For fighter info, seeDark Samus (SSBU).

Dark Samus
Official artwork of Dark Samus fromMetroid Prime 3: Corruption.
Universe	Metroid
Debut	Metroid Prime (2002, cameo) Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (2004)
Smash Bros. appearances	Brawl SSB4 Ultimate
Most recent non-Smash appearance	Metroid Prime Remastered (2023, cameo)
Console/platform of origin	Nintendo GameCube
Species	Metroid/Human hybrid (cybernetically augmented with thePhazon Suit and naturally infused withPhazon)[1]
Gender	Female[2]
Place of origin	Tallon IV (Metroid Prime) Phaaze (Phazon)
Designed by	Andrew Jones
Article on Metroid Wiki	Dark Samus

Dark Samus (ダークサムス,Dark Samus) is a character from theMetroid series. Born from the monstrousMetroid Prime and data stolen fromSamus Aran'sPhazon Suit, Dark Samus is an embodiment of the mutagenicPhazon, serving as the primary antagonist of theMetroid Prime series. She is one of Samus's greatest enemies, alongsideRidley andMother Brain.

After making cameos as atrophy andsticker inSuper Smash Bros. Brawl and as a trophy andAssist Trophy inSuper Smash Bros. 4, Dark Samus became a playablefighter inSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Origin[edit]

Official artwork of Dark Samus inMetroid Prime 2: Echoes. This design is the basis of her trophy design inSuper Smash Bros. Brawl, and inspired some features of her design inSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate.

InMetroid Prime,its titular creature and final boss was vanquished bySamus Aran within theImpact Crater. It lashed out at Samus and stole herPhazon Suit upgrade before dissolving into a pool of Phazon. While Samus evacuated the collapsing crater, Metroid Prime had, unbeknownst to her, exited the battle in a new form. In a post-credits stinger scene, an armored hand emerged from the same Phazon pool, signaling the rebirth of Metroid Prime as a Phazon-based cyborg that would soon be known as Dark Samus. This hybrid acquired all of Samus' abilities, as well as a human-like sapience. However, she was also obsessed with consuming Phazon, a trait retained from her time as Metroid Prime.

Dark Samus, as she would come to be known by the Space Pirates, is mentioned by the Pirate Logs inMetroid Prime 2: Echoes. They initially assume she is Samus wearing a new suit, but are disturbed as she only cares about absorbing the Phazon mined onAether. Her meddling results in the Pirates' operation being discovered by the Galactic Federation, leading to Samus' arrival. Dark Samus attacks Samus on sight and the duo fight multiple times across Aether. Once Samus defeats theIng and triggers the dimensional collapse of Dark Aether, Dark Samus interrupts her escape. Overloaded by Phazon, she holds her own against Samus despite the latter's powerfulLight Suit, but is ultimately bested again. She then disintegrates after failing to steal Samus' Light Suit and appears to perish in Dark Aether.

Following her defeat,Metroid Prime 3: Corruption opens with Dark Samus' remains being unknowingly collected by the Space Pirates, allowing her to reconstitute in one of their Phazon transports. She absorbs all Phazon aboard, which further develops her sapience and streamlines her armor, before brainwashing the Pirates with Phazon and taking them toPhaaze, the sentient planet that is the source of all Phazon. She then seeks to spread Phazon throughout the galaxy, leading the brainwashed Pirates, including a revivedMeta Ridley, to capture the supercomputerAurora Unit 313 and implant it into Phaaze. Through this conduit, Dark Samus controls the spread of Phazon by launching Phaaze'sLeviathans, living Phazon asteroids that corrupt the planets they strike into Phazon wastelands. She targets key Federation planets to cripple their galactic defenses.

Although Samus stops a Leviathan before it strikesNorion, Dark Samus corrupts her and three other bounty hunters — (Rundas,Ghor andGandrayda) — with Phazon. The other hunters ultimately fall victim to Phazon corruption, forcing Samus to fight and kill each of them on her journey across multiple planets to destroy three Leviathans. In the finale, Dark Samus confronts Samus for the final time on Phaaze, first in direct combat and then after merging with Aurora Unit 313. Samus soon destroys 313 and, because of its symbiotic connection to both Dark Samus and Phaaze, seemingly vanquishes Dark Samus and renders all Phazon inert.

InSuper Smash Bros. Brawl[edit]

"Dark Samus" as she appears in theCo-Op Event 7: Battle of the Dark Sides inBrawl.

Dark Samus appears as a trophy and as a sticker. Additionally, a "Dark Samus" appears inCo-Op Event 7: Battle of the Dark Sides, though it is merely a blackened version of Samus and not the actual Dark Samus. It teams up withDark Link against two players that play as their normal counterparts, with Link as player one and Samus as player two.

Trophy[edit]

Dark Samus's trophy inBrawl

Dark Samus

A twin image of Samus, encountered near the beginning of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. Dark Samus is identical to Samus in every way but color--she even uses similar attacks. There are many theories on the origin of Dark Samus, but none are proven. Dark Samus uses Phazon for energy and can absorb it to heal damage. Samus encounters Dark Samus a number of times.

:Metroid Prime 2: Echoes

Sticker[edit]

Name	Game	Effect	Fighter(s)
Dark Samus	Metroid Prime 2: Echoes	Resistance +11	Samus Zero Suit Samus

Dark Samus (Metroid Prime 2: Echoes)

InSuper Smash Bros. 4[edit]

As anAssist Trophy[edit]

Samus using her forward aerial alongside Dark Samus.

Dark Samus appears as an Assist Trophy inSuper Smash Bros. 4. Unlike her trophy inBrawl, she uses her design fromMetroid Prime 3: Corruption. Some of Dark Samus' attack animations are similar toSamus', such as her down tilt and her up smash. She hops around with long jumps, attacking with three different moves:

Dark Samus generating Phazon tentacles as an attack.

• Her first attack involves firing a volley from herArm Cannon straight forward, dealing multiple low damage hits and knocking opponents away on the final hit. The volley deals a total of 21% and has low knockback.
• Her second attack sees her firing four homing energy spheres into the air. Each sphere deals 6% and has moderately low knockback.
• The third attack only occurs if she is near an opponent. In this case, she generates Phazon tentacles to erupt from the ground, which deal 12% and have moderate knockback.

Before leaving, Dark Samus strikes a pose in which she holds her Arm Cannon in front of her face. Like several other Assist Trophies, she can be defeated if she takes enough hits. Upon being defeated, Dark Samus will disappear by fading out in a bright blue flash, similarly to when she is defeated inMetroid Prime 2: Echoes.

Dark Samus has a spawn chance of38/1254. She cannot be summoned on the following stages in a standard versus match (applies to both games and only the base form unless noted otherwise):

• Mute City
• Norfair
• Pac-Maze
• Suzaku Castle
• Tomodachi Life

As an alternate costume[edit]

Samus' Dark Samus color scheme.

Dark Samus' color scheme is also the basis of one of Samus'alternate costumes.^[1] In theGalactic AvengerEvent Match, this color scheme is used to simulate Samus battling Dark Samus. Similarly, the color scheme appears in theFinal Battle Team-Up co-op Event Match that features several playable antagonists as opponents.

Trophy[edit]

Dark Samus's trophy inSuper Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS

Dark Samus's trophy inSuper Smash Bros. for Wii U

Dark Samus

This terrifying creature is made of Phazon. Along with regenerative abilities, she can also brainwash her victims and clone herself. Summoned into Smash Bros., she resembles Samus Aran and mimics some of her moves, firing Arm Cannon blasts, launching homing energy blasts, or even unleashing Phazon.

:Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (11/2004)

:Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (08/2007)

An exceptionally strong and terrifying being made of Phazon. She's able to regenerate, brainwash her victims and even clone herself. When summoned in this game, she'll either fire rapid shots from her Arm Cannon, launch homing energy blasts, or unleash Phazon across the surrounding area, depending on where her target is.

:Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (11/2004)

:Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (10/2007)

InSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate[edit]

As a playable character[edit]

Dark Samus, as she appears inSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Dark Samus appears as anewcomer inSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate, and was formally announced alongsideSimon,Richter,Chrom andKing K. Rool during theSuper Smash Bros.Direct on August 8th, 2018.^[2] According toMasahiro Sakurai, Dark Samus and Chrom were included because of significant fan demand from overseas and Japan, respectively.^[3] Unlike inBrawl andSSB4, Dark Samus' design is a cross between her organic features and color scheme fromMetroid Prime 2: Echoes and her redesigned Phazon Suit fromMetroid Prime 3: Corruption.

As anEcho Fighter ofSamus, Dark Samus is virtually identical in regard to function, although she does deviate from Samus in a few ways.^[2] As with other Echo Fighters, she has different animations, taunts, and victory poses (including a distinct victory fanfare).^[3] Unlike Samus, Dark Samus' rolls do not involve her transforming into aMorph Ball, but are compensated with slightly less ending lag. She also uses Phazon in her moveset, which is indicated by blue flames with theelectriceffect for allbuttwo of Samus' respectiveflame-based moves, and dark blue energy for bothCharge Shot andPhazon Laser (her version of theZero Laser).

Spirit[edit]

Gallery[edit]

• 

  Dark Samus inSuper Smash Bros. for Wii U.

• 

  Full view of Dark Samus.

• 

  Dark Samus firing her scattershotPower Beam atMega Man.

Names in other languages[edit]

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	ダークサムス,Dark Samus	—
English	Dark Samus	—
French	Samus Sombre	Dark Samus
German	Dunkle Samus	Dark Samus
Spanish	Samus Oscura	Dark Samus; "Oscura" is a feminine form.
Italian	Samus Oscura	Dark Samus; "Oscura" is a feminine form.
Chinese (Simplified)	黑暗萨姆斯,Dark Samus	—
Chinese (Traditional)	黑暗薩姆斯,Dark Samus	—
Korean	다크 사무스,Dark Samus	—
Dutch	Dark Samus	—
Russian	Темная Самус	Dark Samus;Темная is a feminine form.
Portuguese	Samus Sombra	Shadow Samus

Trivia[edit]

• Dark Samus is the third of four summonable characters to become playable in a later installment. The first wasCharizard, the second wasLittle Mac, and the fourth wasIsabelle.
  • Like Little Mac and Isabelle, she was anAssist Trophy prior to gaining this distinction.
  • She is also the only playable former assist character to have made an appearance in the series prior to her appearance as an assist character, as she appeared as a trophy and a sticker inBrawl.
• Dark Samus is the second playable character to be created outside of Japan, and the first to be created in the United States.
  • She is also the second playable character not created by Nintendo to be solely created by a Nintendo-owned subsidiary (beingRetro Studios). The first wasShulk, who was created byMonolith Soft.
• Dark Samus'Brawl trophy description is not entirely accurate. If the player achieves 100% completion inMetroid Prime, a cutscene will play that shows Metroid Prime's essence being reborn into Samus' stolenPhazon Suit. However, this fact is only hinted at in-universe from Samus' firstlogbook scan of Dark Samus inMetroid Prime 2: Echoes.
• Dark Samus is the second movesetclone in theSuper Smash Bros. series to also be a canonical clone of the character she is derived from. The first isDark Pit.
  • Unlike Dark Pit, she is a cybernetically enhanced hybrid instead of a genetically identical clone, and is a villain instead of an anti-hero.
• Dark Samus andKazooie are the only playable fighters whose games of origin were neither released first in Japan nor worldwide, with both (Metroid Prime 2 andBanjo-Kazooie, respectively) releasing in North America first.

Notes[edit]

1.^ DuringSamus Aran's final battles against Dark Samus inMetroid Prime 2: Echoes andMetroid Prime 3: Corruption, Samus'logbook scans mention that Dark Samus, upon absorbing significant levels ofPhazon, becomes comprised purely of Phazon.

2.^ Although theMetroid Prime has no definitive gender, Dark Samus is considered female because of her unintentional absorption of a sample of Samus Aran's DNA. On a related note, Dark Samus is described with female pronouns consistently in Samus' logbook scans and in her ownSuper Smash Bros. trophies.

References[edit]

v • d • e Metroid universe
Fighters	Samus (SSB ·SSBM ·SSBB ·SSB4 ·SSBU) ·Zero Suit Samus (SSBB ·SSB4 ·SSBU) ·Ridley (SSBU) ·Dark Samus (SSBU)
Assist Trophies	Metroid ·Dark Samus ·Mother Brain
Bosses	Ridley ·Meta Ridley
Stages	Planet Zebes ·Brinstar ·Brinstar Depths ·Frigate Orpheon ·Norfair ·Pyrosphere Brinstar Escape Shaft (Adventure Mode)
Item	Screw Attack ·Power Suit Piece
Enemies	Geemer ·Kihunter ·Metroid ·Reo ·FG II-Graham ·Joulion ·Zero
Other	Gunship ·Kraid
Trophies,Stickers andSpirits	Trophies (SSBM ·SSBB ·SSB4) ·Stickers ·Spirits
Music	Brawl ·SSB4 ·Ultimate
Masterpieces	Metroid ·Super Metroid

• Characters
• Assist Trophies
• Metroid universe
• Trophies (SSBB)
• Trophies (SSB4-3DS)
• Trophies (SSB4-Wii U)
• Dark Samus
• Stickers
• Spirits