Homing Missile

Homing Missile is a weapon that seeks out nearby targets. It is usually used by the Metal Attackers.

Appearances

Blaster Master and Blaster Master: Enemy Below

When fired, a missile will quickly and automatically target the nearest enemy; multiple missiles are fired if there is more than one target on screen. Despite the speed and relative accuracy, it's possible for the missile to get confused by especially quick or evasive enemies and simply whirl around for a bit. Short enemies like the Caterpillars can avoid Homing Missiles due to their faulty tracking causing them to not lower downward, instead simply hovering above them; this can be fixed by jumping before firing, which will cause the Homing Missile to properly track downward. The missile is unobstructed by walls or other objects.

Blaster Master: Blasting Again

Sophia J-7's Homing sub-weapon, acquired along with Thunder and Field Guard after defeating Cave's first boss, sends out a pair of blue missiles that lock onto and seek out nearby targets, draining a blue SP gauge. The sub-weapon button must be held down to acquire targets within a fixed range, then released to fire the missiles. Number of missiles per volley is increased as the SP gauge is extended using Power Memory Prisms for Homing, up to a maximum of six missiles.

Blaster Master: Overdrive

This is a weapon used by Alex inside of Chambers. The shots from this attack will seek nearby targets, but only to a degree. It has five levels of power. With each level, the weapon will fire one more missile. At level 5, though, it becomes a fully-automatic weapon that spews out a storm of homing bolts. Though it's Alex's weakest weapon, the ability to home in on targets makes it a valuable asset.

Blaster Master Zero

“	A sub-weapon that fires a missile that pursues its target enemy.”
	— Homing Missile • Blaster Master Zero

Homing Missile (now abbreviated H. Missile) returns as a sub-weapon of SOPHIA III in Blaster Master Zero, obtainable in Area 2 from Biby Legion; in Destroyer Mode, it is obtainable in Area 5 from Ambush Room. It functions similarly to the original and Enemy Below versions, albeit with better and smoother tracking capabilities, but only firing one missile at a time.

Each tap of the Sub-weapon button consumes 1 SP point and fires 1 missile, with no limit to fire rate or the number of missiles on-screen at once. Missiles fired while no enemies are nearby fly aimlessly in SOPHIA's movement direction until they find a target or despawn off-screen. Homing Missiles create small explosions (~1 block diameter) on contact, damaging any enemy caught in the blast equivalent to the shooting power of the main cannon + 1 Blaster Rifle Shot.

“	Fires a missile that pursues its target Hold the sub-weapon button for rapid fire”
	— Homing Missile Description (SOPHIA Zero) • Blaster Master Zero

When operating SOPHIA Zero, Homing Missile gains auto-fire functionality, allowing the player to hold down the sub-weapon button and launch missiles in succession at a rate of 6 missiles per second. (Note: Fire rate only applies while holding the button --- tapping the button continues to fire 1 missile per press.) In addition, empowered Homing Missile is granted an extremely low SP cost of 1/5 SP per missile (versus 1 SP per missile); in exchange, its explosions tie with empowered Jump Booster's blasts for weakest direct damage across SOPHIA Zero's entire arsenal, only dealing 1/6 of empowered Crusher Shot damage (5/3 of standard Crusher Shot damage).

Blaster Master Zero 2

“	Missiles that home in on enemies. Short press the SUB-WEAPON button for a single lock, long press for multi-lock.”
	— Hexa Missiles Weapon Select Screen Description • Blaster Master Zero 2

After defeating Hexa Biby on Planetoid A-1, Gaia-SOPHIA gains access to Hexa Missiles (abbreviated as H-Missile) which combine the functionality of J-7 and Zero's homing missile weapons. Tapping the Sub-weapon Button fires a salvo of six missiles from G-SOPHIA's rear which all home in on the closest enemy (if there is one on-screen), while holding the Sub-weapon Button for at least ~0.4 seconds before firing acquires up to six missile locks for each enemy on screen, then fires a single missile toward each lock upon releasing the button. Missiles deal 2/5 G-Crusher Shot damage in single lock mode (12/5 damage per salvo) and 6/5 G-Crusher Shot damage in multi-lock mode; in both modes, each missile costs 3% SP to launch.

Hexa Missiles is one of four counters against normal Garuda, destroying its shield mines with a single multi-lock mode missile, and will set its mine-laying attack's Enhance Flag during the Planetoid G-1 refight (setting Enhance Flags for all four attacks is required to trigger full-power Garuda and acquire the "G vs G" and "NORA MA-07" achievements in Blaster Master Zero 2's Steam version).

Blaster Master Zero 3

WARNING The Hostility Of CLASSIFIED INFORMATION This article contains spoilers for the Blaster Master Zero 3 demo.

Leibniz installs Garuda's sub-weapon, Homing Laser, on Gaia-SOPHIA SV while Jason is fending off Evil Eve within Dungeon-1 of Sophia Metropolis (the 2nd area of Blaster Master Zero 3). Homing Laser functionality is similar to the immediate predecessor Hexa Missiles --- tapping the sub-weapon button fires six lasers toward a single enemy while holding the button sends out a lock-on pulse and causes up to six lasers to be fired on release, one for each of up to six targets. Multi-lock fire is required to open certain doors, which first appear in Sophia Metropolis, by hitting six lights in rapid succession.

Related Quotes

“	HOMING MISSILE: With this sub-weapon, you can fire a missile that will pursue its target until it makes contact. It's a super useful weapon, but if you get too trigger-happy, you will find your SP gauge depleted in no time flat.”
	— Eve • Blaster Master Zero

“	"HEXA-MISSILES" is a sub-weapon that fires homing missiles. Press the SUB-WEAPON button briefly for a single lock-on. All 6 missiles will follow the same target. Hold the SUB-WEAPON button for multi-lock-on. Use this to fire missiles at up to 6 enemies. Try to choose the best method for the situation.”
	— Eve • Blaster Master Zero 2

Blaster Master: Overdrive
Areas	Ruins · Caverns · Subterranean Lake · Sky Tower · Lava Flow · Ice Caves · Badlands · Ruinous Depths
Upgrades	Anchor Kit · Hover Kit · Drill Kit · Dive Kit · Wall Kit · Super Tire Kit · Anchor Kit 2
Weapons	Gun · Grenade · Homing Missile · Blast Bomb
Bosses