![]() ![]() But they can make us feel sexy and there is nothing wrong with that. It is well documented how wearing high heels can cause long term health effects on your feet, ankles, knees, hips and back. Any girl who’s had to move quickly in a pair of heels can tell you it’s not easy. Let’s consider why real world women choose to wear high heels. ![]() ![]() This brings us back around to the latest offense to Samus Aran: the high heeled jet boots. Compare this ad for the 2003 release of Metroid Prime with this 2010 ad for Metroid: Other M. She is more commonly seen out of the Power Suit than inside it, a complete turnaround on the old advertising campaigns. In promotional material following this title it is clear that Samus is meant to be sexually appealing her muscles have been traded in for soft curves and her assertive stance swapped out for what is referred to as the ‘Escher pose’. The idea of adding emotional depth to Samus is not entirely unwelcome but it is a problem that here emotion is equated with weakness. Plus she has an emotional breakdown in front of an enemy one that, I would just like to point out she has killed several times in previous games without incident. She actually refuses to use her most powerful weapons early in the game because a man with no direct authority over her told her not to. In 2010s Metroid: Other M, which not only featured extended shots of the Zero Suit, Samus was turned from a powerful and confident woman into a meek, subservient one. Since this title the Zero Suit has made an appearance in every Metroid game, giving gamers plenty of opportunity to ogle. The Zero Suit is the bright blue, skin-tight cat suit shown above which appeared in a section of the game where Samus is forced to forgo her Power Suit. Then Metroid: Zero Mission arrived in 2004, bringing us what came to be known as the Zero Suit. Even out of her suit and in a two-piece she was portrayed as a tall, strong and athletic woman standing in a tough and confident pose. But the majority of her screen time was spent armour-clad and blasting her way through enemies. It’s true that there were some hard to obtain bonuses that allowed one to strip Samus of her Power Suit to see her briefly in a two-piece, a ‘reward’ aimed at her male fans. Her gender was so downplayed that even by the 90s many gamers still thought she was a man. She was one of only very few female characters to not be exploited for sex appeal. Several more Metroid games followed and Nintendo took the radical approach of not utilising Samus’ gender as a means of attracting more gamers. Having a female hero who didn’t need a man to save her, who went out and saved the world herself, was a pretty big deal. In the 1980s female characters mostly played the role of damsel in distress being snatched up by the villain and stored in a castle somewhere to patiently await the player’s heroic rescue. It’s still considered one of the biggest twists in gaming history when Samus pulled off her helmet to reveal she was a woman all along. Obscured in a suit of futuristic, robotic armour, players assumed that they were in control of a male character. She caused a stir in the gaming community back in 1986 when Metroid was first released. This raised a few questions for me: if the developers felt that Samus needed jet boots to make her stronger, why take her out of her Power Suit in the first place? If her more powerful moves no longer cause the Power Suit to disintegrate, what motivation does she have to take it off? Just how dumb do you think we are?įor those who don’t know Samus Aran, she is the protagonist of long running video game franchise Metroid. Her new design includes a pair of jet pack high heels. Super Smash Brothers 4 has elected to add a Zero Suit clad Samus Aran to its line-up.
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