Is Samus Aran the Coolest Nintendo Icon?

Nintendo has a heck of a gallery of iconic characters. From the likes of Mario, Donkey Kong and Link there are plenty of heavy hitters. But I have a confession to make. I LOVE SAMUS ARAN!! This character helped revolutionize the side scrolling, action and shooting gaming genre. With major titles like Super Metroid, Metroid Prime and the always popular Super Smash Bros franchise, this character has made a serious impact on how games are played today. So today I am going to break down why I believe Samus Aran is Nintendo's coolest Icon.

1. Samus Aran is a Woman!

I remember when I first beat the original Metroid. After countless hours of grueling puzzles and extremely difficult creatures I finally reached the end of the game. As Samus' armor melted away I was left with my mouth gaped open, as I looked upon my screen and saw that the character was a beautiful 8 bit female sprite waving at me. Throughout the entire game I assumed that the character was male and to see that I was completely wrong. My young mind was blown away. This set the tone for female game characters that will all know and love like Lara Croft and Jill Valentine. This trend setter most certainly deserves some recognition for being one of the coolest.

2. Samus' Armor

This armor is super dope. It has a sleek look, and take a lot of punishment. Not to mention Samus is able to turn into a little ball!! How cool is that?! The suit had all kinds of upgrades. Let's just name a few of them; Varia, Gravity, Fusion, Phazon, Light and Dark. All with their own unique abilities and sleek colors. Oh and let's not forget about the Screw Attack..God I love that! That armor is so unique and is dripping with pure awesomeness!

3. Arm Cannon

Last, but certainly not least, Samus' super sweet arm cannon. It is one of my favorite video game accessories. It has a really cool design and can do all kinds of cool stuff. Here are just a few features of the weapon. There is the Power Beam; Charge Beam; Long Beam; Wide Beam; Ice Beam and the Plasma Beam just to name a few. It also has an assortments of missiles and other cool abilities. Whats not to like about this thing!? It is truly a super sweet gadget.

So this is why I think Samus is the coolest Nintendo icon. Do you agree with me? What do you think? Who do you think is Nintendo's coolest icon?