Editing Samus (section)

==Wargear==

As would be expected of the inheritor of one of her galaxy's most advanced civilizations, Samus has ready access to some of the most overpowered weapons and armor in existence. Even weapons and tech not created by the Chozo can still borderline effortlessly be integrated into her power armor for use at her leisure. Unfortunately for Samus, despite becoming a force no natural disaster could ever compete with by the end of every game, some unprecedented event or catastrophe resets her suit to a much more basic form at the beginning/near beginning of almost every single main-stream sequel that follows. While the obvious, practical reason this happens is entirely to make the game an actual ''game'', the fluff reasons tend to be pretty hit-or-miss (if there even is a reason) These include:
* Getting shot down while leaving Zebes, which also somehow completely destroyed Samus' power suit. This resulted in Samus having to infiltrate a Space Pirate-occupied Chozo temple in order to get a completely new Power Suit. While actually occuring rather far into the game, it does completely negate literally every weapon, armor and utility upgrade Samus collected until then. (Zero Mission)
* Getting caught in a chain reaction of explosions while investigating a derelict Space Pirate Frigate. The damage causes her suit to malfunction and reboot in the most basic loadout (Prime)
* While investigating the planet Aether for a Federation Patrol that went MIA, Samus entered a portal to an alternate version of the planet. She was promptly mugged by the resident Ing, each of which stole a piece of tech that Samus had to hunt down and pry from their cold, dead claws to retrieve. In another instance of post-game downgrading, despite acquiring weapons [[Warp Weapons|capable of sending their targets into alternate dimensions]], Samus voluntarily reverts her suit and weapons to their pre-Aether adventure state and returns the tech to the Luminoth before departing. (Prime 2)
* While mounting a defense against a Space Pirate invasion of Norion, Samus was ultimately corrupted by Phazon. While this didn't necessarily remove many abilities, it did require a refit of her Power Suit to keep her from turning into ''another'' Dark Samus. (Prime 3)
* While there was no explanation, Samus began her Metroid-Extermination mission on SR-388 and her second raid on Zebes in her basic Power Suit. Possibly to avoid losing some of the fancy toys she picked up between the first Metroid game and now? (Metroid II and Super Metroid, respectively)
* In a rather unusual turn of events, Samus retained most of her armor abilities from the beginning of Other M, but [[wat|lacked the clearance]] to use them initially. In a way, this does kind of make sense, as flying around in a giant energy death ball while dropping bombs that atomize borderline anything with a pulse doesn't exactly create an environment conducive for allied Federation forces. That said, it's safe to say [[Marines Malevolent | Samus isn't retarded enough to indiscriminately nuke friend and foe alike]], so it's kind of a hollow excuse. (Other M)
* While escorting a research team on the recently de-Metroided SR-388, Samus is infected by an X-Parasite. Shortly afterwards, Samus narrowly escaped death when she lost consciousness and her ship ejected her before it crashed into an asteroid belt. Scientists had to surgically strip Samus' still-active power suit down in order to operate, with the infected parts consequently becoming a murderous clone of Samus at the peak of her power. Samus, on the otherhand, was left with a watered down power suit that actually rendered her genetically incompatible with several of her former abilities while making her cripplingly weak to anything cold. (Fusion)
* When sent to investigate signs of a possible X-Parasite sighting on planet ZDR by the Galactic Federation (as the only one immune to them), Samus gets thoroughly bodied by Raven Beak. Rather than kill her, however, Raven Beak saw some latent potential within her and simply decided to take a majority of Samus' gear and install it within the E.M.M.I hunting her. (Dread)

Ultimately all these increasingly dramatic incidents prove to be minor inconveniences at best, as even when completely stripped of her fancy toys and tools, Samus still reclaims most if not all the lost equipment in short order. More often than not, she even picks up yet more powerful goodies along the way too.

===Standard Suits===
These suits often have some incarnation or another in most Metroid titles, with Samus usually starting in either the Power or Varia suit, depending on how bad her suit got scratched that day.

'''Power Suit:''' The base and vanilla form of Samus' power armor, the power suit was tailor-made specifically for Samus by her adoptive Chozo parents. Able to be summoned and dismissed at will, the power suit provides basic protection against hostile environments and any local fauna that might be feeling extra frisky. Ultimately, the basic power suit is actually rather fragile and is probably comparable to Eldar mesh armor for all the protection it provides, of course ignoring the shields that make up her actual defence. While a number of games start Samus off in this, several others go ahead and just have Samus keep the more advanced Varia suit instead.

'''Varia Suit:''' The iconic suit Samus is most often portrayed in, the Varia suit is a stark upgrade over the Power Suit in every way. In addition to a much improved defense, the Varia suit provides incomplete protection from high temperature environments (unsurprisingly, substances like lava still severely damage the suit) and is often acquired relatively early on in most games. It's also the first suit that gives Samus unyieldingly massive pauldrons. Its durability would probably compare to Space Marine power armor, while sacrificing none of her insane mobility (in fact, she often gets far more potent mobility enhancing upgrades ''after'' this armor upgrade). It also provides complete immunity to acid in Zero Mission, though apparently Zebesian acid isn't anywhere near as strong as Pirate Homeworld Acid or Fuel Gel given that those can still damage the shielding of the suit.

'''Gravity Suit:''' Often the last or second to last suit upgrade acquired, the Gravity Suit offers complete immunity to high temperature environments, yet higher defensive capabilities, and allows Samus to operate in both underwater and underlava environments completely unrestricted. While Samus still retains her super-olympian maneuverability, this thing is probably comparable to Tartaros-Pattern Terminator armor for all the punishment it can take.

===Non-Standard Suits===
These suits are all unconventional, one-off suits Samus acquires either through circumstance or being "gifted" to her.

'''Phazon Suit:''' An unintended "upgrade", this is actually a corrupted version of Samus' Gravity Suit that was created when a giant, Phazon-enhanced Space Pirate fell on top of her and melted. While no negative traits manifested, it provided Samus with immunity to most forms of Phazon and the ability to channel it into a highly destructive beam of energy (in the right circumstance). Samus loses it when Metroid Prime attacks her in a last ditch effort to save itself. This sort of works; though Samus walks away unharmed, Metroid Prime is able to use the Phazon Suit to reconstitute itself into Dark Samus. (Prime)

'''Dark Suit:''' A piece of Luminoth technology, the Dark Suit was created to provide some protection from the lethal atmosphere of Dark Aether. This suit falls roughly in between the Varia/Gravity suit in that an upgrade confers the unrestricted movement underwater the Gravity Suit is capable of, but lacks the physical and environmental protection it has. It also has a noticeably different design from most of Samus' suits, due to its Luminoth heritage. (Prime 2)

'''Light Suit:''' A fuck-awesome suit that seamlessly merges Luminoth and Chozo tech into one of the sleekest looking suits Samus has ever worn. In addition to the complete immunity to the toxic atmosphere and water of Dark Aether, it confers Samus with the ability to ride through the shafts of light spread across Aether, allowing instantaneous travel between the major regions of the planet. Unlike almost every other suit downgrade Samus goes through, Samus voluntarily returns the Light Suit tech (and presumably all other related weapons and armor upgrades) to the Luminoth after she destroyed Dark Aether. (Prime 2)

'''PED Suit:''' A Federation-modified version of Samus' Varia suit that, while intended to contain and harness Samus' Phazon corruption, actually made her more susceptible to said corruption. This suit allows Samus to tap into the Phazon she naturally generates post-corruption and use it to empower her attacks and defense dramatically (most attacks cannot damage her). The cost, however, is that should she engage this mode and not vent or maintain this rapidly-generating energy for too long, it will result in her transforming into a second Dark Samus, which is an automatic game over. Upon destroying the sentient planet Phaaze (and thus the source of all Phazon), Samus reverts back to her Varia suit. (Prime 3)

'''Hazard Shield:''' While not called a suit upgrade outright, this Metroid prime 3 only upgrade serves the gameplay purpose that a new suit upgrade does. Though the changes it makes to the suit are fairly low key, making Samus' pauldrons shaped like D12 dice instead of the usual spheres, by the time you get them Samus' phazon corruption has already progressed far enough to give most of her suit; particularly her limb armour, a purple hue that's a fairly deliberate visual reference to the Gravity Suit. This upgrade makes Samus immune to the very worst of corrosive chemical agents that can damage even the normally acid immune Varia Suit's shielding; letting her take a dip in fuel gel or take a stroll outdoors in the space pirate homeworld [[Forgeworld|where centuries of pollution from unclean industrial technology have fucked up the atmosphere so hard that the raindrops there are some of the most destructive chemical agents in the universe.]]

'''Fusion Suit:''' A watered down power suit that was created as a result of Samus' Metroid hybridization. Due to inheriting the genetics of the Metroids, Samus gains the ability to consume X-Parasites simply through contact, but gained a crippling weakness to cold environments and weaponry. Aesthetically, due to the fact a majority of her original suit was surgically removed, the Fusion Suit is thus far the slimmest suit Samus has ever worn, lacking any sort of major armor plating (including a complete lack of pauldrons). The introduction of Metroid DNA also created a fleshy coating to ensconce a majority of her armor, giving it a very organic, muscular appearance. Per Metroid Dread, she is still utilizing a variant/upgraded version of the Fusion Suit that once again has prominent pauldrons, but still has muscular tissue weaving across her armor.

'''Metroid Suit''': Gained at the climax of Dread. This suit was gained upon the Metroid DNA within Samus fully awakening mere moments before Raven Beak could kill her at the conclusion of their final duel. The suit itself is almost entirely organic in design, resembling some form of carapace with harsh, red lines of energy lining it (and more than a passing resemblance to Dark Samus, albeit palette-swapped). Though she only had this suit for a brief time, it immensely increased Samus' metroid characteristics, enabling her to rapidly drain the life force of Raven Beak and the flying command center they were in to the point that it simply dropped out of the sky. Unfortunately, Samus had little to no control of this ability and risked draining her own starship of energy simply from interacting with the controls of the ship. Fortunately, an X-Parasite infected Quiet Robe willingly allowed itself to be absorbed, providing enough Thoha DNA to suppress Samus' metroid abilities and revert her back to her Gravity Suit. It is unknown if Samus retains the ability to activate this suit or if it has been suppressed permanently. During the brief segment where the player controls Samus in this suit she has unlimited health and can only die if the timer before ZDR exploding runs out.

===Standard Arm Cannon Loadouts===
Another feature synonymous with Samus' Power Suit is the highly advanced multi-purpose gun that always comprises her suit's right arm. Her armament varies between games; some versions simply stack beam upgrades while other beams are mutually exclusive selections. That said, there is always a golden standard readily available to her.

'''Power Beam:''' Just as the Power Suit forms the foundation for all of Samus' other suits, so too does the Power Beam for almost all of Samus' weapons. In all cases, the Power Beam is a relatively weak energy weapon that makes up for its minimal damage output with an absurdly high rate of fire and unlimited ammunition. In almost all circumstances, the Power Beam is rendered obsolete by all other beam technologies, if it's not outright upgraded into them. In the first game and zero mission, it requires the Long Beam to be able to shoot across the entire screen which also gives it a bit of a damage boost but in every other game the Power Beam seems to have the long range function by default.

'''Missile:''' One of the few weapons Samus regularly uses that requires ammunition, Missiles are often utilized against moderately armored foes and to destroy various pieces of terrain or barriers barring Samus' path. In the Prime series of games, Missles are able to lock onto and track targets. This makes them modestly useful against fast and/or airborne targets. Additionally, an upgrade in Prime 2 and 3 allows Samus to fire up to 5 of them simultaneously, either in a spread, tracking up to 5 separate targets, or all 5 locked onto one single target.

'''Super Missile:''' Another ammunition reliant weapon, the Super Missile is a high-powered projectile that deals heavy damage to most targets. While in most traditional games it uses an entirely separate ammo, the Prime games simply utilize 5 standard missiles in conjunction with a charged beam to fire. In the first two prime games, every Beam type has a Super-Missile variant, with the form, function and ammo cost changing based on the beam. Each is still usually a powerful blast that can hit multiple enemies with one shot, however several of these variants have limited or situational uses compared to the standard Super Missile.

'''Charge Beam:''' Not necessarily a beam in its own right, this upgrade adds the functionality to focus any beam's energy into a single charged shot (as the name implies). While dramatically reducing the rate of fire, the resulting charged beam is often many times more powerful than the standard shot and usually amplifies the secondary effects the beam might cause. In Fusion, it also upgrades the base beam, making it fire crescent wave shots that do more damage and can potentially hit more than one target at a time.

'''Ice Beam:''' Occasionally a direct upgrade, occasionally an alternate beam altogether, the Ice Beam is a low-to-non damaging weapon that is primarily used to immobilize hostile targets to use as either parkour platforms, or to shatter through judicious use of missiles. The Prime variant of the Ice-Beam is notable for having a Super-Missile variant called the Ice Spreader, which fires a medium-sized sheet of freezing energy over an area. The most prominent targets for this beam are the namesake Metroids Samus often finds herself hunting, with almost all sub-breeds and evolutions having a horrible weakness to it.

'''Wave Beam:''' Often a direct upgrade of the Power Beam, most incarnations of the Wave Beam increase the damage of Samus' primary energy projectiles while allowing them to completely phase through most terrain and structures. In most cases, there is no additional effects tied to the beam itself, though being able to kill someone in the next room over is hardly arguable. Interestingly, the Prime version of this weapon is drastically different. With a slightly slower rate of fire than the Power Beam, and not retaining the wall penetrating aspects all other versions have, the Wave Beam is an electric-based energy weapon that will moderately track targets that Samus locks onto. Additionally, many targets hit by the charged shot are stunned for several seconds, allowing Samus to swiftly dispatch them in the interim. The Super-Missile variant unleashes a devastating torrent of energy that latches onto targets, it depletes missiles at a rapid rate in order to fuel. Also kinda gives off ghostbuster vibes while channeling it. While generally not amazingly useful for most situations, the Wavebuster combo makes an invisible drone that serves as the boss guarding the power bombs a complete joke since it automatically tracks the fucker and stunlocks it to death, sparing you from what is otherwise a difficult fight with an enemy that hits like a truck and can only be manually targeted.

'''Plasma Beam:''' Usually a near-endgame upgrade, the Plasma beam dramatically increases the damage of Samus' base projectiles. In most cases, the Plasma beam also penetrates targets, allowing Samus to slaughter multiple enemies with only a few well-aimed shots. Similarly to the Wave beam, the Plasma Beam is considerably different in its Prime incarnation. With a shorter range, but same rate of fire as the Power Beam, the Plasma Beam is the strongest conventional weapon available to Samus, with the Charged shot being slightly stronger than a super-missile. Additionally, the few creatures not outright disintegrated by a charged shot are usually set ablaze afterwards. If Samus is feeling a bit like a Salamander or Sister of Battle, she can use the Super Missile variant of the Plasma beam to channel a high-powered flamethrower to roast whatever moronic creature pissed her off.
*Works a bit differently in ''Prime 3'': it's a direct upgrade to the Power Beam, deals somewhat increased damage to armored Pirates, charged shots deal damage-over-time to enemies, and it can melt scrap metal and solder circuit boards to solve environmental puzzles. But besides that it deals no increased damage on its own, to force the player to keep using Hypermode instead.

'''Spazer Beam:''' Alternatively known as the Wide Beam in Fusion, this direct upgrade splits Samus' projectiles into three separate shots, without sacrificing rate of fire or beam strength. It allows Samus to hit multiple targets simultaneously, or simply broaden just how much space she can fill with overpowered dakka.

===Non-Standard Arm Cannon Loadout===
Similarly to the specialized, one-off suits Samus acquires, there are select beams that only ever see one, maybe two incarnations.

'''Phazon Beam:''' While some variant of this exists in all 3 Prime games, they're all situational, specialized beams that rely on either an external factor or risk in order to use. Even though they differ drastically, each is an extremely powerful weapon that does ludicrous amounts of damage to a given target, with most of said targets being impervious or highly resistant to all other weaponry Samus has access too. As stated though, the circumstances that Phazon can be used as a weapon are severely limited and either require an external source of Phazon, or the usage of Samus' own energy to access. (All 3 Prime games). The Phazon beam is quite different in all three games, in the first it only activates when Samus stands in pools of pure Phazon produced by the Metroid Prime and only has an automatic firing mode that spits out a spray of blue laser beams of death that are the only thing that can hurt the true form of the metroid prime, while also one shotting the metroids it spawns (even the nasty Fission Metroids that can normally only be damaged by the beam corresponding to their color). In metroid prime 2 it is gained by using the charge beam to suck up phazon particles Dark Samus vents in her final, phazon overloaded form to cause her hurt and if you hack the game to fire it at anything else it basically one shots them. In Prime 3 it's basically a standard beam whose charge shot function is to very rapidly fire a lot of bursts, the damage is toned down since it's not a final battle supermode, but it is necessary to beat phazon based enemies or enemies engaging hypermode in anything resembling a timely manner. It still packs a hell of punch so even against the enemies it's not required to kill it's a useful weapon.

'''Dark Beam:''' Unusual in that it is a beam that utilizes ammo, the Dark Beam concentrates the energies native to Dark Aether into a relatively slow moving projectile that, when charged, immobilizes targets with tendrils of darkness that sear their bound targets with its malevolent energies. Additionally, the Super-Missile variant [[rape| rips open a portal to an alternate dimension and drags hapless, nearby creatures and humanoids into what is effectively a miniature black hole that tears them apart on the molecular level]]. Unsurprisingly, using this beam on the denizens of Dark Aether is like trying to kill a shark with a water gun, so it is largely useless in that dimension. Also behaves like a pseudo-Ice Beam, in that dark blobs immobilize targets (including Metroids) for easy missile kills. (Prime 2).

'''Light Beam:''' Like all the other beams in Prime 2 (Power Beam exempted), the Light Beam relies on ammunition to remain effective. Similar to the (Prime) Plasma Beam, the Light Beam fires off rapid fire, short range bursts of focused light energies that burn through Ing and things possessed by them like a hot knife through butter. The charged shot functions like a shotgun, firing a spread of individual shots that ignite targets indiscriminately. Contrarily to the Dark Beam, the Super-Missile variant of the light beam creates what is basically a miniature sun which slowly drifts forward immolating all in its path. Upon striking an enemy or surface, it then explodes in a burst of fire. Overall serves as a pseudo-Plasma beam, with charged attacks giving it the firepower of the BFG 9000 but coloured white instead of green. (Prime 2)

'''Annihilator Beam:''' A combination of both the Light and Dark beams, using both of their ammo reserves to function, the Annihilator beam is among the most lethal of all Samus' rather diverse selection of weaponry (seeing as how she had to rip it out of an Ing-possessed robot roughly half-again taller than an Imperial Knight, one would hope it would be respectively powerful). The lore says it slams dark ammo and light ammo into each other to create [[awesome|antimatter]], which in turn slams into regular matter for a big bang. While shot-for-shot not as powerful as using the Light Beam vs. Ing or Dark Beam vs. Non-Ing, its rapid rate of fire, range, generous tracking capabilities and with no enemy resisting it make this beam a potent all around force to be reckoned with. The Super Missile variant of the Annihilator beam, upon firing, instantaneously strikes the first target or surface it was pointed at and creates a sizable rift in space that rips apart everything unfortunate enough to be in the area. This power comes at a heavy price though, consuming both a number of Samus' missiles and a sizable portion of both her Dark and Light beam ammo reserves. (Prime 2)

'''Metroid Prime Hunters Beams:''' Each of the Bounty Hunters introduced in Metroid Prime Hunters had a unique beam that Samus was able to acquire for her personal use over the course of the game. Each of these beams utilized ammo in order to fire, much like the Dark and Light beams from Echoes. While Samus was able to utilize these weapons effectively, they had more powerful effects in the hands of their original hunters.
*''BattleHammer'': Weavel's signature weapon, this rapid-fire beam lobs a steady stream of explosive rounds at medium ranges. This beam has no charged variation and each shot detonates upon contact with any surface. When Weavel uses it, the rate of fire decreases, but the damage and explosion radius of each round increases significantly. Additionally, when Weavel cuts himself in half (his "morph ball"), his legs transform into a stationary turret that lobs BattleHammer shots at nearby foes. The BattleHammer is notably a nuclear weapon, not in the sense that it fires nuclear warheads, but that its shells apparently are so heavy they need a nuclear reaction to launch. Okay then.
*''Imperialist'': Trace's signature weapon is the only instance of a sniper-type weapon introduced in any Metroid game and fires a big red hitscan laser, which unfortunately makes it really easy to track where the shot came from. While it has no charge ability and an incredibly low rate of fire, it has the single longest range of any other weapon available to the hunters (to the degree that it actually has a scope functionality) and can kill any of the Hunters with a headshot. While the weapon itself doesn't change in the hands of Trace, it does cloak him while he stands still with it equipped. 
*''Judicator'': Noxus's signature weapon has a slow rate of fire as it shoots forth shards of supercooled plasma chilled to just a smidgen above absolute zero, but deals respectable damage at mid range with the shots ricocheting off of surfaces. When Samus or any other hunter charges the beam, it fires three shots at once in a manner quite similar to a shotgun. Noxus, however, converts it into a short-ranged sheet that instantly freezes any enemies engulfed by it.
*''Magmaul'': Spire's signature weapon is functionally a grenade, launching short-ranged chunks of superheated magma waiting for an excuse to explode into rock vapour that can bounce off surfaces until they either detonate a few seconds later, or on contact with hostile forces. Charging the shot results in a much larger blast radius that does significantly more damage, with Spire's Magmaul igniting enemies engulfed by it for additional damage.
*''Shock Coil'': Sylux's signature weapon is the only sustained fire beam available, launching a short-range arc of "high density neutrinos" (even though the amount of neutrinos you'd need to cause harm to a living being would need so much energy you're better off just using your "lance bombardment ain't shit" levels of energy instead to kill the guy) that latches onto nearby targets automatically and rapidly drains their health. As time progresses, the damage done per second increases to absurd levels and can slaughter enemy hunters in mere moments. Unlike anyone else who uses it, Sylux absorbs all damage done point for point, making him extraordinarily hard to kill in close quarters.
*''Volt Driver'': Kanden's signature weapon operates like a hybrid of the power beam and wave beam (prime 1). Basic shots are for all intents and purposes, just the power beam. Charged shots, however, transform into a slow moving explosive that does significant damage to enemies caught in its blast. Kanden's charge blast homes in on nearby targets and disrupts their visors in a burst of electricity. Said to have "terawatts" of energy in every shot, meaning each impact is comparable to a tactical nuclear warhead or greater than the entirety of the world's energy demands. It is also said to draw this from the planet's magnetosphere which is even sillier as powering even one of these shots would drain an entire thunderstorm dry.
*''Omega Cannon'': The super weapon of the Hunters game, the Omega Cannon is a single shot beam that does massive damage to everything within a massive radius, including the user in the multiplayer mode where it kills literally anyone who can see the blast. In the single player it doesn't do anywhere near as much self damage but you can fire it more than once. Due to the unique nature of this beam, it is only available during the fight against Gorea in the Single Player, or only on one stage in the Multiplayer as a power up.

'''Nova Beam:''' Both an upgrade to the ''Prime 3'' Plasma Beam and a new take on the the traditional Wave beam, the Nova beam has the capacity to ignore and simply pass through surfaces and armor comprised of a material known as Phazite. When used in conjunction with the X-Ray visor, Samus can use it to identify vital organs of certain enemies like Metroids and Space Pirates, and snipe them with a single shot. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YyBtMxZgQs This allows Samus to kill formerly formidable Space Pirate Commandos like they were some backwater Conscript fresh out of boot.] (Prime 3)

'''Hyper Beam:''' An extremely potent weapon (in game stats show it does enough damage to kill most anything in one hit, even a number of bosses), Samus only obtains this weapon from the Sacrifice of the Baby Metroid she rescued. It makes extremely short work of the recently resurrected Mother Brain, and aids in Samus' hasty escape from Zebes as it begins to explode following MB's death. It's not explained if this beam was simply a temporary effect of the Metroid's energy infusion, or if it's a permanent weapon upgrade Samus shelved following the mission. Regardless, it is safe to say Samus no longer possesses it.
* A new version of this appears at the end of Dread. Samus taking energy from Raven Beak allows her gun fire a '''giant''' continous red energy stream of pure death. Samus first using it on Raven Beak after he's infected by an X-Parasite and blasts him to tiny parasite. She then uses the beam to finish off the X-Parasite, not even needing to absorb it like the others. The player gets to play around with this for the escape sequence. Everything shot by this beam is killed instantly, enemies, obstactles that are immune to beams, '''everything'''.

'''Diffusion Beam:''' A pretty forgettable beam originating from Other M that is rather uniquely; for Other M that is; acquired the conventional metroid way by destroying a drone miniboss that has the requisite technology that Samus then acquires after defeating it. It doesn't really seem to affect the base beam all that much, but it gives the charge shot a big sparkly area of effect to wipe out large numbers of enemies at a time. It's pretty boring overall though the SFXes it produces are kind of pretty.

===Utilities and other abilities===
In order to progress through otherwise impassable obstacles and terrain, Samus has access to a wide variety of multi-purpose tools that aren't necessarily used strictly to vaporize anything with sharp teeth (that doesn't stop her from using some of these tools to do just that anyways). The recurring ones are as follows:

'''Morph Ball:''' Another iconic ability, and often one of if not the first upgrades acquired (if not already just loaded in by default), this allows Samus to transform into a compact sphere roughly 1 meter in diameter. In addition to allowing her to slip into otherwise tight spaces, it also allows her to activate a good many devices through rather conveniently shaped power conduit sockets. This form has a variety of abilities and weapons exclusive to it as well:
*''Bomb:'' Sometimes included by default, other times a separate upgrade, Samus can use this to lay up to 3 consecutive energy bombs that serve multiple purposes. In addition to being the default manner of attack for the Morph Ball, the bombs are also used to destroy weakened or lightly armored structures, to power on aforementioned power conduits or devices, or to propel Samus into the air in a technique aptly named the "bomb jump". As of Samus Returns, the bomb upgrade now has no limit on the number of bombs it can have on screen at a time as a convenience factor. A rather obscure trick is that in some two dimensional games, if you have a beam charged and enter morph ball mode you'll drop a whole bunch of bombs, not exactly useful as usually the charge shot would do more damage but it is still there all the same.
*''Power Bomb:'' One of the most powerful weapons Samus gets access to, Power Bombs are used to destroy heavily armored structures and terrain while straight up obliterating anything within its rather large blast zone. Unlike the regular bomb, the Power Bomb is reliant on relatively limited ammunition. It has some combos with the beams in Super Metroid but these are obscure tricks the game never tells you about of somewhat questionable utility that have never appeared since Super Metroid. It's also used as fuel for Samus' crystal flash move, another obscure super metroid only manoeuvre that sacrifices Samus' stocks of ammo to restore her shielding to full capacity. 
*''Spider Ball:'' The first strictly non-lethal upgrade to the Morph Ball enables Samus to cling to most surfaces and scale them with ease. This ability is somewhat limited in the Prime franchise, as it can only cling to magnetic rails specifically designed for it so as to not trivialise platforming or open Pandora's box of level geometry abuse.
*''Spring Ball:'' Basically it lets her jump in morph ball mode without having to wait for a bomb to detonate. It's mostly a convenience thing and while not initially present in the first two prime games, it's a default ability in prime 3 and was retroactively added to the other two in the re-release. It notably makes the Spider Ball Guardian, perhaps the most frustrating boss in Metroid Prime 2 due to its reliance on extremely exacting morphball platforming puzzles and very limited opportunities to recover shielding, much easier on any difficulty.
*''Boost Ball:'' Exclusive to the Prime games, this allows Samus to charge up her Morph Ball with energy and launch forward at high speeds. In addition to letting her act as a literal cannonball, it is also used to perform sick tricks in half-pipe structures and burst through things like metal grates. Aside from the Speed Boost, this is Samus' fastest "standard" method of travel.

'''Grapple Beam:''' A coherent beam of energy that allows Samus to tether to points either in the environment or on specific creatures. Environmentally, it allows Samus to swing from point to point, crossing otherwise impassable or treacherous crevices and the like. Not usually an offensive weapon, Samus still does use the Grapple Beam to rip off shields and armor of certain enemies in order to promptly execute them. When charged with Phazon, she can also either use it to either sap all the energy/phazon out of a target, or flood it with so much Phazon that it simply explodes in a shower of gore and blue goo.

'''High Jump Boots:''' Like the name implies, this boosts the height and speed of Samus' base jumps. Effectively outmoded the moment she acquires the Space Jump.

'''Space Jump:''' Another common ability, the Space Jump effectively gives Samus the ability to fly by letting her jump repeatedly through the air. As an efficient and expeditious manner of travel, it is admittedly lacking, but as it normally has an unlimited number of uses, it still allows Samus to bypass almost every environmental obstacle not involving water, lava or destructible terrain. Combined with the screw attack however, it lets Samus be a constantly moving whirling buzzsaw of death that's almost impervious to attack while instantly destroying nearly everything it touches. The Prime series limits the Space Jump into a single mid-air jump, though the reasons for this are strictly for the gameplay.

'''Screw Attack:''' An augment of the Space Jump, the Screw Attack envelops Samus in a sheathe of energy that outright evaporates all lesser creatures that come into contact with it and severely injures everything else. As it is activated by jumping through the air, Samus can remain in this state almost indefinitely and can only be knocked out of it by a similarly powerful attack or projectile (like the SA-X who can also use the Screw Attack). In the Prime games, it functions similarly, however it allows Samus to propel herself forward up to 5 times as well as wall jump up specific surfaces.

'''Speed Boost:''' This upgrade allows Samus to run at ludicrous speeds, enveloping herself in a shroud of lethal energy that not only lets her simply charge through anyone foolish enough to stand in her way, but also straight up ram through a variety of terrain that would otherwise block her way. This energy can be temporarily stored by abruptly crouching mid run, then promptly used to propel Samus in a completely different direction, or simply launch herself through the air until she collides with a solid object in a technique called the "Shinespark".

'''Aeion:''' A unique energy found on SR-388 that was responsible for the Metroid's original evolutions and the power source for a variety of abilities Samus can perform, should she have the Aeion reserves needed.
*''Scan Pulse/Pulse Radar:'' Upon activation, a wave of energy bursts forth from Samus, identifying hidden items, pathways or destructible terrain that may have otherwise escaped Samus' notice.
*''Lightning Armor:'' A protective and damaging shield of green lightning, Lightning Armor allows Samus to enter otherwise hazardous environments and avoid taking damage from attacks, at the cost of Aeion energy for damage absorbed.
*''Beam Burst:'' Exchanging the ability to use her Charge Beam, this turns Samus' arm cannon into a fully automatic, rapid-firing weapon capable of outputting an immense barrage of firepower, while her Aeion reserves allow.
*''Phase Drift:'' Arguably one of the most powerful abilities Samus had access to, this enabled her to perform any action 50% faster than normal. This effectively slowed the flow of time for Samus while active, allowing her to easily outmaneuver enemies and cross unstable terrain before it can collapse underneath her feet.
*''Phantom Cloak:'' This ability functions as a cloaking device, silencing any movements Samus makes while rendering her invisible to most enemies and sensors. Her Aeion gauge depletes much more quickly if she moves or fires any weapons while it's active.
*''Flash Shift:'' Another evasive ability, Flash Shift grants Samus up to three consecutive bursts of speed, enabling her to swiftly dodge enemy attacks or quickly close the distance for a counter attack.

'''Visors:''' Often only playing a role in the Prime series, Samus' visor is surprisingly one of the most useful tools at her disposal. The default mode it is in is simply the Combat Visor, which displays her HUD as well as an advanced targeting system that lets her lock onto opponents or objects should the need arise.
*''Scan Visor:'' Though it wouldn't seem it, the Scan Visor is probably the single most powerful tool Samus has access too. In addition to providing background information on individuals, native flora, fauna, etc., it allows her to quickly translate most alien languages at a glance, identify structural or anatomical weaknesses on a target, hack into computer terminals and remotely activate a great many devices when the need arises. As this is never a function Samus has to acquire from an external source, it's also safe to say it's just a baseline feature of her Power suit.
*''Thermal Visor:'' This gives Samus thermal-based vision. Kind of self explanatory, really. Still relatively useful in low-light or otherwise visually obscured conditions.
*''X-Ray Visor:'' Another relatively straight forward visor, this gives Samus the ability to see through a variety of terrain, structures, enemies, or other miscellaneous objects. In Prime 3, it can be used in conjunction with the Nova Beam to simply snipe the vital organs of a good many foes, killing them with as few as one to two standard shots. This was the first variant visor to appear in the series, as an equivalent called the ''X-Ray Scope'' was an optional power-up hidden in the Brinstar region of Super Metroid.
*''Dark Visor:'' Kind of a hybrid between the Thermal and X-Ray visor, the Dark Visor allows Samus to track cloaked enemies by seeing into other dimensions.
*''Echo Visor:'' This gives Samus the ability to "see" sound, including sounds that are otherwise outside the normal range of hearing. Used in conjunction with the Annihilator beam to interact with sonar-based equipment.
*''Command Visor:'' Essentially a remote control for Samus' ship, this allows her call down bombing runs, use her ship to lift massive objects out of the way, or simply tell it to land in another location. Surprisingly one of the least useful visors Samus uses, as 99% of the time, she's not in a location or position to utilize her ship offensively.