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YMMV / Metroid

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The subjectives from Metroid. For the specific YMMV pages see:

  • Alternative Character Interpretation:
    • Thanks to the poor script of the English version of Other M (that makes him come across as more cold and careless than he's meant to be) , Western fans found themselves wondering if Adam Malkovich was truly a good and noble man who cared about Samus, or an abusive Jerkass who actively tried to demean her? If the latter, was he always like that or just after she left his team?
    • Did the SA-X ignore Samus for the Omega Metroid due to sheer instinct? Or did it develop its assimilated human emotions to the point of wanting to save Samus for being such a Worthy Opponent?
    • Some believe that Phaaze was simply a massive parasitic lifeform, without the sentience to understand the detrimental effects of its reproductive cycle, and that Dark Samus, which was actually a Metroid Prime that assimilated Samus's Phazon suit, enslaved it. This is actually backed up by unused Pirate logs in the game which show that Dark Samus and the Pirates intended to force Phaaze to launch over 100 Leviathan Seeds simultaneously at the Federation, which would have killed the planet.
    • Was the Super Metroid of Super Metroid sorry for attacking its "mother", who had it had seemingly imprinted on when it was just a baby, or was it simply acting under instinct?
  • Anti-Climax Boss:
    • The Omega Metroid in Fusion. Not only is it nowhere near the hardest boss in the game, but it isn't even as hard as its previous appearances in Metroid II. However, it's arguable whether it counts as the final boss; most fans believe that the SA-X is the true final boss, and the Omega Metroid is just designed to be one last challenge before you escape the station.
    • Kraid in Super could be taken out with four well-timed super missiles before he even finished rising up from the ground. While ostensibly a glitch, Kraid can still be defeated in little time even without the exploit by a seasoned player.
    • And the Ridley Robot in Zero Mission, who is incredibly easy. He gets more challenging, however, if you've gotten 100% of the items, or if you're doing a 15% item run.
  • Awesome Music: Has its own page.
  • Badass Decay:
    • For a lot of fans Samus went through a stage of this in Other M, as she spends a lot of the storyline mourning the baby Metroid, getting tricked by several antagonists, suffering a PTSD attack from Ridley and feeling powerless in various situations. Samus does regain her confidence by the end of game, but the story of Other M remains a low point for Samus' character still in the minds of a lot of fans. While she's back to her old self in Fusion (Fusion was released before Other M), it took until MercurySteam's games for Samus to also go back to her old characterization. Samus is arguably at peak form in both the Metroid II remake, Samus Returns, and Metroid Dread, with many praising how her body language effectively conveys the badass bounty hunter in the cutscenes.
    • As far as the bosses go, Kraid. He went from being the hardest boss in Metroid 1, to be one of Mother Brain's four commanding officers in Super, to getting severely toned down in difficulty in Zero Mission, to being taken to ZDR and restrained and tortured by Raven Beak's army in Dread.
  • Base-Breaking Character:
    • Samus' portrayal in Other M. While widely reviled among the larger western Metroid fandom (with some accussing it of character assasination), some fans appreciated the character development, including female fans who found her to be more relatable and appreciated that the story showed that even strong people have moments of weakness.
    • Samus' Zero Suit, which ended up turning her into more of a Ms. Fanservice through the years. Some people appreciate the fanservice and/or find that the Zero Suit makes Samus seem more "human" and relatable since we can see her outside the armor more often. Others claim that it ruined her character and undermined her reputation as a non-objectified strong female protagonist. In particular, Super Smash Bros. turned Zero Suit Samus into her own entity and emphasized her fanservice elements, causing even more heated debate on how it affected Samus' image. There are also fans who enjoyed the stealth sequence and boss fight with the Zero Suit in Zero Mission and are indifferent to its ending appearances in other games, but dislike the way it is handled in the Super Smash Bros. games. This is because in Smash Bros. it contradicts the Metroid series' gameplay and story consistency by making Zero Suit Samus a much higher-tier character than Power Suit Samus, despite the games themselves explicitly demonstrating the opposite and showing how much more powerful Samus is with her Power Suit. They also feel that the fighting style could have been better used by any number of other characters without contradicting Metroid canon.
    • Adam Malkovich, in large part due to Other M making him the face of the controversial authorization mechanic, the English writing making him come off as excessively harsh rather than stern, and his biggest moment being shooting Samus in the back when a Metroid was right next to her. That said, some feel like he was given a raw deal with Other M and his character in the manga is more balanced, interesting, and friendly with Samus. The Metroid Prime games being interquels taking place early in the timeline also leave room open for potential retconning of Other M being the first and last time she saw him after leaving the military, and thus redemption of his character.
    • Ridley's constant appearances throughout the franchise. Some fans cannot get enough of him, loving his status as Samus's Arch-Nemesis, and are even upset that he was absent from some games, most notably Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, feeling he deserves to be in everything. The other side is getting real tired of these constant appearances, finding that his role as Samus's eternal enemy has long worn out its welcome, and that the convoluted reasoning of how he constantly manages to cheat death get more and more far-fetched with each installment. These arguments came to a head when Metroid: Samus Returns released with the Proteus Ridley final boss battle and whether or not it was unnecessary fanservice or not. The run up to Metroid Dread's release was filled with fans arguing with each other over whether Ridley should or should not make some kind of appearance in the game. He was not in the game in any way, shape, or form, save for a piece of congratulatory artwork.
  • Best Boss Ever: Also has its own page.
  • Best Known for the Fanservice: An interesting example. Some fans of Zero Suit Samus in Super Smash Bros. become interested in Metroid expecting to see more such fanservice, and are often disappointed when it turns out that Samus not only spends most of her games in her Power Suit, but even seeing her face (much less her in the Zero Suit) can only be achieved by successful speedrunning (while aiming for 100% Completion, to boot). This is something that is frequently praised by series fans, and Metroid: Other M milking the sex appeal of the Zero Suit for all its worth was a point of criticism.
  • Broken Base:
    • Which is the best game in the series? For almost two decades, the main two contenders were Super Metroid and Metroid Prime, with a smaller group even throwing Metroid: Zero Mission into the conversation. After Metroid Dread was released, a third entry entered the conversation, with Dread having the advantage of a massive Newbie Boom and the fact that many of the older titles haven't aged well.
      • For that matter, which branch of the series is the best: the 2D sidescrollers or the 3D first-person shooters?
    • The topic of how Samus should look outside of her suit is a loaded one. It largely comes down to those who like her design from the first Metroid Prime game more and those who prefer her more standard design. There are also debates about her height or how muscular she should be.
    • The topic of what Samus's armor should look like is less loaded, but still contended, with the bulky Super Metroid and Metroid 2: Samus Returns looks on one end , the stripped down suit of Metroid Fusion and slimmed down suit of Metroid Other M on the other end, the armor designs of Metroid Prime, 2, Hunters, 3 being in the middle.
    • Nintendo having all Metroid games handled by outside studios rather than its internal teams following the disbanding of R&D1 after releasing Zero Mission.note  Some see this as a sign of Nintendo not caring about the franchise at all, going the cheapest route to keep the franchise alive. Others think this approach is better considering how Nintendo arguably handles its franchises outside of "Mario, Zelda and Pokémon" triangle, and that many of the series' best entries weren't made in the main Japanese studios anyway (i.e., the Metroid Prime Trilogy).
    • The refusal to continue the franchise's lore/story past Metroid Fusion until Metroid Dread. Any and all games released during the nineteen-year gap in between Fusion and Dread took place in between the Metroid to Fusion time frame. While some felt this was a good decision due to the contentiousness nature of Metroid: Other M's and disliking the idea of dumping Samus's power suit, others really wanted to see what happens after Fusion, since the ending suggests that Samus may become an outlaw wanted by a faction of the Galactic Federation. However, with Metroid Dread finally picking up where Fusion left off, this has basically been mooted.
  • Common Knowledge:
    • Regarding Metroid, it is sometimes claimed that Samus Aran originally had green hair before it was later retconned to blonde. This is likely due to the popular Justin Bailey code, which lets players start a game as Samus outside her Power Suit and depicts her with green hair. However, green has never been her "natural" color, even in this game. The Justin Bailey password starts Samus with a number of upgrades... including the Varia Suit, which was a palette swap at the time. For suitless Samus, the Varia upgrade turns her hair green; her normal color scheme (i.e. the equivalent of a Power Suit without the Varia upgrade) gives her brown hair, which is also seen in the helmetless and suitless ending screens. In addition, her earliest unarmored appearance outside the games (the Captain N: The Game Master comics from the early 90s, which, unlike the TV show, are very faithful in depicting Metroid characters according to their original designs) depicted Samus with blonde hair, suggesting that the in-game brown hair color may have been picked in order to better stand out against Samus's skin tone within the NES's very limited color options.
    • It is often claimed that the Samus Is a Girl twist in the first game was more elegantly executed in the Japanese version by referring to Samus with gender-neutral pronouns in the manual. Supposedly, the English manual's use of male pronouns is an example of either clumsy localization or adding misdirection. In reality, despite the ease of the language to avoid using pronouns entirely, the Japanese manual goes out of its way to refer to Samus with male pronouns several times.
    • "Ridley killed Samus' parents" is a bit of an oversimplification that tends to get thrown around a lot. In the manga (whose canonical status is Broad Strokes), Ridley is responsible for personally killing and eating Samus' mother, but Samus' father sacrificed himself to repel the Space Pirates and Ridley never actually laid a finger on him. The games are even more vague, only really showing a still flashback in Metroid Fusion of Ridley attacking while Samus' mother protected her. In addition, while this does explain why Samus detests Ridley in particular, their dynamic has never been solely about avenging Samus' birth parents (or her adoptive Chozo father who he also killed, for that matter).
    • The "Zebesian" Space Pirates are not actually natives of Zebes. The term "Zebesian" did not even show up until Super Metroid's manual and was assumed to be a mistake at first. Word of God said that they began calling themselves Zebesians after conquering the planet and establishing their main colony there, comparing it to how most Americans aren't descended from indigenous peoples.
    • It long been known among fans that Metroid Prime 3: Corruption was going to have a series of sidequests involving bringing in bounties until Nintendo of Japan vetoed the idea. Former Retro Studios senior producer Bryan Walker elaborated in a 2022 interview that apparently NoJ didn't even know what a bounty hunter actually was. This claim has since been distorted into the claim that thus, Samus's job title must have been mistranslated into English. Truth is, that's not the case at all: Samus's occupation has always been referred to as 賞金稼ぎ (shoukin kasegi) since the very first game's Japanese manual, which literally translates to "bounty hunter." While there may have been a misunderstanding on NoJ's part of what being a bounty hunter entails, there has never been a mistranslation of what her job title is. What further muddies things is that the Japanese Metroid 1 manual also calls her a "space hunter" (スペス ハンタア supesu hantaa in katakana) and immediately says afterward that said space hunters make their livings as "space bounty hunters" (which is where the 賞金稼ぎ shoukin kasegi term is then used).
  • Complete Monster: See here.
  • Crack Pairing: There's a somewhat memetic Crossover Ship between Samus and Nami from League of Legends, which has its roots in the Rule 34 community. The logic behind the pairing is that both Samus and Nami are hybrids; the former having Chozo and Metroid DNA in her body while the latter is a mermaid. As Metroids do resemble floating parastic jellyfish, it would technically mean Samus is related to fish. As shown in Legends of Runeterra, Nami values all ocean life, so she'd take a quick liking to Samus due to her Metroid DNA. Coupled with the fact that both characters are the chosen ones of their kind, it would be logical that they would get along as they are used to traveling alone to save those in need. Although Nami is from a completely different franchise, she seems to unintentionally synergize well with Samus due to her colour schemes, aesthetic designs, and her personalitynote .
  • Cult Classic: Most people know Samus as one of the veteran fighters in Super Smash Bros., but fewer people know her as the protagonist of one of Nintendo's most critically-acclaimed series. While few Metroid games can truly be said to have sold poorly, they're consistent low sellers, meaning it was nowhere near being one of "Nintendo's Big Three" alongside Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda the way fans liked to claim it was, which just became more obvious with the runaway success of Pokémon Red and Blue. Historically, Metroid games struggled to hit a million sold copies, Metroid Prime being the first anomalous exception, meaning other long-running Nintendo franchises such as Kirby regularly eclipse Metroid in sales. That was until the release of Metroid Dread where thanks to some strong marketing, word-of-mouth, and hype after a lengthy period, Dread managed to become the best-selling game of the franchise, selling 2.9 million copies by the end of March 2022, marking the first indication of it breaking away from this status.
  • Demonic Spiders: The Metroids themselves (though the base forms are a lot weaker in the Prime trilogy). In the 2D games, they inflict massive amounts of damage, and the only way to kill them is by freezing them with the Ice Beam and repeatedly blasting them with missiles. While they're a lot weaker in the Prime trilogy, the Fission Metroid in the first game are still this, taking a lot of damage, and then splitting into other Fission Metroids that only take damage from a certain beam. Which is really bad when ones that only take damage from the Wave Beam or Ice Beam come out, due to the weapons' low rate of fire.
  • Ensemble Dark Horse:
    • Samus' green-haired "Justin Bailey" suitless look. Despite only appearing as an Easter Egg in the first game, it has a lot of fans who bring it to life through cosplay and fanart, and some people prefer it to the Zero Suit. It even gets referenced in Metroid: Samus Returns, when you beat the game quick enough on Hard Mode.
    • Kraid, despite the fact that the games have given little to no background on who he is, is popular for his Kaiju-like design being an epic display of the Sequel Escalation in Super Metroid and the fact he was one of the earliest bosses Samus faced, alongside Ridley and Mother Brain. In fact, him being overshadowed by Ridley only made him even more popular as fans wanted the underutilized big boy to make a comeback in a 3D gamenote  rather having another Ridley boss fight. When a trailer for Metroid Dread shows Samus fighting Kraid in full 3D graphics, fans were ecstatic to say the least.
    • Rundas, the ice-based alien bounty hunter of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption certainly has a large following. Most likely because 1) cool powers; 2) his voice and personality; 3) twice he rescues Samus, once from several Pirate shuttles and the other from falling to her death after battling Meta Ridley; 4) out of the three hunters, he seemed to be able to control his corruption the best, well enough in fact that Dark Samus had to take control of him herself to fight Samus; 5) his hauntingly sad and beautiful boss theme.
    • Upon revelation of Metroid: Other M, fans quickly fell in love with Anthony Higgs, who earned the nickname MBD (Mysterious Black Dude). When the game became notoriously divisive, even those who didn't like the game overall tended to regard Anthony as the best part of it. He's portrayed as Samus' best friend... and unlike the highly contested portrayal of Adam, Anthony actually acts like it, being a kind, supportive person, with a good sense of humor and respect for Samus. It doesn't hurt that he's also a badass wielding a BFG.
  • Epileptic Trees:
    • Nobody really knows what Kraid is or what his actual connection with the Space Pirates is, beyond being a high-ranking member, but everyone sure loves to speculate. Pre-Zero Mission, a lot of them focused on whether he grew or was enhanced between the original game and Super Metroid, because he went from being tiny to being huge.
    • The identity of the dead soldier lying outside Kraid's room in Super Metroid. The body's purpose is to this day unknown, and has prompted much discussion and speculation over who it was, what faction it was with, and why it was there. Theories abound among fans, with claims that it could be anyone from Expanded Universe bounty hunter Armstrong Houston to Weavel (from Prime Hunters). It doesn't help matters that the soldier is the only human-looking sprite left on Zebes.
    • In Fusion, the extent to which Samus absorbs the X is only vaguely hinted at. Thus, it's unclear as to whether she's absorbing their DNA, or just their energy. The most "rational" interpretation is that Metroids absorb energy and leave behind lifeless dust, Samus is imbued with Metroid DNA, therefore, Samus is absorbing energy. Problem being some Word of God attempting to explain how Samus got the Ice Beam back when Metroid DNA should reject it, confusing the issue.
    • It's believed that the Ing are a form of semi-solidified Phazon. This is helped by the appearance of the Phaze-Ing in Prime 3, which is basically a blue Inglet. This could very well be untrue, though, as it raises a lot of other questions, (like why Phazon kills most Ing, why the Emperor feeding on it without a metroid host is considered unusual). It's worth noting that Phazon beings are by nature highly vulnerable to having Phazon weaponized against them, so the Ing's vulnerability to exploding Phazon containers may be justified.
    • Almost nothing is known for certain about Sylux, except that he hates both Samus and the Federation. Fertile ground for the trees right there, including the possibility that, like Samus before him, "he" is female.note 
  • Even Better Sequel: Metroid 1 basically created the modern Metroidvania genre, but it is a rough game to return to these days, with even diehard fans only recommending it if someone has already played the 2004 remake Zero Mission, or wants to challenge themselves. Metroid II holds up much better, but being a Game Boy game meant it got constantly overlooked until it got its own remake in 2017. Super Metroid, on the other hand, is where things really got swinging.
  • Evil Is Cool:
    • Ridley, a badass purple space dragon who's ready to kick your ass in every game he appears. His original NES version wasn't all that popular due to his dopey sprite and lack of fearsomeness, but come Super Metroid he became so overwhelmingly popular that he was promoted to the series equivalent of Bowser and had a nigh-perfect attendance record in Super Smash Bros. (only missing the 3DS installment) before getting Promoted to Playable in Ultimate.
    • Dark Samus (originally Metroid Prime) for being, by far, the most effective singular Metroid in the entire series. After being the source of Tallon IV’s Phazon corruption and Final Boss of the first Metroid Prime game, it manages to survive its destruction by snagging Samus’s Phazon Suit in its death throes, merging with it to survive in its Dark Samus form. It then goes on to fight Samus three times throughout Metroid Prime 2, with Awesome Music in each battle to boot, and using Samus’s stolen abilities in unique cool-looking ways. This is despite apparently being in unstable condition, which then gets fixed by the time of Metroid Prime 3, where she becomes powerful enough to regain Big Bad status. From there, she enters outright chessmaster territory as she seizes control of the Space Pirates as her own personal army while also corrupting the three Bounty Hunters meant to help Samus, forcing Samus to kill all three of those allies. Dark Samus even manages to absorb and steal each of their powers as they die, granting her an expanded moveset when she has her rematch against Samus at the end of the game. From there, she steals an Aurora Unit from the Galactic Federation and uses it to seize control of the planet Phaaze, the source of Phazon, and threaten the entire universe with it. Only after a three-stage battle with Samus on Phaaze is she finally destroyed for good.
    • The more intelligent and humanoid villains in general often get this status for having more character and being more unique than the typical Starfish Alien monsters that Samus usually faces, among other reasons. Aside from the aforementioned Ridley and Dark Samus, Sylux, The SA-X, and Raven Beak are three standout examples. Sylux for being so mysterious, having a unique electricity-based fighting style powered by stolen Galactic Federation technology, and showing up in The Stinger for two games after their debut, strongly hinting that there are plans for Sylux to return in a greater role that may shed more light on their vendetta against the Galactic Federation. The SA-X has this status for being The Dreaded, having Samus’s entire arsenal at her disposal, and using it to chase Samus around in several terrifying chase sequences that stand out as some of the most exciting parts of Fusion, not to mention the ambiguously Heroic Sacrifice the SA-X makes at the end of the game leading to speculation on whether it was a move motivated by pure instinct or perhaps some humanity it got from Samus. And Raven Beak has this status for being a huge contrast to the Always Lawful Good Chozo we had seen previously, along with being an extremely powerful, ruthless, and stylish villain in his own right.
    • The Space Pirates as a whole tend to be seen as this for being, well… Space Pirates, as well as their schemes causing the events of some of the series’ most popular games such as Super Metroid and Metroid Prime. Their genuinely funny log entries in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes helped endear them to fans further by giving them more personality and even humanizing them to an extent while still keeping them fully villainous and a serious threat overall. They also tend to get a cool, unique design every game they appear in, making fans look forward to each new appearance from them. Finally, their catchy theme songs throughout the Metroid Prime trilogy tend to be ranked among the series’ most popular music tracks.
  • Fandom-Enraging Misconception:
    • Calling Samus "Metroid", unless done in jest, is a terrible mistake. "Metroid" is the enemy the series is named after. The "y can't metroid crawl" meme is a particularly common riff on this. This all changed when Metroid Dread had Samus fully transform into a humanoid Metroid, with Raven Beak calling her "the Ultimate Metroid." Fans now jokingly concede that Samus is indeed "Metroid" and, thanks to her new slide move, can technically crawl.
    • Even worse is saying that Samus is male. On that note, she is a (half) human wearing a Powered Armor, not a robot. The robot misconception is actually cited as the reason why later games have her suit redesigned be more anatomically human and more reflective of her underlying athletic build.
    • Saying that Metroid is a rip-off of Halo is not a good idea. This misconception was especially prevalent during Metroid Prime's heyday in the early-2000s, because of its first-person gameplaynote . It doesn't help that both Metroid Prime 2: Echoes and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption were released in the same years as Halo 2 (2004) and Halo 3 (2007) respectively; but nevertheless, calling Metroid a "Halo rip-off" is a giveaway that you know nothing about the former beyond superficial resemblances in Metroid Prime.
    • Referring to Power Bombs as "Super Bombs" is a surefire way to make eyes twitch among series veterans.
  • Fandom Heresy:
    • Criticizing Super Metroid. It's unanimously considered a landmark game, a masterpiece of level design and craftsmanship by fans and critics alike, and is often considered the best game in the entire series (and one of the greatest video games ever made). Even implying that any element of the game, such as its controls, are anything else than perfect is bound to start a debate.
    • The first Metroid Prime is another game that's considered risky to criticize, since it's often considered to be in the same league as Super Metroid in quality; in fact, it's the most critically acclaimed game in the entire series, with countless reviews remarking that it was years ahead of its time both mechanically and graphically.
    • If you say that you liked Other M, even if you're just talking about its gameplay, expect a few eyebrows to raise. If you say that it's your favourite entry in the series, expect to be called delusional at best and for a fight to break out at worst. During the height of the game's hatedom, even if you agreed the game was awful, but dared say that it might have had a few good ideas, you'd still get detractors shouting that it had zero elements of worth; a stance that still somewhat remains to some degree, despite later, far better-received 2D games continuing to build on the melee combat mechanics that Other M introduced, in addition to beam types and other small gameplay elements returning as well.
  • Fan Nickname:
    • Several rooms in Super Metroid have garnered nicknames used in the speedrun community, such as "Noob Bridge" in Green Brinstar, and "Mount Doom" in Black Maridia.
    • Super Missiles are often shortened to just Supers.
    • Energy Tanks are commonly shortened to E-Tanks due to many of their designs having a large "E" on the side.
    • The pickup for the Gravity Suit in Super and Zero Mission is occasionally called "pancakes" because its design resembles a stack of them.
    • Doing a somersault jump while carrying a full charge of Samus's Charge Beam allows you to do an attack similar to the Screw Attack, but weaker and only once per charge. For this reason, this technique is usually called the "Pseudo-Screw".
    • When referring to the Etecoons and Dachoras collectively rather than individually, they're usually called "the animals".
    • "Shockness Monster" for Serris in Fusion.
    • There's one character in Metroid: Other M who has several for his different appearances.
      • Little Birdy: Choogle, Furbley
      • Mystery Creature: El Pollo Loco, Ugley, I Can't Believe It's Not Ridley
      • Ridley: Clone!Ridley, Roidley
    • Outside Japan, the Baby Metroid was usually just called "the hatchling" until Other M.
    • The Super Metroid "the hatchling" grows into is known as "Big Metroid" and "The Giant Anomaly". After the release of the Samus Returns Baby Metroid amiibo, they've also been called "Squishy".
    • The Work Robots seen in Super Metroid, Zero Mission, and the manga are sometimes called Gonk Droids due to their similar shape.
  • Fanon Discontinuity:
    • Some hardcore fans disregard any game outside the original 2D numbered entries, claiming that any other material such as the remakes or the Prime series sully the mystery and narrative of the originals. On the flipside, there are fans who disregard the mainline 2D game entirely in favor of Prime.
    • The Metroid (Manga) is in a grey area. It was heavily panned and immediately contradicted by Zero Mission, the next game to be released after it came out. Following the release of Other M, fans revisited the manga and the fandom came to find merit in it as a succinct origin story for Samus, and now treat it as Broad Strokes rather ignoring it entirely.
    • Other M is often treated this way, mainly due to Samus supposedly suffering from Badass Decay according to detractors, but also for its story being incredibly controversial and the gameplay generally being seen as passable at best and mindlessly awful at worst. It helps that it's an interquel Gaiden Game that isn't needed to understand the series' overarching plot.
  • Franchise Original Sin: After Other M, many detractors have claimed that Samus has been forever tarnished as a lead due to the Chickification, increased sexualization, and infantilization of the character. In regards to sexualization, examining the series as a whole will have one find that Samus was sexualized as early as the first game (seeing her in skimpy clothing or the skin-tight Zero Suit is a reward, after all); Other M simply exacerbated these issues to a gross degree that can't be as easily ignored as an end game "Congratulations" screen. As for her characterization, the Metroid manga, also portrayed Samus in much the same insecure manner as Other M. The difference was that it took place when she was an older teen that was just starting out in the Federation police, and by the end of the story, Samus had matured and learned how to manage her trauma.
  • Fandom Rivalry:
    • Mildly with Mega Man and Castlevania, due to the superficial similarities of the former's protagonist and the Metroid-like game play latter continuously adopted as it went on. Mildly because Metroid wasn't popular enough for the topic to come up too often. Halo: Combat Evolved was the first big rivalry, when Metroid Prime was a hot seller, but after "Prime" the Metroid series sales went back down to their usual levels and the rivalry died off.
    • With Donkey Kong Country, due to Super Smash Bros Brawl among players of the Super Smash Bros series after it got a second character faithful to its origins where Metroid just got Samus without her armor. But the next installment turned them into friendly fandoms who ganged up on Fire Emblem for continuing to get more representatives than either.
  • Friendly Fandoms:
    • With sister series Kid Icarus, with most people who wanted a third game in that series, who even knew there was a second game that series, being Metroid fans (there were some Kid Icarus fans annoyed that Metroid got a lot more attention but since Kid Icarus is even more of a cult series than Metroid they were never loud enough or in large enough number to cause a real stir). This is inspite of the two games having little in common because Kid Icarus did have one thing the first two Metroid title lacked: a map. There was a little hostility from the Metroid side over Super Smash Bros. when Kid Icarus got more represenatiton than Metroid in the fourth entry, but that ended once Ridley got in the fifth game.
    • With The Mandalorian, since that show is about a bounty hunter who adopts an alien infant similarly to Samus's relationship with the Baby Metroid.
    • With Doom and Halo, since all three are sci-fi series starring badass one-person armies in Powered Armor, to the point that it's common to see fanart of Samus, Master Chief, and the Doom Slayer together (nicknamed by some as "The Power Armor Trio"). While Halo: Combat Evolved and the original Metroid Prime were Dueling Games, the tension between the two fanbases died down starting around 2010.
    • While there exists a mild Fandom Rivalry with Mega Man and Castlevania, there also exists overlap between all of them due to their roots on the NES and SNES.
    • One formed with Devil May Cry around the time of Metroid Dread's release, owing to the two franchises both having comebacks with Devil May Cry 5 and Dread, as well as both fanbases having a controversial entry that put the series on ice early in The New '10s (Metroid: Other M and DmC: Devil May Cry). Dread even gave Samus a rival the form of Raven Beak, who quoted Vergil's "power is everything". Not to mention Samus' Metroid form being compared to Dante's own Devil Trigger.
    • There is considerable overlap between the Metroid and The Legend of Zelda communities, particularly those who enjoy playing the randomized versions of the games, to the point where there are even linked games like SMZ3 (Super Metroid Zelda 3).
    • Metroid fans are also fond of Resident Evil and Metal Gear. The former, like Metroid, was the best-seller for Nintendo GameCube, and latter is due to Snake X Samus pairing in Smash Bros.
  • Germans Love David Hasselhoff:
    • The series has lukewarm reception in its home country, but has always been far more popular in the US to the point that the first sequel was advertised in Japan as being a follow-up to "the outstandingly popular action game in America". The development team of the second game actually went to the US to work on it and the franchise as a whole would eventually find itself developed by foreigners; the USA based Retro Studios would create a new 3D branch of the franchise and develop all its numbered entries, while the 2D side would eventually become co-productions between Sakamoto's team and Spanish studio MercurySteam. Many entries also released in the U.S. before Japan to cater to this fanbase, and some of them have English voice-overs even in the Japanese releases.
    • Samus herself fits this trope. In the US, Nintendo fans consider her to be one of Nintendo's "Big Four" characters, trailing only Mario, Link and Pikachu in popularity. In Japan, she is probably behind any given Fire Emblem protagonist. This has ultimately led to a long-standing joke that the main character Samus, being blonde and blue-eyed, was obviously an American character.
  • Goddamned Bats:
    • Mellows and Weavers in Brinstar, and pretty much any lava enemy in Norfair. The titular enemies, however, skip right over this into Demonic Spider territory.
    • In Fusion, the winner goes to the species of X-infected Ki-Hunters. They're quite quick, contact damage with them takes about 50 energy, and their stinging attack takes away a full energy tank. They're also found right before and after you have to flee from a super powerful SA-X, causing frustration for anyone who gets unlucky and isn't able to reach a safe spot in time.
  • Good Bad Bugs: Apparently, Retro Studios didn't think players would try to scan the projectiles from the Omega Pirate's cannons.
    This is an Elite Space Pirate
    Elite Space Pirate description 3
  • Good Bad Translation:
    • The Varia Suit in the first Metroid was actually originally meant to be called the Barrier Suit, with "Varia" being a translation mistake that they just decided to keep for future entries. The reasoning was apparently that the name debatably still worked, as since the Varia Suit can handle many variable conditions of planets, it could also be short for "Variable Suit".
    • The planet Zebes was supposed to be "Zebeth," and is called such in some early sources. The confusion comes from the katakana rendering, "Zebesu."
    • "Chozo", the name for the series' powerful bird creature race, was used in the original Japanese specifically for the bird statues scattered throughout Zebes. The word chōzo itself is Japanese for "carved statue"; Japanese media referred to the bird-people as chōjinzoku which literally just means "birdman tribe". When the western Retro Studios made Metroid Prime and used the name "Chozo", it was adopted back into Japanese media as well, as a contraction of the original name.
    • On the Memetic Mutation side of things, there's the original Metroid, which ended with the Engrish message, "Great !! You fulfiled your mission. It will revive peace in space. But,it may be invaded by the other Metroid. Pray for a true peace in space!" [sic]
  • Growing the Beard: While Metroid and Metroid II: Return of Samus were perfectly good games, Super Metroid improved absolutely everything, set the standard for all Metroidvania games in the future and is now regarded as one of the finest games in history.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight: You know all those people who've mistakenly called Samus "Metroid"? With it retroactively being made the Chozo word for "ultimate warrior", as well as her Transhuman infusion with Metroid DNA at the beginning of Fusion, and finally her transformation into a humanoid Metroid in Dread, they're technically correct.
  • I Am Not Shazam: A somewhat common outsider mistake is to call Samus "Metroid"; the Metroids are a race of aliens that she (sometimes) fights.
  • It Was His Sled:
    • When the original game first came out, many players were shocked to discover that Samus Is a Girl. Not so much anymore, in large part because one of the original reasons why it was originally so shocking ("A girl protagonist in a video game?!") is pretty pat nowadays.
    • Also, Samus suffering shell shock against Ridley in Other M, with the scene generally being pointed to as one of the most controversial story moments in the entire franchise.
  • Iron Woobie: Samus has lost almost everyone she’s ever cared about, her parents to Ridley (her mother being killed in front of her when she was only 3), her adoptive parents, the Chozo, and most of her friends and allies. Her missions put her through the wringer time and time again and victory often comes at a high cost to her. And yet, she pushes through it all and rarely lets her trauma keep her from being one of the greatest warriors and greatest forces of good in the entire galaxy.
  • LGBT Fanbase:
    • Samus, as a strong, badass, and sexy heroine, attracts a lot of queer women for being a character they can look up to as a role model and find highly attractive.
    • Samus also has a sizable fanbase of transgender women (including Azima Khan, one of the artists for Another Metroid 2 Remake), for having a stereotypically manly character archetype and Power Suit design but also for her beauty and grace underneath the armor, along with the whole Samus Is a Girl thing going on.
    • The Super Smash Bros. depiction of Zero Suit Samus takes this even further due to a higher camp factor and implied flirtatiousness, along with the ridiculous Jet Boots similar to the high heels used by many Drag Queens and burlesque performers.
  • Les Yay: It was clearly supposed to be a way of keeping the game's twist, but a Japanese-only strategy guide had Samus surrounded by two girls in bikinis.
  • Love to Hate:
  • Memetic Badass:
    • Samus, as evidenced by her nickname on this very site: The Intergalactic Queen of Badass. The Pirates have their own nickname for her, as shown in the Prime games: the Hunter.
    • Also, Admiral Castor Dane, in part due to a scene where it seems he's standing in the Urtagian acid rain, which is strong enough to kill well-armored Samus in a few seconds, with no protection.note 
  • Memetic Loser: Kraid is often remembered by fans as one of the earliest bosses of Metroid, sharing status with Ridley and Mother Brain, and being The Un-Favourite of the three. For the longest time, he only appeared in four Metroid games, with one being a Video Game Remake of the first game, and barely has any characterization.note  In contrast, Mother Brain is characterized as the Big Bad with a memorable boss fight in Super Metroid and Ridley gets promoted as a Recurring Boss with a personal rivalry towards Samus. There are many fan comics depicting Kraid literally begging for a boss role in a new Metroid game, only to be shafted in favor of Ridley. By the time he finally comes back as a chained-up boss in Metroid Dread, fans joked that Nintendo themselves imprisoned Kraid on ZDR the whole time, explaining why he never appeared in a Metroid game for over 17 years. The fact that Samus seems unimpressed with Kraid's attempt to scare her — a stark contrast to how she reacts to Ridley in Other M — ensures that Kraid will be remembered as the Butt-Monkey of the Space Pirates, reduced as a mere pet on a leash for the Big Bad by the end of the Metroid Myth Arc.
  • Memetic Mutation: Has its own page.
  • Most Wonderful Sound:
    • The fanfare that plays when you collect a new item. Doubles as Samus' victory theme in Super Smash Bros..
    • The explosions when you finally defeat bosses. Most satisfying on bosses like Phantoon or Ridley.
    • Samus' "Arrival" fanfare can count. Especially in Metroid Prime, where it's proceeded by a long, impressive cinematic, your first view of Samus' new, 3D-modeled Varia suit, and the fanfare kicks in as the camera moves in for a closeup, then pushing you into Samus' first-person view. If you've been waiting for ages since Super Metroid for another adventure with Samus Aran, that simple, little theme lets you know, in no uncertain terms, that ass-kicking is about to commence.
  • My Real Daddy:
    • Following the incredibly divided fan reaction to Metroid: Other M, the fandom became split over whether Yoshio Sakamoto (the series producer/director of the 2D games) or Retro Studios (the developers behind the 3D Prime games) best deserve the title of series caretaker. Complicating the matter is that Sakamoto took criticisms of Other M to heart, with his subsequent entries giving the Metroid franchise the greatest publicity it has seen in years, while Prime 4 still remains in Development Hell.
    • While several individuals were key to the creation of the series, who fans credit the most for the franchise's creation usually comes down to either Sakamoto or Gunpei Yokoi. Whereas the latter conceived the concept of a non-linear adventure game that would help push Nintendo's Famicom Disk System, the former helped coalesce the team's disparate ideas, developed the iconic maze-like gameplay and elements that became a genre onto itself, and was the director of the franchise's most defining entry.
  • Narm Charm:
    • The Gravity Suit is purple in almost every game it shows up in, yet the fans think it looks cool on Samus despite it typically being perceived as a girly color in Western culture. Metroid Prime made it look even cooler by making it a darker purple and changing the color of its visor and lights from green to blue. Suffice to say, fans weren't thrilled that it was changed to an aura around the Varia Suit in Other M and didn't agree with Yoshio Sakamoto's reasoning that the purple suit looked goofy in serious cutscenes. It appears Sakamoto got the memo, as the following games, Samus Returns and Dread, returned the Gravity Suit to its purple glory and even tweaked the designs to not simply be Palette Swaps of the Varia Suit).
    • The series takes its lore seriously for the most part, so there's something quaintly amusing about its main antagonists being called "Space Pirates", a name clearly coined in a more innocent time.
  • Never Live It Down:
    • It's often said that Samus always loses her gear at the beginning of every game in some contrived circumstance following a Taste of Power, then has to get it back. This has actually happened only twice on-screen in the series: Metroid Prime (where an electrical explosion shuts down most of it) and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (where the Ing steal most of it). Fusion is a more reasonable third case, in which Samus loses them before the game starts, due to the surgical removal of most of her X-infected suit. Most of the time, her gear from previous games doesn't show up with no reason given.
    • Fans like to say that any planet Samus lands on will explode at some point. While she still boasts a larger planet destruction count than most, with Zebes, SR-388, Dark Aether, Phaaze, and ZDR, that's still not even half of the total planets she's visited. Planets left safely intact include Tallon IV, Alinos, Arcterra, Aether, Bryyo, Elysia, and the Pirate Homeworld.
  • Newer Than They Think: Fans often joke that Samus is a Destructive Savior that blows up every planet, station or other setting she's on. However, that trend actually started with Super Metroid; in Metroid only the Pirates' base and the area around it were destroyed, and in Metroid II she left SR388 without anything blowing up at all. It reached Ascended Meme status after the launches of Metroid Fusion and Metroid Prime— both of which had Samus escaping an exploding space station, and finishing off SR388 for good in the former. The franchise has rolled with it since then — out of the 10 non-remake games which star Samus, eight feature some setting blowing up, and a few feature more than one.
  • Nightmare Fuel: This series has its own page.
  • Once Original, Now Common:
    • The original Metroid, due to the confusing layout comprising of Cut and Paste Environments, floaty jumps, crotch monsters and being one of the worst (best?) examples of Continuing is Painful. At the time, though, it was rather innovative, creating the Metroidvania genre and its famous twist at the end of the game, which is pretty much common knowledge by now. Of course, the game would become superannuated by its 2004 remake, Metroid: Zero Mission, which not only fixed a lot of the first game's issues but also added a new epilogue with more gameplay. As far as the fandom is concerned, the only reason to play the original now would be out of appreciation for how the series got its start, or to get a challenging experience for the sake of it.
    • Metroid II is underrated, overshadowed by further installments and sadly dismissed for being more linear and empty than Super Metroid. Despite this, it was the game that brought Save Stations, the Space Jump, the Spider Ball, and the current design of Samus's Varia Suit. Samus was able to shoot down and kneel for the first time, which made it easier to kill some enemies. For the story, it was also the game that introduced the evolutions of the Metroid species and introduced the "baby". Surprisingly, while the game did get remade, receiving both a fan remake in 2016 and an official remake in 2017 (both of which added a lot of new content that wasn't in the original game), many fans still urge newcomers to at least give the original Game Boy game a try.
  • Paranoia Fuel: In Metroid Fusion, when the X Parasite takes over your former suit, you get to see a cutscene announcing there's another "Samus" lurking in the game. It has all of Samus's powerups, aside from the Gravity Suit and the X-ray scope. Good luck trying to play it without being nervous. The E.M.M.Is from Metroid Dread take the chilling concept and enhances it with smarter AI, relentless chasing, and indestructible armor.
  • Play-Along Meme: To hide the true identity of its protagonist, the original Metroid manual described Samus Aran as a cyborg man. Therefore, the Metroid fandom continues to subscribe to her in-universe Shrouded in Myth status by jokingly referring to Samus as a robot dude in various memes.
  • Recurring Fanon Character: Solomon Aran is the noncanonical younger brother of Samus who was only mentioned once in a Nintendo Power article about the collaborative fanfic Blood of the Chozo, in which he was apparently an unused concept. Despite (or because of) his obscurity, Solomon gets a fair amount of attention by the Metroid fandom. There have been quite a few Epileptic Trees as fans attempt to deduce how he could fit into the current canon, with one common theory being that he's Sylux's true identity.
  • Sacred Cow: Super Metroid and Metroid Prime are held in very high esteem by virtually the entire fanbase.
  • Scrappy Mechanic:
    • Wall-jumping in Super Metroid, due to the unforgiving timing required to pull it off correctly. Fortunately, there is only one optional occasion where you have to use it before you acquire the Space Jump, which is a much easier way of doing the same thing. Future games made wall jumping a lot easier, but if you somehow thought pulling them off in Super wasn't challenging, then you can hunt down some difficult romhacks of Super make the timing even more unforgiving.
    • Any long-time Metroid player's blood pressure goes up when they see water in the series. Fortunately, this stops being a problem once you get the Gravity Suit (or the Gravity Boost in Echoes).
    • The Space Jump in the 2D games, while very helpful, is prone to not taking a jump input if you press the jump button too early.
  • Tainted by the Preview:
  • Tear Jerker: Also has its own page.
  • That One Boss: The nearly invulnerable Kraid in the first game, hard to hit highly damaging Yakuza in Fusion, the gravity warping large target with small weakpoint Nightmare in Fusion, the super missile punishing Phantoon in Super, and Ridley is hardly a fair fight in any game.
  • That One Level: The second playthrough of Sector 2 TRO, in Fusion, is the hardest part of the game due to the plant overgrowth, lack of weak enemies, and the fact that every enemy you do encounter deals at minimum 1 tank of energy in damage (never mind the SA-X, who takes 3 of them every time you touch her).
  • They Changed It, Now It Sucks!:
    • Fusion's linear progression caused waves of complaints upon its release, as the game tends to direct the player on where to go.
    • Prime 2 uses this as the Space Pirate encounter song, as opposed to Prime 1's song. Tellingly, Prime 3 instead uses a more orchestrated and slightly heavier version of the first game's song.
    • Other M because of its interpretation of Samus's personality. It especially got ire for seemingly retconning for Adam into Samus' father figure as opposed to the Chozo Old Bird and Gray Voice.
    • To a lesser extent, Other M for flipping the balance between missiles and beams while also not allowing the player to fire missiles freely.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: The other hunters' backstories (mostly in Hunters, though the other three in Corruption are also subject to this). For Hunters in particular, the given identity and motivation to seek the Ultimate Power for each of the other six is quite literally All There in the Manual, with only one to three sentences to describe them. None of this ever factors into the gameplay.
    • Not only do we never find out what happened to the rest of the Diamont, we never even find out how Spire got separated from them in the first place.
    • Sylux's backstory states that he has a deep-seated hatred of the Galactic Federation, hating Samus by proxy. That's pretty much all we ever find out. Though his ship is seen in The Stinger for Corruption, so there's a chance of developing this. Federation Force's stinger has Sylux steal a Metroid Egg, so it's likely something is going to happen.
  • Tough Act to Follow: According to an interview, this is the reason there was no N64 sequel after Super Metroid. The series would continue on, but Metroid Prime is the only game that really comes close to matching the amount of unanimous fan praise that Super still receives.
  • Trans Audience Interpretation: In addition to the large crowd of queer fans who adore Samus, there is a sizable chunk of Metroid fans who interpret Samus to be transfeminine, with Samus herself having a muscular and more masculine build while still very clearly presenting as a woman. While Samus has always been presented as a girl even as far back as her time on K-2L, such as in Metroid: Zero Mission, these interpretations still stick around with ease.
  • Ugly Cute:
    • The Metroids are either this or absolutely terrifying. Alpha Metroids get a special mention as they don't look outright terrifying, unlike most of its kin (they lack any sort of visible "latching" point as the membrane the larval Metroids have is now positioned underneath its main body, meaning the topside just looks like a slug or a worm holding onto a transparent ball).
    • Out of the bosses, Crocomire gets this trope all the time. Kraid and Ridley also tend to get it, but not quite as often.
  • Vindicated by History:
    • Metroid II: Return of Samus was considered to be the weakest game in the series for a long time. However, negative reception to games like Hunters, Pinball, Other M, have had it reconsidered to be a respectable entry — especially for one that had to work within the limitations of the original Game Boy. Some even prefer its "Search and Destroy" gameplay loop to the "Go here and activate this" repetitiveness of later games.
    • Super Metroid was overshadowed at the time of its release by the hype for Donkey Kong Country, it didn't start receiving its "greatest of all time" status until a few years later.
    • Metroid Fusion was originally the black sheep of the franchise, with its focus on storytelling and linearity dividing fans. Now, it's remembered more for its boss fights and interesting deviations, while Other M gets the insults.
    • Metroid Prime: Hunters was widely considered to be the worst entry in the series other than maybe Pinball when it was first released, due to the greater focus on the multiplayer rather than the single player, and being an Actionized Sequel in a series that tends to thrive on its slower-paced, atmospheric feel. While fans still mostly have the same basic criticisms now that they did then (repetitive bosses, wonky controls, etc.), there is also a greater appreciation for the new content that the game brought to the series. In particular, the rival bounty hunters are all seen as cases of They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character, with many disappointed that they haven’t been brought back yet, and the multiplayer is also widely praised for still being the best that the series has ever had. It helps that both Metroid: Other M and Metroid Prime: Federation Force both made worse-received changes to the series’ formula than Hunters did, with the former giving Samus severe Badass Decay and the latter barely featuring her at all, making fans appreciate that Hunters at least respected Samus as a character despite not being faithful to the series’ focus on exploration. Overall, it’s still not seen as one of the best entries, but it does get far more respect than it originally did.
    • Metroid Prime: Federation Force was critically mauled following its announcement and eventual release, for being an action-based Co-Op Multiplayer spinoff with a goofy-looking artstyle that didn't focus on Samus and on these seemingly completely unrelated troopers instead; it was basically everything the fans didn't want coming off the polarizing Other M. After Samus Returns was released in 2017 to warm reception, and general fan enthusiasm having risen since then, the game is looked back upon much more kindly than it was in 2015. It is now seen as an interesting side-story that with a focus on the Federation (something that the game's producer wanted to do since the production of Prime 3), and a new take on the Prime formula that was more a victim of bad timing than anything else.
    • Even Metroid: Other M has gotten this slightly. As more has come out about how some of the problems in the game came to be (mainly the English translation ending up having gotten hindered by Sakamoto's lack of understanding of the language and how it unintentionally introduced controversial elements into what could be somewhat passable otherwise) and how some ideas in gameplay have carried over to later games, a portion of the fanbase has calmed down a bit, and is more willing to acknowledge there may be good ideas, and possibly even a decent enough game buried underneath a faulty story, rather than previous reactions of frothing rage.
  • WTH, Costuming Department?: Samus's hairstyle circa Zero Mission and Prime 2, with her bangs curled upwards beneath two longer and thicker side-bangs, made her look like she was wearing a tacky wig. It has since been updated to a more natural and more appealing look simply by letting her bangs behave like bangs.
  • Win Back the Crowd:
    • The entire Metroid franchise was in a very precarious position for several years, largely due to an extended dry spell broken up only by the contentiously received (to say the least) Metroid Prime: Federation Force. Fans of the franchise were left largely unsatisfied, a situation not helped by Nintendo completely ignoring the series' 30th anniversary and their DMCA takedown of Another Metroid 2 Remake. Things seemed bleak for fans of the franchise and for the franchise itself. However, at E3 2017, Metroid came back with a vengeance, with not one, but two games in the franchise announced. The long-requested Metroid Prime 4 was confirmed to be in development for the Nintendo Switch, as well as an official remake of Metroid II: Return of Samus, entitled Metroid: Samus Returns, for the Nintendo 3DS; the latter was released later that year to critical praise.
    • After the release of Samus Returns, the series then fell silent again. What didn't help things was Metroid Prime 4 restarting its development in 2019, with the following years being quiet on updates and no new content for the series on the Switch. Then the Nintendo Direct at E3 2021 revealed the long-rumored and fabled Metroid Dread was finally happening, releasing the same year as its reveal and signaling newfound hope for the series. Then a few years later during the February 2023 Nintendo Direct, Nintendo shadowdropped a remastered version of the first Prime game, which was also rumored for years, followed by Fusion coming to the Nintendo Switch Expansion Pack service not too long after. The fandom has been the most elated in years over these announcements, believing Nintendo's finally gotten its found its confidence in the franchise, with the release of the remaster theorized help tie it closer to Metroid Prime 4's own release.

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