Is that true tho. I remember playing metroid a lot, but i don’t think i ever beat it, because i was to young to really understand the whole backtracking thing. The only map i ever had to “read” untill metroid was the overworld map of super mario 3.
But i still knew she was a girl because when you died the armor flicked out or something.
I think you’re confusing the original Metroid with Super Metroid. In the original, she bursts into particle effects upon death. It’s not until Super Metroid that the armor actually disappears briefly on death, but by then the “secret” was already well known. https://youtu.be/OUNb_DF1zwI?si=bIjQfvjoQTiXRBjo
The original Metroid instruction manual - at least in English - refers to Samus as “he” throughout, so it was definitely set up as a surprise at the time. Still, while it could be better I still consider it subversive and cool and something similar happening today would probably still piss chuds off.
