The Animation of Samus

[Music] with Metroid Prime for right around the corner  kyocho periodico equal to him down you must not   do well with Metroid Prime for right around the  next decade then I thought it appropriate to have   a little review of the evolution of samus's  animation focusing on interesting details   throughout our history Nintendo have a diverse  range of properties from more cartoony games   like Kirby and Zelda to more serious games like  starfox and Zelda with a harder-edged more serious   and long-running sci-fi series like Metroid how  often Tendo kept samus's animation fresh unique   interesting and consistent let's take a look so  starting with Metroid in 1986 we're shown Samus   is the type of character to always be alert  and confident to have her gun always at the   ready pointing forward she runs with purpose she's  versatile and acrobatic she is quite literally a   woman on a mission and there's always a sense of  power and confidence in her moves even as early   as this in 1986 Metroid 2 gave much more details  by introducing the idea that Samus is right-handed   or right gunned by having a different sprite  depending on which way she's facing this affected   all her actions showing her gun when facing right  and her hand when facing left and you can clearly   see now that she's holding her gun steadying it  always poised to fight beyond tiptoes ready to   push off and run another curious detail you might  miss is the fact she has one frame during turning   a different direction nothing much but it's a  start of understanding her form and figure she   has a number of new moves such as being able to  crouch being able to shoot down when in the air   and missile hatch now opens when equipped and the  space jump kinda gives this smeary speedy effect   when somersaulting something we'll see more on  future color limitation of the gameboy force   designers to give suit upgrades and more visual  difference resulting in the iconic very suit blah   blah blah but we all know that it seemed a more  solid understanding of samus's shape presence and   abilities were being explored Super Metroid  was on a new powerful system allowing sprite   animation to be much more comprehensive with  samus's run cycle for example inflating from   a mere three frames to a whopping ten frames she  still has this confident straight back that's been   established and running kinda results in this  very determined bound with arms fully pumping   she holds her gun a lot more looser now connect  casually by her hip and shooting still has no   reaction from Samus I mean even Metroid had this  tiny kickback from her cannon but that's not the   case here personally I've always felt this to  look a little odd a tiny kickback would have   done a lot to get the impression that her beam  weapons were powerful especially the rockets and   missiles what's also being carried over from  Metroid 2 is the turning animation this time   on all actions it's buffed up from one frame to  three frames and it's beginning to build there's   much more comprehensive look of Samus as form as  she moves her move set is really versatile - for   instance she has one animation for just jumping up  and down one for a somersault one for coming in to   shoot when jumping one for falling without doing  anything and she has a slight follow-up animation   for landing and jumping as well her morph ball now  has a more definite design like a woodlouse that's   closed up and there's also a tiny transitioning  animation for going in and out of morph ball mode   as well she has a hanging animation moveset for  use with the grapple beam and not that you'll   see it much but she has a slight head turn when  using the x-ray scope I mean that's a vast amount   of frames that have been thrown at a ton of moves  that you'll barely notice and they're all carving   out a more cohesive character and yet have near  zero impact on the actual gameplay I mean she has   a breathing animation which gets more intense  when she's low on health for Ridley's sake okay so before we get to the double hit of Metroid  Prime and Metroid Fusion let's cast a quick glance   the samus's single outing on the n64 in Super  Smash Brothers this is her first 3d representation   in games and it's important to remember this is  a fighting game and not an action platformer our   attacks are much more dynamic varied and more  strategic I mean I've mixed feelings about the   running and walking but these aren't huge concerns  when most of the time is spent punching jumping   and fighting the way she performs actions here fit  the Jean she has proper powerful punches using her   gun and barely even uses her hand for anything  apart from holding items in forcing that her   gun is everything when it comes to battle like  when she jumps she always has her left shoulder   forward with the right arm further back so if she  needs to punch with her gun she's already in that   anticipating pose however if Samus had this  animation for shooting in her main line games   it definitely wouldn't feel right and will feel  quite sluggish and it's important to notice the   difference in gaming language here generally it  seems as though it's more roughly based off Super   Metroid with floaty movement gun by her hip things  like that all the while panning - this acrobatic   notion she's building in their main games that's  gonna sleep so the next two big Metroid games   came out eight years after Super in the form of  Metroid Prime and Metroid Fusion Prime the series   first proper 3d entry takes us into the eyes of  Samus herself so we're treated to a whole new   host of actions movements and animations before  we discuss gained Lee let's quickly observe her   cutscene animation that keeps the hard-edged  serious aesthetic we've come to expect from   the series so far and takes it into the cinematic  territory though we do get a slightly more candid   glimpse at her actual character animation  and personality nothing much just a hint   Sammis composes herself differently now she no  longer holds her gun only steadying her aim with   her left hand when the aiming button is pressed  she has a much beefier reaction to shooting   now such as kicking back when firing shaking  when charging dipping when she lands and her   left arm jolting back from the grapple beam fires  Prime games have much more emphasis on mechanical   animation such as her arm cannons shifting shapes  when changing beam weapons I love that tron-like   script lighting that changed according to element  and that kind of glowing white effect it's really   cool and firing a missile like usual fully opens  up the gun barrel an aspect which is now official   thanks to the visual changes made during Metroid  2 why like is also this kind of reloading it has   with the panels like loading another missile  into the barrel feels really satisfying more   falling takes you into third-person mode and we  see Samus physically roll down into a ball while   she's encompassed by the morph ball enclosure  itself also you no longer spear on the spot   like previously but instead a roll around like  a bowling ball interestingly when coming out of   more full load we see a brief animation of Samus  running depending on if she's rolling forward or   still if she comes out when moving then she'll  be running and as we can feel when playing Samus   doesn't really run anymore not in the same way  she used to at least it feels more like a brisk   walk for a jock if there was a Run button like  there can be in other first-person games you   might expect her to lower her gun to enable  that pumping of the arms for more speed but   that's not so here and that's likely because  this is lesser first-person shooter and more   first-person adventure with shooting which is why  we no longer have any somersaulting going on so we   still get sense that Samus is confident but too  that a style of gameplay we no longer feel that   she is as nimble or acrobatic as before with  these ideas instead filled in by her cutscene   animations and finally I just like to emphasize  how the visor is much more important than the   Prime games and the interface and interaction the  visor has with the surroundings such as scanning   rain droplets steam fogging up your display the  reflection of samus's eyes and the glass during   darkness and the digital interference when facing  drones and ghosts all part of this new experience   we go through that greatly enhances the atmosphere  of our adventure so many things are carried over   from Super Metroid into Metroid Fusion such as  turning animations and the rolling wood louse   ball and aiming and everything although she only  has that one jumping animation regardless if she's   firing lot except now we've got a new hanging  animation complete with respective sprite work   fur which side she hangs on perhaps the lack of  her heavy armor has allowed her to be more light   and nimble which is why she needs a powerup to  hang in an earlier games who knows Samus reacts   to her gunfire now and curiously enough Samus  holds her gun from beneath unlike previously where   it's been steadied from above she kind of holds  it more like a shotgun now the actual run cycle   speed is a little slower this time resulting in  more of a jock than a run and Samus appears to be   much more hunched over to wait feels much heavier  in this game compared to super something a lot of   gamers pick up on and generally prefer maybe the  gravity is different on the space station to the   planets it's probably more to do with the gameboy  advance of screen size but it greatly affects the   gameplay particularly as the somersault  animation is quicker than supers as well why find really curious about fusion is that  during the opening cutscene we see Samus as   she appears in Super Metroid moving in a  similar way straight back three frames of   turning as opposed to two during gameplay it's a  curious little detail that they kept her faithful   appearance and movement from super infusion and  this goes for when you face the SI X as well   [Music] she retains that same run cycle the  green electric screwattack the collapsing   animation from Mother Brain it's a really  neat little crossover of visual ideas which   I don't think I've seen many places before  and it's really interesting they retained   this here it feels much less like this game  is an interpretation of samus's moves more   than this is literally how she moves without  her suit after everything she's been through by this time Samus was in the second smash  Paris game smash Perez Mele movement is a   little tighter than her n64 appearance but the  same notion applies that her movements are built   around fighting game language then a tighter 2d  platformer experience and generally still seem to   be based loosely around her floating Super Metroid  moves although each subsequent smash game would   build upon her moves in the previous evolving  an almost separate style to her main games   they're still holding true to the mechanical  nimble confident character that's been built okay so good Metroid things come in twos I  suppose let's look at Metro Prime - echoes and   metroid zero mission prime - was largely the same  as the first game though we now have an additional   third-person view for the new ScrewAttack upgrades  in the prime series which was a combination of   both the ScrewAttack and traditional space jump  from the 2d games nothing particularly of no   other than she has a cool landing pose especially  with that clunky looking arm and the screw attack   itself has is kind of like fizzing effect it's  kind of cool we're treated to more personality   and character animation in their cutscenes  stuff as well her vulnerability when first in   Dark aether is one of the few times we see her in  this vaguely uneasy state and it heightens our own   anticipation of what's to come we also see a bit  more compassion and we see that famous hand wavers   she casually saves another planet while wiping out  other species with no bother something to note by   this point is that both metroid prime hunters  and echos featured multiplayer and this meant   you could see a full-bodied Samus running around  in third person running was basically an extension   of the small part we see when going into Warfel  mode we see a lot more such as reactions to being   here and the fact her upper body can pivot and aim  while moving in different directions zero mission   is a remake of the original Metroid and while  everything seems to be carried over from fusion   stylistically we can see Samus hold her gun much  higher level properly aiming steadying it from   above again the hunch is back but now it seems to  make more visual sense with the higher gun aim as   though she's actually concentrating firing results  in not only a kickback but also this slight glow   from the light the gunshot itself something which  greatly adds to the effect of firing I fight   the run cycle is faster now resulting in more of  a determined run than a casual job the constant   woodlouse ball returns as does all the other good  stuff from previously like the smeary space jump   there's nothing much new going on other than Samus  has a whole new postgame sequence without her suit   resulting in her having to crawl instead of morph  ball we get some nice follow-through action with   her ponytail as she moves this whole section  emphasizes her more vulnerable Samus with her   having to move in a more cumbersome way than  she's used to wracking the tension up much   higher than usual so has much change come Metroid  Prime 3 corruption not particularly I mean motion   controls are now a thing and we're treated to more  of samus's left-hand interacting with various tick   which is nice it's a nice reminder the one else  she's this unstoppable walking tank she still   passed this dainty little hand that has this  really delicate precision in touching things I   like it though I'm not sold on that motion of her  ripping stuff the gravel B looks a little labored   and unconvincing the arc doesn't seem right and  there doesn't seem to be any anticipation in where   added iji thickness could be better we've got this  sweet new animation for flipping up a Ledge so I   must looking a bit more nimble here to what we're  used to in prime games and of course we're shown   more character animation in the cutscenes where  we see her acting a little more nonchalant like   walking backwards before turning around giving  a thumbs up for wiping out another species and   planet you know business as usual and things like  that which subtly build a bit more personality Smash Brothers Brawl feels like more of the same  from previous Smosh games not bad thing obviously   but nothing seems to have transferred over from  smash into mainline and vice-versa though we   do see zero suit samus and can now see how much  quicker she is without her actual suit weighing   her down say what you like about other M and  I have frequently but something it did really   well was give Samus really dynamic movement of  the likes we've not seen properly in her main   games yet using a full 3d model like in her smash  appearances we're now able to see Samus move at   any angle meaning she has to look interesting and  convincing whichever way she is facing and man the   animation in this game is great when standing so  NASA still halts her gun and has her feet ready   to push off but she's not on tiptoes or having  her gun sticking forward she's got this kind   of triangle shape going on and ever so slightly  brandishing her gun pointing casually down it's   almost like she's too eager to aim and she's  keeping her gun down with her free hand there's   a general sense of excitement to her movements  timing feeling like it got hurt I overhaul and   she feels much more acrobatic this time which  some people enjoy and others think it's off the   mark but I think we've witnessed her movements  throughout her history demonstrating just how   nimble and acrobatic she actually is and this  feels correct in this game shooting gives this big   kickback whichever ankles she's aiming reinforcing  her triangle starts when standing while stationary   other M allows use of missiles and while it's  nothing like how prime handles first-person   seeing Sam is pumping a gun like a shotgun to  reload just feels great and much more satisfying   you get the general sense that she properly  means business morphing now takes place kind of   midair as she almost jumps into it resulting in  this new digital transformation gearsley enough   they've removed the constantly spinning ball  in favor for the prime version of a rolling   marble style with trailing lights and it's a nice  marriage of both 3d and 2d ideas jumping doesn't   look especially great when not viewed from the  back but somersaulting looks better in this case   they've nixed that after image effect from zero  emission and applied it as a sort of distortion running is quicker again and feels powerful  and you've got this kind of lean forward going   on and the speeds kind of matches the intensity  of her moves like when she jumps and shoots and   everything and the it just feels right here  shinesparking in this game using the speed   booster looks particularly nice with this little  spin something carried over from zero mission and   grappling at the grapple points has much more  of an action film thing going on which i think   works for this game you can actually feel a  bit of power in that pull unlike how it felt   in prime 3 the space jump is missing the smeary  effect when seen previously instead covered up   by the new screwattack effect which instead  of an electrified Catherine Wheel looks more   like a wispy fire which I'm not so keen on and  again like zero mission we've got a zero suit   samus who moves basically the same as suited  samus although she has a sweet slide and all   the usual other stuff like ponytail follow through  it's like that her smash for appearance takes on   the one from other end and while her moves are  essentially the same as before it all feels a   lot tighter this time around though I'm still  not quite sold on her running a flailing hand   looks bit duh but looking at how much tighter  everything is it's making me realize that the gap   between the two styles are you much less than it  was but we'll come back to this Federation force   offers little in terms of anything new animation  Wiseman was gameplay though for the first time   Samus has been properly stylized away from her  more serious and realistic depiction something   fans and gamers weren't quite involved with though  we are still shown that she's nimble an acrobatic   in her cutscene animations and finally samus's  most recent game Samus Returns pops for an other   M approach using a full 3d model and using more  dynamic poses particularly with the whole melee   thing like other it an advantage that these two  games have over the pixel-art games is that the   model rigging allows for a much more versatile  depiction of Samus such as being able to aim   in any direction they were Sam returns you a  precise control over where to aim other than   auto aim from other end and shooting and firing  missiles doesn't feel satisfying I say that now   her running and movement generally feels a little  more cumbersome and sluggish than they have before   she seems to run more like she does in fusion  climbing up from hanging seems slower than usual   when she falls her pose looks like it's lacking  any sort of energy or urgency while she does still   have kickback when firing it just looks a little  odd though just her upper body sure she's strong   enough to hold against the kickback but even in  other M where it was mostly her her body reacting   we still had slight movement from her legs to  steady herself to be fair it might just be their   limitations of the capabilities of the hardware  and maybe the rigging is a bit more complicated   than that from moving in any direction suffer  that something curious I noticed is that the   space jump no longer has a call smeary effect  when in use and instead literally has samus   somersaulting constantly something that's reused  from other M I feel like this is a bit of a missed   opportunity to do something visually interesting  and the ScrewAttack kind of adds a more circular   harder-edged laser effects to her somersault much  like how it appears in the gameboy version instead   of a crazy electric Catherine Wheel but it's still  better than the wispy fire effector and other own so what if we learned from this animation study  what could we expect from metroid prime 4 and   other future metroid games and what sort of  animation details would I suggest for future   Metroid games Samus is acrobatic she's confident  and powerful she's nimble and streamlined while   being rigid and strong and she can steady herself  from heavy moves and while she's a human who has   to move in restrictive human ways she's also a  mechanical hero and capable of inhuman feats she's   also compassionate modest and strong-willed  so where will metroid prime 4 go perhaps the   mechanical nature of her armoury will return from  previously we'll certainly see the missile hatch   open and I hope we'll see beam arrangements return  and hopefully something new and not the same old   three beams from before seeing his Nintendo are  still rocking these side-scrolling stuff what's   to say they won't do another crossover of styles  and do an other em approach but more like GTA 5   with a swappable view style this could lead to  some interesting body animation in third person   it could be something like Mega Man Legends  perhaps let's just take a quick look at this   fangame buy tuxedo Pato using his tweeted video I  mean just look at some of the awesome stuff going   on here we've got this neat little dash with a  proper stretch and that cool little blast from   her back jets I love how the aim is independent  from movement so you can run and dash while   shooting I like this lean during the run and man  I love that speed booster I'm a big fan of that   loving effect kind of replacing the after image  what I really like here though is how she jumps   into the morph ball while running keeping that  momentum I like how she lands on shoulder pads   it really looks like she dives into the move  and heard shoulders close in around her to   form the morph ball which to be fair I've always  thought happened anyway especially after Prime just generally the construction of samisen this  fangame I would wholeheartedly get behind and   support she definitely feels confident and  powerful so what other things could we see   it's possible we'll see the digital transformation  for another M but we'll certainly see the static   marvel style more for the next game seeing  as it's been that way since other M would   you prefer a laser edged ScrewAttack a crazy  electric one or a wispy fiery one for the next   game one thing I'd like for games to maybe  explore a bit more is the morph ball bomb   so far all games have had it merely a pair of  nothing the prime games showed us a much more   mechanical understanding of her suit it might  be interesting to explore perhaps how bombs   are deployed maybe it's a simple quick digital  production kind of like how other M portrayed   her suit changes breath of the wild introduced  this beautiful 2d styled effects animation I   think something like this first some future  Metroid games could look really nice imagine   seeing a bomb or a tower bomb go off like that  the cool and super smash brothers ultimate has   this similar sort of idea going up I think there  could be potential to see some real nice 2d style   effects stuff in the Metroid game 3d and -  I mean if we look at Rob's animations like   some of these smears made that could look really  cool for a future space jump in a Metroid game   I think I'd like all versions of future games  both 3d and 2d to continue using the mechanical   gun animations perhaps glowing different  colors depending on which beam stack is   equipped like Samus Returns and definitely make  that missile hatch feel satisfying to fire from maybe we could draw inspiration from smash  burrows to potentially bring across into   future mainline games barge attack could  perhaps work in a new speed boost animation   perhaps it can be used when hitting boost blocks  or running through enemies Oh perhaps there could   be a designated run button again mapped just  for speed boosting or barging there could be   a cool transition from run to sprint and back  again this could well work in a 2d platformer   or first-person I mean imagine some dynamics  sprinting animation in first-person only being   able to shoot in a rough direction while  you run I think we could explore how her   suit could weigh head down such as having a wine  town animation from a sprint or a run maybe even   bring back the walking animation from other  m4 spookier moments such as having to creep   through an alarmed area filled with monsters  or something and I think there could be more   opportunity for a bit more character animation in  cutscenes especially in 2d games where it's not   often shown maybe give her an idle animation  which changes depending on what sort of area   she's in whether it's a new area allowing her  to curiously look around maybe suddenly use her   scan visor or if it's a dark area we can see her  actor bit more cautiously not strictly animation   of Samus directly but we should continue to see  environmental disturbances to her presence such   as those splashes and wet areas or dust clouds in  hot dry areas maybe even bring something over from   the prime games maybe have some shimmering heat  rise off her suit and hot areas or being able   to see droplets roll of her suit in humid areas  or bring back the breathing animation from Super   Metroid was that infusion current member and  I think definitely have her lean forward loads   when speed boosting have her react when firing  her cannonball and have some cool muzzle flashes   definitely continued the mechanical side of  her suit perhaps give her shoulder pads more   a purpose in forming the morph ball even if it's  a few frames I think most importantly continue to   emphasize her versatility and acrobatics show  how strong she is with the things she can do   in her suit and the speed in which she can do  them give her more of a follow up when landing   from a greater height than normal perhaps give  her more knock back when firing a super missile   so she has to study herself by taking a step  further back all in all I think Nintendo should   keep stylistically pushing the limitations in what  Samus can realistically do and just keep making it   exciting let me know what you think Samus could do  in the future games Wow that was a big one and it   took a long old while to make something it which  isn't easy to do around her rear and family if   you want to support me in making these videos  please have a look at my patreon and consider   supporting the channel to help produce these  videos [Music] see you again soon love you bye

Channel: Video Game Animation Study

Views: 276,328

Keywords: dan root, animation, retro games, video game reviews, video game analysis, animated video game analysis, animated video game review, game design, video essay, video game design, samus animation, animation of samus, metroid prime 4

Id: rxpOnFDW1eg

Length: 29min 9sec (1749 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 26 2019