So I have a new job where I sit at a front desk for 3 hours per shift and don't have anything to do when I'm not helping people, so I have little to spend the time except SmashBoards and stuff. Here we go.
Dark Samus seems like she had multiple contingency plans. She probably knew Samus was the biggest threat to her plans, and had the greatest willpower (she probably surmised that Samus was the one to activate Norion's defense systems before she fell unconscious). She probably thought it was a waiting game that Samus could not possibly win even if she did destroy each phazon seed (because if you noticed in Prime 3, the phazon corruption in Samus got much worse every time she destroyed a seed).
Dark Samus was actually in the process of activating her contingency plan according to this unused Prime 3 scan:
The fury of our leader is great. Many disciples have experienced her wrath since Urtraghus fell. However, despite our defeat, her confidence is unbroken. Soon the next phase of her campaign shall take effect against the Federation.
The Aurora has performed the last calculations. Our leader is ready to strike. Soon, Phaaze will sow a large number of Phazon Seeds. They will feel hundreds of Federation worlds. This blow may be the end of Phaaze, but our leader is without worry. For hundreds of live Phazon worlds will replace it.
Dark Samus was very close to winning the war. A large portion of the Federation forces were being used to fight the Pirate armada orbitting Phaaze. Dark Samus surmised this was the perfect opportunity to overwhelm the Federation with just how many Leviathans were going to be shot towards them.
She also estimated that Samus was on the cusp of total corruption, and she would not survive long with her own will on Phaaze (the corruption got so bad for Samus on Phaaze that her own ship no longer recognized her as Samus). Samus pretty much was locked into a death battle the moment she stepped foot on Phaaze. If she did not remove the corruption within her, she would literally become another Dark Samus, and DS likely knew this.
Dark Samus would have become a living god in the Metroid universe had Samus's will been broken on Phaaze or she lost the battle with her later on. There is actually no other villains in the Smash Bros. series who ever had such a grandiose endgame as Dark Samus. Even Ganondorf/Ganon is contained to Hyrule, and there existed failsafes that ensured Ganondorf would never have the full power of the Triforce or if he did there would be a way around his rule (like the Triforce warping his wish to rule the world by simply giving him a world of his own in the form of the Dark World in the A Link To The Past timeline).
And at the same time, Dark Samus has the most primitive of goals. The same goal of nearly all life. The propagation of its species. Dark Samus, probably felt compelled on a genetic level to spread phazon throughout the universe. There is a lot that can be said about Dark Samus in general.
As for Ridley and Dark Samus being companions or allies, I think Ridley would agree to serve under Dark Samus without brainwashing and would probably even have respect for her if his personality in the Metroid manga is anything to go by. Ridley respects ruthlessness, leadership, and competence (see how Ridley agreed to serve Mother Brain and how he followed an order from Gray Voice), and Dark Samus had all three of these qualities in spades.
I would also say Ridley probably coordinated with Dark Samus before he was ever corrupted by phazon (he was still Meta Ridley during the battle of Norion). It was only when he faced grave injuries again that he was likely subject to phazon enhancements, and then enthralled by the Phazon Seed on Urtraghus/Pirate Homeworld to defend it.
Ridley's philosophy in general seems to boil down to "might makes right" (and perhaps this might have been an inspiration for Ridley becoming your ally in the Pyrosphere if you beat on him). Dark Samus is incredibly strong and resilient, Ridley would probably respect that even if they were not on the same side. Ridley and Dark Samus having a mutual nemesis probably would make them comrades, and maybe even friends if they are capable of the concept (which is unknown for the both of these characters). Dark Samus probably earned Ridley's respect and service when he heard about the successful raid of the GFS Valhalla and just how ruthless she was (she ordered the Pirates to jettison surviving Federation soldiers into the vacuum of space). Ridley and Dark Samus might also be mutually impressed with the times they both cheated death (Ridley is the Cunning God of Death afterall) and how they were able to survive in conditions that would kill most other beings.
Their hatred of Samus would be glue that would bind these two together. Dark Samus probably relishes battle just as much as Ridley and probably both of them would have fun causing misery and mayhem to the Federation together.
I do think Dark Samus hates Samus and would like to see her either as her slave (as another Dark Samus) or a dead trophy. Dark Samus was not concerned with hunting Samus down during Prime 2 because she was obsessed with phazon (to the point where she was deteriorating). Dark Samus was Metroid Prime in her previous life, and now she found herself with a human genome, and humans... well they are pretty susceptible to becoming addicted to things that give them pleasure or sustenance (food, sex, substances that elicit "good feeling" hormones). Dark Samus was new to her life as a mutated phazon metroid/human hybrid, and likely did not know her new body could only take so much phazon or that she was becoming a slave to it. Dark Samus probably came to this realization by the end of Prime 2.
As I said, a lot can be said about Dark Samus.
Damn, where'd you find that unused log? That's really interesting. I guess it was taken out because they couldn't find a place to put it (since it's written after the seed in the Pirate Homeworld is destroyed, but after that is when the game is almost done and there's not really anywhere else to go), but it offers a huge amount of insight into Dark Samus and her plans.
I almost said earlier that Dark Samus's mindset in Metroid Prime 2 might just be "Phazon Phazon Phazon Phazon Phazon." That's all she's really doing throughout the entire game: absorbing as much as she can, almost like she's addicted to it, as you said. Who knows if her animosity towards Dark Samus has anything to do with who Samus is, or if it's just that she's trying to fend off anyone that might take the Phazon instead of her. By the end she's absorbed so much that it's almost killing her. The final two scans in the game say:
"Scans indicate that Dark Samus has absorbed tremendous levels of Phazon into her body: too much, perhaps. She can vent Phazon energy in the form of destructive blasts and protective shields: doing so will help her maintain stability..."
And:
"Dark Samus has temporarily become a being of pure yet unstable Phazon energy. She can generate a shield that is invulnerable to all attacks, save one - blasts of Phazon energy itself. Use your Charge Beam to collect Phazon energy that she expels, then fire it back at her. Direct hits will overload and disrupt her essence."
I mean, the fact that her outer shell has become so disrupted to the point of transparency shows just how unstable she got. Who knows how much more until she just exploded? It'd be like overdosing on drugs or something.
It's not until Metroid Prime 3 and her arrival at Phaaze that she seems to become more intelligent and redirect her goals. At that point, she's found the source of all Phazon, as much as she'll ever need. Phaaze is a sentient planet, so it's hard to say if she's acting out its will or if she's the one taking over. And she's no longer mindlessly consuming Phazon, as she's still unstable, but not unstable enough to see her skeleton again. Perhaps that's a sign that the planet Phaaze itself is influencing her rather than the other way around.
Though I'm not entirely sure that Dark Samus's goal is overtly primitive. Even in Metroid Prime 2 she possesses more personality than we even see with Ridley in the games. The way she laughs and taunts Samus over and over again are part of what shows her having more intelligence than most other beasts in the series, as it shows a capacity of humor or contempt. And I love the implication of that unused Pirate log, where after the final Leviathan seed was destroyed, Dark Samus probably just started indiscriminately blasting her own brainwashed soldiers out of sheer rage, showing her cruelty. The deaths of the other hunters are also a display of her cruelty, as she uses it to try and demoralize Samus. Dark Samus isn't just acting out of instinct; she's genuinely intelligent and evil.
As such, it's possible that her goals are out of a more intelligent lust for power. This would explain her cockiness when encountering Samus in Metroid Prime 2, since she believes herself to be more powerful than Samus (especially after nearly killing her in their very first encounter in Dark Aether). And with each encounter, she's absorbed more Phazon and become even more powerful, so surely she must be better than Samus. But they're both becoming more powerful in tandem, and each time Samus beats Dark Samus, despite Dark Samus becoming more powerful as time goes on.
This is also why she brainwashes the Space Pirates and corrupts the hunters; she gets to enslave them, exercising her power over others in an incredibly sinister way. And among those, Samus is the most powerful, so she'd be the grandest prize. This is supported by Ghor after he's corrupted, as he says to Samus "Don't you feel the power? Soon everything will be corrupted--even you." It seems to imply it's less about hunger or reproduction as it is about power and control. I imagine that she revels in the fact that the Space Pirates worship her, instead of being indifferent to it.
Which is interesting when you think about Dark Samus's origins. Her creation was an accident, giving her the humblest of beginnings. No one would even know about her if she stayed on Tallon IV. It's only because she traveled to Aether that she was discovered by the Space Pirates and Samus. And in the end, she almost succeeds in dominating the entire galaxy. She came from nothing, but almost conquered everything.
We're probably thinking about this way more than anyone at Retro Studios ever did
You're right that Dark Samus is way more sinister and threatening than Ganondorf. Unless you count Gorea (which is absurd god-level powerful), Dark Samus is the most powerful entity in all of Metroid, and thus probably all of Smash. There's other Nintendo characters that variously are on par. Dimentio from Super Paper Mario almost
wiped out all of existence to rebuild the universe in his image, and is probably one of the darkest villains Nintendo has had, let alone for a Mario game. It's a shame we'll definitely never see him again.
One thing that displeases me the most in stories is when good characters die "young" so to speak. Rundas and the other hunters in Corruption are the worst case in the series, because their roles were so short, yet they had so much potential to be used elsewhere. Dark Samus also could have used more time in the spotlight, as she only had a few appearances across two games. In the first game she wasn't really part of the plot, she was just here and there doing her own thing until you bump into her. In the second game, she's the main antagonist of the plot, but she's sitting back while she lets her plan unfold, not actively engaging Samus.
Phazon and Dark Samus are done with according to Kensuke Tanabe, so unless he changes his mind or someone else brings her back for some reason, Prime 2 and 3 are all we get, sadly. But at least Dark Samus is immortalized in the biggest Smash game there will ever be, and I'll gladly take that.
I'm gonna make a video about Dark Samus getting into Smash soon, since I realized I could put my video-editing skills to use to convey my thoughts better. Already started on the script, though I probably won't be done until next month.
Actually, I may have found a tidbit in yet another piece of Prime 3 pirate lore concerning the Federation's ethics... the log describing the attack on Valhalla mentions they got the intel needed through bribes. Now it doesn't specify who, but who other than the Federation would be privy to such information?
I honestly don't think even Sakamoto's games try to paint the Federation as bad as possible. We only have Adam's vague word about "the Federation" being interested in the SA-X, and he obviously wasn't interested in telling Samus more than that (or might not even know himself). Let's be real though, the next 2D Metroid is probably going to focus on that rogue faction of Chozo introduced in Samus Returns more than the Federation, so they don't necessarily have to tackle that trust issue right away.
All she did in her previous life as Metroid Prime was gorge itself with Phazon provided by the Tallon IV leviathan, apparently to the point of actually becoming it's own core as a source of Phazon (maybe it ate the core itself?). It's attempt at taking the Phazon suit is an extension of this, and initially she carries on in the exact same fashion in Prime 2. She has absolutely no indication of a sapient mind, until that laugh is heard and later on makes a deliberate attempt to hinder Samus by destroying the Sanctuary Fortress bridge, but is still more concerned with getting Phazon. Only in the final encounter does she truly see and hate Samus as her enemy, trapping her on a collapsing planet for a battle to the death, even though she now has finally had her fill of Phazon. Consuming it didn't just make her stronger, it made her smarter too. And of course once Prime 3 hits she learns to look at the big picture.
That's an interesting find. Good on Retro for implying a darker side to the Federation, then. I wish they could have become the stewards of the franchise, but it seems that most of the talent on those projects were tired of Metroid and wanted to move on to other things, either with Nintendo or with other developers.
Those rogue Chozo are way more interesting than anything that's been presented about the Federation across any of the games, though. Like I said, the dark side of the Federation is more or less a ripoff of the Weyland-Yutani/USM business in the Alien franchise. It's one of the oldest clichés in the book: business/government clones/does genetic experiments to create weapons. It's been done to death, and hardly ever done well. But those glimpses of the Chozo on SR-388? The scientists make Metroids, the Metroids go nuts, the soldiers show up and the scientists think they're saved, and the guy in charge was probably like "What the hell did you idiots do down here?" and orders his soldiers to
smoke everyone and then said "Clean this **** up."
Up to then, the Chozo were just one of those super-wise and peaceful races. Now we know that there's apparently a merciless Chozo warlord in command of a legion of soldiers in Varia suits, and he's still out there somewhere. That's a way more interesting premise than the Federation just being stupid and repeatedly cloning things for dumb reasons.
Thought I'd post this since it's a bit of an overview on everything Dark Samus (and Metroid Prime)...however it's pretty much just limited to her appearances in Metroid and Smash since she hasn't had an appearance outside of those games yet.
I'm actually curious about her possible appearances in the future. I wonder if Prime 4 will have multiplayer, akin to Hunters, if Dark Samus will playable in that mode in some way (which would be frikkin sweet). Being an actual fighter in Smash could potentially open up a lot of doors for the character, especially considering how many characters and franchises have gained an insane boost in popularity simply due to being in Smash (Metroid in a sense could be an example since the plan for Prime may have been a result of Samus's part in Smash 64 and Melee) or even just by having people want them in Smash.
I have been thinking of a possible theory on her possible return to the series. Much like most other phazon corrupted beings Dark Samus started off as a creature that had nothing to do with Phazon being a Metroid at one point, over time Metroid Prime and Dark Samus became very dependent on phazon but still one that had a less mutated beginning. But characters like Samus and Ridley both returned after being heavily corrupted by the substance, so it could be possible that she may return as well.
Couple this with Samus's Phazon Suit. While the substance itself is no more the remains of Samus's suit and the technology that it bares, could serve to possibly stablize Dark Samus, or at least an apparition or spirit of Dark Samus, to an extent that would allow her to reincarnate. She could return in the form of some very ghostly until she finds something similar to phazon that would give her power once again, or perhaps pull a Little Birdie in a way and be reborn in some sort of larval state, once again when exposed to something like phazon that would give her more power to be reborn as Dark Samus again or another form of Dark Samus.
Multiplayer in Metroid is such a lingering opportunity. Echoes was simple but really fun, and Hunters expanded on it and few will disagree that it was a blast. But the problem is that there's people who will complain "Metroid shouldn't be anything but single player," because any historically single player franchise is
ruined when multiplayer is added, apparently. I've seen some people act like Fallout 76 is the death knell of the franchise.
You raise an interesting point about new doors being opened for Dark Samus. I think it's evident that King K. Rool will make a return in the Donkey Kong Country series in the next installment due to his massive popularity getting him into Smash, so the same might happen for Dark Samus. Metroid Prime 2 and 3 weren't as popular as the first game, unfortunately, so it's possible that Tanabe might've gotten the impression that Dark Samus wasn't very popular. Hopefully he and other Metroid developers see that it's not the case now.
If they were to bring Dark Samus back, I'd want them to do it tastefully and purposefully, rather than it just being for fanservice. Several of Ridley's appearances fall into that category, unfortunately (though the one in Samus Returns is awesome, in my opinion). But where does one go after complete galactic conquest fails? Would she settle for less and just become a rival for Samus, or would she try and rule the galaxy once again? Hmm...
