What Nintendo character is a good match for Samus Aran?

[Fallman]

So, Metroid Dread came out last month, and I'm trying to think of a good Nintendo matchup for her.

First thought was Link but... Even putting end-of-game BotW Link against beginning-of-game Samus came down to whether he could hit her with Stasis while she was shooting him. With Ganon she's either spotted the ability to hurt him or loses a war of attrition. Mario & friends? Not without a starman. The Starfox guys are a maybe, though kind of a weird match. I'm sure that there's a pokemon someone that isn't a stomp one way or the other, but I don't know the games well enough to say. Likewise, the Xenoblade series seems like it should be a fit but I haven't actually played them.

So, is there anyone in the House of N that can hang in Samus' league? Or is she in a weird spot where she doesn't have any combat peers?

[BitVyper]

Kirby, with the right loadout, would take 10/10. His high end stuff has him taking on celestial beings well outside the range of anything Samus fights. In his base form... he might still have a chance. It'd depend on if he can swallow her energy attacks or not. He's certainly got feats for swallowing all sorts of tenuously or even totally non physical stuff, but it's kind of hit-or-miss. If he can, then he has a good enough defense going that he can make a good match of it, though I'm not sure he can take a majority. If he gets close enough to swallow her, he can probably get a ten count.

If anything published by Nintendo qualifies, then Ness, Paula, or Poo should all pretty comfortably flatten her. All three can shield themselves with a thought (if they even need to, given the attacks they can survive, and that all can activate powers after taking fatal attacks) and have esoteric psionic junk, and pack enough power to take down kaiju-sized dinosaurs and psychic monsters made of diamond. I guess that wouldn't qualify as a good match though. Jeff can probably win too, but it's harder to argue his abilities. At the very least, he hits in the same range as the rest.

Donkey Kong is like class 80 or something at times, so if he can get in close, he can probably win.

[Fallman]

To be clear, I'm looking for a matchup that isn't a stomp either way. I forgot to mention the Earthbound bunch above, but I was thinking of them as being probably far above Samus, depended on how they're quantified, and I'd generally consider Earthbound as pretty difficult to quantify.

Donkey Kong is stronger, sure, but getting in close with Samus doesn't tend to be a winning move. As of Dread, you really, really want to stay out of arms' reach of Samus, even without the last minute super weapon.

[The Drunkard Kid]

Forget Stasis, I'm wondering how Magnesis would work with her armor and weapons.

And an I correct in assuming that Dark Samus would be cheating?

Also, what are Captain Falcon's canonical stats like?

[Nik Hasta]

I feel like a Castlevania character might be a good shout here.

[The MunchKING]

and pack enough power to take down kaiju-sized dinosaurs and psychic monsters made of diamond.

I mean Kraid is pretty dang big himself.

[The Drunkard Kid]

I feel like a Castlevania character might be a good shout here.

Maybe, but the OP specified Nintendo characters.

[Sharkerbob]

I would think Mega Man X is probably the closest in style/power range, but he's not Nintendo.

I think the only other person who has the sheer range of options/upgrades/capability in his games is Link, but I can't think of any game that puts him in Samus' power class. Otherwise, as mentioned, there's Kirby and Earthbound crew are probably up there enough to handle her.

Hmm...

Are there any Pokemon that might do it? How would she do against Mewtwo?

[Jcogginsa]

I would think Mega Man X is probably the closest in style/power range, but he's not Nintendo.

I think the only other person who has the sheer range of options/upgrades/capability in his games is Link, but I can't think of any game that puts him in Samus' power class. Otherwise, as mentioned, there's Kirby and Earthbound crew are probably up there enough to handle her.

Hmm...

Are there any Pokemon that might do it? How would she do against Mewtwo?

Does she have any psychic defenses? Because Mewtwo can do the good old fashioned Mind whammy

[BitVyper]

Breath of the Wild Link is a beast and should be a decent match for her. Guardian attacks are strong enough to one shot guardians, and Link can both deflect and eat them, so he should be good for not just getting wrecked at range, especially if he's throwing her attacks back at her. And particularly skilled players have shown that he can basically be played like he's Dante. Ice arrows are about as good at freezing things as Samus' ice beam, so at the very least, those should be effective. She's more mobile than he is by a pretty wide margin, but if he can get decently close to her, he can timelock her. I think it'd be a pretty good fight.

[Fallman]

Yeah, no. I gamed it out, and Link is in a far worse position that it looks at first.

Guardian attacks hit hard, but they also have a very slow rate of fire. Samus has a faster rate of fire than anything in Hyrule, so it's unlikely that he's going to parry everyone of her attacks. I don't know if he could parry her beam shots back at her, as they don't act like Guardian beams, and she's perfectly capable of dodging them anyway. More importantly, it doesn't matter if he can, because she's just trying to get close to him, at which point she either gets behind him or just destroys his shield outright, assuming it lasted that long. Either way, he's stuck in close combat with someone fast enough and strong enough to parry attacks from someone that also has super strength and can flash shift around.

Or she could just shoot him with missiles, which just explode on impact. She starts with fifteen of them in Dread, and they're strong against armor.

His only real option for a win is hitting her with Stasis at the bell, and that relies on pulling out the slate and pointing it at her while she's shooting at him, and hope she doesn't try to dodge.

And that's end-of-game Link versus start-of-game Samus. Endgame Samus is probably still vulnerable to Stasis, but she's got enough armor and health to handle everything else, along with better options for dodging and attacking. Most importantly, her beams have two forms of armor penetration, three if charged, along with stronger missiles that have homing.

The Drunkard Kid mentioned Magnesis. As far as I know, there isn't any reason to believe that Samus' armor is vulnerable to magnetism by default. She needs powerups to interact with magnetic objects, so take that as you will. Also, Manesis throws out a projectile. Just plain dodging it is a possibility.

Hmmn. What about Officer Howard from Astral Chain? The beam spam is still an issue, but Howard has a super strong and nigh-indestructible stand to tank for them.

[BitVyper]

Link can toss out quite a few arrows in <1 second during his little slomo bits, and there's no reason for that to even require him to be airborne outside of gameplay, so he can be hammering her with a lot of ice arrows really fast. He can swap between that and deflecting attacks very quickly. He'll take hits, but he *can* take hits. There's also an exceptionally wide range to how effective he is based on player skill, so YMMV for what you consider his actual abilities to be, but I'm not joking about skilled players making him look like cutscene Dante and rapidly switching weapons to build silly combos while using his dodge mechanics to be virtually untouchable. He probably won't take a majority, but I think he makes her work hard enough for it to call it a match.

[Fallman]

He's got a decent chance against start-of-game Samus, sure, but he'll be crushed when she's fully powered, and I'm more interested in someone that can match her when she's all geared up.

While Link's ability to hold loads of equipment isn't explained, I'm inclined to think that he physically has to change his gear rather than just wishing it into hand. For that reason, I'm reluctant to take anything that requires instantly switching gear as more than game mechanics.

[Aura Blaize]

If we're talking about Link being geared up then do we count the abilities he gets from divine beasts? I know one of them is a straight up shield. It's been awhile since I played BOTW

[Jackalope89]

Does she have any psychic defenses? Because Mewtwo can do the good old fashioned Mind whammy

You know, when looking at stats, Mewtwo's are scarey high, even moreso when Mega Evolved. Like surpassing most other Legenaries scary. And the 1st movie gave him incredibly high intelligence as well. So, Pokemon #150 is probably a 10/10 win.