Instead of simply adding more color variations, it seems that the developers behind Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U are making an effort to give the massive roster of characters more distinctive designs to choose from. Zero Suit Samus has been given this treatment as well, and it is a design that should please longtime fans of the Metroid series as well as fans of scantly clad women.
Regarding the two designs, game director Masahiro Sakura noted on his most recent Miiverse posting: “Looking at the number of days we have left for development, it would be an impossible task to create this… That’s what I told my staff. But thanks to the determination of her female designer, these Zero Suit outfits got completed in time.”
Now before anybody accuses Sakurai of needlessly stripping down the celebrated heroine, remember that these designs are canon as they are actually pulled from the endings of Samus’s two GBA outings, Metroid Fusion and Metroid: Zero Mission.
Tragically, there is no word yet on a costume modeled after the one Samus wore in the secret ending of the original NES Metroid. Then again, seeing how she looked like someone working out in the background of a 1980 fitness VHS tape, maybe they thought she would be too much competition for Wii Fit Trainer.
Source: Miiverse
I was pretty shocked at some of the negativity being hurled at this variant online. First off, as noted here, it’s a canon look, not something random. Second, I get it, her belly is showing, it’s a little flashy. But the reality is, you can’t even see cleavage, and it’s really a lot tamer than folks are making it out to be. Idk, I’m not a fan of sexualizing Samus, but I’m not really feeling like Nintendo crossed a line here. Besides, in a world clamoring to “free the nipples” on social media, all this outcry feels a little overblown.