Decades later, Metroid fans are still locked in a civil war (opens in a new tab) over a question that’s getting increasingly stupid answers: how the hell does Samus Aran fit into her motorized suit?
Samus’ proportions have been odd and inconsistent over the years. A Nintendo Power magazine article about the Super Metroid era suggested she was 6’3″ tall and weighed 198 pounds, describing her as a “strong, muscular woman” inside the power suit.
(Image credit: Nintendo)
But the visual design of Samus has evolved over the years since Super Metroid. Aside from the questionable ways in which his off-suit design has become shorter and less muscular over the years, there has been a marked improvement in the range of motion of his powered suit arms. The suggestion in this illustration that his shoulders don’t even fit into the powersuit’s kneecaps just doesn’t work with the modern version of the powersuit.
The debate over how Samus exists in physical space has been going on for years, but the release of Metroid Prime Remastered has reignited the debate. The illustration in the tweet below provides a pretty solid example of what’s wrong here. The suit is too narrow at the waist to support someone whose shoulders are wide enough to fill the power suit, and the space in the armpit of the power suit makes it clear that he has more than just arms to its ratings.
r/Metroid, a subreddit dedicated to a series about a human bounty hunter raised by alien bird ghosts who transforms into an alien hybrid jellyfish and can shape into a ball the size of his head, has a civil war on how his arms fit together in his suit Diagrams are rolling out pic.twitter.com/ucluQVReXaMarch 2, 2023
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People keep pointing at power suit cosplayers (Opens in a new tab) or concept art showing Samus’ musculature (Opens in a new tab) inside the armor, but still a Sometimes these renders don’t match the proportions of the powersuit we see in-game. , we are not there yet.
It seems gamers are finally starting to accept that this is all because video game characters aren’t bound by the boundaries of real physical space, but that hasn’t stopped someone from coming up with some time in time more and more ridiculous answers to a question. . even dumber. .
chicos_i_figured_it_out from r/Metroid
In canon, of course, Samus’ powered suit was designed by a race of bird-like aliens with magical powers known as the Chozo. As a result, everyone has come to realize that you can confidently answer almost any Metroid story question with a simple phrase: bird magic (opens in a new tab).
But in fact, there may be another answer to all of this, one that sticks to hard science fiction without “mystical” quibbling. What if the power suit breastplate is wider to make room for a control panel? What if Samus herself controlled her classic GameCube iteration with a real GameCube controller?
My theory on how Samus fits into this great Metroid outfit. pic.twitter.com/Stufr6dzMiMarch 5, 2023
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Maybe Primer Metroid 4 will finally answer this burning question.