Oh, Nintendo.

At some point in the near future, I will make a post chronicling the beginning of my career in my new university. However, today, I feel a distinct urge to post about something much more dire, much more at the forefront of my psyche...something which burns at the edges of our contemporary society and calls for a voice to speak out!

Video games!

Well, maybe I'm exaggerating slightly. But the fact of the matter is that today is a post about video games...or rather, an atrocity which has affected a specific character.

Let me introduce you to Samus Aran.



Samus is a character which was created by Nintendo in the mid 80s. She (yes, she) first appeared in a game simply titled Metroid, a science-fiction fantasy in which Samus is portayed as a bounty hunter who is forced to deal with the likes of Space Pirates (it was the 80s, people). As a fanbase, we later find out through subsequent games that Samus was an orphan who was raised by an ancient alien race, and it is mostly via her connection to this ancient race that gives her the awesome power of being able to turn into a morph ball. She does other things too, mostly via kicking ass, shooting lasers, and generally being an independent female badass with no chip on her shoulder to speak of.

Until 2010.

Enter Metroid: Other M, the latest game in the Metroid series. When Nintendo released the marketing campaign for Other M, it portrayed Samus in a way that had never been seen before. She had a voice, and presumably this game would help to clarify her story as it occurs after the SNES game in the series. Oh yes, I was very excited indeed; we would finally be able to put a voice to the strong female protagonist that has enthralled us, and who has inspired young girl/woman gamers around the world.

Except...I didn't like what I heard.

Among the game's many actual gameplay flaws (which include controls that are confusing/easy manipulated, and a game-breaking glitch which may cause you to be forced to start your game from scratch), the elephant in the spaceship is Samus' greatly-altered personality. Strong independent bounty hunter woman? Not anymore!

Let me break down a scene for you. I promise, this isn't as much spoilery as it is just plain madness.

Samus answers a distress call which is coming from a nearby system. She flies to answer the call. Upon her arrival, she comes across a troop of Galatic Federation soldiers, and the player learns of her previous involvement with this team in particular. What a coincidence! The player meets two characters in particular; Anthony and Adam. Anthony calls her "Princess". Samus gets nostalgic, as "only he called (her) by that name". Adam is the troop commander. Anthony informs Samus that they are there for the same reasons, yay! Adam calls her an outsider - this hurts Samus deeply. Then, this wonderful unimaginability happens.

Samus elects to not use her FULLY OPERATIONAL, FULLY CHARGED SUIT AND WEAPONS UNTIL ADAM SAYS IT'S OKAY. Samus, who FIRST of all doesn't work for anyone, is now taking orders from someone she USED to work with.

And so this mechanic is introduced. In each game, Samus is usually relegated to the task of killing bosses and earning her way (by herself) toward getting new weapons and suit upgrades. In Other M? Samus is fully kitted out from the SNES game, yet she is not allowed to use her extremely helpful abilities.

Not. Allowed.

What message is this sending out to the player? She must submit to someone who a) means nothing to her in the present and b) isn't even her superior, period. Why? There is clearly an inherent undertone of sexism in this portayal of Samus Aran.

Don't believe me? I have another example for your consideration.

Samus' power suit is a very powerful thing which was gifted to her by the ancient alien race, the Chozo. In Metroid: Other M? The suit's structural integrity is affected by Samus' emotional state. At the risk of revealing too much, I will simply point out that Samus begins to lose control of the integrity of her suit because of her emotional response to seeing a certain enemy in-game. I mean, come on. Let's just throw an age-old stereotype of women in there, shall we? Samus is *emotional*, so her suit is clearly somehow affected? Nintendo, what on Zebes were you thinking with this idea?

In a single stroke, Nintendo drastically transformed Samus Aran from a powerful female rolemodel into something from a dating sim.

I am disappointed, and if anyone else mentions this game to me, I am simply going to plug my ears and begin shouting, since as far as I am concerned, this game never happened.