How did you react when you first found out Samus was not a dude?

[polski691]

Contrary to what most gender studies and feminist writers seem to have to say, I was neither shocked nor surprised to find out that Samus Aran was a female. I was just indifferent to the whole situation. I completed Metroid as a little kid, so what exactly was I supposed to feel again? But, and of course this would happen, every time I tell people this, they automatically label me a liar. Not cool, guys. Not cool.

What about you guys? How did you feel on finding out? I've heard just too many different answers: even a few girl gamers I know were pleasantly surprised at Samus's gender, apparently.

..... but not as surprised as us guys who beat the game extremely quickly, am I right?

 

[averus]

I was very young, and didn't really give it a thought. I identified myself with every hero in every game, movie, cartoon, comic, so naturally I identified myself with "Metroid" (I thought this was the hero's name).
Later I found out that Metroid are those jellyfish-like creatures, and that the hero was actually Samus.

I liked the idea since she was the first female hero I had encountered in a game by then, so I was positively surprised

 

[JoanMcWench]

My learning of it was not really a revelation. I didn't play the game through & get shocked by the big reveal. I knew long before I even picked the game up so there was really little surprise left in the secret. Smart move on the creators of the game.

 

[aboleth_lich]

I learned about Samus' backstory, including her gender, long before I ever played a Metroid game.

I was very young at the time, maybe six or so, and like the commentators above was also completely ambivalent as to her gender and didn't give it a second thought. Ditto for Alien's Ripley and other such examples. It simply never even occurred to me that a woman couldn't be as great of an action lead as a man, so why would I have questioned it at the time? And indeed, there's nothing to question as women are of course as capable of being an intergalactic bounty hunter as a man.

In fact, I don't recall ever meeting someone who had the absurd, misogynist "She's a girl?!" response that others claim was typical at the time.

 

[ShinyTentacruel]

"Oh, the space marine dude is a chick? Alright, that's cool, I guess"

 

[aboleth_lich]

Exactly! What difference does Samus' gender make in the first three 8-16 bit Metroid games?

Although, that being said, I suppose that young girls may appreciate being able to play a female protagonist who isn't a princess in a pink dress.

Regardless, I still find the notion of a young boy being turned off and shocked by the notion of having a woman inside that hard-as-nails interstellar bounty hunter's suit rather laughable and absurd!