Yard

YardsSuper Metroid Nintendo Player's Guide pg. 16 are creatures resembling small snails with crab-like pincers carrying large, armored shells on their backs.
==Description==
They live in several sections of Maridia in Super Metroid and are seen most of the time moving along the ceilings and walls. A Yard can only be destroyed by the Bomb, Power Bomb or the Speed Booster; any other weapon will simply cause them to retreat into their resistant shells. They are harmless while inside their shells, and Samus can even kick or juggle them around by running into them, and they make odd bouncing noises when she does so. However, if left alone after kicking them, the Yards will eventually come out of their shells, straighten themselves up, and move directly towards Samus' direction with a drastic increase in speed, attempting to ram her.
They also appear in Metroid Fusion,Nintendo Official Guide Book for Metroid Fusion pg. 29 in the seabed-like area of Sector 4 (AQA). These Yards were captured and brought onboard the BSL Station at an undetermined point before the events of the game, where they were eventually infected and mimicked by X Parasites. The X's ability to manipulate their hosts' DNA has given the Yard an increase in size with a radically different shell (now cone-shaped). These variants have also acquired the ability to fire spinning bolts of energy from their shells. However the X-infected Yards are very slow in their movements, unlike their natural counterparts.
==Official data==
===Super Metroid Nintendo Player's Guide===
YARD
==Development notes==
Datamining of Fusion has uncovered unused sprites of the Yard with its original shell from Super Metroid, albeit colored blue.biospark. Metroid Fusion - Unused Sprite Animations. YouTube. June 21, 2021. Retrieved December 7, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGnwul2oWMc (starts at 10:27)
==Trivia==
*The Yards from Metroid Fusion bear similar physiology to a Gravitt from SR388.
*The bolt of energy shot out of an X-infected Yard's shell is visually similar to Ridley's 2D fireballs.
==References==
Category:Species
Category:Zebes
Category:Maridia
Category:BSL
Category:Sector 4
Category:Sealife
Category:Wall-crawlers
Category:X