Metroid

LBD "Nytetrayn"

Broke the Matrix
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Her being a Bounty Hunter is one of those "english words sound cool" things iirc.
From IGN:

For Prime 3, Retro needed a new gimmick and there was a great divide between the studio and Tanabe about what that should be. What they could agree on was Aran's character -- at least, for the most part. "Samus could best be summarized, at least in my mind, as Boba-Fett with a sense of honor. Everybody hears bounty hunter and, of course, Boba-Fett is synonymous with that for good reason: he's a very compelling character," says Walker. "But Samus has a sense of compassion and honor where she's not in it for the money. She does it to protect humanity. And her upbringing and being raised by the Chozo gave her that sense of nobility that I think many characters lack."

Samus really isn't about the money, a truth that confused the developer -- and me, upon hearing this story -- when it presented Nintendo a gameplay design that appealed to Aran's chosen occupation. "We were looking for something more along the lines of a mission-based game where Samus collected bounties. And for the life of us we couldn't understand why [Nintendo was] being so resistive to that concept. And then over the period of days we came to understand that their definition of a bounty hunter is not a bounty hunter. It is not someone who brings in bad guys for money. That concept was completely outside of their definition," says Walker. Nintendo told Retro that Samus does not actually take bounties for those she hunts. (Someone should tell Nintendo that Aran has officially been labeled a bounty hunter for two decades now, a slight inconsistency.) "So we started joking that Samus was actually a pro-bono hunter. And occasionally we'll run into those nuances of translation and culture that can sometimes derail us for days."
 

Pocket

jumbled pile of person
Citizen
So what exactly does she actually do for a living? Is she independently wealthy like some kind of sci-fi Lara Croft?
 

Caldwin

Banned for posting Metroid's flesh doors
Citizen
Personal headcanon, after her first encounter with the metroids, she already never had to work again, because with that kind of street cred, you darn well better not have to work again.

But like Lara Croft, she's a bit of an adrenaline junkie. She couldn't stop if she wanted to.
 

CoffeeHorse

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Maybe she doesn't get paid because Federation bounties are all wanted alive.
 

ZakuConvoy

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I mean, I suppose it's possible that the Metroid future is some sort of Star Trek like post-scarcity society with no money. I don't think we've every actually seen anyone use any currency in any of these games. Even with the Space Pirates, we never see them steal money, just weapons. I guess that would just make Samus someone who hunts criminals but...isn't a cop, for some reason? A "bounty hunter" basically being their version of a private detective?

I guess the word "bounty" originally comes from the French word "bonte" meaning "goodness", "kindness", or "generosity". So, if Nintendo of Japan took that super-literally, I guess that would make Samus a..."Generosity Hunter"? Someone who hunts criminals out of the goodness of her heart? "Pro-bono Hunter" really isn't that far off from the concept, I guess? It seems like, over time, the concept of "bonte" being a "pure good expecting nothing in return" somehow morphed into basically the opposite of that. Language is weird, sometimes.

I could see Samus being Space-French. She looks Space-French.
 
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CoffeeHorse

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Space French.

Samus imitates no one, and no one imitates Samus. Because no one can figure out how the hug her equipment works.
 

Pocket

jumbled pile of person
Citizen
I mean, I suppose it's possible that the Metroid future is some sort of Star Trek like post-scarcity society with no money.
I had thought about this, but I didn't bring it up before because it wouldn't explain why she has her own spaceship. I don't imagine they just hand those out to anybody. Why do you think the Enterprise is always stuck shuttling hundreds of passengers around? Same goes for the weapons. Especially the weapons, actually; you don't think a Star Trek space-utopia would have achieved 100% efficient gun control? In Subnautica matter replicators exist but anything more dangerous than a superheated knife is banned from being generated.
 

ZakuConvoy

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Actually, aren't Samus's ship and weapons all Chozo tech? I'm actually not sure if this is all ancient technology or not? She might just be flying around in the equivalent of a pyramid, or something. Samus might not have had to BUY this ship and weapons, she just inherited it after everyone on her planet got killed. That really wouldn't explain all the changes the suit and ship and weapons have undergone over the years. But...maybe Samus just likes to tinker?

But, I guess that wouldn't explain all the OTHER Bounty Hunters in the franchise, and all of their ships and weapons. Maybe these smaller ships are basically the equivalent of a moped? I imagine they don't give the BIG ships to just anybody, but I suppose they could have personal transport ships for people who want or need to get around to different planets. Or maybe Bounty Hunters are just given special treatment? You risk your life hunting down Space Pirates, then the Federation gives you a ship and weapons for your trouble?
Especially the weapons, actually; you don't think a Star Trek space-utopia would have achieved 100% efficient gun control?
Didn't we basically get that in Other M? The Federation CAN seemingly control what powers Samus has at any given time. I guess the Space Pirates just have a way of "jail breaking" their weapons?

Given all the aggressive wild animals and vegetation they keep finding on all these alien worlds, it actually would make sense to keep your population suitably armed. I mean, you can't expect people to farm on a planet with giant swarming killer beetles or giant plants with a taste for flesh if you don't give them a "shotgun" or two. We at least know there are different colonies on different alien worlds out there, because Samus's parents were killed on one of them.

They may have eliminated cash, but they didn't eliminate the need to shoot things up real good. Because otherwise...there wouldn't be much of a game, would there?
 
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CoffeeHorse

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In a post-scarcity society with no money, there would be no piracy. It would be hard to define what piracy even is. The Federation must still have money and scarcity.

Maybe Samus is on retainer. That wouldn't be the same as getting paid specific bounties, so it might fit Nintendo's weird definition.
 

ZakuConvoy

Well-known member
Citizen
Well, the Federation could still be post-scarcity...it's just that everyone who's left out of that society who isn't.

When you stop and think about it, all the Space Pirates that we know of are aliens. And they seem to be focused on targeting human colonies on other worlds.

Are the Space Pirates actually..."natives" of different worlds who have been displaced by the colonizing humans? We know that the Space Pirates DO want to steal other worlds, and claim them as their own home-worlds. Which could mean they don't have a home-world of their own, anymore, for some reason.

And, again, apparently Samus's Chozo tech and Federation technology are compatible. Since, the Federation can control Samus's suit in Other M. And Federation Missile upgrades and other power-ups work on Samus's tech. So...is it possible that the Federation's technology...IS Chozo technology? That they either stole or discovered on their own, in some ruins?

Is the Galactic Federation actually the baddies? Promoting Human colonizes at the expense of all other life in the universe? Allowing them to have a post-scarcity society by conquering other worlds for their resources? Using their influence to force any other alien species to either join with their government, or be labeled as "Space Pirates" to be hunted down by their privatized security forces, the Bounty Hunters?

Is Metroid actually...the "Mirror Universe"? I mean, the Terran Empire was still a post-scarcity society, too, wasn't it? It just went a VERY different direction than the main Star Trek Federation.

Metroid WAS originally inspired by by the Aliens franchise. And Weyland-Yutani was pretty Orwellian. So...

...I mean, probably not. I probably went a little too far there. I don't think Nintendo would be okay with something like that. Even FAR in the background of the story. And it does kind of go against the whole "Generosity Hunter" angle, I'll admit.

But, then again, Samus is basically a "country girl" raised by alien birds who might not fully understand who she's working for.

I don't know. I find it a interesting idea at least. I'm REALLY not sure it works, though.


In a post-scarcity society with no money, there would be no piracy. It would be hard to define what piracy even is. The Federation must still have money and scarcity.
I imagine "piracy" would be all about control, in that scenario. Who gets to be the one who tells everyone else "no"? I mean, again, we see the Federation being able to control Samus's suit. Who gets to be the one in control of that system?

And it might be a fair point that "ordinary people" have a limit on what they're allowed to replicate. Just being able to make their own weapons alone without government approval might be enough to call them "pirates". They don't have the correct license to allow them to do that. They are breaking their laws.

Plus, again, "jail breaking" the "copy protection" on the weapons they steal would make them "pirates". They're basically breaking the DRM on the Federation tech.

Plus...the whole "stealing planets" thing. That's probably a big one.
 
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Sjogre

Active member
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Since, the Federation can control Samus's suit in Other M.
Wha...? Samus deactivated her powerups voluntarily. Adam was giving her permission, but he wasn't flipping a switch to turn systems on or off.

Her power suit can use Federation technology out of the box, but her suit can integrate alien technology pretty consistently, and at least some of the time, the Federation is specifically building stuff to work for her gear. Also, the Chozo apparently gave some technology to the Federation. And at least weren't hostile while they were around.

Anyway, Bounty Hunter being used as a job title for a freelance do-gooder is not exclusive to Nintendo. Given that Nintendo's games have her taking commissions from the Galactic Federation to break stuff and kill people, she's some kind of mercenary, even if she is accepting jobs based on her sense of justice over financial considerations.

That said, Retro's proposed mechanic boiled down to making the player stop what they're doing to track down an enemy somewhere else. Not exactly revolutionary. And from a character perspective... Why is this guy important enough to drop her current job just to bag them? If they're more important, why aren't they the main target of the game in the first place?

That said, I could see a bounty target system making sense if it was something like Halo Infinite High Value Targets, which would require a proper open world system.

Having her go after a random dude just for a paycheck would feel weird. It's hard to imagine a legendary space hunter having money issues. What, is she being fined for those planets that exploded?
 

ZakuConvoy

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Citizen
Wha...? Samus deactivated her powerups voluntarily. Adam was giving her permission, but he wasn't flipping a switch to turn systems on or off.
Okay, after looking it up, apparently I'm just misremembering what happened in Other M. I only played the game once over a decade ago. My bad on that.
 

Blot

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See what we need to do is just go back to the NES manual's "Space Hunter"...

Actually now I'm curious about what Nintendo of Japan might have considered prior to Prime 3 or so, because the intro to Super Metroid is in English no matter the region and is subtitled in Japanese, and that intro explicitly uses the wording "another bounty to hunt"
 

LBD "Nytetrayn"

Broke the Matrix
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Actually, aren't Samus's ship and weapons all Chozo tech?
Weapons? Some of them, yes.

Ship? Not unless they gave her a whole fleet.

Original: Destroyed in Zero Mission.

Escape ship stolen from pirates: ???

Metroid II - Other M: Destroyed in Fusion

Fusion Ship: ??? (I think she had a different one in Dread, yes?)

And then there's the gunship from Primes 3 and 4.

As for Samus's role, I've seen her likened to the line gunslinger or samurai who rolls in and cleans up the town overrun by ne'er do wells before moving on to the next town, never staying in one place for long.

I don't remember if that came from someone at Nintendo, Retro, Mercury Steam, or just someone analyzing, though.
 

Sjogre

Active member
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The ship from Dread seemed to be the same one from Fusion, just with a 3D model.

The Metroid II ship seems to be her most used, appearing in five games. Six, if you go by the theory that the ship in the first Prime was supposed to be the II ship in a different artstyle.

Otherwise, it seems to be the backup ride that Samus uses when her main ride is out of commission.
 

Caldwin

Banned for posting Metroid's flesh doors
Citizen
IMG_4047.jpeg


At first I wasn't going to get this because it looked like a simple recolor of a figure I already had. But being the Metroid fan I am and being no stranger to buying recolors, I finally bit the bullet and got it.

IMG_4048.jpeg


It's actually a tiny bit taller than my other figure, so I guess it's a more decent buy than I figured it would be.
 

LBD "Nytetrayn"

Broke the Matrix
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Just don't post the flesh doors again.
 
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