Crocomire

The is a miniboss in Super Metroid. It is found in Croc's pit in Norfair on the way to finding the Grapple Beam.
== Characteristics and Battle ==
Unlike nearly all other enemies in Super Metroid, the Crocomire cannot be killed by conventional means. Samus Aran's weapons (such as Missiles, Super Missiles, and the Charge Beam) shot into the mouth only succeed in making the beast take several steps backward, depending on the power of the weapon. No matter what attack is used, the first hit against Crocomire will only push it back a very small distance. Even though Crocomire itself cannot be killed by conventional means, its tongue can still be destroyed prior to being shoved into the lava, although it nevertheless requires a huge amount of effort, requiring at least 82 Power Bombs to destroy it.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rvqrgo_2M-s
Crocomire does not attack Samus until she attacks it first. When not being attacked, it sluggishly lumbers forward. Curiously, if a Power Bomb is used against it, the Crocomire will become enraged and charge forward much further compared to when it is not under attack.
Behind the Crocomire lies a thin bridge covering a pool of scalding-hot lava. Behind Samus lies a wall of spikes. Thus, the battle is sort of a shoving match between Samus and the Crocomire: the former's goal is to push the large creature onto the bridge while the latter attempts to push Samus onto the wall of Spikes with its body. The beast periodically shoots plasma balls from its mouth and will try to rake her with its claws; its projectiles can be destroyed for health and missiles. If Samus is repeatedly unsuccessful at preventing the creature from advancing, it will eventually and suddenly sprint to tackle Samus against the hazardous wall with its body, causing considerable damage. It will then take a few steps back before sprinting again.
When Samus manages to push the Crocomire onto the thin bridge, it will collapse under its weight, thus making the beast fall into the superheated lava. The creature will rise and sink in the substance erratically, roaring in pain as its flesh melts off its bones. Eventually, it sinks out of sight, giving a false sense that the battle is over - yet the room's doors remain locked and Samus can observe a trail of bubbles from the lava below traveling away to the other side of the chamber.
When she reaches the wall of spikes, the screen rumbles for a brief moment, and the Crocomire's skeleton rips through the wall, giving an equally false impression of a two-stage battle. However, due to the fact that it is now only a pile of bones, it quickly falls apart in front of Samus. Its skull will remain on the floor for the rest of her mission on Zebes until the planet is destroyed.
==Unused content==
===Super Metroid===
The Stoke is an unused creature in Super Metroid that resembles a miniature Crocomire.
===Metroid: Zero Mission===
Crocomire was originally going to be a boss in the prequel Metroid: Zero Mission, presumably for Norfair but was cut for unknown reasons. Its sprite can still be accessed by hacking the GBA ROM, but the existing animations are seemingly unfinished and there is no death sequence for the creature. However, an unused event flag is still present within the prototype builds of the game, labelled 40 CROCOSI (likely pertaining to the flag that tells the game to stop loading Crocomire after its defeat). A fan-made IPS patch has been released that transforms Crocomire into a working boss.http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/333/
Unlike in Super Metroid, this Crocomire's coloration was less vibrant. Also notable is that it does not have its signature rough, rugged skin, indicating that the creature may have been meant to be scarred by its battle in Zero Mission, explaining its chronologically later appearance in Super Metroid.
==Official data==
===Super Metroid manual===
;CROCOMIRE
:"(The Mini-Boss of Norfair)This huge creature has sticky skin and spits plasma balls. When adventurers attempt to fight the Crocomire, it becomes angrier with every blow."
===Super Metroid Players' Guide===
"The huge and horrible Crocomire is a major obstacle in your path yet he's not even the main guardian of this section! In fact, this enormous red reptilian is so powerful you simply can't destroy him, even with a full compliment of power-ups and weapons. Your only hope is to drive him back onto the flimsy bridge to the right of his domain. Being such a bulbous creature, the bridge will crumble under him, causing him to fall into the lava pit underneath. No-one, not even Crocomire, can survive. Like Kraid, Croc's only vulnerable point is inside his mouth. You'll have to keep firing rockets and charge blasts (normal shots have no effect), otherwise he'll advance and eventually force you to your death on the spikes protruding from the wall on the far left."
===Nintendo Power Volume 60===
;SINK THE CROCOMIRE!
:"The massive Crocomire cannot be destroyed by Missiles or beams. You must use your firepower to push it back and into the lava. When the Crocomire opens its mouth, hit it with Missiles and your powered-up beam."
===Interview===
Interviewer: Huh? Made it dirty?
Mashimo: Apparently, the characters I drew were fairly cute. Characters like Crocomire were so charming that when they were killed, the player would feel sad about them.
Osawa: He wanted to make them look like Fujiko Fujio's work! Then Yamane came into the picture.
Mashimo: When that happened, the characters became harsher so that the player could defeat them.
Osawa: Fujiko Fujio became Hino Hideshi!* (Laughs)
*Fujiko Fujio was the two-person manga team behind Doraemon. Hino Hideshi is a famous horror manga artist.http://www.metroiddatabase.com/old_site/index.php?g=sm&p=interview
==Development notes==
According to a development map, Crocomire's name was originally which is derived from "tokeru", the Japanese word for "melt". It may have been a pun on the Japanese name for Godzilla, Gojira.http://www.metroiddatabase.com/old_site/new-scan-super-metroid-dev-map-hg101-reviews/
Its roar in Super Metroid is a stock roar sound effect previously heard in films such as The Land Unknown (1957) and King Kong (1976). This roar is shared with Kraid and Phantoon.
While at Retro Studios, Sammy Hall drew a number of rough sketches of Crocomire, with various designs. Responding to speculation, Hall explained in his 2018 Shinesparkers feature that they were drawn for fun, and Crocomire was not intended for Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. He re-drew the eleventh sketch for the feature after it was chosen by the site's staff.Sammy Hall: Energy Tank Acquired. Shinesparkers July 21, 2018. https://shinesparkers.net/features/sammy-hall-energy-tank-acquired/
==Other appearances==
In Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance, the player will eventually come to an area called the "Skeleton Cave", where there are giant skulls resembling Crocomire's which can be used as ramps to get to the next part of the area. Since Super Metroid paved the way for many future 2D Castlevania games from Symphony of the Night onward, this game appears to pay a specific homage to the franchise.
In Donkey Kong Country Returns, a platform resembling Crocomire's head can be seen in the background of level 7-1: Foggy Fumes. The game was developed by Retro Studios, the same team which developed most the Prime series. This reference is similar to the Gunship appearing in the background of 1-B: Busted Bayou in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. Matt Manchester (an artist for Corruption) and Ted Anderson added this cameo.Kiwi Talkz. "#136 - Ted Anderson Interview (Donkey Kong, Mario Kart 7, Artistry, Nintendo, Texture Libraries etc)". YouTube. May 14, 2022. Retrieved May 17, 2022. (starts at 47:13)
==Trivia==
*Crocomire shares its battle theme with Kraid, Phantoon and the Big Metroid. The battle theme briefly starts up again when Crocomire's skeleton attacks, only to quickly fade out as the skeleton crumbles.
*Crocomire is the only boss in Super Metroid that reacts aggressively when a Power Bomb is used against it.
*Curiously, while Crocomire is fought in Norfair, it does not seem to be adapted at all to the environment; the creature is inside an unheated room and the lava which it falls into destroys its skin, pointing to the fact it cannot tolerate any form of extreme heat. Why Crocomire was in the unsuitable and mostly heated Norfair region is unknown. However, it should be noted that the lava present in the chamber is more intense than the lava seen everywhere else in upper Norfair, even capable of damaging the Gravity Suit; this superheated lava is commonly found only in Ridley's Hideout, therefore insinuating that Crocomire was possibly adapted to upper Norfair's more common lava and heated regions.
**In Nintendo Official Guide Book for Super Metroid, the liquid in Croc's pit is referred to as hydrochloric acid, implying that it was corrosion from acid that melted its skin, rather than the heat of lava.
*If Samus uses the Grappling Beam via the Spacetime Beam and grapples Crocomire, it will be able to be pulled around with disembodied legs and arms. Its tongue should stay in place, flopping around.
*If the Hyper Beam is obtained ahead of time via hacking, or by using the charged Plasma Beam and (after Crocomire has already been hit once) fired into the Crocomire's mouth, it will do so much damage to it that the Crocomire will dash straight into the lava after only a single shot.Solracxealz. "Hyper Beam Madness EP 5 [Crocomire Fight]". YouTube. October 14, 2007. Retrieved May 17, 2022. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W_P3c9VFC4
*When the Crocomire's skeleton falls apart, the sound it makes is similar to that of a Dry Bones from Nintendo's Super Mario series. Curiously, in New Super Mario Bros. released in 2006, Bowser falls into a pit of lava and turns into the skeletal Dry Bowser, which is strikingly similar to Crocomire melting into a skeleton; it is unknown if Crocomire influenced Dry Bowser's design.
*Crocomire's skeleton is apparently missing one pair of lower legs.
*Crocomire and Spore Spawn are the only bosses in Super Metroid to leave behind remains after their death. In Crocomire's case, it is its skeleton. Kraid and Draygon are two other bosses who leave behind their bodies, but both quickly sink into the ground.
*The name Crocomire is a portmanteau of the two words "crocodile" and "mire".
*The boss battles with the Omega Metroid in Metroid Fusion, the Kiru Giru in Metroid: Zero Mission, and the Desbrachians in Metroid: Other M involve Samus firing at them to push them back, similar to Crocomire.
*The Super Metroid manga has a strip called Looks Happy, Looks Sad, where Samus jumps onto Crocomire's head and counts its eyes, overjoyed that all eight are completely round. Samus does not notice that the embarrassed Crocomire is crushing her with the Spikes on the wall.
*If Samus travels back to Croc's pit, Crocomire's skull will have moved significantly to the left from where it fell, so that its bottom jaw is no longer visible (hidden by foreground bushes), and its spine now visible.
*A flashback of Samus's battle with Crocomire in Super Metroid appears in the Discover the Hunter Trailer for Metroid Dread.
==Gallery==
Crocomire.gif|Crocomire sprite in Super Metroid
Crocomire roar.gif|Animated sprite in Super Metroid
Crocomire Zeromission Animation.gif|Animated sprite as it would have appeared in Metroid: Zero Mission.
Crocomire Zeromission Crawling Animation.gif|Crawling animation.
Crocomire Zeromission Damaged Animation.gif|Possibly its damaged animation.
Smart croc2.jpg|Concept art
File:A Crocomire Thumbs.png|Sammy Hall concept art.
Crocomire DKCR.png|Donkey Kong Country Returns skull
Reptile Awareness Day.jpg|Nintendo of Europe tweeted image on Reptile Awareness Day 2019 (October 21).Nintendo of Europe (Nintendo Europe). "Happy #ReptileAwarenessDay! To celebrate, why not tell us who your favourite reptilian juggernaut is to fight against in #SuperMetroid, now available to play with #SuperNES – #NintendoSwitchOnline!" Oct 21, 2019 9:46 a.m. Tweet. https://twitter.com/NintendoEurope/status/1186277558368661504
==References==
es:Crocomire
ru:Крокомайр
Category:Species
Category:Bosses
Category:Zebes
Category:Norfair
Category:Unused Bosses and Species
Category:Reptilian
Category:Sammy Hall
Category:Carnivores
Category:Deceased