efyu_lemonardo presents: A fan reimagining:
(approved by none other than the great Mama Robotnik *)
*
Mama Robotnik said:
I'm not sure what else to add to your cool concept other than I'd play it! Thanks for sharing, really interesting idea!
Trauma Team X Metroid
Lead a crew of Galactic Federation Doctors on a mission to purge the body of an unconscious Samus Aran of alien infestations. Gain new insight into the Federation's political intrigue as you attempt to balance your patient's health against the need to extract military grade biological samples.
It started off as a troll idea, but the more I kept thinking about it the more it seemed to be very appropriate for a one time spin off, providing answers to the question:
"What realy happened during all those times in the Metroid games when Samus was unconscious for extended periods?" such as the beginning of Prime 3, Other M, etc.
From a story and worldbuilding perspective, this would not only allow to fill in some gaps in the timeline, it would also gives players a glimpse of the Metroid universe outside of Samus in a way that doesn't feel artificial because there'd be no need to invent a new protagonist.
And surprisingly enough this unlikely combination of genres also allows the gameplay to hold on to many of the tonal staples the Metroid series is known for, because underneath the surface the Trauma games actually share quite a few similarities with classic Metroid. This is true especially when it comes to intense and frantic arcade action, but the concept of combining a variety of tools to solve puzzles and earning upgrades for those tools as you go could also be further developed within the Trauma framework in a way that would help bridge the gap with Metroid.
Another reason this feels like a good fit is because of the recurring role of questionable medical intervention in a series that has had a longstanding influence on Metroid: the Alien series. The premise for this crossover would mirror what we know the corporation did to Ripley in the Alien films (2, 3, and most obviously 4). The whole motif of exploring the body of the heroine and the strange alien alterations made to her and the parallels between that and exploring the external alien environments is also something that lies at the base of both series. The subtext of how our patriarchal society is fundamentally lacking when it comes to understanding/accepting of the woman psyche has always been there from the start.
Further expanding on this premise, there seem to be a lot of very cool possibilities that could be implemented within Trauma Center/Team's template, and (crucially) they could be done justice on a small budget, since the main game is quite simple in terms of assets and complexity.
The whole core concept of treating the patient while simultaneously protecting the infector/virus has the potential to fit nicely with the established Trauma Center gameplay, plus beyond the main story which would be centered on the Federation's need of bioweapons, there could be a secondary story thread about further exploring Samus' unique abilities indirectly by discovering changes/enhancements to her physiology (both those made by the Chozo as well as other unplanned mutations she's acquired over the years). It helps that the Japanese games always blurred the line between how much of those enhancements were mechanical/external and how much internal. This also enables a similar method of player-directed storytelling to what the Prime games did - facilitating drawing a bigger mental picture of the world and lore via scanning and analyzing pieces of evidence.
The other really interesting part in my opinion is that we're essentially "playing the bad guy". Every successful operation isn't just saving Samus, it's also enabling the creation of the very enemies and demons players already know she'll have to deal with in games like Prime 3, Other M, Fusion etc. On some occasions (such as Prime 3) we already know the Federation made alterations to Samus' physiology, and this would be a good opportunity to add a sinister twist to the story: maybe the Federation chose to keep Samus infected as a human experiment (prototype for the soldiers later in the game) and lied to her when they said they couldn't cure her.
Side missions could have the player performing lab experiments, as there would be a need to culture and study the extracted organisms outside of Samus' body in order to better understand how to treat her, but also to learn about how to use these organisms as effective bioweapons.
I think there's definitely enough to explore around this concept for a successful one-off game, and the more I think about it the more I feel having such a game could even strengthen the Metroid franchise as a whole.
