Welcome back to Deep Smash, our look back at where the moves and abilities in the Super Smash Bros. series originated. In our previous articles we looked at Mario and Luigi, Link, and the Donkey Kong crew, but this time we’re taking a trip to outer space and checking in on intergalactic bounty hunter Samus Aran.

The origin of Metroid

Metroid is an unusual series, and one Nintendo seemingly doesn’t exactly know what to do with. The science-fiction franchise is much more popular in the United States than in Japan, and tends to have darker themes than most of Nintendo’s family-friendly lineup. You can see Nintendo’s reluctance to create new Metroid experiences in how infrequently new games in the series are released; Metroid skipped the Nintendo 64 and the Wii U entirely, unusual for one of Nintendo’s flagship franchises.

Despite this reticence on Nintendo’s part, Metroid has been hugely influential, particularly on indie titles such as Dead Cells and Hollow Knight. Games of this type are often referred to as “Metroidvania” titles; a combination of Metroid and Castlevania, which borrowed some ideas from Metroid starting in the second NES adventure. The word “Metroid” is a similar combination, inspired by the idea of an Android moving through Metro (subway) tunnels.

The original Metroid was one of the world’s first non-linear platform games. The relatively advanced hardware in the NES allowed new types of games to be programmed, and Metroid’s main innovation was the ability to return to previously visited areas to probe them for hidden secrets. By the end of the game, protagonist Samus Aran becomes exponentially more powerful than when she first arrives on Zebes to investigate the Metroid threat.

Prior to Metroid it was extremely rare that a game character could explore in more than one direction, and it was far more common that scrolling the screen would mean anything left behind was lost forever. Metroid turned that all on its head.

The first thing the game teaches you is that you can move left as well as right. The second thing it teaches you is that you’ll need to find items to make progress, requiring players to pick up the Morph Ball upgrade to get out of the first chamber.

Early entries in the series were fantastic examples of environmental storytelling, and showing a player what to do rather than telling them. Most Metroid games follow a similar progression curve, and Samus tends to find comparable gear during each of her adventures. Like Link, this means many of her abilities in Smash Bros. are based on equipment she’s had since her earliest NES adventure in 1986. In this article, we’ll take a look back into the past to see where each of Samus’ moves came from.

Samus Aran is notable as one of gaming’s first female protagonists, though her gender remained hidden until the end of her first game. Her first adventure was pretty clearly inspired by 1979’s Alien, and she shares several similarities with Ellen Ripley, the heroine of the Alien movies. The reveal at the end of Metroid was a genuine surprise in 1986, and even though she may not have been intended as a feminist icon, many feel she has grown into that role despite some missteps.

Metroid games work hard to provide a sense of isolation and dread that doesn’t come across in Smash. With few exceptions, Samus works alone on her missions, one woman against a hostile world. This is reinforced by the creepy, Giger-esque biomechanical level design and enemies found in her games, as well as the minimalist, minor-key soundtracks found in more dangerous sections of the world. It all adds up to make the player feel intentionally uneasy as they explore the underground caverns, pulsating alien corridors, and deserted spaceships that make up a Metroid game.

Even though Samus usually does her exploring as a solo act, she’s more than capable of dealing with any threat she comes across. Her superb agility, varied arsenal, and unique modular power armor give her the tools to handle any situation. In Smash Bros. she relies heavily on a variety of projectiles to keep enemies where she wants them, though she has some potent close-range attacks as well.

Intro: Save station (Super Metroid, SNES, 1994)

Samus enters the battlefield by stepping out of a Save Station. These mechanical pods allow her to save her progress in between game sessions, or continue if she falls in combat. The concept of a save point was introduced to Metroid in the Game Boy title Metroid 2: Return of Samus, but in that game they were just pillars Samus could stand on to save her progress. The metallic pod she emerges from in Smash more closely resembles those found in Super Metroid; the artwork to the right is from the Super Metroid Nintendo Player’s Guide.

Save Stations haven’t changed much since Super Metroid, but later entries in the series upgraded them to fully recharge Samus’ energy as well as saving her progress.

Alternate Costume: Gravity Suit (Super Metroid, SNES, 1994)

Samus’s normal costume is based on the Varia suit, an upgrade she collected on her first mission. The bulky shoulder pads of this upgrade resemble radomes, and vastly increase her defense when equipped. The Gravity suit found outside the wrecked ship in Super Metroid further increases Samus’ defense and allows her to move through water freely. It’s not clear why this suit has a purple tinge, but the new paint job helps make it visually distinctive from the standard Varia. In some games, this suit can even keep lava from damaging Samus.

Alternate Costume: Fusion suit (Metroid Fusion, GBA, 2002)

2002 might have been the highest point the Metroid series has ever had, as two incredible brand-new games in the series released on the same day. Metroid Fusion continued the story last seen in Super Metroid as Samus was infected by an alien parasite and required emergency surgery to save her life. Most of her power armor was cut away before a vaccine formulated from the last living Metroid was injected into her bloodstream.

This saved her life and gave her immunity to the parasite, but left her much weaker and incapable of using ice-based weapons. This suit was also available in the original Metroid Prime if the player linked their Game Boy Advance to their GameCube after completing Fusion. The Fusion suit is much less bulky than Samus’ normal power armor, but this isn’t reflected by her blue colored variant in Smash.

Alternate Costume: Dark Suit (Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, GameCube, 2004)



deep-smash-metroid-super-smash-bros-ultimate-4.jpg Metroid Prime was a huge hit when Nintendo needed one badly. A sequel was quickly greenlit, and Samus’ second GameCube outing saw her visiting the Luminoth homeworld of Aether. Once there, she finds the Luminoth are under attack by beings called Ing from a parallel universe. Samus has to travel between dimensions to help stop the war, but discovers the atmosphere of the Ing’s reality is poisonous.

Fortunately, the Luminoth had already researched ways to counteract the toxic atmosphere, and the Dark Suit could integrate with Samus’ technology to help her move through the environment without taking too much damage from the air. In Smash Bros. this suit shows up as Samus’ black color variant, though it lacks the glowing red details on her legs and shoulder pads.

Alternate Costume: Light Suit (Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, GameCube, 2004)

Although the Dark Suit helps protect Samus from the effects of Dark



Aether, it doesn’t prevent the damage entirely. For that she needs the ultimate expression of Luminoth ingenuity, the Light Suit.

This upgrade nullifies the damage caused by Dark Aether’s atmosphere, and allows free movement through toxic air, water, and storms caused by the Ing. It also allows her to access a light-based teleportation network, very useful for backtracking to search out items hidden by the Luminoth.

This suit’s design helped inspire Dark Samus’ look, though her design is more fungal in appearance. The sleek look of this suit may have been influenced by Apple products; the first generation iPod launched about a year before the first Metroid Prime title. In Smash the Light Suit is Samus’ white color variant, but like the Dark Suit it’s a simple recolor and lacks details like the chest ports, knee spikes, and rounded shoulder pads.

Beam cannon/Charge Shot: Neutral Special (Origin: Super Metroid, 1994)

Samus’ main verb in Metroid is “shoot.” She does a fair amount of running and jumping, but it seems like nearly everything she encounters seems to want to kill her without provocation. Fortunately, her Power Suit comes equipped with a built-in, multifunctional and upgradable cannon built around her right arm. One of the most useful upgrades has already been equipped for the battle in Smash; Samus’ charge shot is her signature move and one of her biggest threats for clearing an enemy from the stage.

We don’t have to look too far to see what the non-upgraded version might look like, since Mega Man’s arm cannon is very similar to how Samus’ weapons functions before she finds the Charge Shot improvement. In the Prime sub-series, the charge can be held to suck in nearby items, an elegant solution to the problem of enemies dropping items that are too far away to reach.

Missile: Tilt special (Origin: Metroid, NES, 1986)

Missiles are Samus’ most reliable tool.

The small explosive rockets are specially designed to fire from the same weapon port she shoots energy beams from, and she can switch back and forth between the two types of projectiles with the touch of a button. They’re always one of the first upgrades she finds, and she usually ends up collecting hundreds before the final battle in a given Metroid game.

The original manual gave them a spiky look, but they’ve gotten sleeker and less complicated since then.

Samus’ missiles are unique in Smash, because a player can choose to launch a weaker missile that homes in on its target, or a stronger one which flies straight. Although this feature debuted in Smash Bros. Melee, her missiles never had a homing function until Metroid Prime, released a year later.

Super Missile: Smash special (Origin: Super Metroid, SNES, 1994)

Super Missiles can be distinguished from the regular kind by their larger casings and green payloads. The thinner, red-tipped missiles pack less of a punch than these concussive shells, which do five times as much damage as a standard rocket. They’re usually much harder to find than standard missiles and need to be conserved, but in Smash Samus has an infinite supply.

Both types of missiles were added as a side special move starting in Melee. They don’t do five times the damage of a regular missile in Smash, instead merely doubling the damage.

Grappling beam: Grab/Recovery (Origin: Super Metroid, 1994)

The grappling beam is a short-range energy whip Samus can use as a tether to connect to special tiles, flinging herself forward and avoiding hazards below. She can’t use it as a weapon in Super Metroid (with one notable exception).

It works differently in Smash, able to attach to enemies or the sides of stages, no matter what they’re composed of. If she grabs an enemy with it, Samus can pummel them with her free hand or fling them away. If she manages to attach to the side of a stage, she can pull herself up, and recover from a greater distance than her recovery moves might otherwise provide. Link shares the ability to grab opponents at range with Samus in most versions of Smash, but for the first time in Ultimate he lost this proficiency.

Morph ball roll: Evade (Origin: Metroid, NES, 1986)

One of Samus’ most important tools is the ability to tuck herself into a small ball and roll through tight spaces. The ability was inspired by armadillos doing something similar in the wild. This is the very first upgrade Samus ever collected, and it’s vital for the infiltration missions she often finds herself undertaking. Samus loses access to her projectile weapons in this form, but later gains the ability to drop bombs.

In Smash, this technique allows Samus to dodge more effectively, reducing her hitbox to one of the smallest in the game for a split second. In this form, she’s even smaller and harder to hit than Kirby or Pichu. That’s better than crawling any day.

Bomb: Down special (Origin: Metroid, NES, 1986)

Samus’ bombs aren’t like Link’s more traditional explosives, and have a few unique properties. They aren’t affected by gravity, and don’t hurt Samus, even if she’s right on top of them when they explode. While they can be used to damage enemies, that isn’t their primary function. For the most part, they’re used to break open new paths by destroying obstacles while Samus is in Morph Ball form. She can also use them to perform a bomb jump in this form, using the explosion to give herself a small boost upwards. With proper timing she can use multiple bombs to achieve great heights using this technique.

The bombs aren’t quite as versatile in Smash and are affected by gravity, but Samus can still use them to increase her horizontal recovery somewhat if she’s knocked away from the stage. If she’s on top of one when it explodes, it will boost her up a bit just like it would in her home series. Fortunately for her opponents, she doesn’t have access to the screen clearing Power Bomb upgrade first found in Super Metroid.

Charge tackle/Shinespark: Dash attack (Origin: Super Metroid, SNES, 1994)

Samus only moved at one speed throughout all of Metroid and Metroid 2, but Super Metroid introduced the concept of momentum to the series. Samus’ movement could be slowed by moving through liquid, and she could fling herself around using the grappling beam using an early version of in-game physics. Midway through the game, she could also equip a speed booster to her Power Suit which gave her the ability to sprint through obstacles and charge up kinetic energy by running.

This charge can be used to perform a move called the Shinespark, though in Super Metroid using the charge hurts Samus. While using this technique Samus moves so quickly she leaves afterimages of herself behind, suggesting she’s moving faster than the speed of light. The move is first demonstrated by a non-threatening life-form called a Dachora, which resembles a green ostrich with a Mohawk. She always has the ability to move slightly more quickly by holding the dash button, but most players won’t notice until after they’ve found this upgrade.

In Smash the speed booster isn’t available, but Samus still has access to the damaging shoulder tackle it inspired.

Wall Jump (Origin: Super Metroid, SNES, 1994)

Some of Super Metroid’s moves don’t require a powerup to access, and the most useful of these is the Wall Jump. While it’s not technically necessary through most of the game, players may discover they have this ability organically before the simian Etecoon trio teach her how to use it in a situation where she’d otherwise be completely stuck. The move allows Samus to gain greater height by kicking off a wall after spin jumping, reducing her reliance on floating platforms.

It’s difficult to pull off in Super Metroid, but later titles in the series made it much easier by making the window in which Samus can perform the move more forgiving. In some games, Samus can even wall jump multiple times off the same wall, allowing her to use it as sort of a climbing tool. The image to the right shows Samus wall jumping, and comes from the Super Metroid Player’s Guide.

Several characters can Wall Jump in Smash Bros., but none had the ability until 1999’s Melee, and most of the others are characters known for their agility. Samus is the heaviest character in Smash who can wall jump, though there are only a few stages where the ability is useful.

Screw Attack: Up special (Origin: Metroid, NES, 1986)

The Screw Attack is usually one of the final upgrades found in any given Metroid game, marking the point where Samus becomes the most dangerous creature on whatever planet or space station she’s visiting. Equipping this item turns Samus’ spin jump into a whirling pinwheel of death, killing most enemies in one hit and allowing her to blaze through most obstacles without a second thought. She’s almost completely invulnerable while spinning, and deals incredible damage to any enemies she makes contact with while she’s mid-jump.

As you might expect, this move had to be toned down somewhat for use in Super Smash Bros.

Samus’ recovery move does trap opponents in a small vortex of destruction, but it does far less damage in Smash than in any of her solo adventures. It’s pretty good for gaining height, but for situations where she needs more horizontal movement, sometimes it’s better to use the Bomb Jump and Grapple Beam to try and get back to the edge of a stage. This move was so popular in Super Smash Bros. that it inspired an item in Melee which allowed any character to perform a Screw Attack, and it’s been in every Smash game since. Samus gets even more out of this powerup than most other characters, because she can use it twice with her normal jumps, and follow up with her innate Screw Attack for even more damage.

Hyper Beam: Final Smash (Origin: Super Metroid, SNES, 1994)

(Spoilers for the end of Super Metroid follow.)

Samus almost always has access to her arm cannon, and the modular systems inside her suit can alter it to fire many different types of beam weapons. The suit’s infrastructure is incredibly versatile, adapting to allow for the weaponization of diverse elements like plasma, ice, or even unstable Phazon. The suit adapts itself incredibly quickly, and this is perhaps best exemplified by the final battle in Super Metroid, when Samus faces off against the revitalized Mother Brain.

After apparently destroying the brain in a jar she faced during her first trip to Zebes, Samus is surprised to find that this Mother Brain has crafted itself a body, a biomechanical monstrosity on robotic chicken legs! The creature is incredibly resilient, shrugging off the dozens of missiles and bombs Samus pumps into it until it finally gets annoyed and unleashes a devastating attack; the hyper beam. This weapon disables most of Samus’ armaments and shreds through her defenses, dealing massive damage and leaving her defenseless. Samus is utterly defeated and resigns herself to her fate, hoping only that the Mother Brain will show mercy by killing her quickly.

It’s at this point that the final Metroid stolen by Ridley in the game’s opening sequence makes a dramatic reappearance. The creature imprinted on Samus during her adventure on SR-388, and it leaps to her defense now, latching onto Mother Brain’s head and draining energy out of the organic components of its body. Mother Brain is stunned and can’t move for a few moments as the Metroid begins transferring the stolen energy into Samus. Once Mother Brain recovers, it’s enraged and begins attacking the Metroid using all its remaining weaponry. The Metroid chooses to complete the energy transfer rather than abandoning Samus or defending itself, and dies shortly after restoring Samus’ health.

Samus stands with renewed purpose, ashes of the fallen Metroid still falling on her shoulders. She feels powerful, and finds that the devastating Hyper Beam so recently used against her has been integrated into her power armor’s arm cannon. Tables turned, the Mother Brain is easily defeated, but it’s a load-bearing boss and Samus doesn’t have time to gloat. She rushes back to her gunship, the only way to save herself from the planet’s total destruction.

The Hyper Beam makes an unrelated appearance in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, but we’ll go into that a little later. The beam portrayed in Smash doesn’t really resemble either the Super Metroid or Prime 3 versions, instead unleashing a wide torrent of energy that draws in opponents while firing and blasts them away at the end of the attack.

Still, this move had to come from somewhere, and I like to think it’s the stolen Mother Brain tech Samus uses only as a last resort.

Dark Samus (04ε)

By the end of most Metroid games, there’s not much that can stand in Samus’ way. She can usually fly, has upgraded her combat systems multiple times, and may have access to experimental superweapons previously under development by alien scientists or stolen by space pirates. Long story short, there’s very little that can stand up to a fully-powered Samus Aran.

Except herself.



After she defeated Metroid Prime in the Phazon impact crater, the creature grabbed ahold of her in its death throes and tore the Phazon from her power suit. With its dying breaths, the Metroid combined itself with Samus’ DNA and the remnants of her Phazon suit to create an entity later known as Dark Samus. This being has all the same abilities as Samus at her most powerful, but the intellect driving the creature is far more malevolent.

It proves itself a worthy foe, and even picks up a few techniques Samus never has access to, such as temporary invisibility, projecting multiple copies of itself, and regeneration. It can also manipulate Phazon, a transdimensional element with multiple powerful properties. Every time they meet it’s a tough fight for Samus, and she usually has to make use of the environment or experimental weaponry to come out ahead.

Samus’ unique moveset in Smash Bros. didn’t have any counterparts or clones until very recently. The Mii Gunner shares many techniques with Samus, but she never had a clone until Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Dark Samus made her first appearance as a silhouette in a co-op event battle in Brawl, and could also be seen there as a sticker and collectible trophy. However, she didn’t appear in battles until she became an Assist Trophy in Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS. Dark Samus is one of only three characters to become a playable fighter after entering Smash as an Assist Trophy, the others being Little Mac and Isabelle. Chin up, Waluigi; you may make it in yet.



The Assist Trophy version of Dark Samus demonstrated several abilities it lost when it became a playable fighter. As a clone of Samus, almost all of their moves are now identical. The exceptions are mostly related to their movement; Dark Samus does not roll into a ball when evading, and floats slightly above the ground when walking or running. Her projectiles are all made of Phazon, so they have a different look than Samus’ and tend to have electrical visual effects rather than fire.

Incidentally, Dark Samus isn’t the only being in the Metroid universe to decide Samus is the ideal lifeform to copy. The X parasite in Metroid Fusion did something similar, infecting Samus and creating the deadly SA-X from her DNA. The SA-X didn’t end up being as resilient as Dark Samus though; the Phazon-based doppleganger has reformed itself repeatedly and is supposedly so tough nothing short of total atomic disruption can destroy it permanently. As such, it’s extremely likely Dark Samus will make an appearance in Metroid Prime 4 whenever it’s released on the Nintendo Switch.

Phazon Laser (Hypermode); Final Smash (Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Wii, 2007)

By the third Metroid Prime game, Samus has been exposed to so much Phazon that it’s started to spontaneously generate in her body. She’s fitted with a special modification to her Power Suit that lets her control this internal Phazon and enter a state referred to as Hypermode, vastly increasing her arm cannon’s power and damage potential. Unfortunately, overusing the Hyper Beam or allowing too much Phazon to build up in her system will lead to Samus’ corruption, turning her into another Dark Samus.

This version of the Hyper Beam is a Phazon-powered attack which augments Samus’ normal attacks at the cost of some of her life energy. While very powerful, this beam is inferior to the stolen Mother Brain Hyper Beam since it damages Samus every time she uses it. This may be why this Final Smash’s first appearance destroyed Samus’ Power Suit, changing her into Zero Suit Samus in Smash Bros. Brawl. Later games in the Smash series separated the two characters, letting players choose which version of Samus they’d prefer to play as.

Hypermode is the only way to defeat some of this game’s bosses, including several fellow bounty hunters brainwashed by Dark Samus. The visual effect doesn’t look much like Dark Samus’ Final Smash, but the description is similar. It’s a beam of pure Phazon energy, channeled into Samus’ arm cannon, and released as a devastating laser blast.

That’s all for this edition of Deep Smash. Next time we’ll look at the other two fighters from the Metroid universe, focusing in on Zero Suit Samus and one of the most recent additions, Ridley. Be sure to check out the earlier installments if you missed them, and tell a friend or leave a comment below if you enjoyed the article.