Evolution of Samus

Samus Aran: Hero, Bounty Hunter, Hottie. She has been a member of the Nintendo gaming world for 21 years, and has crossed every one of their systems; each time evolving in style, look, power, and sex appeal. Most people can remember how far back samus goes, but most do not remember what she looked like.

1987 - Metroid (NES)
Samus' debut was of course, here, on the NES in 1987. The majority of people reading this probably arn't old enough to have played this when it first came out, but some of us have played it since. At this time, this was a revolution in gaming. It shared the standard style, but had something entirely new - a female main character. At the time (and kind of now still...) this was unorthodox, but Nintando didn't go right out and say "hey this character is a female". They waited until the very end of the game to reveal that this badass alien-hunting bounty hunter you just played as is... a woman! Even though... technically in the beginning it was hard to tell if it was indeed a woman everyone was looking at. In this game Samus is essentially just some orange squiggly blob, in fact it could even be though that Samus herself was an alien, because well... who could guess that was a power suit? When she takes off her armor however, you can clearly see some breasts, some hips, and a lot of pink... what a fashionable woman that Samus is.

Although the thing about this game is: really to find out that Samus was a female, you had to beat the game quickly. This lead to most people being told about Samus' gender by some friends.


1991 - Metroid II: The Return of Samus (GameBoy)
Ah yes, four years later comes the return of Samus. With this game came some better graphics, a more defined power suit, and of course: a sexier Samus. Although this game is in black and white, it was significantly more popular then the original Metroid, and many people have fond memories of playing this game.

Samus is much better defined in this game. You can clearly see that its a suit of armor, and if you beat the game quickly, you get quite the scandalous (I'm talking about then, now girls pretty much go to school like that) image of samus. Here she has swapped what looks like a bathing suit (from the first game) for a very revealing strapped-tank-top and panties (and no shoes). I guess you have to be pretty much naked to operate in a power suit...

1994 - Super Metroid (SNES)
Samus hops from the handheld back to the console once again, and from black-and-white back to colour.

Samus' power suit once again gets much more bitching, and now (if I remember correctly) gains the ability to curl up into a ball. It is getting significantly more detailed and the colour scheme has changed a little bit. More importantly, once again if you clear the game quickly, you get another little snippet of suit-less Samus. Now apparently with the armor upgrades she can wear slightly more clothing, have boots on, and let her hair grow longer. She is now wearing a black jumpsuit, instead of pink. It could be just me, but I'm under the belief that Samus looked better in the second game.

2002 - Metroid Fusion (GameBoy Advanced)
Alright, Samus is once again back on the handheld, and this time in colour. With a dramatic 8 year gap between the last game, this game had a lot to make up for.

For some reason, it looks as though Samus' armor took a step backwards. Ignoring the colour of it (in this game, if I'm not mistaken Samus gets infected with metroid or something) the armor is less detailed and more blocky. Samus herself however has matured into an extremely flat tummied woman. Aparently she decided that wearing panties under a suit of armor was a bad idea, so decided for booty shorts. Never fear though, she cut the length of the top garmet so it comes just under her breasts. Also she is through her "goth" phase from number 3, and decided to wear blue instead.

2002 - Metroid Prime (Gamecube)
Once again Samus hops back onto a system. It appears that to make up for the 8 year gap, they decided to release 2 games in 2002. Anyway, this game was the first time that Samus had ever been fully 3d, and also that a Metroid game was a first person shooter.

Seeing as this is the first time you see Samus' full body, you now see what her helmet looks like. In the first couple of games, it looks like it a very round and bulbous shape, but now it is an actual helmet, and a damn cool one. However, becuase not many people had a gamecube, this game wasn't too widely played. To my knowledge Samus never actually takes off all of her armor, just the helmet. She now keeps her long flowing hair in a pony tail, and looks... kinda pretty? Thats about all that can be said...

2004 - Metroid: Zero Mission (Gameboy Advanced)
I have concluded that Samus has a system > handheld > system deal going on. Either way samus again becomes a side-scrolling shooter, and is better for it (in my opinion).

Samus in this game now has the standard helmet, instead of the bulbous front... thing. Her armor is just pretty much a more refined version of the gamecube's. Samus without armor is an entirely different story. She seems to have decided that clothes = good, and has put on a body suit - known as the Zero Suit (I wonder why.... it couldnt have anything to do with the name of the game...).Her hair is still in a pony tail, but is let a little loose around the sides and such, and looks much more attractive for it. Even though it is kind of hard to tell, somewhere along the lines she got a boob-job, since her chest got bigger.

2004 Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (GameCube)
See? told you she goes from system to handheld and back. From here on however all the games will be first person shooters.

Not much to say here, the armor is pretty much the same, it has become more vibrant and the shoulder pads have changed, but thats pretty much it. Samus' hair seems to haev gotten shorter, and she seems to have gotten less attractive; also: her zero-suit isn't as clingy.

2006 - Metroid Prime Hunters (Nintendo DS)
This game was the first of the Metroid games to be multiplayer; where you can play as other bounty hunters and fight. Not quite sure as to the actual story-line of the game, except that the multiplayer was pretty fun, and the controller scheme sucked.

Her armor seems to have gotten a duller colour to it, and it the shoulder pads have gotten less spikey. Once again Samus' suit has gotten more glossy, and her hair seems to be shorter in the front, and less combed in the back.

2007 - Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Wii)
It saddens be that the Metroid games stayed to Nintendo. This is because the Wii was pretty much a failed attempt, and not many people played this game. It was the best of the prime series.

During the transition into next-gen Samus seems to have lost some weight, seeing as her power armor is more 'fitting'. It also lost the spiky shoulder pads for a ridged set. The armor looks much more hightech, but like all things that are hightech it looks more breakable; it doesn't have the same bulk. Samus' power suit seems to have gone back to the lighter blue colour, and the more skin-tight version. She also seems to have lost some midsection weight, but her bum seems to have gotten bigger. Her hair also has gotten to a brighter shade of yellow. As well, when outside of the armor she has a power-whip-pistol.

2008
By now Samus has become quite sexy, and is infact probably the sexiest video game character. She has become more then just a video game character, she has become a nerd sex-icon (kinda). If you ask any nerd if they would sleep with Samus given the change, the majority will say "HELL YES" (including me).

See what I mean by sex icon? and those pictures were only found on deviantART. A quick google revealed that there is Samus hentai, and a couple of Samus-related sex-comics. A quick forum post on an anime site (apparently most anime-kids look at hentai, so this is a good place to find out information) shows that surprisingly there isn't as much Samus-related porn as you would think, someone who has been around for 21 years and is smoking sexy should have quite the amount. Apparently anime and video games that younger kids are into get the porn-spotlight (Final Fantasy VII +, Naruto, Bleach, etc).
[that picture is deliberately blurred out by me]