Backlash Over All-Male ‘Metroid’ Proves Geeks Just Hate Dumb Changes, Not Women

A gender-swapped version of a beloved entertainment franchise that hasn’t been updated in ages received a huge amount of hate online and hammered with dislikes on YouTube.

But I’m not talking about Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters.

Metroid Prime: Federation Force enraged fans of the franchise by swapping out the beloved female lead Samus with a bunch of less charismatic men.

Fans felt Nintendo was betraying them and not respecting the franchise. The game didn’t seem to have the right tone—the co-op (group play) flew in the face of Metroid’s theme of isolation. The main characters were dumb knockoffs of the much better original character and to really pour salt in the fans’ wounds they made Samus the final boss. Most of this criticism could be translated into similar Ghostbusters complaints, but Federation was not fodder for countless think pieces.

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RSaney @Etherwinter

>Metroid's 30th anniversary
>Federation Force has you fighting Samus as the final boss

6:30 PM - 20 Aug 2016

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•   1010 Retweets
   
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When coupled with the Call of Duty: Infinite War trailer disaster (which received many more dislikes on its YouTube trailer than Ghostbusters 2016) it shows that geek culture is not misogynistic—it’s just picky. Geeks don’t want to see beloved titles changed in pointless ways.

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LSHDS @LSHDSGaming

As a game, metroid prime federation force is not as bad as other m. As an insult to samus and the entire franchise? It's definitely as bad.

2:01 AM - 20 Aug 2016

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They were incensed after a leak said that Michael Bay’s Ninja Turtles would be aliens. They hated the fact that CoD  would be set in the future with even more randomized elements that detract from raw skill. And geeks hated the idea of the new Ghostbusters because it did not further the story of the original films and looked like a shameless cash grab.

Sometimes geeks will just be geeks, and there are plenty of examples to show it. Just because a few trolls are being trolls in the YouTube comments does not mean there is some broader gender war narrative at play. Geeks smell shit better than a dung beetle and will gladly click that dislike button.

And as for Federation Force, no amount of middling to positive reviews will overcome the fan’s knee-jerk contempt for the concept. Maybe it’s time to stop punching down at geek culture like a bully in the locker room and start listening to the criticism.