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(Undo revision 744852 by 24.240.45.217 (talk) Given that I wrote nearly all of this, I think I get to say whether it stays or not. And I'm not keen on having it around anymore without rewriting from the ground up.)
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===Samus Aran===
===Samus Aran===
The hunter Samus Aran is indoctrinated by the Chozo (and then given Chozo genes at the age of three, and given that she lacks feathers, a beak, or talons they probably gave her the "latent psychic and superhumanly strong and fast" genes and not the "bird people" ones.) and (as of Metroid Fusion) part-Metroid, which does not endear her to Imperial authorities, but her power suit has massive [[pauldrons]] that demand respect, and would put a [[Space Marine]] to shame. For this reason, not to mention her status as a one-woman [[Exterminatus]], Samus is sometimes portrayed as a [[Primarch]] of a legion of [[Female Space Marines]]. It's said that the Space Pirate xenos describe the hunter Samus Aran to each other with the same chant as the aforementioned warp-entity: "Samus; it means the end and the death. Samus is all around you. Samus will gnaw on your bones..." She also possesses a righteous hatred for the space pirates, who are responsible for her orphaning and loss of a homeworld, twice, once for her birthworld and parents on K-2L, and again for her adoptive Chozo parents and world on Zebes. The pirates even fear to mention her name just calling her the Hunter, treating her as if she were some kind of supernatural spirit of vengeance more than a person. 
The hunter Samus Aran is indoctrinated by the Chozo (and then given Chozo genes at the age of three, and given that she lacks feathers, a beak, or talons they probably gave her the "latent psychic and superhumanly strong and fast" genes and not the "bird people" ones.) and (as of Metroid Fusion) part-Metroid, which does not endear her to Imperial authorities, but her power suit has massive [[pauldrons]] that demand respect, and would put a [[Space Marine]] to shame. For this reason, not to mention her status as a one-woman [[Exterminatus]], Samus is sometimes portrayed as a [[Primarch]] of a legion of [[Female Space Marines]]. It's said that the Space Pirate xenos describe the hunter Samus Aran to each other with the same chant as the aforementioned warp-entity: "Samus; it means the end and the death. Samus is all around you. Samus will gnaw on your bones..." She also possesses a righteous hatred for the space pirates, who are responsible for her orphaning and loss of a homeworld, twice, once for her birthworld and parents on K-2L, and again for her adoptive Chozo parents and world on Zebes. The pirates even fear to mention her name just calling her the Hunter, treating her as if she were some kind of supernatural spirit of vengeance more than a person.   
 
Due to her own native universe being a much more tolerant place with regards to relationships between species, when she visits the milky way of the forty second millenium, she makes no qualms about working with the Tau, Eldar (Craftworld, Ynnari, Exodite, or Harlequin), or the Imperium; though she destroys the forces of the Orks, Tyranids, Chaos, Dark Eldar, and Necrons on sight; switching between her choice of employer as she feels suits her sense of personal morality and justice.  She will never partake in crusades of extermination to wipe out uncorrupted humans on a Maiden world or purge Eldar from a colony world, but is quite willing to delve into dangerous places to root out evil or retrieve lost artifacts or help defend the innocent from attack.  She has a noted soft spot for children in particular, and will often spend off duty hours among the company of children when she tires of the cynicism and xenophobia rife in most adults in the current era.  She can often be found working with the reborn Roboute Guilliman, who as a pragmatist at heart sees no issue in cooperating with a powerful and noble warrior; or with the Ynnari in their plans to save the Eldar and destroy Chaos and the Tyranids.  That being said, she has sometimes taken to opposing the Imperium, Tau, or the Eldar whenever she feels that they have done wrong by her strict sense of right and wrong and has little interest in buying into the Greater Good of the Tau or abandoning her Pagan Chozo Animistic faith for the worship of the God Emperor or the Omnissiah; though she feels some sympathy to the polytheistic Eldar even if she rankles at the naked disrespect most of them have for humans.
 
To those who have become styled as the Galaxy's villains however, she is already a nightmare.  Tyranid splinter fleets and Genestealer cults have been wiped out by her actions and the Hive Mind has begun to take notice with its usual ire as it seeks to develop new strains to try and combat this threat to the harvest, tomb worlds have been silenced and their technology absorbed into her armor and many a dynasty has found itself gutted by the huntress, Dark Eldar Kabals have been punished severely for acting against her; their weapons and technology only making her stronger and more worriyingly to the children of the dark city, her assimilation of Dark Eldar technology and her cracking into the logs of the Dark Eldar have also allowed her to navigate the webway, allowing her to punish many Kabals that thought themselves safe at home.  Ork Warbands now tell Ghazghkull of "dis 'umie girl wiff dis proppa flash armah datz dead shootier den any flash git or loota an' so bleedin' fast 'alf da bands dead 'fore ya know what 'it ya" after she had cut a swath through a number of WAAAGhs.  Mekboyz horrified to find that she could not only assimilate their "gubbinz" but also render them safe for herself to use, her technology compensating for the usual orkish unreliability as she turned the mechanical genius of the Orks against the greenskins.    Chaos warbands and daemonic hosts have been annihilated, with even Chaos Space Marines, the dread lords of the Dark mechanicus, and Greater Daemons becoming terrified of her.  She is alien, she does not belong, and she is incorruptible; and that terrifies the damned legions of Chaos. Those who have tried to corrupt her have found that there is nothing that the darkness can offer that she wants, and her will is too strong to fall through exposure to Chaos energies; with even the Chaos Astartes being so much fodder to her and most greater daemons only capable of offering temporary and fleeting challenge, her name is whispered in fear by Chaos.     
 
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+++ Abstractus on dossier for rogue hunter Aran, Samus +++
 
She has passed purity examinations; although raised by xenos and given minor genetic alterations and exhibiting minor pskyer talent, she shows no sign of Chaos corruption and her psionic ability scores an omicron-minus on the Assignment scale -- almost negligible, and focused solely on use of Chozo xenotech, additionally her altered genome contains no identifiably Chozo structures and seems to be made for the purpose of enhancing her physicality. Tests show that her physicality is at a level that surpasses even the Astartes and routinely proves herself stronger and faster than an unarmored Astartes, though she lacks the additional organs and unlike the blessed knights of the emperor, would not be readily recognized as altered from a normal, albeit quite tall and physically striking female of an athletic build without making a blatant display of her enhanced physicality.  As far as can be discerned, her warp signature is free of any corruptive influence, though her soul is regarded as "immeasurably noble and strong" by those who have had a reading of it, speaking of both a kind and altruistic heart and incredible willpower.  This has meant that she prefers to work with the heretical Galactic Federation and its democratic institutions and revolting xenophilia of her native Universe.  However, given her abilities and her technological advantage and her distaste for many of the worse enemies of man; it has been recommended that she be worked with rather than against; particularly when the Assassinorium has proven incapable of besting her in a fight and her personal starship; due to its lack of reliance on the warp and incredibly small size for an interstellar craft, is impossible to track.  Contact with her is to be relegated to specially approved individuals who have been deemed strong enough in their faith in the god emperor to not be lead astray by the moral softness of herself and her parent government while remaining even tempered enough to avoid conflict.  Payment is to be offered through strictly approved and monitored channels, and any possible salvage of her xenotech is to be forwarded to the Forgeworld of Mars immediately; particularly the faster than light systems that allow her ship to cross ''intergalactic'' distances in a matter of hours.  Antagonizing her will lead to severe reprimand, but attempts to curry favor with her; whether at an abstract and ideological level to convince her of the righteousness of the absolutism of the Imperium and the scorning of the Xenos and "religious tolerance" (unlikely due to her established friendships with many Xenos of her own universe and xenos upbringing and staunch adherence to Chozo pagan traditions), or at a more personal level via attempted friendship or seduction are to be encouraged.  By order of Lord Commander Roboute Guilliman, every attempt is to be made to convince her of the righteousness of the Imperial Cause. 
 
+++ Thought of the day: The best place for a spy to hide is as a neighbor, friend or lover. +++
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One of her more notable acts was taking over a broken Redemptor Dreadnought, assimilating the rotary cannon technology, adapting it, hooking herself to a power source, and shooting down several dozen aircraft, mowing down infantry, transports and tanks alike, and then disengaging once the power from the Dreadnought was depleted, and rescuing several civilians. She then disappeared without a trace.
 
Yet she is not a god, nor invulnerable in the Grimdark Universe. Drach'nyen manages to tank all of her weapons without taking any damage. In a split-second encounter with Ahriman her armor and body were extensively damaged by a single blast of lightning from the Progidal Sorcerer's hand, Samus running away in fear.
 
The mighty Doombreed charged at her will at his might, unnatural regeneration reforming his body from ash and blood multiple times from the hot-weapons of Aran. The former human beats (Doombreed was once a human like Samus) her within an inch of her life and 'spares' her at the command of Khorne himself, left with a grisly warning that her appearance has only made the Universe worse (her violent actions have empowered the Warp and her appearance has cause Chaos to be more interested in Realspace) and that she should leave Wh40k lest she be eventually killed or fall into temptation (Chaos Gods can revive Adam for a price) and her soul forever be damned. Doombreed laughs at Samus' naivity and tells her that she was never a true warrior as she was just a normal fish in a tiny pond in her reality, never truly experienced the daily depravations and struggles Doombreed had when he lived through the Age of Strife. True Grimdark indeed, the woman 'warrior' retreats to her Universe, her understanding of reality shaken by immovable truths
 
===Profile=== 
==== 7th Edition ====
(The following presumes she's at her usual end game level of ready for a fight) 
 
Samus may be taken as a unique detachment (herself) that is considered battle brothers with the Craftworld Eldar, the Harlequins, and the Ynnari, the Tau Empire, the Farsight Enclaves, and the Armies of the Imperium.  She is considered come the Apocalypse to the Forces of Chaos, the Orks, the Necrons, the Tyranids and Genestealers, and the Dark Eldar.  Concerning fan codexes: She is considered battle brothers to Codex Squats/Dawi/Demiurge, Codex Tau Auxiliaries, Codex Kroot, and Codex Autobots.  She is considered come the apocalypse to all others.     
 
WS7 BS10 S6 T8 W7 I7 A6 +2/+2 LD10
Points: 1000
 
Wargear: Chozo Power Armor, Arm Cannon, Super Missiles, Screw Attack, Ice Missiles, Morph ball, Morph Ball bomb, Varia Suit, Gravity suit, Power Bomb, Speed Booster Space Jump, Visor Suite, Emergency Pistol
 
Special Rules: Independent Character, Night vision, Missile lock, Fear, Relentless, Interceptor, Preferred enemy (Everything), Fleet, Eternal Warrior, Feel No Pain, Tank Hunters, Acute Senses, Infiltrate, Crusader, Monster Hunter, Hit and Run, Crack Shot, Sense Move, Analytic Fighter, Dirty fighter, Loner, Chozo Spirit, Ancestral Courage, Lightning Reflexes (As per the Assassinorium), Life feeder, Zero Escape
 
'''Wargear'''
Chozo Power Armor: Samus' power armor, particularly with the energy tank upgrades she collects, is virtually indestructible, far surpassing even terminator armor in toughness, with the stats for it included on her profile. In addition, she gets her armor, cover, and invulnerable saves against an incoming attack if all of them apply.  Up to 13 additional wounds may be purchased for 25 points each to represent additional energy tanks. 
 
Screw Attack: As opposed to attacking, Samus can use her Screw Attack while in close combat. This attack automatically lands a pair of S6 hits on every enemy model engaged in close combat with her and ignores all armor saves. Against vehicles, this is considered to be an Ap1 attack that always hits side armor unless she has the vehicle's rear-facing for one reason or the other. 
 
Space Jump: Samus may choose at the start of any given turn, whether she wishes to move as a jump or jetpack infantry unit that may use jump or jetpack twice in a turn.  When she moves in either function she is permitted to move in such a way as to cross the paths of enemy models.  Every model under her path may be attacked with a standard to hit roll as if she were engaging in melee combat, with a hit indicating that the whirling buzzsaw of energy of her screw attack has hit the model, dealing an S6 hit that ignores armor saves and is considered AP1 for the purposes of damaging vehicles and automatically hits side armor unless she has the vehicle's rear-facing towards her.  If she uses the Jump mode to charge, she gets one S6 AP1 hammer of wrath hit for every enemy model in base contact with her.  As long as she has a use of Jump or Jet moves available in that turn she may use that move to leave combat, dealing an S6 AP1 hit to everything in base contact with her as she exits combat.   
 
Speedbooster: If Samus chooses to run in a given round, she automatically rolls the maximum for her run roll and may run an additional 6', and her path may go through enemy models, additionally, any models who get in base contact with her at any point of this charge takes an automatic S8 hit that ignores armor saves and is considered AP1 against vehicles. Models that are not destroyed are pushed out of her way and must take a morale test or break to represent the confusion that occurs when a blazing ball of energy rushes through them at supersonic speed.  If she ends this movement in base contact with an enemy, it is considered charged, and suffers one S8 AP1 hammer of wrath hit for every enemy model in base contact with her.
 
Varia Suit: Acidic and High-temperature dangerous terrain does not affect Samus, and the Varia suit provides a substantial boost to her overall physicality, improving her feel no pain save by one due to the stronger shielding of her armor (to 4+) and reducing the ability of flat to wound rolls such as fleshbane, poison, and sniper by one step, usually to 3+ and 5+ respectively.  Thanks to the Varia suit's more muscular construction than the standard power suit, her strength score is raised by one.   
 
Gravity suit: Water, Acid, and Lava terrain is considered passable and harmless to Samus and grants her a 5+ cover save as long as she remains within water, Acid, or Lava.  Due to the suit's gravitational manipulations overmatching the gravitational weaponry of lesser species, she is immune to all grav and graviton weapons.  She also ignores the negative effects of all dangerous terrain and her feel no pain save is improved by a further one step.  For 50 points, she may also bring the Hazard shield, which does all of the above and worsens Poison and Fleshbane by two steps (4+ poison becomes 6+) to a minimum of 6+ and improves her feel no pain by one step due to superior shielding. For a further 50 points, she may also bring the Dark Suit, which allows her to reroll deny the witch rolls and her anti-psyker/stat modification save and thanks to its hardy construction, improves her strength stat by 1. For 50 points she may also upgrade to the Light Suit, which improves her deny the witch rolls to 2+ and Chozo spirit save against stat modification to 2+ and allows her to deny the witch without drawing on your power dice pool.  She also gains an additional +1 to her initiative and +2 attack thanks to the Light Suit's agile construction. 
 
Visor suite: Samus does not need line of sight to hit a target and ignores Stealth, Shrouded, Invisibility, and any special rules or equipment that affect her to hit modifier.  Thanks to her scan visor, she knows the weaknesses of any given enemy and can force an enemy to reroll any successful saves or feel no pain rolls against her weapons. 
 
Arm Cannon: Samus has used a variety of upgrades for her arm cannon. The following is done assuming she has the 2d plasma beam, the 2d wave beam, the long beam, the nova beam, and the 3d plasma beam. This gives her cannon an almost unrivaled rate of fire and punch. It can be fired with any of the following profiles (the later assuming she uses her plasma beam's flamethrower mode and the third is a charged shot):
* S10, 72", AP1, Assault 4, Ignores Cover, Piercing (Upon impact, draw a six-inch line pointing in the direction Samus would have needed to shoot the enemy through, all enemy models beneath this line are also hit), Burn (deals each shot hits a targeted model and those caught by the piercing beam three times), Melta
* S10, Template, AP1, Assault 2, Incineration (each model struck by the template or in overwatch is hit three times, is considered a flaming weapon for the purposes of rules such as the Avatar of Khaine's immunity), Armorbane
** The two templates may be placed at any point as long as the narrow end is in contact with Samus' base.
* SD, 72", AP1, Assault 1, Ignores Cover, Piercing (Upon impact, draw a six-inch line pointing in the direction Samus would have needed to shoot the enemy through, all enemy models beneath this line are also hit)  Charged Incineration, (deals 3 D-strength hits to each model impacted, is considered a flaming weapon for the purposes of rules such as the Avatar of Khaine's immunity) 
 
For 100 points, she may upgrade her beam with the Wide beam, which modifies the piercing special rule to allow you to place two additional beams that must be parallel to the initial beam and must be exactly one inch apart from the initial beam.  If this hits the initial target multiple times, then the target takes damage as if they were hit by another shot.  The Flamethrower mode becomes assault 4 and torrent, while the Ice spreader becomes assault 2.  For another 100 points, she may upgrade her beam with the Annihilator beam, which provides for the homing special rule (homing weapons ignore invulnerability saves that are produced by a character being skilled at dodging, such as Lelith Hesperax's) and doubles the rate of fire while also granting the Sonic Boom which uses the following profile.
 
* SD, 72", AP1, Assault 1, Apocalyptic Blast (10 inches), Reality Shatter (deals 3 D-strength hits to each model impacted which have a +2 roll on the D-strength chart).  With the wide beam, this becomes assault 2.   
 
Ice Missiles: Usually meant for dealing Metriods due to their weakness to the cold, Samus has also used her Ice Missiles freeze enemies to make them easier to kill.  The assault 10 reflects her tendency to utilize the seeker missile upgrade for a five-shot burst of missiles and her ability to quickly fire off the missiles, getting off three five-shot bursts at once. 
 
* S6, 72", AP-, Assault 15, Small Blast. 
 
Any model hit with an ice missile must take a strength test and a toughness test, and if they fail either, they then cannot take any actions until their next turn. They must take both tests the following turn, and if they fail, they are still frozen. Any enemy models frozen by ice missiles are automatically hit in close combat and have their toughness reduced by 2 to represent how they are more easily shattered, which also affects instant death. Ice missiles automatically glance vehicles, but can't penetrate them. Armor saves cannot be taken against ice missiles.  She can alternatively charge up to fire diffusion missiles which use the following profile. 
 
* S8, 72", AP-, Assault 5, Apocalyptic Blast (7 inches), Freezing, Ignores cover.   
 
Super Missiles: Samus' most powerful weapon is usually her missiles, extremely destructive and possess a surprisingly high rate of fire, capable of tearing titans apart in a single barrage given some skill and luck with the shot placement. She carries an incredible number of them so she doesn't concern herself with conserving ammo. They are fired with the following profile:
* S10, 72", AP1, Assault 10, Large Blast, Strike down, Sunder, Devastation: models struck by super missiles must take d3 to wound/penetrate tests per super missile hitting them and will accordingly take a wound/penetration for each successful wound/penetration roll by Samus. 
 
Morph ball: An odd function of her suit that even to this day baffles nearly all who have studied it with most attempts at replicating it by Mek Boyz, the Mechanicus, the Dark Mechanicus, and the Earth Caste resulting in horrific spinal injuries on the test subject much like Space Pirate attempts at replicating the ability. This is perhaps the most underrated achievement of the Chozo. Through an unknown method debated to either be converting her body into energy or folding space to shrink her body and shifting the plates of her suit, she can adopt the form of a small ball to allow herself to sneak into points where no human could ever fit. Count Samus as being a quarter of her model's actual height for the purposes of determining whether she's in cover, additionally, treat her as having the shrouded USR.
 
Morph ball bomb: Treat these as an S6 AP3 weapon with a small blast centered around herself and the additional rule of concussive that she can use against vehicles and infantry models. She may drop five of them during combat, she is unharmed by her own morph ball bombs.
 
Power bomb: A devastating weapon that can obliterate whole fortresses, the oldest and strongest of natural formations, and whole elements of an army. Samus may forgo the shooting phase to instead drop one power bomb whose blast is centered around herself. Power bombs leave a 15-inch apocalyptic mega-Blast template, any models but Samus that the touch the template take d3+1 D-strength AP1 hits per model.
 
Grapple beam: With this weapon, Samus can either force an enemy closer to her or strip them of some wargear. Within a range of 36 inches designate a target and roll to hit, if successful, roll a strength test, if they fail, she may either force the enemy d6 inches closer or remove one piece of handheld wargear. For example, she could strip Obyron of his warscythe or Lysander of his shield, but she would not be able to relieve Ghazghkull of his Mega-armor. If an enemy is removed of all ranged weapons, then they may no longer shoot, if an enemy is stripped of all CCWs, then they are treated as only having a single CCW in combat. Most frequently, Samus uses it as a climbing tool, to represent this she has the option to pass through terrain obstacles and buildings or place herself on top of them to get a shooting position. She can also utilize the "grapple voltage", where she can either drain an enemy, allowing her to force up to half of her attack value in strength tests on her enemy, with each failure allowing her to remove one wound with no saves allowed and recover one wound of her own (vehicles instead lose a hull point if they roll below 5 on a d6 test).  Or she can use the "feed" function, where on friendly models she can take one wound of her own with no saves or feel no pain allowed to restore two wounds or hull points for the friendly model for each wound she sacrifices, or on enemy models sacrifice a wound with no saves or feel no pain allowed to deal two wounds/hull point losses that cannot be saved by any means; though if the enemy passes a strength test, neither she nor the enemy takes damage.  The feed function can sacrifice up to three of her wounds at a time.  She may use the grapple beam up to twice in a turn in its offensive capabilities due to having a grapple beam on her free hand and one she can project from her arm cannon.  The grapple beam may also be used in assault to disarm an enemy.
 
Emergency Pistol: Compared to the devastation her arm cannon and morph ball bombs and other special abilities can inflict, the Emergency pistol seems almost quaintly lacking.  However, it is still Chozo-technology that she has upgraded with the machinery she has assimilated from the Necrons of OR-42 to produce both powerful pistols and deadly melee weapons, being highly skilled with both shooting them and using them as either swords or whips.  She carries two of them, and may utilize them as per the gunslinger rules on Cypher, and gains an additional attack for having two weapons.  When used at range, the pistol can use one of the following two profiles. 
 
*Standard: S6, 24", AP3, Assault 2, Concussive, Paralysis (a target struck must take a toughness and a strength test, failure of either disallows it from taking actions for the rest of the turn)
*Charged: S8, 24" AP2 Assault 1, Concussive, Paralysis (a target struck must take a toughness and a strength test, failure of either disallows it from taking actions for the rest of the turn)
 
It may also be used in melee as an S+2 AP2 at initiative concussive weapon that forces paralysis tests with each hit that forces successful invulnerable saves to be rerolled due to both the strength of their energy fields and the chaotic and difficult to block manner that the blades go as they transform from whips to blades, and can be utilized as the grapple beam can for mobility, disarming, or pulling an enemy.  Samus can deploy with the Emergency pistol even with her power suit mode, though as her arm cannon occupies her right arm she can only use one at a time; though she can utilize the pistol's melee mode should she be caught in melee.  However, as she still has the backup, if disarmed in melee she simply gets the other one. 
 
'''Special Rules'''
 
Crack Shot: Samus' aim so precise and her lock-on systems are so sophisticated that she may choose to divide her fire between any number of targets, provided they are within line of sight and range, and also uses her normal BS when performing snap-shots. Snapshots with template weapons function normally for her.  All attacks by her are considered precision hits, and as such, she may allocate the wounds she deals in assault or shooting to any model of her choosing within the targeted unit. 
 
Sense Move: One of the only manifestations of Samus' latent psionic abilities; as the Space Pirate attack on Zebes interrupted her training before she could undertake what was to be the final phase of her education as a Chozo warrior; is that she has a highly accurate "danger sense" that informs her of threats imminently approaching her and tells her how to avoid them.  All attacks against her suffer a -1 penalty to hit.  Shooting attacks made from more than 24 inches away suffer a -2 penalty to hit because they allow her ample time to dodge, and in the second round of combat, enemies take a -2 penalty to hit her as she becomes accustomed to their fighting style. 
 
Analytic fighter: Even without her scan visor to inform her of every detail of an enemy for her, Samus is a highly intelligent fighter who is an expert at recognizing patterns in enemy movement and attacks as well as breaking down an enemy's strengths, vulnerabilities and weaknesses.  For every round she remains in combat with an enemy, her WS improves by 1 to a maximum of 10, and she progressively gains the special rules shred, rerolling all to hit rolls in melee, and finally improving her own to hit rolls in assault by 1. 
 
Dirty Fighter: Samus doesn't care for close combat or honor, having been trained by the Chozo from an early age to take any advantage given to her by the teeth. Any enemy character stupid enough to issue her a challenge to single combat generally gets shot in the face. To represent this, if Samus is issued a challenge, she may immediately fire at the enemy with any of her weapons, though killing the enemy in this way doesn't count as winning a challenge since she cheated.
 
Loner: Samus doesn't usually work with others. As such, she can be used in any slot of the army she is deployed in, though if taken in an HQ slot (save an allied attachment), the other slot must also be filled as any command roles Samus is given are largely symbolic (she cannot be the Warlord), she giving orders to the officers and focuses on her mission. Regardless of slot she counts as a scoring unit and may claim objectives. However, her lone wolf nature prevents her from joining units, if she is part of an Imperial Guard army list, she cannot be issued orders by command squads. Samus also doesn't take well to seeing Commissars shooting their own men, and if a Commissar attached to any squad kill any units in it, Samus must take a leadership test, and she fails, she will lose her temper and fire at the Commissar with her arm cannon as if she were shooting at an enemy, even she has is engaged in combat or not in the shooting phase.
 
Chozo Spirit: To simply use Chozo psitech requires a great deal of mental fortitude and focus.  She may deny the witch on a 3+ and has an additional 3+ save against hostile psychic attacks or statline modifying effects such as strikedown or concussive and is flatly immune to psyker abilities or equipment that would control her mind such as puppet master or mindshackle scarabs.  The power of the technology she wields as well as the strength of her will and soul also renders her immune to effects that would transform her into another unit type such as the boon of mutation or similar Chaos Spawn or Squig transformation abilities.  Effects that remove a model from play without inflicting instant death instead deal 2 wounds to her with no armor saves allowed due to her determination to stay on the field until the job is finished and her suit being able to take the worst of these effects.    Effects that would remove multiple wounds from her at once similarly may only remove a single wound at a time, excluding sixes on a Destroyer table roll, which removes two wounds.
 
Ancestral Courage: Samus is brave in ways that defy imagining.  She has faced down beings best described as Gods, defeated armies of creatures with otherworldly powers, laid waste to armies, and even had a hand in the deaths of entire worlds.  However her courage is not the mindless rage of a Berserker or the overpowering desire to obey the hive mind of a Tyranid, but of someone trained to conquer human fear by the wisest of ancients.  Samus is immune to the fear special rule,  as well as any effects that would negatively modify her leadership for any purpose.  She can never be swept by a sweeping advance, and automatically passes morale tests, pinning tests unless she purposefully chooses to go to ground or leave combat even if she has already used her space jump/jump boots or hit and run ability.
 
Lightning Reflexes: (Reprinted for convenience), Samus is tremendously agile, her augmentations focusing more on her speed, agility, and reflexes than brute strength and durability (though she has both).  She can move through difficult terrain and cover without penalty, is considered to have assault grenades in the assault phase of combat, and has a native 4++ invulnerable save due to her reflexes. 
 
I Have a Mission of my Own: Samus doesn't act randomly. When she goes to a battlefield she is sent to kill a specific target, which ranges from killing a person of importance in the enemy army to the army itself. She adds the Slay The Warlord secondary objective to the army she is attached to if it is not already present. She also generates the Tactical Objectives (the limitations normally imposed in a mission are ignored, even if the mission doesn't normally allow any); Overwhelming Firepower, No Prisoners, Psychological Warfare, Kingslayer, Witch Hunter, Scour the Skies, Assassinate, Demolitions and Big Game Hunter. The results for objectives she adds however only apply if she accomplishes them. If they were already present when was added, then Victory points granted are doubled. 
 
Life Feeder: Samus' Chozo technology has a strange; if bizarrely macabre for such a benevolent species; ability to recharge its energies through absorbing the energy of essentially anything.  Whenever any unit (friendly or enemy) is wholly wiped out within 7 inches of her (as per Soulburst), she may recover a wound as her technology draws in the remnants of their energy to recharge herself.  However, especially large concentrations of energy may restore more wounds at a time; if the total wound count of the wiped out unit exceeds twenty (or if the hull point count exceeds six), then she may recover two wounds at once.  If the total wound count exceeds thirty, or if the hull point count exceeds nine, then she may recover three wounds from their deaths.  Wiped out characters always recover at least two wounds for her, while wiped out special characters can recover three; regardless if a unit they were attached to survived or not; as her technology seems to feed especially strongly on such potent life force. 
 
Zero Escape: If Samus suffers enough wounds to be removed from play, the player commanding her can elect to either have her teleport back to her ship in safety (thus denying the enemy the killpoint outright), or she can elect to remain on the field.  However if she elects to remain on the field her armor is considered destroyed as its systems shut down from loss of power and damage, leaving her without its benefits until she gets it repaired or gets a new suit; the ruined armor sloughing off her to prevent it from slowing her down (the player can elect to leave it on, still permitting her to benefit from its 2+ armor save, but as it is unpowered it loses its special abilities and all other wargear and will now hinder her, decreasing her initiative and attack by two steps each), leaving her in the Zero Suit.  Without her armor she has the following profile. 
 
WS7 BS10 S5 T5 W7 I7 A6 +5 LD10 
 
She loses access to all her normal wargear which is instead replaced by the following
 
Zero Suit, Emergency Pistol (x2), Jump Boots 
 
Zero Suit: A skintight polymesh outfit similar to what is worn by the Assassinorium, the Zero Suit offers surprisingly acceptable protection in and of itself due to being much tougher than its seemingly flimsy appearance lets on, but it still provides Samus with shielding, albeit significantly weakened from what her armor can offer.  Due to her superhuman physiology and reflexes, she is not noticeably slower than she is outside of her power suit.  Similarly, if she has a higher wound count due having purchased added energy tanks, she still has them in zero suit form. This provides her with a 5+ armor save and a 3+ invulnerable save.
 
Emergency Pistol: As noted above. 
 
Jump Boots: Even without her armor Samus may elect whether to move as a Jump or Jetpack infantry unit at the start of each turn, though she cannot make two jump or jetpack moves as her power suit can.  Like her space jump, if she has a jump or jetpack move she can choose to jump or jetpack move out of combat.   
 
Some of her special rules are also modified.  She loses fear, as most enemies see little reason to be afraid of what seems to be a very comely if unusually tall human woman and she is still working under a marked downgrade of her abilities, but her Lightning Reflexes improves her invulnerable save to 2++ as she uses her reflexes in tandem with her shielding to keep out of harm's way.  Zero escape is also modified, upon losing all wounds she immediately teleports back to safety, however as she will need to recover from actual injuries the enemy is still awarded killpoints for defeating her, but never slay the warlord.  Life feeder also changes, for every wound she recovers past her maximum through life feeder (or if the player controlling her elects to put the absorbed wounds into her armor restoration pool rather than to recover her zero suit shielding) count place a token near her.  Should she have at least five, she can restore her power armor with five wounds; restoring her to her normal characteristics.
 
==== 8th Edition ====
{| class=wikitable
! || Pts || M || WS || BS || S || T || W || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Samus Aran (Chozo Hunter type Powered Armour Suit):''' || 1000 || 10 || 2+ || 2+ || 6 || 8 || 15(15) || 6 || 10 || 2+/2++
|}
 
{| class=wikitable
! || Pts || M || WS || BS || S || T || W || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Samus Aran (Chozo Zero Point Energy Interface Suit):''' || N/A || 8 || 2+ || 2+ || 5 || 5 || 12(15) || 6 || 10 || 3+/3++
|}
 
{| class=wikitable
! || Pts || M || WS || BS || S || T || W || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Samus Aran (Unsuited):''' || N/A || 8 || 2+ || 2+ || 5 || 5 || 9 || 6 || 10 || 4++
|}
 
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Power suit Remaining W
! M
! BS
! A
|Equipment available
|-
| 13-15+
| 10"
| 2+
| 6
| All equipment normal
|-
| 10-12
| 10"
| 2+
| 6
| Screw Attack and Space Jump are Destroyed
|-
| 7-9
| 9"
| 2+
| 6
| Gravity Suit Upgrades (Light/Dark/Hazard) and Speed Booster are destroyed. Invulnerable save reduced to 3++
|-
| 4-6
| 9"
| 2+
| 6
| Gravity suit and Morph Ball (and all subsystems) are destroyed
|-
| 3-4
| 8"
| 2+
| 6
| Varia Suit and Grapple Beam are destroyed. Invulnerable save reduced to 4++
|-
| 1-2
| 8"
| 2+
| 6
| Visor Suite and Arm Cannon (and all weapons contained within) are destroyed
|} 
 
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Zero suit Remaining W
! M
! BS
! A
|Equipment available
|-
| 9-12+
| 8"
| 2+
| 6
| All equipment normal
|-
| 5-8
| 8"
| 2+
| 6
| Jump Boots are destroyed
|-
| 1-4
| 8"
| 2+
| 6
| Invulnerable save reduced to 4++
|} 
:'''Wargear Options''':
*Lorem Ipsum
*Lorem Ipsum:
**Lorem Ipsum
**Lorem Ipsum
*Lorem Ipsum
:'''Abilities''':
 
*Shielding: Samus' power suit and zero suit are protected by a formidable array of shielding that absorbs incoming hits with little harm to her suit proper. Count them as thirty extra wounds for her first two profiles and for her power suit profile, losses of wounds inflicted upon the shielding do not degrade her profile.  Anything that allows Samus to restore wounds will also be able to restore two shield wounds for every normally regained wound if used to restore her shield count, which may start from Zero.
*Armour failure: Once her shielding has been exhausted, Samus' power suit will begin to feel the full brunt of the enemy's blows and will begin to chip, fray, tear, shatter, bend, and worse under the effects of enemy fire as her foes seek to shoot, tear, rip, smash, blast, melt, and disintegrate it apart. As she takes damage to her non-shielded wound count in her suit, she will start to lose the ability to use those upgrades as the requisite parts of the suit are either rendered non-functional or are torn from her body. She is usually able to keep her arm cannon and helmet functioning until the last moment; whereupon all the plating on her armour is destroyed as her helm shatters and her arm cannon is removed and the remaining wounds of her armour profile represent her black soft armour mesh worn between the armour plating and zero suit.  The pistol will remain in use however. 
*Many Layers: Samus takes an exceptionally large amount of punishment to down and even when seemingly defeated can shed another layer to keep on fighting. When one profile's wound count has been reduced to zero, go to the next one down (from Power Suit to Zero Suit, from Zero Suit to Unsuited). When the last of her armour's actual wounds are lost, the suit's plating has been shorn from her body and the suit's black soft armour is ruined beyond usability, leaving her in the blue zero suit. When the zero suit's wounds are exhausted, she slips out of the torn and ruined meta-material with nothing more than her body and whatever weapons she has on hand. When the Unsuited profile has lost all wounds, Samus is forced to engage an emergency teleport back to her ship to treat her injuries and purge her body of any toxins or diseases that may linger and is removed from play and cannot be restored with any means to return her to play. For the purposes of interacting with rules that activate upon slaying an enemy model such as can be found on Poxwalkers, never count her as slain.
*Crack Shot: Samus may always fire upon a specific model of her player's choice as long as it is in range; and so long as she has the appropriate wargear; even if it is not in her line of sight; regardless of any other rules that may prohibit that and may individually choose a different targeted unit and model for each shot she makes every turn.
*Sense Move: Samus' training as a Chozo warrior was never completed, and as such the Psionic and mystic potential from the Chozo genes transplanted into her are dormant and latent. However she still makes use of them as a form of prescience, warning her of incoming attacks before they happen. Reduce the to hit rolls of any attack directed against her by two steps worse to a minimum of 6+. 
*Analytic Fighter: A genius with extensive education across multiple fields of study, Samus can quickly understand the patterns and weaknesses of the foe. If Samus is making a to hit or to wound roll against an enemy that she attempted to make at least one against a prior turn; she may reroll all to hit and to wound rolls against them. 
*Chozo Spirit: To effectively use the technosorcerous Power Suit requires one to essentially conquer their own soul and steel their mind as well as their body. Samus may always make an additional 2+ save against enemy psychic effects that would affect her negatively whether through penalties or damage.  Any remove from play regardless of wound count effect that successfully activates against her instead deals 2d3 mortal wounds. 
*Chozo Martial Arts: Chozo Martial Arts strongly emphasise not just hand to hand combat techniques but also effective usage of power armour, mobility, and ranged weapons even in close quarters combat. If you can still aim and fire at an enemy even when they are close enough to strike you with a blade, their closeness has offered them no safety. All ranged weapons used by Samus can be used in the fight phase. She may also make a charge roll to attempt to exit combat if engaged in assault.
*Ancestral Courage:  Her monastic training has left her with virtually no desire for any mortal vice, no grand ambition beyond making the stars a better place, no fear of death or pain, able to tolerate virtually any injury, and has anchored her sanity like a mountain into the earth. Samus has long ago conquered all fear inside of her after defeating the murderer of her two families; Ridley. She automatically passes all morale and pinning tests unless she voluntarily decides to fall back and is immune to any effect that would negatively affect her leadership.
*Lightning Reflexes: Samus is tremendously agile, her augmentations focusing more on her speed, agility, and reflexes than brute strength and durability (though she has plenty of both).  She can move through difficult terrain and cover without penalty, always strikes first in assault, and has a native 4++ invulnerable save due to her reflexes. 
Life Feeder: Samus' Chozo technology has a strange; if bizarrely macabre for such a benevolent species; ability to recharge its energies through absorbing the energy of essentially anything.  Whenever any unit (friendly or enemy) is wholly wiped out within 7 inches of her, she may recover a wound as her technology draws in the remnants of their energy to recharge herself.  However, especially large concentrations of energy may restore more wounds at a time; if the total wound count of the wiped out unit exceeds ten, then she may recover two wounds at once.  If the total wound count exceeds twenty, then she may recover three wounds from their deaths, and so on so forth.  Wiped out characters always recover at least two wounds for her, while wiped out special characters can recover three. If she exceeds her maximum wound count for a profile, she regains use of that higher profile. If she restores her power suited profile, restored wounds will restore any wargear lost to damage.
 
:'''Faction Keywords''': CHOZO, ZEBESIAN, HUNTRESS
:'''Keywords''': CHARACTER
 
==And then there's Only War...==
Yes, there's stats for her there. [[Rape|Horribly, horribly powerful stats.]] They're a WIP though, so don't rage too hard. Some skills and talents may be off a bit. Don't forget: there is nothing written up in the rules thus far that are the equivalent of Ridley, sure, there are space dragons, but he has a name and [[Rape|she has killed him while taking insignificant damage]], she's that dangerous.
 
===Profile===
{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" align="center"
! WS:
! BS:
! S:
! T:
! Ag:
! Int:
! Per:
! WP:
|-
| 75
| 90
| 60(18)
| 80(26)
| 70(21)
| 50
| 50
| 70
|-
|}
 
'''Movement:''' 21/42/63/126 '''Wounds:''' 75
 
'''Armour:''' 12 (see special notes below) '''TB:''' 26
 
'''Fate Points:''' 5
 
'''Skills:''' Acrobatics(Ag)+30, Awareness(Per)+30, Charm(Fel), Command(Fel), Commerce(Int), Common Lore(War, Pirates, Tech, Xenos, special)(Int), Deceive(Fel), Dodge(Ag)+30, Forbidden Lore(special)(Int), Heightened Senses(All), Inquiry(Fel), Intimidate(S)+10, Linguistics(Low Gothic, special)(Int), Logic(Int), Navigate(Surface, Void)(Int)+30, Operate(All)(Ag), Parry(WS), Search(Per)+20, Scholastic Lore(special)(Int), Scrutiny(Per), Security(Int)+30, Stealth(Ag), Survival(Int), Tech-Use(Int)+30
<br/>Note: Samus is usually briefed on particular missions, and may have whatever Lore skill is appropriate.
 
'''Talents:''' Blind Fighting, Catfall, Cold Hearted, Combat Master, Crack Shot, Deadeye Shot, Foresight, Hard Target, Hatred(Pirates), Hip Shooting, Independent Targeting, Leap Up, Light Sleeper, Lightning Reflexes, Marksman, Mighty Shot, Never Die, Rapid Reaction, Resistance(Heat, Cold, Toxins, Psychic Powers, Warp Powers), Sharpshooter, Sprint, Step Aside, Strong Minded, Target Selection, Total Recall, True Grit, Unarmed Master
 
'''Traits:''' The Hunter, Scion of the Chozo, Touched by the Fates(5), Unnatural Agility(14), Unnatural Strength(12), Unnatural Toughness(18)
 
'''Weapons:''' Power Beam (100m, S/4/8, 1d10+10 I, Pen 4, Maximal, Storm), Wave Beam (100m. S/4/-, 1d10+12 E, Pen 8, Maximal, Seeking, Shocking), Ice Beam (S/2/-, 1d10+14 I, Pen 8, Maximal, Snare(3)), Plasma Beam (75m, S/2/-, 2d10+18 E, Pen 12, Flame, Maximal), Spazer Beam (100m, S/2/-, 1d10+14 I, Pen 8, Maximal, Special), Missiles (200m, S/2/6, 3d10+32 X, Pen 12, Clip Special, Reload Half, Seeking), Super Missile (200m, S/-/-, 5d10+75 X, Pen 12, Concussive(5), Blast(5), Seeking, Special), Morph Bombs (2d10+4 E, S/3/-, Pen 8, Blast(4)), Power Bomb(8d10+120 X, Pen 40, Clip Special,Blast(10), Felling(15)), Hyper Beam (100m, S/-/-, 10d10+150 E, Pen 50, Felling(20), Recharge, Spray), Hands and Feet(1d10+18 I, Pen 0)
<br/>(Mighty Shot has been accounted for in this profile).
<br/>'''Seeking:''' A weapon with this quality feature advanced target-finding routines, causing Dodge tests to avoid it to be done at a -20 penalty.
<br/>'''Notes:''' The Wave Beam ignores cover.
<br/>The Missiles have a limited ammo supply, as denoted below.
<br/>If a target fails the Concussive test from the Super Missiles, they are also knocked back 1d10+10 meters, subtracting their size, although unusually large objects might not move at all. The Super Missile takes 5 Missile ammo.
<br/>The Morph Bomb and the Super Bomb can only be used when in Morph Ball mode as specified below. She is immune to their damage herself.
 
'''Gear:''' Chozo-crafted Power Suit
 
'''The Hunter:''' Samus in her years as a bounty hunter has seen things and done things called fairy-tales by others. She is immune to Fear, Pinning, Insanity Points, Corruption Points and psychic powers to control, delude or cloud her mind. She is also resistant to warpcraft and ignores Daemonic Presence and most other warp influences. Apart from that, she may do a Challenging (+0) Toughness test to ignore the effects of Stunning, and the duration of all Stunning effects are reduced to one round. Samus may also fire any of her weapon in any firing mode instead of only a single shot as per the Hip Shooting Talent.
 
'''Scion of the Chozo:''' Samus was cared for and genetically altered by the highly advanced (and now extinct) Chozo. As such, the armor she wears is attuned to her very being and cannot be used by anyone else. The suit itself is modular and provides the following benefits in its base form:
 
The suit is a void-sealed armour that provides 12 AP to all locations, and ignores all Penetration values. Additionally, the Power Suit features strange force fields protecting its wearer. All damage inflicted to Samus while the suit is powered will first deplete the suits own pool of Wounds before damaging Samus' own. The suit has 100 Wounds, plus 100 wounds per Energy Tank equipped, to a maximum of 14 Energy Tanks. Attacks hitting this protection counts as hitting a Force Field.
 
The suit's internal systems gives it an infinite power and air supply. The helmet contains a Photo-Visor, Auspex, Vox-bead and the Scan Visor. The Scan Visor may be used by Samus as a half action to gain extensive info on anything within sight, effectively granting her the appropriate Lore skill on the subject. It also functions as a powerful translation tool, granting her information on most languages when scanned.
 
Perhaps most perplexing thing about the Power Suit is the ability to fold into a small sphere for additional movement speed. In this form, Samus changes her size to Size(4) and increases her base Movement Rate by 3. However she loses her ability to jump and cannot Charge or Run while in Morph Ball mode, unless she has the Boost Ball upgrade. At any point during a Half or Full Move, she may deploy up to three Morph Bombs or drop a single Power Bomb, if she has that upgrade. Note that she may place her bombs at any point during her movement. Changing to or from Morph Ball mode takes a Half Action.
 
The suit comes pre-equipped with a supply of 5 Missiles as base, but can be expanded to a maximum of 250.
 
The following modules may be equipped to the Power Suit:
;Varia Suit: The Varia Suit grants Samus immunity to heat and hot environments, though not to heat-based attacks.
;Gravity Suit: Samus no longer treats underwater environments as Difficult Terrain, may move as if she was not submerged.
;Space Jump Boots: With this, Samus may perform Jump and Leap from standing as if she had run four metres already. It also gives her Flier(18) in zero-gravity environments.
;Hyper Boots: Strange energies create an enormous burst of speed. As a Full Action, Samus may move up to eight times her charge distance in a straight line, knocking aside and dealing 10d10+40 Impact damage with the Tearing and Concussive(3) Qualities to all targets in the line of charge. This is usually enough to knock over tanks and smash through most materials.
;Boost Ball: Samus may perform a Run action while in Morph Ball mode.
;Spider Ball: While in Morph Ball mode, Samus may adhere to magnetic surfaces and roll along walls or ceilings. The Boost Ball cannot be used while the Spider Ball is active.
;Power Bomb: Samus gains access to the Power Bomb weapon. It comes with a supply of 3 bombs, but that can be expanded to a total of 8.
;Grapple Beam: Samus may pull an item or character within 7m towards her, requiring an appropriate Strength check. It also functions as a kind of grappling hook for navigating outside of combat.
;Thermal Visor: These function as a Preysense Sight.
;X-Ray Scope: Samus gains Unnatural Senses(50m).
'''Note:''' All of Samus' weapons except for the Power beam are also modules, but are not included in this list.
See, told you! You may want your opponents to roll for Anal Circumference on a d6 with -2. Yes, they are that FUCKED.




[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]]
[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]]
[[Category:Unknown Primarchs]]
[[Category:Unknown Primarchs]]

Revision as of 12:30, 9 February 2021

This is a /v/ related article, which we tolerate because it's relevant and/or popular on /tg/... or we just can't be bothered to delete it.
Samus Aran, destroyer of worlds, terror of the space pirates, the hunter, killing one eldritch abomination at a time.

Samus is a vidya gaem Female Space Marine, not to be confused with the spooky scary daemon in the Horus Heresy series, who wouldn't really be that notable on /tg/ except for the fact that pretty much everything she does or sees in the games she stars in (the Metroid Series) is basically tailor-made to insert into a Dark Heresy or Star Frontiers game. The sheer volume of stuff about her and her universe that /tg/ has found a way to integrate is something to behold, and has led to a lot of awesome and neckbeardery, all at once. She's also a stupidly hot (she's nearly always in top 10 hottest video game girls lists, what with her slender and sometimes buff body, 6'3" height, golden blonde hair and blue/green eyes) and highly intelligent asskicking woman with no social skills, a neckbeard's wet dream come true.

Her modus operandi is to enter a planet's cave system, explore it, and find upgrades hidden throughout, which then open up new areas to explore, using weapons, armor, and other upgrades in lieu of finding keys in chests, Legend-of-Zelda-style. Note that if you're not in the Prime subseries, the planets she lands on have a habit of exploding. Yet even then those planets that survived her visits had massive damage equal to that of a Imperium high ordnance orbital bombardment done to enemy controlled sectors, buildings, and ground forces.

Also paid a visit to a Necron-infested shithole.

Games in Which Samus Stars

  • The original NES Metroid, released in '86. This game was one of the first nonlinear platformers, and was incredibly influential, kicking off an entire subgenre. Sadly, it hasn't aged well; the large game world has no map if you don't make one yourself or have a guide, and the save system consists of a twenty-four-character password. In '03, it received a GBA re-imagining called Metroid: Zero Mission that implemented elements from later titles of the series.
  • Metroid II: Return of Samus, for the original grey-brick Game Boy. This one is sort of a black sheep in the franchise and isn't normally thought too highly of, but it has its fans. The AM2R remake has been extremely well received and is frankly a joy to play. Too bad Nintendo brought the hammer down a day or two after it was released, but its on the internet now, ha ha ha. Also getting an official remake in the form of Metroid: Samus Returns for the 3DS, which probably explains why Nintendo came down so hard on AM2R.
  • Super Metroid, released in '94. This one is easily the best and most influential of the bunch. The reasons why it's awesome are too long to list here, so let's just say it's really fucking badass and leave it at that. It's notable for formally introducing the notion of "sequence breaking", where the ostensibly linear game is only made so through the implementation of obstacles that can, with practice, be surmounted prematurely. This is very much by design; the game even features tutorials to teach you some basic sequence breaking techniques (the wall jump and the super jump/shinespark), neither of which is required to complete the game.
  • Metroid Fusion, released in '02. This one is a lot wordier than previous games, and also a lot more linear, sort of running in the face of the "free-form exploration platformer" design principles the series had demonstrated up to that point. This, naturally, caused flame wars, though it speaks volumes for the series as a whole that you can still get genuinely lost while searching for hidden powerups. It is the latest chronologically in the timeline. [A very good game, all said an done, look at it.],
  • And now for something completely different: Metroid Prime and its sequels. These games keep the exploration premise, but change the skin from that of an action platformer to a first-person-shooter. These were actually made by American developers, which makes sense, given Japan's general distaste for the camera angle - and Metroid was never particularly popular in Japan anyway, which is why Nintendo was more willing to let someone else handle it, which is something they very rarely do with their big franchises. They were generally pretty well-liked in the West, but not so much in Japan. While nowhere near as linear as Fusion, the Prime Trilogy is quite a bit stricter than most Metroid games in terms of exploration. The devs even removed exploits in updated versions to remove sequence breaking opportunities. One thing that is inarguable is that the Metroid Prime trilogy has some of the best music ever composed for video games. The soundtrack is incredibly unique, with very little else like it in video game history, and is one of the only soundtracks that can pull off unironic/100% serious Theremin usage and make it sound amazing. Rock/Metal, Industrial, Electronica, Chiptunes, and Orchestral music are everywhere in games, but the trilogy's soundtrack not only stands out with uniqueness, it's just really beautiful and its great for setting the atmosphere for your games.
    • The Prime series also includes two spin offs on the DS. Metroid Prime Pinball, surprisingly for a pinball spin off, is actually very solidly made and seamlessly blends in iconic gameplay elements from the series with excellent pinballage. Metroid Prime Hunters is usually regarded as a rather solid, if short, entry into the series that was one of the first really multiplayer-friendly games on the DS. Pinball is for understandable reasons, not really canon (it is a retelling of Metroid Prime 1), while Hunters neatly stuffs itself in the in-universe two year gap between Prime 1 and 2. Hunters, like the Prime series, added quite a bit of detail to the background of the Metroid universe without explaining too much in depth, maintaining the nebulous mystery that the Metroid setting is known for.
  • Metroid: Other M, released in '10. It's best not to discuss this one, as a combination of badly written dialogue, a simplistic yet somehow convoluted story that contradicts itself and prior entries in the series, and a decent gameplay system held back from its full potential by a flawed execution resulted in an even wordier and railroadier game than Fusion that messed with Samus's characterization and continues to cause flamewars on /v/ to this very day. In a series known for its gorgeous and memorable music, Other M also switched to an incredibly generic orchestral soundtrack. It's not poorly done, the composer did a perfectly competent job - it's just a disappointingly generic addition to the discography of the series. It's like going from excellent home or restaurant cooked meals to ready-to-eat dinners; it's technically competent but it's nothing new or interesting.
  • Metroid Prime: Federation Force. This "continuation" of the Prime series features no Samus, no Metroids, no proper exploration, absolutely no shared art style with super-deformed chibi characters, space soccer, a crude attempt to chase the co-op multiplayer shooter train on foot years after it left the station for a handheld console rather than the PC, and one of the most lopsided dislike to like ratios of any video game revealed in E3. Five years of frustration and annoyance erupted in a spectacular fashion at its reveal... and it didn't stop there.
    • Fed Force was confirmed for hardcore suckage almost immediately upon release, containing stupidity such as "Master Brain", a plot that's little more than another generic "stop the death star knock off" story, 'wat'-worthy moments like Samus being mind controlled by the space pirates, and slow-as-shit and dreadfully boring gunplay. The game has driven the fandom into despair and rage to degrees that only Command and Conquer fans and Tyranid players can truly understand. It's like if EA wasn't content with just one lore breaking character defiling series mechanics defying game and instead made another one with an awful art style on top of that. And unlike C&C, Metroid fans don't have mods and fan games to content themselves with as Nintendo is anal retentive to absurd degrees regarding fangames. tl;dr FedForce was a terrible idea that's going to be shat on by the entire fandom and even casuals bewildered that Nintendo would yank the fandom's chains in such a way.
  • During an interview in 2015 Tanabe spoke of plans for a second Metroid Prime trilogy where the unifying antagonist would be perhaps the biggest dark horse of the entire series: Sylux (referred to exclusively as male this time), done in the same way Phazon was for the first trilogy. However, he said that these wouldn't be realized until the NX comes out. In the interview it was confirmed that the cliff hanger at the end of Metroid Prime 3 was supposed to show Sylux's ship, the Delano 7, apparently modified from its debut in Hunters, and shot down the rival theory that Dark Samus somehow impossibly survived her final defeat in Metroid Prime 3 (which as of the time of this writing, is nearly ten years old, funny how time flies). However, as this was revealed as part of damage control to respond to Federation Force's... less than enthusiastic reception, this news hasn't lifted many people's hopes for the future of the series.
  • Now during the 2017 E3 Nintendo Direct main event Nintendo has also revealed Metroid Prime 4!
    • ... Well, the logo at least.
  • Metroid: Samus Returns. Revealed in the Nintendo Treehouse portion of E3 2017, The aforementioned Return of Samus remake is 3DS only-with new 2.5 D graphics and added content it is a full reimaging of the series' least played entree. Reviews are coming out pretty positive alongside of fan option so it looks like there may be hope yet that Nintendo as more then a passing interest in the series now. Just like the Prime sub series. Samus Returns was made by a Western Studio with minimal involvement from Sakamoto. This time by a studio in Spain. Reception of the game was much better than both Other M and Federation Force. Proving fan statements that "dark" in the current Japanese entertainment environment means pandering to Otakus with Waifu-bait. While those outside of a tiny island can properly portray a bad ass women from the future. With a very small handful of exceptions. It also introduces a rouge evil faction of Chozo. Making them the Dark Mechanicus to the Chozos' Adeptus Mechanicus. Whether if something comes from this remains to be seen. Since another studio is handling the next game we won't know until before or after Prime 4 released. It is also the first time Samus's primary rival Ridley is the final boss. With three phases. Hope you like his theme because you'll be listening to it for a good while.

Characterization And Shit

Samus Aran is the protagonist from the Metroid video game series. When she was three years old, Space Pirates attacked her homeworld, a small out of the way mining colony called K-2L because of the presence of a crystal called Aflorite which could be used to fuel space ships. At first, they just demand Rodney Aran (Samus's father, leader of the colony) to hand all mined supply over to them while their ships blockading all travel to and from the colony, but when he refused they quickly sent in troops to destroy all shield generators and communications before bombing the majority of the colony then going in and killing everyone except for Samus in a horrifically violent manner, because from what little we've seen of Space Pirate culture they glorify sadism and bullying the weak. Oh and their leader, a sadistic space dragon called Ridley, tried to kill lil' Samus for trying to befriend him, but her mom pushed little Samus out of the way and was charred to death and promptly eaten in front of her, and her father snuck aboard their ship before using a repurposed damaged blowtorch to blow up all the stolen crystals (and himself) to destroy the Space Pirate's main supply ship.

Samus was left for dead, but for the grace of the Chozo, an ancient, long-lived, highly advanced, psychic, slowly aging and dying out bird-like species of aliens. Their lowering numbers were due to spending a little too much time reaching enlightenment and not enough time making eggs; that and a run of severely shitty luck for the last century or so, what with evil glowing space rocks, their own creations turning on them, and the pirates thinking that their homeworlds are a cool place to kick it whittled them down quite a bit.

At any rate, they rescued her, raised her, enhanced her with the best parts of their genes so she could survive on their homeworld of Zebes, and trained her in the art of combat, giving her a suit of powered armor to fight the Space Pirates. After reaching adulthood the age of fourteen according to the manga that functions as her origin story (apparently the Chozo didn't know that much about human growth cycles), Samus went to work for the Galactic Federation for a while, and then left to work on her own as a bounty hunter. Nobody that worked on Metroid realized what exactly a bounty hunter is until Metroid Prime's american developers explained it. While that's technically her title, she's more like a freelance soldier on retainer with the Galactic Federation. Or something.

She soon came into conflict with the Space Pirates again; they had seized her adoptive homeworld, killed off most of what little remained of the Chozo with maybe one or two dozen of the old bird people remaining (who all promptly fucked off into isolation), and were attempting to weaponize dangerous creatures known as Metroids, hovering jellyfish-things that drained life-force. She fought them, and came face-to-face with Ridley, the space dragon who had killed Samus' mother right before her eyes and boasted about eating her parents' corpses in front of her. She defeated him as well, and then destroyed the Mother Brain, triggering the Space Pirate base's self-destruct sequence.

The Space Pirates tried several more times to weaponize the Metroids, using a substance called Phazon to mutate them (and mutate themselves, for that matter); Samus defeated them time and again, even coming face-to-face with an evil, Phazon-born twin of herself. She also squared off against Ridley time and again, as the Pirates resurrected him in increasingly-creative ways, first cyborgizing him, then upgrading his cybernetics, then upgrading his cybernetics and then mutating him with Phazon.

After making a costly but devastating assault on the Space Pirate Homeworld, the Galactic Federation decided that it would be cheapest to send Samus to destroy the Metroids once and for all, rather than having to pay her to deal with each new iteration of the Metroid threat. Even this plan was of limited success, because no matter how many Metroids Samus killed, there always seemed to be more (and this also seemed to be true of the Space Pirates themselves); even when the galactic population had been reduced to one Metroid, the Pirates managed to steal it, but finally, they were exterminated once and for all.

Unfortunately, the Metroids were needed to keep a population of dangerous, adaptible, mind-controlling parasites in check, and without the Metroids, the parasites were able to reproduce without limit. After getting almost killed by one of these creatures, only to have her life saved by an emergency injection of Metroid DNA, Samus wiped them all out, but given the number of times that the Metroids and Space Pirates have supposedly been "exterminated without a trace" and come back, the so-called "X parasites" won't be gone for long, especially as the Federation has already tried cloning Metroids and Space Pirates before. Samus put a stop to those efforts as well, but she earned the enmity of the Federation in the process; at the moment, it seems that she's on the run. At this point, all we can do is wait for her next mission.

As for Ridley, his history with Samus after she stopped being afraid of him goes like this:

  • Blown up with missiles. (Metroid)
  • Brought back as a Cyborg and blown up again. (Zero Mission)
  • Knocked off a cliff with lasers and then exploding. (Prime)
  • Brought back again as an improved cyborg, shot in the mouth, fell down an impossibly deep geothermal shaft, and then blew up. (Prime 3: Corruption)
  • Brought back as an even more improved cyborg except mutated with Phazon, shot repeatedly in vital organs, overloaded with more Phazon, and then blown up so spectacularly he disintegrated into little blue particles. (Prime 3: Corruption again)
  • Comes back as a partially regenerated Cyborg again to try and steal the infant metroid on SR388 with fewer metal parts than last time. Is shot to hell and back and repeatedly attacked by a metroid before having to abandon much of his cyborg parts due to heavy damage and get the hell off the planet. It could also be because his lost body parts eventually healed back though. His next appearance had a fully organic body with no cybernetics or missing limbs (Metroid: Return of Samus)
  • Manages to successfully steal the infant Metroid in the Ceres station because this time Samus just had her basic power suit and power beam. Is then chased down and blasted apart with missile and beam fire some hours later as Samus conducts a one woman exterminatus. And then the entire planet he was on blew up so fiercely it could be seen for light years. Safe to assume even he couldn't survive that. (Super Metroid)
  • Cloned off of the little bits of him remaining on Samus' suit (by the Federation), shot repeatedly in the head and mouth (a couple of times -- he didn't stick around to let Samus finish him off). Finally, he got all the life energy sucked out of him by a queen metroid and left as a mummified corpse. (Other M)
  • Said corpse was hauled out of Bottle Ship into BSL and stuffed in a freezer where it shattered, but was cloned by the X-parasites. Samus blew that up, too, and absorbed the remnants to get her Screw Attack back. Then she crashed the station into the planet that it was orbiting, destroying them both. This time he might actually be dead for real given the unlikeliness that any of his genetic material is left (except ironically, the part of his code that Samus consumed when she absorbed his X-parasite form) to clone from. But it's easier to kill ten Necron lychguards with a resurrection orb and Orikan nearby with nothing but grots than it is to keep this fucking dragon dead so who knows? For all we know, he’ll be back later that day or week.(Fusion)

Which is still a better track record than Failbaddon, because Ridley is costing the Federation assets that it cannot easily replace.

Ridley is highly competent and experienced at his role of being both muscle and a general, and is incredibly sadistic and ruthless. When not faced with Samus, he can deal extreme damage and devastation and was a scourge on Federal society for years. The problem of course is that he is faced with a protagonist equipped with the war gear of the most advanced factions to have ever been seen in the galaxy whose suit can plug and play any piece of tech (or even someone's superpowers) like they're god damn USB sticks who has made it her life's goal to make him pay. So his constant, increasingly over the top defeats aren't completely without excuse.

Personality-wise, there's not much to say about her - she never speaks in the majority of the games and serves primarily as a silent protagonist for the player to identify themselves with. Fusion had some brief snippets of inter-monologue, some short conversations, and even some mentions of Samus's life before she was a bounty hunter, usually relating to her former CO, Adam. Other M attempted to expand on the relationship between Samus and Adam, but it backfired spectacularly to say the least.

In Metroid Prime, scanning the various logs of Space Pirates would reveal that the pirates refer to Samus as "The Hunter of Our Kind", always in the reverential form, always scared shitless of every mention. Essentially she's shown there to be a completely ruthless hunter that will ALWAYS catch space pirates eventually, to such an extent that they can never escape her once she's on the trail. The pirates on that Frigate mention in their logs that they've pretty much lost all hope as soon as they discovered that Samus was tailing them. At the same time, we do still get little snippets of characterization here and there, with her mourning a little when finding brave Federation Marines dead at the hands of the Ing in 2, and frustration and grief at the corruption of her fellow Hunters in the finale.

Pre-Other M material (i.e. a number of manga, Fusion, and the handful of notes she makes to her logbook, as well as some scenes in Metroid Prime) paint her as a noble soul, much more concerned with doing what is right than what is technically the letter of the law and deeply passionate about protecting those who cannot protect themselves with a noted soft spot for children. When Retro wanted to implement a bounty hunting mechanic into Metroid Prime 3 and explained the concept to Nintendo, Nintendo adamantly refused and clarified that "Bounty Hunter" was actually a mistranslation and she wouldn't stoop to murdering and capturing other sapient beings for pay, with Retro describing that it was revealed that she was more of a "Pro Bono" Hunter, who does the public good without expectation of recompense. She was also something of a fiery tempered hot-head who'd disregard regulations and plans to go off and do her own thing in her youth but mellowed out once she came of age. She seems to be an introspective and somewhat introverted person with at least something of a scientific streak as well as a pretty nifty hand at engineering, having designed her own ship.

tl;dr Like most Nintendo protagonists, Samus is very much an incorruptible spark of nobility in an often very dark universe (with Metroid perhaps being the grimmest with the relentlessly cruel space pirates, a deeply corrupt federation, the all corruptive phazon, the demon-esque Ing, the "zombie virus cranked up to fucking eleventy one" X-parasites, the "Xenomorphs on radioactive steroids" Metroids, and the Lovecraftian God-like Gorea just to name a few issues), an ever dependable hero who will go alone and smite the hordes of evil no matter the odds and come out victorious in the end even at personal loss to herself. So very much a Nobledark sort of hero. She's more of a Knight Errant in space than she is a proper bounty hunter. Indeed if you take a look at her, you'll see knight tropes everywhere. A warrior who came from a child orphaned by a dragon and lawbreakers, raised by monks to be a hero of prophecy destined to wield an incomparable weapon to smite the darkness wherever it may be by traveling the lands, or stars in this case.

Wargear

As would be expected of the inheritor of one of her galaxy's most advanced civilizations, Samus has ready access to some of the most overpowered weapons and armor in existence. Even weapons and tech not created by the Chozo can still borderline effortlessly be integrated into her power armor for use at her leisure. Unfortunately for Samus, despite becoming a force no natural disaster could ever compete with by the end of every game, some unprecedented event or catastrophe resets her suit to a much more basic form at the beginning/near beginning of almost every single main-stream sequel that follows. While the obvious, practical reason this happens is entirely to make the game an actual game, the fluff reasons tend to be pretty hit-or-miss (if there even is a reason) These include:

  • Getting shot down while leaving Zebes, which also somehow completely destroyed Samus' power suit. This resulted in Samus having to infiltrate a Space Pirate-occupied Chozo temple in order to get a completely new Power Suit. While actually occuring rather far into the game, it does completely negate literally every weapon, armor and utility upgrade Samus collected until then. (Zero Mission)
  • Getting caught in a chain reaction of explosions while investigating a derelict Space Pirate Frigate. The damage causes her suit to malfunction and reboot in the most basic loadout (Prime)
  • While investigating the planet Aether for a Federation Patrol that went MIA, Samus entered a portal to an alternate version of the planet. She was promptly mugged by the resident Ing, each of which stole a piece of tech that Samus had to hunt down and pry from their cold, dead claws to retrieve. In another instance of post-game downgrading, despite acquiring weapons capable of sending their targets into alternate dimensions, Samus voluntarily reverts her suit and weapons to their pre-Aether adventure state and returns the tech to the Luminoth before departing. (Prime 2)
  • While mounting a defense against a Space Pirate invasion of Norion, Samus was ultimately corrupted by Phazon. While this didn't necessarily remove many abilities, it did require a refit of her Power Suit to keep her from turning into another Dark Samus. (Prime 3)
  • While there was no explanation, Samus began her Metroid-Extermination mission on SR-388 and her second raid on Zebes in her basic Power Suit. Possibly to avoid losing some of the fancy toys she picked up between the first Metroid game and now? (Metroid II and Super Metroid, respectively)
  • In a rather unusual turn of events, Samus retained most of her armor abilities from the beginning of Other M, but lacked the clearance to use them initially. In a way, this does kind of make sense, as flying around in a giant energy death ball while dropping bombs that atomize borderline anything with a pulse doesn't exactly create an environment conducive for allied Federation forces. That said, it's safe to say Samus isn't retarded enough to indiscriminately nuke friend and foe alike, so it's kind of a hollow excuse. (Other M)
  • While escorting a research team on the recently de-Metroided SR-388, Samus is infected by an X-Parasite. Shortly afterwards, Samus narrowly escaped death when she lost consciousness and her ship ejected her before it crashed into an asteroid belt. Scientists had to surgically strip Samus' still-active power suit down in order to operate, with the infected parts consequently becoming a murderous clone of Samus at the peak of her power. Samus, on the otherhand, was left with a watered down power suit that actually rendered her genetically incompatible with several of her former abilities while making her cripplingly weak to anything cold. (Fusion)

Ultimately all these increasingly dramatic incidents prove to be minor inconveniences at best, as even when completely stripped of her fancy toys and tools, Samus still reclaims most if not all the lost equipment in short order. More often than not, she even picks up yet more powerful goodies along the way too.

Standard Suits

These suits often have some incarnation or another in most Metroid titles, with Samus usually starting in either the Power or Varia suit, depending on how bad her suit got scratched that day.

Power Suit: The base and vanilla form of Samus' power armor, the power suit was tailor-made specifically for Samus by her adoptive Chozo parents. Able to be summoned and dismissed at will, the power suit provides basic protection against hostile environments and any local fauna that might be feeling extra frisky. Ultimately, the basic power suit is actually rather fragile and is probably comparable to Eldar mesh armor for all the protection it provides, of course ignoring the shields that make up her actual defence. While a number of games start Samus off in this, several others go ahead and just have Samus keep the more advanced Varia suit instead.

Varia Suit: The iconic suit Samus is most often portrayed in, the Varia suit is a stark upgrade over the Power Suit in every way. In addition to a much improved defense, the Varia suit provides incomplete protection from high temperature environments (unsurprisingly, substances like lava still severely damage the suit) and is often acquired relatively early on in most games. It's also the first suit that gives Samus unyieldingly massive pauldrons. Its durability would probably compare to Space Marine power armor, while sacrificing none of her insane mobility (in fact, she often gets far more potent mobility enhancing upgrades after this armor upgrade). It also provides complete immunity to acid in Zero Mission, though apparently Zebesian acid isn't anywhere near as strong as Pirate Homeworld Acid or Fuel Gel given that those can still damage the shielding of the suit.

Gravity Suit: Often the last or second to last suit upgrade acquired, the Gravity Suit offers complete immunity to high temperature environments, yet higher defensive capabilities, and allows Samus to operate in both underwater and underlava environments completely unrestricted. While Samus still retains her super-olympian maneuverability, this thing is probably comparable to Tartaros-Pattern Terminator armor for all the punishment it can take.

Non-Standard Suits

These suits are all unconventional, one-off suits Samus acquires either through circumstance or being "gifted" to her.

Phazon Suit: An unintended "upgrade", this is actually a corrupted version of Samus' Gravity Suit that was created when a giant, Phazon-enhanced Space Pirate fell on top of her and melted. While no negative traits manifested, it provided Samus with immunity to most forms of Phazon and the ability to channel it into a highly destructive beam of energy (in the right circumstance). Samus loses it when Metroid Prime attacks her in a last ditch effort to save itself. This sort of works; though Samus walks away unharmed, Metroid Prime is able to use the Phazon Suit to reconstitute itself into Dark Samus. (Prime)

Dark Suit: A piece of Luminoth technology, the Dark Suit was created to provide some protection from the lethal atmosphere of Dark Aether. This suit falls roughly in between the Varia/Gravity suit in that an upgrade confers the unrestricted movement underwater the Gravity Suit is capable of, but lacks the physical and environmental protection it has. It also has a very noticeable different design from most of Samus' suits, due to its Luminoth heritage. (Prime 2)

Light Suit: A fuck-awesome suit that seamlessly merges Luminoth and Chozo tech into one of the sleekest looking suits Samus has ever worn. In addition to the complete immunity to the toxic atmosphere and water of Dark Aether, it confers Samus with the ability to ride through the shafts of light spread across Aether, allowing instantaneous travel between the major regions of the planet. Unlike almost every other suit downgrade Samus goes through, Samus voluntarily returns the Light Suit tech (and presumably all other related weapons and armor upgrades) to the Luminoth after she destroyed Dark Aether. (Prime 2)

PED Suit: A Federation-modified version of Samus' Varia suit that, while intended to contain and harness Samus' Phazon corruption, actually made her more susceptible to said corruption. This suit allows Samus to tap into the Phazon she naturally generates post-corruption and use it to empower her attacks and defense dramatically. The cost, however, is that should she engage this mode and not vent or maintain this rapidly-generating energy for too long, it will result in her transforming into a second Dark Samus. Upon destroying the sentient planet Phaaze (and thus the source of all Phazon), Samus reverts back to her Varia suit. (Prime 3)

Hazard Shield: While not called a suit upgrade outright, this metroid prime 3 only upgrade serves the gameplay purpose that a new suit upgrade does. Though the changes it makes to the suit are fairly low key, making Samus' pauldrons shaped like D12 dice instead of the usual spheres, by the time you get them Samus' phazon corruption has already progressed far enough to give most of her suit; particularly her limb armour, a purple hue that's a fairly deliberate visual reference to the Gravity Suit. This upgrade makes Samus immune to the very worst of corrosive chemical agents that can damage even the normally acid immune Varia Suit's shielding; letting her take a dip in fuel gel or take a stroll outdoors in the space pirate homeworld where centuries of pollution from unclean industrial technology have fucked up the atmosphere so hard that the raindrops there are some of the most destructive chemical agents in the universe.

Fusion Suit: A watered down power suit that was created as a result of Samus' Metroid hybridization. Due to inheriting the genetics of the Metroids, Samus gains the ability to consume X-Parasites simply through contact, but gained a crippling weakness to cold environments and weaponry. As far as the timeline is concerned, while Samus no longer has that weakness, she is still utilizing a variant of the Fusion Suit. Perhaps if Nintendo could get around to advancing the timeline, we could see if this is in fact the case or not. Also can be accessed with Prime if you link fusion from the Gameboy to you gamecube. (Fusion)

Standard Arm Cannon Loadouts

Another feature synonymous with Samus' Power Suit is the highly advanced multi-purpose gun that always comprises her suit's right arm. Her armament varies between games; some versions simply stack beam upgrades while other beams are mutually exclusive selections. That said, there is always a golden standard readily available to her.

Power Beam: Just as the Power Suit forms the foundation for all of Samus' other suits, so too does the Power Beam for almost all of Samus' weapons. In all cases, the Power Beam is a relatively weak energy weapon that makes up for its minimal damage output with an absurdly high rate of fire and unlimited ammunition. In almost all circumstances, the Power Beam is rendered obsolete by all other beam technologies, if it's not outright upgraded into them. In the first game and zero mission, it requires the Long Beam to be able to shoot across the entire screen which also gives it a bit of a damage boost but in every other game the Power Beam seems to have the long range function by default.

Missile: One of the few weapons Samus regularly uses that requires ammunition, Missiles are often utilized against moderately armored foes and to destroy various pieces of terrain or barriers barring Samus' path. In the Prime series of games, Missles are able to lock onto and track targets. This makes them modestly useful against fast and/or airborne targets. Additionally, an upgrade in Prime 2 and 3 allows Samus to fire up to 5 of them simultaneously, either in a spread, tracking up to 5 separate targets, or all 5 locked onto one single target.

Super Missile: Another ammunition reliant weapon, the Super Missile is a high-powered projectile that deals heavy damage to most targets. While in most traditional games it uses an entirely separate ammo, the Prime games simply utilize 5 standard missiles in conjunction with a charged beam to fire. In the first two prime games, every Beam type has a Super-Missile variant, with the form, function and ammo cost changing based on the beam. Each is still usually a powerful blast that can hit multiple enemies with one shot, however several of these variants have limited or situational uses compared to the standard Super Missile.

Charge Beam: Not necessarily a beam in its own right, this upgrade adds the functionality to focus any beam's energy into a single charged shot (as the name fucking implies). While dramatically reducing the rate of fire, the resulting charged beam is often many times more powerful than the standard shot and usually amplifies the secondary effects the beam might cause. In Fusion, it also upgrades the base beam, making it fire crescent wave shots that do more damage and can potentially hit more than one target at a time.

Ice Beam: Occasionally a direct upgrade, occasionally an alternate beam altogether, the Ice Beam is a low-to-non damaging weapon that is primarily used to immobilize hostile targets to use as either parkour platforms, or to shatter through judicious use of missiles. The Prime variant of the Ice-Beam is notable for having a Super-Missile variant called the Ice Spreader, which fires a medium-sized sheet of freezing energy over an area. The most prominent targets for this beam are the namesake Metroids Samus often finds herself hunting, with almost all sub-breeds and evolutions having a horrible weakness to it.

Wave Beam: Often a direct upgrade of the Power Beam, most incarnations of the Wave Beam increase the damage of Samus' primary energy projectiles while allowing them to completely phase through most terrain and structures. In most cases, there is no additional effects tied to the beam itself, though being able to kill someone through multiple layers of rock or metal is hardly arguable. Interestingly, the Prime version of this weapon is drastically different. With a slightly slower rate of fire than the Power Beam, and not retaining the wall penetrating aspects all other versions have, the Wave Beam is an electric-based energy weapon that will moderately track targets that Samus locks onto. Additionally, many targets hit by the charged shot are stunned for several seconds, allowing Samus to swiftly dispatch them in the interim. The Super-Missile variant unleashes a devastating torrent of energy that latches onto targets, it depletes missiles at a rapid rate in order to fuel. Also kinda gives off ghostbuster vibes while channeling it. While generally not amazingly useful for most situations, the Wavebuster combo makes an invisible drone that serves as the boss guarding the power bombs a complete joke since it automatically tracks the fucker and stunlocks it to death, sparing you from what is otherwise a difficult fight with an enemy that hits like a truck and can only be manually targeted.

Plasma Beam: Usually a near-endgame upgrade, the Plasma beam dramatically increases the damage of Samus' base projectiles. In most cases, the Plasma beam also penetrates targets, allowing Samus to slaughter multiple enemies with only a few well-aimed shots. Similarly to the Wave beam, the Plasma Beam is considerably different in its Prime incarnation. With a shorter range, but same rate of fire as the Power Beam, the Plasma Beam is the strongest conventional weapon available to Samus, with the Charged shot being slightly stronger than a super-missile. Additionally, the few creatures not outright disintegrated by a charged shot are usually set ablaze afterwards. If Samus is feeling a bit like a Salamander or Sister of Battle, she can use the Super Missile variant of the Plasma beam to channel a high-powered flamethrower to roast whatever moronic creature pissed her off.

Spazer Beam: Alternatively known as the Wide Beam in Fusion, this direct upgrade splits Samus' projectiles into three separate shots, without sacrificing rate of fire or beam strength. It allows Samus to hit multiple targets simultaneously, or simply broaden just how much space she can fill with overpowered dakka.

Non-Standard Arm Cannon Loadout

Similarly to the specialized, one-off suits Samus acquires, there are select beams that only ever see one, maybe two incarnations.

Phazon Beam: While some variant of this exists in all 3 Prime games, they're all situational, specialized beams that rely on either an external factor or risk. Even though they differ drastically, each is an extremely powerful weapon that does ludicrous amounts of damage to a given target, with most of said targets being impervious or highly resistant to all other weaponry Samus has access too. As stated though, the circumstances that Phazon can be used as a weapon are severely limited and either require an external source of Phazon, or the usage of Samus' own energy to access. (All 3 Prime games). The Phazon beam is quite different in all three games, in the first it only activates when Samus stands in pools of pure Phazon produced by the Metroid Prime and only has an automatic firing mode that spits out a spray of blue laser beams of death that are the only thing that can hurt the true form of the metroid prime, while also one shotting the metroids it spawns. In metroid prime 2 it is gained by using the charge beam to suck up phazon particles Dark Samus vents in her final, phazon overloaded form to cause her hurt and if you hack the game to fire it at anything else it basically one shots them. In Prime 3 it's basically a standard beam whose charge shot function is to very rapidly fire a lot of bursts, the damage is toned down since it's not a final battle supermode, but it is necessary to beat phazon based enemies or enemies engaging hypermode in anything resembling a timely manner.

Dark Beam: Unusual in that it is a beam that utilizes ammo, the Dark Beam concentrates the energies native to Dark Aether into a relatively slow moving projectile that, when charged, immobilizes targets with tendrils of darkness that sear their bound targets with its malevolent energies. Additionally, the Super-Missile variant rips open a portal to an alternate dimension and drags hapless, nearby creatures and humanoids into what is effectively a miniature black hole that tears them apart on the molecular level. Unsurprisingly, using this beam on the denizens of Dark Aether is like trying to kill a shark with a water gun, so it is largely useless in that dimension. (Prime 2)

Light Beam: Like all the other beams in Prime 2 (Power Beam exempted), the Light Beam relies on ammunition to remain effective. Similar to the Plasma beam, the Light Beam fires off rapid fire, short range bursts of focused light energies that burn through Ing and things possessed by them like a hot knife through butter. The charged shot functions like a shotgun, firing a spread of individual shots that ignite targets indiscriminately. Contrarily to the Dark Beam, the Super-Missile variant of the light beam creates what is basically a miniature sun which slowly drifts forward immolating all in its path. Upon striking an enemy or surface, it then explodes in a burst of fire. In other words, it's basically the BFG 9000 but coloured white instead of green. (Prime 2)

Annihilator Beam: A combination of both the Light and Dark beams, using both of their ammo reserves to function, the Annihilator beam is among the most lethal of all Samus' rather diverse selection of weaponry (seeing as how she had to rip it out of an Ing-possessed robot roughly half-again taller than an Imperial Knight, one would hope it would be respectively powerful). While shot-for-shot not as powerful as using the Light Beam vs. Ing or Dark Beam vs. Non-Ing, its rapid rate of fire, range, generous tracking capabilities and with no enemy resisting it make this beam a potent all around force to be reckoned with. The Super Missile variant of the Annihilator beam, upon firing, instantaneously strikes the first target or surface it was pointed at and creates a sizable rift in space that rips apart everything unfortunate enough to be in the area. This power comes at a heavy price though, consuming both a number of Samus' missiles and a sizable portion of both her Dark and Light beam ammo reserves. (Prime 2)

Metroid Prime Hunters Beams: Each of the Bounty Hunters introduced in Metroid Prime Hunters had a unique beam that Samus was able to acquire for her personal use over the course of the game. Each of these beams utilized ammo in order to fire, much like the Dark and Light beams from Echoes. While Samus was able to utilize these weapons effectively, they had more powerful effects in the hands of their original hunters.

  • BattleHammer: Weavel's signature weapon, this rapid-fire beam lobs a steady stream of explosive rounds at medium ranges. This beam has no charged variation and each shot detonates upon contact with any surface. When Weavel uses it, the rate of fire decreases, but the damage and explosion radius of each round increases significantly. Additionally, when Weavel cuts himself in half (his "morph ball"), his legs transform into a stationary turret that lobs BattleHammer shots at nearby foes. The BattleHammer is notably a nuclear weapon, not in the sense that it fires nuclear warheads, but that its shells apparently are so heavy they need a nuclear reaction to launch. Okay then.
  • Imperialist: Trace's signature weapon is the only instance of a sniper-type weapon introduced in any Metroid game and fires a big red hitscan laser, which unfortunately makes it really easy to track where the shot came from. While it has no charge ability and an incredibly low rate of fire, it has the single longest range of any other weapon available to the hunters (to the degree that it actually has a scope functionality) and can kill any of the Hunters with a headshot. While the weapon itself doesn't change in the hands of Trace, it does cloak him while he stands still with it equipped.
  • Judicator: Noxus's signature weapon has a slow rate of fire as it shoots forth shards of supercooled plasma chilled to just a smidgen above absolute zero, but deals respectable damage at mid range with the shots ricocheting off of surfaces. When Samus or any other hunter charges the beam, it fires three shots at once in a manner quite similar to a shotgun. Noxus, however, converts it into a short-ranged sheet that instantly freezes any enemies engulfed by it.
  • Magmaul: Spire's signature weapon is functionally a grenade, launching short-ranged chunks of superheated magma waiting for an excuse to explode into rock vapour that can bounce off surfaces until they either detonate a few seconds later, or on contact with hostile forces. Charging the shot results in a much larger blast radius that does significantly more damage, with Spire's Magmaul igniting enemies engulfed by it for additional damage.
  • Shock Coil: Sylux's signature weapon is the only sustained fire beam available, launching a short-range arc of "high density neutrinos" (even though the amount of neutrinos you'd need to cause harm to a living being would need so much energy you're better off just using your "lance bombardment ain't shit" levels of energy instead to kill the guy) that latches onto nearby targets automatically and rapidly drains their health. As time progresses, the damage done per second increases to absurd levels and can slaughter enemy hunters in mere moments. Unlike anyone else who uses it, Sylux absorbs all damage done point for point, making him extraordinarily hard to kill in close quarters.
  • Volt Driver: Kanden's signature weapon operates like a hybrid of the power beam and wave beam (prime 1). Basic shots are for all intents and purposes, just the power beam. Charged shots, however, transform into a slow moving explosive that does significant damage to enemies caught in its blast. Kanden's charge blast homes in on nearby targets and disrupts their visors in a burst of electricity. Said to have "terawatts" of energy in every shot, meaning each impact is comparable to a tactical nuclear warhead or greater than the entirety of the world's energy demands. It is also said to draw this from the planet's magnetosphere which is even sillier as powering even one of these shots would drain an entire thunderstorm dry.
  • Omega Cannon: The super weapon of the Hunters game, the Omega Cannon is a single shot beam that does massive damage to everything within a massive radius, including the user in the multiplayer mode where it kills literally anyone who can see the blast. In the single player it doesn't do anywhere near as much self damage but you can fire it more than once. Due to the unique nature of this beam, it is only available during the fight against Gorea in the Single Player, or only on one stage in the Multiplayer as a power up.

Nova Beam: Similar to the traditional Wave beam, the Nova beam has the capacity to ignore and simply pass through surfaces and armor comprised of a material known as Phazite. When used in conjunction with the X-Ray visor, Samus can use it to identify vital organs of certain enemies like Metroids and Space Pirates, and snipe them with a single shot. This allows Samus to kill formerly formidable Space Pirate Commandos like they were some backwater Conscript fresh out of boot. (Prime 3)

Hyper Beam: An extremely potent weapon, Samus only obtains this weapon from the Sacrifice of the Baby Metroid she rescued. It makes extremely short work of the recently resurrected Mother Brain, and aids in Samus' hasty escape from Zebes as it begins to explode following MB's death. It's not explained if this beam was simply a temporary effect of the Metroid's energy infusion, or if it's a permanent weapon upgrade Samus shelved following the mission. Regardless, it is safe to say Samus no longer possesses it.

Diffusion Beam: A pretty forgettable beam originating from Other M that is rather uniquely; for Other M that is; acquired the conventional metroid way by destroying a drone miniboss that has the requisite technology that Samus then acquires after defeating it. It doesn't really seem to affect the base beam all that much, but it gives the charge shot a big sparkly area of effect to wipe out large numbers of enemies at a time. It's pretty boring overall though the SFXes it produces are kind of pretty.

Utilities and other abilities

In order to progress through otherwise impassable obstacles and terrain, Samus has access to a wide variety of multi-purpose tools that aren't necessarily used strictly to vaporize anything with sharp teeth (that doesn't stop her from using some of these tools to do just that anyways). The recurring ones are as follows:

Morph Ball: Another iconic ability, and often one of if not the first upgrades acquired (if not already just loaded in by default), this allows Samus to transform into a compact sphere roughly 1 meter in diameter. In addition to allowing her to slip into otherwise tight spaces, it also allows her to activate a good many devices through rather conveniently shaped power conduit sockets. This form has a variety of abilities and weapons exclusive to it as well:

  • Bomb: Sometimes included by default, other times a separate upgrade, Samus can use this to lay up to 3 consecutive energy bombs that serve multiple purposes. In addition to being the default manner of attack for the Morph Ball, the bombs are also used to destroy weakened or lightly armored structures, to power on aforementioned power conduits or devices, or to propel Samus into the air in a technique aptly named the "bomb jump". As of Samus Returns, the bomb upgrade now has no limit on the number of bombs it can have on screen at a time as a convenience factor. A rather obscure trick is that in some two dimensional games, if you have a beam charged and enter morph ball mode you'll drop a whole bunch of bombs, not exactly useful as usually the charge shot would do more damage but it is still there all the same.
  • Power Bomb: One of the most powerful weapons Samus gets access to, Power Bombs are used to destroy heavily armored structures and terrain while straight up obliterating anything within its rather large blast zone. Unlike the regular bomb, the Power Bomb is reliant on relatively limited ammunition. It has some combos with the beams in Super Metroid but these are obscure tricks the game never tells you about of somewhat questionable utility that have never appeared since Super Metroid. It's also used as fuel for Samus' crystal flash move, another obscure super metroid only manoeuvre that sacrifices Samus' stocks of ammo to restore her shielding to full capacity.
  • Spider Ball: The first strictly non-lethal upgrade to the Morph Ball enables Samus to cling to most surfaces and scale them with ease. This ability is somewhat limited in the Prime franchise, as it can only cling to magnetic rails specifically designed for it so as to not trivialise platforming or open Pandora's box of level geometry abuse.
  • Spring Ball: Basically it lets her jump in morph ball mode without having to wait for a bomb to detonate. It's mostly a convenience thing and while not initially present in the first two prime games, it's a default ability in prime 3 and was retroactively added to the other two in the re-release. It notably makes the Spider Ball Guardian, perhaps the most frustrating boss in Metroid Prime 2 due to its reliance on extremely exacting morphball platforming puzzles and very limited opportunities to recover shielding, much easier on any difficulty.
  • Boost Ball: Exclusive to the Prime games, this allows Samus to charge up her Morph Ball with energy and launch forward at high speeds. In addition to letting her act as a literal cannonball, it is also used to perform sick tricks in half-pipe structures and burst through things like metal grates. Aside from the Speed Boost, this is Samus' fastest "standard" method of travel.

Grapple Beam: A coherent beam of energy that allows Samus to tether to points either in the environment or on specific creatures. Environmentally, it allows Samus to swing from point to point, crossing otherwise impassable or treacherous crevices and the like. Not usually an offensive weapon, Samus still does use the Grapple Beam to rip off shields and armor of certain enemies in order to promptly execute them. When charged with Phazon, she can also either use it to either sap all the energy/phazon out of a target, or flood it with so much Phazon that it simply explodes in a shower of gore and blue goo.

High Jump Boots: Like the name implies, this boosts the height and speed of Samus' base jumps. Effectively outmoded the moment she acquires the Space Jump.

Space Jump: Another common ability, the Space Jump effectively gives Samus the ability to fly by letting her jump repeatedly through the air. As an efficient and expeditious manner of travel, it is admittedly lacking, but as it normally has an unlimited number of uses, it still allows Samus to bypass almost every environmental obstacle not involving water, lava or destructible terrain. Combined with the screw attack however, it lets Samus be a constantly moving whirling buzzsaw of death that's almost impervious to attack while instantly destroying nearly everything it touches. The Prime series limits the Space Jump into a single mid-air jump, though the reasons for this are strictly for the gameplay.

Screw Attack: An augment of the Space Jump, the Screw Attack envelops Samus in a sheathe of energy that outright evaporates all lesser creatures that come into contact with it and severely injures everything else. As it is activated by jumping through the air, Samus can remain in this state almost indefinitely and can only be knocked out of it by a similarly powerful attack or projectile (like the SA-X who can also use the Screw Attack). In the Prime games, it functions similarly, however it allows Samus to propel herself forward up to 5 times as well as wall jump up specific surfaces.

Speed Boost: This upgrade allows Samus to run at ludicrous speeds, enveloping herself in a shroud of lethal energy that not only lets her simply charge through anyone foolish enough to stand in her way, but also straight up ram through a variety of terrain that would otherwise block her way. This energy can be temporarily stored by abruptly crouching mid run, then promptly used to propel Samus in a completely different direction, or simply launch herself through the air until she collides with a solid object in a technique called the "Spineshark".

Visors: Often only playing a role in the Prime series, Samus' visor is surprisingly one of the most useful tools at her disposal. The default mode it is in is simply the Combat Visor, which displays her HUD as well as an advanced targeting system that lets her lock onto opponents or objects should the need arise.

  • Scan Visor: Though it wouldn't seem it, the Scan Visor is probably the single most powerful tool Samus has access too. In addition to providing background information on individuals, native flora, fauna, etc., it allows her to quickly translate most alien languages at a glance, identify structural or anatomical weaknesses on a target, hack into computer terminals and remotely activate a great many devices when the need arises. As this is never a function Samus has to acquire from an external source, it's also safe to say it's just a baseline feature of her Power suit.
  • Thermal Visor: This gives Samus thermal-based vision. Kind of self explanatory, really. Still relatively useful in low-light or otherwise visually obscured conditions.
  • X-Ray Visor: Another relatively straight forward visor, this gives Samus the ability to see through a variety of terrain, structures, enemies, or other miscellaneous objects. In Prime 3, it can be used in conjunction with the Nova Beam to simply snipe the vital organs of a good many foes, killing them with as few as one to two standard shots. This was the first variant visor to appear in the series, as an equivalent called the X-Ray Scope was an optional power-up hidden in the Brinstar region of Super Metroid.
  • Dark Visor: Kind of a hybrid between the Thermal and X-Ray visor, the Dark Visor allows Samus to track cloaked enemies by seeing into other dimensions.
  • Echo Visor: This gives Samus the ability to "see" sound, including sounds that are otherwise outside the normal range of hearing. Used in conjunction with the Annihilator beam to interact with sonar-based equipment.
  • Command Visor: Essentially a remote control for Samus' ship, this allows her call down bombing runs, use her ship to lift massive objects out of the way, or simply tell it to land in another location. Surprisingly one of the least useful visors Samus uses, as 99% of the time, she's not in a location or position to utilize her ship offensively.

Allies, Enemies and Misc

Allies

Galactic Federation: Basically the UN in SPESS, the Federation is a relatively benevolent government that governs over its subject worlds in a relatively fair and just manner. Samus often works for or with Federation forces in dealing with Space Pirate incursions and other potential threats to galactic peace. In more recent times however, a darker side seems to be more and more prevalent, with not just one, but two attempts to breed and weaponize Metroids (after they ordered them to be wiped out, mind you) as well as the intention to do the same with the X Parasites. This last endeavor was thwarted by Samus, who is no longer seeing eye-to-eye with the Federation, though whether or not they're now enemies or simply cutting Samus from their payroll is unclear.

  • Adam (Ship AI): The first NPC introduced in a Metroid game, heck the first interactable character other than Samus at all at the time, the AI came with the ship the Federation gave Samus after she survived getting space AIDS as part of the deal. Acts like every other stereotypical AI command center in gaming with a go here, kill this, fix that type deal it till Samus decides to go suicide run the BSL station when she finds out about the hidden program they had running there. After calling out her stupidity and hearing her rant about Adam it apparently uploaded his memories and personality then proposes a better solution and repeats his catchphrase to convince Samus it was him. Whether he was uploaded when she got the ship or the AI uploaded the personality on the fly is unknown.

Chozo: Samus' foster parents aren't really around anymore, but they were originally a militant warrior people who prided in scientific progression and enlightening the lesser races. However, as they mellowed out in their old age, many of them sought to explore their more spiritual aspects, with many forsaking their technology to live in harmony with the natural world. Between dying out from old age, getting slaughtered by Space Pirates/Ridley, getting nuked by Meteors filled with Phazon and generally fucking off to parts unknown, their ruins and technology are currently the only known remnants of their civilization. However, the Chozo memories in Metroid: Samus Returns strongly implies that some Chozo warriors disagreed with this turn in Chozo society and are still active after having staged a coup to kill the peacenik scientists for unknown reasons.

  • Grey Voice: One of the only two named Chozo, Grey Voice was a curmudgeon who initially objected to adopting Samus before relenting with the knowledge that she literally had nowhere and no one else to go to. To help her adapt to Zebes, it was Grey Voice's DNA that was used to genetically enhance Samus into what she is today. While he feigned servitude to Ridley and Mother Brain to avoid getting his people wiped out, he eventually dusted off his old power armor and tried to kill the two of them despite having been genetically engineered to be incapable of violent acts. Ultimately Ridley slaughtered him and most of the remaining Chozo in response.
  • Old Bird: The other named Chozo, Old Bird was friendlier than Grey Voice and actually played with toddler Samus a little bit before the Space Pirates raided her colony. He also tried to teach her the lesson that just because someone looks different, you can always find good in them and become friends in the end. Suffice to say, this advice backfired spectacularly when 3-year old Samus told Ridley this and he responded by incinerating her mother. When they returned to investigate the carnage, Old Bird was the one who found her amidst the ruins and basically strong armed Grey Voice into adopting her. After the events on Zebes that decimated the Chozo population and killed Grey Voice, Old Bird led the precious few Chozo who survived into hiding, leaving their ultimate fate unknown.

Luminoth: Giant bipedal moth people, the Luminoth are an elder race much like their Chozo buddies. Unlike the Chozo, the Luminoth are still around and kicking (if only barely. With only a few dozen of them left, they are all but extinct thanks to their war with the Ing). They are known to have met and collaborated with the Chozo on a few projects, as well as assisting the Galactic Federation with cleaning up residual Phazon on their planet, but they have not done much since.

  • U-Mos: The last sentinel of the Luminoth, U-Mos was charged with watching over the remainder of his race (who were in stasis at this point) and defending the final remnants of planetary energy remaining on the original Aether. While initially wary of Samus (and despite her initial distrust of him), his heartfelt pleas for her to save his people and planet, as well as the threat the Ing would possess should they escape to the galaxy at large gained Samus' cooperation. To aid in her one-woman war, he eventually gifted her the slick-as-hell Light Suit. Notably considered to be a pretty young man; especially for someone entrusted with the duties of chief guardian and head of state; by the standards of his species at 250 years of age though he mostly got the job because nearly everyone with more experience was dead by the time he was elected. Kind of like a twenty five year old ending up as head of the administratum or Captain General of the Custodes.

Alimbics: Yet another elder race, the Alimbics were insectoid-like beings who, like the other elder races, had a thing for science and technologies of borderline magic. Originally from another galaxy altogether, the Alimbics engaged in some minor trading of tech with a variety of races such as the Chozo, Vhozon, Kriken, etc. Ultimately, a love-craftian horror named Gorea came to their civilization and began assimilating their race to grow stronger. The leaders of their race sacrificed themselves in a process to seal Gorea away in an alternate dimension. The fate of any remaining Alimbics (who weren't assimilated) isn't entirely clear, but they're presumed to be either extinct or in the same plane of existence their leaders went into upon sealing Gorea.

Baby Metroid: The last "natural" Metroid in existence, this infant Metroid hatched right in front of Samus just after she had slain the last Queen Metroid. It immediately imprinted on Samus, who couldn't bring herself to kill a defenseless baby. She quickly took it to a Galactic Federation research lab for safe keeping, only for Ridley to show up, kill everybody on the station and steal the metroid. Samus eventually found the Metroid on Zebes, who had grown to massive proportions of its original size and nearly killed her before recognizing her as her "mother". It slinked off in shame before intervening in Samus' fight against Mother Brain, draining the later's energy and feeding it to Samus. Turns out MB didn't really appreciate this, and so she killed the Metroid before it could attack again. This would have been the end of the story if not for the fact that the Federation would later use what genetic samples they had of this metroid to later save it's mother's life from that X infection.

Enemies

Ridley: Sometimes heralded as the leader of the Space Pirates, other times just a high-ranking warlord or an enforcer, Ridley is one of the most evil fucks in the galaxy. Despite being a fully sentient and highly intelligent being, he takes extreme pleasure in the bestial brutality of indiscriminate slaughter of anyone or anything unfortunate enough to be on the same planet as him. His sadism even goes so far as to gloat to Samus who was at the time, only a teenager and was caught in her first ever PTSD episode about eating her freshly murdered parents (while mimicking their voices) before promptly killing her adopted chozo-dad. What's worse, is that in most cases he kills people just for the shits and giggles (which, by Nintendo's standards, is pretty damn dark) rather than to fulfill some ulterior motive or power play. He joined the space pirates as an enforcer of its mysterious High Command not for any higher goal or even for his own gain, he's only in it because he likes to hurt and kill people and the space pirates were the army that would let him do that the most. As mentioned above, he currently holds the Nintendo record of fastest respawn times (Even Ganon from LoZ usually takes at least a lifetime or longer to reincarnate, Ridley just pops back a week later like it's just another damn day at the office). While most Nintendo villains are evil in a grand, cosmic way; Ridley is mean and cruel in a very personal and ugly way and his opposition to Samus is born entirely out of personal rather than destiny related reasons and ideology is only in play to the extent that "I deserve to have fun by killing and torturing people" versus "That's really fucked up" is an ideological conflict.

  • The only major metroid games he hasn't shown up in are Metroid Prime 2 and Hunters, the latter due to the DS' limitations and the former because Metroid Prime 2 had a rather rushed dev cycle and so they had to cut him and the planned conclusion of the Space Pirate subplot in Prime 2 out. This is why the Space Pirates seem to mostly just disappear part way through entering the Sanctuary Fortress after a fair deal of build up with commando attacks and increasingly brazen attacks on Samus before never really showing up again after the second fight with Dark Samus. However they got far enough along to compose a really weird remix of his iconic theme. He used to be absent from Metroid 2 but was retconned into being the final boss in the remake, which is actually the first time he's ever served in such a role. If the original prime trilogy is ever remade, odds are good that he'll be added into Prime 2 as well.
  • While the Metroid Prime, Mother Brain, and High Command are all more influential or powerful than he is and he's always operating as someone else's soldier, he's Samus' arch-enemy, not them. As mentioned before, Samus' conflict with him is almost entirely driven by personal reasons and at the same token, he's the only reoccuring villain who definitely opposes her for reasons beyond being an obstacle in his plans. The others are her enemies or villains; only he can genuinely claim to be her Nemesis.

Kraid: A massive, morbidly obese Godzilla that serves as another high-ranking Space Pirate commander. Despite having a position similar to Ridley's, he's not remotely as revered or competent as his draconic counterpart; a detail likely noticed by most of the Space Pirates in charge of rebuilding Ridley every time Samus kicks his ass. To that extent, Kraid has only ever stood in Samus' way twice, both times on the planet Zebes (it's entirely probable that his size prevents most conventional ships from moving him anywhere else anyways). Even if he somehow survived his last encounter with Samus herself, the likelyhood he also somehow miraculously escaped Zebes before it exploded is extraordinarily minuscule. As any "meta" or clone version has yet to appear since, he's likely quite dead now. The principal reason that he hasn't shown up anywhere near as often as Ridley is that his size and lack of flight make it difficult to give convincing reasons for him to appear elsewhere and also give way less freedom for level designers than the more moderately sized flight capable Ridley. He was planned to show up in metroid prime 1 in a deeper section of the Phazon Mines between fighting the Omega Pirate and Meta Ridley in a cyborgised form, but was cut for time reasons.

Mother Brain: A giant, literal brain that functioned as something of an overseer for the Chozo society. Over time, she grew rather sick of cleaning up after Space Pirate raids and the Chozo's new pacifistic outlook on life and began wishing to instill her concept of "order" unto the galaxy. To this end, she conscripted Ridley and the Space Pirates to act as her personal army in a bid to take control of the Galactic Federation to achieve this goal. She also seemed to think that the Metroids are the perfect life form, and sought to evolve them into a fully intelligent race. Suffice to say, between her second death and the extinction of Metroids, the odds of her goal being realized are real fucking slim.

Space Pirates: Arthropods (or Reptoids depending on the game) with an attitude, Space Pirates have been the biggest thorn in the Federation's side since god knows when. The exact nuances of their government and society at large aren't really clear, but they are an extremely militaristic race that tends to have a "might is right" mentality. Despite this, they are still a fairly advanced race in their own right and have created a fair amount of technology that can rival the Galactic Federation. Unlike the Federation, the Pirates are much less concerned with the safe applications of said technology, so much of their newer or experimental technology tends to be considerably more crude than their GF counterparts. Their tech also tends to suffer from particularly fatal flaws (such as notable vulnerabilities to specific beam weapons, or high equipment temperatures making them liable to explode). The R&D aspect of their technology also tends to have a staggering mortality rate on the personnel testing it, a hilarious example being when they tried (and failed) to copy Samus' Morph Ball.

Ing: When Aether was hit by a Phazon-infused meteor, the impact in tandem with the Phazon reacting with the natural energies of the planet split Aeither between two dimensions of reality. Most of the Phazon and half of this planetary energy shifted over to the half that became known as 'Dark Aether'. This realm became populated by the Ing, literal daemons of darkness who possessed and killed things in the original Aether (not necessarily in that order either) in order to slaughter the Luminoth and steal the remaining energy to stabilize their dimension and erase the original planet. Once Samus drained every bit of planetary energy and murdered their Emperor, the entirety of Dark Aether imploded upon itself, taking the rest of the Ing with it (many of whom were so desperate to escape their apocalypse they tried to force themselves through an unstable portal to a realm that's atmosphere would've very likely killed them anyways). This is kind of noteworthy, as this is the first instance of complete and utter genocide Samus has committed against a fully sentient (if strictly hierarchical and extremely hostile) race to the point of extinction.

  • Metroid Prime 3 gives a hint to their origins with a minor enemy known as the Phaaz-Ing which looks and acts an awful lot like a recoloured version of an Inglet. It's likely that the Ing Horde was birthed from a collection of Phaaz-Ing that hitched a ride on the leviathan heading towards aether and were mutated by the dark dimension when Aether's bizarre energies sent the meteor into another dimension.

Dark Samus: The first of Samus' doppelgangers, Dark Samus is an extremely mutated Metroid that utilized the Phazon Suit it stole from Samus to effectively turn into a deranged murder-clone of her. While she was relatively directionless on Aether, she eventually became obsessed with spreading Phazon corruption to every known planet of importance. Due to being almost pure Phazon, Dark Samus' personality is twisted and manic. The Space Pirates corrupted by her came to see her as something of a prophet or harbinger, with many all but worshiping her. Her final death came with the destruction of the planet Phaaze, which effectively cause all Phazon to become inert and fade away.

SA-X: The Samus Aran X-Parasite was created shortly after a Federation sponsored visit to the recently de-Metroided SR-388 when one of the little STD blobs crawled into Samus' suit. After promptly infecting and copying her at the height of her power, it began wreaking havoc on the Space Station it was contained in. By the time Samus was strong enough to face off against it, it had asexually reproduced into no less than 10 copies of a fully powered Samus. All these copies are presumed to be destroyed along with the entirety of SR-388 and the Space Station they were held on. Unlike Dark Samus, this thing might have copied some of the original's personality, though mostly it seemed to imitate just the part that was obsessed with murdering metroids. And even that might just be the X-Parasite trying to kill off its greatest threat.

Bounty Hunters

While all of them were or are enemies of Samus, a few of them were allies for a short time, or would otherwise be likely to ally with her in normal circumstances. Their motivations also continue to prove that Nintendo still only has a tenuous understanding of what a bounty hunter actually is.

Sylux: A "Bounty Hunter" who apparently has a hate-boner for the Federation. All that's really known about him is that he's native to the planet of Cylosis, he stole his power suit and the Shock Coil weapon from the Federation and when he's not spending his time killing their outlying forces, he's stalking Samus across the Galaxy. Unlike the other hunters introduced in his debut game, it seems that Nintendo has actual plans for him. Plans big enough to build an entire trilogy around him as either an antagonist or Deuteragonist. (Hunters, likely Prime 4 as well)

Rundas: An alien bounty hunter with cryokinetic powers, Rundas was initially employed alongside several other hunters to work with Samus on Norion. He had your typical cool-guy type attitude with an arrogant flair, but was at least competent enough at his job to justify part of it. Following his corruption and deployment to a planet called Bryyo, he lost his mind and was enthralled to Dark Samus. After being defeated by Samus, he regained his sanity, though either upon realizing what he'd done or possibly Dark Samus' overriding his will, he killed himself with his own ice powers before having his essence absorbed by Dark Samus. Visually, he kinda looks like a Wraithlord from 40k. (Prime 3)

Ghor: A cyborg bounty hunter who would often donate his rewards to the victims of his marks, Ghor utilized his space ship as a mech suit to murder the hell out of any Space Pirates in his way. He has a weird sort of split personality thing where out of his mech suit he's like a kindly robo-grandpa, but when he's in the suit he becomes EXTREMELY ANGRY AT EVERYTHING ALL THE TIME. He's also something of a tech expert (being a cyborg, this is unsurprising), and is able to remotely access computers and networks with a flick of a hand. Despite falling to corruption much like his bounty hunter colleagues, Ghor regained enough mental clarity to tell Samus how to repair the damage he inflicted on an orbital station and its resident AI overseer before retreating to attack her ship. Much like Rundas, he too was consumed by Dark Samus upon his defeat at Samus' hands. (Prime 3)

Gandrayda: A Shape-Shifter who can copy the appearance and some abilities of other people/races, Gandrayda was an arrogant show-off bitch who was skilled at infiltration (a shape-shifter who specializes in infiltration, shocking, I know) and liked to toy with her targets before killing them, usually as one of their supposed "allies". Unlike the other two bounty hunters who were corrupted, Gandrayda actually seemed to embrace her new powers and role under Dark Samus and above her Space Pirate legions. Just like the two hunters before her, however, she was defeated and ultimately slain by Samus and Dark Samus, respectively. (Prime 3)

Weavel: The only other named Space Pirate. During one of her raids, Samus wasn't as thorough as she thought she was and didn't quite kill Weavel, just horribly maim him. Thankfully, some of his chaps had enough tech that all they really needed was his brain and spinal column and shoved that into a robotic shell that could split in half and turn its legs into a battle turret. Since then, he's been a bounty hunter for the space pirates, causing chaos wherever he can. An interesting note is that his anatomy is practically human in design when most Space Pirates are digitgrade insectoids with crab-claw hands. Possibly was an attempt to replicate Samus' power suit, since it'd hardly be the first time they've tried. (Hunters)

Kanden: An individual from a race called "Enoema" who was used as an experiment to create an ideal super-soldier. The process worked, physically speaking, though Kanden's mind couldn't handle whatever the hell they did to him and caused him to go insane. Evidently, he now has the single-minded goal to become the single greatest bounty hunter in existence, and is willing to kill anyone or anything to prove it. He uses his Volt Driver and the electromagnetic field he emits to disrupt enemy suit systems. (Hunters)

Trace: A member of the insect like Kriken, Trace is currently undergoing the rite of passage for his people: to find a suitable planet to conquer or to claim powerful technologies to help the Kriken Empire become stronger than the Galactic Federation or any force of Space Pirates. He happened to decide that the Super Weapon all the other hunters were also seeking happened to be the perfect prize, and so joins the rat race for it. He fights primarily by sniping at long range, or by cloaking himself and ambushing his prey. (Hunters)

Noxus: One of the few bounty hunters on this list that actually has some sense of morality, Noxus is a Vhozon who uses his position as a "bounty hunter" to basically be Batman without the whole "no guns" policy. His conflicts with Samus were primarily because he believed she was just as unworthy as all the other hunters who were looking for the super weapon mcguffin featured in Hunters, or simply because he only trusted himself to keep it out of the wrong hands. Any other day of the week, it's likely that he and Samus would probably get along just fine. Has a notably goofy alt-mode in that he literally just hugs his legs to his chest and spins around on his tip toes like a top and attacks by sticking his arm out to hit things. (Hunters)

Spire: A morally neutral dude who's the last surviving member of the Diamont race, all he wants to do is find out what the hell happened to his people (who mysteriously vanished without a trace). Evidently his job as a "bounty hunter" helps him get around or access any information he seems to deem important for that cause. Likely the only reason he had any beef with Samus is because he thought that the Super Weapon everyone and their dog was looking for could give him answers to what happened to the Diamonts and he didn't want to risk losing the opportunity to someone else. (Hunters).

Misc

Phazon: An organic, highly radioactive substance that can be utilized as an extremely high-yield energy source, but is likewise extremely toxic to almost all organic life exposed to it. This semi-sentient substance, when left to its own devices, perpetuates itself by corrupting any nearby matter (organic or no) and converting it into yet more Phazon. Unrefined, Phazon often takes shape as lightning blue and black tendrils or actual physical crystals. Refined or pure Phazon takes the form of a gel-like fluid, and as can be expected, is considerably more potent in both energy yield and in its mutagenic effects on lifeforms. Exposure to Phazon, even briefly, can have severe detrimental effects on the physical and mental well-being of anything that comes into contact with it. In the "best" case scenario, individuals corrupted by this substance gain powerful new abilities and become stronger and more resilient, but they often become psychotic, erratic and extraordinarily hostile towards anything and anyone else. In most cases, creatures or individuals will die horrible, painful deaths caused by unstable, uncontrollable mutations. Select few creatures can ever find a "happy medium", but the few who survive are often still very unhinged and often have dramatically reduced life spans from the prolonged exposure. Was ripped off in the expanse by the proto-molecule

Metroid: The eponymous creature for which the franchise is named, Metroids are artificial creatures created by the Chozo specifically to combat the X-Parasite they discovered on SR-388. The initial form resembles a floating jellyfish with two sets of fangs instead of tentacles, however many different evolutions and sub-breeds spawned depending on what forms of energy they have consumed or been exposed to. On this note, Metroids derive sustenance entirely from energy; primarily by rapidly draining the life force out of any living creature (and any powered armors they also may be wearing) until it turns into a withered husk and crumbles to dust. This, combined with their surprising resilience to most conventional weaponry makes them extremely dangerous and apparently prime candidates for weaponization through both the Space Pirates and Galactic Federation. That said, they do have a notable vulnerability to extreme cold and can still be killed by sustained, concentrated fire. Eventually, the Galactic Federation officially recognized the danger they possessed to the galaxy at large (while being completely unaware of the X-Parasite that was being kept in check by them), and ordered Samus to commit full-scale genocide on them.

  • Fun Fact: Apparently the creation of the Metroid was not a unanimous or fully supported decision by the Chozo government; evidence suggests that most of the Chozo responsible were slaughtered by their kin either because the Metroids were not fully endorsed, or due to the Metroids eventually growing beyond their control and rapidly evolving into giant, life-force devouring dinosaurs that threatened literally everything in the galaxy. Depictions of these events are limited to log entries in Metroid II: Samus Returns, so exact details are unclear.

X-Parasite: The "original" life consuming entity on SR-388 (seriously, that place could put many-a death world to shame with the kind of fauna regularly growing there), X-Parasites are roughly basketball sized yellow blobs that infect organic creatures, consume them from the inside while propagating rapidly, then ultimately kill their original host and shape-shift into near perfect copies of them. They also assimilate the host's memories in order to properly mimic the creature, and can utilize that knowledge for their own gain (An X-Parasite that infected a BSL Scientist utilized its host's knowledge to destabilize the station's reactor cooling systems in an attempt to destroy the station to stop Samus once it recognized the danger she possessed to its kind on SR388. Later on they realized Samus's weakness to cold and bred a sub-breed designed to freeze her to death by absorption). They're immune to almost all known weaponry and are able to infect people or creatures even through vacuum-sealed power armor, which arguably makes them more dangerous than the Metroids created specifically to kill them. This is especially true when they copy individuals such as Ridley or Samus, when they have access to their full complement of abilities and equipment complete with the full knowledge on how to use said powers and gear. Despite the Galactic Federations intentions to the contrary, Samus has likely ensured their total extinction when she blew up the lab they were contained in alongside SR-388.

TLDR: What the monster from The Thing 1982 would become if it landed on a zoo space station and not a area of barren inhabitable tundra were all it had were humans and dogs to consume.

In Warhammer 40,000

Daemon

The other Samus that you probably aren't here for.

Near the end of the Great Crusade, the Luna Wolves pacified a planet catalogued as 63-19, known to its inhabitants as Terra. In the final stages of compliance, a Luna Wolves speartip went into the Whisperhead Mountains to eliminate a rogue force loyal to the planet's slain emperor. During the descent, the drop ships picked up a transmission that appeared intended to scare them, a repeating whisper of "Samus. That's the only name you'll hear. Samus. It means the end and the death. Samus. I am Samus. Samus is all around you. Samus is the man beside you. Samus will gnaw on your bones. Look out! Samus is here." The Legionary Xayver Jubal succumbed to Samus's corruption and it possessed him, using him to attack the speartip. After a concerted effort, Garviel Loken killed the mutated Jubal and had his warped body destroyed. Horus ordered the suppression of the records of the encounter, especially Jubal's corruption, and denied that "Samus" was anything supernatural. Horus is a traitor to mankind, and any reports of the Adeptus Astartes succumbing to Chaos are clearly lies and propaganda. --Commissar Rosethorn

Samus becomes a recurring character in the Horus Heresy series, where it is summoned by traitor forces during key battles into various corpses and proceeds to die in every one of its appearances. Forge World gave him a model called "Samus, Daemon Prince of the Ruinstorm." Apparently he is a daemon prince of the Ruinstorm and would have killed Dorn had the duel continued any longer

Upon attempting to fight Metroid's Samus for the right to be the one true Samus, the Daemon Prince was promptly pile driven and then drop kicked so hard he has yet to do anything of importance since the Horus Heresy.

The Daemons of Chaos
Greater Daemons: An'ggrath
Skarbrand
Ka'bandha		 Ku'Gath
Scabeiathrax
Ulkair
Rotigus		 Dexcessa
N'kari
Shalaxi Helbane
Synessa
Zarakynel		 Aetaos'Rau'Keres
Amon 'Chakai
Kairos Fateweaver		 Madail
Vashtorr
Lesser Daemons: Karanak
Skulltaker		 Epidemius
Horticulous Slimux		 The Masque
Syll Lewdtongue		 The Changeling
The Blue Scribes
Daemon Princes: Angron
Doombreed
Mazarall the Butcher
Samus
Valkia the Bloody		 Bubonicus
Foulspawn
Mortarion		 Azazel
Dechala
Fulgrim
Esske
Sigvald		 Magnus the Red
Werner Flamefist		 Skreech Verminking Be'lakor
God-Slayer
Lorgar
M'Kar
Perturabo

Samus Aran

The hunter Samus Aran is indoctrinated by the Chozo (and then given Chozo genes at the age of three, and given that she lacks feathers, a beak, or talons they probably gave her the "latent psychic and superhumanly strong and fast" genes and not the "bird people" ones.) and (as of Metroid Fusion) part-Metroid, which does not endear her to Imperial authorities, but her power suit has massive pauldrons that demand respect, and would put a Space Marine to shame. For this reason, not to mention her status as a one-woman Exterminatus, Samus is sometimes portrayed as a Primarch of a legion of Female Space Marines. It's said that the Space Pirate xenos describe the hunter Samus Aran to each other with the same chant as the aforementioned warp-entity: "Samus; it means the end and the death. Samus is all around you. Samus will gnaw on your bones..." She also possesses a righteous hatred for the space pirates, who are responsible for her orphaning and loss of a homeworld, twice, once for her birthworld and parents on K-2L, and again for her adoptive Chozo parents and world on Zebes. The pirates even fear to mention her name just calling her the Hunter, treating her as if she were some kind of supernatural spirit of vengeance more than a person.

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