Samus Aran: Difference between revisions

|image        = {{tabber|title1=Other M|content1=[[File:Samus Other M Artwork.png|250px|Samus in Metroid: Other M]]|title2=Super Metroid|content2=[[File:SM Samus Aran.png|250px|Samus in Super Metroid]]}}

|lastappearance= ''{{iw|mariowiki|Super Mario RPG (Nintendo Switch)}}'' (2023, cameo)

'''Samus Aran''' ({{ja|サムス・アラン|Samusu Aran}}, ''Samus Aran'') is the protagonist of the {{uv|Metroid}} series. A human woman raised as a warrior by the bird-like {{s|metroidwiki|Chozo}} people, Samus is the galaxy's most famous bounty hunter, thanks to her constantly working with the {{s|metroidwiki|Galactic Federation}} to fight against fearsome villains such as the {{s|metroidwiki|Space Pirate}}s. Samus is widely praised as one of Nintendo's most iconic heroes, and a groundbreaking example of proactive, powerful female protagonists in gaming.

Samus Aran debuted in ''{{b|Metroid|game}}'' (1986) for the Nintendo Famicom and Nintendo Entertainment System. The original game concepts for ''Metroid'' were done by director Makoto Kanoh and designer Hiroji Kiyotake. Samus is an intergalactic bounty hunter who is fearless in the face of danger, willing to take on enemies much larger than herself to ensure peace in the galaxy. Her determination is only matched by her selflessness, as she often spares the weak and aids the downtrodden even without compensation. Samus mostly acts as a silent protagonist and avatar for the player — however, she is occasionally given spoken dialogue or monologues, with her level of expressiveness varying between games. This carries over to her incarnations in ''Super Smash Bros.'', where Samus is completely silent (save for the [[Galactic Avenger]] event description in ''SSB4'', written as if spoken by her) and her [[Zero Suit Samus|Zero Suit]] self has a small number of spoken lines. ''{{s|metroidwiki|Metroid: Other M}}'' attempted to portray Samus with more explicit emotions; however, the approach was poorly received by fans and critics, discouraging this characterization in future games. Titles such as ''Metroid: Samus Returns'' would revert Samus to her traditional silent depiction, using body language to convey her personality.

The first ''{{b|Metroid|game}}'' game saw Samus on her initial mission on the planet {{s|metroidwiki|Zebes}}, sent to stop the {{s|metroidwiki|Space Pirate}}s from harnessing the dangerous {{b|Metroid|creature}}s. Samus successfully carried out the mission by defeating [[Kraid]], [[Ridley]], and finally [[Mother Brain]], the mechanical lifeform controlling the Space Pirate hideout. The game kept Samus's gender a secret (with the intent of surprising gamers after they completed it); even the game's English instruction manual refers to Samus as a male. However, clearing the game quickly unlocks an ending where Samus would remove her Power Suit to reveal a bikini, and the well-known "JUSTIN BAILEY" cheat code would allow her to be playable in a leotard. Since then, almost every game in the series would depict an unsuited Samus in some way, typically as part of an ending sequence. In the game's remake, ''{{iw|metroidwiki|Metroid: Zero Mission}}'', an epilogue allows the player to play as [[Zero Suit Samus]] for the first time. After being shot down during her escape from Zebes, she fights her way through a Space Pirate mothership to recover an upgraded Power Suit and escape.

In ''{{iw|metroidwiki|Metroid II: Return of Samus}}'', Samus is sent to {{s|metroidwiki|SR388}}, the homeworld of the Metroids, to exterminate them all after they were deemed too dangerous to exist. Samus accomplishes this mission, destroying even the {{s|metroidwiki|Queen Metroid}}, but after completing this task, the last Metroid egg hatches and the infant bonds to Samus as though she were its mother. Samus chooses to spare the baby Metroid and take it with her. The game's story is retold and expanded upon in the remake ''{{iw|metroidwiki|Metroid: Samus Returns}}'', most notably by having Samus and the baby Metroid be confronted by Ridley before leaving the planet.

In ''{{iw|metroidwiki|Super Metroid}}'', with the last Metroid in captivity, the galaxy is at peace. Galactic Federation scientists study the Metroid, but just as Samus leaves the Ceres Colony, it is attacked, and Samus returns to witness Ridley making off with the infant Metroid. Samus chases him to Zebes where she once again defeats Kraid, Ridley, and other Space Pirates, but is attacked by a giant Metroid on her way to Mother Brain. The giant Metroid, in reality a grown form of the infant, recognizes Samus at the last minute and flees. In a final epic battle, Samus fights Mother Brain's new mechanical body, but is almost defeated. However, she is saved by the baby Metroid at the last moment, though it is killed by Mother Brain. Using the Hyper Beam the baby Metroid had taken from Mother Brain, Samus avenges the baby and kills Mother Brain, escaping Zebes before the entire planet explodes.

A ''Nintendo Power'' comic adaptation of ''[[Super Metroid]]'' was the first depiction of Samus's backstory, which was later expanded in the ''Monthly Magazine Z'' {{s|metroidwiki|Metroid e-manga}}. These comics established that Samus was born on the mining colony K-2L to parents Virginia and Rodney Aran. When Samus was 3 years old, her parents were away when the {{s|metroidwiki|Chozo}} visited; one named Old Bird befriended Samus, before departing. Soon after, the miners were ambushed by the Space Pirates, led by none other than Ridley. He attempted to kill Samus, inadvertently killing Virginia instead as she leapt in the way. Rodney then detonated the volatile mineral Afloraltite, sacrificing himself to destroy the Pirates and bury Ridley under rubble. Old Bird and the Chozo returned soon after, finding Samus as the sole survivor of the incident. They chose to adopt the orphaned girl and took her to planet Zebes. As she grew, she was infused with their DNA, trained with them in combat, and was given a Chozo Power Suit. Eventually, Samus left the planet and joined the Galactic Federation. She was present for the Space Pirates' occupation of Zebes, in which she reconcile her troubled relationship with her guardian Gray Voice just before his death at the hands of Ridley. Soon afterwards, Samus left the Federation due to her disagreements with procedures and general distaste for authority, as well as an argument with her superior officer, Adam Malkovich. Samus became a bounty hunter instead, and developed a reputation as the best in the galaxy.

In ''{{iw|metroidwiki|Metroid Fusion}}'', Samus is assigned to escort a research expedition on SR388. There she is infected by an {{s|metroidwiki|X-Parasite}}, and subsequently crashes into an asteroid when she passes out in her ship. Unconscious, parts of her suit are surgically removed by the Galactic Federation due to the X-Parasites infecting it. Her life is saved only when she is given the {{s|metroidwiki|Vaccine "Metroid"}}, made from the baby Metroid's cells, giving her Metroid-like qualities such as immunity to X-Parasites and weakness to cold. After this, Samus is sent to the BSL Research Station to investigate a disaster. There, she encounters the SA-X, an X-Parasite that formed from her infected Power Suit. Learning that a rogue Federation branch is planning to clone Metroids as a bioweapon and secure the X-Parasites for the same purpose, Samus resolves to destroy both the station and planet SR388 to prevent such an outcome. Samus sends the BSL crashing into SR388, escaping after absorbing the SA-X and destroying an escaped Omega Metroid.

In ''{{iw|metroidwiki|Metroid Prime}}'', set between ''Metroid'' and ''Metroid II'', Samus investigates a Space Pirate distress call from the Frigate Orpheon. She discovers the Pirates had been studying a new form of mutagen called {{s|metroidwiki|Phazon}}, and encounters the reconstructed [[Meta Ridley]]. Samus pursues Meta Ridley to the planet Tallon IV, where she learns that a Chozo colony had lived there and a meteorite had struck on the planet long ago, warping a Metroid into an evil creature known as Metroid Prime. Samus searches through Tallon IV, uncovering not just Space Pirate research on the Phazon mutagen and Metroid Prime itself, but Chozo lore as well, detailing their spiritual way of life on Tallon IV before their end. Samus opens the way to the meteorite, defeating Meta Ridley at the entrance, and seemingly defeats Metroid Prime despite it stealing her Phazon Suit upgrade.

In ''{{iw|metroidwiki|Metroid Prime Hunters}}'', Samus is sent to the Alimbic Cluster after the Galactic Federation intercepts a message claiming that "Ultimate Power" lies in the center. Samus explores four separate areas: Alinos, Arcterra, Vesper Defense Outpost, and the Celestial Archives, and secures the Octoliths, keys to the Infinity Void, where the ultimate power was said to be. Other bounty hunters named Sylux, Trace, Noxus, Spire, Kanden, and Weavel, stand in her way, each seeking the ultimate power for their own ends. The message turns out to be a trap, an attempt by the monstrous being Gorea to escape imprisonment. Samus, after securing an ancient Alimbic superweapon called the Omega Cannon, vanquishes Gorea and earns the respect of the Alimbic people.

In ''{{iw|metroidwiki|Metroid Prime 2: Echoes}}'', Samus is sent to the planet known as Aether to find a lost group of Galactic Federation troopers. She learns another Phazon meteorite had struck Aether, splitting it in two at the dimensional level: one dimension of regular Aether and the other an oppressive world called Dark Aether, which boasted a literally corrosive atmosphere of evil. Samus explores the planet, destroying the dark Ing creatures and reclaiming the light of Aether for the native Luminoth species. She also encounters [[Dark Samus]], a doppelganger of herself born from her Phazon Suit and the remains of Metroid Prime. With the help of the Luminoth, Samus stands against the Emperor Ing, destroys Dark Aether and apparently Dark Samus as well.

In ''{{iw|metroidwiki|Metroid Prime 3: Corruption}}'', Samus and three other bounty hunters, Rundas, Ghor, and Gandrayda, are hired by the Galactic Federation to heal the Aurora Units across the galaxy, which are infected by Phazon. However, Dark Samus, now leading the Space Pirates, plots to corrupt the entire galaxy with Phazon. On Norion, Dark Samus "corrupts" Samus and the three bounty hunters with Phazon, so the Federation attempts to harness it using PED systems. However, the hunters succumb to Dark Samus' influence, forcing Samus to trek across three planets, Bryyo, Elysia, and the Space Pirate Homeworld, to kill the corrupted hunters and complete their missions. Samus and the Federation then travel to the planet Phaaze, the origin of all Phazon, where Samus finally destroys Dark Samus and renders all Phazon inert. As Samus flies off into space, a mysterious ship (later confirmed to be Sylux) follows her.

''{{iw|metroidwiki|Metroid Prime: Federation Force}}'' marks Samus' first role in the series as a supporting character. Samus is hired to investigate the Bermuda System, a three-planet system with abandoned Galactic Federation resources. As the mech suit-equipped members of Federation Force are already undertaking missions there, Samus occasionally intervenes to assist them. Samus eventually discovers that the Space Pirates are building the battleship ''Doomseye'' to attack Federation headquarters; however, she is kidnapped and brainwashed, and serves as the game's final boss under Space Pirate control. Once freed from the brainwashing, Samus helps the Federation troopers escape from the ''Doomseye'' and rescues them from the void of space with her [[gunship]].

In ''{{iw|metroidwiki|Metroid: Other M}}'', set just after ''Super Metroid'', Samus responds to a distress signal from a research station called the BOTTLE SHIP. There she runs into Adam Malkovich, her former commander from the Galactic Federation, and his platoon, including her old colleague Anthony Higgs. They discover that the BOTTLE SHIP was run by Federation staff creating illegal bioweapons cloned from Zebes, such as the Space Pirates and Ridley, but something went terribly wrong. Samus later discovers that the remains of the baby Metroid from her suit were used to clone Metroids as bioweapons. In order to control them, they created an android based on Mother Brain called MB, but she staged a bioweapon rebellion on the ship. In the end, Adam sacrifices himself to kill the Metroids, Samus defeats the Queen Metroid, and the Galactic Federation kills MB. Samus leaves the BOTTLE SHIP with Anthony and Madeline Bergman, MB's creator. Soon after, the Galactic Federation chooses to self-destruct the BOTTLE SHIP. Samus is allowed to return for Adam's helmet, which she succeeds in after facing Phantoon. Samus makes her escape before the station explodes.

In ''{{iw|metroidwiki|Metroid Dread}}'', set after ''Metroid Fusion'', Samus is dispatched to the planet ZDR by the Galactic Federation, having received evidence of X-Parasites there despite their supposed extinction. The Federation had sent E.M.M.I. robots to investigate, but they lost contact, leaving it up to Samus as the only being immune to the X-Parasites. Soon after arriving on ZDR, Samus is overpowered by a hostile Chozo named Raven Beak, though her body's mysterious reaction makes him spare her. As she recovers and explores the planet, Samus encounters the E.M.M.I., which now seek to kill her. A friendly Chozo, Quiet Robe, warns Samus of Raven Beak's plot to dominate the galaxy using the power of the Metroid DNA in her body. As she continues, Samus' Metroid abilities begin to awaken, one of many side effects of the "Metroid" vaccine. This culminates in Samus developing the Metroid Suit and attaining tremendous power, destroying Raven Beak, the X, and ultimately, all of ZDR. Samus' new power almost dooms her when she nearly destroys her ship too, but an X-mimicked Quiet Robe restores her original condition, allowing her to escape.

Samus makes her first appearance in the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series in the original ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]'' as a starting playable character. Samus is a heavy, yet floaty character. Her design is based off her appearance from ''Super Metroid''. Her neutral special move is the [[Charge Shot]], which can fire small blasts that do little damage; but when it is charged to full power, it is quite devastating. Her up special is the {{b|Screw Attack|move}}, which causes Samus to shoot up in the air, spinning her around very fast. Her down special is the {{b|Bomb|Samus}}, which can be used for a recovery through using it to air stall. However, Samus is considered one of the weaker characters in the game due to her lack of combo attacks, and being the only character in the game who cannot pull off a [[zero-to-death combo]] via natural combos. This has lead to her position on the current [[tier list]], where she is ranked 8th out 12 at the top of the C tier.

[[File:Samus SSBM.jpg|150px|thumb|Samus, as she appears in ''[[Super Smash Bros. Melee]]''.]]

Samus returns as a starting selectable character in ''[[Super Smash Bros. Melee]]'', in which her moveset has been tweaked. Her design is still based off her ''Super Metroid'' appearance. Her new side special move is the [[Missile]]. Samus's [[tier]] list placement is much higher than in the previous game (11th out of 26, in the B+ tier) due to her improved projectiles and edgeguarding capabilities, as well as a hugely improved recovery with many options, including [[bomb recovery]] and the [[wall grapple]].

[[File:Samus SSBB.jpg|170px|thumb|Samus, as she appears in ''Super Smash Bros. Brawl''.]]

! Fighter(s)

| {{StickerHead|Samus|Zero Suit Samus}}

| {{StickerHead|Samus|Zero Suit Samus}}

| {{StickerHead|Samus|Zero Suit Samus}}

[[File:Samus SSB4.png|thumb|Samus as she appears in ''Super Smash Bros. 4''.]]

Currently, Samus places 36-37th out of 54 characters on the ''Smash 4'' tier list in the D tier (tying with {{SSB4|Robin}}). While her [[Charge Shot]] gained KO power and had its speed increased, she had seemingly not improved much since ''Brawl''. However, Samus received many helpful buffs in game updates, with the most noteworthy being update [[1.1.5]], which increased her air speed and noticeably improved her dash attack, forward tilt, forward aerial, and [[Grab#Tether_grabs|tether grab]]. Charge Shot and [[Missile]] also saw their start-up lag reduced, strengthening her camping options. Thanks to the buffs Samus has gained through updates, she is now considered to be better than how she was in ''Brawl'' and during the early days of ''Smash 4''.

[[File:DLC Costume Samus's Armor.jpg|thumb|{{SSB4|Mii Gunner}}s dressed as Samus.]]

Outside of her role as a playable character, Samus's helmet is available as headgear for all three Miis in the base game, while her Varia Suit serves as the basis of a [[downloadable content]] [[Alternate costume (SSB4)#Wave 3|costume]] for {{SSB4|Mii Gunner}}s. Buying the Varia Suit costume will automatically unlock the helmet if it hasn't been unlocked already. Nintendo also released a [http://www.smashbros.com/images/dlc/image/qr_sample13.jpg QR code] for those who wish to have the exact Mii used in the costume's advertising.

[[File:Samus SSBU.png|thumb|Samus as she appears in ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate''.]]

*Samus has never officially used her basic {{iw|metroidwiki|Power Suit}} as an alternate costume in any ''Smash Bros.'' game, in spite of how much she's worn it in her home series. It is only seen in her Classic trophy in ''Melee'' and its own trophy in ''Brawl''.

*As of ''Melee'', Samus (along with her Echo Fighter [[Dark Samus]] in ''Ultimate'') is the heaviest female character by default; conversely in ''Brawl'', her Zero Suited self is the lightest female character.