appendix i

Roberts, Katherine. A sociological exploration of a female character in the Metroid videogames series.

APPENDIX I Pos / Mentions of Physical appearance - Metroid Prime neg +/+ Prime is so polished you can see Samus' face in it. 0 Thermal visors explode with flare and Samus' face grimaces in the reflection Perhaps our favourite touches though are those on Samus Aran herself. Gases billow against her suit's visor; + electrical attacks fizzle and char, as the bounty huntress raises her arm to protect her face; and the light even reflects off her shiny metallic ball shape as she rolls through tunnels like a marble chase-cam. + adorned with so much beauty + Samus, the various creatures, and the gigantic boss figures are all tremendously detailed. + the X-ray visor is so precise it even reveals the bones in Samus's hand - the models aren't especially high polygon -

The graphics are perfect, apart from the polish on the suit, if you look at samus on the elevator, the grooves in her suit arent too great,

+ Samus looks really cool in this game. Effects such as Samus' face reflecting off the shield is totally awesome. I sometimes find myself looking for places to blast so I could witness the reflection of her face. . It LOOKS great because of the attention to detail (rain on the mask, your facial reflection when light hits + just right) +

+ This game has excellent graphics. Get about 75% complete and ya' get to see Samus's hot face. MP is one of the most beautifuly detailed and expansive games I've ever played. From the character model of Samus to the tiny details of each area. I love to see Samus as you save your progress or when you begin from your last save, it's one of the only + times you get to see her as your playing in first-person. +

+ swinging on the Grapple Beam and seeing Samus's skeleton arm in the X-Ray spectrum Very few lead game characters are women. More often than not, a clever game designer imagines a new anatomically incorrect woman, gives her a gun, a sexy name, and a mission of revenge. Such paltry stuff + only leads to bad games. Thankfully, Samus Aran gives us more than just a pretty face and odd, massive boobs. The only bad graphics that I ever saw through the course of the game was Samus' suit close-up while she's on the elevator-thing + Samus' suit has been perfectly designed, and it's shiny in the right places, as to give off a perfect look 0 there are no humans or real animals in the game except Samus but you don't really see her -

you can see the eyes of Samus as she goes down an elevator, you only wished to get a full-body glimpse of her in 3-D. Oh well, some things are better left imagined.

+ Samus looks great in 3-D + the fact is: Samus is in 3-D now... and boy is she sexy

The Computer Games Journal: Martinmas 2012 edition Copyright of Katherine Roberts ©2012 Distribution rights owned by The Computer Games Journal ©2012

Roberts, Katherine. A sociological exploration of a female character in the Metroid videogames series. + I love the way they disigned things like the Creatures, Maps, and Samus her self. + Samus is back and she's absolutely beautiful + Plus you'll get your first glimpse of the hottie in the armor suit without her helmut on in full 3-D. Sweet! 0 Clad in her distinctive red-and-gold power suit, Samus is a self-sufficient and versatile, 0 Samus' unique body armor was crafted by a mysteriously vanished race of birdlike scientist-philosophers You'll actually see Samus clasp her free hand on her blaster when she aims up or down, and she has some difficulty craning her neck all the way forward or back, as well she should in that hefty suit of hers. When Samus ship lands and she appears for the first time is a real magic moment. Her suit looks so realistic + it's like you are actually there The game's most serious flaw is that you don't see Samus without her suit at the end of the game. I'm serious here, that's the worst thing I could say about this game. +

+ And Samus herself looks spectacular! (too bad we get to see so little of her!) The suits in general are so cool and theres actually 3 different one or 4 if you connect to the gba for another cool one. It is so detailed that you can see rain on Samus's visor, and when there is an explosion near by you can see + her eyes reflect in her visor BEAUTIFUL, GORGEOUS, MARVELOUS, OUTSTANDING....From the details of the large + environments, to samus's face plate +

+ The bosses look awesome along with Samus's suit + Samus's character model looks really nice + Reflective surfaces on Samus's armor + the really cool hud where you see through Samus's eyes and get to see all of the info in her helmet. + samus never looked so good + Samus is well represented in 3-D. + Samus looks awesome in the Varia and Phazon suits, she is very well detailed. + Unbelievable. You can see the Samus's eyes Samus's Power suit is realistic. If you gave a science team billions of thousands of dollars, they could probably come up with something close to a Power Suit The only complaint I had was during the elevator rides, when the camera zooms in on Samus, her chestplate is a bit pixelated

+

+ The character models are spectacular. Samus never looked so good. A nice touch Retro made to the graphics was the fact that Samus is in a suit. While playing, you'll notice the outline of her visor, and the incorporation of the visual displays as part of her visor are a smart more also. + You'll also see that if you let off a blast right in front of you, Samus' face lights up, and reflects off the visor. It freaked me out a bit, but it's a nice touch. + very comfortable on the eyes -

you might see a flaw or two in Samus' armor. It becomes not so slick and metalic. A little flat. I think actually it might be a bug. If so, it's a rare one

+ Subtle details like the bones in her hand when you use the X-ray visor is amazing + Samus comes to life before you


Roberts, Katherine. A sociological exploration of a female character in the Metroid videogames series. + Samus looking better than ever + Samus Aran looks like she's almost in real-life + A female bounty-hunter with a kickin' suit + Wouldn't you like to see Samus at her best Seeing Samus in different suits is mesmerizing. One of her suits is an all black Phazon suit with red in it + that without a doubt makes her look that more chic. Aside from looking nice, it enables her to survive in hot places the character model, Samus herself! The character model in this game is absolutely gorgeous! The shine on + her suit will blind you! + Everything is gorgeous; from the enviornments, to the enemies, to Samus herself +

Samus must do her thing to save the universe again, oh and she does it so well (despite us samus-lovers not seeing her in a thong or anything else sexy).

+ I liked the menu and how you could see that model of samus 0 you see Samus going down or up an elevator and looking around +

The graphics were amazing, especially Samus herself. I had never seen such a great looking game character before.

+ Samus's suit alone is worth the price of admission +

Everything from the models of Samus and baddies, to the environments are all so smooth, slick, detailed, and textured. Flawless.

+ The Samus model is fantastic + The neat reflections of her armor is really neat and you will want to look at it more. + The creatures are highly detailed and so is Samus + Samus aran ,the enemies and all bosses looked great + Great character models + Samus is presented thoroughly and beautifully in 3D Something that surprised me was that Samus is a girl. It is kind of weird that a girl would destroy so many creatures and bosses If you beat the game 100% you will see an ending cutscene of Samus without her suit. I just find it weird + how a girl coul be so violent. +

+ Samus has never looked better on a TV screen graphically. + Samus looks awesome in that suit + metroid fusion was the last time samus didn't look horribly ugly (zero suit samus). + the way this looks in 3D s amazing i was surprised how real it looked. + Samus' funky yellow-and-fuchsia suit from Metroid Fusion + if you have 100% items, you see the Metroid Prime emerge as Dark Samus. + samus takes off her suit and show her real self + Love at first sight



APPENDIX II Pos / Mentions of Physical appearance - Metroid: Other M neg +/while the roving cut-scene director never misses an opportunity to perv over the famous bounty hunter's + jumpsuited body. 0 Samus keeps her clothes on most of the time after that + I just spent the last hour just moving Samus around, because her animation looks so good. + Samus looks awesome + Samus is portrayed well + Samus's suit is nice and shiny, and has great detail -

They make Samus have a very girlie image, something you would not expect from a bounty hunter who has killed the mightiest of enemies in her past

+ she doesn't look quite as super tough as she did before. And that's ok. the colours are just to bright and vivid. Take Samus' suit this tme. All the colours used are the ones a five year old would colour her suit. On the topic of her suit, I just don't like it. It is not nearly as complex as the one in the Metroid Prime series, and would better show off that she herself is complex, and not your everyday saviour. + Samus's armor and the detail when she takes it on and off + the character models, and the environment look amazing + All of the characters animate smoothly and they look realistic In past games, if you complete it 100% you get to see Samus in her Zero Suit. However, in this game you - already get to see Samus in her Zero Suit numerous times in cutscenes, so I was hoping for something else, like a tie in to Metroid Fusion or, you know... no Zero Suit. But nope, all you get is Hard Mode. You mean there isn't even a little bit of volleyball involved? [the fact that other m was made by team ninja, responsible for doa volleyball]



APPENDIX III Pos / neg + / -

Mentions of Mental attributes - Metroid Prime

ZERO

APPENDIX IV Pos / neg + / Mentions of Mental attributes - Metroid: Other M -

+ -

Samus is smart enough to vault over smaller objects by herself Metroid: Other M made Samus appear to be somewhat of a mindless grunt.



APPENDIX V Pos / Weapons / tools / abilities - Metroid Prime neg +/+ the diversity of Samus' arsenal The excitement of acquiring a power-up that finally unlocks progress to new areas of the map never diminishes some new upgrade, a new toy to play with, could lurk around the next corner, and each of them is + increasingly useful and exciting to use. Perhaps the strongest point of Metroid Prime is the way the upgrade system works. Almost everything you + achieve in the game is rewarded with a new weapon, or upgrade +

+ Take advantage of Samus's many powers using new suits that enable her to gain new abilities + Samus's combat, scan, and visors -- elements crucial to your success + many familiar weapons, such as the Wave Beam, Ice Beam, and some all-new ones as well Equipped with a scanning tool, one of many useful features of the Power Suit that protects the hunter's body, Samus Aran can uncover important details about the past and present As Aran, you begin your quest with nothing. Your most important Power Suit features -- the ability to roll + into a Morph Ball, jump higher, carve through ice, etc. -- must be gained through exploration and persistence. The rewarding sensation of discovering new areas and powering up your arsenal of weapons and tools is + unmatched +

- the main thing that bugged me is the lack of new power-ups (other than visors) + The visor effects kick some serious ass! + Samus arsenal is very creative and unique.The controls are a bit complicated and not that orthodox + Samus's constant power-ups kept the otherwise overdrawn game alive and spontaneous +

All the classic Metroid elements are there such as Morph Ball, Missiles, Wave Beams, and Graple Beams. There are new tricks as well such as the space jump and gravity suit.

- More weapons would have been nice; Samus having her standard power beam and missiles, along with three additional beam upgrades and four beam-missile combos A new addition to the Metroid formula comes in the form of Samus's four visors, which change the way you interect with the world around you. You begin the game with the combat visor and the scan visor. The first represents the standard viewing mode in which you can make good use of Samus's arsenal of weapons, but it is this second visor which gives Prime it's trump card. The scan visor allows the player to scan almost + every conceivable element of the game world -- items, enemies, technology, landscape, Space Pirate computer terminals, the list goes on -- and retrieve images and data which are then displayed on the screen whilst the game action pauses. Not only do these entries provide necessary clues to solve the game's numerous puzzles, but they are fascinating in their own right +

+ The weapons are very effective in varying game play along with the enemies. +

Changing beam weapons and visors have a smooth transition and the only problem is trying to remember which is which. Each visor has their own use


Roberts, Katherine. A sociological exploration of a female character in the Metroid videogames series. The Varia Suit allows you can take extreme heat, the Gravity Suit allows normal movement in water and + with the Phazon Suit you are immune to the effects of the corrosive substance. There is just so much to this game it's amazing! The guns are only the beginning of the upgrades. You will get the Morph Ball, bombs, Spider Ball, Boost + Ball, three new combat power suits, four visors, energy tanks, missiles, and many others + One thing in the game that I loved was turning into the morph ball. + The Metroid series is famous for its wide range of beams that Samus is able to wield. Prime is no different + New to the series is the addition of different visors that Samus can take advantage of. Take advantage of Samus's many powers using new suits that enable her to gain new abilities and revisit + earlier worlds to uncover many hidden secrets :Master Samus's combat, scan, and visors -- elements crucial to your success The story will get you hooked, and the way it is told is ingenious, that being the scan system, which ties in + neatly with Samus' abilities. You have a vast array of accessories, listed here: Suits and Sphere -Power Suit -Varia Suit -Gravity Suit Phazon Suit -Morph Ball Arm Cannon Weapons -Power Beam -Wave Beam -Ice Beam -Plasma Beam -Up to 250 missiles -Up to four charge combos (combination of missiles and beams) -A secret weapon revealed + only in one part at the end of the game!!! Bombs (accessible in Morph Ball form) -Morph Ball Bomb Power Bomb Visors -Combat Visor -Scan Visor -Thermal Visor -X-ray Visor Locomotion -Space Jump Boots -Spider Ball -Grapple Beam 0 One of the game's key mechanics is Samus' ability to switch between a number of different "visors," Unlike in previous Metroid games, none of Samus' weapons are ever replaced--her arsenal only grows in size, and all her available armaments remain tactically useful throughout the game. Gone are the Speed Booster and The Screw Attack (until Metroid Prime 2 that is!) but the Grapple Beam, + Space Jump and Morph Ball have been brought in. The weapons are Traditional Metroid Series Weapons. There are 5 beams. The Starting pea-shooter Power Beam, the electrocuting Wave Beam, the freezing Ice Beam, the destructively fiery Plasma Beam and the add-on Charge Beam. To go along with these is the Missile Launcher which also has 4 charge combos, The Super Missile, The Wave Buster, The Ice Spreader and the Flamethrower (which in real attention to detail + doesn't work underwater). The Morph Ball has the Bombs, Boost Ball, Metroid II's Spider Ball and the Power Bomb while Samus has many suits such as the Traditional Power, Varia and Gravity suits to go along with a special suit which has its very own beam... Of course all these weapons are combined with Samus' Space Jump Boots and Grapple Beam etc. +

+ Enough weapon upgrades to make you wonder what else could they possibly come up with. +

Retro has done of fine job of adapting Samus' gadgetry, from the Space Jump to the Grappling Beam, and all of it is easy to use and adds a lot of depth to the game

+ oodles of weapons and items to blow stuff up. You have 4 beams and 4 visors. All incredibly cool looking with many effects to discover. AS you progress + you will gather a wealth of upgrades and other cool things for both your beams and suit in general. The morph ball just takes the game to a new level. 0 you can unlock a Fusion Suit for Samus + I was very impressed by the technology the suit has too. + All the guns are cool but I think I will only go into detail about my fave, THE FIRE GUN! +

Samus has a number of abilities at her disposal. She can jump, double jump, shoot with on of five beams, launch missles, transform into a morphball which also has some of its own abilities as well

+/- Scanning is a nice, new feature, but I think that there is too much of it + , a butt load of missile expansions, energy tanks, bomb expansions + a mechanical suit that has a computer and a gun for a hand + Many upgrades to collect


Roberts, Katherine. A sociological exploration of a female character in the Metroid videogames series. + All the upgrades this game obtains is no less than amazing 0 upgrades for your suit eg ball, missiles, new visors and weapons + The weapons are fun and attractive. + I like the different visors that Samus finds, kinda spices things up I like about the game is the way you can upgrade your suit. Samus can upgrade her suit by finding more + missile packs, or getting more visors, or getting more suits that protects that allows her to see or go through more areas. + your amazing arsenal + you just feel so damn good using them. +

The Morph Ball, although unexplainable as to how Samus can do such a thing, is so fun that you may just want to do it alone for an hour

+ Samus's old weapons along with some cool new ones + excellent weaponry also + Her arm attachment can morph into new abilities as she acquires weapon upgrades. + weapons have really pretty effects + adapted the environment perfectly to Samus' abilities + I loved the first person style and the way the visor and Arm Cannon was portrayed + Samus's suit alone is worth the price of admission Another thing i love is all the up grade that you can get. From Wave beams to thermal scan, samus is fully equiped allow Samus to tranverse the environments using her morph ball capabilities, also showing off the + impressive range of suits you'll aquire +

+ Retro Studios has even added new items and weapons that fit perfectly into the universe. + nice weapons + But whats really cool is the upgrades for your weapon + the upgrade system with all the cool weapons and items is excellent With upgradable arm cannons, four suits, and three visors, it's a game that takes you to places unimaginable. Love the morph ball, enough said. Also, Samus's arsenal is hugely updated, with classic weapons like + Power Bombs and Missiles reappearing, but also with new powerups like flamethrowers, Phazon suits and homing beams. +

+ New weapons make for some great puzzles as well. their is a number of suits avalible as well as new morph ball add ons. if you don't know what Morph ball is + then read on. morph ball is Samus Aran alternate form. it involves her rolling into a ball and going through small gaps Gadgets: Different beams, missles upgrades, suit upgrades, double jump, powerbomb, combo attack, + morphball upgrades, grapple beam. JUST AMAZING + Weapon implementation is great and varied +

you'll get a cool red and black varia suit known as the phazon suit, and it also has the coolest metroid beam of all time IMO the PLASMA BEAM!

+ you can upgrade your suit: Visors, missles, energy tanks, etc., + while the number of tools at her disposal grows in size



APPENDIX VI Pos / Weapons / tools / abilities - Metroid: Other M neg +/- Samus' suit has all its abilities but she'll only use then when 'authorised' to...well, it's a bit rubbish The morph ball perhaps needs a little jazzing up: it does all the usual things in Other M, which is - to say it's an essential and fun tool throughout, but it's not the most exciting part of Samus' armoury + The tools you're given to fight the horde are decent as well + Other M adds real style to Samus' traditionally rather utilitarian arsenal. Samus has all these features from the start. She decides, out of respect to the commanding officer Adam Malkovich, to deactivate everything and only reactivate them when he gives the OK. a story payoff towards the end for Samus' subserviency but it doesn't make up for the absurdity of Samus - being somewhat of a mindless drone and refusing to activate her normal functions simply because Adam didn't say it was OK -

+ with similar features from super metroid like all of the awesome beams n suits + I don't mind having to wait for equipment to be "authorized" for use. considering she's following the orders of someone else and not just doing her own thing, she figures out of + respect instead of going buck-wild and blowing the entire place up with super missiles and power bombs, she would wait for proper confirmation, like a soldier should! + it has the best/most intens charge beam action of all Metroid games Forget about finding upgrades to become more and more powerful like previous games. That's nonexistent here Samus's gun also auto-aims, so most of the time you can just shoot blindly down a corridor and not worry about whether or not you hit anything. every Metroid in the past had some idea of how Samus loses her suit powers. In this game, Samus already + had the upgrades and only used them when needed -

- Samus' stupid commander in the game has to "give authorization" to use cool weapons and suits - Samaus gets more missles and gets healed by thinking about it really hard. That's just goofy. Why they opted to get rid of the life-restoring pick-ups from Prime, and instead went for healing via a process called charging leaves me perplexed. the fact that you CHOOSE not to use some weapons until Adam gives the order. That is absolutely the DUMBEST thing I've ever encountered in a game! You're just going to choose to not open the hatch with a Super Missile just because Adam said not to, even though there's an energy tank that could save your life? Screw that, blast the crap out of it! You don't answer to him anyway! -

+ all the weapons are really cool + all i care about is her kicking ass w/her badass weapons. + great use of Samus' weapons and abilities


Roberts, Katherine. A sociological exploration of a female character in the Metroid videogames series. - Samus' abilities where restriced, it'd have been beter to have more abilities or at least different suits. -

-

-

-

-

-

In this game to replenish health and missiles, you have to hold the wii remote vertically and samus "concentrates". I DON'T LIKE IT. since when did Samus ever have to get permission from anybody to use her own equipment? Why is she getting her butt kicked when she could use one super missle and end the situation but instead she relies on someone else to tell her it's ok? Right Why would Adam allow Samus to suffer, and potentially get killed by environmental hazards that an “unauthorized” suit ability would rectify immunity? What’s more frustrating is that there’s a point in the game (spoilers) that Samus will authorize a new ability on her own. you cannot even use your Varia Suit function to resist heat until Adam gives you permission. Since when do you need permission to use a safety feature? a cumbersome regenerative health system, one that I felt was poorly conceived and executed. Tying into that, with the ability to regenerate your missile ammo, it makes the previous acts of acquiring missile expansions almost unnecessary. Why hunt down a missile expansion when you have, in effect, unlimited ammo? Baring the illogical nonsense of Samus even obeying a man who has no genuine authority to authorize anything she has, Adam's timing is usually awful, or even cruel. A quick look around will find many similarly wondering why Adam won't authorize Samus to use heat-proof armor in a lava level, or why Samus just doesn't tell him to shove it and turn on her own heat-proof armor. Apparently she'd rather burn to a crisp rather than disobey his orders, for some reason. The way this is explained is that Samus is "concentrating". Somehow, she's WILLING missiles and life force into existence by thinking about it REALLY HARD. Yes, really. You practically have unlimited missiles. You just press a button and Samus THINKS the missles into existence Samus has all her abilities from the start but doesn't use them without permission. This means that when you enter hot areas, you have the heat resistant suit upgrade (usually the Varia Suit, don't know if they respected the naming this time) but simply do not use it because dreamhunk clayface Adam would rather have you roasted.



APPENDIX VII Pos / neg Character action / Character Movement - Metroid Prime +/-

Limited by Samus' non-enhanced repertoire of actions

the ability to circle strafe, and dash, around your target makes combat entertaining, and never at any stage a chore - Samus is somewhat less versatile than in her traditional 2D outings.

+

You would think by wearing that heavy suit Samus would control like a tank, but she's actually quite agile + and the controls are responsive. Once you get her movement down jumping will become second nature, especially after you get the double jump upgrade. That's not to say Samus is sluggish or ungainly. In fact, she has all the grace, poise, and skills that made + 1994's Super Metroid such a great game to play. While targeting a foe, she can perform quick lateral evasive leaps to stay out of harm's way, and her own aim is almost flawless. + Samus naturally jumps high and far, the mechanics of Samus' morph ball ability are more enjoyable here than in any previous game in the + series. At the same time, those unfamiliar with Metroid will be really surprised when they first see Samus roll up into a perfect sphere that can hurtle about like a living bowling ball. Samus' ability to roll up into a ball has always been one of the strangest, most distinctive parts of the + Metroid series + Samus' moves have been brought into 3D with well by Retro Studios + She moved with ease and with out little struggle. + Samus controls like she's been taking commands from a joypad for years ('cause she has), Samus can jump higher with the Space Boots, can open different types of doors with the differents beams, can use the Grapple Beam to access some far away sites. Clearly superb controls making you do everything samus can even imagine. And the feel of the controls is + perfect Retro has managed to do what many before them failed to. That is, they've implemented solid jumping in a + first-person game from the cutscene of Samus jumping off her ship. To her travelling down her elevator-no sharp edges, very + liquid +

+ Samus is very versatile and the game have an excellent feeling of action + Controlling samus works so well + youll be moving Samus like a bodily function -

Samus just walked or ran to slow

-

Samus doesn't jump high enough

+

Samus moves from room to room from fight to fight without a single interruption + Retro Studios got the jumping just right. allowing Samus to handle multiple enemies at the same time while she jumps and dashes + out of harm's way The Computer Games Journal: Martinmas 2012 edition Copyright of Katherine Roberts ©2012 Distribution rights owned by The Computer Games Journal ©2012


APPENDIX VIII Pos / Character action / Character Movement - Metroid: Other M neg +/+ The animation of Samus is smooth + and new features that make it much better like dodging attacks and combat moves + Moving Samus around the game world gives you a really great feel of movement + Samus' moves are very nicely animated. + Samus is quick and very agile - she never flips, wall jumps, never really runs for that matter, she kind of controlled like a tank + fast, nimble and has all of her tricks and moves ready to go there is also the dodge technique Samus has called SenseMove. It works like a dream, a quick dodge and Samus auto-locks onto the closest enemy. This also auto-locks you in first person, so you can quickly + dodge and dive into Samus' visor for a clean shot. On top of all this, there's also the Overblast technique's, where you jump on your enemy's head and fire a charged shot straight into there head + Samus moves with the agility that you would expect from the greatest bounty hunter in the universe -

there was no feeling of how agile Samus can be as a character and after all agility should be Samus' stockin-trade.

+ Samus moves are quick and fluid + all i care about is her kicking ass w/her badass weapons. + Samus can run in any direction you want her to go, and fire in any direction too. + Samus will roll or flip out of the way. A new addition to the Metroid franchise is the use of melee combat. The melee moves are cool to execute and watch, and aren’t too difficult to use. Samus is once again able to perform her signature flips, wall jumps, higher jumps, and overall acrobatic + moves in full detail. Combat also works fairly well with the beams stacking on top of each other and more signature moves being unlocked as times passes. +

+ All of the characters animate smoothly and they look realistic + The new dodge mechanic and melee moves add a lot +

Samus moves faster than ever before, and moves like the Sense Move, Overblast, and Lethal Strike really get my heart racing. Once you learn those moves you can never go back

+ Samus sprints through environments, picking off enemies left and right often followed by brutal takedowns + intense combat in Other M. You're no longer limited to just shooting. Samus has melee attacks + Character animation is well done; especially Samus's fatal strikes +

but it's kinetic and dynamic, and it's here you see the spill-over from Team Ninja's action-touch. Samus has never moved faster or finished her opponents off in so cinematic and brutal a fashion



APPENDIX IX Pos / neg + Labels ('babe', 'bitch, etc) - Metroid Prime /+ +

The bitch is back ya' get to see Samus's hot face.

+

Plus you'll get your first glimpse of the hottie in the armor suit without her helmut on in full 3-D. Sweet!

+

our space-hopping princess

+

Premiehunter Samus , a gamebabe hunt on monsters

APPENDIX X Pos / Labels ('babe', 'bitch, etc) - Metroid: Other M neg +/-

+ bad ass Yes, Samus is stall absolutely badass, but now we see her as a person instead of a stoic force of nature, and some people are seeing the emotions, the weakness, as sexist, but it + really doesn't gel. After all, if you went through what Samus did, and then ended up in that situation, male or female, you'd probably do exactly what she did. + Samus is still badass to me...). If I hear the word "baby" one more time in this game, I swear I will chuck my remote out the window - she's not the bad-ass we remember, + battle hardened smart ass + glass-ceiling breaking battle-hardened warrior + stone-cold badass veteran



APPENDIX XI Pos / Dialogue / voice / sound - Metroid Prime neg +/- sometimes you just long for a cut scene to tell the story in a more movie-esque, coherent sense + Every mechanical sound that Samus's Power Suit utters is almost exactly as you imagine it would be - The only flaw in this game is that it doesn't have any dialogue. - no cutscenes where there is actual communication. - With the lack of dialouge and stroy, it feels very boring. - what is with the crappy music and sound effects? + All the sound effects of Samus's weapons and abilities also fit perfectly + Sound effects of weapons, abbilities and enemies were done with uncanny accuracy - . I do wish we could hear Samus's voice, but I suppose a scream will suffice. 0 . It's actualy kind of funny there are no speaking parts but yet it still has a great story. + The sounds are perfectly done here. + The sounds were just excellent, from the moans of the enemies, to the screams of Samus + Listening to Metroid Prime with full Dolby Pro Logic II support is like auditory sex. + Samus makes her own sounds - might have been cool to hear Samus talk, but I'll take what I can get. +

sound effect is added in a way that doesn't draw attention to itself but sounds natural and adds to the atmosphere.

0 There is no speaking, no other characters they should of given Samus voice acting and maybe some talking in the game. Like maybe to even get contact with friends she knows from other planets. the sounds of Samus' footsteps, and the sound effects of her various weapons are all very crisp and fit + extremely well into the setting of the game -

0 There are no long cut-scenes, and no voice work. There is no voice acting, but I am not that much of a fan of voice acting for Nintendo game because I think + it would kind of ruin them. I wouldn't want to see voice acting in a game like Zelda and Metroid because they would probably end up having goofy voices. + voice narrationg is a great addition - no voice + Great sound effects, suit voiceovers, + sometimes, you can hear her breathing which was another nice touch -

I would like to say that I would hav liked to see some voice actinf in the game. I believe that in the whole game that there was not one sound of a voice

- Lack in character voices.


Roberts, Katherine. A sociological exploration of a female character in the Metroid videogames series. - it could have used more sound though. - No voice acting +

And lets not forget Samus' suit. Her suit sounds exactly how you think it would when you change into or from a morph ball or switching weapons or displays.

+ gentle hum of your powersuit - theres no voice acting - not a SINGLE word of dialogue spoken the entire game The game dosen't have any dialogue, although you get writing on the wall and on computers to fill you in + on the smaller details. The game is all about atmosphere, and the feeling of desolation and suspence, and sometimes awe. Adding more plot, and ANY dialogue would destroy that. Samus (who's grunts and screams are provided veteran video game voice actress Jennifer Hale, who is + known as the female Shepard from "Mass Effect", and Naomi Hunter and Emma Emmerich from the "Metal Gear Solid" series) As for voice acting, there is none, but that's not really a problem since no one ever talks in this game. I + mean, Samus is the only human in the game - She never really talked though - it's not perfect. I wish there were voices, it feels like an isolation instead of an epic journey + the metallic clank of Samus’ feet on the metal floors - Some voice work would really have been appreciated. - Not having voice work is a little annoying. - Lack of voice work hurts. What makes Metroid Prime so different from other games is the fact that there isn't a single word spoken in the game. Samus Aran is completly silent during the game with the exception of hearing her scream + whenever you die. The thing is, that Samus doesn't need words, her actions and her weapons do the talking for her. This is very effective. + Even dying has cool sounds + Thank God that Samus has not got a voice - Also there is no voice acting for the game dude!!!! just how well retro did the whole ''alone'' thing. there are only two voices you hear through the whole game, and even they come rarely, and are not main roles. one is your computer chick, who just tells you when you + have recieved new info and stuff, the other is the some dude who explains the plot at the start and finish. how lonely - the lack of any spoken dialogue besides "Evacuate immediately." +

The sound effects also do a great job. From the mechanical sounds of Samus suit to the humming of the missiles power-ups

- No voice acting



APPENDIX XII Pos / Dialogue / voice / sound - Metroid: Other M neg +/- bizarrely delivered dialogue - and she saves her dull observations on all things cosmic for the cut-scenes - that inane rambling from Samus -

Her stilted, tranquilised vocal performance goes a long way towards destroying the bounty hunter's hardwon air of mystery

- a character that always expresses herself best through her moves rather than her speech Samus, a character who's been in Nintendo's arsenal since pretty much the company's videogame beginning, gets a voice for the first time. In the past, Nintendo's been hesitant in establishing a voice for its franchise + characters beyond basic sound bites, but here, Samus is a full, fleshed out character with personality and emotion, and is someone you can connect with almost from the first line she speaks. It's fantastic to see Nintendo finally embrace contemporary storytelling with motion-captured acting and + voice-over. while the voice acting can get a little stilted in places, more often than not the dialogue – and Samus's + frequent monologues – are professionally acted. + Excellent voice work - The plot is well done, dialogue a tad hammy but overall well written and the plot is just fine. - Yeah, Samus has a voice. It's usually her talking to herself. - infantile dialogue - I found Samus Aran's voice to be sort of bland, + but its nice having voice acting 0 the writing is eh at times, as is the voice acting Remember the feeling of isolation you felt in every other Metroid game before? I think other than Zero Mission, you rarely got orders or had regular conversations with outsiders. Well forget all of that. In this game you are constantly meeting up with other humans and accessing control panels that trigger dialogue with whomever. the game would have been far far better if they just stripped about 95% of the cutscenes out and all of Samus's dialog - an emotionless monotone voice - A bit of stale voice acting - The voice acting is cheesy - Samus sounds strangely monotone -

plus with added mushiness, so much so i though i was watching a chick flic. I mean samus is weak and pathetic scared and talks way to much.

+ The voice acting is not that bad, in fact it's often quite good; again it's much better than anime. - the storytelling shoves it a bit too much in our faces because this is the first time we get her to talk. - horrible dialogue and voice acting


Roberts, Katherine. A sociological exploration of a female character in the Metroid videogames series. I can only hope that Samus' characterization is fixed in future games. And, preferably, that they bring back Jennifer Hale as a voice actress, as the new VA speaks in a dull monotone throughout the entire game.… i think there is to much narration, sometimes i wish samus would shut the hell up and talk out of her mouth lol the English voice-over is annoying for me at least. It could've been better. I have no idea where they casts these voice actors. . In relation to the voices of the characters have no reason to complain, i do not understand why there are so + many people complaining ... they wanted for the voice of Samus Angelina Jolie ...? -

- the dialogue is a little amateur A silent Samus may increase the emphasis on self-exploration, but a reflective one does more to solidify the loneliness of her 'lone wolf' status far from diminishing it. In particular I don't think people should mistake + the dispassionate dream-like tone of Samus' voice actress as a failure for actress to relate with her character, as it does more to solidify the muted quality of the feelings Samus experiences given the infrequency of her human interaction than to enfeeble her. The only main drawback to the game is the wooden dialogue that sometimes interferes with an otherwise interesting story. - Some of Samus Aran's lines in particular are a little too Emily Dickinson for me. - the dialogue is not the best +

Some people complained about the narration in the game, but there's really not that much of it, and I don't feel it gets I the way of the story

- It has poor voice acting - If I hear the word "baby" one more time in this game, I swear I will chuck my remote out the window - the naration terrible It's at it's worse when Samus talks. I don't have a problem with her new character because despite her - constant inner monologues she technically stays silent for most of the time. But her voice actress is awful and makes the plot more like a B SyFy movie then the epic story it could be. My first, and probably biggest complaint is this. Why is Samaus talking?? Samaus talking is the same thing as Link talking, the point is, THEY DON"T TALK! Samaus talking actually ruins the game at first site, - because everyone remembers Samaus as a silent bad-ass bounty hunter. Well she's not silent anymore. My gosh, if anyone ever makes Link talk in the next Zelda game, I'll have to hurt somebody, and I'm sure hardcore Metroid fans feel the same about Samaus talking. It isn't right. Having Samus voiced for the first time was a controversial move for Nintendo, and one that in my opinion + has payed off. It gives Samus a much greater sense of depth, and though some will find the voice acting quite monotonous, I found that this gave Samus a much more steely character. + the voice acting was great as well + I was so excited for this game to come out. "SAMUS HAS A VOICE!!!!!", I screamed, Unlike every other Metroid game, Samus has a voice this time around. In every other game, the only sounds 0 she makes are just those grunts you hear when you’re dying, but in Other M, Samus has probably the most dialogue out of every character. this is the first Metroid game where Samus actually has voiced dialogue, and she speaks more then any + other character. Every character is voice-acted, so there is no silent dialogue. The voices are clear and easy to understand, so you won’t have to have subtitles to understand them speak. Once again, nicely polished! + very professional voice acting This is actually the first time Samus has had a voice actor that doesn’t just grunt and scream in pain. She +/- narrates the story and talks frequently, but she can use too many words in some occasions to describe the obvious which is a little bit irritating, but it doesn’t the harm Samus’s character. + Hearing Samus' voice in this game will be a little awkward at first but you'll pick up on the story fast


Roberts, Katherine. A sociological exploration of a female character in the Metroid videogames series. - This is the only other game besides SSBB that Samus has a voice. (Bad decision?) - Cons: Samus has a voice (It doesn't seem right) - It's all well done, but Samus just didn't sound right for some reason. - Yes I admit the voice actor doesn't emote well 0 for the first time Samus speaks + the fact she actually has a voice in this one is amazing on it's own Voice acting is very, very good. The people chosen to voice act the characters did a good job all throughout, even if not stellar. Samus' storytelling voice does get rather hard to listen to, however, seeing that she is + monotone throughout her storytelling. However, in active game, the voice actor does a good job of displaying emotions that she would normally express. + For the first time in the series, the protaganist, Samus Aran, has a voice . . . and a good one at that The voice acting is hit or miss, especially with Samus. Jessica Martin sounds extremely boring and +/- emotionless when voicing Samus' monologues yet she pulls off the cut scenes where Samus speaks out loud perfectly. - the characters to explain things in more words than is really needed another alteration that Team Ninja added to the franchise is presenting Samus as a fully developed character. This would make it one of Nintendo’s first fully voiced characters among their expansive roster. , don’t expect much. Very few times does Samus express emotional dynamics; and throughout most of the story, Samus narrates the events that take place in a flat tone just as robotic as her Chozo Suit.

0

+ the voice actors do a decent job despite sounding a little corny at times. The Bad: -Voice Acting. Why does Samus sound like a whiny preteen? And why are all of her voice overs so monotone? For the first time, we get to hear her speak and get a better understanding of her background. Unfortunately, - her lines are badly written and the actor sounds bored in her delivery. The result is a hero that sounds as if it is a chore to say anything about her life. At times, you might even wish Samus didn't say anything at all. The voice acting is not terrible, but Samus does not show enough emotion. She rarely actually speaks to - other characters, as most of her talking is through monologue. Seeing her interact with others is what I looked forward to, but monologue is what we get instead. horrendous voice work. The narrations are dull and dry, drawn out needlessly as Samus narrates her every thought and action, even as that same action is carried out on screen -

0 the voice acting was spot on, but a lot of the time I was wondering if I'd purchased a game or a DVD Samus is a battle hardened and grown woman. Unfortunately, Nintendo casted the voice of a monotone 18 - year old girl reading out of her diary. She doesn't SOUND like a woman, or a serious battled hardened one at that. She sounds ... cute. And feminine The script is absolutely terrible. Samus uses her monotone monologues to use WAY TOO MANY WORDS - to describe something that you or me would blurt out "THANK YOU CAPTAIN OBVIOUS!" to anyone on the street, and she does it repeatedly. Never ending. Over. And over. And over again. Samus's inner dialog will carry you through most of the non-playing scenes, and it is so corny you want to jump off a cliff halfway through the game the cutscenes are terribly voice-acted, not skippable (and believe me, you'll want to skip them), melodramatic, monotone, tweenage angst filled, emo bullshit that is a travesty to Samus' character, and worse of all, 1/3 of your game time. The writing doesn't even make sense. Game driven by story? Good idea. Game driven by 12 year old anime girl's diary? Don't even bother. - I felt Samus was at her most human in silent exploration of an uncharted world... - i indeed fear a lot of hearing Samus talking - all the narrative stuff - ugh, do not want AT ALL. Too bad we can't pick and choose.


Roberts, Katherine. A sociological exploration of a female character in the Metroid videogames series. Boyfriend. Boyfriend. Samus's ex-boyfriend. Honestly, MPrime 3 was bad enough but this ... this is just inexcusable. And Samus talking is like giving Mario a gun. I always thought the Metroid series could go one step further with its storytelling and Samus of all the Nintendo characters deserves a voice. If they had to give one Nintendo character a voice, whether Link or + Mario or any of them be in the running - it would have to be Samus. She has a story to tell and i'm hoping this is the game that does it. The dialogue is unusual and the expository elements - an early example being a young Samus refusing to issue an apparently customary "thumbs up" gesture at a military briefing, supposedly coolly replacing it with a thumbs down - are just odd. Later, you hear through narration that Samus has decided to call a potential imposter, "the deleter"... :-/ -



APPENDIX XIII Pos / Comments re: Samus in general (traits, Personality etc) - Metroid Prime neg +/- the main (and only) character has no depth + one of the all-time best Nintendo characters + Samus Aran, a bounty hunter like no other 0 trained as a warrior 0 Samus is alone +

As you all know Samus is a High Profile Space traveler, she is out to stop evil on which ever planet it lies. Armed with her cannon, Samus will blast everything in sight

+ You play as the female bounty hunter, Samus Aran. She is one bad ass lady. + the fact is: Samus is in 3-D now... and boy is she sexy +

And don't you think; from coming from one of the first games to feature a female protagonist, all the way to this superb adventure; it's really quite amazing.

+ Clad in her distinctive red-and-gold power suit, Samus is a self-sufficient and versatile, Samus' integrated targeting systems aim for you at the touch of a button. For this reason, even from the get+ go, you'll distinctly get the impression that Samus is very powerful, and that few enemies could stand toeto-toe with her. This makes sense, as she didn't become an interstellar bounty hunter for nothing. + a protaganist who is equal parts Jesus and Boba Fett + She is back and better than ever! + Samus kicks ! + This game puts you behind the visor of the most lethal bounty hunter is the galaxy +

for once you get to play with a girl rather then a guy always being the hero but I guess thats how Metroid has always been

+ Samus is back baby! + That lad (wait, 'he' is a female. Sorry) is back for the extreme action! + Samus is a female +

Samus had not appeared since way back in 1993, the year of Super Metroid and many had seemingly forgotten about her. Except her fans

0 the birth of the infamous Dark Samus. 0

you play as Samus Aran who if you've played the previous 2D metroid games wil know of her bewildered past life

+ the herioc bounty hunter named samus aron, the best of her profetion in the cosmos + you'll watch Samus become a very powerful hunter



APPENDIX XIV Pos / Comments re: Samus in general (traits, Personality etc) - Metroid: Other M neg +/+ Samus has always been powerful + It makes Samus about as brutal as a Nintendo character's ever likely to get 0 +

+

+ +

I walk away from Metroid: Other M with the feeling that it was greenlit to flesh out Samus as a character more than it was created to advance the classic Metroid gameplay. meant to introduce Samus to an audience that might not understand just how independent and bad-ass this intergalactic bounty hunter truly is. Samus, a character who's been in Nintendo's arsenal since pretty much the company's videogame beginning, gets a voice for the first time. In the past, Nintendo's been hesitant in establishing a voice for its franchise characters beyond basic sound bites, but here, Samus is a full, fleshed out character with personality and emotion, and is someone you can connect with almost from the first line she speaks. a story payoff towards the end for Samus' subserviency but it doesn't make up for the absurdity of Samus being somewhat of a mindless drone and refusing to activate her normal functions simply because Adam didn't say it was OK an engaging story that turns one of Nintendo’s beloved characters into something more than a kick-ass bounty hunter On the topic of story... Samus is given personality and it's different from the whole "lone wolf" that we've been led to believe. They've attempted to give Samus this sort of "motherly" personality. Which isn't so bad I guess, but it feels so different.

+ Samus have a epic personality. +

even with all the insecurities and "daddy issues", she still puts her most bad ass self as her exterior. I think that makes her even more of a bad ass in my book!

+ Excellent exploration of Samus as a woman Also the way handled Samus would be the same if they made a Superman movie where Superman cried any - time he saw or thought about anything in his past and had to ask for permission from his boss to use any of his powers or punch somebody, - We wanted Samus the bounty hunter but we got Samus the insecure plus with added mushiness, so much so i though i was watching a chick flic. I mean samus is weak and pathetic scared and talks way to much. A look into Samus' past shows us that you don't need to be an emotionless robot to be fitted with a space + suit, in fact it's refreshing to know the original space-suited lady actually has a lot of depth they decided to turn Samus into a weak character with a poor and unoriginal personality that goes contrary to fan opinion and apparent characterization in the past. -

+ Finally we know something about Samus other than that she is a bounty hunter. Metroid Other M tells us an in-depth character development of Samus, flashbacks on her past and how she came through becoming a bounty hunter. Yes, Samus is stall absolutely badass, but now we see her as a person instead of a stoic force of nature, and some people are seeing the emotions, the weakness, as sexist, but it really doesn't gel. After all, if you went + through what Samus did, and then ended up in that situation, male or female, you'd probably do exactly what she did. +


Roberts, Katherine. A sociological exploration of a female character in the Metroid videogames series. I find it amusing how some people criticize Samus as an emotional character, this is turning a robot into something more human, this is an advancement in the gaming world; After seeing the emotion in Samus when she saw Ridley, it added more emotion to the other games, seeing + how she was actually feeling whenever he showed up adds to the whole story Samus is portrayed well but her innocence and insecurity almost contradicts the style of character that we have seen in previous games. +

+ The personality of Samus was, in my opinion, well put across A silent Samus may increase the emphasis on self-exploration, but a reflective one does more to solidify the loneliness of her 'lone wolf' status far from diminishing it. In particular I don't think people should mistake + the dispassionate dream-like tone of Samus' voice actress as a failure for actress to relate with her character, as it does more to solidify the muted quality of the feelings Samus experiences given the infrequency of her human interaction than to enfeeble her. + the enigmatic Samus Aran + expressing the inner feelings of Samus + a complex, emotional story. Samus Aran is finally a humanized character - someone with depth and a past. - an attempt to make Samus more "Human" failed, and came off as cliche. - They have killed Samus as a strong female character - The game's biggest flaws lie in its poor characterization of Samus + You'll witness the human side of Samus as she struggles to deal with her past The other thing about Samaus is her personality this time around. Like I said, everyone knows here as a bad-ass bounty hunter, but in this game she sounds like a regular every day teenage girl. Speaking of character depth, Samus has more than one side to her in this game - for about the first half you + will see her as you always have - a merciless bounty hunter. Until a certain character from Samus past returns and she simply freezes in her place, unable to even fight -

+ Samus still on form Peolple complain about Samus being too emotionable and they rather have her being the tough samus they knew and I'm one of them in other M samus is always talking about the super metroid like it's her child and obeying orders from adam.In my opinion they based samus of the first Manga and not the second one (For those who did'nt read the manga in the first one shes very emotional and in the second one shes like she is in the prime series except she talks much more often.)Heres an actuaul sentence from the gameinformer review "I refuse to believe that a badass bounty hunter would refuse to activate her armor’s heat-resistant Varia suit as she marches through the heart of a volcano with her health constantly draining -- an actual scenario from the game."I've been there and when her health was draining it was like one energy every 2 seconds.OMG 1 energy shes gonna die even though she has about 400 energy!!!She hasn't seen adam for a long time and shes acting out of respect,she says it herself,Adam was the only person who understood her I thought there was too much emotion from Samus. Call me a purist, but [however] the mysteriousness that - Samus displayed throughout the text-based talking was great. I knew that she was struggling with things, but it wasn't in my face. I just don't approve of all the emotion that she so easily displays, that's all. I think that she should remain hard and cold to an extent, and not really worry about what others think of her While she doesn’t come off as the badass/strong silent type she tends to be in every other game, Other M + shows off a more human side to Samus, The human face painted on Samus finally lets you know what kind of heroine she is after all these years of + guiding her through the Metroid series and never understanding who she really is I'm not sure if I can consider this a negative but the way Samus was portrayed throughout the game will throw seem people off. You can definitely tell this game was made in Japan. They make Samus have a very +/girlie image, something you would not expect from a bounty hunter who has killed the mightiest of enemies in her past. They try to push emotion through the game, which is not a negative. I think it makes it more It makes Samus more human. Therealistic. Computer Games Journal: Martinmas 2012 edition Copyright of Katherine Roberts ©2012 Distribution rights owned by The Computer Games Journal ©2012

Roberts, Katherine. A sociological exploration of a female character in the Metroid videogames series. realistic. It makes Samus more human. - Did they do a perfect job of interpreting Samus? No, in my opinion - Too much emotion in the story (Makes Samus seem less tough) - WHY ARE ADAM AND SAMUS IDIOTS IN THIS GAME 0 +

0

-

-

+

messing up Samus' personality. And I admit, she doesn't look quite as super tough as she did before. And that's ok. Just because she says stuff, and has a PTSD attack, doesn't mean the story's ruined This game was made by a Developer that has been known for its heavy action sequences, and in this game they excelled with it, showing that while she has a sensative past, she can be brutal and awesome when she needs to be. Metroid: Other M was almost solely intended to add depth to Samus as a character. And they did that quite well. But it is this aspect of the game that makes so many people dislike it. It is true that the script could be improved, and that there is some overacting, but when you add depth to a character, that implies that you add emotions as well. But it seems that people do not want Samus to have emotions. Apparently, the majority of Metroid fans don't care about Samus as a character, and would rather have an empty shell of a powersuit while they go find another missile expansion. they changed Samus in a number of ways that could have been left alone, and probably would have been better left alone instead of shown off and/or altered. meant to flesh Samus out as a character and turn her into an even more super version of herself. This game certainly did that, but not to the extent that I would have liked the fact that Samus sort of has her character taken away by certain segments of the story. She is seen showing fear, something we all know Samus doesn't show. Sure, fear of losing someone is a big thing that could possibly make sense for her, but her seeing a certain someone later in the game means that she has this sudden freakout? No...no, that just doesn't fit her. That well-acted voice work, the cinematic recreation of the events at the end of Super Metroid, and the glimpses of why Samus left the Galactic Federation to become a bounty hunter make her feel like a fullfledged character and give the series an emotional resonance for the first time.

+ the very strong and capable Samus

-

-

-

+

-

who is the whiny, weak willed, soft, nostalgic female that is wearing the Chozo armor? I swear it looks like Samus but she acts nothing like her. Since when did Samus lock up and back up from Ridley? Oh that would be never, not from anything or anyone but in this game she is scared of a lot of things. Totally not the Samus I've come to know. Next thing you know, Lara Croft will be cooking pancakes for Samus as they attend knitting classes and sing hymns. I cannot express how disappointed I am at the dumbed down and whiny scared Samus. Samus’s added personality is antiquated by today’s highly presented standards in games such as Uncharted 2 and Mass effect 2. This mildly translates into the overall story arch which is riddled with subtle, uninspiring Japanese clichés and idiosyncrasies It makes no sense whatsoever for Samus to obey Adam's orders to the point of her dying from heat exhaustion, because Adam wouldn't let her activate her varia suit yet. A newly discovered enemy is shaking off most of the hits from Samus' standard gun, thus is managing to kick her ass; yet she simply won't switch to her powerful plasma beam to blast the creature into extinction due to Adam's restrictions. Yea I get it! Samus has deep respect for Adam, but does she really need to jeopardize her health and life to show that respect? Does she need to make her life more difficult all for the sake of respecting Adam? Players will witness Samus' traumatic scars, sensitive side, and vulnerabilities. This serves well to remind us that although Samus is a hardened bounty hunter, she is not without a personality and emotions. Character Inconsistencies. Since when has Samus ever shown fear before facing Ridley? A little girl crying? Really? Samus is hardy, creative, and resourceful, not some whiny little girl. The makers of the game tried to portray Samus as the archetypal useless girl prevalent in Japanese anime, when everything before this shows her as a progressive, talented ass-kicking machine.

- Baring the illogical nonsense of Samus even obeying a man who has no genuine authority to authorize anything she has, Adam's timing is usually awful, or even cruel. A quick look around will find many wondering why Adam won't authorize Samus to use heat-proof Thesimilarly Computer Games Journal: Martinmas 2012 edition armor in a lava level, or why Samus just doesn't tell him to shove it and turn on her own heat-proof armor. Apparently she'd rather burn to a crisp rather thanRoberts disobey his orders, for some reason. Copyright of Katherine ©2012 Distribution rights owned by The Computer Games Journal ©2012

Roberts, Katherine. A sociological exploration of a female character in the Metroid videogames series. anything she has, Adam's timing is usually awful, or even cruel. A quick look around will find many similarly wondering why Adam won't authorize Samus to use heat-proof armor in a lava level, or why Samus just doesn't tell him to shove it and turn on her own heat-proof armor. Apparently she'd rather burn to a crisp rather than disobey his orders, for some reason. In all prior Metroid games, Samus was a quiet woman. Stoic, yet strong. A few have mistakenly and incorrectly claimed she had no personality, that she was simply a cipher for the player's emotions. On the contrary, Samus has displayed very strong, powerful personality traits since the days of Metroid 2, from her single-minded determination to eradicate the Metroids, to her compassion in sparing a baby Metroid that imprinted on her. Retro Studios, creators of the Prime games, specifically mentioned they came up with a variety of psychological studies, asking the original Metroid creators "how would Samus act?" and then implementing their responses in the game, giving us a Samus that was a woman of action, courage, intelligence, nobility, resourcefulness, and stability. Other M's portrayal of her is quite the opposite. Samus does not need to be an emotionless shell; she never was in prior games, even. But here, she is emotional to the point of weakness, letting her opinions of Adam, and his opinions of her, define her rather than forging her own identity. After years of killing pirates, destroying alien monsters, blowing up whole planets, and saving the galaxy, she suddenly has no confidence. She is soft and vulnerable, rather than battlehardened, insecure and uncertain, rather than confident and sharp, panicky and emotional, rather than stoic and calm. It's jarring and, in my opinion, entirely out of character for the woman that single-handedly trailblazed empowered female protagonists in video games. The infamous scene of her breaking down in hysterical fear at the sight of her arch-enemy will go down in Metroid history as the equivalent of Darth Vader's whiny "NOOOOOOO" in Episode 3. I have read the manga and I've heard the arguments about her suffering from PTSD, but for her to suddenly have this develop NOW is a bit hard to swallow. Even the manga, that several fans have brought up, has her coming to terms with the horrors she's faced and having the Chozo train her to be almost zen-like and unshakable. In this scenario, she has an utter meltdown - Weak story and Samus has a weak personality Samus is shockingly concerned about her "feelings" and "emotions" every step of the way. This is not the same woman that has supposedly been out single-handedly kicking ass and saving the galaxy for the past 15 years, who's entire colony was decimated in front of her as a young child. Samus Aran should be a battle hardened smart ass capable of making sailors blush, and if she has ANY issues, it should be issues with authority and an emotional disconnect from other human beings from being traumatized as a child and raised by aliens. THAT'S a realistic character for this woman. This woman, the Samus in this game, simply isn't it ... and from what I've seen of the cutscenes, the game seems to imply that maybe Samus WAS angry in the past... but she's "all better now!" and "ready to prove herself to her old adoptive father/hopeful lover with no personality!", which is not only the easy way out... but moronic. There's even a scene in the game where Samus repeatedly gives a thumbs down just to piss off her old CO, but no one's actually upset about it! It's just that "cute quirk thing that Samus does! hehehehe!" that seems so utterly ... Japanese ... that it sickens me. Samus is a woman who is a stone-cold badass veteran who for some fifteen years has single-handedly taken + on missions and fought enemies that would make an entire battalion of Federation soldiers scream and crap their pants before being torn apart, burned and eaten. And what do we get here? A simpering, dependent adolescent. "Don't use your equipment without clearance?" A Samus-appropriate response to this should be, "We'll talk about that right after I use my mighty arsenal to save your bitch ass." Instead, she meekly complies to go along with the truck full of daddy issues she's apparently been saddled with. Nothing made me more sick than the part where she's - turned into a quivering mass of jelly upon being confronted by Ridley. Maybe the first time she saw the slayer of her parents and the destroyer of her colony she would have freaked, but at this point in the story she's killed him nearly half a dozen times, and he was a bloody cyborg in one of those instances! The fact that Samus actually uses the phrase 'girl's heart' makes me so mad I can't see straight, as does virtually everything else about the 'character' these people have given her. + I felt Samus was at her most human in silent exploration of an uncharted world... - Remember me? No Samus, you've changed too much


Roberts, Katherine. A sociological exploration of a female character in the Metroid videogames series. -

It's a shame they had to stick Samus in their cheesy cutscenes but Samus's character was already ruined in Metroid Fusion (another great game!) so it's too late to complain.

APPENDIX XV Pos male/female = / for Gender Immersion/ Gender identification With Samus - Metroid Prime neg i.d.

appendix i

appendix i

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