by Guest Tue Sep 01, 2015 10:19 pmhttp://www.themarysue.com/metroids-samus-aran-transgender-woman/
People have mistaken her for a boy in the past but I think that's partly because it was never clear she was a female because of her suit. I did this before too.
However, perhaps in the beginning the creator's never really knew if the character "Samus Aran" was going to be a male or female.
But even if she is it makes no difference to me. I am accepting of transgendered people just as I am with gays or lesbians.
Representation for transgender people is equally tough to find in gaming. Both Dangonronpa and Persona 4 managed to blunder transgender representation. One of the most famous transgender video game characters, Poison from Final Fight, is empowered but blatantly oversexualized. Characters and stories like this reinforce the harmful idea that transgender women only have societal value in their sex appeal.
That’s why I’m thrilled to tell you that one of the most famous women in videogame history happens to also be a transgender woman! It’s none other that Nintendo’s Samus Aran!
It’s true! In 1994, the writers of the official Japanese Super Metroid strategy guide asked Metroid’s developers if they could share any secrets about the intergalactic bounty hunter. Hirofumi Matsuoka, who helped work on the original design for Samus Aran, claimed that she “wasn’t a woman,” but instead, “ニューハーフ,” or “newhalf.” This language has its own issues, but terminology used for gender in the early 90s was as different in Japan as it was in the West.
There has been some debate asking if the comment was in jest or genuine. Some have compared Matsuoka’s use of “newhalf” to the offensive Western term “shemale.” It’s possible to interpret this as an ugly joke about Samus’s traditionally masculine appearance, as illustrated in the 80s by Nintendo Power, where she is said to be six foot three and 198 pounds.
People have mistaken her for a boy in the past but I think that's partly because it was never clear she was a female because of her suit. I did this before too.
However, perhaps in the beginning the creator's never really knew if the character "Samus Aran" was going to be a male or female.
But even if she is it makes no difference to me. I am accepting of transgendered people just as I am with gays or lesbians.
