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[Metroid] - I heard the next game is a monologue about misogyny. Oh wait.

HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
edited June 2014 in Games and Technology
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Metroid is a girl. Also, is 27 years old as of yesterday.

Metroid_boxart.jpg

So 27 years ago an amazing game released in Japan, waiting for the following year to come out in North America. Metroid, a game about a bounty hunter kicking the asses of dangerous aliens:
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No, metroids do not actually have asses, and shut up my MS Paint skills are the best.

And to take a turn away from typical "a guy saves everyone" stories, beating the first game reveals that the manual's description of Samus as a guy was total bullshit (pixel bikini). Sadly some people managed to remain in the dark about Samus being a woman for as long as a few years ago, as an encounter at a Gamestop 'job fair' showed me.

But that didn't get in the way of anything - ever since the first game Samus has been making periodic returns in video games, eradicating entire species, blowing up planets and space stations, and generally confounding (and getting the best of) space pirates. So you know, a positive female role model. Not just video games either - there's comics and manga to support the series, where we generally learn that Samus has some pals in the Federation (space military) and a grudge match with Ridley, a jerk alien who killed her parents.
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She got back at him.

As a video game, the series has received a lot of renown for its atmosphere. Each entry has involved Samus investigating or storming locations to get business done. Environment details and supporting soundtracks have helped create a proper mood to descending down into planetary depths. The design of slowly empowering Samus with new abilities to reach new areas has taken off to great success, notably in the Castlevania series, but also in games as recent as Guacamelee. Back in 2002 Retro Studios put all of this into overdrive when they released Metroid Prime, reviving the series after almost a decade. Not only did it live up to the series' themes perfectly, it elaborated on a lot of them and successfully carried the game into a first-person format. And they said it couldn't be done. Another thing to note is that the series has way more popularity outside of Japan than it does within. Luckily Nintendo has been more than happy to deliver to their audience afar, and a lot of the games in the series actually launch in North America (and sometimes Europe and Australia) ahead of the Japanese version.

It seems like over the last couple years, when people talk about Metroid they mostly talk about the recent efforts to run the series into the ground, and generally lament the series. Well that's all a bunch of shit - this thread, we celebrate Metroid and Samus as a character. Let me make it clear that anyone who says she was a "blank slate" until Other M is being silly. Actions define characters just as much as (or really, more than) someone telling you the character's definitions in the fiction's context. Did we know Yoda was strong in the Force when he lifted the X-Wing out of the bog in Empire Strikes back, or a couple years later when he says to Luke he's strong in the Force (but not enough to avoid death)? (this is not rhetorical)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFBhR4QcBtE

... also, no seriously, we're not going to talk about whether or not Samus was a 'blank slate.' And avoid Other M's negative points (all the points). I want this thread to be positive and full of badass great things.

Just some brief notes about the games from my perspective:

Metroid (1986) - A complicated game but damn was it still great. A lot of the dead-ends in the first Metroid were actually the result of originally intending the game to have more content, rather than just intended red herrings.

Metroid 2: Return of Samus (1991) - This game confounded me for a long time, but in playing it earlier this year with a single glance at a map of the world I realized how linear (while still sort of open) the game actually was. And then I beat it finally! Took me long enough.

Super Metroid (1994) - My favorite game of all time, regardless of platform or genre. Seriously I never shut the hell up about Super Metroid. We rented it often, along with an SNES, back when I was a kid. That's how I got hooked. I'll stop now before I write another thread's worth of text.

Metroid Prime (2002) - Probably the game that helped launch Samus into definitely being a badass. My favorite part of Prime, aside from everything, was seeing the Space Pirates get reworked into a terrifying force to be reckoned with.

Metroid Fusion (2002) - I have a love / hate relationship with this game. A lot of things that Super Metroid brought in got taken out, for the sake of controlling the game's pace better. It's frustrating, but at the end of the day I still play this game a stupid amount just like the rest.

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (2004) - Didn't play much of this when I had the chance. I kinda didn't like that they changed Samus' typical weapon load, mostly because it was some "light / dark" theme. But multiplayer was fun when you morph-ball canon'd into other players and insta-killed them. <_<

Metroid: Zero Mission (2004) - One of my favorite examples of modernizing / remaking a video game. Zero Mission reintroduced a lot of control that Fusion took out. It's just great.

Metroid Prime Pinball (2005) - Never played this but I'm curious. Pinball is fun, regardless of its dressing.

Metroid Prime: Hunters (2005) - I played just a liiiiiiiiittle bit of this game. I actually bought it for my little brother when I bought him his DS many years ago. I hope he liked it, I had to move away immediately after. It was a little quirky but whatevs.

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (2007) - I AM AWFUL AND NEVER GOT TO PLAY THIS! D:

Metroid Prime Trilogy (2009) - I will perform favors to get this hard to find treasure.

Metroid: Other M (2010) - Nope.
Maz- wrote: »

Henroid on
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Posts

  • HelloweenHelloween Registered User regular
    And here is to another 27 years!

    tBZ5ni8.jpg

    See all of my Let's Plays Here:
    Youtube Channel!
  • SteevLSteevL What can I do for you? Registered User regular
    Looking back, I have no idea how the hell I actually beat the original Metroid. But I did, repeatedly. I don't think I can do that these days.

    I'm also weird in that I didn't like Super Metroid when it first came out. That was more because of my mindset at the time, though. My interest in video games at the time was starting to dwindle a bit, plus my SNES suddenly lost its ability to play games made after a certain date. That being said, I went back and gave the game a proper chance years later and was able to enjoy it properly. Still haven't beaten it! I should give it another shot one of these days; I own it on my Wii.

    I had absolutely no interest in Metroid Prime when I first heard about it. A first person Metroid? Psh, whatever. I played the demo at Best Buy one day.

    Not long after, I picked up a Gamecube and Metroid Prime. That is my favorite Metroid game. I loved exploring everywhere and scanning everything, getting background details about this world. Also, it looked really nice! One of the few games in the last 12 years where I've played through it twice: once on regular, then on hard. The only other games that come to mind where I've done that are the Batman: Arkham Asylum/City games, which I feel have been inspired by Metroid in some ways.

    One day I'll play through MP2. I got the game when it came out, but lost interest pretty quickly. I'm going to blame WoW on that. Metroid Prime 3 was pretty good, but I felt like it was missing something that the first Prime had.

  • Dark Raven XDark Raven X Laugh hard, run fast, be kindRegistered User regular
    I loved Metroid Prime, beat it multiple times, never quite finished Echoes due to severe boredom in Torvus Bog, and never even picked up Corruption.

    Also Prime 1 had my favourite Samus design by far. I believe they changed her to look like Brawl's Zero Suit Samus in the other Primes, right? First game she looked like this;
    tumblr_l85ldzSqqr1qzh1yr.png

    Which is great! Her hair is kinda messed up, and she's a normal looking person. That's a great look for her imo.

    Oh brilliant
  • LucascraftLucascraft Registered User regular
    Super Metroid is on my personal list of top 5 favorite games of all time.

  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    True story about Super Metroid.

    I first saw it in action at my cousin's house back in 1994 (though before then I had the Gamepro walk-thru). He had a save file from the start of Brinstar, right after Spore Spawn, so I was able to start from there. I knew how to jump and shoot and that was it. My experience with the first game told my child mind that all the extra buttons were superfluous. I also didn't know Samus could go from crouching into the morph ball until doing it on accident. I was "why can't metroid crawl" twenty years ahead of the fact for like 10 minutes.

    I ultimately got stuck on the part of Brinstar where you exit to the watery area. The bridge you have to run across was my hell, I didn't know there was "hold this button to run."

    Nowadays I speed run that fucking game, though questions zombiemambo was asking me are starting to make me doubt my memory of the actual time. I need to get back on that horse and record it and figure out what I'm actually capable of.

  • reVersereVerse Attack and Dethrone God Registered User regular
    Gameplay-wise, Other M is the most interesting and fun game in the series.

    Story-wise, it should be expulsed from reality.

  • lionheart_mlionheart_m Registered User regular
    Oh, I loooooooove my Metroid Prime Trilogy. Eff haters, pointers controls are awesome in MP1 and MP2.

    3DS: 5069-4122-2826 / WiiU: Lionheart-m / PSN: lionheart_m / Steam: lionheart_jg
  • SyphonBlueSyphonBlue The studying beaver That beaver sure loves studying!Registered User regular
    wait

    hold the fucking phone

    Metroid's a girl?!

    Gettin real fuckin sick of this feminist bullshit going on in video games right now.

    LxX6eco.jpg
    PSN/Steam/NNID: SyphonBlue | BNet: SyphonBlue#1126
  • reVersereVerse Attack and Dethrone God Registered User regular
    SyphonBlue wrote: »
    wait

    hold the fucking phone

    Metroid's a girl?!

    Gettin real fuckin sick of this feminist bullshit going on in video games right now.

    What's worse is that in Metroid 2 they reveal that a Metroid queen is the one giving birth to all these Metroids.

    Fucking feminists.

  • LucascraftLucascraft Registered User regular
    I mean, I know you guys are joking.

    But a game that rewards speed runs by showing images of her in a bikini is hardly doing women any favors.

    Back on topic.

    Metroid is awesome. It's easily my favorite of Nintendo's first party franchises. Nope. That's a lie. Earthbound is my favorite. But we only have one western Earthbound, so based on quantity of available products, Metroid is my favorite. I love the whole Prime trilogy, and Metroid Fusion is also a damn fine game.

  • SyphonBlueSyphonBlue The studying beaver That beaver sure loves studying!Registered User regular
    Metroid is my favorite game series ever, and the Varia Suit is my favorite character design ever, especially Prime 1's.

    LxX6eco.jpg
    PSN/Steam/NNID: SyphonBlue | BNet: SyphonBlue#1126
  • SoundsPlushSoundsPlush yup, back. Registered User regular
    Also Prime 1 had my favourite Samus design by far. I believe they changed her to look like Brawl's Zero Suit Samus in the other Primes, right?

    Brawl was still a ways off, but the design was changed to match up with the new look (and the new Zero suit) introduced in Zero Mission the same year Echoes came out. Retro did the whole Prime series really well, from ambient music to little details like water running off the visor or Samus's eyes being reflected to chozo and pirate characterization.

    All three of Nintendo's flagship franchises run pretty simple narratives, but I think they did an excellent job of building an interesting backstory in a game with zero other characters that you could entirely ignore if you preferred. All hail Retro.

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  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    SyphonBlue wrote: »
    Metroid is my favorite game series ever, and the Varia Suit is my favorite character design ever, especially Prime 1's.

    The Varia Suit ruuuuuuuuules. I love that in Super Metroid you could actually see the distinct change in Samus' sprite with the shoulder pads. Something carried over into Zero Mission actually.

    Actually on that note, I'm like 99% sure that all Metroid games with sprites for graphics, after the first two games, put in the effort to have appropriate appearance for when Samus faces left or right. Even in games with character art that has distinct left / right features they usually just mirror sprites around.

    Not that I blame people necessarily. Sprite graphics are harder to work with than most people give credit for (funny, just spoke with a friend a couple hours ago about this a bit). But Nintendo gets a gold star for pushing on it.

  • skeldareskeldare Gresham, ORRegistered User regular
    You missed this by a day! Her birthday was yesterday.

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  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    The first line ends with noting that! If you want to blame someone, blame @Helloween. He's the one that posted on Twitter that it's today. <_<

  • JihadJesusJihadJesus Registered User regular
    edited August 2013
    Wonder what they'll do with this on WiiU. I could potentially like the game much more with an always available gamepad map that noted locations where shit could be used to open pathways. Wandering through the whole fucking world thinking "Jesus, where did I see that X that my new Y can open?i know I saw it six hours ago or so. I think it was over here...no, must be over....eh, fuck it."

    JihadJesus on
  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    I hope that, whatever they do, they return the series back to the exploration theme. I wasn't necessarily opposed to being more action oriented with the last game but it ended up losing something that made it not worthwhile.

    Retro really nailed it. The slogan they had for Prime was perfect. "Evil must be exterminated. But first it must be found." YESPLZ

  • skeldareskeldare Gresham, ORRegistered User regular
    As much as they probably want to move on to something else, I would love for Retro to revisit Metroid. It wouldn't even need to be exactly like the Prime games either.

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  • LucascraftLucascraft Registered User regular
    I'd buy a Wii U for a new Metroid game if it was made by Retro.

  • BigJoeMBigJoeM Registered User regular
    You do know Retro had their hands held like a motherfucker for Prime 1 right?

    Credit where credit's due but it wasn't just them.

  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    BigJoeM wrote: »
    You do know Retro had their hands held like a motherfucker for Prime 1 right?

    Credit where credit's due but it wasn't just them.

    They definitely had a lot of help and support but they also got a lot of creative freedom. Probably way more than you'd see most other "outsourced" developers get for a franchise.

  • BigJoeMBigJoeM Registered User regular
    That they did.

    They got even more in 2 and 3 and those games started getting some generic FPS elements.

    I don't want Metroid to become Nintendo's FPS series.

    I'd be much more interested in Retro making a 2.5d Metroid in the vein of Zero Mission than another Prime.

  • SkutSkutSkutSkut Registered User regular
    Here's to one of the best speed run series out there.

  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    BigJoeM wrote: »
    That they did.

    They got even more in 2 and 3 and those games started getting some generic FPS elements.

    I don't want Metroid to become Nintendo's FPS series.

    I'd be much more interested in Retro making a 2.5d Metroid in the vein of Zero Mission than another Prime.

    That was worded oddly but do you mean a game like Zero Mission (side-scrolling platform heavy) but in 3D graphics? I'd be down for that. It's actually what I thought Other M was going to be when it was first revealed, but then the FPS stuff came up pretty fast.

  • skeldareskeldare Gresham, ORRegistered User regular
    At this point, I'd take an expanded remake of Metroid II. Just give me something.

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  • BigJoeMBigJoeM Registered User regular
    Henroid wrote: »
    BigJoeM wrote: »
    That they did.

    They got even more in 2 and 3 and those games started getting some generic FPS elements.

    I don't want Metroid to become Nintendo's FPS series.

    I'd be much more interested in Retro making a 2.5d Metroid in the vein of Zero Mission than another Prime.

    That was worded oddly but do you mean a game like Zero Mission (side-scrolling platform heavy) but in 3D graphics? I'd be down for that. It's actually what I thought Other M was going to be when it was first revealed, but then the FPS stuff came up pretty fast.

    Yes. A game like Zero Mission with 3D graphics.



  • Warlock82Warlock82 Never pet a burning dog Registered User regular
    skeldare wrote: »
    At this point, I'd take an expanded remake of Metroid II. Just give me something.

    I would love to see this. As long as they don't try to cram a bunch of dialog in there, it should be fine. Just do the same thing you did with Zero Mission!

    And yeah, I definitely wouldn't actually mind seeing Retro try their hands at a 2D Metroid game. I feel like they did a pretty good job of translating the Donkey Kong Country series, and of course Metroid Prime was good, so they should be ok here. Plus Metroid is oddly not very popular in Japan so what better excuse to let Americans make em? :P I almost feel like the alternative is no new Metroids, because Other M was such a bomb (it's one of the rare instances where I actually saw a Nintendo-published title hit the bargain bins almost instantly).

    Switch: 2143-7130-1359 | 3DS: 4983-4927-6699 | Steam: warlock82 | PSN: Warlock2282
  • StericaSterica Yes Registered User, Moderator mod
    Geth, the phrase "the baby" is forbidden

    YL9WnCY.png
  • GethGeth Legion Perseus VeilRegistered User, Moderator, Penny Arcade Staff, Vanilla Staff vanilla
    Affirmative Rorus Raz. "the baby" is forbidden in this thread.

  • ZxerolZxerol for the smaller pieces, my shovel wouldn't do so i took off my boot and used my shoeRegistered User regular
    What the fuck is up with the low print runs of Trilogy, anyway? ffs, you can't walk two feet without tripping across copies of any other Nintendo title, but Trilogy? Get bent, son.

  • skeldareskeldare Gresham, ORRegistered User regular
    Zxerol wrote: »
    What the fuck is up with the low print runs of Trilogy, anyway? ffs, you can't walk two feet without tripping across copies of any other Nintendo title, but Trilogy? Get bent, son.

    It was always meant to be a limited edition thing.

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  • StericaSterica Yes Registered User, Moderator mod
    They should put it on Virtual Console with options for dual stick or wiimote play.

    YL9WnCY.png
  • SteevLSteevL What can I do for you? Registered User regular
    We live in a world where "limited edition" for video games rarely actually means "limited." I'm glad I picked it up when it came out.

  • skeldareskeldare Gresham, ORRegistered User regular
    Rorus Raz wrote: »
    They should put it on Virtual Console with options for dual stick or wiimote play.

    Come on... this is Nintendo we're talking about.

    They'll re-release it in disc format and charge full price. People will bitch but at the end of the day Nintendo will make money and everyone will end up happy. Because Metroid.

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  • Wraith260Wraith260 Happiest Goomba! Registered User regular
    SteevL wrote: »
    We live in a world where "limited edition" for video games rarely actually means "limited." I'm glad I picked it up when it came out.

    to be fair as we move towards digital distribution being a/the norm, we're only just leaving behind a world where all games are 'limited edition'.

  • WybornWyborn GET EQUIPPED Registered User regular
    Metroid Prime for me is the perfect iteration of the Metroid concept, Samus as a character, and pretty much that entire genre.

    I want a Metroid Prime game again, one day, with the careful low-key tone of Metroid Prime brought back to the forefront.

    And gobs and gobs and gobs of readable story text that no one has to read if they don't want to

    dN0T6ur.png
  • JusticeforPlutoJusticeforPluto Registered User regular
    Rorus Raz wrote: »
    Geth, the phrase "the baby" is forbidden

    You are my hero for this

  • GethGeth Legion Perseus VeilRegistered User, Moderator, Penny Arcade Staff, Vanilla Staff vanilla
    Your operating system is unstable, @JusticeforPluto. You will fail.
    Infracted @JusticeforPluto (2 points for 30 days) for "Disallowed phrase: Prohibited phrase "the baby""

  • JusticeforPlutoJusticeforPluto Registered User regular
    Damn!

  • skeldareskeldare Gresham, ORRegistered User regular
    Damn!

    It's a trap!

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This discussion has been closed.