In-game
The Hunter makes her big comeback!
- The recap to Zero Mission is deliberately showing Samus as badass incarnate, with her fighting Mother Brain all the while a Metroid is draining her left arm and another set on fire. It's as if the developers knew the fans view Samus as the walking definition of badass.
- The parry move is incredibly fun, but it's at its best when used on Metroids. Special minicutscenes play where you can have Samus fire the ice beam or missiles into the Metroid's core, but more than that, while you're mashing Y, Samus herself is doing something awesome. (Except against Alphas, which are so small and basic that she just stands there firing her missiles.)
- For Gammas, though, she dodges around them, jumps on their back, and rides them while shoving missiles down their throat.
- For Zetas, she slides under them and grabs them by the tail to slam them on the ground, then gets on top of them and unloads missiles into their core, prompting the Zeta to kick Samus off, then they take a second to stare each other down...at which point the Zeta pounces, Samus drops back and boots the Zeta, and fires more missiles into it while physically holding the creature back from chomping her, before rolling it off her when she's done.
- Against Omegas, Samus does a flying tackle to knock them on their back and stands on their torso while firing on their chest, only for the Omega to sit up and snatch at Samus with its claws, leading to Samus performing a twist flip and landing hard enough to knock the Omega flat again, firing more missiles at its core while pinning it by standing on its neck with both feet before it finally bucks her off.
- The Signature Scene of Metroid II's final boss gets some love here too. Parrying the Metroid Queen stuns her long enough for Samus to grapple onto the inside of her mouth, smash her head against the ground, then intentionally Morph Ball down the Queen Metroid's throat while she's stunned and lay a bomb in her nucleus (Or a Power Bomb if you wish), with the camera following her inside for visceral detail.
- Three words. Power. Bomb. Boost. Especially when you can combine this trick with the Spider Ball to get a Power Bomb Tank in the next area after you acquire it.
- The Final Boss prelude. After defeating the Queen Metroid, Samus and the baby Metroid start to head back to Samus's gunship, preparing to leave SR388...and then the camera suddenly zooms into the sky. Swooping in to capture the baby Metroid is none other than the unimaginably durable, draconic Space Pirate leader, Ridley. Furthermore, Ridley's shown to be still recovering from Corruption's events, having much fewer cybernetic implants than before, making it clearer than ever that Prime's events were always canon. And most notably, what does Samus do upon seeing Ridley? Prepare for another throwdown with Ridley. Though it can be predictable, it's still an awesome shock for Metroid II veterans.
- And, as the ending shows, it's also implied that Samus had fought Ridley while he was nearing peak health - since after the fight, his cybernetic implants are shown to have been discarded. And of course, Ridley, fully organic, tries and succeeds in stealing the baby Metroid again soon after in Super.
- Bordering between awesome and funny, Ridley crashing into a wall and being buried in a pile of rubble. He sits under there for a second, either unconscious or thinking Here We Go Again! before opening his eye suddenly and flying into a rage.
- Another thing to mention is how the fight goes. In the first mid-battle cutscene, Ridley tries to fly away with the baby Metroid and Samus catches a ride on his tail. When he tries to lurch her off, she swings around to his chest and pounds him with point-blank plasma beams to the heart until he lets go of the baby. She then jumps off, catches the baby in one hand, and shoots a charged shot into Ridley's wing, sending him careening into the cliff. In the next cutscene, Ridley chases down Samus and tosses her around like a rag doll before pinning her and charging up a killing blow. The baby Metroid, wanting to help its adoptive parent, proceeds to attack Ridley head on and saps some of his energy to give to Samus. It does this twice in the battle after the cutscene, in fact. Barely an hour old and already proving why the Metroids are so feared.
- A special note as to the fight itself; both times Ridley tosses the baby off, he'll try to chomp at Samus in retaliation, and this attack can be countered, cuing Samus mounting Ridley and jamming her arm cannon into his mouth. Mash Y at this time to force-feed him the munitions of your choice. Even better? You can counter-kill him this way the second time around!
- Even better, Ridley's new appearance is the first legitimately intentional Continuity Nod to the Metroid Prime Trilogy that has ever been featured in a 2D Metroid game. By having Ridley's body appear halfway between the cyborg Meta Ridley and the organic Ridley of Super, he's literally the missing link between Prime and classic Metroid.
- Adding onto the above? It also answers why Ridley is red in Super instead of Purple like every other time. He turns red from his injuries in this one (like he did in previous games to show low health), but since Super happens immediately after this game, Ridley hasn't recovered from his injuries. This means Ridley's real death starts with this battle, which could be considered not over until their last encounter in the next game. That just shows how far Ridley is ready to go this time to defeat Samus. He's severely injured all through Super Metroid and still won't hesitate to try and break her. Worthy Opponent indeed.
- Also a moment of Awesome for Ridley, himself, as this marks the first time ever that Samus's Arch-Enemy has taken the role of Final Boss. He's been in almost every Metroid game to date but never as a Final Boss before now.
- How Samus finishes off Diggernaut. As it tries to get Samus from behind after you think you beat it, Samus nonchalantly shoots it in the eye with a charge shot without turning around. Then once you get the Power Bomb it stole and you use it to clear the wall blocking the door, the blast completely incinerates the robot. Doubles as a Crowning Moment of Funny if you choose to interpret Samus allowing her arm to limply fall after that final shot as her being just as done with dealing with the robot as the player.
