Nintendo’s Sex Symbol is Samus?

Zero Suit Samus

Was Z-Suit Samus the right move on Nintendo’s part. No matter what Z-Suit Samus has become the official Sex Symbol for Nintendo.(Nintendo/Sex Symbol this doesn’t go together?) Do hardcore Metriod fans want their heroine to be seen as this? Is this demeaning to her Power?

Sure, She’s hot ,but is this demeaning to her Character? Before this suit was not well known. Now, with SSBB, EVERYONE will see Z-Suit Samus, and many will see her as another stereotype video-game female, a sex object. Thanks to her tight(o so tight) clothing.

Yeah, I know. Many people will not care anyway as all they concentrate on is game-play. However, I’m sure the general opinion about ZS Samus is that Nintendo made her look that way for sex appeal. And heck, how can you deny that when you see her big boobs in that skintight clothing? It’s pretty obvious sex appeal if you ask me.(Have you heard of Sex Sells?)

So, did Nintendo do this on purpose to give people a new image of Samus? And what will the reactions be good or bad? Remember that this game will probably sell better than any Metroid game has ever did, and thus be played by more people. Will Samus lose her mysterious aura with SSBB, and will that affect the future regular Metroid games in any way?



Around The Net:


  • mazer4455

    haha,
    good article,
    and for the hardcore gamers, it wont change anything.
    for the general audience, it will sell games because of sex appeal.
    what would be hilarious is if you have to unlock her though.
    people would be so pissed about it.

  • schmete

    As long as her boobs and all jiggly and bouncy like in DOA, I’m ok with her looking like that. I mean, that’s just another side of Samus. ZS Samus might be how many players first discover that Samus is a girl. Samus is a hottie, and now the people that beat Metroid: Zero Mission aren’t the only ones who get to see that.

  • flamingsquirrel

    first, proof read that post; it’s rife with grammatical and spelling errors. Second, yeah, I think it’s objectifying Samus, and the internet shall soon know a great hunger for Metroid hentia.

  • Santarex32

    @mazer4455
    I don’t think ZS-Samus will be unlockable, as Samus turns into her after her final smash.
    @flamingsquirrel
    It already did a long time ago. Lol

  • scullum2001

    It’s a cartoon, guys! That’s just sick that people are lusting over a video game…IMO. :-) (No offense of course. haha)

  • Beximus

    I think Zero suit samus is a result of using the final smash as Armored Samus

  • Hologram

    Personally, I think Zero-Suit is and always was a bad idea. The best part about Samus was she was mysterious. The only way you so much as knew what she looked like was if you best Metroid with certain percentage completion and times. Yes, I know in the classics she also took off her clothes but, again, you had to earn that via a ton of work. It was supposed to be a reward, not just something to oogle at.

    Throwing Zero-Suit Samus into SSBB where she will be easily unlockable (Smash ball on Samus) is going to make those people who first found out about Samus through the game (like I did due to SSB64) immediately write her down as “that stripping chick” instead of “that mysterious and awesome bounty hunter chick”. That’s not the image Samus should provoke and it disheartens me to think of all the people who will think that way because of Brawl.

  • Mike

    im buting brawl and i always play as samus this doesnt’t effect her in any way to me im not going to stare at some “made up” charecter.
    I’ts a virtual image it won’t ruin her image.

  • Mike

    im buting brawl and i always play as samus this doesnt’t effect her in any way to me im not going to stare at some “made up” charecter.
    I’ts a virtual image it won’t ruin her identity.

  • http://www.xanga.com/relaxing_roth Roth

    I believe we will see a new sub-series of Metroid after the final installment of the Primes series.

    Samus Aran would be the title of the new series starring none other than Samus herself in her Zero Suit, and doing what she does best, hunting bounties of course. Perhaps this would be a prequel series of events that take place before she became a bounty hunter. Or even have it take place with Samus on vacation after her final mission (reference to Super Mario Sunshine). Picture a mini-game of Samus playing a pinball machine as a reference to Metroid Prime Pinball. \:D/

    Samus Aran (the game) should do what Tomb Raider had done in the past.

    // Roth

  • http://wiifuse.com Thaer

    I don’t think it really matters, since SSBB is a completely different game than the Prime series. I mean, did the SSB and SSBM Samus affect the way you think of her (that is, if you already played some Metroid games)? Probably not. Anyone who plays Metroid Prime for 10 minutes will see how Samus really is, and for the people that never played the Metroid series, well, their opinion doesn’t really matter.

  • http://nintendoblogcartridge.blogspot.com troy

    I agree: the post, like many on this otherwise great site, is full of errors and poorly worded statements. ‘Sex sales?’ instead of sex sells, etc. But here is another, more relevant point. It is sexist of YOU to assume that showing a woman in a futuristic jumpsuit is revealing her as a sex object only. It is perhaps a realistic depiction of what an attractive girl might look like in a jumpsuit. Do you want them to airbrush dumpy buttcheeks onto her like they had to do in the 50′s because of censorship? I mean gay dudes or girls might just as well object to Solid Snake being a sex object because he looks strong to them. I mean: it presents the image that Nintendo are saying all men need to be huge, powerful, squarejawed hunks! You guys are being silly! I mean think of this: Zelda is an anthropomorphic hottie with pointy ears, being as her character design is taken from a game with realistic characters (for the most part), Twilight Princess. Characters like Link, Ike, and Snake all follow this realistic mold, as does Samus, coming from a game that uses the mode of realism. When have Ninty ever made their heroic characters intentionally ugly? Wario doesn’t count because he was created as an antagonist! I mean: sure I see your point that there is now a hot, realistic girl in the game who isn’t wearing a giant flowey dress but a tight, futuristic jumpsuit. Imagine that the bounty hunters are an elite crew of militaristic fighters, and if you saw them lined up in their jumpsuits their would be dudes and chicks and they would all be fierce and tough and not wanting to be judged on the way they looked in their Zero Suit, but considered for their mettle. It really isn’t fair to say that hot chicks in the Army are some kind of sex object because our lower animal brains want to have sex with how hot they look. That’s not their fault and its not as though this is an insulting representation to women. It is silly to make it in to one. Samus getting stripped into a bikini was in the very first game, and just because you had to ‘work’ to beat the game wouldn’t make it less demeaning if it were, it would be like saying having a high cover charge at the strip club makes it less demeaning.

  • eric

    since the very first metroid game samus has been wearing skimy outfits. by comparison to the first playable suit less samus the Z-suit is tame.

    does no one remember that the shorter amount of time it took you to finish the game. the less clothing samus had on at the end.

    samus has been nintendos sex symbol since the very beginning of her series.

    look at the retrospective n metroid on you tube. she’s been wearing some racy stuff since the nes days.
    you are so behind the times

  • xevious

    “Sex Sells” is the phrase.

  • scullum2001

    Eric, I agree that she’s been like that for a while, but it’s been increasing a little more lately. The SSBB version is the most “realistic”…a lot more than the NES version.

    However, I still think it’s really bad that guys (and some girls) lust over these cartoon characters in video games.

  • Hollis

    THIS IS WHY I’M BUYING BRAWL!!!!

  • http://WiiFuse.com Max

    scullum2001@ I agree 100%!

    Hollis@ See Sex Sells.

  • pawnblue

    “It is sexist of YOU to assume that showing a woman in a futuristic jumpsuit is revealing her as a sex object only.”

    Have you ever met a boy before? I mean, really gotten to know a guy.

    The reality is that most men learn to constantly measure female attractiveness. Putting an attractive female character in a game geared towards teenage men plays towards that.

    While I think your ideals are nice, the reality is that SSBB will shape the image of Samus to hot chick first, bounty hunter second. I think that’s unfortunate.

  • http://WiiFuse.com Max

    troy@ I see no problem with it ,but it’s nice to spark controversy. I wrote this fast and it came out with many grammatical errors in my defense I was at school and had to finish before my 30min brake was over while eating lunch.

  • HowardC

    I need to note that this the the MOST clothing a revealed samus has ever worn (she wore bikini’s in previous endings). The zero suit isn’t anything new, it’s been in most of the metroid prime games as well as zero mission. The fact that a “naked” samus is now fully clothed was nintedno intentionally making her LESS sexy and interviews with developers about zero mission blatently say so.

    Even as a guy I’m rather offended by some of the comments in this article. Skin tight? Well it’s definately a little snug, but how are you supposed to wear baggy clothes underneath a suit of armor? Huge breasts? They aren’t huge at all. Look like about a c-cup to me, which is extremely small by video game standards. The fact that samus is attractively designed doesn’t really mean that she is an intentional sex symbol, merely that she is hot.

  • Max

    HowardC@ Nice post well thought out.

  • rbnttn

    Realistically (and since metriod games are realistic) wouldn’t that be the kind of suit you would wear underneath huge amounts of body armour?

    It makes sense to me. She wouldn’t be wearing baggy jeans and a shirt would she?

  • alberto4395

    it does make alot of sense i mean really what are you supposed to wear in a suit of armor like that.i agree with rbnttn, howardc, and pawnblue.in fact like howardc stated they made the zero suit to also make her less sexy because it is less revealing than the bikini she used to wear.there is no denying she is attractive but seriously what else is someone going to wear in that armor.also having lots of baggy clothing isnt that good for running around and fighting which is another good reason for her wearing that jumpsuit or “zero suit”.it is sexist for you to assume she is a sex symbol because she wears that.

  • alberto4395

    it does make alot of sense i mean really what are you supposed to wear in a suit of armor like that.i agree with rbnttn, howardc, and troy.in fact like howardc stated they made the zero suit to also make her less sexy because it is less revealing than the bikini she used to wear.there is no denying she is attractive but seriously what else is someone going to wear in that armor.also having lots of baggy clothing isnt that good for running around and fighting which is another good reason for her wearing that jumpsuit or “zero suit”.it is sexist for you to assume she is a sex symbol because she wears that.

  • alberto4395

    i made a mistake in my firt post i dont agree with pawnblue i think she is galactic bounty hunter/protector first, and hot chick second.

  • Hmm

    Well considering that at the end of Corruption you see her in the Z-suit and she’s near flat chested, I’d say that SSBB has absolutely nothing to do with the character designs in the actual series.

  • jahavad

    do we want to see her like this…HELL YEAH, i only play to see her at the end.
    i would love to play metroid prime playing her in her zero suit

  • http://jonas.com jonas

    Her butt looks great! XD

  • E.A.M.

    Sure Samus may be the Sexiest character Nintendo has ever created, but she can still kick your @$$. She may be hot but she is an intergalactic bounty hunter capable of much more than sex. Plus I’ve noticed that this article has turned a bunch of you into Samus-Sex craving lunitics (ex. That ‘jonas’ guy who must be related to the slutty Jonas Brothers.) And another thing, Samus being Sexy doesn’t make her less tough (that’s sexist to think so because, girls CAN be Sexy and Tough at the same time.)No matter what, Samus WILL still star in Kick-ass videogames in the near future. (except if they lose they’re marbles and make a sex-drive game…)But who knows, maybe I’m splitting hairs…

  • http://www.jonasspace.com jonas brothers

    Can you provide more information on this? I want to have all of the facts before i tweet this. Jonas Brothers are freaking awesome btw, lol.

  • Someguy

    i believe that this is a huge over reaction. The creators of Samus are experimenting with her character.
    I think that their trying to make her character develop from a cold bounty-hunter to a woman who does the right thing which involves an awesome suit of armor and a cannon arm :D they want to show the woman beneath the armor.

  • DeskFace

    I agree. People have been stupid about revealing samus armorless for a while. They’ve been saying In their heads: “wait… Samus has a suit that if it was color changed she could be Practically naked in? Nobody told me about this… Be right back. Imma get some texture mooding kits…” i think many things have ruined the heroic, badass personality into a sex appeal based character. Way to go Nintendo. You have ruined part of my childhood.