Samus Aran's 30 Years of Metroid Hunting

Once again before we dive into the blog be sure to vote for my talented photography of a sister during the "It's Amazing Out There" Photo contest by The Weather Channel. You can find her photo via this link: http://bit.ly/2u9B9yl if this doesn't work just search for "Butterfly and the Dandelion" you can vote everyday so go vote for my sister she deserves to win this!

I think I’ve expressed enough how big of an impact the Nintendo Entertainment System made on the Video Game industry, actually it saved the industry and allowed it to thrive for many years to come. Loads of classic characters we’ve come to love and the worlds they live in had their birth on this machine and that’s no different for a certain bounty hunter who just turned 30, Samus Aran of the Metroid Series.

Come this Tuesday, August the 15^th, the Metroid franchise will turn 30 years old here in America with the original release of “Metroid” for the NES. Metroid was created by the Legendary Gunpei Yokoi, Yoshio Sakamoto, Satoru Okada, the crew at Nintendo’s Research and Development 1 Team and Intelligent Systems Metroid ended up a pretty popular action-adventure side scrolling game but I have to admit, this game is really tough. You play the role as Samus Aran as she shoots her way through the planet of Zebes after being sent by the Galactic Federation to wipe out the Space Pirates that plagued them for so long and destroy their leader, Mother Brain. I mean if you’re the greatest bounty hunter alive who else would you pick?

This game calls for some serious exploration in-between dealing with those pesky spiky alien things that crawl on the floor making it almost impossible to destroy them. (Excuse my PTSD on that, hate those things.) You’ll be working your way through the bases of Zebes, obtaining power ups and destroying bosses but you won’t have a map to help you. You’re in complete radio silence when playing this game but luckily back then before the internet existed you had Nintendo Power to help you out. (Thanks guys.) Also luckily you had a password system in case you died and wanted to start where you left off, I also think this worked as a save system of sorts. Actually the original Famicom version had an actual save version.

This first Metroid game was later remade for the Gameboy Advance named Metroid: Zero Mission in 2004 and expanded on the original game with post game content.

Unlike most of you I didn’t actually grow up with any Metroid games. You all want a couple chuckles and perhaps a facepalm? Then keep reading.

My first encounter with Samus Aran was through another familiar game yet just as widely popular, Super Smash Bros for the Nintendo 64. Actually I had my first encounter with a lot of Video Game characters through this game. Anyone who wasn’t Mario, Luigi, Pikachu, Donkey Kong and Yoshi were complete strangers to me yet enticing. Here’s where I get embarrassed, I actually grew up for many years thinking Samus was actually a guy, whoops.

Actually at one point I thought she was related to Halo which was a completely separate IP from Microsoft, you can laugh at me later okay? I was a very young kid. I think I remember pretending she was a Power Ranger or something back in the day, I really had no idea who she was or where she came from, but you could charge her arm cannon for some serious damage so I used her often. Even more embarrassing I realized that the in game descriptions, the guides I had and Nintendo Power all described her as a woman.

I wasn’t the only one who thought this probably and in the original game nobody knew who Samus was until they beat the game a certain way, in which she would take her suit helmet off revealing herself to be a pretty badass lady.

Me however I wouldn’t realize she was a female until the announcement of Super Smash Bros Brawl for the Nintendo Wii many years later in which they announced the Final Smashes. Samus’s Final Smash would have her using a massive energy beam which tore away her power suit to the more flexible jumpsuit underneath, it also revealed her to be a blonde haired lady and boy was younger me in shock.

Anyway since then Samus and the world of Metroid have become big favorites of mine. I don’t own many of the games besides the original Metroid and Super Metroid but I thoroughly enjoy the 2D side scrolling variations of Metroid. Metroid isn’t just 2D games and with Metroid Prime releasing on the GameCube in November of 2002 the Metroid Franchise took a dive into 3D First-person Action-Adventure. I’ve never played a Metroid Prime game but they’re widely popular and to be honest I want to get a hold of that trilogy before number 4 comes out.

Wait I actually just remembered that I did experience Metroid in 3D although it was a demo. Remember when I discussed my memories of the original Nintendo DS? Well coupled with the old phat Nintendo DS I have (That actually broke recently…) I also got this Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt demo. This demo had you go around three different modes where you hunted down these enemies in a clunky first person shooter environment. The last mode would have you transform into the famous morph ball.

Speaking of the Morph Ball this is one of Samus’s many power ups and in the original game and every game since allowed her to curl up into a perfect ball for squeezing into tight places and also using bombs to find secrets. You’re probably wondering, how on earth does Samus curl up like that? Well it’s very simple; she may or may not have Bird DNA inside of her. I’m not talking about Maximum Ride level of bird DNA I mean she was infused with DNA of an alien bird race known as the Chozo. These guys were wise bird-men who used to live on the planet Zebes before being wiped out by the Space Pirates. Samus, an orphan, was adopted by the Chozo and infused with their DNA as well as raised to become a warrior.

When it comes to Video Games I tend to look beyond the pressing of buttons, each Video Game has a story behind it and Nintendo’s games might not look like it at first but have a lot of lore behind them. Maybe it’s just the writer inside of me but I will spend hours reading deeper and deeper into the stories in each game, whether it’s Pokemon, Legend of Zelda or even Mario.

For the most part Samus’s character was only shown through a miniature dialogue in the prologue of every game but with Metroid Fusion, Metroid Prime 3 and Metroid Other M the games dove just a little bit deeper into her character. She’s a bit of a loner but thanks to some comics and manga we got to see more insight into her exploits. Actually she’s made quite a few comic and manga appearances such as her 5 issue Nintendo Power Super Metroid series and her appearances in the Captain N comics. Though one manga does stand out to me and that would be the 2002 Metroid Manga.

While I’m not exactly sure if it’s canon or not it dives pretty deeply into Samus’s origins as well as a prequel to the original game/Zero Mission. I think I can safely say the portrayal of Samus in that manga is my favorite iteration. Apparently Metroid: Other M went in depth as well as giving Samus full voice acting but I’ve never played that game either. I’ve only heard reviews from others, which for the most part are negative.

Anyway the Metroid franchise and Samus’s bounty hunting seemed to come to a halt over the years with no new games since Metroid: Other M in 2009. Finally Samus will be returning to her Varia Suit and beating up some more Metroids in not one but two upcoming games, one of them being a return to the 2D action-adventure side scrolling I’ve come to love from the franchise. Metroid: Samus Returns (Perfect name by the way Nintendo.) will be releasing on the Nintendo 3DS this September 15^th. (One month from now!) This isn’t just a return for Samus however it’s the return of Yoshio Sakamoto who is leading production of the game and is his first game since Metroid: Zero Mission.

Metroid: Samus Returns is a reimagining of Metroid II: Return of Samus for the original Gameboy with the same storyline for the most part intact. Samus is heading to the Metroid homeworld SR388 to exterminate the species after the events of Metroid/Metroid: Zero Mission. It seems for the most part the gameplay is the same but it seems Samus has been practicing in Super Smash Bros a lot because she can use Melee attacks from the looks of it as well as being able to fire freely at any angle.

Metroid: Samus Returns looks incredible and I can’t wait to get my hands on this game, it’s looking to be the return to 2D (2.5D anyway) Metroid games I’ve wanted for so long now as well as being a remake of a Metroid game I’ve always loved. (Yet suck at, but I suck at all Metroid games.) You can check out more here on the English website:

Samus has been kicking butt for 30 years now and it seems her feats have not stopped yet. Samus as a character might not speak much and a lot of her lore is shrouded in mystery but she's pretty much in my top 5 favorite Video Game protagonist list. (I'm so sorry for not realizing she was a woman before Smash Brothers Brawl, haha.) With Metroid: Samus Returns and Metroid Prime 4 coming out it seems Metroid has finally returned to the spotlight. Now if only a certain captain named after a bird could make a punching return. While I’m not good at the games I enjoy these games a lot they have a challenge you just can’t refuse, win or fail.

You can buy the original Metroid on the 3DS eShop for $4.99 USD.

Moving on I’ve been watching some more Harry Potter again, so far I’ve actually watched the first 5 movies so expect those blogs to trickle out over the next few months. I’ve actually been watching quite a few movies over the past weekend one of them being a big Tom Hanks favorite of mine, Angels & Demons which is based on the Dan Brown book of the same name. I’ve been reading the book too and I’m really enjoying Robert Langdon’s exploits in Vatican City so expect me to write up some blogs on that as well.

As always today’s FREE Knitting pattern feature is of a monster of the most adorable kind. This is “A Little Kindness Monster” from Rachel Borello Carroll of The Yarnigans.

Just look at this adorable guy, seriously who couldn’t resist that face? Looking for a toy to knit for Christmas? Give this little guy some love. I mean look at that beanie, and the little heart on his cheek. He’s enough to fill your heart with kindness and he seems to be kind and easy to knit too. He’s got some basic shapes and all you’ll need is 1 set of 4 US3 double pointed needles. A small amount of worsted weight yarn in any color, scrap yarn works. You also need two buttons (Or felt) for the eyes and some embroidery thread for the mouth with an embroidery needle.

So go on! Knit this little ball of kindness. This might be the most adorable knitting pattern yet so please be sure to go check it out here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/a-little-kindness-monster . Also be sure to check out more of Rachel’s patterns she’s got loads more patterns like this. http://www.yarnigans.com/

This was ZAK Entertainment

See you on Wednesday!