gamecube version changed the color of the buttons to match the GC controller

a man made almost entirely of beard has joined the party

hey girl are you a swimming pool? bc i want to pee inside you

Hollow Knight is so SOTN that they made Hornet glide backward when you first change directions like Alucard

That one was really wild to me lol. Hollow Knight is Symphony of the Night to a T. The only major wrinkle it adds to the Igavania formula is soulslike death mechanics

but I do think that Samus' gender is an actual integral part of her character, and she's probably my favorite woman in any video game.

And my love of Samus was probably crucial for me accepting that I'm trans in some way I haven't puzzled out yet lol

Jokes aside. I sympathize with people who balk at the statements of the Japanese devs, especially in light of Nintendos past treatment of Samus and other female characters,

Basically what I'm trying to get at is that Samus isn't just a toku hero, she's also probably the sickest magical girl of all time

I don't see it as a coincidence then that Samus is the only woman we see or hear of in the main series (let's pretend Other M doesn't exist). I think it makes perfect sense to tie that sensibility to her gender. That's her source of power, to me.

In the world of Metroid, Samus is a hero because she's apparently the only person who can see the value in saving a life without trying to instrumentalize it. Neither the Chozo, the Federation, nor the Pirates can resist using the metroids for dubious ends or else exterminating them.

If any part of Metroid is feminist, it's in the ways motherhood is monstered, instrumentalized, and othered by the male-dominated factions of the series. As of Fusion, Samus is the new embodiment of that monstrous motherhood, allowing us retrospective identification with others like her.

It presents a contradiction. I think Samus is a cool power fantasy, but I find her interesting because she's so much more than just a female version of Master Chief or Boba Fett.

When people want to say that Metroid is feminist because Samus is a stone cold badass, they often valorize the exact behavior that the Metroid series criticizes in Samus.

This isn't to say Metroid doesn't have feminist potential; I think Fusion in particular really benefits from a feminist lens. I just don't want to give Nintendo credit they don't deserve.

Her body is commodified just as much as any other woman in a video game. I won't even get into the mess that is Other M.

My other pet peeve with Metroid is when people try to say that it's feminist because Samus is a girlboss. I love Metroid but I don't really buy into its alleged feminist legacy bc your reward for beating it quickly is a striptease from Samus.

Just compare the narrative of Metroid Prime 2 to Metroid 2. Despite being the two most harsh and alienating games in the series, the difference between Samus' role in those games is night and day. Samus is the fucking villain in Metroid 2. Whereas in Prime 2 she's an altruistic savior