Samus Aran

"I'm resting up for Mother Brain."

- Samus Aran

Samus Aran is the protagonist of the Metroid series and an intergalactic bounty hunter who occasionally makes crossover appearances with the Mario series. She was orphaned as a young girl through the combined efforts of Ridley and the Space Pirates and was adopted by the surviving members of the bird-like Chozo race. She was infused with Chozo blood and was given a Power Suit. After a brief stint as a member of the Galactic Federation, she then decided to become a bounty hunter and fight the Space Pirates, including Ridley.

Tetris
In the NES version of the game Tetris, Samus appears along with Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Bowser, Donkey Kong, Pit, and Link in a secret ending.

In Tetris DS Samus can be found on the title screen shooting Tetriminos. She is also seen on the top screen progressing through an area from Metroid on Level 12 of Marathon Mode.

Samus also has her own game mode called Catch. In this mode, a block floats up through a Metroid-style corridor. The other tetriminos must attach to it and form a square. The square then explodes, earning the Player points. Metroids also appear in this mode as enemies and must be avoided.

F-1 Race
Samus makes a guest appearance in the game, F-1 Race, alongside various other Nintendo All Stars (the other characters include Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Toad, Bowser, Donkey Kong, Link, and Pit). In this appearance of her, she serves as a guest character cheering on for the player prior to the seventh course, as well as appearing in the ending credits to congratulate the player on their victory.

Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
In Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, Samus travels to the Mushroom Kingdom to stay at the guest room of the royal castle. Apparently, Samus needs a place to rest before battling the evil Mother Brain. She also appears as a doll in a toybox in Booster Tower.

Super Smash Bros. series
In the Super Smash Bros. series, Samus is a heavy, slow character, but has many powerful attacks. Despite being very heavy, however, Samus falls at a slow speed. Several of her moves make use of her arm cannon, while her special moves are all based on the equipment she obtains in the Metroid series.

Super Smash Bros.


Samus is one of the default characters in the original Super Smash Bros.. Her appearance is based upon the Varia Suit as it appears in Super Metroid. In the game's single player mode, she is fought on the Planet Zebes stage.

Samus's neutral special move is the Charge Shot, which allows her to charge up a blast and fire it. Her up special move is the Screw Attack, in which she jumps up with an electric barrier around her to damage opponents. Her down special is the Bomb, in which she turns into the Morph Ball and drops a bomb. In addition, Samus uses the Grapple Beam as her grab move, which gives her a ranged grab.

One of Samus's alternate costumes is based upon the Gravity Suit; while the one officially noted as the Gravity Suit appears similar to the in-game sprite in Super Metroid, her purple costume resembles the suit in official artwork and subsequent games. In addition, while not based upon any aspect of the Metroid series, her green costume is referred to as "mass-produced Samus," a reference to the Gundam series.

Super Smash Bros. Melee
In Super Smash Bros. Melee, Samus is once again a default character. She is faced during the first portion of stage 4, which is set in Brinstar.

While Samus's moveset is unchanged from the previous game, she has been given a side special move, the Missile, in which she can fire either a homing missile or a Super Missile. The Grapple Beam has also been changed, allowing Samus to use it in midair and cling to walls to climb up them.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl
In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Samus's moveset is unchanged, though the Grapple Beam has once again been altered to act as a tether recovery. Her Final Smash, the Zero Laser, involves her firing a large beam of energy at opponents, though afterward the Power Suit falls apart, leaving Samus as Zero Suit Samus. Zero Suit Samus can regain the Power Suit by using her Final Smash, Power Suit Samus. The player can also instantly remove the Power Suit by quickly alternating Samus's up and down taunts.

One of Samus's new alternate costumes in this game is based upon the Fusion Suit from Metroid Fusion, while another is based upon the Dark Suit from Metroid Prime 2: Echoes.

The Subspace Emissary
Samus begins the Subspace Emissary in her Zero Suit, infiltrating a sinister laboratory. After making her way through it, she encounters Pikachu trapped within a strange device that harnesses its electrical energy to provide power to the complex. Seeing that the device causes Pikachu pain, Samus breaks the machine. In thanks, Pikachu helps Samus continue through the lab. Eventually, the pair come across Samus's Power Suit within a tank. However, two clones of Samus, wearing the purple Gravity Suit, approach them, prompting Samus and Pikachu to battle. When they are defeated, an alarm begins to wail, and the R.O.B. Squad approaches. Samus regains her Power Suit and blasts her way through them, along with Pikachu.

As they attempt to escape the complex, however, Ridley strikes without warning, snatching up Samus and attacking her. Pikachu uses Thunder to free her, and the two face off against Ridley.

After escaping from the facility, Samus and Pikachu discover another Subspace Army base producing Subspace Bombs. The two infiltrate it, and after fighting their way through, discover the Ancient Minister in a room filled with Subspace Bombs. The allies prepare to battle, but the Ancient Minister does not seem to want to fight them. Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Captain Falcon, and Captain Olimar then break into the room, and all of them, including Samus, witness the Ancient Minister defy Ganondorf's commands. As a result, the R.O.B. Squad fires upon him, burning off his robe and revealing that he is a R.O.B., as well. It turns out that all of the R.O.B.s had beem forced to work with the Subspace Army, with the main R.O.B., the Master Robot, as their leader. The rest of the R.O.B.s activate all the Subspace Bombs in the room, forcing all of them to escape. As they rush to the exit aboard Captain Falcon's Falcon Flyer, Meta Ridley races after them. The group defeats the space dragon once more, and escapes just before R.O.B.s' island home is engulfed in Subspace.

They then meet up with Mario, Link, Kirby, Pit, Yoshi, the Ice Climbers, Marth, Ike, Lucas, the Pokémon Trainer, Meta Knight, Princess Peach, Princess Zelda, Lucario, Snake, Fox McCloud, Falco Lombardi, and Mr. Game & Watch. All of them witness a Subspace Gunship emerge from Subspace. Samus's ship is among the ones that attack it.

Samus, along with all the other characters except for King Dedede, Luigi, and Ness, is turned into a trophy by Tabuu. Her trophy is obtained by Dedede's team, and she subsequently joins everyone else in The Great Maze, where they eventually defeat Tabuu.

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U
Samus returns in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U, her appearance having been updated to reflect her appearance in Metroid: Other M. Her moveset it mostly the same, except she no longer becomes Zero Suit Samus after using her Final Smash, as she is now a completely separate character. She receives two new alternate costumes, one based on the Light Suit from Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, and one based on Dark Samus, who also appears as an Assist Trophy.

WarioWare series
Samus also appears in the WarioWare games, where she appears in microgames modeled after levels from the Metroid games.

A list of the microgames Samus prominently appeared in include:


 * Metroid (WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!, WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Game$!)
 * Metroid-Morph Ball (WarioWare: Twisted!)
 * Metroid-Samus (WarioWare: Twisted!)
 * Metroid (WarioWare: Touched!)
 * Metroid Prime 2 (WarioWare: Smooth Moves)
 * Metroid (WarioWare: D.I.Y.)

Samus Aran is the theme of the 14th Miiverse Sketch Masterpiece Collection video, a promotional series of videos for Game & Wario in which the WarioWare cast comments on drawings made in the game's Miiverse Sketch mode. Samus' video is commented by 9-Volt.

Nintendo Land
Samus appears in Nintendo Land in the attraction Metroid Blast, where she fights waves of robotic enemies either on foot or from the air (via her gunship). On foot, she can fire her Arm Cannon, enter into her Morph Ball form, and use the Grapple Beam. Charging up her Arm Cannon allows her to fire bombs. From the gunship, Samus can fire missiles.

Mario Kart 8
Samus Aran makes a cameo appearance in the Wii U title, Mario Kart 8 - specifically, after the version 3.0 update. Her image appears alongside many other Nintendo and third-party characters' images on the Mii Racing Suits screen. As such, she is one of the characters whose amiibo can be scanned on the Wii U GamePad, in order for the Samus suit to become available; both the Samus and Zero Suit Samus amiibo can be used to unlock the costume. This suit customizes the player's Mii clothing.

Super Mario Maker
A costume representing Samus is available for the player's character in Super Mario Maker. The player can unlock the Samus costume either by scanning her amiibo onto the GamePad, or by completing the 100 Mario Challenge. Her sprite in this game is a new one based upon her modern appearance. All of her sound effects are taken from the Famicom Disk System version of the original Metroid, and when Samus runs at full speed she turns into the Morph Ball. Samus's pose when pressing is her aiming her cannon at the screen.

Super Smash Bros. bios

 * Instruction booklet: The greatest bounty hunter in the galaxy, Samus Aran fights with the super-human power of her hi-tech power suit.
 * In-game profile:' Samus Aran is the toughest bounty hunter in the galaxy. Using a special suit powered by the technology of the bird people which allows her to execute daring acrobatic feats, Samus pursues the airborne life form, Metroid, throughout the universe.

Instruction booklet bio

 * A space warrior with an arsenal of long-range projectile weapons.

Trophies

 * NOTICE: The Samus Unmasked trophy cannot actually be obtained in copies of the game without a cheating device. It was only available in a promotional event at Toys 'R' Us in Japan.

Bios

 * Instruction booklet: The galaxy's greatest bounty hunter, her variety of long-distance weapons make her lethal.
 * Website: Her name is Samus Aran. She joins us from the Metroid games. Look at her Power Suit shine!
 * Her arm cannon is equipped with a variety of weapons. Mastering all of them is the first step toward victory.

Snake's codec

 * Snake: Hey, Otacon. I got a woman here in a Power Suit...
 * Otacon: Huh? How'd you know she was a woman? Yeah, that'd be Samus Aran, the most renowned bounty hunter in the galaxy. Her Arm Cannon packs quite a wallop. If you get hit with a charged shot from that thing, you can kiss your butt good-bye.
 * Snake: Sounds like my kind of woman...
 * Otacon: Yeah, well, just don't get too close, Snake. Samus is deadly. After Space Pirates killed her parents, she was raised by the Chozo and trained in the fighting arts. She's been places and seen things that you and me can't even begin to imagine.
 * Snake: But underneath that cold, metal exterior beats the heart of a woman...

Trophies
Red indicates exclusive to the Nintendo 3DS version. Blue indicates exclusive to the Wii U version.

Palutena's Guidance

 * Viridi: Oh, look. There's Metroid.
 * Pit: That's not a Metroid! That's Samus!
 * Palutena: Just like Link isn't named Zelda.
 * Viridi: And like Pit's name isn't Icarus!
 * Pit: OK, this joke has officially run its course.
 * Palutena: Moving on, then. Pit, you can reflect Samus's Charge Shot with your Guardian Orbitars. However, Samus can throw a storm of shots at you. If you use your Orbitars too often, she'll know what you're up to. So try to reflect strategically, as opposed to your...usual game plan.

Trivia

 * A doll of Samus is owned by the maniacal Booster. He keeps the Samus Doll in his toy box on the top floor of Booster Tower.
 * Another Samus doll is featured in the second Mario Vs. Wario comic story in Nintendo Power. Mario and Wario compete to present this doll to Peach for her birthday, only to find out at the end that Luigi bought it first.
 * Samus was originally going to appear in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, where she would try a sample of coffee at the Starbeans Café. She was replaced with Professor E. Gadd.
 * Samus also appears in Nintendo Monopoly. Here, she costs $200 and takes the role of New York Avenue.
 * In the Super Smash Bros. artwork, Samus is depicted with her Arm Cannon on her left arm instead of on her right arm as in her other appearances.
 * Though she does not yet have her own game on the Nintendo 3DS, Samus appears with other Nintendo characters as one of five Character Cards used with the Augmented Reality Games software.
 * Samus is the only female to be a playable character in the entire Super Smash Bros. series.