I don't see how being "over the top" is much of an out for Bayonetta's clearly hyper sexualized and exploitative character design and animation.  She literally gets progressively more nude during combat, she moves like a stripper, she sucks lollipops, blows kisses and basically uses sex as a weapon.  Worse, it's been permissively misconstrued by several morons in the industry (Leigh Alexander strikes again!) as some inverse form of female empowerment, when any real insight from Kamiya pretty much leads to the conclusion that no, it's really just what it seems to be; indulgent Japanese fetish.  Again.

And I actually *like* Bayonetta, it's a great game, but the aesthetic is frankly embarrassing.

Anyway, back to Metroid, the Zero Suit was a nod to the Justin Bailey code from Metroid 1.  That's why it was integrated into Zero Mission's narrative, it being a complete remake of that game.

How does seeing that coming make it right?

Because she thought he was dead actually.  And from the manga (and implied in the cutscene flashback) Ridley terrorized her as a child, and Samus literally fears Ridley.  There's an element of shock here, and element of phobia, and maybe the team could be at fault for getting that across properly... but having a character break down for 30 seconds is sexism? Inappropriately misusing the term, as it's clearly being here, fundamentally devalues it. And in an industry that is seriously rife with legitimate sexism that too often goes overlooked or unsaid, I'd say that's even doubly sinful, especially when we're talking about a series that was arguably one of the standard bearers and trailblazers for positive female characters.  Even games like Tomb Raider or Street Fighter II were more exploitative than this is.

1. Design and characterization are not the same thing.

2. Calling a lady the "c" word just lost you rights to claiming what is and isn't sexism.

1. That's largely irrelevant to the point.  And design and characterization do both fall under the same development department in Japan (planning) so it's not like they're even completely unrelated in these cases.

2. "Cunt" seems wholly appropriate for this hypocritical attention seeking idiot.  Gender alone doesn't make one an expert (especially in this industry), and I'm exerting my male privilege for effect.

I watched the whole video. And it's not all heaping vitriol on the game only because Abbie thinks it's unacceptably sexist (though it does occupy a lot of the video). She has other criticisms of the game and I it appears those criticisms are pretty valid.

But she hated the game, and from her point of view it pretty much ruined the Metroid series for her. If that's what the game did for her then her score is totally justified. If there was a hint that she was intent on panning the game before she even played it then I'd say she deserves criticism. But it seems to me she wanted to like the game going in. Perhaps her strong desire to like the game meant what she found disappiointing about it caused a stronger reaction  than if she'd approached the game with neutral feelings.

She's not wrong, but she's in a very small minority with her opinion. I think she deserves credit for calling it shit if she thinks its shit. Better than thinking the game is shit but giving it an OK score because you're too afraid to get angry feedback for calling it shit.

I have yet to remember games where my male protagonist broke down in a PTSD flashback.

Yes, thanks for bringing up the history that those of us who do not read the manga, but play the games do not know. Sakamoto should have done more backstory in Metroid, Metroid 2, Super Metroid and all of Metroid Prime to show us why Samus had this breakdown.

Sakamoto's fault entirely. I don't blame Team Ninja as Metroid is Sakamoto's baby.

Tomb Raider and Street Fighter can be overlooked as just another game by the boys for the boys. Metroid: Other M tries to take Samus seriously and in doing so, it appears as if it's characterization of Samus is hitting on the core of her womanhood by having her cower.

If she faced her childhood fears twice in Ridley, then why did Sakamoto have Samus breakdown during the third time? Doesn't make sense.

That's the most reasonable comment I've seen on this thread.

Actually she met Ridley in the manga, had a nervous breakdown remembering what happened in her childhood, was completely useless for a few chapters, then got better. I don't remember if she defeated Ridley during that time, but it seemed like she had gotten over her fear of him.

Here is the manga if you want to read it.

She reacts like this in Other M, although she defeated him 4 times already at this point. ¬_¬