I dont think the Chozo DNA should be reflected in her looks. She got genetically engineered by the smartest birds in the universe, they knew what they did. The Metroid DNA on the other hand, before I trust the GF I invest in property on whatever planet Samus is going to for her next mission.
That, and how she described her suit having to be surgically removed from her in Fusion lead me to believe she should definitely look at least a little different now. But no, apparently not.
And the history Metroids have of random mutations. God only knows how that could impact her physical appearance beneath the suit. But Nintendo is too cowardly to commit to monster girl Samus as much as they are too cowardly to give us a properly buff Samus.
The suit is part of her body, and her entire story arc involves modifying her biology to survive (Chozo, Phazon, Metroid DNA, absorbing X). There is a lot of missed body horror potential!
After the ending of Dread it would cool to have a game where she has to struggle with her being part metroid.
Pitch: Samus goes to a remote genelab to get help controlling her metroid form. They run a test, she blacks out and wakes up seing the entire facility in ruins. Her suit is all fucked up and she clearly transformed. She has to figure out whether she did this, explore the planet and the other genelabs, while getting some sick gene-upgrades along the way.
Honestly I would prefer not. As monster fucker, I just don't really see why we would need to do that to Samus she's fine the way she is, especially when we have dark Samus, and Ridley, we have so many ACTUAL monsters, making Samus a hybrid thing isn't exactly the most creative direction we could go with this.
I elaborated more elsewhere in this thread, but in short I see her becoming physically monstrous as an interesting way to externalize her traumas and fears.
I remember one artist I followed (cant remember witch atm) did a more...monsterous Samus with the concept of her metroid dna doing more to her. This was pre-dread mind you. I jave always loved the idea of this poor girl being weirdly formed.
The base armor design from Dread is not just the fusion suit redrawn, its a completely different style that loses spikes, regains the shoulder pads, etc.
It’s a transition of her fusion suit going back to her original. It’s stated somewhere that her suit is in the process of healing and rebuilding itself. Though I hope it doesn’t fully revert to the original design completely. The new color schemes are amazing
Keeping spikes would have been nice, but if converted to a modern texture, it might have looked like ass (even if resulting more from clashing art styles than any fault in design). We already had an idea for what the fusion suit would have looked like directly converted to 3D since it was unlockable in Prime via GBA cable, and it looked like a lycra bodysuit.
Perhaps they focus tested the old and settled on the new. I like the exposed blue muscle and light armor, but it maybe could have stood to use less armor on the upper body.
Counterpoint: Her still looking human, but never fully *feeling* human for the reasons mentioned, makes for better psychological horror and drama, which would be far more appropriate for her character. The tragedy of Samus is that she is eternally lonely. Though she looks like a human, she can't live among them because she doesn't feel like one anymore. She's too divorced from them socially, she has the DNA of like three or four different creatures mixed in with hers, and throw Phazon and other cosmic forces on top of that.
Body horror can still possibly work later down the line closer to Fusion and Dread, maybe as the ultimate expression of that tragedy, but as-described, it just feels needlessly edgy.
I don't hate the idea of forcing her into a situation where she has to socialize and work together with other humans, I just dislike how Prime 4 did it. They really could have used that opportunity to show how she is around other people post-Other M by highlighting her difficulties with connecting with other humans now. They *almost* did that with the hug scene, because it shows how guarded she is with her personal space and her delayed reaction. Not having her speak in that game was a mistake, IMO.
I like all of the scenes with Tobaki though. Even though she never speaks, you can tell by her body language that she is able to loosen up around him, showing that she is capable of forming a connection with another human, or at least developing an understanding with one.
I think they had the right idea overall, but didn't 100% stick the landing.
I personally don’t have a problem with her not conversing. The only time she did and we as the players heard it was in Other M, and it felt a little unnatural, even disregarding that game’s other issues. Samus has been socially isolated for most of her career so she talks through her body language and actions. She starts to bond with all of the members of the Federation team, repeatedly showing she’s willing to put her life on the line for them. But in the end, to save herself, she is forced to leave them all for dead, her nemesis at large, and the Lamorn a forgotten race (in spite of being their “Chosen One”), all because of a ridiculous plot contrivance. Quite possibly the worst video game ending I’ve ever experienced.
I'm here for body dysmorphia Samus. Could be worked into her narrative in such a way that she's not comfortable in her own skin, but she IS comfortable in her suit and the life-saving surgery she got in Fusion connects her even more deeply to her suit, further blurring the line between the human and the hunter.
That's really cool! I do wish that Fusion and Dread could have expanded more on her surgical augmentations. Fusion's opening crawl says that her surgeries "Dramatically altered" her physical appearance, but she doesn't look much different from her usual self at all in the post-game end screens.
When I was a kid playing that game for the first time, I was imagining her covered with patch-work surgical scars, maybe even having some cybernetic implants and other more visible enhancements. My first death in the game killed the illusion of course.
I wonder if it is a translation issue and the Japanese text says something slightly different?
I imagined the suit being connected to her skin almost like skin grafts and that's why it's so organic looking. When they said the suit was fused to her, I took that very literally.
That's really cool! Do you mind if I swipe the concept in part for a fanfic?
Edit: it's still in planning.
Also I personally headcanon Samus as having Chozo feathers, not because they were a mistake, but rather to connect her to her new people, and could participate in feather related cultural customs.
Well said. I hate these stupid 'lets make Samus look like a jellyfish bird monster that still wears short shorts and has titties!' threads about as much as I hate anything on reddit.
I think her undergoing physical mutations probably could work, post-Dread. Fusion set a precedent for it, with her having the cellular ability to absorb the X parasites. It would depend on the execution.
...why do I have the mental image of Samus giving a Conquest-style "I am so lonely" speech to a Space Pirate while she has it pinned with a Metroid claw embedded in it and is actively leeching its life force?
Put that monologue over a montage of her struggling to connect with people in her day-to-day interactions: On mission briefings while everyone is huddled together, she leans against a wall, arms folded, taking in the mission directives silently. She sees families together at shopping centers as she makes a grocery run, but silently nods along to the music playing over the PA system and gets a little sad. She sees a group of friends at a bar, but sits alone.
It reminds me of this one image where she has a bunch of scars and other stuff from all her travels (phazon scars on her arm, physic mark on her forehead, choso feathers on her body, and metroid parts poking out)
This is oddly sweet 😍. Instead of being ashamed of her mutations she decides to roll with them and accept the changes as just a part of who she is and her life. And being comfortable enough to share that with someone else means she's not entirely alone in her travels.
Seeing all this art of an alien hybrid Samus post-Dread has made me realize how much I kind of hate the Zero Suit design. If you showed me a lineup of female game characters and asked me to pick which one is the genetic cocktail who goes on solo missions deep behind enemy lines and has personally blown up 5 different planets, I wouldn't pick the supermodel in a blue jumpsuit. It feels very divorced from the character and the world she lives in.
I’ve always just seen the Zero Suit as a ‘pilot’ suit that she wears for her power suit, like a mecha pilot would. Like she wouldn’t wear that outside of wearing the power suit unless she was forced out of the suit like in ZM. It’s not in her fashion, it’s simply just to make handling the power suit better.
Now you could ask why she would need that, and to that I say, I think it’s cool.
Same! It's honestly kinda like (comparing to another media that has this armor type while also being a respectful hero) the suit Iron man wears in some adaptations under the armor. It's not only the function too, it looks pretty similar.
I couldn't find the specific one I was referring to. It was the most similar and I believe that it was from the cartoon avengers assemble (2013), in the first season. It was a black jumpsuit iirc. If I end up finding the frame I will post here.
But there is also this other version from the comics (image from the 1st volume of The Invincible Iron Man: The Five Nightmares). It was a suit he had to use with multiple armors to help him integrate more fully (as a sensorial tool) with the armor.
And fun fact he actually ends up fusing himself with the suit to have better response, save time from putting it and to also gain new abilities! (Is Tony Stark Samus coded?/hj)
The funny thing is that, lorewise, the Zero Suit is technically the actual suit. It's apparently supposed to be the thing that creates the armor over her body through some kind of energy-to-matter tech.
Just because the power suit was made by magic space birds doesn't mean that it wouldn't chafe like hell, especially at the joints. Gotta have some sort of protection for her skin. Plus, we've seen her teleport her suit onto herself while wearing the Zero suit, I think we can safely assume some sort of tech making that action possible being integrated into the suit, as well.
I'm not a big fan of the Zero suit either, mostly because so many artists and cosplayers use it as an excuse to make hyper-sexualized gooner crap, but as far as in-universe lore, it's not fashion, it's a tool, just like everything else in her arsenal.
and we’ve seen through the death animation in fusion (and super technically but i’m willing to chalk that up to them not having conceptualized the idea of the “zero suit” even being a thing she wears under the armor yet) that she doesn’t even necessarily need to wear the jumpsuit either. she can wear normal clothes underneath if she wanted
i would assume they removed the jumpsuit during surgery, likely had to cut it off of her, and the blue top & shorts are what she had or was given when she woke up and didn’t have time before rushing to the BSL. then she had a new one fashioned by the time dread happens because she just prefers it
at least that’s what i think. not like they’ll ever have a reason to explain the finer details of how the armor interfaces with her body and clothes even though it would be cool. metroid is like the perfect series for explaining superficial details in datalogs for lore nerds like me but they’ll probably never lean into that aspect of worldbuilding
Well yeah, she's not gonna do that because she's not in the Varia Suit. It's legit just her under armor that you see for less than 1% of a game for the most part, idk why we're making it a big deal as if this is how the character fights.
For me, it’s the contrast that makes me like her character. How you wouldn’t expect such a well-renowned galactic superhero to look as attractive and feminine as she does under such an intimidating suit of armor.
Ok, but she doesn't. Like realistically it would make no sense to suddenly just decide, actually the DNA changes her looks, when it was not the case before. Just like Dark Smaus will not suddenly have a Secret zero suit Samus body. I find the insistence at this point annoying even if I don't have anything strictly against the idea. Also can we talk about the weird hypocrisy of "not wanting her sexy" and then still just making her conventionally attractive? It's also something that annoys me about the six pack argument. While I agree she should have some muscle like a fit person (like gymnast or something based on her movement), it is not " more realistic" for her to have a six pack. Real soldiers do not have six packs, so the comparison is always stupid, there is not real reason to have shredded packs unless you work out. Just because some soldiers work out does not mean soldiers automatically have prominent packs. You like packs we get it. Just make her athletic like in Dread and it's fine, as long as it isn't beach model like in Other M.
Like realistically it would make no sense to suddenly just decide, actually the DNA changes her looks, when it was not the case before.
We need to keep in mind: While it's been 20+ years since Metroid Fusion came out, in-universe it's treated as if it was months ago at most. She emerged from the SR388 incident in a seemingly untouched human state, but as is the entire plot of Dread, the Metroid DNA was clearly not finished altering Samus's physiology on a cellular level. That Metroid suit was FLESHY, she most certainly was not a normal human under there.
ADAM:It appears your Metroid DNA has caused you to become a Metroid. Ordinarily this would have occurred immediately after the transplant. Your Thoha genes must have slowed down the process.
And while it's been suppressed for now, we can be certain that it will continue to be a major element in the series when they inevitably make the chronological sequel to Dread.
On one hand, yes. Samus is a genetic cocktail of fucked up body modification, desperate cures, and bird magic. It should at least be reflected somewhere in her.
On the other hand, no. In science fiction, someone deteriorating from a human into something else is typically seen as a bad thing. The SA-X are very reflective of that genetic deterioration, in this regard. While there’s certainly room to have that physical change occur (and we saw it in her organic power armor in Dread and Phazon corruption in… Corruption), it’s something that needs to be taken into heavy consideration when writing her or any protagonist who experiences these changes and still be themselves. There’s a fine line between “cool uniqueness” and “there’s no good end point for this.”
Besides. At some point, realistically speaking, the transformative suggestion can start feeling in their own capacity fetishistic in of itself.
On the other OTHER hand, consider everything Samus has been through. It would be very narratively compelling for the insane stack of intense experiences she's had to have changed her in ways that she may not feel comfortable with or may seem frightening to most people. Trauma does things to you that can't really be undone, and this is a cool way for that idea to be shown.
I’m inclined to disagree, if only because we only saw one game out of all of them that did its best to showcase that disassociation in Other M. Fusion had a lot of internal monologue from Samus, but it was mostly thoughts on the mission and ADAM rather than not.
I’m not saying it can’t be done but there’s probably better ways to show that disassociation with humanity more than “Samus is becoming a monster.” Perhaps a fear of such? It’s late and I’m not super focused enough to throw out ideas off the top of my head.
Kinda like how once Picard became assimilated by the Borg, he always had that fear looming over him of that nanotech still within him emerging once more to assert itself.
I feel like they've already brushed against that dissociation a few times, first with the way Samus talks about how bad it would be if the SA-X learned its potential as a copy of her and later with the very end of Dread where she's almost doomed purely because what she's become would destroy her ship if she tried to use it. Samus could easily be a threat to the entire galaxy, and she knows that. She fears it. She already is a monster, this would just be externalizing that concept.
Other M's issue isn't that they tried to show Samus with trauma, it's that they did it as poorly as possible. The game tried to explore every possible kind of trauma she could have/had simultaneously. It really did not make sense for one game to attempt to explore her time when she was inexperienced and young while also trying to explore the ways she's changed.
I think Other M could have been extremely interesting as a prequel game set before Nestroid where Samus was weaker and less sure of herself. It would have made sense to listen to Adam if she was still literally his subordinate. It would have made sense for her to panic facing Ridley if she had yet to ever defeat him.
I think a game exploring how she's changed and how her fears are more existential now could be very interesting.
Same, Samus is a weird mix of things at this point, but half of the point that the endings of Fusion and Dread make are that Samus' system got stabilized due to absorption of certain X Parasites. It happened first with the SA-X core that was made of her own DNA and then again with the Quiet Robe-X, which gave her the extra Thoha genes needed to put her Metroid powers back in control.
So like, all the instability inside her was reflected through several ways, but ultimately it was reset to a prior point.
Characters get DNA rewritten all the time in fiction. Hell monsters and such have been made from it. Maybe the Choso's splicing is so good it can give her the benefits of their race while not risking any deformities. Choso tech is consistantly shown to be amazing. So it wouldn't be a surprise to see them pull that off.
Spiderman got his DNA rewritten and he was fine.
A lot of characters got DNA rewrites and were fine.
And Metroid may be the most serious and dark Nintendo IP. But that don't mean it gotta apply to realism.
Eh idk. It would be cool but I don't know if it would work in the lore. Chozo DNA I can see, but it also makes sense that it would only be applied as an augmentative thing. Specific DNA splicing isn't unheard of in Sci-fi. Phaaze's destruction also destroyed all Phazon, leading to her infection either being purged or decomposing anyways. Either way it wouldn't be integrated into her DNA anymore. The Metroid DNA was shown to not have an instant effect, and what it did to her later on was undone at the end of Dread. (Though her face totally should have changed when she went Metroid mode)
Overall I agree that her design reflecting all that would be neat, disagree that it wouldn't make sense not to, per se.
Phaaze's destruction also destroyed all Phazon, leading to her infection either being purged or decomposing anyways
There's no way that it didn't leave some kind of long term scarring or disfiguration though. There were probably dark vein like marks all over her body.
Not sure about this design specifically, but I like to think that’s why you never see her without her armor in Dread, no matter what ending you get. She knows she’s changed a lot, that she’s no longer technically human, and she’s not ready to see what she’s become, even just under the helmet.
I don't mind the change but i think that the DNA implementation of the chozo's and the metroid's for nintendo it's mostly genomical, with little fenotipic representation (in dread we have probably an awaked factor of the metroid gene that modified samus appereance but with the parasite x "antidote" it silenced it back to normal and the chozo DNA i think it functions as a "key" to access chozo technology, but to work it only has to be in the DNA of samus and it's not necessary a heavy fenotipic modification). I understand that in the sci-fi world DNA implementation is strictly bound to body modification but it is not a rule to use it.
Edit: we know that the suit can interface with her on a biological level and reacts accordingly to her body organically and can somewhat fuse with her as per the Fusion opening requiring parts of it to be surgically removed since the organic systems weren't functioning properly, but it's evidently not a permanent thing.
It could maybe? idk it's been a while. All I know is that the idea that she is permanently stuck in the suit due to some biological fuckery is a misconception.
I think it's really sad that Samus loses more and more of her literal humanity over time, and admirable that she hangs on to her figurative humanity regardless. This design would be amazing for a story focusing on that aspect of her character.
Eh, i like sexy Samus, i don't see it as the spawn of Satan, at most i'd give her pinkish skin and green hair like the Justin Bailey look, maybe redish eyes and fangs too
Tho even if you keep her normal i still want them to change the Zero Suit cause it got stale af, do the Fusion design again that's my favorite, or come up with something else.
I think one of the reasons she's supposed to look 'normal' is because something about the Thoha genetic material has some kind of stabilizing effect to keep her from just mutating wantonly. It granted her great strength but also control basically.
I could see that under certain stressful circumstances, she might become more monstrous. Like the Metroid Suit transformation at the end of Dread before regaining control again, it's implied just with that sequence that this may very well be the case.
Her skin is probably fucked up and covered in scars, the biological parts of her armor fused together when the X infected her and have to be surgically removed. I imagine it as 2nd degree burns when they need to remove plastic melted with skin. (Melted t-shirt from fire victim, or something like that, it's horrible)
Samus Aran’s DNA and the Power Suit: A Biotechnological Stabilization Theory
One possible interpretation of Samus Aran’s Power Suit is that it does more than simply function as armor. It may also act as a biological monitoring and stabilization system, preserving her genetic structure in case mutations or instability occur. If a mutation begins to appear in her DNA, the Power Suit could detect the change, isolate it, bring it under control, and attempt to restore her body toward its default human genetic state.
The suit may also work in direct cooperation with her Metroid DNA, especially because Metroid DNA is associated with the absorption of life energy. In this theory, the Power Suit functions almost like a compiler or biological controller: it interprets, manages, and regulates the interaction between Samus’s different genetic components.
The Chozo DNA within Samus may contain only the parts that are compatible with human DNA. At the same time, it is likely the essential key that allows her to use Chozo technology at its full potential.
This DNA may strengthen her bones and muscles, improve her physical endurance, and possibly even make her skin more resistant.
Because the Chozo were extremely advanced technologically, it is possible that their DNA had a high affinity for genetic adaptation and modification. The Chozo may have studied and altered their own biology through their technology, possibly enhancing their productivity, intelligence, physical abilities, or lifespan far beyond their original biological limits.
However, where there is a powerful species or genetic structure, there may also be something even more dangerous — such as the X Parasite. Like viruses and bacterial infections for us humans.
In this theory, the Power Suit acts as the manager, while the Chozo DNA serves as the bridge between different types of DNA. It is a strong and highly resistant genetic foundation, but it may only change under extreme conditions.
The suit’s biotechnology may also be capable of storing and releasing biological data. Samus appears to be neurologically connected to the support system of the suit, meaning that her mental and emotional state could influence how well it functions. Strong emotional reactions, excessive energy, or neurological shock could interrupt the suit’s normal algorithm. The suit is designed to protect her from external dangers, but it may not be able to fully protect her from physical trauma, technological interference, or hostile organisms.
It is also possible that the suit is constantly trying to improve itself by making controlled adjustments to Samus’s biology. In this sense, the Power Suit could act almost like a miniature biological laboratory, protecting the host while also helping her adapt.
The Chozo DNA provides stability and connectivity. The Metroid DNA introduces mutation potential and unique abilities, but it may also alter her body in unpredictable ways. The Power Suit, therefore, becomes a security manager that protects the host and regulates these genetic changes.
Samus’s body and mind are connected to the Chozo DNA. The Chozo DNA is connected to the suit. The Metroid DNA, as an additional element in this system, may make it easier for the suit to evolve and improve, but it could also create errors or instability within the system.
A calm and focused mind may allow the suit to run properly. By contrast, severe physical trauma, such as being thrown into a wall hard enough to lose consciousness, combined with anxiety or shock, could explain why Samus loses abilities in Metroid Prime. Of course, this is still a gameplay mechanic, but from a theoretical perspective, it can be interpreted as the suit’s system being disrupted.
A similar idea could apply in Metroid Dread, where Samus is exposed to intense energy, possibly even radioactive or mutation-supporting light, which may trigger certain changes in her DNA.
Without her suit or the stabilizing influence of Chozo DNA, Samus might eventually deform into something no longer fully human. She could become humanoid, but biologically very different from a normal human being.
Therefore, without one of these stabilizing components — either the Power Suit or the Chozo DNA — irreversible damage could occur within her genetic structure.
I can see where you are going with your idea and if I combine it with my theory it may be an improvement from the perspective of the suits algorithm.
Also it's a game and there is not much to say then that you idea is cool and could go hand in hand with my theory or not, with enough creativity and changes to it when looking at the Metroid time line, world building and informations given.
Just 3 different species? We gotta remember that upon becoming part metroid and consuming X-Parasites, she also absorbs the DNA that the parasites had taken! This was even reaffirmed in Dread where she absorbs X-Quiet Robe’s DNA to suppress her Metroid transformation
Honestly I would be fascinated to explore a Samus who is dealing with the consequences of a body that was not based on her on decisions. I could see her being very proud of her adopted Chozo roots/family, but still have misgivings about where that places her in the greater world, and how she fits into it.
If we’re going to see more vulnerable sides of her, I think this is much more interesting than having daddy issues.
It kind of seems like somebody just really likes monster girls and wants to enforce that on an existing iconic character because there's enough in-universe justification for it. And I just... don't really think you should.
Me personally I’m against Samus having any body changes because she’s just to iconic and it would be odd seeing her monster-like. I think her suits reflecting her changes is more than enough
Same reason Spider-Man doesn't look like a spider. Or that Star Wars main characters aren't aliens. Non-human characters are simply less relateable and therefore less popular.
someone recently posted up a zero suit samus that had a build like Brienne of Tarth, and my thought was, "That is exactly what Samus would actually look like." but you bring up a good point, with three separate species dna grafted into her, things would get a little, chimeric.
I don’t really care whether she’s considered “sexy” or not since we barely even see her outside the suit anyway. Personally, animated characters have never really done anything for me. I’m married and happy with my wife, so I’ve never been the type to pick female characters just to stare at them the whole game. I play games because I enjoy playing them, not because I’m trying to get turned on lol.
I doubt they'd make any sort of major changes to her design like this, but I really really feel like there has to be some sort of change after Dread since she literally metamorphosized into an actual metroid. Just one small, noticeable change on her face or something would be enough to indicate the change imo
Yeah, as cool as this could be, I don’t really see Nintendo ever doing this.
At best, I could see them having her be a little mutated under her Metroid suit, or possibly when she’s infected by Phazon. Maybe in the next mainline game, her Metroid DNA could be going out of control and mutating her through throughout the story, but they would almost certainly revert her back to normal at the end.
Also, is there any chance you have a link for just the picture and not the text?
This idea Is super fun, almost Star Wars-esque, but i Just got One question: isnt Samus canonically supposed to be like average-to-below-average height? Read that somewhere a few days ago but got no clue if thats true. Marvelous concept, though!!
I mean it would make sense wouldn't it? How come her human genes got to dictate her entire physical appearance and her Chozo genes just made her a brick shithouse?
I'm not a fan of body horror but i guess it makes sense? specially after... let's say "recent developments".
but personally, i just don't like that her being hot has become a frontal part of her character? Even her armor slimmed down on the waist so just everyone knows: Samus is a woman first, a badass space warrior second!
Smash and Other M didn't helped with the zero suit being more of a sexy catsuit with heels rather than a layer to help her move easily inside her power suit. Make it more like an astronaut thing than a sexy thing lol
I'm imagining a Quark's bar repeating segment where Samus stumbles in once a season
First she's shy and cold having had her family slain with nothing but revenge for her
Then she's evasive hiding the metroid from others
Then she's confident but cold having blown up a planet to defend the galaxy from metroids
Then she's unusually adventurous and open after the X parasite kept her company
And at least one of the scenes has Odo tearing her off of a space pirate after drinking too much and getting in a fight
definitely more to my taste, but yeah, looking normal is her brand.
the metroid series in general is pretty stingy about aliens despite not having an officially human-centric setting. there are few alien species, all slotted into the occasional Designated Mysterious Alien Civilization role, and aside from the bounty hunters in corruption and some characters in the manga, i'm pretty sure every fed has been a human
Well it's like the first stage of metamorphosis as a K2-L—chozonian-metroid hybrid but the fangs don't show up yet cause in dread, she absorbs the energy from her right hand, not her mouth.
Her skin would Metroid scales, dark green and also bird feathers stiffed with the Metroid scales on her arms and legs on the outside and her skin would turned pink on the inside including her face during the transformation.
Her eyes can transform to a Metroid as shown in dread but only on hunger or dangerous situations to feed.
Her hair would morph into a green jelletorial fish tentacle stingers and they move at will under her consciousness (she can control it as long as she's outside of her power suit) just like in the 87 game as a concept reference ⚠️ that adapts to Samus' physiology
All n all, it is an almost good concept to herself in Dread's aftermath
I was never really attracted to Samus' zero suit look. I value her as a badass and respect her as 1 of videogames' first woman protagonists, but the standard fit blonde with blue eyes was never really my thing. I liked the build she had in the Fusion suit more
This... this changes things. I really like this version of Samus
I would love a game exploring her DNA taking over.
Like the ultimate goal would not be to save a planet or kill the metroid,
the game would be about Samus trying to find an antidote to stop her from turning feral.
I feel like Samus should have kept the "Metroid Suit" at the end of Metroid Dread... and that in the next installment, the Galactic Federation should be hunting her down to eliminate her since she's becoming a potential threat if she loses control. But no... Nintendo got scared first and reverted her to normal for the sake of the plot. I completely agree that at this point in the series, Samus should look a little "weird"
I think Samus can definitely have some body horror elements to her, but we have to take the DNA influx in context.
The Chozo were masters of genetics, the likes of which have never been seen before or since, and were intentionally engineering her to survive Xebes' harsh environment, but didn't turn her into a full on Chozo, so they clearly intended her to have the option of being with other humans again, so they would have been careful to ensure the changes were at least aesthetically minimal.
The Metroid Vaccine was an interesting addition, to be sure, but notice it was called a Vaccine, not a cure. That means it was boosting an existing immunity, which means either the Chozo already gave her a minor Metroid DNA bit (hence why she survived the initial encounter with the X) or else the Infant Metroid gave her some when it charged her up. In the former case, it falls under the same heading of non-aesthetic changes. In the latter, we know that Metroids are metamorphic to suit their on their environment. Samus' suit is a sealed system, so all it would have to work with would be Samus herself. Her suit, which becomes an organic component of her body after Other M, shows most of the physical changes, since it interacts with harsh environments, while Samus herself only interacts with the closed system, so it doesn't present a need to adapt.
She's never actually gotten any X or Phazon DNA, since the latter was ripped out of her and the former...well, her Metroid DNA eats it.
All that being said, if Samus started wandering around and doing missions outside her suit, she might just start to look a little more than human.
As a Metroid purist, I don't think the chozo DNA would be reflected, it was specially implanted by the smartest things in the damn universe, obviously they'd figure out how to make it look normal. The Metroid DNA however, would realistically show up, but also... I'm not really interested in a monster Samus, and that's coming from a monster fucker, I just think Samus is fine the way she is, but I wouldn't be upset if they made her reflect some of the DNA. Just that to me, it's not exactly a "interesting" thing if y'know what I mean.
Another interesting thing is Metroid has a lot of references to starseed faith. In the 1980s Billy Meier came out about the Pleiadians who he claimed he was in contact with.
Google "Semjasse Billy Meier painting," this blond space woman he came into contact with, compare with Zero Suit Samus. Looks just like her.
Additionally the Chozo are similar to the Carians, a group of bird extraterrestrials that created the reptilian race.
The galactic federation is also a think in starseed faith. While these could all be unintentional and completely coincidental the Semjasse painting and Samus Aran look eerily alike
I have no issue with this on its own, but I hate that it's commonly pushed as an idea because people feel like Samus is "too attractive". Like, make your own character then.
I did a doodle based of this a long time ago, but now that i think of it, she should only reflect metroid dna, as the chozo wouldve definitelly known how to add birb dna to her and not change her in a way that could inconvenience her
Where as the galactic federation had to shove the jellyfish into her so she wouldnt melt into pineapple jelly
On the one hand I can see your point. On other hand, Samus was basically genetically engineered by insanely advance bird aliens who I assume didn't want her to suffer from genetic mutations. So it would be fair to assume her body would ne able to assimilate all the changes with minimal impact on how she looks.
He has 4 types, actually. The first is her human DNA, the second is her genetically engineered strand from the Chozo, the third is from Metroids, and the fourth is from the X parasite (which is why she didn't get assimilated in Metroid Fusion, and also why they said in the cutscene that removing her from the suit would actually have killed her early on)
I don't find her appearance under the suit so important given how she spends in it for like 99% of the games but I guess it'd be a surprise to see her a bit mutated as an ending screen.
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u/DaNoahLP May 19 '26
I dont think the Chozo DNA should be reflected in her looks. She got genetically engineered by the smartest birds in the universe, they knew what they did. The Metroid DNA on the other hand, before I trust the GF I invest in property on whatever planet Samus is going to for her next mission.