Metroid Other M - A Literary Analysis 

I would just add that it's kind of an interesting point that Sakamoto said he hadn't fleshed out Samus prior to Other M, and thought this was an opportunity to do so, starting from a blank slate. He seems to be fairly oblivious to the fact that storytelling comes through gameplay mechanics and events, atmosphere, visuals and player actions, too. From Other M it seems that he frames what he thinks is his story solely through expository dialogue. However, anyone who has played a metroid game prior to this knows that samus absolutely is a character, albeit one without a voice. The reason why Other M's Samus feels so iffy for me is because the dialogue just clashes so badly with how we have felt while playing as samus in previous games. You simply can't treat Samus like a blank slate when we've virtually been inside her helmet for hours before. Altogether, the way story is delivered in Other M really just speaks to me of storytelling inexperience on Sakamoto's part.

Co-author of the "elephant in the room" here. I'm flattered to still be getting referenced in 2016. :) Anyway, great video; you caught some things that I didn't about what the game was TRYING to do with its parenting theme. I will be watching the rest of your vids.

I agree with you on the sexism thing. I am by no means a feminist, if anything I am quite the opposite. I fully admit that there are general differences between the sexes and I don't think that all gender roles are inherently as bad as people think they are (especially when adopted by choice). That being said, I also fully understand that the differences between men and women are smaller than the differences between individual men or individual women. It's one thing for a character to be a gender stereotype, I don't actually think there is anything inherently wrong with that, but it's another thing entirely to turn an established character into one in order to fit into some preconceived notion. I grew up playing the Metroid games and Samus exemplified many of the traits I still value today. That she was a woman meant little to me and, despite being a fictional character, she was still hero to me. I would have liked for a game to realistically explore the person behind the visor in more depth. I'd even be ok with seeing her feminine side as I don't think having one is any kind of weakness. That's not what they did here.. they took away any and all of her positive traits, whether feminine or not, in order to give her a whole shitload of the negative traits associated with femininity while completely ignoring any of its strengths. The whole thing just pisses me off.

With gaming the way it is these days, I could see some people trying to 'resurrect' this game's legacy. lol

Late to the party, but my two cents on the bathroom thing... If the roles were swapped, and I was in Samus' role, but with 6 other female space marines, I'd be a little hesitant to just cowboy my way in to the women's room too. Not because 'muh seckzizm', but because there might be someone in there, and that's just impolite.

Bit of a warning, this is probably a, Too Long, Didn't Read, post. Yeah, I said this before, and I'll say it again. From this analysis, I'm almost certain Metroid Other M was basically an adaptation of a theorized prequel to the 2003-2004 movies, Kill Bill 1-2. With the difference being that Samus was captured and brain washed into working with the Federation... Again. I believe the game was intended as a two or three part series that either hasn't happened yet or was dropped due to public outcry over it's depiction of Samus, much like how Jar Jar Binks, the Dark Lord of the Sith was. (Yes, I know that theory is just a theory, but if true matches this potential situation rather well.) Plus, I find the image of Yoshio Sakamoto chuckling, going, "I'm so clever." followed by his "What the HELL!?" moment due to the public's reaction to be hilarious. Let's try this as an alternate history for Samus. Space pirates killed her childhood colony and Ridley killed her parents. The Chozo rescued and trained her when she expressed a desire to stop the space pirates when she grows up. Samus joins the Federation because she's human, mostly, and they're one of the best options for a massive organization capable of fighting that of the space pirates. She works with them for a while, perhaps joining or even leading a task force hunting or even just repelling space pirate attacks. However, over time she finds that the Federation is taking and researching space pirate tech. No particular problem there. But, they are also taking Chozo tech. ...Unpleasant, but she can probably deal with it. Then one or more of her team members are killed when people higher up in the Federation do something risky, perhaps incredibly so, with the Chozo tech they've being collecting. After concluding that the Federation isn't going to stop, and can't be trusted with Chozo tech, Samus leaves to become a bounty hunter. While taking on the space pirates organization by herself she also collects Chozo tech and artifacts, relocating them to a location known only to herself and probably the now dead Chozo race. Due to concern of anyone repeating or performing new acts of reckless stupidity with the Chozo designed combat suit personal equipment should she die and be found later on, she only wears the bare minimum of said tech and uses what she finds at the various locations where she fights. That same equipment is then taken and left at the hidden location along with any other technology she deems too dangerous to be left in potentially unsuitable hands. This leaves her dangerously lightly equipped on her missions, but she personally believes it to be the better option. Over time she not only gains a reputation for being incredible warrior, performing amazingly against the space pirate's organization, and pretty much anything else, but infuriating the Federation for her refusal to share the technology she's hidden away or even actively removed before they could acquire it. So they capture her. And probably brainwash her. And then you have the whole first game, where it's poorly shown that something is wrong with Samus. Leaving the second to show her throwing off her programming. And maybe a third to have her decide Exactly who she is. I suspect they managed to gain access to some or all of what she'd hidden because she's fully equipped in Other M, which is something she's never been before. ...I also suspect she has a child now. Not sure how, but I feel it would explain why she focused on the baby metroids so much. And it would parallel the Kill Bill movies more closely. As for Adam in the game itself... Still seeing him as her handler, maybe Anthony as well. One of them shot the other soldier. Either because he wanted to rescue Samus, had voiced concerns over treating a hero such as Samus like this, or because HE was the backup handler and was removed so Anthony could rescue Samus and later Dr Bergman. If that's the case I suspect Adam did it because later on he sacrifices himself to make certain the modified metroids were destroyed, but shoots Samus in the back first, then has to decide whether or not to let the new metroid kill her before or after he kills it. For some reason he didn't trust her, and I think it's either he'd noticed the brainwashing beginning to break down and didn't trust her to destroy the metroids, or believed the brainwashing had been placed by people who'd want the metroids for their own purposes and force her to turn on him to protect them. If all this was true, then let's compare it to Kill Bill. Samus is part of a military organization until something happens to convince her to leave. Said organization eventually hunts her down and puts her in a coma(I mean brainwashes her.) for a period of time. Samus wakes up(Darn it, I mean breaks free of the brainwashing.) and Juggernaut's her way through the "hopefully" rogue part of the Federation in revenge/recover stolen technology/maybe rescue her child. If there is a child, and it survives, then Samus has some serious decisions to make. Does she become it's mother? Stop bounty hunting? Stop personally taking on space pirates? Try to make peace of some kind with the Federation? If not, who does she turn to? Does she start her own colony, independent of everyone? If so, does she use the technology she'd previously hidden from everyone to keep it safe from everyone she's made enemies of in her long career? I can see a lot of interesting stories coming from such a series, which makes it all the more tragic that if such was the original intention, it seems to have exploded in everyone's face. Added note, yeah, I know. TL, DR Too Long, Didn't Read. Still, thank you for letting me voice this. Or, if this is deleted, I hope I didn't completely miss what you explained the story of Metroid Other M was about.

Do I think this game is sexist? Well, yes, in an insensitive, incompetent, oblivious kind of way, at least. I'm more inclined to attribute this... travesty... to stupidity than malice. The, for lack of a better term, "story" of the game is extremely amateur at best. I can't even say that the points you made about the themes on motherhood registered with me until you pointed them out because of how horrible the writing is. I was too distracted by the inane characters, Samus included, which infuriated me to no end. True, Samus has had little actual characterization in the other games, but that doesn't mean she hasn't had her moments, and they always depicted her as a strong-willed, capable warrior. Just watch this sequence from Metroid Prime 2: Echoes and see what I mean: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-GXDdw6VCH-w.html

Metroid Other M is the worst Metal Gear Solid movie that I've ever played.

You know, if there's one good thing about having PTSD, it's that I can call the "Samus has PTSD so that excuses the Ridley scene" argument out for the categorical bull$*%^ that it is. In that it's not really reflective of the condition IRL (in fact, PTSD is very hard to portray in fiction because every case is different- but they went with the absolute most insulting manner in which to portray it ("that thing that makes you freeze and become infantilized and get people nearly killed") and leaving it so ambiguous that other explanations are equally supportable) and more than that, it's actively insulting to those that suffer it if it IS meant to be PTSD (by showcasing a very hard to deal with condition as "you turn into a little child in pretentious symbolism and get one of your best friends (almost) killed"). Either portray it sympathetically and with some nuance or don't do it at all- so if I were to buy that that scene is meant to be PTSD, it's still terrible writing because it portrays those with PTSD not as sympathetic, but actively weak to the utter detriment of those around them. That's... unacceptable. So yeah, PTSD is not an excuse for that scene. At all. Really, basically anything this game does, it handles in the most magically insulting, infuriating manner physically possible, from sexism to blatant retcons and (a personal pet peeve), calling out the audience with your fiction. The moment a creator decides "the fans have the wrong idea, I have to prove them wrong directly", you know you're in for malarkey, plain and simple.

in fairness to team ninja, it is my understanding that they only covered the gameplay aspects. sakamoto handled the story himself q

Character Assassination: The Video Game.

I worked at Walmart as the electronics department manager for 4 years, those 4 years where from 2010 till 2014. In those 4 years Other M sat unmoved in our game case, its price (still dictated by the publisher) remained 49.96. We received 50 copies when it released, when i left the store for a new management job for a different company, there where 46 copies remaining.

Good lord Samus and Adam's relationship is inching to Fifty Shades Of Grey levels of abusive dominance relationship

I feel that Daria would have given a more lively reading of those lines

I kept hoping that there would be a turning point in the games narrative. Something like, Samus was trying her best to not cross Adam as she perhaps regretted her rebellion and disagreement with him, but after the Hell run, she would get thoroughly pissed off at Adam for not letting her use the Varia suit feature and realize that she didn't need to feel guilty for what she had done. And from that point onwards, Samus would regain her agency be more like the person that the previous games had implied she should be. But, alas. Only dissapointment.

I know this isn't super deconstructive like the rest of the video but I just wanted to say how disappointed I was with Ridley and his role in this game. Ridley is the main villain of the Metroid series, sure he's never taken the role of main villain in any of the games but he is the most reoccurring foe and the only one with a personal connection to Samus Aran. Much like Samus, Ridley never had much of a personality other than just being a bad guy and unlike Samus has never talked. That being said if Other M was going to make him such a important part of Samus' life at least give him something other than him just being a monster who roars a lot. Also actually explain her relationship with Ridley since most american fans (which according to sales numbers is the higher amount of Metroid fans) have never read the manga. Ridley has so little character in this game people still argue about whether or not this clone has the memories of the original Ridley. He also gets killed by the Queen Metroid just so his death can line up with the version of him we see in Fusion and while that is a cool continuity nod it makes it seem like he was only put into the game for fan service. Imagine if instead Ridley was the only one who remembered who he was. This would explain why he goes after Samus (since in the original game it makes no sense) and it could be reasoned MB ordered the Queen Metroid to kill him because he was upsetting the other lifeforms making them harder for her to control. I know some people are against giving Ridley a voice but in this game he really needed it. If the goal of the game was to make Samus an interesting character the least they could do was follow suit with her villain. Instead all we get is that Ridley is part Pokémon and evolves from bird bunny to giant furry lizard to space dragon.

It's weird how much this game *deconstructed*. Take the space pirates. The prime series fleshed them out wonderfully. They were so memorably and quirky! They had fears, hopes, dreams, silly ideas, stupid ideas - one even tried to keep a metroid as a pet, the idiot. In otherM, they're braindead swarm beings. Well done, otherM, well done.

Except that later in the game when you get the power bomb it doesn't do shit to the ship, implying Adam just felt a little less manly not being the one with the biggest bomb so he never told Samus she could use it.

Here is my viewpoint. Adam is the "main character" in the eyes of Sakamoto, more importantly, Adam is the self-insert for Sakamoto. The portrayal of Samus is pretty much in line with one of the most popular tropes in hentai, the strong, independent woman who is all secretly insecure and "pure" behind her shell and becomes submissive to the MC and gives him her virginity. The game is Sakamoto living out his wish fulfillment of having a the super strong Samus fall in love with him. It's Sakamoto's personal own power fantasy. So, so much of this game from the cutscenes I've watched to what I played myself etc screams Hentai-Doujinshi too me. The mannerisms, the relationship between Adam and Samus. Seen it so, so many times in Doujinshi I couldn't count.

One way I could imagine of having a less stupid explanation for the upgrades could be that her suit is damaged early on and is separated from the rest of the soldiers. You hear Adam on the intercoms making sure that Samus is alright and seeing if the suit can repair itself. It can't but one of the soldiers say a more tech inclined one remotely interfaces with her suit and tries to start reconnecting the suits systems together. So instead of authorizing the functions at certain times each system is getting repaired on an ad hoc basis because of how extensive the damage is. You could have in the lava area Adam ready the throttle the tech guy as he tries to repair the suit before Samus fries.

Jesus Christ, I almost had my head in my hands at some of those cutscenes. I had heard this game's story and themes were *bad*, but... ...There are no words.

This is the only Metroid game I've played (I think I got it either for free or at a significant bargain), and I never finished it...for many of the reasons you state. I didn't react as strongly to it as you did, though, probably because I didn't have any expectations of the characters. They just seemed bland, forced and yes, overtly sexist.

How the hell do you have less than 10,000 subs? D:

Just putting this out there Bayonetta's basic story was about growing from the dependent child she was into a self assured woman and literally fought her controlling father for independence. Her independence and self assured nature is displayed as a positive throughout the game....as opposed to other M which says the opposite of Samus

If you want a version of this done better, read the Metroid manga. It's not a masterpiece, but it manages to humanize Samus while still keeping her just as much a badass as she ever was. Plus it establishes good relations with her Galactic Federation squad mates, the Chozo, Mother Brain, Ridley and even Adam in a much more respective light. That and I just picture Jennifer Hale's voice coming out of her mouth. Seriously, she technically voiced Samus in the Prime games so why not have Femshep ACTUALLY voice the character for gods sake?

Women represented poorly in Japanese entertainment? Shocking!

I spent 20 minutes playing this POS until I put it down forever. I've spent more than 2 hours watching scathing reviews.. I'm livid.

Couldn't they just say that the power suit is only able to retain powerups for a limited period of time? Like somehow it overloads the system in the long run so she has to slowly revert back to the basic power suit. They could even say that more powerful abilities are drained more quickly, with some of the lower level abilities able to persist for a long period of time. This would explain why Samus has some abilities at the start of some games. It would also make Samus more badass, because she keeps charging into missions with a weakened suit, trusting that she'll be able to figure out a solution and find what she needs.

This... this is so much worse than I ever imagined. I always assumed that when people talked about it they made it sound more blatant - turns out they were being more subtle than the game itself. Urgh.

"before Other M, I did not think about what kind of person Samus Aran was and how she thinks and her personality" From Wikipedia: "The original game's atmosphere was influenced by Ridley Scott's film Alien. The series' co-creator Yoshio Sakamoto recalled, 'We were partway through the development process when one of the staff members said 'Hey, wouldn't that be kind of cool if it turned out that this person inside the suit was a woman?'" In short, I don't think it should be any surprise that, "The result is a confused mess that doesn't understand Samus, doesn't know how to write compelling characters, and doesn't tackle the themes of motherhood it aspires to." Apparently, asking for reasonable plot and characterization from this guy was a bit much. This knowledge kinda ruined Samus as a character for me - it implies that much of what we'd all originally read into Samus as a character was incorrect; a conceit of my ideals, enabled by the freedom given by the character's thin overall characterization. She was conceived to capitalize on the interesting part of Alien - another character originally written for a male, whose last-minute gender swap was a vast improvement - rather than as a character on her own. For the other games in the series, they showed instead of telling - plot was about Samus' role in bigger conflicts, rather than about Samus herself, and Samus' motivations were things like keeping people alive and preventing the spread of destruction across the galaxy. Then they started really talking about Samus, and I was - and I think we all were - disappointed and more than a little repulsed. BBL; gonna go play Super Metroid in a vain attempt unruin Samus, and forget the plot of this game exists. It's a damn shame, too, because I enjoyed the actual gameplay. "Screw attack this game" For a second there, I thought you said "screw and hack this game" - now there's an idea. I wonder if it'd be possible to screw with the audio and subtitles of this game to make it not horrible: Required fixes: * Adam is revealed as "the deleter," via orders he is shown to recieve over his comms. This makes more sense because: he goes dark because he's off killing people; he shoots Samus because, as an assassin, he can't really trust anyone; he witholds the Varia suit as a loyalty test (this still doesn't make any sense if Samus' participation is voluntary; the hack would also need to establish that Adam has actual authority over her on the station); his sacrifice at the end is out of guilt surrounding a direct order to kill his friend. It also enables us to keep _most_ of the surrounding video, for example, all those creepy staring contests could be Adam getting orders he doesn't like centered around Samus. * Adam must have actual authority over persons on the bottle ship. The hell run makes literally no sense without this. Just modify the audio/text of the cutscene where her voluntary submission here is established to turn it into "Look, you help out and follow orders, or you get off the ship - but I'm asking you as a friend to help". Either that, or queue in a properly in-character "fuck this" moment out of Samus 10 seconds into the hell run - it'll take the piss out of the run, but it's a shit of a lot better than what the game does, and it establishes that Samus' willingness to follow Adam's orders to the tee does not extend into her most important trait: survival. * Fix the damn "OMG it's Ridley" scene: Anthony gets killed early on, before Samus starts to freak; Samus' freak-out is a combination of the flashback, surprise the fucker's back again, _and_ Anthony's death a second ago; the freak-out ends with a "SUMBITCH, WHY WON'T YOU STAY DEAD?!" line - ideally with a short mini-boss level battle. As you said, this is the _fourth or fifth_ time she's had to kill this asshole. * Samus' view of Adam can be that of a _former_ father figure, but one that she witnessed become disillusioned (which is why he's working as an assassin now) by having to let his brother die. Her later reaction to this needs not to curse her past "childishness", but to have rationalized that he _was_ right about not getting herself killed, and to feel shitty about that. I think that with these four little script tweaks (and getting a voice actress that doesn't sound like a goddamned Stepford bot), Other M _could_ be saved. Her later respect for Adam in Fusion would be couched in his self-sacrifice, against direct orders to kill her, and against orders to preserve and deliver the bottle ship. Now, the hard question: how do you mod a Wii game?

There's something I see sometimes brought up but never fully explored in Other M analysis videos, and that's the Metroid manga. Other M was basically written with the manga as a kind of 'soft canon' for a lot of its backstory. You had to have read the manga to know about Samus' first meeting with Ridley, and how he was responsible for killing (and devouring) her parents right in front of her while she was something around six years old. Her entire interaction with Ridley in this game is based off knowledge of the manga, and I believe (though I admit I might be misremembering) that it was suggested reading before playing Other M. And most people (this analysis included) stop there and say that it's not right to expect an audience to be familiar with a Japan-only manga. I don't disagree with that. That said, the game itself didn't seem to read the manga, because in that series Samus also had the same reaction to Ridley; she froze up, she was terrified, she temporarily regressed to that trembling child she was all those years ago. It compromised the mission she was on, and got her captured and held for *weeks* in a semi-catatonic state that her old pals from the Galactic Police had to risk their lives to save her from. And after that chapter, when Samus is being roused from her mental collapse and they're trying to escape, they're attacked by Ridley again. Samus begins to panic-- --then, seeing him about to murder and eat her friends, Samus *gets the fuck over it and beats the shit out of Ridley*. Over the course of the manga she *completely* overcomes her fear and gains a cocky self-confidence that turns her from a somewhat childish and foolish (but very brave) member of the GPD into the cocksure but intensely capable bounty hunter we tend to think of her as in the games. This moment that Sakamoto put into Other M isn't bad just because it demands awareness of a property not sold outside of Japan (which is almost never a consideration by those who live in Japan; Other M definitely isn't the only game that's come with impossible homework), but because it doesn't even adhere to the property it's referencing and tries to ape an emotional moment for its own use and then does so far less effectively or believably.

Super odd that you spent 50+ mins talking about something that clearly doesn't exist.

Also.... No. Tomb Raider 2013 is fine on it's own- great, even- but as part of the Tomb Raider series, it could not possibly be more disrespectful to the legacy of Lara Croft. She does not use a bow like Katniss Everdeen, she uses twin pistols, and that firmly establishes her as her own character, not a knockoff of any existing popular character. And then there's the game's damsel in distress plot... What the literal fuck, Squeenix? Did you really convince all of mainstream feminism to overlook that, in a story-heavy game in the 2010's, by giving Lara a smaller bust? Because that's what it looks like to me. There's a lot more to say, but I don't have the fucks to give right now.

While I am not a fan of the game I do believe that some of the criticisms and comparisons that I have seen of it are not entirely fair. As an example, I have seen Samus as depicted in this story compared to the protagonist of the Twilight series. That is completely off-the-mark, as the two characters are entirely different. One is an emotionally stunted, immature character who suffers from a crippling codependence and an outright suicidal obsession with appeasing a boring male character yet who is still supposed to be believed by the audience to be a strong and independent woman. The other is in love with a sparkly vampire.

oh god the voice acting

It sure is an amazing coincidence that the scientist Madaline Bergman just happens to have the initials "MB" for Mother Brain so that when she names the A.I. after herself she still has the same initials for Mother Brain. It sure would throw a lot of this stuff off if her name was Katherine Gwinn instead, then we'd have to actually spell out that the 'MB A.I.' is Madaline Bergman, for MB, instead of being 'KG' or something.

I am honestly very sorry you were made to review Metroid Other M. That sounds like the worst thing I've ever seen in my life and it has made me lose all hope for the human condition. ...Oh well, time to get it back by playing Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion.Good job on the review but that game has given me nightmares.

Ahaha how did they not catch the translation issue in "The Deleter"? It's meant to be "The Eliminator".

Regarding the Varia Suit thing - It gets worse. The Varia suit doesn't only protect against heat damage. It also halves combat damage in general. So... Samus has been taking two of every hit up to this point for no reason other than maybe it will help her gain Adam's approval. There's some sort of anecdote about failing so badly in the genre you're attempting to write that you somehow produce a viable or even wildly successful entry in a completely contrary genre. While I doubt very much that Sakamoto intended to write a story about a Battered Wife/Daughter Syndromed Samus' disfunctional relationship with her father-figure damn if that's not what he ended up with. And damn if that's a thing I ever wanted to be able to write about a childhood heroine.

If we take the idea that Samus radios in to ask Adam for Varia Suit authorization: Samus: "Adam? This Pyrosphere area is stupid hot, mind if I turn on Varia so I don't cook inside this tin can?" Adam: "Wait a minute. You turned it off?! When I asked for your cooperation, this isn't what I meant."

Data Selection... I used to just sit at the menu screen of Metroid Prime listening to that. Sorry you had to play Other M. I haven't and won't.

Hey, the link to the article is dead.

Shoot, Rundas and Samus in Prime 3 have a better relationship with each other than she does with Adam in this game.

Metroid is my favorite video game series of all time. I own all of the games in one form or another and have beaten them all at least once (except Prime Pinball, not a big pinball guy). I've beaten Other M multiple times, once on Hard Mode even (don't ask...). There's lots I could say about this game. The story's terrible, there's not much you can do to defend it outside of the first 20 minutes or so. As an overall package, I like the game, but it's easily the worst Metroid game. The overblasts and lethal strikes are pretty cool, and Samus throwing around the Vorash Lava Whale during its Lethal Strike (Yes it has one. Look it up from Varia31 on RU-vid, it's pretty sweet) like a rag doll is awesome. Overall, the game seems like another case of missed potential because it sort of seems like there are plenty of ideas in Other M that conflict with each other, or are just stuff that's underdeveloped or clunky like the controls. I never thought of Other M making young Samus similar to what we would picture Samus would be like in the games and then make the independent Samus seem bad... so... thanks? The hell run is what you described, a conflict of gameplay and story, that's about it. Remember in Fusion when computer Adam says to Samus, "Would he sit in a safe Command Room and order you to die?" YES!!! Apparently he would! The Ridley freakout isn't as bad to me as people make it out to be. PTSD isn't something that you can get rid of, and if Samus believes that Ridley is truly gone for good, seeing him alive again would definitely do something. To Samus' credit though, she recovered from a PTSD breakdown in about 30 seconds, and then gave Ridley the beating of his life. Samus would probably go berserk instead of clam up in this situation, seeing him alive again after killing him several times, but that's just me. Despite the whole scene being fairly cheap in terms of having drama, it isn't completely unquestionable, although I definitely see the points of criticism toward the scene. If you don't know Ridley and Samus' history, you'd have no idea why Samus is scared because the game never tells you. "This dragon's about like all the other giant monsters I've been fighting the whole game, what's the big deal?!" Samus says in the beginning of the game, "The explosion destroyed Zebes, Mother Brain, and my long standing Nemesis, Ridley." That's all anyone gets, nothing else. If you DO know Ridley and Samus' history, it's like you said in the video. "Samus has killed Ridley 5 times by now, what's the big deal?!" The worst scene to me, hands down, is when Adam shoots Samus in the back. The fact that the person Samus supposedly trusts more than anyone shoots her in the back. That should be bad enough. Combined with what you said about the scene, based off of what happens in Metroid Fusion, Adam's sacrifice is completely and utterly pointless. Adam destroyed Metroids that may or may not be unfreezable (which sounds physically impossible to be unable to be frozen by anything no matter what). We aren't sure if the Metroids in Sector Zero can't be frozen at all, because Adam froze the baby Metroid before Samus entered Sector Zero that was supposedly unfreezable, but even Adam doesn't know for sure if the Metroids are unfreezable, and we don't see inside Sector Zero, so who knows what happened. First, if the Feds can create Metroids like they do in Fusion, what's stopping them from making unfreezable Metroids in another location? The galaxy is an unfathomably large place, so there's plenty of places the Feds could do it in hiding. That and computer Adam said in Fusion that the Metroid breeding research had been finished, so I don't see what's stopping the Feds from propagating Metroids again, again. Second, the fact that Samus has killed Metroids before that can't be frozen in the Prime series, Metroids have always been able to die via Power Bombs, ever since Super Metroid. That would tie into Samus' Power Bombs being nuclear weapons (they might as well be), so we can't have her using those. So yeah, Adam's sacrifice was completely pointless, ruining the whole atmosphere of the scene, you know, in case you forgot that Adam SHOT SAMUS IN THE BACK!!! The only thing I can think of to sort of justify this scene form Sakamoto's perspective, is that this situation is one where a super powerful character (Samus) is about to do something a weaker/mentor (etcetera) character (Adam) doesn't want the powerful character to do, but the weaker character has to stop the powerful character by any means necessary. So Adam shooting Samus in the back falls into this idea of a powerful character is about to do something, and the only way the weaker character can do anything to stop the powerful character is by doing something super drastic. I hope my explanation made sense. That's the only thing I can think of what Sakamoto might have been going for with this scene. I say this because if Adam was some domineering asshole and Samus just accepts it, why would he sacrifice himself like this? The bad writing train just keeps going... Also, I believe Adam's Freeze Gun isn't what shorted out Samus' suit, it's that Samus somehow instantly knew that Adam was the one who shot her. That doesn't make much sense to me, but still. I REALLY loved this video. It summed up pretty much everything there is to be said about this game, as well as bringing up a few points I had never thought of before. It can be good to get someone else's opinion on the matter, as long as they know what they're talking about. You've made a loyal watcher out of me, keep doing what you're doing. Also, you forgot to show how when Anthony got ambushed by that Rhedogian, right before Samus got the Grapple Beam, if you do nothing, Adam won't do anything either, letting Anthony get dropped into the lava and die.

As a sidenote, Samus goes back to the Bottle Ship in order to retrieve something that is irreplaceable... turns out it was Adam's helmet. How did she know it was there? Oh well... The point is... It's ADAM's helmet. Yet Anthony had the same one. Talk about a sickening relationship. And this Adam is the same one than in Fusion... And most plotpoints in Fusion are reused in Other M including areas. Much like Fifty Shades, Other M is nothing but fanfiction. The best thing that we can say about Yoshio Sakamoto is that he redeemed himself with Samus Returns and how Nintendo is really trying to avoid talking about this game. How do we fix Other M? Remove Adam, simple as that... This game retcons the end of Metroid II and III by simply giving useless explanations and decided to remove the Prime from the continuity. Almost every shot of Samus in the Prime series make Samus look strong, confident but also fearsome in some ways because she has the tools and it's bound to the player. Her decisions are the player's decisions and this is why, when the game is over, Samus is strong. But now that you need to read the most obscure piece of lore to understand a scene that doesn't work (Ridley) is just bad writing. I will always hate any studio who does that and yes, I would include Blizzard and Bungie/343. And that's why I care little for the stories in these games besides what's presented in the actual interactive medium.

LTTP, but I just saw this vid and wanted to add just two things: Sakamoto mentioned that because of the Prime games, people were getting the wrong idea of who Samus was, and this game was meant to rectify that. Every time a Metroid producer is interviewed, they will always mention that "the other guy directed those games, I had nothing to do with that". And that is one of the problems I have with Sakamoto. He very likely did not think of the events that happened in the Primes when making this game, thats why the Ridley freakout is a thing, to Sakamoto, Samus only fought Ridley twice in her life. I dont subscribe to the idea that Retro Studios made a macho killing machine with Samus, because gameplaywise she is no different than other games IMO, many times you can just pass by the creatures and not kill them. I really wonder what message did Sakamoto, a brilliant game designer, got from the Prime games. Another fun thing, during the development of the first Metroid Prime, Sakamoto and Kensuke Tanabe (Prime producer) had discussions about who Samus was, and whem Retro Studios asked Tanabe what would she do in a hostage situation, Tanabe said she would blow the bad guys head without hessitation. Other M has a hostage situation in the making, when MB is threatening both her and Madeleine with a freeze gun, she never does anything to protect either of them from MB, nor she does anything when the Federation is about to take Madeleine to obviously kill her... So either Tanabe came up with his own Samus, or Sakamoto did later on :/

This stupid game! It even ruins Adam Malkovich's character, since previously he was only mentioned in Fusion and shown in the manga. His appearance here isn't even necessary, since in his manga role he already fulfilled everything mentioned about him in Fusion. (If I remember correctly.) Other M had a chance to be something really pretty interesting, too, and instead is so totally, totally botched! Wasted opportunities like this are so frustrating!

Zebes is not the metroid homeworld. It's actually SR388, the setting for metroid 2/am2r/return of samus and metroid 4/fusion. Zebes was the space pirate homeworld and the setting for zero mission/metroid 1 and metroid 3 (super).

My head canon is that Adam is the Deelter. It just makes the story "better" in my humble, pathetic opinion

Various thoughts: I don't think it makes sense for Samus to care an awful lot about the baby Metroid. Why? Because she barely bonded with it, and more over, she has no reason to feel a lot of empathy towards Metroids. She did try to exterminate their species before and they aren't exactly cute (maybe this is just an odd phobia I have though-I find the appearance of Metroids really disturbing, partially because of their simplicity. Imagine taking a creature as simple as a jellyfish and then giving it a fairly high degree of intelligence and power-but at the end of the day is still a jellyfish. This is straight-up lovecraftian)

Honestly, Adam should have died at the Ridley fight. Here me out: Adam is set up as a surrogate father figure for Samus, and his own "heroic" sacrifice in this is incredibly... patronizing at best. However, getting killed by Ridley COULD be used as a dramatic mirror, yet another of Samus's collection of parents (her own, the Chozo) who were taken from her. THAT is something that could bring the breakdown we see in this, as it scratches raw childhood trauma AND rejects Samus's own promise to redeem herself for the death of Ian. Then her turn around could have been genuinely heroic, rather then Anthony snapping her out of her breakdown and then surviving at the end. But ultimately, Other M suffers, storywise, because it acts so melodramatic when the stakes are so low. Every Metroid game features, either in game or in backstory, a squad of Feddie marines getting pasted in front of Samus, giving them names doesn't help it. There's no Lovecraftian threat like the sapient planet Phaaze, Gorea in a bottle, or John Carpenter's The Parasite X to loom over the galaxy. The Bottleship is already dead, and had Samus used her gunship to blow the whole place rather then setting foot in there the end result would have been identical. The setting itself is a less interesting retread of Fusion. The characters are at the level of a power rangers cartoon, and the game is so uninterested in it's own mysteries that it resolves them incredibly anti-climatically. And I'm not even getting into the gameplay.

I’m not defending the writing, which I think was utterly lousy, but I don’t think the premise itself was necessarily doomed from the start. It’s conceivable for somebody (regardless of gender) to outwardly come across as confident, aloof, independent, and strong (a “badass” you could say), while internally being vulnerable, insecure, or even “weak”. Their way of coping is to conceal those inner weaknesses from themselves and others, and it’s often only when a person like that finds themselves in circumstances that place them face-to-face with multiple triggering/stressing factors (e.g. the source of past trauma, the cause of a major complex or insecurity, or a stimulus that evokes any of those) at the same time, often alongside immediate stress (either acute, like a fight/flight reaction, or chronic, such as an unmanageable workload), that those aspects emerge and signs of it begin to show externally. AFAIK it’s seen quite often in borderline/narcissistic/histrionic personality disorders and several CPTSD/dissociative subtypes. I think this could have been a competent story ark for Samus, in the hands of competent writers.

I am still One Hundred Percent Certain that Adam is the Deleter. I know some other guy is, but it makes far too much sense to be let go.

Dude, you can not have just glossed over that Fusion WAS Other M until Sakamoto declared it non-canon because he was angry about how they conveyed Samus' relationship with Adam. The bosses are basically taken right from Fusion. Ridley had been bested in 3 Metroid games previously, Fusion and Prime are "non-canon" according to Sakamoto. The point still stands, but it has long since been established that Ridley is nbd for Samus.

it's 2021 and I keep coming back to this game, dying to actually like it.... It's interesting the ways that abuse of power, gender, and military imperialism have aged in context of the story, particularly considering the amount of women I've talked to that actually understood or sympathized with some of Samus's moments of self-doubt and desire to please an authority figure in the wake of her experiences. and then there's the actual game itself lol

5 minutes in and the dialogue of the game gave me pain.

We never talk about other M. It never happened.

26:23 so the whole PTSD theme is complete BS in this game

My headcanon is that Samus was just going through Phazon withdrawals during Other M

Sakamoto is a no talent hack that got where he was by taking credit for the work of others (primarily Gunpei Yokoi). He was NOT a creator or even a co-creator of the franchise. For the original Metroid he was one of several character artists brought in near the end of development to finish up the game. He exaggerates his role in almost every project. He had virtually nothing to do with Fusion despite taking credit for it. You can compare him somewhat to Inafune who took credit for "creating Mega Man" despite...not doing that. Other M is the ONLY project where he had full creative control. And yeah, that shows how little actual talent he had.

Yeah, back when GamerGate was still a thing, even the most hardline pro-GG'ers would agree that Other M is sexist.

Yo Game Professor, have you considered analyzing the other Metroid games? I know the story usually takes a backseat to the gameplay and exploration, but Fusion has a pretty robust narrative regarding Samus' loss of agency through the loss of her power ups, taking orders from a computer, running away from the SA-X, etc. I just don't want Other M to sour your opinion on Metroid and prevent another analysis video on a good Metroid game. The series has a pretty extensive lore, it's just a shame Other M happened.

As a kid I grew up with the Nintendo comics by Valiant, and Samus appeared in the Captain N books. In those, she was not only a badass fighter, but a rogue as well. She sold out the good guys to Mother Brain, then double-crossed M.B. and saved them. Samus got away with the stuff the good guys had come to take back, plus *two* paychecks! She was also openly interested in Captain N, and pursued him romantically unlike the designated love interest. For me personally, that makes _Other M_ so much worse.

1. I intend to play this game myself at some point, just for the historical perspective of it. Based on everything I've seen/heard, it looks like it will be hard. 2. It would be really useful to have a documentary of the development of this game. It probably wouldn't happen because it would shame the developers, but I think it would add some needed perspective to how bad the game is, and WHY. 3. I don't want to believe that the developers / Sakamoto were sexist somehow, but the drop in empowerment from being a lonely hunter who destroys species, organizations, and planets to getting one-shot, drifting into flashbacks and monologues and letting external forces do all of the work (AND THINKING) for her seems like too much of a disaster to be an accident. This is why a documentary would be helpful. It's just painful seeing one of my heroes not just dragged through the mud, but pressed down headfirst into it to the point of suffocation. Here's hoping that a future game can portray her in a good light that is consistent with her past triumphs.

16:10 what they could've easily done for the pyrosphere situation is have Samus go in, start taking really fast damage, then Adam prompts her to activate the varia suit. Except that the pyrosphere's heat is so hot that even the varia suit doesn't help 100% and it just now does damage at the same rate it does now, Adam mentions that his team will go do something to help, and at the point where other M currently gives you varia, Adam calls in to tell samus that they lowered the pyroshpere temperature or something, and varia can now block all damage. there, problem solved.

I wonder what opinion Japanese gamers hold towards Other M.

With establishing Samus's personality based off previous games, it would really help your case if you mentioned specific examples. Like, for demonstrating her endless courage, point ot Zero Mission. When Samus gets shot down by space pirates and is left iwth only an emergency stun pistol, what does Samus do? Does she A) try to call the Federation for help? B) Attempt to repair her ship or C) Decide to infiltrate the space pirate mothership with absolutely zero hesitation given her incredibly weakned state? The answer is C, and, oh boy, does that action say a lot about her character. 19:30 I think you just reiterated your point on why Adam's authorization is a stupid idea, a very good point might I say, twice. 37:00 Hey, look! It's the only decent writing moment in this entire game! MB is wearing a hairpin in the shame of metroid guts/eyes/whatever they are. Either way, it's actually competent foreshadowing. 42:50 I think you just spent the past three minutes saying the same thing over and over again. That's... odd. Either I missed something or a few paragraphs should have been deleted. 46:23 Wow. I swear that's the third time you've said that Adam and Samus's relationship was abusive despite the game trying to portary it positively. Overall, pretty good video. I liked it enough to ruin it's 666 likes. Your points were very similar, and distinctly seperate, to an analysis of Metroid: Other M I really like written by a TV Tropes user. It's a very good read, as it goes even more in-depth into the game's story, and makes many different points on the matter. tvtropes.org/pmwiki/lb_i.php?lb_id=13373815860B43920100&i_id=13373815860I43921400&p=1

that voice acting

I hope the guy that made this game doesn't have daughters.

Sometimes I find myself craving people critically analyzing Other M, and what do I find this time but a phenomenal take-down put up just a month ago? Very lovely, and I hadn't really noticed the nearly-competent motherhood themes re:the Bergmens vs. Samus and the larva. The general badness and the sudden introduction of the Real Villain twenty minutes before the end of the game had numbed me by that point. All the rest of it was, for me, stuff I've heard and agreed with before, but it's always kind of gratifying to hear someone new say it, and you presented it in a way that I think even non-Metroid fans would be able to follow, which is even better! Me, I think the only way for Other M to be canon and me to still have any faith at all in the Metroid series would be if it was all a precognitive fever dream Samus was having during the Metroid Fusion intro. I'm (more or less) serious: sparkylurkdragon.tumblr.com/post/19133543752/dissecting-other-m-a-dream-interpretation

So does the game ever address why after saying the new metroids were immune to ice Adam was able to freeze one?

@25:12 That still happens to me when I'm reminded of this game...

The saddest thing about this game to me is that, when I played Metroid Fusion, I was super excited by the reveal of Adam at the end, and Samus reflecting on him and why she does what she does. It made me think how cool it was that there was some back story that they might flesh out one day, and this is what we got. It makes replaying fusion kind of lame when you realize what came about from it later.

You know I first played Other M years ago because I heard it was bad and was curious. I watched this video just now because I was browsing your video catalog for something new. Holy hell, this game is an even bigger misogynistic dumpster fire than I remember and I never had any qualms calling this Nintendo's worst game ever released just based on the storytelling alone. This makes me wish I had kept my copy that I bought for $5 from Best Buy when it was one sale just so I could put it through a shredder.

I know this is an older video, but with the announcement of Metroid Dread, I've been consuming a ton of Metroid-related videos on YT. Specifically, I have been watching/rewatching reviews of the infamous Metroid: Other M, in order to remind myself of where we once were, and to be thankful that there's a much brighter future ahead. First of all, I just wanted to say that you did an amazing job of dissecting the horrid story of Other M. My only complaint, is that you didn't go deep enough into the story's biggest betrayal of the Metroid franchise: The derailment of Samus and Adam's relationship depiction in Metroid Fusion! I never understood why none of the reviews I've watched, talks about how Fusion painted a far better picture of Adam Malkovich, and the relationship he had with Samus. In that game, when Samus recalls Adam's signature catchphrase--which is "Any objections, Lady?"--she specifically noted how she dislikes being called "lady" because it usually comes off as insulting. However, Adam used it in a way that was respectful and dignified, denoting the level of trust and respect between the two of them. How did Other M portray this powerful bond? Well, according to Samus, Adam knew full well how much she hated being called "lady" so he intentionally did it to get under her skin! I know there are some very devout fans of Other M, who have defended the many controversial decisions made with the game, but this is inexcusable! Hell, there's been many debates about the status of Metroid Prime in the official canon, due to Sakamoto not acknowledging the events of Prime in Other M, and yet, I can barely see even a MENTION of the "lady" screw-up!

See I'm not opposed to the idea of samus having PTSD. but they reason they attach to it is so tremendously stupid. and furthermore, to fix the contradictions in the game Nintendo took my favorite Metroid games (metroid prime trilogy) out if the Canon.

Giving you a shout out for acknowledging the fact that this game has major spoilers for Super Metroid. My biggest complaint about the beginning cut scene is that it both ruins the surprise of Super Metroid's ending for a newer generation that probably hasn't played it and more damning is that it changes what actually happens in the ending to fit in to the fan fiction that is Other M.

You should do a video on Layers of Fear. I personally really loved it and appreciated the developers' integration of art history, music, and literature.

I stopped the video when you pronounced it "Zeebes" and immediately subscribed. I was already on board with your presentation style and focus, but when you said Zebes that way (aka CORRECTLY) it pushed me over the edge. Thank you. Also, if you haven't already, I would love to see a video on Bastion, discussing the gameplay-as-narrative that is everywhere in the game.

Since I can't find any other comments that have mentioned this, I feel obligated to myself. I remember reading somewhere that military discipline is a BIG deal in Japan. I mean to the point where it'd make the hardest of the hardcore in the Marines in the US look tame. Like, if you're in the Japanese military, you ABSOLUTELY follow orders NO MATTER WHAT, and if you don't, you're dishonored forever. If your CO tells you to shoot an innocent civilian, you do it and ask for more. ...Although this would probably in the long run dishonor the CO, but that's his problem, not yours. You follow that order, and if there's blowback, the CO gets it, not you. Seeing as how Samus somewhat reintroduces herself into that lifestyle, it's possible the seemingly abusive relationship between her and Adam is just Japanese military protocol kicking in. And then the game later shows that Samus disrespected him while in the military and went AWOL. So there's that. Another point I feel worth mentioning, and this is clarified if you play the game past the credits, Adam was actually dealing with other conflicts as well, he didn't just sit there on his butt the whole time giving Samus orders. At one point, the Deleter finds him and they get into a fight, and then later he finds out about Area Zero and decides to do it. Samus actually recovers his visor and finds movie files of this inside it. There's even a scene of him showing actual concern for her! This is probably part of the reason why he was sometimes inattentive, and didn't immediately order Samus to use the Varia suit, not to mention why he went noticeably radio silent for a while. And... as much as I hate to defend the scene, there's a perfectly valid reason for Adam shooting Samus in the back: she's frickin' Samus. He'd be no match for her in a straight fight if she didn't agree with him, even without her armor. And she's shown defiance in the past. He wants to be absolutely certain that HE is the one to sacrifice himself, not her. And in fact, given everything that happens in the game, it might even be hinted that he realizes he's a jerk, and this is the only way he can regain his honor (self-sacrifice and suicide are also kind of a big thing in Japan). OK, so, now that all that is out of the way, lemme be absolutely clear. I DO NOT think this is a well written story in the slightest. It's still pretty bad in the plot department. There's plotholes and inconsistencies all over the place, and a truly ridiculous amount of wasted potential, and the whole game feels like anti-climax after anti-climax. Sakamoto and co. clearly had no experience with storytelling, and frankly, I don't think Nintendo has had the slightest clue WTF to do with the Metroid series since Gunpei Yokoi passed away. But I do wanna give credit where it's due, as I feel like the overall game really isn't that bad once you take aspects other than the story into consideration, like gameplay, graphics, music, etc. That, and it's not even my least favorite Metroid game, though it's still pretty low; Metroid Prime Hunters, MP3, MP Pinball, and Federation Force all score lower for various reasons (mostly motion/stylus controls; for me that crap offsets any complaints I have about story; and while Other M has some of that, it's not the whole game like with MP3 or Hunters), and while it's probably better than Other M, I've not had a chance to play Samus Returns yet, but that's it, rest of the series is much better for sure.

You know what's funny? in Super Metroid it took Mother Brain's rainbow deathray several full powered blasts to bring Samus to her knees (and every shot was so strong, it pinned Samus to the wall). In this game Adam's inky-dinky freezegun does the same with one shot and it even completely disables the powersuit. Ah, must be the power of Adam's big manly pensi.

The writing reminds me of something George Lucas would have a hand in.

I had already read the article, so I kinda already knew everything you were gonna say... but great analysis nonetheless.

Simple answer to the Adam delaying authorization for the Varia functions: Bathroom. Hey, sometimes, a man's gotta poop. And that can take you a little while. Why wasn't there a liutenant or something assigned to keep watch on Samus while Adam answered nature's call? ... Uhhhhh...... SHUT UP!

This will be my shortest comments to this point, but it is absolutely necessary to make: After watching this entire analysis (which was great by the way), I have only to say... Metroid: Mother (Other M is a crappy name anyway) is offensive, insulting, and I hate the co-Creator of the Metroid series now. Now I'll go off to listen to B.A. Baraccus singing/rapping "Mother"

It'd make a lot more sense if this was a prequel where we learned how she got to be so independent but no, this is AFTER that

you know, as somebody who predominately gamed on the Wii for that Generation, I quite enjoyed Other M's gameplay (free missiles and stuff like that is kinda dumb tho). Even I couldn't look past the retarded story

Plot aside, can we talk about Samus's armor texture? It looks like plastic. Like a cosplay of the real powersuit. That really, really bugs me for some reason.

Iv cracked the code, Samus was brainwashed between the last game and this one, BY Adam (the douchbag), completly brainwashed. And Other M isnt (It cant be) cannon at all.

Lol! I h*te you so much! I love this game but your analysis is soooo good I cannot unsee its flaws. Thanks a lot! I really hope you can see (destroy?) other of my favorites!, I really, really liked this one and the one about TWD, keep up the great work!

15:59 I'm sure you've heard this before, but after countless years of enduring bad jokes regarding the matter I'm honor-bound to point out Phoenix Downs revive people from being KO'd, not killed. That out of the way, I only recently discovered your channel and have gone ahead and binge-watched most of your videos (the improvement in mic quality over the years is staggering). As an aspiring game designer they've been an incredibly valuable resource, and I look forward to whatever new content you have in store!

Great analysis! Never played any of the Metroid games. The presentation looks excellent for a Wii game, too bad about mostly every other aspect of it..

Technically Team Ninja had pretty much nothing to do with the writing and story, they were more hired for their skill ingame cinematics....

i'd heard it was bad, but i had no idea it was THIS bad. jesus...

Samus' voice actor is incredibly bored. She doesn't sound bored, she is. Seriously. There's no way she is proud of this delivery. Not hating on the woman or anything, but I highly doubt she would label this her best performance.

Turns out the "other M" stands for Mansplaining!

I've been a long time viewer but somehow missed this video entirely? Time to dig in...

The gameplay it self is pretty solid if you cut out all the cutscenes and monologues It feels like a solid 2.5d game. My favorite things is to cut out the terrible bits and make up my own story "Like huh what happened here? A dead soldier, there has clearly been some sort of illegal experimentation"

"This is stupid." (THANK YOU!!!🤦)

I feel like this whole story would have worked better if this was played as young samus (the one we see on the cutscenes) as it would justify some of the story (like her having a panic attack when facing Ridley as this would be the first time) and the gameplay mechanics (being authorized by Adam to use your weapons since at the time she was under his command).