One of Nintendo's greatest franchises and one of the most influential in all of gaming, the Metroid series has inspired an entire genre of video games and almost single-handedly created the speed-running community with its encouraging incentives to beat each game as quickly as possible. Some may not know that the series was greatly inspired by other sources and would never have become as beloved without its many homages.
While Metroid's gameplay was already greatly inspired by fellow Nintendo giants such as Mario and Zelda, combining side-scrolling platforming with open-ended exploration, the Metroid identity couldn't be any more different from its more fantastical and upbeat predecessors. The series takes greatly from science fiction and horror films to inform the universe's isolated and alien world, which lead to quite a few obvious parallels to some of the greatest sci-fi and horror films and franchises.
The most cited movie reference that Metroid attributes its world to, the Alien franchise is where the original Metroid team got almost all of their ideas from, particularly the original Alien film from 1979. The original Nintendo R&D1 development team took heavy inspiration from the first film, from its isolated atmosphere, the visuals of the film's architecture, all the way down to the choice of protagonist.
The villainous Ridley (named after Alien creator Ridley Scott) takes many visual cues from the design of the xenomorph, particularly its skeletal body and sharp, prehensile tail. Mother Brain is AI named after the supercomputer on the Nostromo ship, dubbed "Mother." The Chozo statues are a clear reference to the Engineer alien corpses found by the Nostromo crew. Perhaps most importantly, Samus Aran's reveal as a woman is a nod to the twist that Ellen Ripley would be the final heroine and protagonist of the Alien franchise, contrasting the male-dominated sci-fi horror genre.
A less obvious influence on the Metroid series is the ever-popular Star Wars multimedia franchise. Metroid is set in a vast galaxy with many alien worlds to explore, often under the watch of the Galactic Federation. Samus Aran herself is considered one of the most feared bounty hunters in the galaxy, with distinctive armor and a reputation similar to that of Boba Fett.
As the series goes on, Metroid's Galactic Federation slowly mirrors Star Wars' Galactic Republic being corrupted into the evil Galactic Empire. The GF experiments with superpowered artificial intelligences called Aurora Units, clearly being modeled after the sinister Mother Brain. They also willingly equip their troops with the toxic substance known as Phazon, which, while it allows for powerful weaponry, corrupts and brainwashes the user. The icing on the cake is their unethical experiments, where the Federation commissions the cloning of the eponymous Metroids.
One of the most famous movie remakes ever made, John Carpenter's The Thing follows an Antarctic research team as they are hunted down by an amorphous alien monster that can messily take the form of any person it consumes, mimicking them to near perfection. A similar blob-like alien species emerges from Metroid Fusion, where Samus is attacked by a mysterious parasite dubbed only as "X" and is nearly killed in the encounter. The X-parasites consume their prey and take its form, a clear nod to The Thing.
Metroid Fusion, in particular, takes a lot of cues from The Thing in its intense focus on atmospheric horror and dread. Samus' main enemy throughout the game is the SA-X, an X-parasite that has consumed Samus' old suit and has absorbed its arsenal. The SA-X is nearly invincible and can easily kill the weakened Samus, forcing the player to run and hide from the creature, not unlike scenes from both The Thing and Alien.
One of the most influential science fiction films of all time, 2001: A Space Odyssey follows the strange history of a mysterious alien obelisk as it is observed by humanity in space. Featuring an iconic classical score and spectacular special effects, the film is also infamous for a very nebulous plot requiring a lot of observation from the viewer, an aspect of storytelling the Metroid series has aspired to emulate with varying degrees of success.
The colorful astronaut suits and architecture of 2001's spaceships have informed many sci-fi stories, with many of Metroid's ships and stations, such as the Ceres Station in Super Metroid, being a nod to 2001's set design. Most importantly, the concept of artificial intelligence going rogue was codified by the infamous HAL 9000, whom Mother Brain and her many counterparts in the Metroid series are homages to.
0 Comments