Franchise Origins|General Gaming Discussion|Forum|SNES HUB

The Character:Samus
1.Warrior
*This means skilled in combat and disciplined in demeanor.
*The Image of a Woman in armor pulling off her helmet is a compelling image in history and mythology.
*Examples: Britomart, Athena, Hua Mulan, Scathatch, Joan of Arc
*”In the vast universe, the history of humanity is but a flash of light from a lone star. The life of a single person should be lost in space and time. But among the stars, there is one light that burns brighter than all others. The light of Samus Aran. Her battles extend beyond her life, and etch themselves into history.”-Example of how retro gets this image right, portraying Samus as a Legendary Warrior even in the futuristic realm of Sci-Fi.

2.Bounty Hunter
*Based on Samus’s actions in Metroid, Metroid 2, Super Metroid, and Prime, Bounty Hunter should be substituted with the term Mercenary.
*Mercenary is a person not associated with the employer’s cause who takes employment for private gain that is equal or exceeding the standard paid to the employers party”
*Tend to be self-serving, money-hungry, and EXTREMELY competent. (which is why they are hired at all)
*Examples: Dugald Dalgetty, Rick Deckard, Boba Fett
*”Bounty hunter Samus Aran was commissioned by the Galactic Federation to eliminate the space pirates and do away with the dangerous Metroids. Samus landed on Zebes alone and carried out her mission with speed and precision.”-First mission to Zebes
*”The Metroids on SR388 were more advanced than the creatures on Zebes. These monsters could shed their skins and grow even stronger. Samus worked deep below the surface and blasted all of the Metroids in her path. Her final victory was against the enormous Metroid Queen. When the queen was defeated, Samus discovered a Metroid egg which hatched before her eyes. After updating her superiors, Samus packed up the Metroid larva and took it with her to the Space Science Academy on the Galactic Federation Space Colony where scientists could study the creature and understand its special organic structure.”-Mission to SR3788
*”Emergency! Emergency! Return immediately to the Space Science Academy! When Samus made her way to the research facility, she found the building in ruins and the
Metroid larva was nowhere to be found. Out from the darkness came a group of Zebesian space pirates and their leader, Ridley, who had the Metroid larva in tow. The pirates
fled to a rebuilt planet Zebes and Samus followed them, resolving to finish them off and end the Metroid Threat once and for all!”-opening to super Metroid.
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The Setting:Science Fiction
1.Alien
*Much of Metroid’s atmosphere lies in it’s locale’s isolated and strange feeling.
*Lone combatant battling for survival in hostile territory
*Distress signals or Mission leads to the situation
2.Star Trek
*Interstellar Travel and Uncharted worlds are key elements in Metroid
*The Galactic Federation is seemingly built on the concept of Star Trek.
*Hostile Factions making trouble in the galaxy (space pirates, etc.)
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The Gameplay:Exploration
Metroid is defined as an isolated experience where the goal is the exploration of a hostile environment. Items that are found are typically used to aid in exploration, though some may have combat applications. While Upgrades and items open up more of the world, the deep you go the more scary and dangerous the world becomes, (akin to climbing deeper into a cave for anyone who had ever gone spelunking). The creatures get more dangerous and the hazzards become more harrowing, and you get farther and farther away from your home base (be it your ship or a pod room). It is never about feeling strong as the game’s setting is purposefully designed to make you feel out of your element. Achievement is found by mapping out uncharted depths and finding the equipment necessary to plunge deeper.   

Well, she certainly started out that way lol! 

That said the definition says that they TEND to be self-serving and money-hungry.  That doesn’t mean that they all are, it just means that these are traits a majority of them share. I think that with Samus, the money is certainly a motivation, but considering her past and her proclivity to do jobs involving Space Pirates I think that oftentimes the involvement of Ridley and the Space Pirates trump the financial reward.

As far as Echoes goes if you are familiar with the mercenary mindset in both reality and in popular culture the reason that they go into the career aside from the money which is good is curiosity and adventure. Mercenaries tend to be adventurous people who do things that you and I would/could never do. An example is A “Contractor” ( they prefer it to mercenary these days) who takes a vacation not to DisneyLand but to the amazon Rain Forest because “He’s always wanted to see it”! I would say that most mercenaries would pursue that lead because A)It’s another story to tell and B)There are definite possibilities of Bonus Pay in the form of valuable tech/cultural items/trophies.

Finally consider her history with Ridley. It’s a sure bet that The thing that KILLED HER PARENTS is placed above her Mercenary mindset. It’s a Vendetta.

I really like the idea of Top gun being an inspiration for Pilotwings.  I think that it was since EVERYONE saw that one when it came out!

Pilotwings did what Nintendo did best at this time, taking an overly-complicated genre and applying arcade sensibilities to it.