Dark Samus is a major antagonist in three of the mainline installments of the Metroid Prime series. Sharing the physical appearance of Samus's Power Suit, Dark Samus is capable of performing Samus's abilities, in addition to her own unique skills. However, before she took on her iconic form, Dark Samus was originally a heavily mutated Metroid called "Metroid Prime."
Before the events of the game Metroid Prime, a Leviathan from the planet Phaaze landed on the planet Tallon IV, where it began to spread a highly toxic and mutagenic ooze called Phazon everywhere. However, the Leviathan didn't have long to live, so for protection, it managed to find a Metroid who happened to be on the planet through unknown means. The Metroid would feast on its core, causing it to slowly mutate into Metroid Prime. The Chozo who lived on Tallon IV prophesied that it would destroy the planet, and thus they built the Artifact Temple around the Impact Crater to imprison it, though they knew the temple wouldn't be able to contain it forever.
Some years later, the Space Pirates discover the planet and its Phazon, and begin to collect it to see how they could weaponize it. Samus herself would eventually arrive on the planet when she answered a distress signal and found out it was the Space Pirates who sent it. During her journey to see what the Space Pirates where up to, she manages to learn about Metroid Prime through various Space Pirate Logs she can scan. At the end of the game, she manages to gain entrance to the Artifact Temple and explores deep into its depths, where she discovers the mutated Metroid in its Exoskeleton form!
Metroid Prime utilizes its various abilities to try and defeat Samus, as well as constantly switch between four colors - yellow, purple, white, and red - which signify which of Samus's beam weapons will be effective against it. Samus manages to overpower it, shattering its exoskeleton and exposing its core! At this point, Metroid Prime begins to summon various Metroids to attack Samus, as well as dropping pools of Phazon and turning invisible. Samus, thanks to her thermal and visor modes, as well as her Phazon Suit, would use the pools of Phazon and begin to blast away at Metroid Prime, defeating it!
However, in a last desperate attempt, Metroid Prime would lash out on Samus and steal her Phazon Suit upgrade before completely collapsing in a pool of Phazon. Afterwards, if the player has managed to obtain 100%, a hand from the pool of Phazon emerges, suggesting that Metroid Prime lives on...
And as Metroid Prime 2: Echoes would reveal, it did! Having absorbed the Phazon Suit, Metroid Prime has been reborn as Dark Samus! She has gained all of Samus’s abilities, and even some
human-level cognition, though Dark Samus is completely obsessed with
absorbing Phazon. She sets off on her quest and lands on the planet Aether, where the Space Pirates are mining Phazon in secret. Due to her similar appearance to Samus, the Space Pirates initially mistaken her for the Bounty Hunter and assume she's trying to steal the Phazon for her own agenda. During Dark Samus's raid for Phazon, she manages to break some Metroids out of containment.
Samus eventually arrives at Aether to investigate a missing team of Galactic Federation Marines who had landed on the planet to pursue the Space Pirates. Dark Samus would first meet Samus at the Marine base, where she was feasting on some Phazon. Once she realized Samus had arrived, she blasted the crystal near the Bounty Hunter before fleeing, leaving the mysterious yet malicious Ing to deal with her. This made Samus wonder if the two groups were working together.
Dark Samus would then see Samus again at Agon Wastes, located within the Space Pirates base. Dark Samus was absorbing some more of the Phazon the Space Pirates obtained there, and upon seeing Samus again, decided to battle her. Their fight would end with Dark Samus destabilizing and unleashing a massive explosion before collapsing, after which she disintegrated into various Phazon particles in the air.
At Torvus Bog, those particles would fuse together again. Turning her attention to Samus, she laughed maniacally before leaving. Near the entrance to Sanctuary Fortress, Dark Samus would show up again and destroy the bridge to the area, forcing Samus to find another way to get there.
Inside of the Sanctuary Fortress, Samus witnessed Dark Samus fighting some of the Dark Pirate Troopers, who were possessed by the Ing. This made Samus realize the that the Ing viewed Dark Samus as an enemy as well. Finishing the Dark Pirate Troopers off, Dark Samus absorbed several canisters of Phazon that they were guarding and left. Samus would then chase her down and confront her at a giant elevator called Aerie, where they have their second battle. Dark Samus is once again defeated and starts to lose her stability, and thus she decides to deliberately throw herself off of the building as a hasty retreat.
Much later in the game at the Sky Temple, Samus manages to defeat the Emperor Ing. However, his death means that Dark Aether is going to blow up in about 8 minutes, so Samus has to hurry and get back to Aether! However, just before Samus could get out, Dark Samus shows up and blocks the exit. Notably, due to all of the Phazon she absorbed, her suit had become transparent, revealing her various alien organs. Regardless, Dark Samus decided to use this opportunity to have a final duel with the Bounty Hunter. After a grueling battle, Dark Samus is once again defeated. Just like when she was Metroid Prime, Dark Samus tries to reach out to Samus in an attempt to steal her Light Suit upgrade, but disintegrates into Phazon particles before she can do so.
With peace restored to Aether, Samus left for parts unknown. However, if one managed to obtain 100%, a bonus scene would play after the credits showing that Dark Samus had managed to survive, if just barely.
In Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, the Space Pirates unknowingly scoop up some of her remains into their ship, the Colossus, when they were obtaining the Phazon that the Galactic Federation left behind on Aether. Absorbing the Phazon that the Space Pirates had collected to restore herself, Dark Samus had regained her physical armored look and full human-level cognition. She then proceeded to wipe out a third of the Space Pirate forces on the ship. After that, she used her Phazon to brainwash the rest of the Space Pirates aboard, forcing them to worship and follow her as "The Dark One", with promises of riches and power.
With the Space Pirates now following her orders, she manages to get to them to turn their ship into a Phazon-fueled craft, before heading off to locate the planet Phaaze: the source of all Phazon. Thanks to a Leviathan she happened to encounter, Dark Samus manages to bring her followers to the planet and announces her plans to conquer the galaxy by spreading Phazon everywhere. Though no one knows how to do that exactly, their answer comes around when they learn of the Galactic Federation's Aurora Units.
Raiding the G.F.S. Valhalla, killing its crew and ejecting the survivors out into the cold depths of space, Dark Samus and the Space Pirates manage to steal the ship's Aurora Unit 313, allowing Dark Samus to finally put her plans into motion. She corrupts the Aurora Unit with Phazon and then installs it in the center of the planet Phaaze, allowing her to control the planet and the Leviathans. She sends the first one to the Space Pirate Homeworld. Some of Space Pirates who weren't brainwashed try to fight back, but fail. She then presumably corrupts Aurora Units 242 and 217 during this.
Dark Samus would then send three more Leviathans to planets that were considered important to the Galactic Federation: Norion, which contained the important Base Sector Zero; Bryvo, the Federations primary source of Fuel Gel; and Elysia, which contained a vital research facility. While the Leviathans manage to successfully land on Bryvo and Elysia with no trouble, the one that was headed to Norion encounters opposition from Samus and three other bounty hunters: Rundas, Ghor, and Gandrayda. Just before any of the four can activate the cannon to stop the Leviathan, Dark Samus barges in through a window and repels their attacks with a Phazon Shield. She then overpowers them and proceeds to corrupt them with Phazon. Believing that she had stopped their attempts, Dark Samus leaves, unaware that Samus used the last of her strength to get to the cannon and fire it, destroying the Leviathan.
Regardless, Dark Samus chooses to mostly stay on planet Phaaze to continue her plans. Samus and the other bounty hunters manage to survive and head off to stop Dark Samus's plans. However, thanks to Dark Samus marking them with Phazon, all but Samus end up getting fully corrupted and possessed by Dark Samus. One by one, Samus is forced to kill them, after which Dark Samus arrives to absorb them to obtain their powers before leaving.
At the end of the game, Samus would head off to confront Dark Samus at her home planet, Phaaze, where they would have their final showdown. Dark Samus ends up taking considerable damage, and thus, as a last resort, merges with the Aurora Unit 313 to try and defeat Samus. After a grueling battle, the Aurora Unit was destroyed, and since it was directly linked to Phaaze's core, its defeat results in a chain reaction that causes the planet to blow up! Dark Samus is then ejected from the Aurora Unit as she dissipates into Phazon Dust, all while screaming out in agonized pain as she, her planet, and the Phazon get wiped from existence.
Personality-wise, Dark Samus is characterized as being utterly merciless and cruel, showing no regard to anyone who gets in her way. Despite that, she seems to hold some compassion to Metroids, most likely due to her previously being the heavily mutated Metroid Prime.
Back when she was Metroid Prime, she behaved on mostly animalistic instinct. Once she turned into Dark Samus, her personality shifted. In Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, she was mostly consumed with her single-minded goal to absorb Phazon, and would kill anyone who refused to give her it. Additionally, her mental state was pretty unstable, as she tended to laugh like a maniac and her battle tactics were unpredictable. By Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Dark Samus's mental state has become more stable, making her calm and allowing her to calculate her plans more thoroughly.
In
Super Smash Bros., Dark Samus is an Echo Fighter of Samus, sharing all
of her moves. However, she does have a few differences to Samus, such as
hovering above the ground when idling, walking, and running. If you’re
good at playing as Samus, you should have no problems with Dark Samus!
Special Moves
Neutral Special: Charge Shot
Dark Samus begins charging up a giant ball of energy. Pressing the Special
Button again will have her fire it. The longer you charge, the faster
it is and the more damage and knockback it delivers!
Inspired by Samus's Charge Shot upgrade that debuted in “Super
Metroid.” Along with doing more damage, performing a somersault jump
with the charge would allow Samus to deliver damage to a foe on contact,
though this isn't portrayed in Super Smash Bros.
Side Special: Missile
Dark Samus fires a missile. It’ll slowly fly towards the nearest target.
Its not very strong, but its good for keeping foes away. You could also use it as you approach them.
If you input the move like a smash attack, Dark Samus fires a Super Missile!
Its stronger and faster then a regular missile, but it doesn’t home in
on the target. It also takes it a second before it reaches
max speed.
Inspired by Dark Samus’s boss fight in “Metroid Prime 2: Echoes”. In that game, Dark Samus could fire either missle at Samus.
Up Special: Screw Attack
Dark Samus
somersaults up into the air while electrical energy surrounds her.
Anyone nearby gets dragged up with her before getting flung away.
Inspired by Samus's Screw Attack upgrade that debuted in “Metroid.”
Whenever Samus performed a somersault jump - which is performed by
jumping while Samus is moving - she'd form an electric barrier around
her that would damage nearly any enemy she comes into contact with.
Down Special: Bomb
Dark Samus curls up into Morph Ball mode and drops a bomb. The bomb will
detonate 2 seconds later, or if it comes into contact with an opponent.
If Dark Samus happens to be near the explosion of her bomb, she’ll curl
back up into Morph Ball mode and get slightly flung into the air.
Every time Dark Samus drops a bomb, she’ll do a very small hop, even if
she's in the air. One can use this to spend some extra time in the air..
In "Metroid Prime 2: Echoes", Dark Samus would use Morph Ball mode to use Boost Ball, a move that would send her speeding around the arena where she and Samus are fighting. However Dark Samus never uses bombs during any of her fights.
The bombs are inspired by Samus's Bomb upgrade in "Metroid". Samus could only use bombs in Morph Ball mode. The bombs aren’t the strongest weapons
she has, and are usually reserved for
blasting open walls or as a “last resort” type of weapon. The bombs
explosions can also
fling her slightly upward in the air, and using it can allow one to
“Bomb Jump,” though its a very difficult technique to utilize throughout the series.
Final Smash: Phazon Laser
Dark Samus readies her arm cannon in front of her, and fires a huge stream
of Phazon in front of her! She can slightly angle the Phazone beam upwards or
downwards. Anyone caught will get pushed away from Dark Samus, and will have difficulty escaping the beam. At the end of
the move, she fires an even stronger blast that flings her trapped
opponents away from her!
Inspired by Dark Samus's final boss fight in “Metroid Prime 2: Echoes”. In that game, she uses it not only as a powerful attack, but to also discharges excess amounts of Phazon energy to maintain stability.
Additional Notes
If Dark Samus uses her grab move in the air, she’ll fire out her Grapple
Beam, which does minor damage to an opponent. It can be used to mix
things up, or as an attempt to hit someone from afar.
Dark Samus can
also use the Grapple Beam to grab the edge of a stage from afar, making
it an alternative way of getting back up into the fight.
Before joining the battle in “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate”, Dark Samus was previously both an Assist Trophy and an alternate costume for Samus Aran in “Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS & Wii U.”
A similar Samus doppelgänger called SA-X - short for Samus Aran-X - appears in Metroid Fusion. Unlike Dark Samus, who was initially a mutated Metroid, SA-X were created from an X-Parasite who attached itself to Samus's Power Suit and infected it. After the infected parts of the suit were removed and shipped off to the Biologic Space Laboratories Research Station, they soon evolved into SA-X, with all of Samus's abilities, but without the knowledge on how to best use them... yet. Amusingly, Metroids are the natural prey of X-Parasites, so no doubt Dark Samus and SA-X would not get along.
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