Game Over

A Game Over is an event which occurs whenever Samus Aran is defeated; this can occur if her Energy Tanks are fully depleted, along with some other, rarer causes of defeat. The Game Overs have varied throughout the series.

Metroid
In Metroid, Samus will explode regardless of whether she is armored or not.

Metroid II: Return of Samus
In Metroid II: Return of Samus, Samus will gradually fade away.

Super Metroid, Metroid Fusion and Metroid: Zero Mission
In Super Metroid, Metroid Fusion, and Metroid: Zero Mission, Samus' suit will explode (dissipate in the latter two games) and she will be left in her Justin Bailey or Zero Suit.

Metroid Prime Hunters
In Metroid Prime Hunters, a warning siren will play, with the message, "EMERGENCY - POWER SUIT energy is depleted." As this happens, Samus' visor will shut off as she lets out a scream before showing a message stating "Energy depleted", with the option to continue the game. If Samus dies when using the Morph Ball, it will explode.

If another hunter defeats Samus, they will take an Octolith as the message "HUNTER HAS TAKEN AN OCTOLITH" appears. Coincidentally, Samus' scream in Hunters sounded differently than the one in the core Prime trilogy.

Metroid Prime Pinball
In Metroid Prime Pinball, a voice will state "Mission Over" with that being stated on screen as well, and the Echoes Game Over theme playing.

Metroid Prime Trilogy
In the Metroid Prime Trilogy, Samus' visor will shut off while she lets out a scream, and then various game over screens will be shown depending on the game.

Metroid Prime will depict Samus having a large crack in her visor, saying "Life support system: Critical. Offline. Game Over."

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes depicts Samus going into Cardiac arrest, with the message, ''"Warning. System alert". As this happens, a heart monitor is heard rapidly beeping, before eventually flatlining as the message "Failure. Mission failure/Game Over"'' appears.

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption will show a puddle of blood slowly flowing across the screen, the most mature game over in the series to date. Corruption also has an alternate game over which will play if Samus enters corrupt Hyper Mode, showing her turn into another Dark Samus, followed by the same game over screen as before, but it now says "Terminal Corruption" and the blood is blue.

While using the Morph Ball, there are two more defeat sequences. In Prime, the Morph Ball will explode using Power Bomb frames before initiating Game Over. In Echoes, the Morph Ball will explode with pieces flying. Strangely enough, it will also show Samus's visor shutting off. This is the same in Corruption. (The screen goes white after the Morph Ball explodes) Though, if Samus dies because of Terminal Corruption in Morph Ball, it is unknown if it shatters into pieces or not, because there is a white, as opposed to blue, flash.

Metroid: Other M
In Metroid: Other M, a Game Over is a mix of the classic game over and that of the Prime series. Samus screams as she collapses, with her suit disappearing, leaving her in Zero Suit. When this happens, Adam will frantically contact Samus, saying, "Samus! What's going on? Respond! Respond!". He will not say this if Samus dies after the cutscene preceding the Ridley battle, due to the fact that contact had been lost with her. Failing to save Anthony from being dropped into the lava by the Rhedogian also results in a Game Over.

It is interesting to note that nothing is said by Adam if Samus dies during the Brug Mass battle. If dying in the arms of a Kihunter, Samus will simply become limp in its arms with her suit staying intact. If dying while racing up the Crater Interior, the Goyagma can grab Samus and drag her into the Lava, though it won't do so after Samus reaches the top.

Trivia

 * Originally, in Super Metroid, Samus was briefly nude and she screamed, the voice being recorded by Minako Hamano, but it was scrapped due to American sensitivity to nudity and the voice being too sexual.
 * The second pre-release trailer for Fusion also depicted Samus wearing a blue dress with red shoes.
 * A storyboard for Corruption pictured below shows what appears to be a game over in the style of Super, Fusion and Zero Mission, suggesting that the idea was scrapped.
 * In Echoes, Samus will die if the "Vigilance" Class Turret that she currently operates is sufficiently damaged.
 * The Game Over in Metroid was ranked #8 on the "Top 10 Worst Ways to Die in a Video Game" by ScrewAttack.com.
 * In the Super Metroid Game Over sprites, Samus will become very bright and hard to see. It is possible to see her chest flick up in the sprites. This does not happen in any other Metroid games.
 * Ghor's death sequence in Corruption consists of his armorsuit exploding, with him being held in the air quite similar the classic Metroid game over.
 * The message by Adam during the Game Over in Other M is a reference to that of the Metal Gear Solid series, where Snake/Raiden's name is shouted in a similar manner on his game over scenes.
 * In Other M, if Samus dies in lava, Adam's messages are still heard despite that she and her comm systems have been incinerated. It's possible that in this situation, the player is hearing the message being sent rather than hearing Samus receiving it.
 * No matter what suit Samus is in in Prime and Echoes, she will always be seen in the Varia Suit as she dies.
 * Although she lacked it in the cutscene preceding the Ridley battle and throughout the whole Sector Zero cutscene, Samus wears the Paralyzer on her leg if she dies after either cutscene. However, she is seen wearing it in the cutscene where she collects Adam's helmet.