Samus Aran facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Samus Aran |
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| Metroid character | |
Samus Aran as she appears in Metroid Prime Remastered
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| First game | Metroid (1986) |
| Created by | Makoto Kano |
| Designed by | Hiroji Kiyotake |
| Voiced by |
Various
Metroid Prime series
Jennifer Hale Vanessa Marshall (death scream) Super Smash Bros. series Alésia Glidewell Metroid: Other M Jessica Martin (English) Ai Kobayashi (Japanese) Metroid Dread Nikki García |
| Information | |
| Species | Metroid and Chozo-infused human |
| Origin | Colony K-2L, Earth Raised on Zebes |
| Weapon | Power Suit |
Samus Aran (Japanese: サムス・アラン, Hepburn: Samusu Aran) is the main hero of the video game series Metroid by Nintendo. She was created by the Japanese video game designer Makoto Kano. Samus first appeared as the character players control in the original 1986 game Metroid.
Samus was raised by the bird-like Chozo aliens. They even gave her some of their DNA to make her stronger. She used to be a soldier for the Galactic Federation. Now, she is a bounty hunter who travels the galaxy.
She wears a special suit called a powered exoskeleton. This suit has an arm cannon that shoots energy blasts and missiles. Samus takes on missions from the Galactic Federation and the Chozo. Her job is to hunt down dangerous groups. These include the Space Pirates and their leader Ridley. She also fights the supercomputer Mother Brain, the energy-draining X Parasites, and the Metroids. Sometimes, she even faces the rogue Chozo warrior Raven Beak.
Samus is also a playable character in the Super Smash Bros. fighting game series. She has appeared in other media too, like manga series and comic books. Samus is known for being one of the first female heroes in video games. She helped show that girls can be strong main characters.
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How Samus Was Created
Makoto Kano thought up Samus's story. Hiroji Kiyotake designed her look. The creators of the Metroid series decided to make Samus a woman during the first game's development. This was a big surprise for players at the end of the game. The game's instruction manual even made it seem like Samus was male.
Her look outside of her suit was based on actress Sigourney Weaver. She played Ellen Ripley in the movie Aliens. The character's last name, "Aran," came from the famous football player Pelé. His birth name was Edson Arantes do Nascimento.
Samus did not speak in the early games. In Super Metroid, she only spoke in the beginning. She spoke more in Fusion and Other M. However, some people did not like how she was shown in Other M. Because of this, developers decided to have Samus speak less in newer games. In 2021, producer Yoshio Sakamoto explained why Samus barely speaks in Metroid Dread. He said it's better to show what Samus is thinking through her actions and visuals. This lets players wonder what she is feeling.
Samus's Design and Abilities
Samus Aran usually wears her Power Suit. This suit protects her from most dangers. She can make it stronger by finding special power-ups in the game. Samus is usually a quiet hero. Her Power Suit has an Arm Cannon that shoots different energy beams. She can also charge up her shots for a powerful blast or fire missiles.
A special ability of the Power Suit is the Morph Ball. Samus can turn into a small ball to roll through tight areas, like tunnels. She can also drop bombs in this form. The suit's visor can scan objects to give Samus more information about them. This feature has been in games since Metroid Prime. Samus also has a Gunship. She uses it to save her game and get back her health and ammunition.
Sometimes, Samus appears without her Power Suit. This usually happens in cutscenes after finishing a game. In the first Metroid, players could even control her without the suit using a special code. Metroid: Zero Mission introduced the Zero Suit. This is a tight-fitting jumpsuit she wears under her Power Suit. In Metroid: Other M, the Zero Suit can even make the Power Suit appear around her. Samus is about tall and weighs 90 kilograms (200 lb) when she is wearing her Power Suit. Without her suit, she is about 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) tall and weighs 198 pounds (90 kg).
Her famous ability to turn into a ball was first called the Maru Mari. This means "round ball" in Japanese. It was later renamed the Morph Ball in Super Metroid. The developers came up with this idea because it was easier to animate than a "cyborg crawling on all fours."
Samus's Adventures
Samus Aran grew up on a mining planet called K-2L. When she was a child, Space Pirates attacked her planet. Their leader, Ridley, destroyed the colony and killed her parents. The bird-like alien race called the Chozo found Samus. They took her to their home planet, Zebes. To save her life, they gave her some of their DNA. This made her super strong and able to survive in harsh places. After training her, the Chozo gave Samus her Power Suit. She then joined the Galactic Federation. She later left after a disagreement with her boss, Adam Malkovich. But she still helps the Federation as a freelance bounty hunter.
In the Metroid Games
Samus first appeared in Metroid in 1986. The Galactic Federation sent her to find the Space Pirates on their home planet, Zebes. She fought Mother Brain deep inside their base. Samus escaped just as the base blew up.
She appeared again in Metroid II: Return of Samus. Her mission was to get rid of all the Metroid species on planet SR388. After beating the Metroid Queen, she found a baby Metroid. The baby thought Samus was its mother, so Samus saved its life. This story was retold in the remake, Metroid: Samus Returns.
In Super Metroid, her enemy Ridley stole the baby Metroid. Samus chased him through Zebes. She found the baby Metroid fully grown. It sacrificed its life fighting a reborn Mother Brain to save Samus. Samus gained Metroid powers and escaped the planet before it exploded.
She later appeared in Metroid Fusion. There, she got infected by the X Parasite. But she was saved by DNA made from the baby Metroid. She explored a Space Station that was full of the parasite. She wanted to stop it from spreading. Samus found out that Metroids were being grown there. She destroyed the space station to get rid of both the X Parasite and the Metroids.
Metroid: Other M showed more of Samus's past and feelings. It showed her motherly bond with the baby Metroid. It also showed her deep respect for her old boss, Adam Malkovich. She also faced her enemy Ridley again, which brought back some difficult memories.
In Metroid Dread, the Galactic Federation got a video showing an X Parasite on planet ZDR. They sent 7 EMMI (Extraplanetary Multiform Mobile Identifier) robots to check. But they lost contact with the robots. So, they hired Samus because she is the only one who is immune to the X Parasite. When Samus arrived on ZDR, an unknown Chozo warrior attacked her. He knocked her out and took her equipment. Samus then traveled through the planet to reach her ship. She had to fight the powerful EMMI robots and other dangers along the way.
In the Metroid Prime Games
Samus also appears in the Metroid Prime series. This started with Metroid Prime. She explored the planet Tallon IV. It had old Chozo ruins and a Space Pirate base. There, she learned about Phazon. This is a mysterious substance that can change living things. Samus found the source of the Phazon. It was a meteor impact crater. She defeated the Phazon-powered creature, Metroid Prime. In one ending, Metroid Prime changed into a copy of Samus. This copy was called Dark Samus in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes.
In Echoes, Samus was sent to the planet Aether. This planet was split into light and dark versions because of a Phazon meteor. She fought the Ing, creatures that can take over other living things, and Dark Samus. In Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (2007), Dark Samus infected Samus with Phazon. This slowly made Samus sick. She had to stop the Phazon from spreading to other planets. By the end of the game, she destroyed all Phazon by blowing up its source, the planet Phaaze. She also finally defeated Dark Samus for good.
Samus also appears in other Metroid Prime games. This includes Metroid Prime Pinball, which is a pinball version of the first game. She also appeared in Metroid Prime Hunters. In that game, she had to find or destroy an "ultimate power" while dealing with other bounty hunters. In Metroid Prime Federation Force, Samus is not a playable character. She needs to be rescued from the Space Pirates by Galactic Federation soldiers.
In Other Video Games
Samus appears as a playable character in the Super Smash Bros. series. In these games, she uses her weapons to fight characters from other Nintendo games. She first appeared in Super Smash Bros. on the Nintendo 64 in her Power Suit.
Starting with Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Samus got a second character form: Zero Suit Samus. This version has completely different moves. Both forms appear in every Smash game after that. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate added Dark Samus. Her moves and look are similar to Samus, but with different animations and design.
Samus also makes small appearances in other games. These include Galactic Pinball (1995), Super Mario RPG (1996), Kirby Super Star (1996), and Kirby's Dream Land 3 (1997). She also appears in Dead or Alive: Dimensions as a non-playable character.
In Other Media
Samus is in a series of comic books called Captain N: The Game Master. These were published in 1990 and were based on the animated TV show. In the comics, Samus is shown as brave and independent. She also cares a lot about money. The main character, Kevin Keene, is shown as her love interest. Samus also appears in other comic books based on the Metroid games.
Samus is the main character of the 2003–2004 manga series Metroid. This manga tells her backstory leading up to the events of the first Metroid game. The series was written by Kouji Tazawa and drawn by Kenji Ishikawa. Samus is also a mentor character in the manga series Samus and Joey and its sequel, Metroid EX. She is known as the "Guardian of the Galaxy." Samus trains a young boy named Joey Apronika to be her successor.
In the 2015 short fan film Metroid: The Sky Calls, Samus is played by actresses Jessica Chobot and America Young.
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See Also
In Spanish: Samus Aran para niños
- Gender representation in video games
- List of female action heroes and villains
