9 Insane Origins Of Gaming's Most Over-Sexualised Female Characters

6. Samus Aran - Super Metroid

If we're talking prominent female characters in video games, you need look no further than Samus Aran. To this day - as evidenced when the Fine Bros. Teens React " target="_blank">channel played Super Metroid in April - Samus is still thought to be a burly space marine, and therein lies the biggest positive and simultaneous negative.

See, the idea to have the original Metroid's ending be a genre-swap, revealing Aran to be a bikini-clad female, was done as a joke. Not in a malicious way, but entirely as a "Wouldn't it be cool if"-type way. The decision was made and a few variations on the original, armoured design were put together, geared towards surprising players as much as possible.

Due to the technical limitations of the time - and how many developers designed the female body - she needed to appear 'female' through only a handful of pixels. The result was the above image you'd only unlock through passwords or beating the game on the hardest setting; a long-haired, half-naked Samus that was intended to exude pure femininity.

The only question is, does the intent behind her make the character's legacy belong to the creators, or the audience?