Samus Aran’s Character Matters
Stories in video games are controversial. Many games in today’s market offer impressive, engaging storytelling efforts, which could rival blockbuster movies. Other games prefer to keep things simple by focusing on gameplay, while the plot remains insignificant or exists only through hints and optional side quests.
Like any controversial topic, each side has its supporters. Some prefer video games to be video games and just get engrossed in the challenges ahead. Others believe that a satisfying narrative and characters encourage them to keep playing, as the destination is just as important as the journey. I could make arguments for each side of the debate, but I’d also argue it depends on the game in question and what it’s aiming for.
A series that attempted both approaches to storytelling is Metroid. Nintendo’s long-running franchise, which basically created a whole genre (hence the name Metroid-Vania), is no stranger to storylines and continuity. While the games in the series haven’t been released in chronological order, there is a sense of continuity between each title.
Unlike other Nintendo franchises, such as Mario or Zelda, Metroid has a mostly clear narrative structure. Super Metroid carries on from the ending of Metroid 2. We know for a fact that Metroid Other M starts right after Super Metroid concludes, but it takes place before the events shown in Metroid Fusion. The status quo doesn’t just reset like in Mario. There’s no split timeline like in Zelda. Metroid has a set chronological order.
The main difference between Nintendo’s two golden boys and Metroid, however, is none other than the lead protagonist, Samus Aran.
Who is Samus?
Samus Aran is a bounty hunter who goes on intergalactic missions, oftentimes on behalf of the Galactic Federation, in order to ensure peace and prosperity across the galaxy. She suffered a tragedy at a young age, watching her family being murdered by the monstrous Ridley. Raised and trained by a group of aliens called The Chozo, Samus grew from that tragedy into a strong, determined, and no-nonsense fighter who would stop at nothing until her mission is accomplished.
That’s the basic backstory. The games themselves have gone several ways in characterizing her. In the first two games, Metroid and Metroid 2: The Return of Samus, there isn’t much to her. Even the backstory I just summarized isn’t present outside of manuals and supplementary material. To be fair to these games, though, besides being on consoles that couldn’t fit much of a story, they didn’t need any deep plots and characters.
Samus was nothing more than your avatar. You interacted with both planet Zebeth and SR-388 through her, all by yourself. Metroid relies a lot on the atmosphere created in exploring these planets by yourself as part of a dangerous mission. There was no need for Samus to have a set character because it didn’t matter. You reacted to the dangers she’s facing instead of her, just like she faced those threats instead of you. Metroid 2 did give her one character moment, in which she spears the baby Metroid she encounters at the end of the adventure.
Things changed in later entries. Super Metroid incorporated more story elements, which became possible on the new hardware. While nothing grand, a prologue connects this new game directly to the ending of its predecessor. Before touching back on Zebeth, there is a whole storyline focusing on Ridley kidnapping the baby Metroid that Samus found in Metroid 2. There's even the first bit of Samus' inner monologuing, shown via the opening text briefing to fill us in on the events of the game. It wasn’t much, but it was a start.
Metroid Fusion was the first game in the series to have a full-fledged story with a beginning, middle, and end. You didn’t just read the manual or watch a small recap, and then go off to the mission. There was a plot that progressed the more you played, had some twists and turns, and Samus’s character had more to say. In addition to more monologues, which provided exposition to her relationship with her former commander, Samus also spoke to characters in the game itself.
Aside from that instance, however, the bounty hunter never spoke much, nor did she really need to. Metroid: Zero Mission, as a remake of the first game, didn’t give her any reason to talk, and neither did the first two Metroid Prime games, despite the much bigger emphasis on lore. While Metroid Prime 3 had other characters interacting with Samus, she herself never speaks. It’s an odd decision, but we’ll loop back around to it.
Metroid Other M is notorious among fans of the franchise. Baffling gameplay aside, the story and characterization received a lot of backlash. The strong and determined bounty hunter was turned into a confused girl with daddy issues. Not to mention that she doesn’t get anything done in the story itself, as everyone else completes the missions she’s supposed to complete as the protagonist. It’s not all bad, as we also get to see Samus’s calm and nice side when she’s talking to survivors, but the game’s storyline didn’t do her character any favors.
Games like Metroid: Samus Returns (a remake of Metroid 2) and Metroid Dread seemed to have corrected the characterization issue. Samus doesn’t talk in any of them, save for one scene in Metroid Dread in which she’s speaking Chozodian. Considering she doesn’t have many characters to speak to yet again in these games, it’s not much of an issue. All of this recap is leading us to the recently released Metroid Prime 4: Beyond (MP4).
How Does Metroid Prime 4 Treat Samus?
Before discussing the recent entry in the Metroid series, I have to give a spoiler warning as I will be discussing many plot details in this article, including the game’s ending. Also, I would like to thank Nintendo for providing a review code for the game.
MP4 features one of the most confused characterizations of Samus Aran in the history of this franchise. While nothing reaches the levels of absurdity that Other M did, the newest entry in the series seems to have the opposite problem. If Other M tried giving Samus a character to the point it betrayed her character, then MP4 doesn’t even try to give her depth at all, which also betrays her character.
MP4 starts with Samus answering yet another distress call from the Galactic Federation. Space pirates are attacking the facility to steal an artifact that the Federation has obtained. Samus arrives amidst the chaos and discovers that the pirates are led by a former enemy of hers, Sylux. While duking it out, Sylux breaks the artifact in question, which teleports him, Samus, and a few other Federation soldiers to the planet of Viewros.
While exploring the new planet, Samus learns the story of the ancient civilization, the Lamorn, which once inhabited the planet. Throughout the game, the bounty hunter reunites with some of the Federation soldiers who were caught in the crossfire. Myles MacKenzie, Reger Tokabi, Ezra Duke, Nora Armstrong, and the battle robot VUE-995 are Samus’s companions for this adventure. In each area, you encounter a different character, who serves as your companion in various sections of the game. Samus’s goal is to find a way to get back home with the troops, while also navigating The Lamorn’s technology and Sylux’s vendetta.
Now, contrary to some discourse I’d seen before the game was released, the side characters aren’t all that bad. MacKenzie may be a quippy nerd, but his technological skills provide Samus with new weapons throughout the adventure. Tokabi is a tough warrior who lends a hand in fights, despite his old age. Duke is a tough, but caring, commander. VUE-95 serves its role as a devastatingly powerful battle robot that brings the pain. Armstrong ended up being my favorite, not just because she’s the rookie who grows more and more confident as the adventure continues, but also because she’s a fangirl of Samus. Call me cheesy, but she represents the fans, and I think it’s adorable.
I really don’t have any issues with the character; they’re not amazingly well-written or anything, but who said they need to be? They get the job done, and the voice acting helps the personalities shine through. If anything, the biggest problem I have with them isn't even about them. You can probably tell where I’m going with this: My biggest problem is their interaction with Samus… or lack thereof.
Similar to Metroid Prime 3, all the characters speak except the galactic bounty hunter. However, while there was no real reason for Samus to talk in that game, in MP4, the silence actually hurts the narrative. There are several moments in the game where one of the characters would ask Samus a direct question, and she just doesn’t answer. From her thoughts on a current situation to how a problm should be solved, Samus remains completely mute.
Now, even in games in which she did talk, Samus is always presented as a “less talk, more action” type of character. There’s nothing wrong with that. The problem here is that she doesn’t talk AT ALL. Besides an occasional nod of her head, Samus doesn’t react to anything her comrades are saying, which honestly makes her out to be an emotionless jerk towards them. I get that she’s not much of a talker; that’s what makes her Samus. However, when a person address her directly, the silence is taking it too far. What, did she forget to unmute her helmet or something?
Metroid Dread is another game in which Samus is mostly silent. She’s in constant silent badass mode throughout the whole adventure. The main difference is that in Metroid Dread, Samus is alone throughout her journey. She has her ship’s computer, yes, but there aren’t any situations where she’s required to talk. The one time she does talk is when she meets another Chozo, and in the Chozo native tongue no less! That’s how you do it! Keep her silent most of the time, but let her speak up when the situation requires it.
The Samus we see in MP4 barely shows any signs of caring for the people accompanying her in this scenario, and that’s not Samus Aran in my eyes. It’s also a problem when, throughout the gam,e there are moments where a character might sacrifice themselves for Samus to succeed. That's a tough situation that would be hard to process, but the bounty hunter barely reacts. If she doesn’t care… why should I? She doesn’t care whenever a character supposedly dies, and she doesn’t care when the same character ends up being alive. Our hero, ladies and gentlemen…
The Ending That Broke the Bounty Hunter’s Character
Nothing in MP4 does Samus’s character more disservice than the ending. To quickly summarize the plot: Samus has to find 5 ancient keys in order to operate a teleporter, which will take her and the other troops back home. When they all get to the teleporter, however, Sylux shows up because the game suddenly remembered he’s the villain.
The start of the battle is actually pretty cool because for the first time, you’re fighting alongside all of the other Galactic Federation soldiers. They may require some reviving here and there, but I found them helpful in the fight when they actually landed crucial shots on the boss. That’s pretty cool and allows me to connect with these guys through Samus’s eyes; (Literally, since this is a first-person game).
When Sylux is eventually defeated, Samus activates the portal, and the gang is ready to head home. The portal begins to operate when Sylux suddenly returns. To make sure Samus gets home, the team is holding Sylux back, keeping him busy for long enough time so that Samus can return to their planet. She does and… that’s it! These guys are still stuck on the other planet with no way back, and Samus doesn’t seem to show any emotion to that. She doesn’t even remove her helmet unless you beat the game 100%! She’s just… moving on. What happened here!?
For all intents and purposes, finding a way to bring these guys home was Samus’s mission in the game. She rescued all of them, helped them out, they helped her when they could, and now she’s just leaving them there!? That’s not Samus! Talking or not, Samus Aran wouldn’t leave her teammates behind, teammates she took upon herself to bring back home! I get that it’s supposed to be an emotional scene where we see these troops standing up for Samus and helping her. But the way events play out make it seem like Samus didn’t really care for these people.
Now, there is another bit of the story I didn’t really talk about; The Lamorn. This ancient civilization is referenced a lot throughout the game, as Samus is essentially gathering information about their history before they were eradicated. The Lamorn had a lot of knowledge that they wished to spread out via the life seed Samus obtains during the journey. Considering Samus grew up with the Chozo, another race of aliens with great knowledge that is no more, I can understand how she could relate to this story. Some characters even comment on how they know this may hit a sour note for her.
On paper, this is an interesting idea. Samus has the chance to help a civilization, which resembles the one that raised her, expanding its knowledge from beyond the grave. In theory, this makes her choice a lot more tragic, since she has to choose between her friends and something which holds sentimental value for her. The problem is that once again, the story does nothing with it. If the idea is to make Samus relate to The Lamorn, then I simply don’t feel it.
It all comes back to the scene where she plants the seed in the ground once she goes back home. It grows a small tree, on which Samus hangs the amulet that one of the troops gave her. This tree now provides a new beginning for The Lamorn, while also honoring the Galactic Federation soldiers who sacrificed themselves in order to preserve their history. In any other game, I’d call that ending beautiful as much as it is heartbreaking.
What sadly lessens the impact is that Samus doesn’t really have a connection to anything this ending represents. Her silence throughout the game and lack of connection with anyone and anything prevents the ending from landing in the way the developer surely intended. This tragic choice Samus has to make falls flat because, as the player who’s supposed to relate to her, I don’t feel much of a connection to any of the things that came before the ending.
It is unclear what the future holds for Metroid. Will there be a new 2D game? Is there going to be a Prime 5? Would Prime Pinball get a sequel? The answers may be unclear at the time of this article, but I’m sure of one thing: If you’re going to write a story surrounding Samus Aran, you need to treat this character better. She can speak if she has reason to. She can show emotions if the time calls for it. She’s a silent and determined bounty hunter who’s achieved incredible feats, but she’s also a heroic and caring person whom we want to root for and not just question.
