Samus Aran is one of the most famous video game heroines of all time, and the moment she was shown to be female in the original NES release of Metroid was one of gaming’s most notorious reveals. She’s a skilled bounty hunter with a variety of weapons and a laid-back attitude, and her general audaciousness has won her many fans.

Some of her more artistically-inclined fans choose to honor her with stunning works of fan art, exercising their creative talents and bringing her to life in surprising, original ways. Here are 10 of the coolest pieces of Samus fan art we’ve found - as always if you like the art, make sure you don’t forget to check out the original creators at the links provided.

10 Cglas

Our first entry on this list comes courtesy of Cglas, who mixes Metroid’s traditional sci-fi aesthetic with a little bit of dystopian cyberpunk to create a vibrant, futuristic piece. The colors are incredible, and the art itself is done with an astonishing level of attention to detail.

Thinking how long it must have taken to draw just a portion of this involved, the elaborate piece is mind-boggling.

9 JimboBox

Artist JimboBox’s outstanding piece of Samus fan art shows she’s not one to be trifled with, putting her strength and bravery on display. The colors are excellent and go well together, especially due to the careful shading and dramatic effects.

Samus’ self-confident pose echoes her determined demeanor, and - again - the level of detail throughout the piece is astounding, as the unique art style creates all sorts of opportunities for giving Samus a more complex design.

8 Edwinhuang

Artist Edwin Huang shares this comic-book-esque piece of Samus fan art. Samus would actually work pretty well in a comic, thanks to her relatively unique character and the fact that there would be opportunities to give her a more developed backstory, and this piece of art shows exactly what that might be like.

The colors are amazing, and the shading looks awesome - perhaps because it’s very reminiscent of Marvel Comics’ more recent designs.

7 Nopeys

Popular Deviantart user Nopeys creates a fresh take on Zero Suit Samus with this awesome piece of fan art showing the energetic character prepping for a fight. The sleek design on things like her Arm Cannon - not to mention her Zero Suit - actually works super well and singlehandedly gives the piece its modern aesthetic.

The colors are excellent, especially with reflections and lighting, and the realistic shading adds a touch of complexity.

6 Logan Cure

Popularity artist Logan Cure has two takes on Samus - both fighting and working out. Her clear tenacity and never-give-up mentality are clearly present in both.

The colors look fantastic, particularly the futuristic pink and blue shades, and the incredible uses of both lighting and shading add realism and give the piece a “cooler” aesthetic overall.

5 Rossdraws

Artist Rossdraws shares their take on Power Suit Samus, complete with a movie-poster orange and blue contrast and accompanying Pikachu. The shading is incredible and hits all the right notes, and the art style is a welcome middle ground between realistic and cartoonish.

The colors are fantastic, accentuating the bright lighting and upbeat aesthetic, and the level of detail gives the entire piece a very polished, modern look.

4 Longai

Artist Longai is next up on the list. Their awesome piece of Samus fan art is way too detailed to take in all once, from the incredibly complex outfit design to the intricate, realistic shading, but this only makes it look that much more epic.

The detailed, explosive background, combined with Samus’ cold stare while walking away from it, accentuates her hard-core attitude and smug disposition.

3 Zeronis

Artist Zeronis is a popular fixture in the online art community, known for his work on the popular video game League of Legends. With these two pieces of Samus fan art, he tries out two different suits for her - both look amazing, with vibrant colors accentuated by bright shading (in the one on the left, those colors are red, green, and dark grey; in the one on the right, they’re blue, pink, and yellow).

Zeronis’ unique art style itself is, of course, amazing, and it’s it we have to thank for these two extremely cool takes on the classic video game character.

2 Sakimichan

Sakimichan is another artist with separate takes on Samus; the one on the left is vibrant, and combines Samus’ design with that of popular Overwatch character D.Va’s, while the one on the left is a more traditional image showing the character in her classic Power Suit.

Both are incredibly detailed with creative concepts leading to realistic designs complete with bright colors and high levels of shading. They also both have many unique characteristics, however, like the heavy use of light blue coloration in the first versus the darker, more reddish colors in the second.

1 Zakuga

Artist Zakuga takes the top spot on our list for this veritable treasure, a spectacularly complex and surprisingly realistic piece of Samus fan art. The high level of detail is probably the most attention-grabbing element this piece has to offer, but the amazing precision with such things as shapes, proportions, textures, and shading is also of note.

The many different emotions this piece, in particular, can evoke make viewing it almost an out-of-body experience.

NEXT: Metroid: 10 Best Games In The Franchise, Ranked (According To Metacritic)