For the next of these how strong was start of series blogs, I thought I'd do one for Samus Aran. This is the first though one of these blogs involves a character with non-chronological appearances like this so I need to specify the rules and whether it's how strong they were in their first appearance chronologically vs first appearance out of universe. For this I am using first appearance out of universe, the first time the character was shown to the audience. If I used the first manga prequel chapter for Samus she'd be a little girl and without any of the training or equipment or even the genetic modification that gives her abilities. Also this is the first game one and for games I am including everything that qualifies for the first "level" or equivalent. For Metroid 1 or Zero Mission this is basically the expected path up to the Kraid fight, the first boss.
Even normal Soldiers and Space Pirates in the Metroid universe have demonstrated supersonic movement feats and the ability to pilot starships moving at FTL Speeds, with Samus not only being superior to them as a Genetic Super Soldier in her Zero Suit, but with her Power Armor is likely comparable at this point to this speed of Ridley who can personally fly between planets in short intervals.
In terms of capacities Samus Aran even without her Power Armor was genetically modified by the Chozo and trained by them to master all her skills including melee combat, ranged combat, scientific knowledge, tactical knowledge, acrobatics, vehicular mastery, and stealth. This physical alteration also made Samus better able to withstand acid rain and possibly made it so the X Parasite could not absorb her quickly as per normal. She also has shown a low level danger sense which she likely would have back originally as she is never shown developing it.
This Samus would also have several resistances, most prominently to various forms of psychic attack with Mother Brain able to control the lifeforms of the entire planet of Zebes to attack Samus but was unable to mentally affect Samus at all. Mother Brain also has a predictive form of precog, able to analyze information to determine the future but was unable to predict Samus even at this early juncture. She would carry her relatively weak paralyzer gun which is able to stun Space Pirate tier enemies.
However Samus capacities primarily come from her Power Suit she can summon at any time. This protects her from damage, extreme temperatures, and inhospitable climates like the vacuum of space via an energy shield. It has various scanners in the visor to show a 3D map of the environment to Samus up to enter planets, aid her aim and acrobatics, find enemy weak points and more. Samus also has access to the first transformation, the legendary morph ball that allows her to transform into a ball less then 1 meter tall and roll around.
Samus in her Power Suit also has the very game-y mechanic to absorb energy and weapons from defeated foes to add them to her arsenal or energy level.
Offensively Samus' Power Armor is equpped with the Power Beam which lets her shoots energy blasts out of her arm. Samus' attacks with the Power Beam can hit non-physical enemies like Chozo Ghosts or even spirits born of the souls of shipwrecked creatures that her missiles can't showing a good higher plane interaction as well as elemental things like fire and electricity. Samus can somewhat control the Power Beam's blasts in motion and use it to reflect some kinds of energy attacks.
By the time of the Kraid fight, Samus would likely have picked up the Charge Beam which allows her to charge up the Power Beam to increase its attack potency.
Samus also has various other weapons she would gained access to at this point. She can fire missiles from her arm cannon though has a limited supply. These missiles have been shown to home in on enemies before. In her morph ball form can drop an unlimited number of bombs beneath her which she can use to propel herself upwards or do damage to enemies.
Finally Samus would likely have gotten the ice beam at this point which shoots a beam that freezes enemies, a helpful form of mild offensive hax. This is particularly helpful for Samus as Metroids, the primary enemy the games are named for are vulnerable to cold.
Samus does have several weaknesses at this stage. Like pretty much all forms of Samus, she has a limited arsenal of energy and missiles and without recharge station can run out, with the former disabling functions of her suits. Samus lacks flight herself and needs her spaceship to get around vast distances despite her speed.
Also while this Samus is still the great warrior and bounty hunter, the hope of the Chozo and has many of her heroic traits already, she has not yet overcome the trauma of her encounter with Ridley as a child, meaning certain psychological tactics would be effective
So as for how strong Start of Series Samus is, of the characters I know she arguably starts out stronger then any character I know that doesn't have outright cosmic tier stats, having FTL and Island Level Capabilities, Peak Human-ish Mental Stats, A variety of weapons including anti-hax like freezing and non-physical interaction, sensory abilities, numerous helpful resistances, a mild danger sense, and some more minor assets.
Against most other Nintendo protagonists it really just depends on if they get stronger or not. Like Samus would pretty easily defeat most Links at the start of their games as most of them start at max building level and would just be blitzed and overpowered as would characters like start of game Ness, while the strongest characters who like Mario and Kirby who don't grow as much in power would absolutely win. Breath of the Wild Link would be a bit different starting at basically endgame level as a laser timer and on the level of Calamity Ganon. I think Samus likely still wins from being orders of magnitude more powerful still but Link does have the abilities and mental stats to possibly pull a win.
Compared to other games, and in particular to my favorites Samus is probably the strongest game protagonist at the start of their games that isn't outright cosmic in tier. Even at this early point she is just well beyond the power level of most Military Super Soldiers like Master Chief, Commander Shepard, etc. and even most cartoony platformer protags tend to start at most as city level and lightning timing unless they are outright cosmically strong. If I bent my rules, Samus vs Kratos at first level Chronologically in God of War Ascension would actually be a really great fight with similar levels of power, speed, mental stats, hax, and more.
Outside of video games, even characters that have similar speed scaling might be beaten by early Samus' freezing and skill. I could see her beating Episode 1 Cure Black for instance who is planet level but only relative in speed to Samus and has no special attacks by herself outside punching, with Samus able to dodge around and blast her with freezing missiles. Yuki Yuna would be a particular problem for her given that Yuna's forcefield would make her immune to any of Samus attacks though Samus would also be way too fast and durable for Episode 1 Yuna to do anything too. I don't know if Yuna could eventually be signaled to Mankai but otherwise would genuinely stalemate. Sam from Totally Spies even her Season 1 Self (as she probably doesn't get stronger during it) would have similar speed and superior but not vastly superior power to Samus, though her equipment is very variable at this point and I think Samus would likely win more times then not from superior range and hax.
A particularly interesting fight that could happen using just the start of series version of both is Samus vs Naruto using their start of series versions. Base Naruto would get slaughtered however Naruto since the start of the series has the Demon Fox Kurama within him and if he gives himself to the Ninetails can spike up to Biju Level, a level that would actually have very similar stats to Samus. Samus would be protected from the Ninetails poison via his power armor and would likely be able to engage the Biju Mode Enraged Naruto as a boss battle where she has relative stats and can pepper at him from a distance but would have to be careful of his raw power.
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