Sakamoto holds the key to Samus Aran's identity

[castlezelda]

Samus Aran, the enigmatic heroine from the beloved Metroid franchise, has always had a mysterious air about her. This mystery, apparently, did not only bother gamers, but also people working in the franchise themselves. As it turns out, only one man held the key to her identity, and that would be co-creator Yoshio Sakamoto.









Senior locatlization manager/ primary writer for Metroid Prime, Nate Bihldorff, had pinpointed Sakamato as "the only one who really knows" Samus. Talking to Shinesparkers, he said, "We're dealing with a beloved seires that's almost 25 years old, and since Metroid has traditionally been extremely light on exposition, fans have filled in a lot of the blanks with their own imaginations."









He furthered, "Mr. Sakamoto is the only one who knows who she really is, and his vision for her and her voice was always going to be different than the character people had built in their heads." He also delved into the formed notion about Samus's personality, particularly by critics, that she lacks the balls, and that she heavily depends on authority in order for her to function (spoilers included, so tread carefully ahead).














"For me, Samus's detached monologue speaks to the reticence of a wounded character, one scarred by the tragic events of her childhood. The glimpse of the pain and fear she carries -- shown in the flashback scene when she sees Ridley -- is not a sign of weakness, but of strength."









"People who call out that scene as anything but empowering are kind of missing the point, in my opinion -- she does end up torching Ridley, after all. There is no courage without fear, in my mind, and knowing that Samus overcomes that repressed terror makes her all the more heroic than someone who plods forward without a hint of humanity."









Bihldorff has got more interesting things to say about Samus and the Metroid franchise, so for the rest of the full interview, just head on over to the source link below.

Via Shinesparkers