I am aware of several angry letters written about Samus being a woman. But I did some digging and I think you are closer to right than I was. It seems that the average reaction was confusion. Like, someone (likely a boy named Justin Bailey) discovered a cheat code that, according to several publications such as Boy's Life, "turns Samus from a robot cyborg into a woman". It seems people just didn't know what to make of Samus taking off their suit and suddenly turning into a blond woman in a leotard. Based on my googling, it seems like many people were still confused about this when Metroid 2 came out in 91, but by the time Super Metroid came out in 94 most people understood that Samus was a woman the whole time.

[–] thomas@lemmy.ca 15 points 4 months ago (4 children)

Yeah, but fort that you had to finish the game. That was HARD as hell back in the days. I believe neither I nor anyone in my elementary school knew Samus was a girl because nobody managed to finish the game.

[–] Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 9 points 4 months ago (1 children)

You had to finish the game within a certain time limit too. For super Metroid, you didn't get the full perfect ending unless you did it in 3 hours.

Which is impossible for a normal mortal..

[–] fishbone@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

I know this is coming off as tooting my own horn, but the reality is that I'm just very excited about it, because it was a big part of my younger years.

This is a very cool compliment to see, as someone who regularly tried to hit the sub 1 hour clear mark for Super Metroid.

[–] can@sh.itjust.works 4 points 4 months ago

Guess you didn't go to school with Justin Bailey.

[–] ThisIsAManWhoKnowsHowToGling@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 4 months ago

Did some googling. Apparently the Justin Bailey cheat code, which lets you play as Zero Suit Samus, was described in many publications as "it turns Samus from a cyborg into a woman". It seems people couldn't wrap their heads around Samus being a woman the whole time, and didn't know what to make of the ending even if they got to see it. Some things never change, I guess. My googling suggests that this confusion was still prominent when Metroid 2 was released in 92 but was mostly dealt with by the time Super Metroid was released in 94

[–] driving_crooner@lemmy.eco.br 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Isn't her silhouette revealed when you die?

[–] glitchdx@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

not in the original, you're thinking of the thirdquil on the snes.

[–] driving_crooner@lemmy.eco.br 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

thirdquil?

[–] can@sh.itjust.works 1 points 4 months ago

Third sequel I guess? It's not a word. And Super Metroid would be the second sequel anyway.

[–] mostlikelyaperson@lemmy.world 8 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Were they? Has there been a survey or something? Because going off letters wrote or something is a pretty bad metric to judge the opinion of any general population,because guess who would be the people most motivated to voice their opinion. Whatever fraction of the observed population they make up can’t really be derived from that. (Also holds true for social media today)

[–] ThisIsAManWhoKnowsHowToGling@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Did some googling. Seems like the average reaction at the time was confusion about how or why Samus "turned into a woman". Some people got mad, but most people just didn't comprehend what happened. Some things never change, I guess.

[–] mostlikelyaperson@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago

True enough!