A small but significant controversy recently arose over G4’s review of Metroid: Other M (if you haven’t read it, go read it now). Their reviewer, Abbie Heppe, gave the game a low score and accused the game of portraying female protagonist Samus Aran in a light that she claimed “smacked of sexism.”
Other nominees include games like SimCity & Tony Hawk's Pro Skater.
There are some good nominees in this list that are deserving to be inducted also, but I feel Metroid has had the most impact on the industry out of all of these. Look how Metroid influenced the evolution of the Castlevania games, and the "Metroidvania" subgenre of games have become a prevailing force in gaming today. Especially now, Metroidvanias are bigger than ever.
I can very much see Resident Evil being added later too, bc it really did popularize and define the survival horror genre. I would say that one is next in line.
Agreed. When I got my NES back then, I of course had Super Mario Bros. But I also got Double Dribble, Mike Tyson's Punch Out, Rad Racer, Zelda and Metroid. Loved playing all of them over and over. But Metroid was so deep and the music was so other worldly, that that game has stuck with me to this day decades later.
Sure other awesome games came along like Contra, Castlevania, Mega Man, etc. But Metroid really hit that sci-fi fix. And the twist of finding out who was in the suit was one of those great moments in gaming history talking with other friends in the neighborhood that had the console that rushed to the end to find out for themselves.
Definitely deserves hall of fame like many other picks. Should have been inducted a long time ago.
If any Metroid game should get the honor it should be Super Metroid , it's perfection in my eyes . 30 years later and I still feel it's the most epic shit ever .
Yea, I agree that Super Metroid REALLY raised the bar on atmosphere and exploration, still in my Top 10 or 20 games of all time. The original Metroid did set a good framework, but Super Metroid perfected it in its first sequel. Since it's the only one up for vote, I'd still vote for the original Metroid bc it did establish a very good concept of gaming in a more primitive gaming era. But, you're absolutely right.
The GBA remake deserves it or Super Metroid, the original was a very sloppy and rushed game programmed in 3 months and it shows.
If you've never played the remake, it's absolutely a must play, fixes basically every flaw in the game. Check out ExoParadigmGamer's comparison video.
With Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty coming soon, it's time to look back at the developer's greatest triumphs...and one oddball favorite.
There is a decent fan base for the Nioh games, but still think they are criminally overlooked and under appreciated.
I just bought the PS5 collection to replay them again with all their DLC, a sweet collection for my games shelf for sure.
Yea, those gardens haven't been plowed in over 10 years now though. Imagine if they cultivated it, let it grow again.
originally it wasn't going to be included because of their take on Samus' character. But the gameplay's actually not bad.
Honestly, I don't know if we can even blame them for that take. Nintendo's Sakamoto was credited as the writer and from what we learned later with the Retro Studios interviews for the Prime series, Nintendo apparently never saw Samus as this stoic badass that most of the west imagined her as. Going as far as describing her as "motherly".
Super Mario Maker has been a great series for Nintendo, but it is time to move on. How about a Metroid Maker? That would be interesting! Check out Jason Capo’s thoughts for more.
Metroid certainly would be cool, but 100% Zelda dungeon maker should be the priority! It makes the most sense!
The only issue with Zelda, for me, is that it won't have the same freedom of styles that Mario Marker has. Zelda 1, LttP, and the Game Boy ones could all possibly work, but Zelda also has a lot of 3D games. I guess if you limited the styles to Original Zelda, LttP, Minish Cap, and Link's Awakening, that could work. That's four different styles for a dungeon maker, but I think a Metroid Maker is closer to Mario and would probably be easier to make.
@Jeriphro Mario Maker drew mostly from its 2D roots, so I take no issue with a 2D only Zelda Maker. However, they also translated Mario 3D World elements into the 2D space, so I wouldn't mind that they do something similar with overhead Zelda games using more modern 3D elements too. A Link to the Past Remake shows how nice 3D elements can be implemented into the standard overhead Zelda view.
2D Zeldas were the games I grew up on anyways, A Link to the Past being one of my favorite games of all times! They halfway attempted a creator within the Links Awakening remake, but I'd like to see a fully realized creator. Of course though, Super Metroid was also once of my favorite games of all times so I'm dying to see a Metroid maker too. ;)
I'd go either for Metroid Maker a Zelda Maker would also be great even a Mario Kart Maker as well.
Pretty good read. I'll approve to support it. Keep it up my ninja.
lol, it seems that devs and publishers hire anyone these days, as long as they got a degree, or of a certain race or gender. I was on twitter one day and seen a dev put up a craigslist ad looking for female game testers simply for the fact that the dev felt the gaming industry needs more variety and also felt girls need to have a bigger impact in the gaming industry. I understand that girls need to have be more involved if they want the games that they like, cause only girls know what they like, but hiring someone simply because they are a girl and show just a little interest in making some money, not actually caring to be a game tester, goes to show the current state of the gaming industry. These publishers and devs dont even have a passion for games. I see games have decent graphics but dont even have as much depth as a game as old and relevant as Blaster Master. Im not even talking about innovation, Im just talking about the core of the game being as shallow as a drunk 80 year old man who goes to a strip club with a bottle of viagra. Im sick of seeing all these games that have so much potential but most fall off the deep end in just 10 mins of playing time.
Western literature and culture has tens of thousands of years of storytelling, both written and oral tradition, where heroes (main characters) are male. Campbell called it the 'Hero's Journey.' Epics from Homer, to Beowulf, to the Arthurian legends, and today's action movie heroes, feature the stories of men battling against adversaries. So it's hardly surprising that most games feature male leads - or that some gamers are more comfortable with male leads.
I'm a woman who has been gaming for decades, and I prefer male protagonists. Why? Because most games are written by men and I find most game writers don't write female characters I can relate to, or want to play.
It's not sexism; it's poor quality writing.
This article isn't the worst, but come on. GamePro's a for-profit site, they should have some info standards.
First of all, you can't answer "Does gender affect game reviews?" by just exploring Metroid: Other M and mentioning an aspect of Gears 2. Silly. The author would be more accurate in calling it "Editorial: I'm Sitting at my Desk Thinking of Random Things, and One of These Includes a G4 Review of Metroid: Other M."
If you have to write this article, take nine-tenths of the time you spent on musings and survey the review spectrum for at least this game. Look at the averages between male and female reviewers. Look for word patterns or concepts to be exclusive to one gender or another. Maybe you'll start getting an answer; maybe you won't. There will be analysis problems if there aren't enough professional female game reviewers.
Also, if you're going the anecdotal storytelling route, check out Zero Punctuation's take on this game. Yahtzee makes some snide remarks, of course, but he definitely points out the same exact thing that Heppe did. And yeah, he's not a girl.