Cheat Code Central: "Zero Suit Samus’s New Design is Sexist is here's why"

[Mr Khan]

My serious thought is that the heels as part of the design are almost an effort at a joke on Sakurai's part: he knew about the uproar over the heels in the Other M design, so he made a Smash design that emphasized the heels even further, but made them useful (in the form of jet-boosts) giving the character a much needed buff and "empowering" her (literally!) through the use of exaggerated heels.