In the NES era you've got a bit of the point, though at the time she was clsoe to the only female character who could be described that way - I never played Shadow of the Ninja and Guardian Legends never made it over here.

Nowadays, though, that trope is not nearly as common, and what voiceless protagonists remain are still very gendered except for a select few, like Gordon Freeman and Samus.

Bloody hell, I just read that article yesterday!!!

Apart from Rol and Khuutra's misunderstanding (and quite possibly misconcepted) heated debate and d21lewis hillarious anthics (sexist remarks for a lack of better term), this was actually quite a good read!

Khuutra, I do get where you're coming from, unfortunatly I never got the chance to experience the Prime series (the Metroids franchise as a whole actually), so I may not fully comprehend that immersive feeling you had in the ending sequence that portrayed Samus at it's best. I had that similiar experience when I've completed Majora's Mask 100%.

Back to my original point that seeing Samus with less armor doesn't matter.... I remember exactly zero boys growing up with me state anything more than "wow Samus is a woman". NEVER did anyone state anything similar to hey let's beat it quicker so we can see her almost naked. Keep in mind this was a time in my life when I purposely put the TV on Channel 3 (instead of 4) and the cable box on the channel just before Playboy so I can get the occasional glimpse of a breast through the scrambled signal.

Sex really had nothing to do with this beyond a feminist's ranting.

Metroid Prime is one of only 3 games that I would give a perfect score to. The other 2 being Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time. Metroid Prime did everything right. Perfect.

How did Metroid Prime 2 and Corruption sexualize Samus in negative ways? I honestly don't even remotely remember her being sexualized in any manner in those games such as providing players with more nudity the faster they beat the game.

Sex, in this case, does not refer to the coital act. It refers to the primary and secondary sexual characteristics that physically identify Samus as a woman.

They were definitely better than the 2D games in this regard but you did get more undressed Samus depending on your completion percentage

You may not have meant it this way, but I am going to use this as a jumping off point.

It really pisses me off that people have tried to turn feminism into a dirty word.  As if equal rights are somehow a bad thing.  Ugh.

I wasn't referring to the act of sex but the sex of Samus.

I would never proclaim to be against equal rights for anyone. However, I don't consider most feminists as people working for equal rights anymore. Maybe is just a bad or completely wrong perception, but it is what it is.