It’s been revealed that Metroid Prime initially rejected Samus’ voice acting for sounding too sexual. Samus hasn’t spoken in many Metroid games, and in Metroid Prime, Samus would be voiced mainly in grunts whenever she took damage.
Samus speaking in Metroid games has been a divisive topic for some time, particularly after Metroid: Other M, in which Samus had a decent amount of dialogue. Metroid: Other M was heavily criticized for its writing, which didn’t help make a good case for a talking Samus. Although there have been other games where Samus had written dialogue, such as Metroid Fusion which had Samus monologuing at certain points.
YouTube channel KIWI TAKLZ (via Nintendo Life) recently sat down with Clark Wen, the audio director for Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. Wen went into detail on the audio creation process for the Metroid Prime games, and he explained that Samus initially had placeholder grunts for when she took damage. Feedback was later received that the sounds were "too sexual and sensual sounding," so several actresses were recorded to replace Samus' vocals. Many fans think that the actress that was ultimately used for Metroid Prime is Jennifer Hale, and Wen stated that he was "95% sure" it was Hale.
In Metroid Dread, Samus is characterized through the emotions shown through the visor and her body language. This characterization has been extremely well received by fans and critics. In Metroid Dread, she's shown to be the confident bounty hunter that she's known for, able to hunt down aliens with swagger while also showing a variety of emotions throughout the game's various story beats. This includes the first time she meets the Chozo Quiet Robe.
The debate over whether Samus should have more of a speaking role in Metroid games is no doubt reignited after the release of Metroid Dread. It's possible that future games could gradually lean further into a new direction for Samus that primarily shows her characterization through body language, but will occasionally speak when she chooses to. There have also been debates as to who Samus should be played by in a theoretical Metroid movie. If Samus does speak more in future Metroid games, it likely won't be like the rejected voice samples for Metroid Prime, as leaning too far into sexualization could affect how her character is presented to some. But if Metroid Dread is anything to go by, the future for the bounty hunter's portrayal is brighter than ever.
Metroid Dread is available to play now on Nintendo Switch.
Sources: KIWI TALKZ/YouTube, Nintendo Life