[QUOTE="Scythes777"]
Except we never really knew much about Samus as a character, which is why Other M fleshes her out. Fusion did the same to an extent. All other Metroid games dont give any insight to how Samus thinks.foxhound_fox
We knew a lot. Have you ever heard the phrase "90% of conversation is body language, only 10% is verbal"? Well, if we apply that to this situation, we can infer a lot from Samus' actions.
Such as the opening of Super Metroid, where she hands the baby metroid over to the Federation, with little concern as to what they would do to it (naivety to their intentions, optimism for the benefit of the galaxy). Or corollary to that, in Metroid II: Return of Samus, where she destroys every single last metroid on SR388, with little more than a soldiers repose (her brutal efficiency overpowers any possibility of her being concerned for them as life forms). Or in Metroid: Fusion where she directly states she "doesn't like taking orders" at the beginning of the game, and is only following the AI CO because the Federation paid for her new ship (with no mention of them saving her life from the X parasite).
Also, from the number of instances that she has interacted with Ridley (Metroid, Super Metroid [x2], Metroid Prime, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption [x2]) and defeated him, her reaction to his appearance in Other M is strikingly different. At no instance in any of the previous games does she "freeze" before him and then go on to kill him... no, she just goes straight to fighting. From this, we can infer that Sakamoto may be attempting to rewrite the entire canon of past Metroid games, or even retcon the entire series up until that point. The only instance where her reaction in Other M would be tenable, would be in the original Metroid (or Zero Mission, its remake, where there is a reaction of "surprise" at his arrival in ZM).
I can list more examples if you like. Samus only ever refers to Adam in Fusion as a "friend" and nothing more (having the idea that she has a "crush" on him, as I've heard is implied in Other M, goes against what she said in Fusion, which came chronologically after Other M). She respects him as more of a father figure than authority (as she never had a father growing up). Fusion is an absolute treasure trove of references, even with its scant dialogue. For instance ***mild spoiler*** when Samus finally realizes what the Federation are doing with the station, and the research they are doing, she gets really angry at the AI CO, and contradicts her orders outright (which she only follows loosely throughout the game anyways). ***spoiler end*** [spoiler] The Federation wanted to limit her ability to fight the SA-X once they learned its true potential (as a possible weapon), so they tried their best not to have Samus destroy it (because she knew it would be a threat to all life in the galaxy, and like always, she was more than willing to do whatever it takes to destroy it), and get her off the station (or contained within) before they arrived. But she thwarted all of it, and then realized that Adam of all people was the AI CO helping and directing her all along, and only with his help could she finish the job. [/spoiler]
Samus is a quiet character... but that doesn't mean we can't know a lot about her, and see how this contradicts her depiction in the newest game in the series. From all past games, it has been implied that she is a strong, cold, and ruthless killer on the outside, and deep down inside, there might just be a compassionate and caring woman always concerned about doing what she felt was right, no matter the cost to herself, or anyone else. Don't tell me the other games don't represent her character... because actions speak much louder than words.
Honestly, I think youre looking far too into it. Before Fusion, Metroid was all about gameplay first and foremost. Maybe the reason Samus never "froze up" when she saw Ridley in Metroid or SM was because the developers disnt care about fleshing out Samus as a character then, and just wanted to focus on gameplay. It was never shown how Samus reacted to the death of the baby metroid in SM, nor did SM show any regret in Samus delivering the baby Metroid to the federation. SM was never a story heavy game, hence why we never got to hear Samus' thoughts.
Now Sakamoto wanted to finally flesh out Samus as a character and make a different Metroid altogether. This is where Fusion and Other M come in. We finally learn how Samus thinks of her actions and past, which no other Metroid game has done.
And a reason why Samus froze up could be because "I was reliving the moments of my recent past." She obviously was very sensitive during Other M, I mean the whole baby dying right above her, seeing Adam again after who knows how long, and to top it all off Ridley who was supposed to be dead but makes a surprise return and comes out of nowhere. Also the Prime games may or may not be canon, so you cant exactly count those Ridley encounters. She had also seen Ridley in the beginning of Super Metroid and had most likely had Known Ridley was on Zebes during Metroid.
And one last thing about Adam, she just saw him as a father figure, as she says in Other M.
Anyways I could go on, but I really dont want to right now. Samus' actions are clear and logical in Other M regardless.
Log in to comment