Wow.... I have to admit I'm a little surprised no one has listed off the mighty fighter of the Metroid series, Samus Aran.
I'm not just talking about the newer ones, Sure Prime is a good game series, but I miss my 2D side scrollers from time to time. Not including Fusion which, while a decent addition to the Metroid series story wise, was ungodly easy. Wow... I really just said the term "story wise" when talking about a game... There really is now hope for me after all...
I digress however. The original Metroid was fun for the bit I have been able to actually play. Yes I have never finished the game, but the idea of a person in a suped up power suit that has a gun arm blazing there way through various legions of aliens, dragons, weird parasites that drain you of all your life and use it as a food source, and finally ending it with a fight against a cyborgian brain that after slaying you had to escape from a planetary detonation before the whole idea of such was cliche and over done.
If that does not prove a person being a bad ass then I don't know what does.