Samus Aran. The main character of the Metroid series is responsible for what is quite possibly still the biggest "WTF" in gaming history --- Samus is a woman. Now, there have been more female protagonists popping up in games recently, but back in the day, this was practically unheard of. (They were there, but not very often at all.) Not because it was a bad thing or anything, but because it was assumed that guys were playing video games, so guys naturally should have been the heroes in those games. The entire time you played through the original Metroid, you were lead to believe that Samus was male as well --- It was just assumed throughout the entire adventure. I still remember finishing the game for the first time and finding out that I had been playing as a girl the entire time and my jaw just dropped.


Gaming's biggest "WTF."

That's why I chose Samus for this month's Monthly Musings --- Female protagonists are few and far between, even today. Heck, there's a Wikipedia page dedicated to female video game protagonists, and that list is fairly short as it is. (Plus, if a Wikipedia page actually had to be created for something like this, you know something's up.) I believe Samus is the reason why the trend is finally starting to pick up, though. Just look at everything she's accomplished --- She's destroyed planets, saved planets, wiped out wave after wave of the insidious Space Pirates, had her DNA fused with a Metroid to save her life... For crying out loud, she can turn into a freaking ball. Not to mention the fact that she grew up with an alien race because her own world was obliterated. Yet she still keeps going strong. She doesn't let anyone or anything even slow her down, let alone stop her. Thanks to this attitude of hers, tons of strong female main characters have been created, some of the more notable being Jill Valentine (Resident Evil), Alexandra Roivas (Eternal Darkness), and Lara Croft (Tomb Raider).


Hey, she's wearing clothes? Is that allowed?

There's another reason I like Samus as a character --- She actually wears clothes when she fights. Don't get me wrong, I'm a straight guy --- I don't mind scantily clad women. But whenever I see games like Dead or Alive, I can't help but wonder in disbelief how the girls can fight in what they're dressed in. There are so many things that could go wrong with that, but Samus is smart. She's either wearing huge, protective armor, or something skintight that covers her entire body. She's always putting business first, like she would if the Metroid universe were real.

Now, I'm not a girl, and I'm not trying to speak for all the gamers out there who happen to be female. But as a guy, I'm personally very glad we're starting to see more and more heroines in our games. Male protagonists have been ruling the video game world for a long time, and it's nice to see some balance starting to appear. I thank Nintendo for giving us the opportunities that we've had to become closer to Samus Aran, who I believe is one of the best playable characters in any game ever released.