I got distracted doing my Western Metroid concept art project for school when I was trying to find out Samus’ height. Turns out in some official art for Super Metroid (1994) she’s described as such:
The Power Suit hides a strong, muscular woman. Samus is nearly six feet, three inches tall and weighs nearly 200 pounds.
Then it lists the exact numbers as 6’3” and 198lbs. That’s what’s “hidden” by the suit, not with the suit, as some people on the internet seem to be suggesting. If you look at the illustration, the suit doesn’t add much to her height anyway.
So anyway the point of all this is that Samus is now 5’3” and that sucks. I can’t find where this stat came from but it’s being quoted by several fans online, and if you obsessively compare screenshots from SSBB like I did, you’ll find that it’s accurate to the inch when she’s standing next to the 6’ tall Snake. So that blows. I think the 6’3” Samus seems way more likely to be an ex-soldier turned bounty hunter who pilots a power suit and doesn’t take shit from anyone. Also she’s a babe.
Disclaimer: I haven’t played a game in the Metroid series since the SNES, all knowledge from the internet, take this with a grain of salt.
As appealing as it is to imagine Samus as a total badass who isn't gonna take shit from anyone, the fact of the matter is that she gets exactly no express character development until Fusion, and then what we learn is that she is compassionate and loyal, not a loose cannon. Take the height changes as you may, in my humble opinion just because she is smaller doesn't expressly mean that she is any less authoritative than she was before. I know plenty of short women who have uniquely commanding personalities.
