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So firstly we'll start with speed.
The FTL feat in Fusion (dodging EM waves) is pure conjecture, by me. I simply inferred that the Wave Beam was an electromagnetic wave, which contradicts just about every other example of its speed. This includes speed in the same game where an enemy with the Speed Booster (an item that makes one merely Supersonic) is portrayed as incredibly fast compared to Samus when it uses said speed.
The next feat used to justify her current speed ranking is scaling from Ridley since he outpaced her ship, which has traveled at MFTL+ speeds before. This too, is flawed. The canon prequel manga directly states that FTL travel takes place through calculated hyperspace jumps. This FTL method is backed up in nearly every other game, which Metroid Prime 3 showing her (and Sylux) as disappearing into another dimension and Hunters showing her as in some kind of hyperspace while in flight.
And lastly, her Massively Hypersonic+ speed, coming from her going Supersonic on Zebes' 900x gravity. Well, I did some digging, and it turns out that this thread was right. This guidebook, officially sanctioned by Nintendo (bottom right) lists the characteristics of Zebes in great detail. Luckily for us, the Japanese Metroid Wiki lists what it says. Loosely translated, it comes out to:
Equatorial radius: 5201.156 km
Polar radius: 5187.987 km
Surface area: 3.197x10^8 km^2
Volume: 5.851x10^11 cubic meters
Mass: 4.974x10^24 kg
Average density: 9.18 g/cm^3 Sticking this into the equation for gravity, (MG)/r^2, gives 1.26g, just slightly higher than that of Earth's gravity. This is further backed up in the manga, where it's shown that two minor superhumans (and a rabbit) are fully capable of climbing up mountains on the surface of Zebes, as well as Samus when she was just a child. While the manga does say that genetic engineering is required to survive on Zebes (and as such normal humans can only live in certain areas) this is not referring to the gravity of the planet, rather the wildlife. This is shown in the manga, with unenhanced Space Pirates being able to walk around on the surface just fine, but are completely vulnerable to the wildlife.
Now this is all just debunking her current stats. Now it's time for the anti-feats. Firstly, Metroid Prime 1, Hunters, and 3 all take place in real-time. Meaning that Samus' missile and energy blast speed is exactly as fast as shown in those games (I.E. Subsonic).
We can see that Metroid Prime 1 takes place in real-time during her fight against Meta Ridley. All of the rain moves at normal speed during the fight, meaning that her weaponry is only moving at comparable speed to raindrops. In addition, she completely fails to dodge Ridley's plasma beam (something that isn't even a real laser) and perceives the electricity coursing through him as instant.
Hunters has more evidence towards this. The Volt Driver weapon fires multi-terawatt blasts. Wattage, as anyone knows, has its joules entirely dependent on timeframe. Even at such a high value as multiple terawatts, if she was truly fighting at Massively Hypersonic+ or even Supersonic+ speeds the Volt Driver would be harming them with merely Building level attacks, Below Average Human attacks if the speed during these fights were any higher. However, at real-time, they'd be hurt by City Block level attacks or higher, which is much more reasonable. In addition to this, the Imperialist, which fires quantum cascade lasers (something that is a real concept and moves at lightspeed) is portrayed as completely undodgeable, being a hitscan weapon.
As for Metroid Prime 3, there is the fight against Meta Ridley. Throughout the entire fight you are falling down a shaft at roughly real speeds, meaning that Samus' perception and attack speed is exactly as fast as it appears during that fight. This is later backed up during the Norion escape, wherein it is stated in-universe that you have 4 minutes to get out by an actual character. Samus, while running for her life, just moves at, at most, Athletic Human speed.
In addition, in the manga she has a very hard time dodging the Skree dropping from the roof. Said Skree are depicted as, at most, Supersonic. This is further backed up soon after in which she is almost blitzed by Zebes' wildlife.
Topping all this off, the description of the Speed Booster in Zero Mission says that Samus can only reach supersonic speed with the Speed Booster, meaning that she cannot reach reach said speed without it, as seen in the following quote:
"With this power-up, Samus is able to dash at supersonic speeds and crash through certain barriers and enemies. Press and hold + in the direction you want to dash."
So how fast is she? Well, in Metroid Prime 2 she is capable of, in short bursts, dodging a sound blast while underwater. For reference, sound underwater is 4.3x faster than it is in air. For this reason, I think Samus' top speed should be "Supersonic Travel Speed, Supersonic+ in Reactions."
Now, this is all just speed. I originally intended to include several reasons for an AP downgrade as well, but this thread has gone on way too long and I will have to split it.
The FTL feat in Fusion (dodging EM waves) is pure conjecture, by me. I simply inferred that the Wave Beam was an electromagnetic wave, which contradicts just about every other example of its speed. This includes speed in the same game where an enemy with the Speed Booster (an item that makes one merely Supersonic) is portrayed as incredibly fast compared to Samus when it uses said speed.
The next feat used to justify her current speed ranking is scaling from Ridley since he outpaced her ship, which has traveled at MFTL+ speeds before. This too, is flawed. The canon prequel manga directly states that FTL travel takes place through calculated hyperspace jumps. This FTL method is backed up in nearly every other game, which Metroid Prime 3 showing her (and Sylux) as disappearing into another dimension and Hunters showing her as in some kind of hyperspace while in flight.
And lastly, her Massively Hypersonic+ speed, coming from her going Supersonic on Zebes' 900x gravity. Well, I did some digging, and it turns out that this thread was right. This guidebook, officially sanctioned by Nintendo (bottom right) lists the characteristics of Zebes in great detail. Luckily for us, the Japanese Metroid Wiki lists what it says. Loosely translated, it comes out to:
Equatorial radius: 5201.156 km
Polar radius: 5187.987 km
Surface area: 3.197x10^8 km^2
Volume: 5.851x10^11 cubic meters
Mass: 4.974x10^24 kg
Average density: 9.18 g/cm^3 Sticking this into the equation for gravity, (MG)/r^2, gives 1.26g, just slightly higher than that of Earth's gravity. This is further backed up in the manga, where it's shown that two minor superhumans (and a rabbit) are fully capable of climbing up mountains on the surface of Zebes, as well as Samus when she was just a child. While the manga does say that genetic engineering is required to survive on Zebes (and as such normal humans can only live in certain areas) this is not referring to the gravity of the planet, rather the wildlife. This is shown in the manga, with unenhanced Space Pirates being able to walk around on the surface just fine, but are completely vulnerable to the wildlife.
Now this is all just debunking her current stats. Now it's time for the anti-feats. Firstly, Metroid Prime 1, Hunters, and 3 all take place in real-time. Meaning that Samus' missile and energy blast speed is exactly as fast as shown in those games (I.E. Subsonic).
We can see that Metroid Prime 1 takes place in real-time during her fight against Meta Ridley. All of the rain moves at normal speed during the fight, meaning that her weaponry is only moving at comparable speed to raindrops. In addition, she completely fails to dodge Ridley's plasma beam (something that isn't even a real laser) and perceives the electricity coursing through him as instant.
Hunters has more evidence towards this. The Volt Driver weapon fires multi-terawatt blasts. Wattage, as anyone knows, has its joules entirely dependent on timeframe. Even at such a high value as multiple terawatts, if she was truly fighting at Massively Hypersonic+ or even Supersonic+ speeds the Volt Driver would be harming them with merely Building level attacks, Below Average Human attacks if the speed during these fights were any higher. However, at real-time, they'd be hurt by City Block level attacks or higher, which is much more reasonable. In addition to this, the Imperialist, which fires quantum cascade lasers (something that is a real concept and moves at lightspeed) is portrayed as completely undodgeable, being a hitscan weapon.
As for Metroid Prime 3, there is the fight against Meta Ridley. Throughout the entire fight you are falling down a shaft at roughly real speeds, meaning that Samus' perception and attack speed is exactly as fast as it appears during that fight. This is later backed up during the Norion escape, wherein it is stated in-universe that you have 4 minutes to get out by an actual character. Samus, while running for her life, just moves at, at most, Athletic Human speed.
In addition, in the manga she has a very hard time dodging the Skree dropping from the roof. Said Skree are depicted as, at most, Supersonic. This is further backed up soon after in which she is almost blitzed by Zebes' wildlife.
Topping all this off, the description of the Speed Booster in Zero Mission says that Samus can only reach supersonic speed with the Speed Booster, meaning that she cannot reach reach said speed without it, as seen in the following quote:
"With this power-up, Samus is able to dash at supersonic speeds and crash through certain barriers and enemies. Press and hold + in the direction you want to dash."
So how fast is she? Well, in Metroid Prime 2 she is capable of, in short bursts, dodging a sound blast while underwater. For reference, sound underwater is 4.3x faster than it is in air. For this reason, I think Samus' top speed should be "Supersonic Travel Speed, Supersonic+ in Reactions."
Now, this is all just speed. I originally intended to include several reasons for an AP downgrade as well, but this thread has gone on way too long and I will have to split it.