@ IxisNaugus: "excluding Metroid for the NES which still has eluded me to this day"

Do you have a Wii and access to the shop channel? If not, then I understand. If so, then get it already.

I suppose I should have said excluding the original Metroid cartridge for the NES. Yes I have a working shop channel, and also Metroid Zero mission. I could play the original Metroid if I wanted to, but honestly - and I know I'm a picky little douche for this - but I would really like to own the original NES cart and play on my working NES. I know the experience doesn't really change whatever console you play the game on, but well, like I said I'm a picky little douche :P

I'm not usually this way, but Metroid is a bit more special to me than other franchises. I feel I must do honor and justice for the Metroid name in my own way. Plus I have a collection to build up.

Then are carts really that hard to get?

I don't disagree with that notion.

But you could die tomorrow and then you'll never have played it.

Not on ebay. But prices seem to be pretty high for this one, or at least higher than some other retro games I've tried looking for; BIN prices are upwards of £30 usually nowadays, though I haven't checked back in a while. I would have jumped on one of these deals earlier but I'm in no hurry, and I'm kind of hoping I'll find one super cheap at a charity shop or something. Hell I got my working NTSC NES with boxed copies of Super Mario Bros. 3, Zelda 1, Zelda 2, and two controllers for less than £5 at a boot sale not too long ago.

EDIT: 

True. But in my defense I do literally have a list of hundreds of games I intend to buy and complete at some point. Metroid for the NES is just one of those many games.

I'm going to bookmark this and read it after I've played it.  I own it now and I want to come to my own conclusion about the story (although I'm not expecting much at all).  I want to see if I come to any of the same conclusions without the article already making me bias before hand.

It.... ah, there's nothing wrong with its depiction of events on any level, really. It comes down to shitty writing. Yes, their relationship is really that screwed up and codependent, though trying to tie the Ridley scene into it feels slightly specious.

It takes on an interesting light when you consider that Adam is an authorial self-insert. I'm pretty sure Sakamoto didn't mean to write himself as a controlling and abusive father.

Its a poor story told in a very poor way, which is awful, but I don't think its "offensive". Maybe offensive towards gaming due to the awful way the story turned out, but not offensive in any other way. The story completely killed the game for me and it stands as my disappointment of the generation.

One of the only points on which I find myself disagreeing with the article is the implication of a worldwide cultural homogeny when it comes to gender issues; it needs to be noted and acknowledged that Twlight and Other M are products of two different cultures with two different stances on what constitute masculinity and femininity.

That said, if the article-writer means to imply that there is a parallel cultural hegemony the there's nothing to argue with on that point. Other M is definitely the product of Sakamoto's mind, which in itself is the product of a culture where a problematic definition of femininity is more accepted.

THe article doesn't convey something else, though, because it can't: the game isn't even about Samus, or Ridley, or the Metroids; it is almost solely about Adam. One can argue that it's about Samus's relationship with Adam, and I suppose it is, but Samus herself being the narrator places all of the narrative focus on the character of Adam himself, so that even the opening cutscene depicting events in Super Metroid becomes something like background noise against which the drama between Samus and Adam is played out. This is doubly problematic because it means that the way Adam treats Samus isn't just one aspect of the story, it's the point of the story, the moral of the story, the single event around which her character is set to revolve for the rest of Sakamoto-controlled continuity.

Of note:

The lack of feminine perspective in this topic (and this board in general) is something that I think leaves these discussions lacking.

Jeez, I didn't know that OP was that long when I started reading it!  Luckily, I got impatient and decided to make my usually, snarky remark.

--Adam didn't authorize the Varia Suit earlier because he was busy taking a shit.  You can't blame the guy if Samus wasn't smart enough to turn the thing on without his permission!  If you guys would read the Metroid Manga, you'd know about Adam's loose bowels.  Gosh, you guys are so quick to hate!