Metroid Other M

[Mortificator]

Well, originally the Chozo backstory was just that they were the 'mysteriously vanished' advanced civilization that is mandatory in every fictional universe. Samus being raised by Chozo and using their technology was just a plot device to explain her uncanny ability to pick things up off the floor and instantly incorporate them into her suit.

I'll go a step further and say that originally, Samus wasn't even raised by the Chozo, and she certainly wasn't raised on Zebes. Zero Mission was the first game to have that silliness, to the detriment of its atmosphere. It diminishes the mystery of the ancient civilization to say they were running around just a couple of decades ago, and diminishes the otherworldliness of Zebes to say it used to be Samus's crib.

[Squire Grooktook]

To be fair, I kind of like the idea that she's the bogeyman to space pirates after blowing up several of their planets.

[BulletMagnet]

Zero Mission was the first game to have that silliness

It might technically go a bit further back than that, as I remember at least some of that stuff showing up in the Super Metroid comics in Nintendo Power and the player's guide for that game, though it wasn't really referenced in the game itself.

[Obiwanshinobi]

We'll never know for sure whose the idea originally was, but the messianism of Prime struck me as distinctly American (from Die Hard through Team America: World Police, the Hero™ can't help but cause a stir).

[BrianC]

Zero Mission was the first game to have that silliness

It might technically go a bit further back than that, as I remember at least some of that stuff showing up in the Super Metroid comics in Nintendo Power and the player's guide for that game, though it wasn't really referenced in the game itself.

The JP version of Metroid Fusion has extra endings that show Samus training with the Chozo. These endings can be viewed in the gallery for the western versions of Zero Mission.

[BryanM]

The whole thing with being subservient to Adam is also a huge fantasy buzzkill.

In most games you're a jobless freelancer. Grind the dungeon for exp and money. Excellent get-rich-quick scheme. You might get sent off by the king, but he doesn't interfere with your bizness, he gives you an advance for services rendered and you just go.

The career title of "bounty hunter" in particular has that romantic flair of that "fuck you, I do what I want when I want" quality.

Taking that away from us, you might as well strap a slave collar on Samus and make her work a 9 to 5. How uncouth, to remind someone playing a video game that they'll never be free.