Metroid Samus Aran
Image: Nintendo

Metroid protagonist Samus Aran is one of Nintendo's more formidable leading ladies. Not only is she a bounty hunter with an impressive résumé, she's also one of the first female characters to gain fame within the realm of video gaming; it's little wonder, then, that fans are keen to know as much about her as possible.

One question that crops up more often than you might expect relates to Aran's height, and the confusion can be traced back to a Nintendo Power image produced for the North American release of Super Metroid on the SNES (thanks, Memory Card):

Metroid Samus Aran
Image: Nintendo

As you can see, the image shows Aran with and without her iconic Power (or Varia) Suit, and claims that her natural height is 6'3" – making her a pretty striking figure.

However, another official source lists Aran as measuring the same height when inside her suit, which doesn't make much sense; the suit would, one might assume, add inches to her overall height rather than keep it the exact same.

This is clearly a puzzle which requires further investigation, and that's precisely what Reddit user Hunter The Holy has done. By closely analysing footage from Super Smash Bros., they've concluded the following:

"Samus in her power suit measures up to around 1.8 m or 5'11". Meanwhile in her Zero Suit, Samus measures up to around 1.75 m or 5'9" as shown at 1:10. Since Smash isn't canon to Metroid, we will ignore these aforementioned heights, but will still acount for the two inch height difference between regular Samus and power suit Samus.

Since 6'3" is four inches taller than 5'11", it only makes sense for us to add another four inches for regular Samus' Smash height of 5'9". If we were to do this, this would leave us with a height of 6'1".

However, we are not done quite yet. Since Samus is often shown wearing high heels, surely that would add on to her height as well. From what I know, the average height of the heel for high heels is three inches tall. This means that Samus should really be three inches shorter than 6'1" and therefore should stand at 5'10".

In conclusion, Samus' heels add three inches to her height, while the helmet of her power suit adds another two inches, ultimately bringing her up to 6'3"."

But what about the size difference between Aran and other characters in Metroid: Other M – are they all just freakishly tall giants or something?

Metroid Other M
Image: Nintendo

Do you think Aran really is 6'3" without her suit, or should that measurement only apply when she's wearing it? Maybe you think the way she's represented in Other M is more accurate? Or perhaps you think there are more pressing questions to answer these days? (And you'd be right.)

Let us know with a comment.

How tall do you think Samus Aran is? (471 votes)

  1. 6'3" without the Varia Suit28%
  2. 6'3" with the Varia Suit38%
  3. Less than 6'3", with or without the suit13%
  4. Did you really do a poll for this, of all questions?!21%