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Gotdatmoney · May 19, 2017

Wouldn't matter to me. But I would rather a new character that gets all the spot light. I want minority characters to stand up on their own merits, I don't want to just take white characters and make them another race because people will still always associate that character with being white.

Kudo · May 19, 2017

Pilgrimzero said:
You beat the new Metroid reboot, the armor comes off at the end.

Under the armor suit:

Sheroking · May 19, 2017

Changing the race of a character like Samus is pretty inoffensive tbh, but would seem kind of pointless and pander-y, considering you barely see or hear from her in the non-Other M Metroid games.

I'd just be happy with a new Metroid game.

nickerous · May 19, 2017

I don't care, but if it is fps, then I ain't buying it.

Gimmie 2d!

HStallion · May 19, 2017

Depends, are we talking an Other M style Metroid game or a more traditional or Prime style take on it? She could be purple with a mustache and 3 eyes for all I care if the game was good and true to the spirit of the series.

Tygamr · May 19, 2017

I would be down for a black Samus. It shouldn't be hidden until the end like some are suggestingthat would just feel gross. They'd just be using her ethnicity for shock value. I know the idea is that it'd be a homage to the original reveal that Samus is a woman in the first Metroid, but trying to make a character's ethnicity "shocking" is just disgusting, and seems a bit racist.

Sami+ · May 19, 2017

I want more black characters in games but nah Samus is already an established character. The black Inklings being use as their game's cover stars though would be cool, or a black Link/Zelda.

A black female Link would be hype as fuck.

PSqueak · May 19, 2017

Triforce141 said:
Samus was mostly there with the amazonian women design in Super Metroid and possibly Prime 1.

She was also 6'3" in every game up until Other M and Smash 4 where they shortened her to 5'1"

Blame Other M, Smash heights are not canon. Olimar's canon height is the size of an ant, Pikachu and Kirby are supposed to be much smaller than they appear in the game too.

The heights in smash are just adjusted for gameplay purposes.

Ran rp · May 19, 2017

thinking racist gamers are rational and will suddenly question their racism because you sprung the mpc's race on them at the end of the game....

that might work... on a child..

Servbot24 · May 19, 2017

Richie said:
Being against this instantly makes one racist, great argument ye got there. I'll take two badass women over a single one, thanks. Also means more candidates for Smash ;P

I mean yeah, make a new "it's basically Samus" type character, I don't care. Either way it's completely irrelevant to what matters in Metroid. Samus could be anything and it would not matter at all.

Caayn · May 19, 2017

Why not wish for new original characters to be black? Instead of altering established characters.

atr0cious · May 19, 2017

nynt9 said:
I don't mind a black protagonist but why even reboot Metroid? Just make a spinoff with a new black character. There's no point to making Samus black. It's not like she's an archetypal character like link. There's continuity in these games. This isn't comic books.

JPizzle84 said:
Better idea. Get rid of Samus and let you make an avatar if you want to go that route. Why not Asian or any other ethnicity(or male). For the most part she doesn't have a whole lot of personality (other m excluded).

I feel the same way about when people want the next James Bond to be Idris Elba. I love him as an actor in the wire I loved him in Pacific Rim.

I'm not trying to be derogatory at all so please don't think that but why is it so important to take established characters and Change their ethnicity. Why not make a new character. It's like the exact thing people got upset about with the Ghost in the Shell movie but reversed.

Can someone offer me a compelling case why a new character wouldn't simply be better? I hope this doesn't come across in any wrong ignorant or aggressive way. I really want to know.

Caayn said:
Why not wish for new original characters to be black? Instead of altering established characters.

Because spin off characters are just that, spin-offs that have little importance to the actual franchise. If miles was instead black Peter, he probably wouldn't be written as limp compared to how he is. Twintelle is currently blowing up because of her, while great design, it still squarely puts her in her place as to where our skin color usually resides in culture, titillation and entertainment. Luckily she's in a fighting game with a future, so the devs can not only bring her more to the forefront as far as marketing, but also put other people of color in the game.

Various Artists · May 19, 2017

Better idea. Get rid of Samus and let you make an avatar if you want to go that route. Why not Asian or any other ethnicity(or male). For the most part she doesn't have a whole lot of personality (other m excluded).

I feel the same way about when people want the next James Bond to be Idris Elba. I love him as an actor in the wire I loved him in Pacific Rim.

I'm not trying to be derogatory at all so please don't think that but why is it so important to take established characters and Change their ethnicity. Why not make a new character. It's like the exact thing people got upset about with the Ghost in the Shell movie but reversed.

Can someone offer me a compelling case why a new character wouldn't simply be better? I hope this doesn't come across in any wrong ignorant or aggressive way. I really want to know.

(Read to the end looks like I'm not the only one with a similar line of thinking)

Playsage · May 19, 2017

I'd say good luck to Nintendo

Stone Ocean · May 19, 2017

How would you react to a Metroid reboot with a black Samus, but she's designed by Team Ninja

Glass Rebel · May 19, 2017

Eolz said:
You mean that Samus, a character that was created when nearly no female protagonists existed in video games, isn't established, nor important for minorities?

And good job not replying to the other questions.

Seriously, this thread went to shit quicker than the "Link should be a girl" threads from the same creator, due to having even less reasons behind it. No point for this change, this thread, or to continue this "discussion" (that doesn't happen due to people just doing "lalala I don't hear you" when getting counter arguments, and a fake sense of self superiority making it even harder to try to talk).

Seriously. Stop and think next time. And read your own posts.

Samus' importance wouldn't be lessened by making her a black woman.

And I don't have to answer questions that I don't find relevant to the discussion.

Iva Demilcol · May 19, 2017

Changing an established character radically is always a bad idea imo.

shmoglish · May 19, 2017

Threads these days on neogaf.... terrible, really. I woulld not have a problem with a black Samus/Mainchar in a Meteoidgame, but do we really need a thread/discussion whit this topic?

Kwame120 · May 19, 2017

Chingachgook said:
SJW movement is out of control. We cant and should not rewrite history, nor destroy beloved old characters.

However, I would love a Black, or Hispanic, or Asian etc character in any companies marque franchises, however just make them a additional character or new character. No need to destroy past story cannons, just add to the story. (If it matters I'm Hispanic and don't know why we would replace beloved old characters...)

Just IMHO

It's an alternate take on the character. You'll find that for many characters, them being "white", or "male" isn't a defining aspect of their character. Like in my previous post, take Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter series. J.K Rowling didn't even specify her as white in the books, (though of course that's what our minds default to, due to that being the norm in the majority of media) and we've got two portrayals of her - Emma Watson portraying a white Hermione in the films, and Noma Dumezweni portraying a black Hermione in the theatre. Both interpretations are equally as valid, as Hermione's skin colour isn't a defining part of her character. While if Hermione was portrayed as having below average intelligence, and barely trying at school, it wouldn't really be a faithful portrayal - as Hermione's intelligence and work ethics are key parts of her character.

If you open you mind to being able to change non-core aspects of a character, you'll find that there're many ways of approaching the character - which can actually enrich them, as we get to see them in action in different scenarios, hence play with their core aspects in a variety of different ways - and variety is the spice of life.

Being female is a core part of Samus' character, in a male dominating gaming industry. Being white, isn't. So we can freely create a black Samus, without worrying about changing what makes her Samus. As well as variety itself being interesting and desirable, a black Samus would mean greater representation for black people - and while its not as good as a black character created from the ground up - there's no reason why we can't have both.

Death Penalty · May 19, 2017

Since the games have continuity I'd generally be against making Samus the character black. She already has an established appearance and it's the same Samus from game to game. However, I'd have no problem with Samus passing her suit along to a black person or a reboot that ditches continuity featuring a black Samus, though I'd in general be against ditching Metroid canon in favor of rebooting it for story reasons.

Papo Swing · May 19, 2017

I wouldn't mind and while we're at it lets stip saying African American. A south african that emigrated to the US is an African American and he can be black white or whatever.

Servbot24 · May 19, 2017

Iva Demilcol said:
Changing an established character radically is always a bad idea imo.

The idea is fine, the fans are bad.

Comrade Crunch · May 19, 2017

It doesn't really matter what ethnicity she is, especially considering she barely speaks, and we only see her face for a few minutes per game (barring Other M).

Various Artists · May 19, 2017

atr0cious said:
Because spin off characters are just that, spin-offs that have little importance to the actual franchise. If miles was instead black Peter, he probably wouldn't be written as limp compared to how he is. Twintelle is currently blowing up because of her, while great design, it still squarely puts her in her place as to where our skin color usually resides in culture, titillation and entertainment. Luckily she's in a fighting game with a future, so the devs can not only bring her more to the forefront as far as marketing, but also put other people of color in the game.

Ok, so the burden is on Nintendo to make that character engaging and less of spin off character. Changing the character because of poor writing doesn't fix the problem either

Toad was a "spin off" character and he's everywhere.

udivision · May 19, 2017

NeoGAF's discussions about the mistreatment of this blond, white woman would become NeoGAF discussions about the racial undertones of the mistreatment of this black woman.

Page counts would double.

Griss · May 19, 2017

It would be stupid and blatantly pandering.

Why pandering? Because Samus is an well established character design - we've known what she looks like for three full decades. By changing her race after all this time you would be inferring that it matters in some way to warrant the change, yet Samus' race does not matter in the games in the slightest. There's no social commentary in Metroid, and you never even see her face or skin beyond an ending cutscene in the majority of the games.

If they want to make Metroid a game where you 'create-a-Samus' and go the full blank slate route, I suppose that could work, but again, why create a character when there's no role-playing whatsoever?

If you want Nintendo to make black characters (and they should!) you should propose that they make new ones, not retcon old ones. If they were to make a Metroid starring a bounty hunter other than Samus who was a black woman as a means to soft rebooting the series, I'd be all for that. Awesome. Series needs a reboot, imo. But don't mess with established characters without strong reasons for doing so.

What does it matter, Samus is dead. You'd be changing the skin colour of a corpse.

Ocarina_117 · May 19, 2017

PSqueak said:
Why do people keep comparing link to this hypothetical?

Link gets reincarnated every game, changing links gender or race is no big deal, like you can just bullshit something like there being some gerudo ancestry on him or something and BAM! Dark skinned link.

See, I'd much rather an original female Gerudo character with an different story path. It'll give more freedom with what Nintendo can do with the character.

Mango The Magician · May 19, 2017

Servbot24 said:
The idea is fine, the fans are bad.

Yeah cause how dare people like characters the way they are, who do they think they are? Long time fans of the series?

Galava · May 19, 2017

Changing an specific already existing character's ethnicity just because, it's just pandering.

But feel free to create new characters to star in any game of whatever skin color, gender, sex or whatever you can think of, the sky is the limit there. I welcome it.

We can have a new character starring a Metroid game ofc, that's not the problem.

gweemz · May 19, 2017

If it would give us a new Metroid then I am all for it. That being said, all the Metroid games feature the same character and all the games are connected so making Samus suddenly black really wouldn't make sense.

I would say making Link or Zelda black would be a better idea, or like other people have said, make an entirely new game with a black protag.

PK Gaming · May 19, 2017

Excited, by virtue of the fact that current Samus is absolutely terrible. We can only go up from here.

That said, did you really need to post the definition of what "black" meant OP? Sheesh.

SlipperyFishes · May 19, 2017

As long as the game is good they can do whatever they want, but wtf at that definition in the OP.

Jiguryo · May 19, 2017

I'd be surprised because she's been always portrayed as a blonde.

Other than that, sure, why not?

TC McQueen · May 19, 2017

I don't even play Metroid and I would rather have a black female companion/rival character for Samus. Most times, race swapping in games/comics seems to exist because the creators want to have more diversity, but can't be bothered to put in the effort to make a cool new character (or just suck at making new characters in general).

Eolz · May 19, 2017

Would be amazing if some here stopped saying others are sexist or racist when they disagree with them on some points, as if the real arguments and reasons were never said in the first place.

Glass Rebel said:
Samus' importance wouldn't be lessened by making her a black woman.

And I don't have to answer questions that I don't find relevant to the discussion.

"why aren't people pushing for more/better new characters? " isn't relevant?
The fact that you try to avoid why your avatar's character isn't black is pretty telling as well.
Come on, stop the hypocrisy, pushing questions on people, not being happy with the answers or when they refuse to answer, and then refusing to answer when you get similar questions.
Certainly not doing you or those threads any favour.

And yes the importance of a 20+ year old industry icon would be lessened if you were changing her. Again, come on.

RRockman · May 19, 2017

Changing an existing character's race is a really lazy way of being diverse. It would be of far more value to have a original character in a new IP.

EDIT:
Oh and really quick why do people keep insisting that Gerudos are the only black race in Zelda? There are WHITE Gerudos and BLACK Hylians! Did NO ONE play Breath of the Wild?

Platy · May 19, 2017

PSY・S;237394929 said:
or you could just make dope games with dope, visibly poc mpcs and let racists whine until they eventually give in because you know they still want to play.

I agree that this is the most awesome way, but my reply were to people saying this makes no sense to which I said it makes perfect sense since "surprise, you are playing with a minority" was at the original game's core since even the game's manual refer to samus as it or he

Chingachgook said:
SJW movement is out of control. We cant and should not rewrite history, nor destroy beloved old characters.

LOL at "rewrite history" by doing a videogame reboot with a change in character.

SJW movement is out of control, can't do franchise reboots because we can't "rewrite history" in any way.

Onivulk · May 19, 2017

PSY・S;237396558 said:
thinking racist gamers are rational and will suddenly question their racism because you sprung the mpc's race on them at the end of the game....

that might work... on a child..

You say that as if helping a child develop into a progressive, loving person is a bad thing.

If that works on children then let's get it going.

13ruce · May 19, 2017

gweemz said:
I would say making Link or Zelda black would be a better idea, or like other people have said, make an entirely new game with a black protag.

Making Zelda black would make zero sense her reincarnation is supposed to look like Hylia in mortal form.

Now with Link it should be possible for him if his mother or father but that would be quite rare is a gerudo wich could give him a darker skin tone.

Edit: so far i know Link is not former god/mortal reincarnation of one so for him genetics could alter his appearance. That's why i think it's less reasonable for Zelda to be affected by genetics since she is linked by blood to a god wich could maintain her godly genetics/looks.

HStallion · May 19, 2017

This thread reminds me so much of reactions to Hermione and her daughter being black in the Harry Potter stageplay.

atr0cious · May 19, 2017

JPizzle84 said:
Ok, so the burden is on Nintendo to make that character engaging and less of spin off character. Changing the character because of poor writing doesn't fix the problem either

Toad was a "spin off" character and he's everywhere.

This is bullshit though, because the fan base, especially the racist or sexist part of it(let's be real), is not gonna have it, so they're always going to be splitting talent and the moneymaker is gonna be getting the lion share of that or fail. Just economics. Or are we forgetting how Ghostbusters went down?

And Captain Todd is a super budget game, they ain't even spending star fox zero money on it.

Svejk · May 19, 2017

Whatever, just don't give her an afro...

Jaeger · May 19, 2017

Svejk said:
Whatever, just don't give her an afro...

Wow.

Murkas · May 19, 2017

Would love it purely to witness the man babies screeching.

gweemz · May 19, 2017

13ruce said:
Making Zelda black would make zero sense her reincarnation is supposed to look like Hylia in mortal form.

Now with Link it should be possible for him if his mother or father but that would be quite rare is a gerudo wich could give him a darker skin tone.

You're right and I don't think making Link or Zelda black (or making female Link) are good ideas either. It does make more sense than changing an already existing character, though.

purseowner · May 19, 2017

Black Samus is my favourite rock band.

Ghazi · May 19, 2017

I'd find it unnecessary, changing an existing character's race just because is a bad way to handle racial diversity.

ZSaberLink · May 19, 2017

It's all about the gameplay. If she's (I would hope Samus would remain a woman in a reboot) a reasonable protagonist and the gameplay is good, who cares. At the same time, I don't see any reason to change her character in the first place. The games live and die by their gameplay, and honestly they may be better off with a bare-bones story as opposed to a very flawed attempt at a larger one. Honestly if they wanted to introduce a black character into the franchise, I'd rather they just create a new awesome character rather than randomly changing an existing one.

AerialAir · May 19, 2017

CronoShot said:
I don't understand what the dictionary definition is here for.

This.

Also, I wouldn't mind at all.

PSqueak · May 19, 2017

Kwame120 said:
J.K Rowling didn't even specify her as white in the books

Oh, come on!

I love black hermione too, but stop this, this has been debunked, people tweeted a freaking quote from the book she herself wrote to show she totally wrote her white.

Also, let's say she actually didn't write that bit, she says "i didn't specify she was white, lol!", but she DID approve every illustration of Hermione depicted as caucasian? Did she forgot that she confessed Hermione was literally her self insert?

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