Nintendo How I went from a Metroid fan to disliking Metroid...

[Demon]

So I'm sure that long-timers to the Metroid series have come to know of the revelation that Samus was a girl, which was something that could have perhaps helped to spark the series into popularity.

Samus became known as an independent woman of gaming and a gaming icon.

However, since then the games seem to occassionally take a more descriptive turn. While certain controversy in the Metroid story could have been denied before, Metroid: Other M essentially both creates and points out that controversy, it redefines what we know of Samus in a completely different light.

Now what makes this storytelling of Metroid Other M so bad is that the Metroid games don't follow an even chronology... Metroid Other M, the newest in the series, pretty much tackles the middle of the story, providing certain ideas about what happened in the beginning and furthering what can happen further down the chronology.

Because of this storytelling, it has even caused me to grasp looking at Super Metroid in a different light.

In case you don't see what I mean, and you probably won't at first, read this article for a little perspective on what I'm saying: http://moonbase.rydia.net/mental/blog/gaming/metroid-other-m-the-elephant/article.html

There's the possibility of accidents or bad writing occuring. However after looking at developer comments and interviews on Metroid Other M, I don't think accidents are the problem. Bad writing is possible, and it would then only ruin one game of the series for me, but still there are at least two or three foggy connections that can be made throughout the series at this point.

So how this affects me, is that now when I play a Metroid game, should I think of the storyline in the most accurate way, I must then change everything I know or have thought to be true about the game and series - I don't know what I'm playing any more, and what I am playing, well I don't like.

 

[Martel]

After Other M, I will NEVER look at Fusion in the same way again. Fusion was my first Metroid game, and was what got me into the series - I built my entire perception of Samus based on her character in Fusion.

The Prime series has it's story told through the scan entries, and the earlier games - Metroid (and the Zero Mission remake to an extent), Metroid II, Super Metroid - feel like completely different games, because they give you a brief narrative and that is it. You're left to fill in the gaps by yourself, and that is, perhaps, one of their biggest appeals - they don't need a storyline to be awesome games. You're a female bounty hunter taking on space pirates and life-sucking Metroids. It was a totally unique concept back when Metroid was first created, and it's still pretty unique now. How many other consistently strong female protagonists have there been that have had their own series? The only other one I can think of who even comes close is Lara Croft, and her later games have been very hit-and-miss.

The appeal of Samus Aran, to me, has always been that implied strength of character that comes from her line of work. She's a bounty hunter, she takes on the monsters of the galaxy, and she does it entirely by herself. You can't do that sort of thing for a living if you don't have courage and determination, and to me, Samus has always been the very pinnacle of a strong female protagonist in a video game.

...this was before Other M, at least.

Before I read that article, I thought Other M's treatment of Samus was extremely sexist and unfair - it completely stripped her of her dignity and reduced her to the worst sort of female stereotype imaginable. The flashbacks were forgiveable - after all, Samus was a child at some point - but it was her obsession with them that rubbed me the wrong way. This is the woman who has taken out Ridley, the Space Pirates, the Metroids and some of the best Bounty Hunters allied with the Galactic Federation (herself included, if you count Dark Samus) up to this point, some multiple times. That she should be worrying so much about what Adam thinks of her, and idolizing him in such a manner, is not only ridiculous, it's absolutely damning and highly offensive.

After reading that, I'm more than a little concerned for the future of the Metroid series, and thoroughly disgusted. If this is how Samus is supposed to have been, throughout the entire series, it's the biggest fuck-up in video gaming history. Ever. To take what is arguably the strongest female protagonist in a game ever and reduce her to that...well...words don't do it justice, really.

I haven't played a Metroid game since Other M, so I don't know how it is going to affect me, but given that I based my view of Samus on Fusion, and Other M is the prequel to Fusion, I don't think I'm ever going to look at her in the same way. Especially since Other M is the second-to-last entry in the Metroid series chronologically, which means that the Prime series happened before that point. It's utterly confusing and damning, to say the least.

I will give Metroid one more chance. Although I don't think I will be able to take anything other than a sequel to Other M or Fusion that corrects this damning character portrayal seriously.

 

[Demon]

The Prime series has it's story told through the scan entries, and the earlier games - Metroid (and the Zero Mission remake to an extent), Metroid II, Super Metroid - feel like completely different games, because they give you a brief narrative and that is it. You're left to fill in the gaps by yourself, and that is, perhaps, one of their biggest appeals - they don't need a storyline to be awesome games. You're a female bounty hunter taking on space pirates and life-sucking Metroids. It was a totally unique concept back when Metroid was first created, and it's still pretty unique now.

Somebody said something in an X thread about the storyline to Final Fantasy X being bad and how you pretty much have to envision your own meaning to make it good. Maybe it was that way with Metroid all along until Metroid Other M forced ideas on you?

 

[Moogles]

Pardon the brief post. I only wish to voice my displeasure with the recent addition to the Metroid series. Metroid Other M is a travesty. So much so that I've begun going to therapy in an attempt to erase it from my memory. It tarnishes the entire series. Why Nintendo left it in the incapable hands of Team Ninja is beyond my understanding.

When will Nintendo give us an old school side-scrolling Metroid game with a current gen makeover? It'd surely be a top-seller.

 

[Sir Fratley]

There is such a thing as milking a cash cow too much, and that's exactly what they've done with Other M. They have completely dismantled and screwed up the Samus we all have come to know and love. I played Metroid back when the NES was the newest system on the block (back when I was like 5-6 years old). They pretty much slapped the Metroid title on a shit-crap wanna be game that humiliates and rends apart the Samus we all know and love. Basically, they've run out of good ideas and are just throwing crap together.