Samus-without-suit NES artwork?

[DRW]

Does anybody of you know if there exists an official piece of artwork that shows NES-Samus without her suit? If you go to Google Images and type in Metroid NES then the third image is the official artwork of Samus from the NES, but with her suit. And I'm still looking for a picture of her without it. Does something like that exists?

[Robotazy]

I doubt it.

Samus being female was a secret, made to trick gamers who finished the game.

So, it's likely that's there is none.

[DRW]

That's a pity. Samus looked much cuter back then and I would have loved to see a drawn image of her. By the way, why did they change her hair color after this game?

[Robotazy]

There are reasons.

It could be they were thinking it was cool.

It could also be because that if it were blonde, her hair would blend with some of the backrounds.

The truth is out there.

[DRW]

Originally Posted by Tazy Ten

It could also be because that if it were blonde, her hair would blend with some of the backrounds.

But in the original "Metroid" there was no background at all. (Besides, she wears the suit, except if you use this password 000000 000020 000000 000020.)
I noticed they do this with many female Nintendo charcers:
Pauline was blond, now she's brunette.
Princess Toadstool: Red - Blond
Princess Daisy: Red - Brown
Zelda: Red - Blond (Yes, I know, almost every new game has another Zelda, but both NES Zeldas were redheads and all others were blond.)

[Ace Mercury]

Closest thing I could find is this: astro64th's Images - Metroid Screens 6 - GameSpot

I doubt there's a lot of un-suited Samus, though, since it was a "big secret" and all. I did find some nifty resources if you search for "official art samus"
The Metroid Database :: Metroid

Some Samus 4-koma:
The Metroid Database :: Comic/Manga Viewer

Super Metroid comic:
The Metroid Database :: Comic/Manga Viewer

As for the hair colour thing... maybe it was an NES palette restriction?

[DRW]

Well, but the first one is a screenshot. I was talking about official (drawn) artwork.
And the other ones are either only with her suit or from another game than the NES one.
I also don't think that there is an official image of brunette NES Samus, but it was worth a try to ask.

[Robotazy]

Actually, the Ceilings and floor would be various colors, which include Yellow.

So, I guess they didn't want similar colors

Nintendo was kind of random back then.

[DRW]

By the way: Your theories somehow go the wrong direction. You try to explain why Samus wasn't blond in the first game, as if she was intended like that and it was only changed due to technical problems. But the actual question is: Why did they change the original brown hair to blond one in the Super Nintendo game?
So, it's not important why exactly they chose brown hair in the first game since this is the original hair color nevertheless. The real question is not: Why wasn't she always blond? The real question is: Why isn't she a brunette anymore? So, we must take the NES game as the basis and explain the change from the viewpoint of the Super Nintendo version, not the other way around.

[Robotazy]

well, they did the same for Peach and Zelda.

Reason:......Miyamoto started liking blondes. <_<

[Dizzy]

I can't find a picture either.

[Cosmonautical]

You want to know why Samus's hair color changed? An NES sprite can be displayed using a maximum of 4 colors at once, with one of those colors being used as the indicator for transparency - leaving 3 colors left for the sprite. On top of that, the NES had only a few ... let's say groups of colors it could assign to sprites. So, whatever palette the main character's sprite had assigned to it had to be shared by other sprites. This is why, when you are playing the game, suitless Samus's hair is actually green. What you should be questioning, is why was her hair green while playing but not at the very end? Well, that's your explanation.

On top of all of this, the overall NES palette is very limited. If they didn't have to worry about sprite colors being reused, and could use whichever ones they wanted - it's likely the artist couldn't find a satisfactory color for the hair. There's yellow, to be sure, but yellow doesn't really make a good blonde. On top of that, the artist who did the last screen might have just liked the different haircolor more. It might have looked better in the overall picture. Also, despite what normal folks might think, contrast is always an issue in every picture an artist creates.

It's entirely possible, as well, that the artist who created the final screen had no communication with the artist responsible for the rest of the game art. Or that he had no communication with the artist responsible for any of the other games. Most older games weren't so official, Nintendo wasn't concerned with repetitive accuracy. So, when the new artist came along - they changed the hair color, because they felt it looked better.

Or, it could be more complicated - possibly due to creative differences. Different people worked on the first Metroid. The new hair might have been changed because the person responsible for the decision had always wanted Samus to have blonde hair. That she didn't in the first game was out of his control.

Perhaps the original game's color was decided by an individual artist, while in Super Metroid, the color was decided by a commitee that decided blonde would be more universally appealing. I don't really think that much thought went into it, though.

So, there could be a myriad of reasons why the character's hair has changed.

I'm pretty satisfied to say that Miyamoto's preference wouldn't have had any effect on any decision in the Metroid series, though. He's never had any creative control over Metroid.

I have to add, as well, that there was plenty of art of Samus in the somewhat unofficial Captain N comics, and she always had blonde hair in that. It's entirely possible Nintendo did choose an official image for Samus, and they based it off that.

[DRW]

Originally Posted by McSARS DOUBLE SARS

You want to know why Samus's hair color changed? An NES sprite can be displayed using a maximum of 4 colors at once, with one of those colors being used as the indicator for transparency - leaving 3 colors left for the sprite. On top of that, the NES had only a few ... let's say groups of colors it could assign to sprites. So, whatever palette the main character's sprite had assigned to it had to be shared by other sprites.

I know that this problem exists. Like in "Zelda" where the arrows have the same color as Link's suit. But in "Metroid" that's not the case. Samus' colors are exclusively used for her (and for one of those small items). The proof: No matter if you play with a suit or without one and no matter what items you have collected, the enemies and the background have still the same colors. So, technically it would have been no problem to use Samus as a blond because her colors don't interfer with other sprites or the background.

Originally Posted by McSARS DOUBLE SARS

This is why, when you are playing the game, suitless Samus's hair is actually green. What you should be questioning, is why was her hair green while playing but not at the very end? Well, that's your explanation.

That's quite easy to to explain: Suitless Samus's hair is in fact brown, also as the in-game-sprite. The reason why you see her with green hair is probably because you only use that Justin Bailey code to play as suitless Samus. But this is not a deliberately coded password, it's just any random code that was discovered early. With that password you already have most of the items. And since in the normal game Samus' suit color changes when she collects certain items, it's the same with the suitless version. The green hair only indicates that you have collected a certain item.
Enter the password 000000 000020 000000 000020 and you will play as suitless Samus from the very beginning of the game. And there she has brown hair.

Originally Posted by McSARS DOUBLE SARS

On top of all of this, the overall NES palette is very limited. If they didn't have to worry about sprite colors being reused, and could use whichever ones they wanted - it's likely the artist couldn't find a satisfactory color for the hair. There's yellow, to be sure, but yellow doesn't really make a good blonde.

Actually, it's the only possible color for blond. Just look at Pauline from Donkey Kong.

Originally Posted by McSARS DOUBLE SARS

I have to add, as well, that there was plenty of art of Samus in the somewhat unofficial Captain N comics, and she always had blonde hair in that. It's entirely possible Nintendo did choose an official image for Samus, and they based it off that.

That's quite possible. They also did this with Zelda:
The colors red, green and blue for the three goddesses in the Nintendo 64 game were probably taken from the Triforce's colors in the comics and the TV series.
The idea that Link has a fairy around him is from the TV series.
And the idea that the pig-like appearance of Ganon is not his normal form, but the influence of the Triforce of Power is taken from one of the comics as well.

[Dizzy]

^Whoa. This is the most insightful thing I've ever heard a newbie say. Congratulations, you're cool!

[Robotazy]

^^.....WHOA.

Ok, you are officially very awesome.

[Cosmonautical]

Originally Posted by DRW

Actually, it's the only possible color for blond. Just look at Pauline from Donkey Kong.

I had forgotten that the green was because of the suit-change. Her hair-color is green because her arm cannon is green and her visor is green, after the change. Sprites on the NES don't actually contain palette data. Even if they had included code for a palette change when you were suitless Samus to start with, it's likely that they forgot that the palette change code that's implemented when you get the suit upgrade would've affected her palette even while suitless - they would've had to setup special rules, which they obviously didn't.

It's nice to see someone educated sharing their opinion.

And yellow isn't the same as blonde, unfortunately. On the NES, it is the only color similar to blonde available, but it is still likely that the artist just didn't like how it looked. I was saying that they might have decided she was meant to be blonde, but didn't like any of the colors available for blonde.


Ironically, if you are using suitless Samus at the very beginning and turn on missiles, her hair turns about as blonde as the NES could manage.



If you were saying that was yellow, you're going to have to rethink your definitions. If you meant that it was the only color close to blonde, it's not really very blonde. More like orange.

[DRW]

Originally Posted by DarkZero

^Whoa. This is the most insightful thing I've ever heard a newbie say. Congratulations, you're cool!

Well, I analyze these things a lot and most people say I think about it too much.

Originally Posted by Tazy Ten

^^.....WHOA.

Ok, you are officially very awesome.

This is meant as a joke, right?

Originally Posted by McSARS DOUBLE SARS

Even if they had included code for a palette change when you were suitless Samus

Well, they actually did this. They didn't really pay attention with the change when collecting items, as you said, but concerning the standard Samus, the suit sprite and the suitless sprite don't have the same colors. Suited Samus has orange, green and red while suitless Samus has purple, brown and skin color/pink. (But it's not the same skin color as in the big image in the ending.)

Originally Posted by McSARS DOUBLE SARS

And yellow isn't the same as blonde, unfortunately.

Not in reality, but for drawn images (comics etc.) it's mostly used. (That's the reason why you don't see where Bart Simpson's head ends and where his hair begins.

Originally Posted by McSARS DOUBLE SARS

If you were saying that was yellow, you're going to have to rethink your definitions. If you meant that it was the only color close to blonde, it's not really very blonde. More like orange.

Although this is a screenshot from the Arcade game and not from the NES version, I recognized that I was wrong because also on the NES Pauline's hair doesn't have the typical yellow. The classic standard yellow on the NES can instead be found in "Ms. Pac-Man" (but not in "Pac-Man" where they used a much darker color for whatever reason). I would post an image, but linking to sites is disabled for me until I have 15 posts.

[Cosmonautical]

You might want to check my edited post, since the NES yellow is available in the Metroid screenshot I posted in the edit. I noticed it(the DK shot) was from the arcade game as well. It was basically the same as the NES version, and I was too lazy to re-edit.

I agree that yellow is perfectly fine for most cartoon representations of blonde, but the original artist might not agree. That, or it's also possible he was trying to create a "realistic" look. God knows why you would do that with such an early NES game, but I wouldn't put it past them.

And you probably do think too much about things, but a lot of people (myself included) do it. No harm done.

Knowing Tazy, he was serious when he said he thought you were awesome. VGF doesn't get a lot of active new members, or especially new and intelligent members, so it's not surprising they'd be excited.

[DRW]

Originally Posted by McSARS DOUBLE SARS

You might want to check my edited post, since the NES yellow is available in the Metroid screenshot I posted in the edit.

Yes, I saw it. That's really the typical yellow color of the NES.

Originally Posted by McSARS DOUBLE SARS

I agree that yellow is perfectly fine for most cartoon representations of blonde, but the original artist might not agree. That, or it's also possible he was trying to create a "realistic" look. God knows why you would do that with such an early NES game, but I wouldn't put it past them.

Well, to my opinion it's not very difficult: I don't think at all that Samus was intended as a blonde. I think that they just created her as a brunette and that's it. So, no reason to discuss color limitations of the NES. But then they decided differently when the Super Nintendo game came out. Besides, it's not only her hair color. Compare the Samus images from the NES, the Game Boy and the Super Nintendo. She always looks completely different. So, since we know that even her face always changed, it's not difficult to think that it wasn't anything like "We wanted to make her blond right from the beginning, but it didn't fit into the NES environment, so we made her brunette. But with the Super Nintendo we were able to achieve what we originally planned." I think it was rather like: "Samus being a woman was supposed to be a surprise, so we created an image of her and made her brunette. We didn't think about the hair color, we just chose one randomly. But later, when "Metroid" became a whole series and Samus became known better, not only in her suit, we decided that a blonde would be more appealing."

Originally Posted by McSARS DOUBLE SARS

Knowing Tazy, he was serious when he said he thought you were awesome. VGF doesn't get a lot of active new members, or especially new and intelligent members, so it's not surprising they'd be excited.

Well, I have a certain amount of videogame theories that I could post in another thread if you and the others here are interested in it.

[Marilink]

DRW, feel free to post anything you want. Any discussion is great (especially in the Metroid Forum) and new activity, namely good new activity, is always appreciated.

Besides, it's not only her hair color. Compare the Samus images from the NES, the Game Boy and the Super Nintendo. She always looks completely different.

Keep in mind, though, that the GB, SNES, and NES all had different ways of rendering sprites, due to their graphical capabilities and such. Mario doesn't look exactly the same from SMB to SML to SMW. Link doesn't look exactly the same from LoZ to LA to LttP [Pink hair, anyone?]. The lack of color difference along with the lack of specific, fine-tuned graphics could apply to what you say there.

I, myself, think that both of you are at least a little right. I'm pretty sure the hair color on the NES was unavoidable due to the color limitations like AI said, but I also think that her hair color changed due to popular opinion, like DRW's been saying.