Many Nintendo franchises have been enjoying anniversaries over the past couple of years, including its mascot Mario who recently wrapped up his 35th anniversary celebration. However, 2021 also has more big anniversaries like Donkey Kong's 40th, The Legend of Zelda's 35th, and even the now 25-year-old Pokemon franchise which made a number of big announcements earlier in the year.
The Metroid series is also 35 years old this year, and thankfully Nintendo is celebrating by releasing the long-rumored Metroid Dread, which serves as the final game in the classic 2D storyline. Fans were initially intrigued with the new look of Samus, sporting a new armor design that seems to blend her classic Power Suit with that seen in Metroid Fusion.
New suits are nothing new for the franchise, with each game typically having players locate new ones to equip as they play, offering plenty of bonuses for finding them. Here's a breakdown of every suit players can find in the Metroid series and what each one does.
Power Suit
The main suit of Samus Aran without any upgrades is the Power Suit, featured typically at the start of every Metroid game and pushing the player to continue upgrading it as they play and explore. While the suit is biologically bonded to her, she's able to dematerialize it with a bright flash.
According to the game's lore, the suit was originally crafted for Samus by the Chozo, an ancient and highly advanced alien species resembling birds. After an attack on an Earth colony by the Space Pirates which resulted in the death of Samus' parents at the hands of Ridley, the Chozo found the young child and took her in as her adoptive parents. Samus was trained as a warrior and once ready, gifted her the Power Suit, which also allowed her to utilize upgrades originally produced by the Chozo such as the various beam weapons and other abilities like the Space Jump.
Naturally, the base Power Suit also allows upgrades to the armor, which gives players the ability to find new variations while playing through the games in the franchise.
Varia Suit
Traditionally, the first armor upgrade Samus Aran comes across in most games is the Varia Suit. This set of armor is the one that is typically used in most promotional materials or artwork as it features the iconic orange and yellow armor plates to her arms and legs, red chestplate, and big rigid shoulders.
The suit is beneficial as it reduces the damage Samus takes from enemies, typically in half for most Metroid games. For exploration purposes, the Varia Suit is critical for adventuring through high temperature zones such as Norfair in Super Metroid. In Metroid Fusion, the suit upgrade also protects Samus from sub-zero areas, the SA-X's Ice Beam attack, and provides safe absorption of the Blue-X. In the classic GBA game Metroid 2: Return of Samus, the Varia Suit also provides a 30 percent running speed boost.
Gravity Suit
Replacing the Orange armor plates of the Varia Suit for purple, the Gravity Suit is designed to remove extreme gravitational effects that Samus experiences in places like space or in water, such as Super Metroid's Maridia. Equipping this upgrade not only allows her to move freely without resistance in watery zones, but it offers full protection from magma as well. As such, the Gravity Suit also boosts the damage reduction gained from the Varia Suit ranging from 75 percent in Super Metroid and Other M, to a varying scale based on the enemy seen in Metroid Fusion.
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes ditches the Gravity Suit entirely, instead giving Samus access to an accessory called the Gravity Boost which ultimately gives her the same freedom of movement through liquids.
Fusion Suit
Easily one of the most radical changes to the typical Power Armor came inside of Metroid Fusion. At the start of the game, Samus is attacked by an unknown entity, which would go on to be known as the dangerous X Parasite. Samus is incapacitated, unable to fight off the organisms, and falls into a coma. The Galactic Federation was able to locate her and doctors performed emergency surgery to remove the armor from her body. Unfortunately, removing the damaged and infected parts of the Power Armor was not enough, and a vaccine based on the last remaining Metroid was used to destroy the remaining X parasites within her. The Metroid DNA altered her genetic makeup and altered the suit with a blue wrap over the familiar yellow parts of armor.
The suit is less bulky than its older counterparts and gives Samus the ability to absorb Core-X and regular X creatures found in the Biologic Space Laboratories research station. However, since the suit is based of Metroid DNA, it initially leaves Samus weak to ice such as the SA-X's Ice Beam attack. Just like traditional suits, Samus is able to upgrade the Fusion Suit throughout the game, negating many of the weaknesses she has early on.
Phazon Suit
Not seen in the classic 2D Metroid games, the Phazon Suit makes its first appearance in Metroid Prime. Unlike other armor upgrades, the Phazon Suit was ultimately the result of an accident after the Power Suit was corrupted by a highly radioactive substance known as Phazon. The suit gives Samus a dark theme, something which was entirely new to the franchise with her legs, arms, and shoulders being entirely black. The body of the suit were silver with red highlights and an orange visor.
Although the suit was an accident, it gave Samus the highest reduction to damage she can take by 50 percent. The suit protected her from blue Phazon radiation and enabled her to enter a state called Hyper Mode, which wrapped her in a blue aura while being able to fire the massively powerful Phazon Beam.
Interestingly enough, the final boss of Metroid Prime essentially rips the Phazon suit off of her Power Armor, using the Phazon and DNA from Samus to create the dangerous enemy known as Dark Samus. Not only is Dark Samus part of the Super Smash Bros. franchise, but this evil copy would go on to be a major antagonist of the two Metroid Prime sequels.
Light Suit
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes introduces players to two new armor variants in order to switch between the Light and Dark nature of the planet Aether. The Light Suit represents a fusion between Chozo technology and that of the Luminoth, a technologically advanced species with a strange resemblance to moths. After Samus returns the planetary energy to all three temples, she gains access to the Light Suit. Unlike many of the other armors in the franchise, this armor is a bit more streamlined and sleek, highlighted by its prominent white color scheme. The shoulders are much less bulky and the chest features four circles on the chest.
With it on, Samus is completely invulnerable to the Dark version of the planet's atmosphere, allows her to traverse Dark Water, walk through swarms of the Ingstorm enemies, as well as ride Light shafts which essentially act as a fast travel system.
Dark Suit
Alongside the Light Suit, Samus can also obtain the polar opposite gear called the Dark Suit. This is actually the first suit upgrade in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes and features a more muted color scheme with grey and almost a bronze type of color. The shoulders are also strikingly large and appear almost like wheels. She first comes across this armor set after taking out the Dark Agon Wastes' energy guardians.
With the suit equipped, Samus receives an 80 percent boost in resistance to Dark Aether's atmosphere as well as protection from dark vapor attacks by Ingclaw enemies. The last piece of this gear is that Light Crystals and Beacons give Samus energy at the same rate as she loses it when taking damage from the atmosphere.
Phazon Enhancement Device Suit
After being corrupted by Dark Samus, the Galactic Federation rebuilt Samus' suit by incorporating new technology that allows her to safely harness Phazon and convert it into energy. This technology also allows her to enter Hypermode in exchange for one Energy Tank. However, if she remains inside this status for too long, she'll overload and have to expel the excess Phazon before she is transformed into another Dark Samus, ending the game.
The suit retains a lot of the traditional style, though the color scheme shifts to more of a blue-green like the Federation Marines. The PED Device can be seen in the central chest plate. Unlike other Metroid games, Samus does not encounter additional suit upgrades inside Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. Instead, the corruption level rises throughout the campaign, not only giving Samus access to new gear such as Hyper Missiles, but altering the appearance. The suit's coloring becomes more dark blue with glowing veins of Phazon appearing in the joints of the armor plating. Ultimately, the real Samus starts to resemble Dark Samus more and more.
Metroid Dread Suit
So far, fans don't know the official name for this latest version of Samus Aran's power armor. As seen in game as well as all of the marketing promotions for Metroid Dread, this new armor appears to be a cross of the classic style armor with the Fusion Suit. The blue coloring returns, but it also appears that the damaged Power Suit has begun to regenerate, giving Samus more of her iconic silhouette with the big shoulder armor.
Recently, Nintendo shed a little bit of light on the armor, confirming that it is the same suit originally used in Fusion, though it has begun to regenerate to its normal Power Suit form from the more organic style it previously was.
Other Suits
While technically not its official name, Metroid Fusion players can unlock the Omega Suit at the end of the campaign. The suit itself appears to be a different colored version of the Fusion Suit to better coincide with Samus' classic armor.
The other special armor is known as the Fully Powered Suit, also known as the Legendary Power Suit. In Metroid: Zero Mission, players could earn the armor after completing the Ruins Test. Essentially, it replaces the weaker Power Suit and contains the larger shoulder pads with green accents. This term may also be used once Samus unlocks every expansion and upgrade available in a given game.
Metroid Dread launches October 8, exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.