Samus Aran

Samus Aran is one of the few women protagonists in video games. She made her debut in Metroid for the NES, and later went on as one of the most popular video game characters of all time. She is a bounty hunter for the Galactic Federation, and has on multiple occasions put a stop to the malevolent plans of the Space Pirates.

History
When a child, Samus was born on the planet known simply as K-2L. There, the Space Pirates raided the planet, causing the death of everyone in Samus' colony, excluding, of course, her, and the antagonist known as Ridley. Samus was later saved by the Chozo, an ancient race of bird-like creatures, and took her in. Because their planet, Zebes, had an environment that was not suited for humans, she was injected with Chozo DNA, which would help her resist it. She became an admirable woman, and when she grew older, a group of Chozo elders gave the young woman a power suit which they personally crafted. With this suit, she would be able to protect the galaxy in which they live. To follow this destiny of hers, she went to the Galactic Federation. There, they ordered her to head down to planet Zebes, where currently a group of Space Pirates had been producing colonies of Metroids, considerably one of the most dangerous species in the entire galaxy. When there, she had to completely stop production of the species, and defeat the Space Pirates once and for all. However, it was ultimately not the last time that they'd meet.

In her next chronological mission, Samus followed Ridley down to Tallon IV in the events that took place in Metroid Prime. There, she found a large amount of a potentially dangerous substance called Phazon. To rid of the planet's Phazon sources, she was forced to defeat the antagonistic Metroid Prime. However, this was not the last time that Phazon would appear in the series.

Following the events that took place in Prime, she was ordered by the Galactic Federation to retrieve eight ancient artifacts that were known to hold some sort of "Ultimate Power". However, word got around of this power, and six other feared bounty hunters went out to get it for themselves, each with their own reasons. Nevertheless, Samus was able to withstand the hoard of bounty hunters and ultimately succeed in her goal.

In the events that took place in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, Samus was sent down to planet Aether] in order to save a team of Galactic Federation members. It was soon found out that the team was killed by a species known as the [[Ing, and that the remains of the behemoth known as Metroid Prime had formed into a doppelganger that greatly resembles herself, though clearly more blue. Not only must she defeat this new source of Phazon, though she's also been asked by the Luminoth to save their species as well. She completes both of these tasks, but in the next chapter of Samus' story, things takes turns for the worse as Dark Samus returns, stronger than ever. [[Image:MetroidPrime3Samus.jpg|right|thumb|Samus Aran as she appears in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.]] The events from Echoes continue onto the next game in the series, [[Metroid Prime 3: Corruption]]. In this game, Samus, along with three other bounty hunters, get infected by Phazon after Dark Samus corrupts them on the planet known as Norion. Not only has Dark Samus done this, though she also composes Phazon seeds across multiple different planets, and even generates a planet that is completely Phazon based. Samus' goal here is to obviously destroy all of these sources, and to once and for all defeat Dark Samus, aka Metroid Prime.

Following the events in Prime, Samus is finally finished dealing with Phazon, though once again must go onto the topic of the deadly Metroid species. The events of Metroid II: Return of Samus shows that she was sent once again to SR-388 in order to completely obliterate all Metroid species. After seemingly doing so, she stumbles upon a single Metroid egg that soon enough hatches into a baby Metroid. The baby then views Samus as its mother, and thus Samus in turn feels a compassion for it and decides not to kill it. She brings it with her so that a group of scientists can perform research on it, though in the events of Super Metroid, Ridley once again returns.

In Super Metroid, Ridley raids the scientist's ship, and steals the baby Metroid. After saving the baby from Ridley, Samus is attacked by an enhanced Mother Brain, though at the last moment Samus is saved by the infant Metroid, who kills itself just to save Samus, who manages to ultimately kill off Mother Brain and escape.

In Samus' last known story thus far, she is sent, once again, to SR-388. When there, she is attacked by a species known as X Parasite, which nearly kills her. However, one scientist suggested that they inject Metroid DNA into her body, which would in turn destroy the X Parasite. At the end of the game, she disobeys orders and destroys the ship in which all of the X Parasite are stationed, knowing fully well that they could be a drastic danger for the entire galaxy.

Super Smash Bros. series
Samus is a recurring character in the Super Smash Bros. series. She appeared in the very first game, where she was able to execute multiple attacks from the video game series. Multiple stages were based off of the Metroid video games, and an item called the Screw Attack could be obtained, which would cause the player to perform the same attack that it did in the Metroid games. It should also be noted that in Super Smash Bros. Melee, multiple trophies were modeled after various themes from the Metroid series.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii, Samus would be able to turn into Zero Suit Samus after performing her final smash, which would send an immense laser across the stage. Once performed, the intense power from the gun would cause her suit to overheat, thus destroying it and revealing her Zero Suit form.

Related

 * Zero Suit Samus
 * Metroid Series