You know that super sweet, live action Other M advertisement that we posted recently? How about we turn back the clock and check out Metroid‘s commercial past?
For starters, we’re going to avoid the ones from America. Why? Cuz they were all lame, that’s why. Though if you really want, feel free to Google for the original American spot can compare it to its far super Japanese equivalent for the very first installment:
It’s funny seeing the very first iteration of Samus’ space suit realized in the real world. Obviously not quite as sexy as what we’re used to, but it definitely holds up as far as retro chic is concerned. Though the commercial’s liberal use of in game footage is what’s most commendable, a problem that would be mostly an American issue that would take literally decades to be properly resolved.
Moving on, here’s the Japanese spot for Metroid 2:
As you can see, instead of tacking the complexities of accurately creating the space suit on a full scale, we get a stop motion Samus instead. Fair enough, plus she’s far more agile, thanks to the comic book-style presentation. Though as silly as it might seem, I do have a fairly major beef with the ad; Samus would never cower in fear as she does, even if it’s for like two seconds.
And here’s Metroid 3, aka Super Metroid:
My God, is there a more perfect video game commercial? Not only does it set-up the entire game in just 30 seconds perfectly, but also has white people speaking Japanese (a guilty pleasure of mine in any Japanese commercial), the very first real life portrayal of Samus (as much as I love her Zero Suit duds, it was her Super attire that I have fondest memories of during my teenage years), the return of the stop motion space suit (and moving very much like Robocop might I add), plus one of the best pieces of music from the entire game (nuff said). True it’s a bit low on actual game footage, but what little there is still does a terrific job demonstrating how much bigger the sequel is.
This is jumping ahead, but since it sorta deals with the first Metroid adventure, and somewhat ties into the live action Other M ad, here’s the Japanese commercial for the Metroid remake, Zero Mission:
My how far we’ve come!