Hard Shell

Hard Shell
Battle with Hard Shell
Location	Area 5
Reward	Dive Module
Pause Trick	No

Hard Shell is the boss of Blaster Master's Area 5. When defeated, it drops the Dive Module.

Appearance

Hard Shell appears to be a giant mutated crab. It has purple whiskers, and a green gem in between it's eyes.

Strategy

Hard Shell spends the entire battle on the top half of the screen, strafing left and right. Its only form of attack is spitting lethal bubbles that can be destroyed by gunfire. The more damage it takes, the more aggressive it becomes with a barrage of bubbles:

Appearances

Blaster Master (novel)

It's later revealed this boss was modeled after Alex's pet lobster, Plutarch, who, like Fred, had wandered into the underworld.

Blaster Master: Overdrive

Hard Shell is the boss in the Ruins. It's bubble shots can't be destroyed and it can lunge out at Alex with a large left claw. It drops the Anchor Kit 1 when defeated.

Blaster Master Zero

Now given the subtitle "Abyssal Predator", Hard Shell returns as the boss of the 5th area, the Man-Made Sea. Unlike the original battle, this iteration of Hard Shell is extremely mobile, constantly moving through a large arena at high speed. It is now immune to damage from the front, and can only be damaged by being attacked from the back or sides, though the player can bypass this defense with the use of the Penetrate or Wave shots. Uniquely, Hard Shell is featured in several set pieces before the actual encounter: the player can see its shadow swimming by overhead in one room, where a smaller, shed exoskeleton can be found, and in another it can be seen attacking and killing a large whale-like creature.