Images present in the Suits category of the Inventory in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.
Throughout the course of each game, Samus Aran acquires one or more upgrades to her Power Suit. Each upgrade offers some new protection against specific environmental hazards as well as a reduction in damage taken. The degree of reduction varies significantly between each upgrade and game.
Recurring suits[]
Varia Suit[]
The Varia Suit upgrade, her most recognizable, lets Samus survive extreme temperatures, as well as reduce the damage she takes from enemy attacks. The upgrade adds orange outer armor, a larger, red chestplate, and bulky shoulder pads, giving the suit its most recognizable look (the Varia suit is used in almost every official and unofficial representation of Samus power armor). The shoulder pads were added in Metroid II: Return of Samus to differentiate from the power suit on the Game Boy's monochromatic screen. Before that, it was colored pink in Metroid.
Gravity Suit[]
The Gravity Suit colors the yellow parts of Samus' armor purple (and green parts blue in Metroid Prime only) and lets her move unhindered while underwater, with increased visibility underwater in Prime. In all of its 2-D appearances it also protects Samus from lava.
Zero Suit[]
The Zero Suit is the suit that Samus wears underneath her Power Suit, and is used to initiate the Power Suit in Metroid: Other M. Unlike most of her other suits, it is not made of armor and is merely a blue-colored jumpsuit made of an unknown type of polymer. Though Samus is quicker and more agile when in her Zero Suit, she is also weaker and is equipped with the Paralyzer, a mere shocking pistol only capable of stunning her enemies for about a second, long enough for her to run away.
The Zero Suit has only been used twice in gameplay. The first time is after Mother Brain's defeat in Metroid: Zero Mission, when Samus' Power Suit is destroyed and she is forced to run through Chozodia in search of the fully powered suit. The second time is in Other M when Samus is forced to escape the BOTTLE SHIP before its imminent destruction after she loses her composure. Otherwise, it has only been the outfit that she wears in recent Metroid endings.
Metroid Prime[]
In Metroid Prime, Samus' final suit upgrade is the Phazon Suit, which is obtained in a unique manner: it was created by viral contamination of the Power Suit, coloring Samus' Varia Suit black, crimson and silver and making her resistant to Phazon radiation. It also granted her with the Phazon Beam, that she used in her final battle against the Metroid Prime core essence. It was later stolen from her as the creature was dying, and used to create a shell for its new form: Dark Samus.
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes[]
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes featured the most radical departures from the traditional suit design since Metroid Fusion. The first upgrade, the Dark Suit, radically changed the Varia Suit's shape and its color scheme to brown and silver with small red dots around the exterior. The Light Suit once again changes the suit's design to one slightly reminiscent of Dark Samus in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption with a silver/white color scheme. Unlike other games, these upgrades do not increase damage resistance.
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption[]
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption featured two suit upgrades. The first upgrade, the PED Suit, is a modification of Samus' Varia Suit, with a Phazon Enhancement Device built in to safely harness Samus' Phazon corruption. It merely reduces the shoulder pads in size, coloring them silver, and also coloring the torso and insides of the legs silver. Changes to a dark blue color scheme over time as Samus' corruption grows. The second upgrade is the Hazard Shield, which adds larger, purple shoulder pads. Like in Echoes, these upgrades don't increase damage resistance.
Metroid: Other M[]
Metroid: Other M featured the classic Power Suit with Varia and Gravity Features. The Gravity Feature maintains the color scheme of the Varia Suit and emits a purple glow whenever it activates, which is whenever Samus is in water or a room with altered gravity.
Several cutscenes also featured a new suit, the Military Dress. It has no properties and is never playable, being the only suit in the entire series with these traits. The Military Dress consists of a long green army shirt that is partly unbuttoned, showing a red shirt underneath. Samus wears grey pants with what appears to be a holster similar to that of her Paralyzer and kneeguards, with black boots. She also has fingerless gloves.
Metroid Fusion[]
In Metroid Fusion, Samus begins with her traditional Varia Suit, but it is lost after she is infected by an X Parasite, causing Federation scientists to have to surgically remove parts of her Varia Suit. The surgery and a vaccine made from DNA of the baby create the Fusion Suit, giving Samus' armor Metroid-like characteristics. Samus' traditional Varia Suit is worn by the SA-X throughout the mission.
Samus acquires Varia Suit and Gravity Suit upgrades during her mission, but they do not increase the suit's proportions. Instead, they change the color scheme from blue over yellow to light green over magenta (Varia Suit) and to purple over green (Gravity Suit). During Samus' final battle with an Omega Metroid, she absorbs the Core-X of the SA-X, restoring her Ice Beam and original genetic condition, and granting her a new suit, the unnamed "Omega Suit", which changes her suit's color scheme to orange over yellow (resembling her traditional Varia Suit).
Prime features the Fusion Suit as an unlockable cosmetic reskin, with the Fusion Suit being used for the Power Suit and the Omega Suit being used for the Phazon Suit. Metroid: Samus Returns also features the Fusion Suit as a reskin in Fusion Mode, which emulates the Fusion Suit's vulnerability by having Samus take increased damage from enemies.
Metroid Dread[]
In Metroid Dread, Samus starts out with her Varia Suit, before an attack by Raven Beak downgrades her to a version reminescent of the Fusion Suit, but with a white and blue main motif instead of yellow and blue. Over the course of the game, Samus restores the Varia Suit (which in this game lacks the added immunity to low temperature, which is granted by the Gravity Suit instead) and eventually upgrades to the Gravity Suit.
After defeating Raven Beak in his boss fight, Samus is nearly killed by the Chozo, which triggers her final transformation into a Metroid. Her suit, dubbed the Metroid Suit, changes to resemble a dark green spiked carapace with glowing red cracks reminiscent of a Metroid's inner organs structure. Her arm cannon has four fang-like protrusions near the nozzle and becomes capable of firing the Hyper Beam, while her left hand grows a noticeable set of claws. In this form, Samus is completely immune to damage (save instant death by being consumed by Raven Beak X) and deals damage to any entity she comes into physical contact with.
Absorbing an X Parasite with Quiet Robe's DNA allows her to revert the change and operate her Gunship without draining its power, escaping the collapsing planet ZDR.
Ending suits[]
In the best endings of Metroid, Metroid II: Return of Samus, Super Metroid, and Metroid Fusion, Samus removes her armor to expose a more revealing outfit, informally called the Justin Bailey after a password from the first game. The appearance of this outfit differs in each game.
In Metroid, there are two ending outfits. If the player beats the game in under 3 hours, Samus dons a pink long sleeved leotard with matching boots. This suit is playable if the player presses start after the credits, and Samus' hair changes from brown to green to indicate whether she has the Power Suit or the Varia Suit. If the game is finished in under 1 hour, Samus wears a bikini instead, although this suit is not playable.
Starting in Metroid II: Return of Samus, no ending outfit is playable. In this game's best ending, Samus wears a tank top and underwear (colored red if the game was played using a Super Game Boy, Game Boy Player, or Game Boy Advance), and is barefoot. This was the first game to feature the iconic image of Samus pulling her hair out of a ponytail and posing with her hand on one hip.
In Super Metroid, Samus wears a black sports bra with matching underwear, boots, and wristbands. Super Metroid was the first game to feature this outfit in the Game Over sequence, after Samus' armor is destroyed.
Metroid Fusion introduced the two-piece Casual Outfit, which is similar to to Samus's ending outfit from Super Metroid, albeit colored blue and trading her underwear for shorts. This outfit returns in the best ending for Fusion Mode in Samus Returns, and is an alternate costume for Zero Suit Samus in the Super Smash Bros. series, starting with Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U.
Despite the introduction of the Zero Suit, Metroid: Zero Mission features a Casual Outfit as well, though now colored orange. This Casual Outfit is also one of Zero Suit Samus's alternate costumes.
Outfits like this are absent from the Metroid Prime series and Metroid: Other M. However, Other M does feature the Civilian Clothes in its ending cinematic cutscene.
In the games[]
- Metroid contains only one suit upgrade, the Varia suit. The Justin Bailey cosmetic reskin is available if certain requirements are met.
- Metroid II: Return of Samus contains only one suit upgrade, the Varia suit. This was the first Varia Suit to have bulky shoulder pads.
- Super Metroid contains two suit upgrades, Varia and Gravity.
- Metroid Fusion contains three suit upgrades, Varia, Gravity, and the Omega Suit. The traditional Varia Suit is seen during the intro and is worn by the SA-X throughout the rest of the game.
- Metroid: Zero Mission contains two suit upgrades, Varia and Gravity, as well as the Zero Suit. The Fully Powered Suit, which the Gravity Suit is compatible with, is available after defeating the Ruins Test.
- Metroid Prime contains one suit downgrade and three suit upgrades, Power, Varia, Gravity, and Phazon, respectively. The Fusion Suit is available as an unlockable cosmetic recolor.
- Metroid Prime 2: Echoes contains two suit upgrades, Dark and Light.
- Metroid Prime 3: Corruption contains two suit upgrades, PED and Hazard Shield.
- Metroid Prime Hunters contains only one suit, the Varia Suit.
- Metroid Prime Pinball contains only one suit, the Varia Suit (only in Combat Mode).
- Metroid: Other M contains two suit upgrades, Varia and Gravity, as well as the Zero Suit. The Military Dress and Civilian Clothes are also seen in cutscenes only.
- Metroid: Samus Returns contains two suit upgrades, Varia and Gravity. The Fusion Suit is once again available as a bonus feature.
- Metroid Dread contains three suit upgrades; Varia, Gravity, and the Metroid Suit. The Metroid Suit is only playable in the game's escape sequence, after defeating the final boss.
Official Data[]
Super Metroid manual[]
- SUIT ITEMS
- "There are two special suits which allow you to explore different areas of the planet."
Metroid Prime Official Strategy Guide[]
- SUITS
- "Samus has four Suits at her disposal, each of which allows her to do different things and go to different places."
Metroid Prime Trilogy: Prima Official Game Guide[]
- Suits
- "Samus begins with a basic Power Suit, but discovers new and enhanced suit upgrades during her adventures. Each of her suits provides life-support functions and is well shielded from attack. The modular nature of Samus's suits allows the addition of weapons, visors, and other gear as needed. Her suit's shielding loses Energy with each hit--visit Save Stations and collect Energy Units when possible to keep the shielding charged."
Gallery[]
| Samus Aran's Suits | |
|---|---|
| Power Suits | Power Suit • Varia Suit (Varia) • Gravity Suit • Zero Suit Fully Powered Suit • Justin Bailey • Phazon Suit • Dark Suit • Light Suit PED Suit • Hazard Shield • Fusion Suit • "Omega Suit" • Metroid Suit • Green Samus |
| Attire | Casual Outfit • Military Dress • Civilian Clothes • Parka • Training outfit |
| Mechanics | Power Suit Mechanics • Fusion Suit Mechanics • Suit Upgrade Properties |