And I also disagree with you I don't like Samus as a muscular person. To me looks awful I like Samus as very beautiful person to me she looks a lot better that way. also because she fits the type that I look for
Honestly, despite the high heels, I feel like Smash Ultimate's slight redesign for Zero Suit Samus is the best of her "outside of armor" designs. She maintains all of the advancements made in the past twenty years, while finally giving her back some muscle. She actually feels like someone who is at the peak of human athleticism.
The heels in Smash are supposed to be fun and flashy. She doesn’t have them in any actual Metroid title and they’re for the enjoyment of Smash being a party game.
I think the high heels have some sense. She does all these insane jumps and aerial combat, even in planets with different gravity, then, some kind of support for her abilities could be necessary. Smash ultimate does a great job showcasing this with all her agility, speed and kicks.
I believe the green hair in the first game is due to the color pallet, the suit and the rocket symbol always have the same color even when you upgrade suits. So I would imagine if you were wearing the orange suit and used the cheat she would have orange hair.
Actually the hair is brown, the green hair was intentional for the japanese players to distinguish the varia suit, as they unlock the zero suit mode after beating the game normally.
@@Densester That happens in the english version too, after you beat the game in under 3 hours, you restart the game without the suit. Justin Bailey was not a real cheat code.
The whole Justin Bailey thing was a coincidence on the cheat code menu, reason being is because the data values lined up with some random numbers in the game code.
@@RobinRhombus2 There is only one cheat code and that is NARPAS SWORD0 000000 000000. The code is not a valid password, but the password screen is hard coded to accept it for debugging purposes. other passwords like justin bailey, 20 20 (new game with swimsuit), and engage ridley are passwords that are accepted because their checksums (which take up the last two characters of the password) happen to be valid. You can see that because the last one crashes the game, and the reason that happens is because it sets the location to an illegal value. The game _could_ sanity check the spawn area value to make sure it's no higher than 4, just like Pacman could do a bounds check when rendering the HUD at the start of a level to avoid the level 256 bug, but it doesn't care. It only cares that the checksum matches, or that the password is "NARPAS SWORD0 000000 000000" (I'll get into more detail on that in the third paragraph). As for the password system, it's a 16-byte chunk of data with various bitfields and numbers contained (the location is 4-bit and the "game age" is 32-bit little endian, this takes up bytes 12-15 of 16 so if you look at the engage ridley password and see that the second to last group of four characters "ERFU", which represent the higher three bytes of the game age, are set to fairly high values, it's apparent why the password sets your game time ridiculously high. Frankly, even if it were "0001", that would still represent 16777216 time units), followed by a shift byte and a checksum byte. The shift byte controls how the 16 data bytes are bitshifted (this is for encryption), and the checksum byte is the sum of the 17 bytes before it. Since it's only one byte, it's mod 256. These 18 bytes are then taken and encoded in a 24-character base64 representation (8 bits per unit -> 6 bits per unit) and that's your password. Passwords can be contrived with the shift byte set to 0. Doing so results in an unencrypted password that would either never be generated by the game or have a 1 in 256 chance of being generated, but is still valid nonetheless. There is a version of engage ridley that doesn't crash the game. As you can imagine, all you have to do is change the spawn location to something valid and then change the checksum to account for it. That password is E7GAGE RIDLEY MOTHER FUCKEJ. I know that seems confusing if you happen to know that the location is stored in the 9th byte, which would be about halfway into the password, but that's because the shift byte is set to a relatively high value, so the location bits end up in the second character after the encryption step. btw in case you're wondering, the checksum for narpas is 63, or `0-` in the game's password charset. So a valid narpas password would be "NARPAS SWORD0 000000 00000-", although this results in the same effect, as from my experiments the game only seems to care that the password starts with "NARPAS SWORD0 0000". For instance, "NARPAS SWORD0 0000-U COCKXD" also submits. If you pay attention, you'll notice that the number of characters in "NARPASSWORD00000" is 16, exactly divisible by 4, so it's more than likely decoding the password back into bytes and first checking the first 12 bytes against this hardcoded data: 5CA6 D929 C720 61B3 4000 0000 (almost like a hash check) The first several bits in the password data are flags saying whether or not samus has collected items, so you _could_ change the password to "MARPAS SWORD0 000000 00000x" to force it to be interpreted as a password, and since changing M (010111) to N (010110) only affects one bit (the maru mari taken bit), that means that the morph ball is obtainable, and the password is otherwise identical to narpas. The `-` changes to an `x` as the first character only represents the first 6 bits of what will ultimately be the fist byte after decoding. Since there's a "gap" of 2 bits at the right end (which are filled with the first 2 bits of the second character), the change is multiplied by a factor of 4, ergo subtracting one from N means subtracting 4 from the checksum.
The checksum, in case you're wondering how one would calculate that by looking at the password: First gather up the characters. Since the 0's at the end don't add to the sum (they are zero), we don't care about anything after the first zero, as it brings the number of characters up to 12, which is divisible by 4 (4 6-bit values line up with 3 8-bit values, we need that "0" to complete the last byte). We're not dealing with ASCII, so the values are actually each character's offset from 0 in the password alphabet. That is, 0-9 A-Z a-z '?' and '-' all make up the values 0..63. N = 23 = 010111 A = 10 = 001010 R = 27 = 011011 P = 25 = 011001 A = 10 = 001010 S = 28 = 011100 S = 28 = 011100 W = 32 = 100000 O = 24 = 011000 R = 27 = 011011 D = 13 = 001101 0 = 0 = 000000 Now we need to regroup them into 8-bit bytes: 010111 00 10100110 11011001 001010 01 11000111 00100000 011000 01 10110011 01000000 make that easier to read by rewriting it as hex 5CA6 D929 C720 61B3 40 Then just add them together (it's the same as regular addition but you're working in base 16) 5C+A6+D9+29+C7+20+61+B3+40(+00+00+00+00+00+00+00+00) = 43F Truncate off the excess and we're left with 3F, which is 63 in decimal or 0011 1111 in binary, or `0-` in password characters. The first character can be changed by the last 4 bits of the shift byte, as those make up the first 4 bits of the 23rd password character, so being offset 2 bits to the left it could be any one of these 16 multiples of 4: 0-, 4-, 8-, C-, G-, K-, O-, S-, W-, a-, e-, i-, m-, q-, u-, y-. So if you see a Metroid password and the second to last character is one of [048CGKOSWaeimquy], then the stored checksum is the offset of the final password character from 0 (so a password ending in CF has a checksum of 15 while a password ending in DF has a checksum of 31), which is in no way useful--just trivia information that will live in your head rent free from now on. I am a programmer btw
Not gonna lie, the newest designs from Samus Returns are by far my favorites. The metallic sheen and green lighting is dope, and her shoulders actually give off a generator feel. Her suit is powerful, so it would make sense for it to have those big ol’ engines. Not to mention the Zero Suit, which looks as cool as ever. I hope they keep them for Metroid Prime 4.
You do such an incredible job with this series! Be proud because this is work worth sharing. I'm a pleb who has only played Prime and Fusion (so by nature, I'm drawn to the Prime design).. I enjoyed the games but was never swept off my feet to the point that I wanted to revisit older released. Anyways, keep rocking it my friend, and thank you for your hard tireless work in producing content for the masses.
Thanks a lot dude. I honestly haven't played a lot of them in-depth, I'm kind of hoping they release a Prime Collection on Switch so I can enjoy it properly. Glad to hear this one was enjoyable, I was kind of worried it wasn't as good as the others because it took so long to make XD.
I will always love the Super Metroid design. I really think the tallness and bulkiness really fits Samus more and wish they still depicted her more today. I don’t really like the other M Samus suit as much, but I’m glad that smash made the suit looks more like Samus we all know and giving her that same feeling that the Super Metroid Samus has.
I think due to the sad fact that Metroid just isn't as popular compared to Mario, Zelda, and Sonic is why this vid wasn't as well-received. My favorite overall design is the regular Power suit; it just makes Samus look super nimble and sleek. Regarding other designs, I really love the Gravity Fusion suit; the look of the Fusion suit itself combined with the purple and green just always appealed to me. I've never cared for the Zero suit and always found it a bit ridiculous that Samus would wear a skin-tight body suit under an armored one; how does her skin breathe?? lol
Here's hoping dread stirs up more fans! Also I do thing that kind of bodysuit would help reduce chaffing from the armor. No matter what kind of padding might be in it the solid prices of the armor would still runs the wrong way. They really do need to add back her height and muscles though.
@@azidal3755 I agree about wearing something to protect against armor chafing and such. I think its because the Zero suit seems like its made of spandex with how shiny it looks, (which wouldn't be easy to breathe in) combined with its heels in a heavy power suit that makes it kind of ridiculous.
Samus Returns is my fave, both in the suit and out of the suit. She just looks so powerful, and I like how she still wears the Zero Suit but is back to being buff again
To be fair, The Metroid Prime design was really shown until a year later after Melee. Yea, there was the Space World 2000 clips of Metroid Prime but from what I seen, early on, it pretty much resembles the Super Metroid design but slightly more detailed.
Oh for sure. It's basically a beefed up realistic version without as many bright colours... It'd obviously been planned for a while though so I guess I'm just surprised it didn't make it into smash brothers for cross promotion really!
So what do you think? Did I massively miss the mark? Metroid is admittedly not a series I'm THAT familiar with, but the atmosphere, games and designs have always stood out to me... I hope I managed to do the franchise some justice. Pipeline for future immediate episodes include: Sonic (again), Pikachu and Dante. Let me know what your faves from these are as well as suggesting over episodes you'd like to see!
The Artist Mark Flynn I don’t think you missed the ‘Mark’ Why do I do this Also, in Metroid 1, you can play as suit less Samus in a new game plus mode. Suit less Samus’s hair is only green when you get the Varia suit.
I agree about Super Metroid Samus too, I really like the more sporty design, and also the hair. The black suit also looks really nice and neutral, and the tall and muscular proportions give an emphasis to her prowess. It all fits the sort of realistic style for Metroid, I would like to see a new version of this Samus. It blends nicely between a bit of realism and stylization, it helps that it's pixel art too, which didn't age like the earlier 3D attempts and realistic humans tend to do. I like the blue in Zero Suit Samus, and I like the markings on the suit too, they're nice details and give off a sci-fi vibe. I would like to see some sort of mix between the Super Metroid design, and the modern design. With the colors and details, but less skin tight and more natural looking and sporty. I'm sure it would look really cool. Her design in Fusion looks like the closest to that so far, but it's still not the same, it's more like a in-between.
I think my favorite power suit is the gravity suit from Prime. I love the color scheme and it looks great in that game. And the Prime suit is just such a classic anyway. But yeah, Prime wins in terms of Varia/power suits. As far as Zero Suits go, I feel like it's more up for debate because I like select features of lots of them. I like her being slimmer in Smash because it emphasizes her athleticism, but I also like her earlier renditions because of the influence of famous actresses at the time. However, I think Zero Mission strikes this balance of a slimmer Samus while also keeping her attitude intact, and is "the best". Feels more original than what came before it and has more character than what came after. At least, that's how I see it.
Can certainly see the logic behind that think it's just personal preference for me. I don't like zero suit samus I would kill to see something more realistic though.
Never really played any of the Metroid games before, but goddamn did this video make me love Samus. I’ve always held an appreciation for her, but she just looks so cool! Gym Samus is best Samus though. Girl needs some muscles on her.
Character designs are very special and always deserve unique looks and special pieces to make them unique and iconic as well as stand out to the characters personality and feel
The fusion suit is a personal favourite design of mine. The sleekness, the Metroid like decals around the helmet, the arm spikes. I just think it's the perfect evolution of the character. For the Varia Suit I'd probably go with Super Metroid just because it nails just about everything that encompasses the core strengths of the design. Final for an oddball choice my favourite rendition of the Gravity Suit is definitely the Samus Returns variant, the addition of black decals, spikes and tribal like light fixtures just give.the gravity suit that added level of badass that it's been missing this whole time and brought it more in line with the major change in design seen with the Varia Suit in Metroid 2. I really hope this becomes the default design of the Gravity Suit going forward, it's awesome.
I want to take a second to mention that if you were to go back to the title screen after the ending and started a new game, you would actually use the un-suited sprite, brown hair and all. The green hair is only due to the Justin Bailey code starting you off with the Varia Suit color pallet, so that little inconsistency might make more sense now.
Coming back to this after beating Dread and I gotta say the default dread suit is right at the top for me now. It combined the best parts of the standard varia suit with the smoother lines of the fusion suit, plus those boots look awesome. It’s the first time that getting the varia suit felt like a downgrade.
I actually have a tie for both armored Samus and Zero Suit. My favorite armored is her Varia Suit from Prime 2 and her Fusion Suit. And as for her Zero Suit, it's between Smash Ultimate and her concept art for Metroid: Samus Returns. I think Smash Ultimate nailed her look by having her be fit af while also maintaining the sex appeal that she's been know for, but if that's not for you then her zero suit concept art for Samus Return resembles perfectly what I think a badass lone bounty hunter carrying around that huge armor should realistically look like.
My favorite has to either be Super Metroid or Prime 1. They both had a more realistic, built version of Samus. She’s taller and more muscular in these games and that’s the way I like her the most.
Metroid Prime always had the best design. It was the most grounded and “realistic.” It didn’t have any unnecessary frills. It was straightforward and utilitarian, just like Samus. It was the perfect refinement of the Super Metroid design.
I think it's easier to list samus designs I don't like, which would be prime power suit, samus returns varia suit and prime 2 zero suit. It's always nice to see the character represented in many different styles and I think Samus lends herself well to that, since I think everyone has a different interpretation of how she'd look in their mind. Tall or small Samus I don't think is something that really matters, depends on what sort relationship she has with her suit that the game wants to communicate. For Other M, big Suit but small Samus is a good metaphor to the "Cold, hard badass exterior. Conflicted and vulnerable human interior" theme that the game tried to use but didn't manage to do anything meanigful with, for example. Games where she has a similar height to her suit can communicate well that she feels comfortable in her role and is as one with her mission.
First of all, this was an amazing video, I loved it! Now to my favorite designs, I really like the Varia Suit from Samus Returns, all the detail it has on the cannons and shoulders are amazing. My only problem with it is that the visor is a little too thin, but I do like the glow. For the Zero Suit... I feel like some people are gonna disagree with me, but the design from Smash Bros. (Sm4sh and Ultimate) are my favorite ones. Many people dislike the jet boots but I like them a lot, I just feel like they fit with the character really well, it's something that she can carry around with her without noticeable problems. She's always equipped with various different power-ups, ready for each scenario, and the Jet Boots just fit perfectly as an aid for the Zero Suit, when she has less equipment.
I don't hate the ultimate design. I just think the heels are so silly. Just give her some flats and make her kick ass lol. Thanks for watching and the kind words!
I like the idea of boots, I just...wish they were actually boots. The heels look clunky and the black and neon green is an odd choice considering her zero suit has red accents on it. Moreover, I just feel like big stompy combat boots would be more in line with her role and character rather than dainty heels. They could be awesome dark blue boots with red soles... That’s what I think.
Thank for pointing out that the brawl design Samus isn’t just the Super Metroid one. I believe that it’s based off the varia suit that shows up at the end of zero mission.
My favorite design is probably the Prime-2-3 design. The design of the suit is decently bulky but doesn't look too top-heavy like Samus returns or Prime 1. The green lines and more angled visor helps the suit feel more dynamic than Prime 1. While Samus' arm cannon may seem oversized compared to other versions of the suit, its size does help emphasize the importance of the arm cannon in these games with all the different weapon modes and combos. Overall I like the Prime 2-3 suit since it looks like a suit that is a walking arsenal of weapons, yet its proportions are balanced enough were Samus can still believably be shown performing dynamic acrobatics when needed.
Fun fact about the Green hair. The Justin Bailey code starts you off with the Varia Suit. The normal sprites have Samus with brown hair like in the ending
Nice work. You could consider game restrictions more. The GB grayscale limitation is one you did. The resolution of the platforms is one you didn't say much about. The other handheld ones are, whether using sprites or models, designed for smaller resolutions, which is why M:SR's has such large glowy bits. I'm sure there are other considerations to cover, like you did the pace of the games regarding M:OM.
A fun possible redesign for her zero suit would be to add armor plating on certain areas of the bodysuit. This wouldn't be just to add protection to the Zero suit (though it would help), but the plates could also be designed to look like anchor points that the power armor would attach to when she calls on it, showing the zero suit as more of an integrated piece of the actual armor rather than just a uniform. I got the idea looking at some of the armor designs from the Claymore manga series.
One of my favorite looks for Samus is the orange almost sportswear thing she has on in some of the endings of Zero Mission. The thing that isn't the Zero Suit. I think that's just because of what she's doing in those endings- which is like, looking out a window, walking down the street, and hanging out at a bar. Samus is one of those characters who, because they almost exclusively do crazy badass stuff and save the world, it's a treat to see them doing something outside that. Of course it'd ruin the effect to see it TOO much, but a good reminder that "This character is, in fact, a person with interests and hobbies and stuff" is always appreciated.
The best design is the suit from the pen and paper Metroid game that came out in Japan only called “Zebes Invasion Order”. The shoulder pads are sharp, the suit is sleek and the arm cannon goes on top of her arm so she has two free hands. Looks so badass. She also has black hair in it.
Fun fact about that green hair in the original - that's just the varia suit recolor. If you use a different code (I forget what it is, but its just 0's and 2's) you start basically a brand new game with no power suit. She has brown hair and the pink leotard.
My opinion? Metroid Dread. I REALLY want a Suit with elements of ALL four suits! Shape: Gravity Suit Colors: Varia and Power Suit(blue instead of yellow) Visor and Lights: Purple Hand: Metroid Suit, colors and all.
As someone who's a huge fan of the series, my favorite design surprisingly lined up exactly with your final decision. The Super Varia suit is great, though I do find myself leaning more towards the Prime 2-3 design honestly. I love the Zero Suit in Zero Mission and Prime 3, but I wish she appeared more muscular like in Super Metroid. I still wish Smash would go back to the Samus and ZSS designs from Brawl, honestly. Some other points I'd like to bring up: >In Samus Returns, Samus' suit still retains some design choices from Other M, such as the smoother waist and exaggerated chest armor size, and I'm personally not at all a fan of the much angrier visor she has. It reminds me of Dark Samus almost, and I feel this design comes from SR trying to be a much more action-focused game than the original Metroid II. In addition to this, you can also notice that Samus' Zero Suit retains the platform heels, and even the power suit has raised heels now (this is more easily visible in the concept art, but it is present on the models still). >Starting with Prime 2 (and also the same design is in Prime Hunters), the Varia suit also has some added large, green lights on the legs. Not very noticeable in promo art, but it is very visible ingame. Also, even though the visor is more angular starting here, I feel that it's still largely rectangular enough to appear both strong, but not necessarily completely aggressive yet, which I feel is a good design choice. Also while I know everybody hates Federation Force, I dunno, I still don't think it's got a "bad" artstyle. It came out at a terrible time yeah, but as a spinoff when we already had a pretty cartoony sprite in the first game, I think it's not exactly a hellspawn like everyone makes it out to be. ...it's also a pretty fun game with friends when you take it as a spinoff... you guys are just mean...
You have your points on federation force but to be fair if they had announced prime 4 prior they would have avoided any negative backlash. It's a shame they weren't a bit more clever about it.
@@ArtistMarkFlynn Yeah, they could've held of FF for about a year so they could announce it alongside Prime 4 and Samus Returns (despite my distaste for the latter). I guess when [they] knew they were developing the next two games, they didn't expect such a huge backlash to what was a harmless game in their eyes.
My favorite is the metroid prime 2 design. Some of my oldest memories are of my sister playing the first 2 prime games, so that will always be her iconic look for me. I don't like the way they redesigned her zero suit form in other m, but I would probably be fine with it if they reduced the heels, and put her in a different situation (say, for example, using it to show when she is safe instead of vulnerable), and kept the height consistent(she should always be between my height and my dad's height when outside of the suit). Still, I definitely prefer the more muscular look, because when I look at her I want to see strength first, and sexiness second, not the other way around.
I think you're right, it is difficult to tell which one of the two is better, between the Super Metroid and Metroid Prime designs. Giving the prize to the SM one because of how influencial it would become is probably the best route to take (Though in game I prefer the Metroid Prime one more because of the atmosphere it creates, but this is probably just because Metroid Prime was just too good a game.)
I'm really fond of the particularly angular and intimidating design of Samus Returns, though the semi-organic design of Fusion also appeals to me in its strangeness. Though it reminds me of how frustrating it is that Nintendo still hasn't made any chronological sequels to Fusion. Among many other things, I dislike Other M's designs for both armored and unarmored Samus. I wish Smash Ultimate had used a different design.
I know I am late, but the green hair variant of suitless samus is the varia suit version. If you start game 2 right after game 1 samus will be in the suitless version with all the major upgrades still in her possesion. That why most haven't seen her normal power suit version which is the same as then ending model. By the way, when the missels are active her hair is blond.
Well, now that Metroid Dread was announced, this one is my favorite so far. I love the Fusion suit mixed with white parts and the green lights. Also, the cannon looks AWESOME.
I genuinely love the Justin Baily design, and while I know this is a pipe dream, I hope they'd actually have her hair turn green after Dread as a lasting effect of what happens in it. Would be a cool way to both tie back in that old visual quirk while also reflecting her mutant biology. But as far as her actual canon designs go, I wish they'd bulk her way back up again out of the suit. In the suit, I love the Samus Returns design the best; feels like an optimal blend of sleek and heavy in all the right places, and I just love how massive they made her shoulder armor there.
This is absolutely awesome and well researched my good sir this is an awesome video watch, I think the game design to look at would be peach from super mario world or snake from metal gear solid my good sir
I think the more feminine zero suit gives more of a distinction between her in the suit and out of it. It's like batman. The less like herself she seems out of the suit the more meaning the suit has. The suit is more than just armor it's an extension of herself. She needs it as a character.
My personal favorite armor design is the one in Samus returns. I feel like the additional green lights give a nice contrast to the more warmer colors of the suit and adds to the futuristic style of the armor.
I'm a pretty big fan of the PED suit. Aka the only major suit design you didn't cover XD Since Samus spends like 90% of that game in that suit I consider it more of a total redesign than just an upgrade.
Justin Bailey Samus has green hair because even her suitless palette would change depending on whether she was in missile mode or had the Varia. Normal suit in beam mode: Brunette (also like in the ending) Normal suit in missile mode: Blonde Varia suit in beam mode: Green hair (how the Justin Bailey password spawns you) Varia suit in missile mode: Neon green hair
For me, its Power Suit/Armored: Her new suits in Prime 2, along with her redesign in Samus Returns Zero Suit: her appearance in Zero Mission, Brawl, and Prime 3 are perfect
I know you did just Mario not too far back, but I think a video on Bowser would be really neat, cause unlike Mario his designed didn't get really concrete till like 64
It’s so hard to choose...I like a bulkier design that gives off the idea that she is supposed to be an undercover woman, not a woman until revealed to be. So having a suit that looks more Manly and bulky is amazing, but I’m not a huge fan of those GIANT basketball shoulders either. Prime design has a weird helmet, an odd mix that doesn’t mesh well IMO, plus big shoulders :/ I Do like the other M design because, since the mystery of Samus being a female is out, it’s ok for her to still look agile and bad ass at the same time. It looks a bit too rounded and soft in some areas like the helmet, but besides that I feel it fits her well and still looks cool. Return of Samus (3DS) looks good and has plenty of cool new elements, but I’m still not a fan of how HUGE the shoulders are. Looks less feminine and I like that, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t like the other M design used in Smash Ultimate as well (refuse to say Other M Any more cuz that just leave a bad taste in the mouth) ZSS is another can of worms, in ultimate she is much more muscular than she was on SSB4, sadly a lot of thickness got removed (RIP Snake) but it works just as fine, and she still looks bad ass with or without her suit...maybe Prime 4 will have a new render I like a lot and gets a nice blend of sleek and manly design with broad shoulders that aren’t HUGE AF, maybe I contradicted myself -_-“ made sense when I thought about it...
I don't really see any reason for her disguise herself. The only reason she's masculine is that she has no reason to be feminine. It's not about the look, it's about the job. That's what bothers so many people about the more conventionally attractive depictions. I prefer a nice balance between bulky and slim. Zero mission did that well. It looks the most natural and fits the character best.
i.e I’d be ok if she acted more like a bad ass outside of her suit honestly...the only times we see her outside her suit she acts so vulnerable (Except in smash) and ye I’m aware she technically is more vulnerable, but she doesn’t act as cool without it. As I said I do like the design of Return of smash (3DS) and also Other M (Smash). I really have a prefers render. The prime suit isn’t my fav honestly
@@vicctretamaj The way I see it is she's not vulnerable when she's out of her suit but that she's out of her suit when she's vulnerable. The developers have control over these sorts of things. They designed her to look more vulnerable in her zero suit because she would only be outside of her armor in vulnerable situations. If she was just as tough (at least emotionally) outside of her armor then there would never be any story reason to take her suit away. You can't make a player feel powerless by taking away everything if the character still looks like they're in control and have power.
1:36 You sound like Jeremy Wade! "This monster has killed the entire human population And yet here I am, with a single holey sock and a jar of my own blood This creature is deadly But that won't stop me."
Not to mention the suit is proportioned to her body, rather than the modern versions where it appears to spread her shoulder placement so far apart only a gorilla can fit inside.
Ok, but, You actually get Samus out of her power armor in the original Metroid by beating the game, And the green hair is just the color pallette of the Varia suit
I feel like Metroid Dread is currently her best look. The mostly white and blue bits mesh well with the orange head and the massive shoulderpads are gone.
Now, the best suits designs are gonna be Dread's suits xD The power suit it's already my favorite, and the gravity has the best style than other gravity suits Can't I wait for Metroid Dread!!!
If we're talking Samus' Power Suit designs I'd have to say all 4 of Dread's Power Suits ranked in reverse are the best designs as it follows the story post-Fusion where her Suit, being biomechanical, is "regenerating" like a shell into something similar to it's previous model before the X had infected her. I highly doubt that it will truly return to its previous model that the SA-X had formed from the surgically removed parts of her Varia Suit that were infected by the X but will keep the hints of it's biologic nature noticeable. either way the reason why all 4 are my favorites is that each have distinct differences like the Gravity Suit's green lines zig-zag down her torso ending at her waist. The way how the green discs on her shoulders, palm, back of her hand, ankles, sides of her knees Arm Cannon and under her boots reminds me of Iron Man's repulsors for her Zero Suit, that's a different matter as it's hard to pin down what her actual official measurements but I'd say, from what I remember (as I haven't played Smash ever since I got my hands on a copy of Metroid Dread which is a fantastic game despite the many and inevitable game overs that the the E.M.M.I. will give you) I'd say that it's a tie between her design that she had in Smash Bros. for the Wii U/3DS (including the Fusion and Zero Mission versions) and Ultimate's design.
Sheik from Ocarina of Time was the as Samus. Sheik was referred as “he” throughout the game until the plottwist that he’s actually a woman (Princess Zelda in disguise)!!
"Justin Bailey" isn't a cheat code. It's a perfectly ordinary password which happens to be readable text. You could play as suitless Samus without any special passwords; you just had to beat the game fast enough.
Actually you play as suitless Samus in the first Metroid right after you finish the game, it only has green hair after acquiring the Varia Suit, the Justin Bailey Password already starts as Suitless Samus with Varia Suit. And Melee was released a year before Prime.
As a big Metroid fan, Samus in Samus Returns is the definitive design, both with armor and out of armor. Personally, I’m also a big fan of the realistic Prime design but I’m an even bigger fan of the Fusion Zero Suit design. I really dislike how they made her more feminine in Other M and Smash 4 but I’m glad they buffed her up in Ultimate.
Super metroid for her human self. For her iconic Varia suit, probably Prime. Which is the more important status since we see her in it more often, but it's not significantly better unlike the human self of Super. The Fusion suit doesn't look right until the final suit upgrade, for me - The blue and yellow looks corrupted, wrong, and it's not until the final suit that the colour scheme doesn't clash with itself for me, but I think that's a deliberate choice and works really well with the game's themes. Shame doesn't change at all between them, either, making the Varia suit version not quite as memorable - Actually the only two suits that really stick in my mind for Fusion is the base and the final one which is back to the orange nad yellow basis of the colour scheme. But, I'm biased - Prime and Fusion were my first two metroids, and obviously I was looking at Samus rather than through her eyes a lot more with Fusion. To your desire at the end - I'd prefer a 'hand drawn' aesthetic to a retro one - What the 2d stuff looked like it was going towards on the GBA (and Wii with Wario Land Shake It), and you sometimes get indies looking like when they're not being nostalgia throwbacks (Hollow Knight, for example).
Affiliate Link - Pre-Order Metroid Dread and get a Mousemat and Poster included:
amzn.to/3yGIWmS
And I also disagree with you I don't like Samus as a muscular person. To me looks awful I like Samus as very beautiful person to me she looks a lot better that way. also because she fits the type that I look for
Honestly, despite the high heels, I feel like Smash Ultimate's slight redesign for Zero Suit Samus is the best of her "outside of armor" designs. She maintains all of the advancements made in the past twenty years, while finally giving her back some muscle. She actually feels like someone who is at the peak of human athleticism.
Yeah that is fair tbh.
Now she just needs to be as thicc as in Smash 4, and we have a Samus body type for everyone.
The heels in Smash are supposed to be fun and flashy. She doesn’t have them in any actual Metroid title and they’re for the enjoyment of Smash being a party game.
I think the high heels have some sense. She does all these insane jumps and aerial combat, even in planets with different gravity, then, some kind of support for her abilities could be necessary. Smash ultimate does a great job showcasing this with all her agility, speed and kicks.
The heels are booster rockets. They are functional and fashionable. Lol
I believe the green hair in the first game is due to the color pallet, the suit and the rocket symbol always have the same color even when you upgrade suits. So I would imagine if you were wearing the orange suit and used the cheat she would have orange hair.
Actually the hair is brown, the green hair was intentional for the japanese players to distinguish the varia suit, as they unlock the zero suit mode after beating the game normally.
@@Densester That happens in the english version too, after you beat the game in under 3 hours, you restart the game without the suit. Justin Bailey was not a real cheat code.
The whole Justin Bailey thing was a coincidence on the cheat code menu, reason being is because the data values lined up with some random numbers in the game code.
@@RobinRhombus2 There is only one cheat code and that is NARPAS SWORD0 000000 000000. The code is not a valid password, but the password screen is hard coded to accept it for debugging purposes. other passwords like justin bailey, 20 20 (new game with swimsuit), and engage ridley are passwords that are accepted because their checksums (which take up the last two characters of the password) happen to be valid. You can see that because the last one crashes the game, and the reason that happens is because it sets the location to an illegal value. The game _could_ sanity check the spawn area value to make sure it's no higher than 4, just like Pacman could do a bounds check when rendering the HUD at the start of a level to avoid the level 256 bug, but it doesn't care. It only cares that the checksum matches, or that the password is "NARPAS SWORD0 000000 000000" (I'll get into more detail on that in the third paragraph).
As for the password system, it's a 16-byte chunk of data with various bitfields and numbers contained (the location is 4-bit and the "game age" is 32-bit little endian, this takes up bytes 12-15 of 16 so if you look at the engage ridley password and see that the second to last group of four characters "ERFU", which represent the higher three bytes of the game age, are set to fairly high values, it's apparent why the password sets your game time ridiculously high. Frankly, even if it were "0001", that would still represent 16777216 time units), followed by a shift byte and a checksum byte. The shift byte controls how the 16 data bytes are bitshifted (this is for encryption), and the checksum byte is the sum of the 17 bytes before it. Since it's only one byte, it's mod 256. These 18 bytes are then taken and encoded in a 24-character base64 representation (8 bits per unit -> 6 bits per unit) and that's your password. Passwords can be contrived with the shift byte set to 0. Doing so results in an unencrypted password that would either never be generated by the game or have a 1 in 256 chance of being generated, but is still valid nonetheless. There is a version of engage ridley that doesn't crash the game. As you can imagine, all you have to do is change the spawn location to something valid and then change the checksum to account for it. That password is E7GAGE RIDLEY MOTHER FUCKEJ. I know that seems confusing if you happen to know that the location is stored in the 9th byte, which would be about halfway into the password, but that's because the shift byte is set to a relatively high value, so the location bits end up in the second character after the encryption step.
btw in case you're wondering, the checksum for narpas is 63, or `0-` in the game's password charset. So a valid narpas password would be "NARPAS SWORD0 000000 00000-", although this results in the same effect, as from my experiments the game only seems to care that the password starts with "NARPAS SWORD0 0000". For instance, "NARPAS SWORD0 0000-U COCKXD" also submits. If you pay attention, you'll notice that the number of characters in "NARPASSWORD00000" is 16, exactly divisible by 4, so it's more than likely decoding the password back into bytes and first checking the first 12 bytes against this hardcoded data: 5CA6 D929 C720 61B3 4000 0000 (almost like a hash check)
The first several bits in the password data are flags saying whether or not samus has collected items, so you _could_ change the password to "MARPAS SWORD0 000000 00000x" to force it to be interpreted as a password, and since changing M (010111) to N (010110) only affects one bit (the maru mari taken bit), that means that the morph ball is obtainable, and the password is otherwise identical to narpas. The `-` changes to an `x` as the first character only represents the first 6 bits of what will ultimately be the fist byte after decoding. Since there's a "gap" of 2 bits at the right end (which are filled with the first 2 bits of the second character), the change is multiplied by a factor of 4, ergo subtracting one from N means subtracting 4 from the checksum.
The checksum, in case you're wondering how one would calculate that by looking at the password:
First gather up the characters. Since the 0's at the end don't add to the sum (they are zero), we don't care about anything after the first zero, as it brings the number of characters up to 12, which is divisible by 4 (4 6-bit values line up with 3 8-bit values, we need that "0" to complete the last byte). We're not dealing with ASCII, so the values are actually each character's offset from 0 in the password alphabet. That is, 0-9 A-Z a-z '?' and '-' all make up the values 0..63.
N = 23
= 010111
A = 10 = 001010
R = 27
= 011011
P = 25 = 011001
A = 10 = 001010
S = 28
= 011100
S = 28 = 011100
W = 32 = 100000
O = 24
= 011000
R = 27 = 011011
D = 13 = 001101
0 = 0 = 000000
Now we need to regroup them into 8-bit bytes:
010111
00 10100110 11011001 001010
01 11000111 00100000 011000
01 10110011 01000000
make that easier to read by rewriting it as hex
5CA6 D929 C720 61B3 40
Then just add them together (it's the same as regular addition but you're working in base 16)
5C+A6+D9+29+C7+20+61+B3+40(+00+00+00+00+00+00+00+00) = 43F
Truncate off the excess and we're left with 3F, which is 63 in decimal or 0011 1111 in binary, or `0-` in password characters. The first character can be changed by the last 4 bits of the shift byte, as those make up the first 4 bits of the 23rd password character, so being offset 2 bits to the left it could be any one of these 16 multiples of 4: 0-, 4-, 8-, C-, G-, K-, O-, S-, W-, a-, e-, i-, m-, q-, u-, y-. So if you see a Metroid password and the second to last character is one of [048CGKOSWaeimquy], then the stored checksum is the offset of the final password character from 0 (so a password ending in CF has a checksum of 15 while a password ending in DF has a checksum of 31), which is in no way useful--just trivia information that will live in your head rent free from now on.
I am a programmer btw
Not gonna lie, the newest designs from Samus Returns are by far my favorites. The metallic sheen and green lighting is dope, and her shoulders actually give off a generator feel. Her suit is powerful, so it would make sense for it to have those big ol’ engines. Not to mention the Zero Suit, which looks as cool as ever. I hope they keep them for Metroid Prime 4.
Can't lie. I'd love to see that.
Can we get a best Ganon design?
I just wonder what Ganon's upto
“Your majesty, Ganon and his minions have seized the island if Koradai!”
I was gonna a zelda but that deserves a hella yes
No
Ocarina of Time, hands down.
You do such an incredible job with this series! Be proud because this is work worth sharing. I'm a pleb who has only played Prime and Fusion (so by nature, I'm drawn to the Prime design).. I enjoyed the games but was never swept off my feet to the point that I wanted to revisit older released. Anyways, keep rocking it my friend, and thank you for your hard tireless work in producing content for the masses.
Thanks a lot dude. I honestly haven't played a lot of them in-depth, I'm kind of hoping they release a Prime Collection on Switch so I can enjoy it properly. Glad to hear this one was enjoyable, I was kind of worried it wasn't as good as the others because it took so long to make XD.
I will always love the Super Metroid design. I really think the tallness and bulkiness really fits Samus more and wish they still depicted her more today. I don’t really like the other M Samus suit as much, but I’m glad that smash made the suit looks more like Samus we all know and giving her that same feeling that the Super Metroid Samus has.
I think due to the sad fact that Metroid just isn't as popular compared to Mario, Zelda, and Sonic is why this vid wasn't as well-received. My favorite overall design is the regular Power suit; it just makes Samus look super nimble and sleek. Regarding other designs, I really love the Gravity Fusion suit; the look of the Fusion suit itself combined with the purple and green just always appealed to me. I've never cared for the Zero suit and always found it a bit ridiculous that Samus would wear a skin-tight body suit under an armored one; how does her skin breathe?? lol
Here's hoping dread stirs up more fans! Also I do thing that kind of bodysuit would help reduce chaffing from the armor. No matter what kind of padding might be in it the solid prices of the armor would still runs the wrong way. They really do need to add back her height and muscles though.
@@azidal3755 I agree about wearing something to protect against armor chafing and such. I think its because the Zero suit seems like its made of spandex with how shiny it looks, (which wouldn't be easy to breathe in) combined with its heels in a heavy power suit that makes it kind of ridiculous.
It’s Chozo tech. She ain’t gotta explain shit.
It's chozo technology that lets her call the suit if needed
Samus Returns is my fave, both in the suit and out of the suit. She just looks so powerful, and I like how she still wears the Zero Suit but is back to being buff again
To be fair, The Metroid Prime design was really shown until a year later after Melee. Yea, there was the Space World 2000 clips of Metroid Prime but from what I seen, early on, it pretty much resembles the Super Metroid design but slightly more detailed.
Oh for sure. It's basically a beefed up realistic version without as many bright colours... It'd obviously been planned for a while though so I guess I'm just surprised it didn't make it into smash brothers for cross promotion really!
So what do you think? Did I massively miss the mark? Metroid is admittedly not a series I'm THAT familiar with, but the atmosphere, games and designs have always stood out to me... I hope I managed to do the franchise some justice.
Pipeline for future immediate episodes include: Sonic (again), Pikachu and Dante. Let me know what your faves from these are as well as suggesting over episodes you'd like to see!
The Artist Mark Flynn
I don’t think you missed the ‘Mark’
Why do I do this
Also, in Metroid 1, you can play as suit less Samus in a new game plus mode. Suit less Samus’s hair is only green when you get the Varia suit.
Best Doomguy Design? huh? just me? 😉
I agree but my favorite suit, is Samus Returns Varia Suit. Also it pisses me off Nintendo didn’t use the suit for Smash ultimate.
I like the Varia suit from Samus Returns, and the Zero Suit Samus design from Smash 4
I agree about Super Metroid Samus too, I really like the more sporty design, and also the hair.
The black suit also looks really nice and neutral, and the tall and muscular proportions give an emphasis to her prowess.
It all fits the sort of realistic style for Metroid, I would like to see a new version of this Samus.
It blends nicely between a bit of realism and stylization, it helps that it's pixel art too, which didn't age like the earlier 3D attempts and realistic humans tend to do.
I like the blue in Zero Suit Samus, and I like the markings on the suit too, they're nice details and give off a sci-fi vibe.
I would like to see some sort of mix between the Super Metroid design, and the modern design. With the colors and details, but less skin tight and more natural looking and sporty. I'm sure it would look really cool.
Her design in Fusion looks like the closest to that so far, but it's still not the same, it's more like a in-between.
That this video tanked so hard breaks my heart. People really aren't talking about Metroid anymore, are they?
I think my favorite power suit is the gravity suit from Prime. I love the color scheme and it looks great in that game. And the Prime suit is just such a classic anyway.
But yeah, Prime wins in terms of Varia/power suits.
As far as Zero Suits go, I feel like it's more up for debate because I like select features of lots of them. I like her being slimmer in Smash because it emphasizes her athleticism, but I also like her earlier renditions because of the influence of famous actresses at the time.
However, I think Zero Mission strikes this balance of a slimmer Samus while also keeping her attitude intact, and is "the best". Feels more original than what came before it and has more character than what came after. At least, that's how I see it.
Can certainly see the logic behind that think it's just personal preference for me. I don't like zero suit samus I would kill to see something more realistic though.
*You should do Sans lol, now that he has appeared in 2 games total, he is **_technically_** viable*
spoils, i no play deltarune yet :'(
Would be a nice April Fool's
Never really played any of the Metroid games before, but goddamn did this video make me love Samus. I’ve always held an appreciation for her, but she just looks so cool! Gym Samus is best Samus though. Girl needs some muscles on her.
Character designs are very special and always deserve unique looks and special pieces to make them unique and iconic as well as stand out to the characters personality and feel
Honestly I love the Samus returns design. Might just be the visor shape but I think it looks really imposing and advanced
Yeah I love that one as well!
The fusion suit is a personal favourite design of mine. The sleekness, the Metroid like decals around the helmet, the arm spikes. I just think it's the perfect evolution of the character. For the Varia Suit I'd probably go with Super Metroid just because it nails just about everything that encompasses the core strengths of the design. Final for an oddball choice my favourite rendition of the Gravity Suit is definitely the Samus Returns variant, the addition of black decals, spikes and tribal like light fixtures just give.the gravity suit that added level of badass that it's been missing this whole time and brought it more in line with the major change in design seen with the Varia Suit in Metroid 2. I really hope this becomes the default design of the Gravity Suit going forward, it's awesome.
I want to take a second to mention that if you were to go back to the title screen after the ending and started a new game, you would actually use the un-suited sprite, brown hair and all. The green hair is only due to the Justin Bailey code starting you off with the Varia Suit color pallet, so that little inconsistency might make more sense now.
Coming back to this after beating Dread and I gotta say the default dread suit is right at the top for me now. It combined the best parts of the standard varia suit with the smoother lines of the fusion suit, plus those boots look awesome. It’s the first time that getting the varia suit felt like a downgrade.
Yo, straight-up didn't get a notification for this one, thanks for mentioning it in your new Sonic video.
Also I love the look of the Samus Returns Gravity suit
I actually have a tie for both armored Samus and Zero Suit. My favorite armored is her Varia Suit from Prime 2 and her Fusion Suit. And as for her Zero Suit, it's between Smash Ultimate and her concept art for Metroid: Samus Returns. I think Smash Ultimate nailed her look by having her be fit af while also maintaining the sex appeal that she's been know for, but if that's not for you then her zero suit concept art for Samus Return resembles perfectly what I think a badass lone bounty hunter carrying around that huge armor should realistically look like.
Need to find me that concept art! Will check it out!
@@ArtistMarkFlynn pbs.twimg.com/media/DWdliTWXUAA8Nep.jpg There you go
Personally, my favorite suit aesthetically is the Fusion Suit
I swear I read this as "best sans design" and got confused for a second
He needs some more games first... It'd just be a video full of fan art XD
His undertale and deltarune designs are actually completely identical lol
Spoilers :(
@@ArtistMarkFlynn oops sorry
EXACTLY THERE ARE THREE
I really liked Metroid Fusion design specially the final "alien" varia suit with the spikes.
My favorite has to either be Super Metroid or Prime 1. They both had a more realistic, built version of Samus. She’s taller and more muscular in these games and that’s the way I like her the most.
Metroid Prime 2 & 3 design is different than Metroid Prime 1, it deserved a more in depth analysis like the rest
What if Metroid was a girl?
Metroid Prime always had the best design. It was the most grounded and “realistic.” It didn’t have any unnecessary frills. It was straightforward and utilitarian, just like Samus. It was the perfect refinement of the Super Metroid design.
I think it's easier to list samus designs I don't like, which would be prime power suit, samus returns varia suit and prime 2 zero suit. It's always nice to see the character represented in many different styles and I think Samus lends herself well to that, since I think everyone has a different interpretation of how she'd look in their mind. Tall or small Samus I don't think is something that really matters, depends on what sort relationship she has with her suit that the game wants to communicate.
For Other M, big Suit but small Samus is a good metaphor to the "Cold, hard badass exterior. Conflicted and vulnerable human interior" theme that the game tried to use but didn't manage to do anything meanigful with, for example. Games where she has a similar height to her suit can communicate well that she feels comfortable in her role and is as one with her mission.
First of all, this was an amazing video, I loved it!
Now to my favorite designs, I really like the Varia Suit from Samus Returns, all the detail it has on the cannons and shoulders are amazing. My only problem with it is that the visor is a little too thin, but I do like the glow.
For the Zero Suit... I feel like some people are gonna disagree with me, but the design from Smash Bros. (Sm4sh and Ultimate) are my favorite ones. Many people dislike the jet boots but I like them a lot, I just feel like they fit with the character really well, it's something that she can carry around with her without noticeable problems. She's always equipped with various different power-ups, ready for each scenario, and the Jet Boots just fit perfectly as an aid for the Zero Suit, when she has less equipment.
I don't hate the ultimate design. I just think the heels are so silly. Just give her some flats and make her kick ass lol.
Thanks for watching and the kind words!
Keep up your good content!
And we all have different opinions, that's fine.
I like the idea of boots, I just...wish they were actually boots. The heels look clunky and the black and neon green is an odd choice considering her zero suit has red accents on it. Moreover, I just feel like big stompy combat boots would be more in line with her role and character rather than dainty heels. They could be awesome dark blue boots with red soles... That’s what I think.
The Zero Suit has red? What?
The Scared Llama those reddish-pinkish glowing accents on her chest, hands, and back
Oh finally I was really looking forward to this one.
Hope you enjoy it!
Is anyone else kinda disappointed that her zero suit went from a buff-ass bounty hunter in super metroid to an Instagram model in other m?
I am disappointed 💯👍
Thank for pointing out that the brawl design Samus isn’t just the Super Metroid one. I believe that it’s based off the varia suit that shows up at the end of zero mission.
I actually did think that for the longest period of time! Glad I did my research as I ended up learning so much about the franchise.
My favorite design is probably the Prime-2-3 design. The design of the suit is decently bulky but doesn't look too top-heavy like Samus returns or Prime 1. The green lines and more angled visor helps the suit feel more dynamic than Prime 1. While Samus' arm cannon may seem oversized compared to other versions of the suit, its size does help emphasize the importance of the arm cannon in these games with all the different weapon modes and combos. Overall I like the Prime 2-3 suit since it looks like a suit that is a walking arsenal of weapons, yet its proportions are balanced enough were Samus can still believably be shown performing dynamic acrobatics when needed.
Fun fact about the Green hair.
The Justin Bailey code starts you off with the Varia Suit. The normal sprites have Samus with brown hair like in the ending
Nice work. You could consider game restrictions more. The GB grayscale limitation is one you did. The resolution of the platforms is one you didn't say much about. The other handheld ones are, whether using sprites or models, designed for smaller resolutions, which is why M:SR's has such large glowy bits. I'm sure there are other considerations to cover, like you did the pace of the games regarding M:OM.
A fun possible redesign for her zero suit would be to add armor plating on certain areas of the bodysuit. This wouldn't be just to add protection to the Zero suit (though it would help), but the plates could also be designed to look like anchor points that the power armor would attach to when she calls on it, showing the zero suit as more of an integrated piece of the actual armor rather than just a uniform. I got the idea looking at some of the armor designs from the Claymore manga series.
The green hair is actually from the Varia suit, her normal color is brown
One of my favorite looks for Samus is the orange almost sportswear thing she has on in some of the endings of Zero Mission. The thing that isn't the Zero Suit.
I think that's just because of what she's doing in those endings- which is like, looking out a window, walking down the street, and hanging out at a bar.
Samus is one of those characters who, because they almost exclusively do crazy badass stuff and save the world, it's a treat to see them doing something outside that. Of course it'd ruin the effect to see it TOO much, but a good reminder that "This character is, in fact, a person with interests and hobbies and stuff" is always appreciated.
Another brilliant video Mark!!! X
Cheers LD!
The best design is the suit from the pen and paper Metroid game that came out in Japan only called “Zebes Invasion Order”.
The shoulder pads are sharp, the suit is sleek and the arm cannon goes on top of her arm so she has two free hands. Looks so badass. She also has black hair in it.
Fun fact about that green hair in the original - that's just the varia suit recolor. If you use a different code (I forget what it is, but its just 0's and 2's) you start basically a brand new game with no power suit. She has brown hair and the pink leotard.
Other M has the best ZSS design, Fight me!
The gates of hell have been opened 🤣
The hottest Samus had ever looked.
My opinion? Metroid Dread. I REALLY want a Suit with elements of ALL four suits!
Shape: Gravity Suit
Colors: Varia and Power Suit(blue instead of yellow)
Visor and Lights: Purple
Hand: Metroid Suit, colors and all.
As someone who's a huge fan of the series, my favorite design surprisingly lined up exactly with your final decision. The Super Varia suit is great, though I do find myself leaning more towards the Prime 2-3 design honestly. I love the Zero Suit in Zero Mission and Prime 3, but I wish she appeared more muscular like in Super Metroid. I still wish Smash would go back to the Samus and ZSS designs from Brawl, honestly.
Some other points I'd like to bring up:
>In Samus Returns, Samus' suit still retains some design choices from Other M, such as the smoother waist and exaggerated chest armor size, and I'm personally not at all a fan of the much angrier visor she has. It reminds me of Dark Samus almost, and I feel this design comes from SR trying to be a much more action-focused game than the original Metroid II. In addition to this, you can also notice that Samus' Zero Suit retains the platform heels, and even the power suit has raised heels now (this is more easily visible in the concept art, but it is present on the models still).
>Starting with Prime 2 (and also the same design is in Prime Hunters), the Varia suit also has some added large, green lights on the legs. Not very noticeable in promo art, but it is very visible ingame. Also, even though the visor is more angular starting here, I feel that it's still largely rectangular enough to appear both strong, but not necessarily completely aggressive yet, which I feel is a good design choice.
Also while I know everybody hates Federation Force, I dunno, I still don't think it's got a "bad" artstyle. It came out at a terrible time yeah, but as a spinoff when we already had a pretty cartoony sprite in the first game, I think it's not exactly a hellspawn like everyone makes it out to be.
...it's also a pretty fun game with friends when you take it as a spinoff... you guys are just mean...
You have your points on federation force but to be fair if they had announced prime 4 prior they would have avoided any negative backlash. It's a shame they weren't a bit more clever about it.
@@ArtistMarkFlynn Yeah, they could've held of FF for about a year so they could announce it alongside Prime 4 and Samus Returns (despite my distaste for the latter). I guess when [they] knew they were developing the next two games, they didn't expect such a huge backlash to what was a harmless game in their eyes.
Yeah. Harmless spin-offs are great, but not when it appears like you've given up on the rest of the franchise!
@@ArtistMarkFlynn not wrong! I just think it's fair to approach the game on its own terms now, since it's already been 3 years and all.
My favorite is the metroid prime 2 design. Some of my oldest memories are of my sister playing the first 2 prime games, so that will always be her iconic look for me. I don't like the way they redesigned her zero suit form in other m, but I would probably be fine with it if they reduced the heels, and put her in a different situation (say, for example, using it to show when she is safe instead of vulnerable), and kept the height consistent(she should always be between my height and my dad's height when outside of the suit). Still, I definitely prefer the more muscular look, because when I look at her I want to see strength first, and sexiness second, not the other way around.
I think you're right, it is difficult to tell which one of the two is better, between the Super Metroid and Metroid Prime designs. Giving the prize to the SM one because of how influencial it would become is probably the best route to take (Though in game I prefer the Metroid Prime one more because of the atmosphere it creates, but this is probably just because Metroid Prime was just too good a game.)
I like Samus's Justin Bailey design.
With the green hair and leotard.
Just my personal opinion
I'm really fond of the particularly angular and intimidating design of Samus Returns, though the semi-organic design of Fusion also appeals to me in its strangeness. Though it reminds me of how frustrating it is that Nintendo still hasn't made any chronological sequels to Fusion.
Among many other things, I dislike Other M's designs for both armored and unarmored Samus. I wish Smash Ultimate had used a different design.
"how frustrating it is that Nintendo still hasn't made any chronological sequels to Fusion"
Welp.
@@Dr.Pootis I'm so happy to be retroactively wrong.
I know I am late, but the green hair variant of suitless samus is the varia suit version. If you start game 2 right after game 1 samus will be in the suitless version with all the major upgrades still in her possesion. That why most haven't seen her normal power suit version which is the same as then ending model. By the way, when the missels are active her hair is blond.
Well, now that Metroid Dread was announced, this one is my favorite so far. I love the Fusion suit mixed with white parts and the green lights. Also, the cannon looks AWESOME.
I genuinely love the Justin Baily design, and while I know this is a pipe dream, I hope they'd actually have her hair turn green after Dread as a lasting effect of what happens in it. Would be a cool way to both tie back in that old visual quirk while also reflecting her mutant biology.
But as far as her actual canon designs go, I wish they'd bulk her way back up again out of the suit. In the suit, I love the Samus Returns design the best; feels like an optimal blend of sleek and heavy in all the right places, and I just love how massive they made her shoulder armor there.
This is absolutely awesome and well researched my good sir this is an awesome video watch, I think the game design to look at would be peach from super mario world or snake from metal gear solid my good sir
Cheers man! Appreciate that. Good suggestions too!
I am not too in the know of Metroid, I only played the snes version as a kid, However because of that I think super Metroid is my fav! good vid!
I'm kind of similar. Want to give the whole franchise a play after doing all this research!!!
I just found your channel, and I love this video! Keep up the great work.
Cheers! Thanks for taking a chance and checking out a new channel!
I think the more feminine zero suit gives more of a distinction between her in the suit and out of it. It's like batman. The less like herself she seems out of the suit the more meaning the suit has. The suit is more than just armor it's an extension of herself. She needs it as a character.
I personally love prime's suit, but I also want a Zero suit samus that reflects smash 4's design but with some characteristic of old Samus
Prime 3 still has the best overall Varia Suit design. Prime 1 Samus had the most realistic face and I wouldn't mind if they went back to that look.
My personal favorite armor design is the one in Samus returns. I feel like the additional green lights give a nice contrast to the more warmer colors of the suit and adds to the futuristic style of the armor.
Also it's intimidating to a horrifying level.
It’s a trick question, all forms of Samus are the best.
I agree with your zero suit pick. I think Samus should look like a beast under that armor.
I'm a pretty big fan of the PED suit. Aka the only major suit design you didn't cover XD Since Samus spends like 90% of that game in that suit I consider it more of a total redesign than just an upgrade.
The downside to me being a metroid prime n00b 😂
Justin Bailey Samus has green hair because even her suitless palette would change depending on whether she was in missile mode or had the Varia.
Normal suit in beam mode: Brunette (also like in the ending)
Normal suit in missile mode: Blonde
Varia suit in beam mode: Green hair (how the Justin Bailey password spawns you)
Varia suit in missile mode: Neon green hair
Can we all agree that the dread suit looks best tho? Like, it’s kinda unfair, considering it came out on the switch.
Unpopular opinion - the phasing suit in Prime 3 is amazing
For me, its
Power Suit/Armored: Her new suits in Prime 2, along with her redesign in Samus Returns
Zero Suit: her appearance in Zero Mission, Brawl, and Prime 3 are perfect
Looking back, Fusion Samus reminds me of 90s early 00s Marvel.
Good point actually. I can see that!
I know you did just Mario not too far back, but I think a video on Bowser would be really neat, cause unlike Mario his designed didn't get really concrete till like 64
PED suit from corruption or varia suit from Super Metroid are my faves
ohh my fucking god. i am sooo suprised you said you preferred the tall muscular samus.
thank you for existing
i love you
Thank you Terry
It’s so hard to choose...I like a bulkier design that gives off the idea that she is supposed to be an undercover woman, not a woman until revealed to be. So having a suit that looks more Manly and bulky is amazing, but I’m not a huge fan of those GIANT basketball shoulders either. Prime design has a weird helmet, an odd mix that doesn’t mesh well IMO, plus big shoulders :/ I Do like the other M design because, since the mystery of Samus being a female is out, it’s ok for her to still look agile and bad ass at the same time. It looks a bit too rounded and soft in some areas like the helmet, but besides that I feel it fits her well and still looks cool. Return of Samus (3DS) looks good and has plenty of cool new elements, but I’m still not a fan of how HUGE the shoulders are. Looks less feminine and I like that, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t like the other M design used in Smash Ultimate as well (refuse to say Other M Any more cuz that just leave a bad taste in the mouth) ZSS is another can of worms, in ultimate she is much more muscular than she was on SSB4, sadly a lot of thickness got removed
(RIP Snake) but it works just as fine, and she still looks bad ass with or without her suit...maybe Prime 4 will have a new render I like a lot and gets a nice blend of sleek and manly design with broad shoulders that aren’t HUGE AF, maybe I contradicted myself -_-“ made sense when I thought about it...
I don't really see any reason for her disguise herself. The only reason she's masculine is that she has no reason to be feminine. It's not about the look, it's about the job. That's what bothers so many people about the more conventionally attractive depictions. I prefer a nice balance between bulky and slim. Zero mission did that well. It looks the most natural and fits the character best.
i.e I’d be ok if she acted more like a bad ass outside of her suit honestly...the only times we see her outside her suit she acts so vulnerable (Except in smash) and ye I’m aware she technically is more vulnerable, but she doesn’t act as cool without it. As I said I do like the design of Return of smash (3DS) and also Other M (Smash). I really have a prefers render. The prime suit isn’t my fav honestly
@@vicctretamaj The way I see it is she's not vulnerable when she's out of her suit but that she's out of her suit when she's vulnerable. The developers have control over these sorts of things. They designed her to look more vulnerable in her zero suit because she would only be outside of her armor in vulnerable situations. If she was just as tough (at least emotionally) outside of her armor then there would never be any story reason to take her suit away. You can't make a player feel powerless by taking away everything if the character still looks like they're in control and have power.
1:36
You sound like Jeremy Wade!
"This monster has killed the entire human population
And yet here I am, with a single holey sock and a jar of my own blood
This creature is deadly
But that won't stop me."
Imo the best is the return of samus OG cover art. She looks clean and her suit looks mechanical af to me.
Not to mention the suit is proportioned to her body, rather than the modern versions where it appears to spread her shoulder placement so far apart only a gorilla can fit inside.
You're a gaming guru at this point. I've learnt lots from your eps. Saucy.
pretty much owe your childhood snes for most of these memories tbh
My favorite design is either Metroid Fusion or Zero Mission. They're both so friggin good
Ok, but, You actually get Samus out of her power armor in the original Metroid by beating the game, And the green hair is just the color pallette of the Varia suit
Birchcen Gaming yea, I never used any cheat codes for that. I just beat the game, and it reset with green hair zero suit.
Basically, I am a n00b
Forgot to mention that the Justin Bailey password is just a coinsidance
The Dread design is probably my favorite now. Especially her ending design
The green hair is the Justin bailey code is from the Varia suit being collected. The normal sprite has more normal hair
Unpopular Opinion: Other M and Fusion has my favorite suit design
Samus Returns' design is awesome, but I always love Metroid Prime's design! It's perfect!
My favourite design would have to be the fusion suit as seen in samus returns
What do you like about it?
I just realize the one we eventually get a new smash game. We could possibly get the dread design as an alt.
I feel like Metroid Dread is currently her best look. The mostly white and blue bits mesh well with the orange head and the massive shoulderpads are gone.
Now, the best suits designs are gonna be Dread's suits xD
The power suit it's already my favorite, and the gravity has the best style than other gravity suits
Can't I wait for Metroid Dread!!!
If we're talking Samus' Power Suit designs I'd have to say all 4 of Dread's Power Suits ranked in reverse are the best designs as it follows the story post-Fusion where her Suit, being biomechanical, is "regenerating" like a shell into something similar to it's previous model before the X had infected her. I highly doubt that it will truly return to its previous model that the SA-X had formed from the surgically removed parts of her Varia Suit that were infected by the X but will keep the hints of it's biologic nature noticeable. either way the reason why all 4 are my favorites is that each have distinct differences like the Gravity Suit's green lines zig-zag down her torso ending at her waist. The way how the green discs on her shoulders, palm, back of her hand, ankles, sides of her knees Arm Cannon and under her boots reminds me of Iron Man's repulsors for her Zero Suit, that's a different matter as it's hard to pin down what her actual official measurements but I'd say, from what I remember (as I haven't played Smash ever since I got my hands on a copy of Metroid Dread which is a fantastic game despite the many and inevitable game overs that the the E.M.M.I. will give you) I'd say that it's a tie between her design that she had in Smash Bros. for the Wii U/3DS (including the Fusion and Zero Mission versions) and Ultimate's design.
Eu amo metroid, uma das minhas series favoritas (talvez a favorita)
Great video man, keep it up.
Sheik from Ocarina of Time was the as Samus. Sheik was referred as “he” throughout the game until the plottwist that he’s actually a woman (Princess Zelda in disguise)!!
The Prime 2 version of the base Varia suit is probably my favorite.
3:56 The reason her hair is green is because of the varia suit upgrade. Her actual hair color is still brown
"Justin Bailey" isn't a cheat code. It's a perfectly ordinary password which happens to be readable text. You could play as suitless Samus without any special passwords; you just had to beat the game fast enough.
I agree with you and really hope that in the future they will change zero suit samus to be have a more realistic athletic build
Actually you play as suitless Samus in the first Metroid right after you finish the game, it only has green hair after acquiring the Varia Suit, the Justin Bailey Password already starts as Suitless Samus with Varia Suit.
And Melee was released a year before Prime.
As a big Metroid fan, Samus in Samus Returns is the definitive design, both with armor and out of armor. Personally, I’m also a big fan of the realistic Prime design but I’m an even bigger fan of the Fusion Zero Suit design. I really dislike how they made her more feminine in Other M and Smash 4 but I’m glad they buffed her up in Ultimate.
Samus returns nearly took it for me tbh. Really cool design.
@@ArtistMarkFlynn I adore how toned she looks in her Zero Suit too.
I think I'm alone in loving the light suit in Prime 2
Super metroid for her human self. For her iconic Varia suit, probably Prime. Which is the more important status since we see her in it more often, but it's not significantly better unlike the human self of Super.
The Fusion suit doesn't look right until the final suit upgrade, for me - The blue and yellow looks corrupted, wrong, and it's not until the final suit that the colour scheme doesn't clash with itself for me, but I think that's a deliberate choice and works really well with the game's themes. Shame doesn't change at all between them, either, making the Varia suit version not quite as memorable - Actually the only two suits that really stick in my mind for Fusion is the base and the final one which is back to the orange nad yellow basis of the colour scheme.
But, I'm biased - Prime and Fusion were my first two metroids, and obviously I was looking at Samus rather than through her eyes a lot more with Fusion.
To your desire at the end - I'd prefer a 'hand drawn' aesthetic to a retro one - What the 2d stuff looked like it was going towards on the GBA (and Wii with Wario Land Shake It), and you sometimes get indies looking like when they're not being nostalgia throwbacks (Hollow Knight, for example).
Would love to see a hand drawn one too. That'd be very cool.
Metroid 2 The Return of Samus and Super Metroid has the best looking Samus ever, but Metroid Dread looks stunning!