The Metroid franchise is a fantastic series of games that took sci-fi gaming to a whole new level. Players loved fighting the various aliens, exploring strange worlds, and figuring out puzzles of ancient and extinct races. The games only got cooler when Metroid Prime brought everything into the 3D world, and it was truly an experience for the gamer.

Metroid was also amazing for having the protagonist be a woman. Samus Aran is known for being one of the toughest heroes of the Nintendo games. She’s a tough bounty hunter who’s taken on some of the galaxy’s most dangerous enemies. No matter how they felt about the games themselves, gamers could all agree that Samus is pretty awesome.

But that doesn’t mean that she’s had things easy. While it comes with being a bounty hunter and a member of the Federation Police Force, Samus has still gone through a lot of crap. She’s been used, mind-controlled, poisoned, and nearly killed multiple times. She’s also lost practically everyone she cared about and she’s been forced to make some impossible decisions. Everything she’s gone through has affected her physically, mentally, and emotionally.

I also think that’s why we like her so much, because she still keeps fighting even when she’s knocked down. Like a true hero, Samus isn’t one to give up, and she won’t let anything stop her from protecting the galaxy. But let’s take a look at some of the awful things that have happened to her.

Think I missed a few things? Be sure to let us know in the comments below!

15 Talk About A Rough Start

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Samus’s life certainly didn’t start out easy. She was born on the Earth colony K-2L to Rodney and Virginia Aran. When Samus was only three, the colony was attacked and destroyed by Space Pirates. The attack was led by Ridley, who killed Samus’s mother, and her father sacrificed himself to destroy Ridley’s flagship. This cemented Samus’s hatred of Ridley, and had led to a series of battles between the two in later years.

Despite Rodney’s best efforts, the colony was destroyed and Samus was the only survivor. Fortunately, she was found by the Chozo, an ancient race of bird-like beings who were thought to be extinct. They took her in and raised her to become a warrior. Still, experiencing something so terrible that young is bound to screw anybody up.

14 That’s Some Serious PTSD

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Samus often gives off the vibe of a chill warrior, and that nothing gets to her. It’s pretty good image to have since she’s often going up against some crazy aliens and pirates. You’d have to be able to keep your cool when fighting terrifying beings that no one has seen before. But Samus isn’t infallible.

It’s canon that she still suffers from some major PTSD from the attack on her Earth colony when she was a child. In one particular moment, she recalled some of her repressed memories of the attack when she encounters Ridley again. So, the cool, untouched Samus Aran can be affected; it just involves some very unpleasant memories and one particularly awful space dragon. Considering what she went though, it’s pretty impressive that she still powers through those memories and continues to fight.

13 A Tragic And Beautiful Sacrifice

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At one point, Samus is tasked by the Federation with destroying the Metroids, creatures that the Chozo had created that had turned against them. As Samus helped destroy the Metroids, she discovered a Metroid egg that had hatched. The hatchling then imprinted Samus as its mother. Samus felt compassion for the hatchling and took it with her on her gunship. She then gave it to scientists on the Ceres colony to study.

Sometime later however, the colony was destroyed by Space Pirates, and Samus went to Zebes to take on Mother Brain, another one of the Chozo’s creations gone rogue. Mother Brain nearly killed Samus, but Samus was actually saved by the Metroid hatchling who attacked Mother Brain and gave its energy to Samus. The hatchling was then killed by Mother Brain, but Samus had enough power to take it out. But the Metroid infant’s death deeply affected Samus.

12 A Child Soldier

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Thanks to the Chozo infusing Samus with their blood, she quickly became much stronger and tougher than the average human. By the time she was fourteen, she went off to join the Federation Police and then graduated the Academy with top scores. She then became a member of the elite Star Trackers Force.

So she became a soldier while in her mid-teens. As a result, she’s going off fighting battles and getting into incredibly dangerous situations at a pretty young age. I don’t know about you, but that’s a tiny bit messed up. This is a teenager who’s fighting and killing other creatures and taking huge risks. It’s true that she chose this life, but it’s still pretty a crazy thing for a teenager to do.

11 A Deadly Disease

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You’d think that out of all of the things that could kill our bounty hunter, it wouldn’t be something as seemingly small as a disease that would almost do it. And yet one very close call involves a rather small organism. With all of the traveling Samus does, it would make sense that she would’ve picked up some sort of disease from a strange planet. To be honest, I’m surprised it hasn’t happened more often. That being said, one particularly dangerous strain of parasite almost did her in.

When she traveled to SR388 with a research party, a mysterious organism called Parasite X injected itself into her. The organism began spreading throughout her body. She was given less than a 1% chance of survival, but scientists were able to find a cure through using a culture of Metroid cells to create a vaccine against the parasite. Samus did recover, but it was definitely a close call.

10 Not The Samus We Love

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Metroid: The Other M takes place after Super Metroid, where Samus, after recovering from her battle with Mother Brain, reunites with her old commander Adam Malkovich. They take on Sector Zero, an area on the BOTTLE ship that has Metroids. But many players had issue with Samus’s character in this game.

It’s true that in most games, Samus appears to be the cool as ice bounty hunter who isn’t fazed by much. But Metroid: Other M portrays a Samus as more vulnerable. This Samus is questioning things reacts more adversely to dangerous situations, making her look a lot weaker than we’re used to. While the game tried to give her character a bit more depth, they missed the mark. Personally, I think they were on the right track with showing Samus actually reacting to these situations, but they just did it a little too much.

9 Becoming The Enemy

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After Samus was infected with the dangerous Parasite X, it nearly killed her as it took over her body. It was only through a vaccine that scientists created from a culture of Metroid cells they had extracted from the infant Metroid Samus had rescued. She was cured from the parasite, but a few side effects remained in her body.

Samus could now actually absorb the Parasite X to regain energy and missiles. She also gained the Metroid’s weakness to cold. Considering she nearly died from the parasite and this was her only option, the side effects aren’t too bad, but the fact that she now shares some biology with Metroids is a little creepy. Also, the fact that she’s weaker to cold could become a bit of a problem later on.

8 Fighting Yourself Never Ends Well

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It’s a common theme in many games and stories for the hero to have to fight a dark version of themselves. It lends a more intriguing look into the protagonist’s own psyche and the concept of fighting someone who has your own abilities is interesting and challenging. But Samus has had to fight herself multiple times.

In one case, her suit was taken over by Phazon and it later becomes a dark version of herself. She’s faced this creature multiple times. Another time is when Samus was infected by parasites. While she managed to be cured of them, her suit was once again taken over and she had to fight the parasitic suit. So perhaps it’s less of Samus fighting herself and more of Samus fighting her suits that got taken over and went rogue. They should really have some sort of protocol on those things.

7 Death Walks By Her Side

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Samus Aran is notorious for being one of the toughest bounty hunters. Her accomplishments include taking down various Space Pirates, the destruction of the dangerous Metroids and Mother Brain, and more. The fact that her abilities exceed that of a normal human definitely help her in these rather dangerous missions. But do you realize just how many of those missions almost turn deadly?

Now, I know it comes with being a member of the Federation Police, but I think we forget just how many times Samus has almost died. She’s gone up against all kinds of aliens, and has had to survive many dangerous situations. She’s faced ship crashes, been poisoned, and nearly had the life sucked out of her multiple times. I’m amazed she’s still breathing at this point.

6 A Bitter Loss

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Once Samus joined the Federation, she was eventually put under the command of Adam Malkovich. The man quickly became a good friend and a surrogate father-figure to her. It makes sense since she’s around 15-16 at this point. The relationship between the two was a bit rough, but they do respect each other. Adam often finished his orders with a “Any objections, Lady?” and Samus responded with a thumbs down.

Unfortunately, Adam sacrificed himself to destroy Sector Zero and the Metroids inside. He did this by detaching Sector Zero from the rest of the BOTTLE ship and caused it to self-destruct with him on board. By doing this, he saved everyone aboard the BOTTLE ship, including Samus. You really feel for Samus; the one person who really understood her was gone.

5 Total Phazon Corruption

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After tangling with Metroid Prime, Samus and several of her bounty hunter friends were blasted with a large Phazon laser by Dark Samus. This resulted in their bodies producing large amounts of Phazon with no apparent side effects. Samus even had a suit made to help her utilize the Phazon in her body.

However, she found out that her body was slowly being corrupted by the Phazon. If she didn’t regularly emit Phazon, she risked being completely taken over by it and becoming a mindless monster. At one point, it nearly overloaded her body, almost killing her. Fortunately, all traces of Phazon were eliminated from her body as a result of the destruction of the planet Phaaze, the source of Phazon. But still, that must have been terrifying.

4 Friendly Fire Takes On A Whole New Meaning

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Samus isn’t exactly known for working with people very well. Most of the time, she’s usually on her own in her missions. But occasionally Samus does work with others. In Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, the third in the Metroid Prime series, Samus teams up with a few other bounty hunters. They’re all blasted by a Phazon laser by Dark Samus in a skirmish. As a result, their bodies end up producing large amounts of Phazon with no apparent side effects.

Unfortunately, the Phazon ultimately corrupts all of Samus’s comrades and she’s forced to fight and kill them. The Phazon also almost takes over Samus as well, but she manages to survive. But the fact that she has to kill her former comrades who have been taken over is pretty horrifying.

3 Being Controlled By The Enemy

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It’s one thing to fight against your enemies, but what if your enemies make you fight your own comrades? It’s pretty terrifying and horrifying to have your body used against your will. And that’s exactly what happens to Samus.

After Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Samus got involved in a skirmish with Space Pirates. The Space Pirates took Samus hostage and put her under mind control. They then took her back to a large Space Pirate battle station. When federation soldiers attacked, the Space Pirates used Bionian technology to increase Samus’s size and forced her to fight them. She was freed from the mind control when falling debris seemingly crushed her. But she recovered and went on to save the Federation Force twice. That would have been horrible to be under mind control, though.

2 It Takes A Lot Of Brain Power

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You rarely see Samus without her famous suit, created by the Chozo. It’s pretty impressive with its wide range of weaponry, protection, and abilities. Samus also has gone through many variations of suits due to them being destroyed, the need for extra protection, etc. But you may not realize that the suit itself relies not just on her physical strength, but her mental strength as well.

It is canon that in order for Samus to use her suit, she must have a lot of mental strength for it to even work. This would explain why in Metroid: Other M, her suit would sometimes be having problems since her mental capabilities weren’t up to par at that time. While this isn’t necessarily a terrible thing, the fact that she has to be in peak mental condition all the time must be pretty intense for her. I can imagine that fighting in that suit would take quite a bit out of you.

1 They’re Not As Nice As You Think

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Most of the time we think of the Chozo as a peaceful race that ended up saving Samus in her time of need. And in a sense, they do. They find Samus in her destroyed colony, take her in as their own, and give her the abilities to survive. But the Chozo aren’t as guileless as we are led to believe.

The fact is the Chozo are actually the ones who created Mother Brain and the Metroids. These creatures quickly went rogue and caused havoc across the galaxy. It was for this reason that they started training Samus and even infused her with Chozo blood. They hoped that she would be able to correct the mistakes they made. So basically, they used Samus to save them and the rest of the galaxy from their own creations. That’s pretty messed up.