Player's Guide

Enemy Data								Description
Color	HP	ATK	E	BE	M	SM	PB	Brinstar. Only one Mini-Kraid exists. Charge it and shoot it with Missiles.
Normal	400	100	0	1	0	99	0

Information

Trivia

The Shape of Happiness

• Mini-Kraid did not appear in Metroid: Zero Mission, though its original room did.
• In Super Metroid, Mini-Kraid seems to make a cry similar to the Alien creature from the film franchise of the same name.
• There is an unused Fake Ridley in the original Metroid. Similar to Fake Kraid, it has a different coloration from the true Ridley and can be killed by a single Missile or at the slightest touch of the Screw Attack. It uses Ridley's fireballs to attack.
• Mini-Kraid also appears in The Shape of Happiness. Disguised as an attractive woman, it encounters Samus while she is on her way to kill Kraid. It quickly claims to be the real Kraid, but is killed by Samus. She then discovers him wearing a shirt identifying him as a fake boss. However, she leaves a note on his body identifying him as the real boss, and considers Kraid dead.
• Yoshio Sakamoto referred to False Kraid as possibly one of the development staff's favorite enemy creatures.
• Although Mini-Kraid and Kraid are the same height in Metroid, Nintendo Power volume 29 prophetically referred to it as a "midget monster imposter" in 1991, a few years before Super Metroid depicted Mini-Kraid as a smaller version of Kraid.