Bounty Hunter

Bounty Hunters are combatants who work as independent contractors.
==Description==
Bounty Hunters are typically hired for hunting down targets. Bounty Hunters are also hired to participate in wars or battles, which makes them more akin to mercenaries than traditional bounty hunters. Upon completing an assignment, they are paid in bounties such as Seguru.
Samus Aran is a devout Bounty Hunter, who left the Federation Police Force to become an independent warrior.
While Samus features in every game in the Metroid series, bounty hunters feature most prominently in Metroid Prime Hunters and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. The bounty hunters serve as boss battles in both games, although Rundas, Ghor, and Gandrayda serve as allies in the opening sequence of Corruption until they are corrupted by Phazon. Earlier bounty hunters have appeared in comics, such as 'Big Time' Brannigan, Armstrong Houston, and Zegan Doh. In Hunters, each Bounty Hunter is known for using a specific Affinity Weapon.
The series contains multiple non-canonical references to the Bounty Hunter occupation. In Bounty Mode of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes Multiplayer, players must battle each other to collect Bounty Coins. The Hunters Multiplayer Mode features its own Bounty mode, in which Bounty Hunters must collect Octoliths. Metroid Prime Pinball awards Samus with Bounty Bonuses, which is increased by the Bounty Multiplier.
==Loyalties==
Samus Aran is often hired by the Galactic Federation due to her famous previous missions. 
Certain bounty hunters may tend to play favorites when it comes to their employer, due to political alliances or personal grudges. For instance, it would be safe to assume that Weavel gets most of his missions from the Space Pirates, while Sylux would be averse to working with the Galactic Federation.
==Space Hunters==
Some Metroid media appears to make a special distinction for an elite faction called Space Hunters, which are highly mobile and operate on a large scale under the Galactic Federation, acting in desperation, for the purposes of ensuring safety in the most remote regions, so that the Federation remains connected and secure. Samus is frequently referred to as the greatest Space Hunter.
This term mostly appears in early media (such as the original Metroid and its various adaptations), although it has been used as recently as the Metroid: Zero Mission manual.
==Official data==
===Metroid manual===
"The Federation Bureau and the Federation Police called together warriors known for their great courage and sent them to do battle with the pirates. These great warriors were called "space hunters." They received large rewards when they captured pirates, and made their living as space bounty hunters."
===Metroid II: Return of Samus manual===
"There are many unknown planets throughout the galaxy. Many of these are causes of concern to the Galactic Federation. To take care of this, they employ Space Hunters, the greatest of which is Samus Aran."
==Development notes==
When creating the Bounty Hunters in Hunters, NST started by assigning a color to each one, and then creating a silhouette of the character. The color was most important for recognition of each character, since the limited graphical capabilities of the Nintendo DS meant they would be difficult to see from a distance. NST would also search for copyrights registered worldwide to ensure the character names were not infringing on any trademarked names; some had to be changed.Kiwi Talkz. #122 - Richard Vorodi Interview (Metroid Prime Hunters, Game Design, Lore, Darksiders III etc.). YouTube. January 29, 2022. Retrieved August 15, 2022. (starts at 6:50)
==Trivia==
thumb|200px|Samus decides to become a Bounty Hunter in Metroid: Volume 2
*Originally, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption was intended to feature actual bounty hunting missions for Samus and the player to undertake. However, Nintendo of Japan ordered Retro Studios to drop the concept, primarily because when Nintendo envisioned her as a bounty hunter, they thought of her more along the lines of a mercenary or hired gun. After this idea was shot down, Retro developers began joking that Samus was a "pro-bono hunter", seeming to imply that Samus is not paid for her missions by the Federation; however, Metroid Dread apparently affirms that Samus is paid, since ADAM remarks on the insufficient bounty for Samus's mission to retrieve the Galactic Federation's E.M.M.I. from ZDR.
*Outside the franchise, the character Captain Falcon from F-Zero also had the profession of bounty hunter, with Samus and Captain Falcon also working together in Super Smash Bros. Brawl in Event Match 36: High-Tech Special Forces alongside Star Fox character Wolf O'Donnell (who ironically was himself subject to a bounty in Star Fox Command). In Melee, Samus also competed against Captain Falcon in Event 17: Bounty Hunters (although they were technically on the same team), with the flavor text stating that she was competing with him for a bounty. In the Event Match Bounty Hunter Clash in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, the player plays as Captain Falcon and initially fights against Zero Suit Samus, before ultimately fighting against some Villagers from Animal Crossing, with the flavor text indicating that Captain Falcon and Zero Suit Samus were fighting each other for a bounty, and that the two villagers joined the fray to "make a quick buck" (although it is left unclear whether those two were meant to be bounty hunters themselves).
**Similarly, in the game Animal Crossing: Wild World, talking with Gulliver after his ship is fixed will have him comment about space Bounty Hunters. Aside from Samus herself obviously (whom he refers to as someone who turns into a metal ball), he also alludes to Fox McCloud from the Star Fox series regarding a "fox who flies a spaceship". However, in the Star Fox series, Fox and Wolf are only described as mercenaries and are not specified to have been bounty hunters.
*A print advertisement for Metroid Prime 2: Echoes references a Bounty Hunter Chronicle pamphlet, targeted toward a Bounty Hunter audience. Additionally, Echoes had a pre-order incentive in the form of the Universal Bounty Hunters T-shirt.
==Gallery==
===Metroid series===
Samus.jpg|Samus Aran
===Metroid Prime Hunters===
Sylux.png|Sylux
Trace.jpg|Trace
Weavel.jpg|Weavel
Kanden.jpg|Kanden
Spire.jpg|Spire
Noxus.jpg|Noxus
===Metroid Prime 3===
Rundas0.jpg|Rundas
Ghor.jpg|Ghor
Gandrayda0.jpg|Gandrayda
===Other===
Big Time Brannigan.png|'Big Time' Brannigan
Armstrong Houston.jpg|Armstrong Houston
Digstone.jpeg|Bounty hunter tombstone from Dig.
==References==
ru:Охотник за головами
it:Cacciatore di taglie
Category:Bounty Hunters