During Samus’s showdown with the SA-X inside the Operations Deck, she irreversibly damaged her X replica, and the creature could no longer control its host body form. The faltering SA-X transformed into a grotesque composite of Samus’s DNA combined with mutated forms of several creatures it had previously absorbed: such as the Hornoad-X, which had originally infected Samus.
At the center of the body was a gigantic toothed mouth with a multi-forked tongue. The helmet was replaced with an enormous compound eye composed of a dozen smaller visors, the shoulder pads were replaced with the heads of other creatures, and the arm cannon sprouted into a disfigured mass of multiple cannons that could no longer function. Though the SA-X lost its ability to fire the Ice Beam, its leaping power increased exponentially and its former intelligence was reduced to primitive rage.
