Samus Aran

Samus Aran (サムス・アラン, Samusu Aran; pronouced SAH-MUS AIR-AN) is the main character and protagonist of the Metroid series. Introduced in 1986 in Metroid, Samus is a Bounty Hunter famous for her accomplishments on missions thought otherwise imposible. Armed with a cybernetic Power Suit built by the Chozo, an ancient highly intelligent race, she is a powerful opponent in battle. She hunts Space Pirates and energy-draining alien parasites known as Metroids, while completing missions given by the Galactic Federation. Samus is voiced in Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes by Jennifer Hale, but only for cries of pain, grunts and death screams.

Samus broke ground early in the gaming world in Metroid, which led players to believe Samus was a male as the instruction booklet used male descriptions for Samus and her always wearing suits led players to believe she was a robot or male in a robotic suit. However, only by completing Metroid under an hour revealed Samus to be a young athletic woman. Although Samus wears the Power Suit throughout most of the Metroid series, it has become a tradition to depict her in much more revealing attire at the end of each game, often as a reward for satisfying certain conditions, such as completing the game quickly or with a high percentage of the game’s items collected.

Contrary to popular belief, Samus was not created by Metroid producer Gunpei Yokoi. The original game concepts were done by game director Makoto Kanoh and was designed by Hiroji Kiyotake.

Biography
Much of Samus' life and history is a mystery. She was living with her parents on the Earth colony K-2L. However, her parents died when she was three years old when Space Pirates attacked the colony. She was the only survivor. Eventually, a group of Chozo found her alone and stranded on the destroyed colony, and seeing this young child all alone, decided to raise her themselves. They brought her to their planet, Zebes, and raised her with Chozo beliefs. She was infused with Chozo blood and eventually given the powerful Power Suit, built entirely out of Chozo technology. She eventually left the planet and became a Bounty Hunter.

After becoming the most famed and capable of all Bounty Hunters, succeeding in missions everyone considered impossible, Samus was summoned by the Galactic Federation and given the orders to infiltrate Zebes, the planet she grew up on. Apparently, Space Pirates had overrun the world. She had two objectives: Samus successfully carried out the mission which led her to untold wealth and fame and cemented her destiny to battle the Metroids and Space Pirates.
 * 1) Elimate the threat of the Metroids, a newly discovered species which the Space Pirates are using for evil purposes, and
 * 2) Destroy Mother Brain — the "mechanical life vein" and central computer of Zebes' ecosystem, which was reprogrammed by the Space Pirates.

Afterward, Samus discovered a distress call and upon investigation discovered the source to be the Space Pirate Frigate Orpheon on which the pirates were studying Phazon, a highly radioactive material that can mutate lifeforms. She destroyed the station and went to Tallon IV in pursuit of Meta Ridley, a winged monster she killed on Zebes, though was now rebuilt with Space Pirate technology. On Tallon IV she found that the planet had been damaged by Phazon when a meteorite had struck it some years eariler. Samus found Chozo lore and ruins on the planet which told of how the meteorite hit the planet and brought an evil creature with it. Then, Space Pirates landed on the planet and chased off the Chozo. Interestingly, the Chozo lore foretold a "hatchling" would save the planet, with descriptions strongly resembling Samus. Samus found a Space Pirate mining colony on the planet, mining Phazon to use on themselves and Metroids to produce mutated versions with incredible power. She halted all production of Phazon and destroyed Meta Ridley. She then found the source of evil that came with the meteorite — Metroid Prime, a mutated Metroid and living off Phazon. Samus killed Metroid Prime, which caused the Chozo Temple to explode. Soon however, Samus was contacted by the Galactic Federation, who had lost conctact with a group of Galactic Federation troopers on Aether. There she encountered Metroid Prime once again, this time wearing a Phazon version of Samus's Varia Suit and now known as "Dark Samus". Samus also found the Luminoth on Aether, an intelligent species similar to the Chozo. One of their leaders, U-Mos, told Samus that they lived in peace on Aether until an evil species known as the Ing invaded the planet, splitting the Aether into two dimensions — a light world and a dark world. Samus managed to defeat the Ing and restore the planet to its original state. She also had a showdown with Dark Samus and killed it a second time. After this, she left the planet, with the Luminoth never forgetting how she saved them.

However, Dark Samus was not yet dead. Samus's final showdown with the creature is to be shown in the soon-to-be released Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.

After defeating Metroid Prime once and for all, Samus was sent to SR388 by the Galactic Federation to exterminate the remaining Metroids. Once there, she finds that Metroids mutate into different forms, each stronger than the last. She successfully annihilates all the Metroids and their queen, though upon leaving the planet finds an egg. As she stares at it, an Infant Metroid appears out of the egg and sees Samus immediately, believing her to be its mother. Samus, going against her orders, takes the Metroid Hatchling with her to her gunship and leaves the planet. She brings the hatchling to the Ceres Space Colony, where the scientists there plan to study the Metroid and their scientific properties.

Just as Samus is leaving the station, a distress signal is sent from the station to Samus. She returns to Ceres and finds bodies everywhere. She goes to the room containing the Metroid Hatchling and sees Ridley holding the Metroid in its container. Ridley flies out of the station to Zebes, with Samus chasing him. Back on Zebes, Samus finds the Space Pirates have rebuilt their base on the planet and have resuscitated Mother Brain, as well as Ridley and Kraid. She once again defeats Kraid, Ridley, and Mother Brain, with the aid of the infant Metroid, who gave up its life to save Samus. Samus leaves the planet as a self-destruct timer counts down, causing the planet to explode just as Samus leaves it.

Afterwards, Samus receives a commanding officer named Adam Malkovich during one of her missions for the Galactic Federation. Little is known about this mission or about Adam himself, but Samus has great respect for him. At some time during this mission, Adam died in order to save Samus. She stated in Fusion that Adam called her "Lady" on her missions and if any one else had said it, it would have sounded sarcastic, whereas from him, it was respectful.

The Galactic Federation soon had another mission for the famous Bounty Hunter. She was to go with Galactic Federation troopers to SR388 to collect samples of life for Biologic Space Laboratories (BSL). The troopers and Samus land on the planet, though a parasite enters her body. After the mission is complete and she is back in her gunship, the parasite attacks her central nervous system, causing her to lose conscious and drift into an asteroid belt. Fortunately, she was ejected from the ship and the escape pod was retrieved by the BSL and transported to Galactic Federation HQ. The parasite that attack Samus was known as the "X Parasite".

The X had corrupted large portions of her Power Suit. Her suit had to be surgically removed, drastically altering her physical appearance. She was given a minimal chance of survival. However, a cure was found. Using a Metroid cell to make an anti-X vaccine, which saved her, showing the Metroids kept the X under control on SR388, though now that they are extinct on the planet, the X roam free. Samus was given a new suit — the Fusion Suit.

Samus is then sent to the BSL research station where the last batch of creatures from SR388 and the infected parts of her Power Suit were sent. She is to investigate an unexplained explosion in the Quarantine Bay. For this mission, she is overseen by a computerized Commanding Officer, her second CO. Upon investigating the station, she finds that the X Parasite has taken the form of her Varia Suit, known as the SA-X (Samus Aran X). Based on the asexual division of the X, there may be around nine SA-X' on the station. Samus also leans a disturbing find on the station — she finds the Galactic Federation had been conducting a secret Metroid breeding program. Once the SA-X discovered this, the section that housed these programs was detached from the station, with Samus barely escaping. This destroyed the Federation's research. However, upon evacuating the station, she finds an Omega Metroid waiting for her at the docking bay. She defeats and it finds her gunships computerized CO with the voice and personality of Adam Malkovich, with the ship being piloted by Etecoons and Dachoras. Samus then leaves the station. It is unknown what the Galactic Federation's current view of Samus is. While she did defy a direct order by the Federation, there were extenuating circumstances and the true threat of the X parasites was not known to the Galactic Federation at the time the order was given. Nothing more about what happens with Samus is known after the destruction of the B.S.L. station and the X parasite threat.

Equipment
Samus's main feature is her Power Suit, a suit of armor created for her by the Chozo on Zebes. The Power Suit's main purpose is to protect her from adverse environments and enemy fire. The suit itself can be upgraded to such forms as the Varia Suit, the Gravity Suit, the Phazon Suit, the Dark Suit, and the Light Suit, as well as her suits in Metroid Fusion, the Fusion Suit and Omega Fusion Suit. She can also receive various power-ups which improve her abilities, including Space Jump boots, the Screw Attack, and numerous modifications to her weapons.

For transportation, Samus uses her gunship, which usually resembles her helmet. She has had several gunships throughout the series, one of which has been described as a custom Hunter-class starship made especially for her by the Galactic Federation. The first appearance of Samus's gunship was in Metroid II: Return of Samus. The ship's most common incarnation is seen in Metroid II, Super Metroid and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, as well as making various cameos in non-Metroid games.

Roles outside of the Metroid series
Being a well-known Nintendo character, Samus has made numerous appearances in other titles and media.

Super Smash Bros. series
Samus is one of the original eight characters in the Super Smash Bros. series and has appeared in all three games in the series. The array of weapons she can use include Missiles, the Charge Beam, and the Grappling Beam, as well as a flamethrower. Her gunship from Metroid II: Return of Samus appears as a trophy in Super Smash Bros. Melee and in its opening cut scene. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Samus will be playable in her Varia Suit form and in her Zero Suit Samus form when she uses her Final Smash move which causes her to lose her suit.

Cameos in other Nintendo titles

 * 1) Famicom Wars (1988, Famicom) (Unreleased outside Japan; The Red Star commander on Donut Island is called Samasuun, and her face on the result screen is Samus's helmet.)
 * 2) Nintendo’s Tetris (1989, NES) (Cameo, appears playing the upright bass after the player wins a B-type game of level at least 9 and height at least 2.)
 * 3) F-1 Race (1990, Game Boy) (Cameo, appears cheering before Course 7)
 * 4) Galactic Pinball (Virtual Boy) (Cameo, her ship appears in a minigame)[[Image:Samus Mario RPG.gif|thumb|right|Samus Aran's cameo in the Mushroom Kingdom castle's Guest Room in Super Mario RPG. If Mario attempts to talk to her, she says, "...... I'm resting up for Mother Brain." ]]
 * 5) Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (1996, SNES) (Cameo, after Mario's party defeats Yaridovich, he may find her sleeping, until Mario travels to Land's End, and a Samus figurine appears in the toy box of Booster's Room.)
 * 6) Kirby Super Star (1996, SNES) (Cameo, when Kirby uses his rock defense he can become a Samus statue. Also, the Screw Attack icon (called the Screwball) is a treasure in the Great Cave Offensive segment of the game.)
 * 7) Kirby’s Dream Land 3 (1997, SNES) (Cameo, appears after level 5-2, which also contains six Metroids)
 * 8) Super Smash Bros. (1999, N64) (Playable character)
 * 9) Super Smash Bros. Melee (2001, Nintendo GameCube]) (Playable character)
 * 10) WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$ (2003, Game Boy Advance) (Contains a microgame based on NES Metroid)
 * 11) WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Game$ (2004, Nintendo GameCube) (Contains the same Metroid microgame from Mega Microgame$)
 * 12) WarioWare: Touched! (2005, Nintendo DS) (Contains a microgame based on Metroid)
 * 13) WarioWare: Twisted! (2005, Game Boy Advance) (Contains two microgames based on Metroid)
 * 14) Animal Crossing: Wild World (2005, Nintendo DS) (Gulliver, the seagull, references Samus saying "Tell me, have you ever heard of the bounty hunter that can turn into a ball?" Also you can get a 1x1 item that is a Metroid in a case. When you touch it, it glows and plays a small clip of Metroid music.)
 * 15) Geist (2005) (Samus’ helmet is seen in a women’s locker room.
 * 16) Tetris DS (2006, Nintendo DS) (Metroid-based course, Catch; in the title screen, Samus shoots some tetrominoes; A difficulty level on Standard mode is Metroid Themed, with Samus to the right, and clips of the original Metroid playing on the top screen.)
 * 17) WarioWare: Smooth Moves (2007, Wii) (Contains a microgame based on the Metroid Prime series.)
 * 18) Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2007, Wii) (Playable character, Zero Suit Samus is also a playable character.)

Other appearances

 * Samus was also a semi-regular character in the Captain N: The Game Master comic books, published as part of the Nintendo Comics System. In these stories, Samus has romantic feelings for Kevin Keene, the main character, despite his own affections for another woman, Princess Lana. However, as she states in the story "Breakout", Samus prefers to win Kevin’s affections fairly. Samus's gunship also makes an appearance, though in a very different form than in the games. Interestingly, the ship's class in the comic was "Hunter IV", suggesting that the ship's canonical designation ("Hunter Class") may have been derived from the comic.


 * In Captain N: The Game Master, Samus did not appear, even though Mother Brain was the show's primary villain. Jeffrey Scott claimed in an interview that he didn’t feature Samus in the cartoon because he "never heard of her".


 * Samus also starred in her own comic story, apparently set in the same continuity, titled “Deceit du Jour”; it was the only ten-page story to have the Metroid umbrella title. In this story, Samus duels with another Bounty Hunter, "Big Time" Brannigan, whom Mother Brain has hired to capture her, and who claims to be just as efficient as Samus. In the end, Samus proves her superiority by sabotaging her own Arm Cannon before handing it over to Big Time. When Big Time attempts to kill her with it later on, it explodes, covering Samus's escape.


 * Samus also starred in two comic adaptations featured in Nintendo Power: a 60-page one for Super Metroid and a 24-page one for Metroid Prime.


 * A super deformed doll in Samus's likeness drove the plot for a Mario VS Wario comic that was published prior to the Super Metroid comic.


 * In an episode of Fox's House M.D., the main character, House, is seen playing Metroid: Zero Mission on a Game Boy Advance, and later Metroid Prime Hunters on a Nintendo DS.