I would personally not be offended but I'll have to ask myself "Huh, cool, but why?" Think about it for a few seconds, realize it doesn't matter at all and move on with my life.
But that is the thing, Samus is already a defined beloved character and her fanbase was burned with Other M and FF, so they are a bit sensitive, so a change so radical would probably confuse the players rather than make them think.
Of course, Samus is not defined by her blondiness (She was a redhead on the NES, right?), and had green hair in game, but if we start going that way then she doesn't need to be a woman, either, since her defining character trait is that she is a fearless bounty hunter.
And that means there is no point in making her black when she already has a recognizable design.
Hmm, but now that I think about it, it COULD be interesting if its played like with the original metroid. As in her race has no mention and no meaning in the game and its only revealed by the end of the game if you do well enough in a "You played as a black woman, ain't that cool?" kind of way. But in this era a spoiler like that would leak in seconds and make a splash on the internet, so the impact of experiencing that while playing will be gone for sure. So its, again, well, pretty pointless.
And if its done to make a political point, I just don't see Nintendo bothering with that at all. They are 100% allergic to controversy, as most corporations are, actually, but Nintendo takes it to an innocent degree. Why would they get in hot water for a character that already works as is.
My reaction would simply be "Cool, lets get on NeoGAF and see how many people got banned for their opinion on this already".
