She was created by the Japanese video game designer Makoto Kano and introduced in the first Metroid (1986) for the Nintendo Entertainment System.

[8][1][9] The Metroid instruction manual refers to Samus as if she were male to obscure her real sex until the surprise reveal at the end of the game.

Samus has more dialogue in Fusion and Other M, although the latter received criticism due to what many reviewers described as poor character development and inferior voice acting.

The Power Suit can be reconfigured into a small, spherical form called the Morph Ball, which allows her to roll through tight areas, such as tunnels, and use Bombs.

[1][17] Early on, instances of Samus appearing without the Power Suit occur mainly in cutscenes, such as post-game screenshots of her in more revealing clothing, which are unlocked depending on difficulty level, game completion, or play time.

[22] The Super Metroid Nintendo's Player's Guide describes Samus as 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) tall and weighs 198 pounds (90 kg) without her Power Suit.

The Morph Ball was conceived by the developers because it requires less effort to animate than "a cyborg crawling on all fours", and the producer for Metroid, Gunpei Yokoi, took advantage of this shortcut.

She leaves after a dispute with her commanding officer, Adam Malkovich, but continues to assist them as a freelance bounty hunter afterward.

[29] Metroid: Other M expands Samus's backstory and emotional scope, such as her brief motherly connection to the Metroid hatchling; the deep respect for her former commanding officer and father figure Adam Malkovich; her reignited feud with Mother Brain in the form of the android MB; and overcoming a posttraumatic episode upon once again encountering her arch-nemesis Ridley.

[30] In Metroid Dread, the Galactic Federation receives a video from an unknown source showing an X Parasite alive in the wild on planet ZDR.

Samus is eventually able to access the source of the planet's Phazon contamination, a meteor impact crater, where she defeats the Phazon-infused creature Metroid Prime.

In the comic series, set before the events of Metroid, Samus is portrayed as brash, money-hungry, and fiercely independent, and title character Kevin Keene is depicted as her love interest.

Adapting Samus' soldier background as previously provided in Captain N: The Game Master, the series was written by Kouji Tazawa and illustrated by Kenji Ishikawa.

Famous across the universe as the "Guardian of the Galaxy", Samus trains a young boy, frontier planeteer Joey Apronika, as her successor.

[49] In the 2015 short fan film Metroid: The Sky Calls, Samus is portrayed by actresses Jessica Chobot and America Young.

[67] A writer for the Toronto Star however, felt distaste for the "sexual politics" surrounding Samus, feeling that she was neither a character created for sex appeal, but was also not a "leader in the struggle for video game civil rights".

[70][71][72][73] Paul O'Connor, the lead game designer for Sammy Studios and a fan of the Metroid series, remarked that players empathize and identify with Samus because she is often rewarded for indulging in her curiosity.

[74] The book Videogames and Art noted that in the original Metroid the player is not briefed on Samus's past or future; the only interaction that they have with the character is by being her through gameplay, while bits of information can be gleaned from the handbook and through concept art, adding, "Samus is very rare for the character intimacy gained solely through game play and for her stasis and then drastic change", referring to the revelation that she is a woman.

Unlike other Metroid games, where Samus took full advantage of weapons and abilities available, she deactivated most of them until Commander Adam Malkovich authorized their use.

[77] According to GamePro, though Other M's story and Samus's monologues did not compel them, "it helped contextualize her entire existence" which developed the character to "an actual human being who's using the vastness of space to try and put some distance between herself and the past".

[79] GamesRadar wrote that Other M painted Samus, widely considered a strong female lead character, as "an unsure, insecure woman who desperately wants the approval of her former [male] commanding officer".

[84] In his review of Super Smash Bros., GameSpot's Jeff Gerstmann called Samus one of the characters that made Nintendo "what it is today".

[87] Gavin Jasper of Den of Geek felt that Samus stood out among the rest of the cast due to concept, design, and backstory.