A Power Suit (ノーマルスーツ Nōmaru Sūtsu) is a suit of powered armor designed by the Chozo. This term applies to both Samus Aran's Chozo Battle Suit Ver SA1-4468-VM6-P[2] in its basic form without any upgrades, and her suit as a whole regardless of its current upgrade level. The word "Power Suit" is short for powered armorsuit.
A Chozo known as Dryn was apparently instrumental in the development of the technology, and Mother Brain claimed to be the creator of Samus' original Power Suit. Two specific models are well-known: the first was a suit given to Samus in her teenage years by the Chozo who raised her (seen in Metroid: Zero Mission). After being attacked by Space Pirates, Samus lost the ability to summon her suit, and was briefly forced to proceed in her Zero Suit. After completing the Ruins Test, her fighting spirit was restored and she received another Power Suit. [1] This second suit of armor was of ancient design, based on its depiction in Chozo prophetic murals and its compatibility with some of the oldest Chozo-produced upgrades such as the Space Jump, Plasma Beam and Gravity Suit.
Description
The Power Suit is designed to provide both the basic defense and offense needed for Samus' missions.
Samus's Power Suit comes with a standard Power Beam and the Oxygen Supply Equipment allows her to survive almost indefinitely underwater and in outer space, including the ability to resist most airborne toxins. Its basic functions are not always sufficient for a busy bounty hunter, so the Chozo used a modular construction allowing the suit to be outfitted with a wide variety of weaponry and additional armor. The Chozo themselves left many such tools on various planets they inhabited, including the Varia and Gravity Suit upgrades. The Luminoth, another ancient race technologically equal to the Chozo, were able to produce modifications compatible with the Power Suit, including the Dark Suit and the Light Suit (although they were unrecognized until Samus met U-Mos). A considerable amount of the suit is biological, which presumably resulted in the Suit's Phazon corruption following Samus's encounter with the Omega Pirate. Exposure to the large quantity of unrefined Phazon ore caused a kind of mutation, rendering the suit impervious to radiation from blue Phazon, and allowing Samus to fire the devastating Phazon Beam under certain conditions.
On its most basic level, the Power Suit contains 99 units of energy that sustain it (this amount is improved by 100 whenever Samus gets an Energy Tank) and if completely drained, it becomes unable to protect Samus, and she is forced to revert to the Zero Suit, a blue bodysuit that grants weaker protection, and is equipped with a stun pistol, the Paralyzer.
While active, the Power Suit bonds with Samus biologically, and cannot be taken off without her cooperation. It has been observed on many occasions that the methods which Samus uses to remove the Power Suit is to have it dematerialize with a bright flash. When the suit is inactive, Samus is able to retain the upgrades within herself until it becomes active again (observed in the events of Metroid: Zero Mission.) However, it has also been observed that she can have it materialize at will, (seen several times taking place in the origins manga, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and at the start of Metroid: Other M), suggesting that this suit is not meant to be removed like regular armor, and that it is somehow put on or taken off by using an energy-to-matter process (it also has been shown that at least the helmet can be removed manually, as Samus demonstrates this in some of the special endings in the series). When this is not possible, the Galactic Federation has been able to modify it while she is unconscious. In the first instance of this, they added PED functionality to take advantage of a Phazon infection in her bloodstream. Later, the weaker Fusion Suit is built on the remains of Samus's Power Suit after large portions were surgically removed due to X Parasite infestation.
The Power Suit is apparently able to assimilate almost any technological upgrade into its system, regardless of the upgrade's origins (in some cases such as the Energy Transfer Module before Samus meeting U-Mos, it will be listed as unidentified). This is shown when Samus acquires the Hazard Shield and Nova Beam, both of which are of Space Pirate design. The suit, however, was once unable to assimilate the Plasma Beam, Gravity Suit, and Space Jump upgrades in Metroid: Zero Mission, despite being of Chozo origins. This was due to the fact that her old Power Suit was developed in a fairly recent time period and not compatible with the three, archaic upgrades.
While Samus worked with the Federation Police Force, she had a symbol on the left shoulder of her Power Suit. It looked like a spiraling galaxy, possibly a Federation mark. Another small feature of the Power Suit is a glowing green (or blue) "L" shape on the left chest plate. In Metroid Prime, the shape points outward, rather than inward, like in other games. In Metroid: Other M, the Power Suit has a yellow/gold coloration with the large shoulders of the Varia Suit, though it should be noted that this was likely due to her possessing the Varia Suit feature, which remains inactive until Adam authorizes its use. However, in Super Metroid the front-facing sprite used in elevators and save points has flat shoulders, though this is likely attributed to Samus having only the basic Power Suit at the time. The large-shouldered yet yellow Power Suit is likely a result of the Legendary Power Suit. Despite this, when the Varia reverts to the Power Suit in Metroid Prime, the shoulders become flat and orange and stretch all the way to her shoulders, while before the obtainment of the new Power Suit, the shoulders "fan" up and extend (in height) past Samus's head. This is shown again in Metroid: Samus Returns when she begins the game with only her basic Power Suit, Power Beam, and Missile Launcher, though like in Metroid Prime her suit regains its round shoulders after obtaining the Varia Suit.
In Metroid: Other M, Samus' visor is most of the time transparent, allowing her face and hair to be seen, but often her visor will flash light green, becoming opaque. How she can see through it during this is unknown, though it is likely that it works akin to a one-way mirror allowing Samus to see out while others cannot see in. She normally does this in combat situations, but disables the tint when talking or in a non-hostile situation. When her health drops to critical levels, the tint turns red-orange, but back to green when she restores enough energy. The visor does not do this in other games; instead it is normally semi-transparent.
Abilities
The Power suit blueprint displayed on the Samus Screen of Super Metroid
This is a list of all the abilities and upgrades that the Power Suit has ever been known to have.
Suits
- Varia Suit
- Gravity Suit
- Fusion Suit
- Unnamed Suit
- Phazon Suit
- Light Suit
- Dark Suit
- PED Suit
- Fully Powered Suit
Beams
- Power Beam
- Charge Beam
- Long Beam
- Wide Beam
- Spazer Beam
- Wave Beam
- Ice Beam
- Plasma Beam
- Grapple Beam
- Hyper Beam (Mother Brain)
- Phazon Beam
- Dark Beam
- Light Beam
- Annihilator Beam
- Battlehammer
- Volt Driver
- Magmaul
- Judicator
- Shock Coil
- Imperialist
- Nova Beam
- Hyper Beam (Hypermode)
- Diffusion Beam
Missiles
- Missile Launcher
- Super Missile
- Seeker Missile
- Ice Missile
- Homing Missile (Not a true upgrade, but a feature of the Missiles in 3-D games)
- Diffusion Missile
- Hyper Missile
Charge Combos
- Super Missile
- Wavebuster
- Ice Spreader
- Flamethrower
- Darkburst
- Sunburst
- Sonic Boom
Morph Ball
Bombs
Visors
Grapple Beam
- Grapple Lasso
- Grapple Swing
- Grapple Voltage
- Hyper Grapple
Expansions
- Accel Charge
- Aeion Tank
- Beam Ammo Expansion
- E-Recovery Tank
- Energy Part
- Energy Tank
- Missile Tank
- Power Bomb Expansion
- Reserve Tank
- Super Missile Tank
- Universal Ammunition Expansion
Misc.
- Power Grip
- High Jump Boots
- Space Jump
- Screw Attack
- Speed Booster
- Shinespark
- Gravity Boost
- Hazard Shield
- Metroid Detector
- X-Ray Scope
Retention of abilities
Samus is left with her basic Power Suit in an explosion on the Frigate Orpheon.
The Power Suit has often lost several of its abilities at the beginning of each game, are limited in use, or have disappeared entirely with no explanation.
In Metroid Prime, Samus only retains the Charge Beam, Missile Launcher, Morph Ball, Bombs and Varia Suit from Metroid: Zero Mission, and somehow acquired the Grapple Beam in between. However, Samus was caught in an explosion while escaping the Frigate Orpheon, and as a result she lost all her aforementioned upgrades and was forced to track down replacements. At the end of the game, her Phazon Suit is stolen by the Metroid Prime.
In Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, Samus once again only retains the Charge Beam, Missile Launcher, Space Jump Boots, Morph Ball, Bombs, Boost Ball, Spider Ball, Varia Suit, Grapple Beam, and Power Bombs. She is later attacked by numerous Ing who stole her upgrades, leaving her only with the Charge Beam, Morph Ball, and Varia Suit, and she had to hunt them down to regain them. At the end of the game, Samus returns the Light Suit to the Luminoth, and possibly other related technology (Dark Suit, Dark Beam, Light Beam, Annihilator Beam, Dark Visor, Echo Visor, and Gravity Boost).
In Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Samus began with most of her latent abilities and did not lose any of them, although she mysteriously does not retain the Missile Launcher, Spider Ball, Super Missiles, Power Bombs, Grapple Beam, and Screw Attack; she later regains some of these. At the end of the game, Samus is seen without the PED Suit and Hazard Shield.
In Metroid II, Samus brought the Morph Ball and Missiles to her SR388 Metroid extermination mission, but ironically no Ice Beam. In the remake Metroid: Samus Returns, Samus only brings her Missiles.
Super Metroid is currently the only game where Samus starts off with not a single upgrade in her possession except for her Power Suit and Beam, despite taking place immediately after Metroid II/Samus Returns, and no explanation is given at all.
Metroid: Other M and Metroid Fusion are also the only games where Samus possesses all her upgrades from Super Metroid (with the exception of the High Jump Boots in Other M, Grapple Beam in Fusion, and Spazer Beam and X-Ray Scope in both). However in Other M, she does not use them from the start aside from the Charge Beam and Morph Ball, even during the short training sequence. Instead, the game introduces the concept of authorization, where Samus willingly restricts her abilities until allowed by her supervisor Commander Adam Malkovich.
Finally, Metroid Fusion has Samus lose all of her abilities before gameplay occurs; Samus is attacked by the X Parasite in the game's introduction, and her suit is surgically removed and disassembled by the Galactic Federation. The process removes all of her abilities, leaving her with only the Power Beam and the Fusion Suit. She is forced to hunt down the X Parasites to regain her lost abilities. Curiously, the Wide Beam replaces the Spazer Beam in this game.
Non-canon warning: This article or section contains information that may not be considered an official part of the Metroid series in the overall storyline by Nintendo.
In the final chapter of Samus and Joey, the Body Snatcher traps Samus and steals six of her abilities using the Ability Disassembly and Conversion Device, which is capable of extracting and converting the abilities into data. Greed disseminates them among six henchmen, forcing Samus to kill each of them to restore her abilities.
Non-canon warning: Non-canonical information ends here.
Control
At times of extreme physical or emotional stress, it may be impossible to maintain the Power Suit.
Samus' Power Suit requires superhuman levels of concentration and mental determination to operate efficiently.[3] Due to years of training with the Chozo, Samus learned how to control her emotions and maintain the Suit's use for long periods of time.
In Metroid: Zero Mission, Samus removed her Power Suit after escaping the exploding Tourian, believing that the mission was over and also to relieve herself of the Suit. However, Space Pirates ambushed her and succeeded in forcing her to crash-land back on Zebes; the subsequent crash destroyed her ship and evidently the hardware necessary to re-summon her Power Suit. Samus later obtained a new suit after defeating the Ruins Test in Chozodia. This new Suit (which Samus uses for all her subsequent missions) demanded the same methods of control as the previous one, and while Samus is almost always in control, there have been occasions where she has experienced lapses in her focus, especially in times of extreme anxiety and trauma.
In Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Samus is shown removing her helmet and vomiting Phazon after unintentionally absorbing Mogenar's Phazon corruption.
When Samus was faced with her nemesis Ridley, his shocking return on the BOTTLE SHIP combined with the psychological stress of the mission, grief over Baby's death, loss of purpose after the destruction of the Space Pirates during the Final Conflict, and various emotions resulting from her reunion with Adam and Anthony, rendered her unable to repress her emotions and she suffered a posttraumatic stress disorder-related breakdown, causing her Suit to dematerialize and leave her defenseless. She also lost composure when she was hit by a freeze gun shot during an encounter with a Baby Metroid later on. In this instance, it was unlikely that the shot itself was the cause of her Suit's failure, but rather catalyzed because of her conflicting emotions about killing the creature at the time (it reminded her of the baby). Weakened by the blast and the revelation that Adam shot her prevented Samus from reactivating the suit preventing her from stopping Adam from sacrificing himself to destroy the Unfreezable Metroids. However Adam's heroic sacrifice gave Samus' eye in the storm clarity and she reactivated her suit in order to carry out Adam's final orders. Finally, after returning to the BOTTLE SHIP following MB's death, she disabled her suit by choice when she shared a moment with Adam's helmet, but this proved to be a mistake yet again as the Countdown soon started and she was forced to escape in her Zero Suit.
Official data
Official Metroid Prime website
"Weapon effect: N/A"
- '"Weapon range: Unlimited"
Weapon potential: Medium"
"Samus Aran's Power Suit provides life support functions, and is well shielded from attack. The modular nature of the Power Suit allows for the addition of weapons, visors and other gear as needed. The Power Suit's shielding loses energy with each hit, but can be replenished by collecting energy upgrades. The origin of this suit is the subject of much speculation."
Metroid Prime manual
"Samus's standard Power Suit was built specifically for her by the Chozo people. It is integrated with her body, acting as a sort of second skin--not only does it provide shielding in battle and augmented physical strength, but its life-support systems allow her to survive in water and even space without additional equipment."
Inventory data
Power Suit
The Power Suit is an advanced Chozo exoskeleton modified for use by Samus Aran.
The Power Suit provides life-support functions and is well shielded from attack.
The modular nature of the Power Suit allows for the addition of weapons, Visors, and other gear as needed.
The Power Suit's shielding loses energy with each hit; collect energy when possible to keep the shielding charged.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl Trophy
"Samus in the basic version of the legendary Power Suit, made for her by the Chozo race. Samus is most often seen at the beginning of each game in this suit. The normal Power Suit has the lowest level of protective power and features no additional functions. She can use the cannon on her right arm for power shots and build up her arsenal through item pickups."
"NES Metroid
GCN Metroid Prime"
Sticker
"Samus - Metroid [Specials: Indirect] Attack +15 (Samus, Zero Suit Samus)"
Metroid: Other M Art Folio- Power Suit Samus
"My Power Suit is my greatest weapon. Designed by the Chozo, it boosts all of my natural athletic abilities while providing an array of defensive and offensive attributes. Boasting full armor capable of sustaining ballistic damage, life-support systems, my upgradable Arm Cannon, and Morph Ball capabilities, it truly is a part of me."
Metroid: Other M manual
"The Power Suit that Samus is wearing will acquire new features as you progress through the game."
Metroid: Other M Samus Screen data
"Samus's basic suit."
The Federation Files "GALACTIC FEDERATION INTEL FILE: POWER SUIT'
"It's no accident that Federation Force Mechs bear a striking resemblance to Samus Aran's legendary Power Suit. It has served her well in the battle against Space Pirates, offering not only enhanced defensive capabilities, but also an array of powerful weapons. Not much is known about the origin of the Power Suit, but it is believed to have been created by the Chozo, an ancient, highly advanced race of bird-like beings."
Trivia
- The fact that the shoulder joints of Samus' suit are so far apart compared to her actual figure has been a source of confusion among fans, since her arms would seemingly have to be pulled from their sockets. This image from a player manual shows the position of Samus' arms, although the actual suit dimensions are noticeably different from the in-game sprite and models from other games such as Prime and Other M—like this image, which reveals that not even her legs and torso match the suit.
- Since it's shown that her suit can materialize from seemingly nowhere and easily change form, it could also be assumed that a similar form of mass or energy is absorbed into Samus' own body to alter its size and shape as well—possibly to increase her strength and agility to counteract the suit's weight. Lending credence to this theory is a Save Station scan image from Metroid Prime showing the shape of Samus' skeletal structure beneath the suit, which reveals that her ribcage and shoulder joints have been expanded horizontally.
- In the final two chapters of Samus and Joey Volume 3, a piece of Samus' Arm Cannon is broken off. It auto-regenerates after some time. Samus explains that the Power Suit is made from her DNA sequence.
- In the commercial for the original Metroid, Samus's suit can be seen giving off a cloud of steam, possibly implying that it produced large amounts of heat.
- In Metroid Prime (PAL version) and Metroid Prime Pinball, the Power Suit speaks at certain points. In the PAL versions of Prime, such cases include when the Ventilation Shaft fills with gas, when engaging a horde of enemies that causes the doors to lock, and when Samus' abilities are lost (the suit will list each item that Samus has lost) at the beginning of the game. Cases in Pinball include when a Jackpot is scored. In Pinball, the Suit Voice is provided by Lorelei King.
- In Other M, when Samus's energy is critically low, the colored lights in her visor, chestplate, shoulderplate, the Arm Cannon's lining, and the hind knee joints change from green to red.
- In Metroid Prime, the Power Suit was modeled and skinned by Gene Kohler.
- Samus has the ability to enable select parts of the Power Suit, the most notable would be her Arm Cannon, being utilized in the Justin Bailey as seen in the original Metroid, as well as the Metroid Manga.
- Weavel and Sylux are also stated to possess Power Suits, though Sylux's is of stolen Federation designs and Weavel's is more a mechanical body than a suit.
- In the original Metroid, both the Power and Varia Suits had the same shape, but different colors.
- In Metroid: Zero Mission, activation of the scrapped item on-off switching function shows that in the Legendary Power Suit, its round shoulder pads are retained in the yellow, pre-Varia Power Suit. This is also present in Other M.
- Metroid Prime 3: Corruption concept art by Sammy Hall depicts a Chozo R&D Division of the Galactic Federation using suits modeled after Samus'.
- The animation for the power suit (and by extension, any subsequent suit upgrades) incorporating various suit upgrades varied in various games.
- There is no animation in the first Metroid, simply having Samus change color upon gaining the Varia Suit.
- In Metroid 2: Return of Samus, the Power Suit has the suit upgrade (in this case, the Varia Suit) transform the power suit from the top down.
- In Super Metroid, Metroid Fusion (exempting the Unnamed Suit) and Metroid: Zero Mission, a colored flash is emitted first vertically then encompassing the entire screen before fading away horizontally.
- Due to the nature in which the Unnamed Suit is acquired, there's no animation beyond changing colors and the screen freezing for a few seconds.
- In Metroid Prime, with the exception of the Phazon Suit, Samus when getting a suit upgrade will levitate above the ground, stretch her arms to the side and widen her legs before closing her eyes (presumably meditating) before being filled energy before descending down with her new suit.
- Because of the manner in which the Phazon Suit is acquired, the suit has a slightly different acquisition scene: Upon the Omega Pirate exploding, Samus briefly twitches while stuck in her pose from just before the Omega Pirate fell on her, and then proceeded to ready her arm cannon.
- In Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, there are different animations for each of the suits she acquired:
- For the Dark Suit, she ends up surrounded by spinning lights and then levitates before scrunching up and then rapidly stretching her arms and legs before being bathed in a glowing light, and then emerges crouching on the ground before standing up crackling with purple electricity.
- For the Light Suit, she is surrounded by spinning lights with a beam of light from above via the Light of Aether, and then a ring closes in on her. She then staggers a bit and then reels back while dramatic focuses on various parts of her new suit are shown before eventually relaxing her pose, with the light emissions and purple electricity dying down as she does so, also making a fist pump.
- In Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, while no animation is shown of her getting the PED suit (due to her getting it off-screen), the animation for her getting the Hazard Shield has her shoulder parts glow and beams of energy resembling a double helix emerging and then re-entering her, as well as adding a plate to her back before having the Hazard Shield form on her.
- In Metroid: Samus Returns, Samus adopts a similar pose initially to the one used for the suit upgrades in Metroid Prime, and then shows her readying her arm cannon while it is pointed up.
Gallery
 Overlayed character models from Other M showing the proportional differences between Samus and her suit.  Metroid Manga The Japanese Metroid commercial, giving off steam.  Early Power Suit in a Japanese Metroid flyer.  Metroid Prime concept art.  Gene Kohler render.  Art from Metroid Prime.  Prime Morph Ball form.  Menu screen in Metroid Prime.  Scan images for the Suits Inventory category in Corruption.  Metroid: Samus Returns. The Power Suit resembles its appearance in Metroid Prime.   Save Station; Super Metroid  Metroid: Other M  An early version of the Power Suit found in the code of Metroid: Other M. Differences include lack of shoulder lines and a differently coloured Arm Cannon.  Other M textures  Samus' Power Suit in a Metroid: Other M flashback.  The model for the suit seen in the Other M flashback.  Metroid  Suitless Power Suit in Metroid  Metroid II: Return of Samus  Super Metroid Metroid Zero Mission  Super Smash Bros. Brawl trophy render.  Trilogy loading screen.  Super Metroid artwork of the Varia Suit.  Melee trophy  Brawl trophy |
References
- ^ a b Ruins Test interview
- ^ Rezbit virus
- ^ The Metroid Database :: Features - Metroid FAQ (EN - English). Metroid Database. Retrieved on 2009-12-29.
See also
| Samus Aran's Suits | |
|---|---|
| Power Suits | Power Suit • Varia Suit (Varia) • Gravity Suit • Zero Suit Fully Powered Suit • Justin Bailey • Phazon Suit • Dark Suit • Light Suit PED Suit • Hazard Shield • Fusion Suit • "Omega Suit" • Metroid Suit • Green Samus |
| Attire | Casual Outfit • Military Dress • Civilian Clothes • Parka • Training outfit |
| Mechanics | Power Suit Mechanics • Fusion Suit Mechanics • Suit Upgrade Properties |