So, between Pikachu and The Metroid Hatchling, I think it's fairly safe to say that Samus isn't Space Mom. She's Space Girl In Her Twenties With Several Pets She Obsesses Over.
It's Metroid: Other M's fault that Samus gets shoved into maternal roles (even the acronym is MOM).
She should be a Space Badass Destroyer of Worlds.
I'd say rather that M:OM flanderized her maternal traits - Super Metroid already established somewhat of a relationship between her and the Metroid larva. But Super Metroid still let her be Space Badass Destroyer of Worlds first and foremost. (I haven't played M:OM or watched playthroughs, so I only have commentary to tell me how badly they handled her characterization.)
I'd say rather that M:OM flanderized her maternal traits - Super Metroid already established somewhat of a relationship between her and the Metroid larva. But Super Metroid still let her be Space Badass Destroyer of Worlds first and foremost. (I haven't played M:OM or watched playthroughs, so I only have commentary to tell me how badly they handled her characterization.)
EDIT: Also, to refute the notion that she was "Space Mom" to The Last Metroid, I want to quote this, in particular:
See, Other M wants us to believe that there is a deep, personal relationship between Samus Aran and "the baby." Other M is saying that Samus loved this Metroid like her child, and it's death was crushing to her, the equivalent of losing a child. The problem with this is that this is not what Super Metroid said! That's why Other M's version of the scene takes liberties with what happens: because they want to change what actually happened.
In Super Metroid, the focus of the scene was on the fact that the Metroid still recognized Samus as its parent and was willing to fight for her. First, we had the scene where it scares the ever-loving shit out of you. You see an invincible creature, and then the biggest Metroid you've ever seen grabs it and reduces it to dust. It's ice-resistant* and you have nothing that can scratch it. After finishing a snack, it grabs onto you and almost kills you. But it stops. This is the game's way of saying that the big Metroid is the infant you rescued from Metroid II. It grew up.
Later, when you're about to be killed, it drained Mother Brain's life (that's where it picked up the Hyper Beam) and transfered life to Samus. It then covers Samus's body, protecting it from further attacks. And when it tries to go after Mother Brain again, it dies due in part to the damage it sustained protecting Samus.
At no time in Super Metroid was there even the slightest idea that Samus felt that this Metroid was her child. The very opening sequence in fact suggests the opposite: Samus gave "the baby" away, with nary a second thought. This suggests that she felt less like a human mother and more like someone who picked up a stray. She didn't want to shoot the defenseless infant that imprinted on her, but she's not exactly in love with it either. She goes after Ridley because, well it's Ridley, and that he's going to use it to breed a Metroid army.
Even Samus calling it a "baby" in Other M is a rewrite. Why? Because in Super Metroid, it is very clearly not a baby anymore; it's an adult Metroid, and a very large one at that. It used to be a baby, but it's all grown up now. That's why this game doesn't show it being huge like Super Metroid. By continuously referring to it as that (and Samus does insist on it; every single reference she makes to it will call it "the baby"), it drives home the point that Other M is trying to make, one that is not supported by Super Metroid.
See, Other M must take Super Metroid's ending scene out of context. If it put the actual context there, if it did the scene right, then the scene wouldn't work for what Other M wants. Because what Other M wants is wrong; it's not what Super Metroid was trying to say at all.
Indeed, this is one of the systemic problems with Other M. Some of the things it wants to say are antithetical to what prior games in the series have long-since established. Therefore, Other M must either change or ignore significant parts of Metroid continuity in order for what it says and does to work.
EDIT: Also, to refute the notion that she was "Space Mom" to The Last Metroid, I want to quote this, in particular:
See, Other M wants us to believe that there is a deep, personal relationship between Samus Aran and "the baby." Other M is saying that Samus loved this Metroid like her child, and it's death was crushing to her, the equivalent of losing a child. The problem with this is that this is not what Super Metroid said! That's why Other M's version of the scene takes liberties with what happens: because they want to change what actually happened.
In Super Metroid, the focus of the scene was on the fact that the Metroid still recognized Samus as its parent and was willing to fight for her. First, we had the scene where it scares the ever-loving shit out of you. You see an invincible creature, and then the biggest Metroid you've ever seen grabs it and reduces it to dust. It's ice-resistant* and you have nothing that can scratch it. After finishing a snack, it grabs onto you and almost kills you. But it stops. This is the game's way of saying that the big Metroid is the infant you rescued from Metroid II. It grew up.
Later, when you're about to be killed, it drained Mother Brain's life (that's where it picked up the Hyper Beam) and transfered life to Samus. It then covers Samus's body, protecting it from further attacks. And when it tries to go after Mother Brain again, it dies due in part to the damage it sustained protecting Samus.
At no time in Super Metroid was there even the slightest idea that Samus felt that this Metroid was her child. The very opening sequence in fact suggests the opposite: Samus gave "the baby" away, with nary a second thought. This suggests that she felt less like a human mother and more like someone who picked up a stray. She didn't want to shoot the defenseless infant that imprinted on her, but she's not exactly in love with it either. She goes after Ridley because, well it's Ridley, and that he's going to use it to breed a Metroid army.
Even Samus calling it a "baby" in Other M is a rewrite. Why? Because in Super Metroid, it is very clearly not a baby anymore; it's an adult Metroid, and a very large one at that. It used to be a baby, but it's all grown up now. That's why this game doesn't show it being huge like Super Metroid. By continuously referring to it as that (and Samus does insist on it; every single reference she makes to it will call it "the baby"), it drives home the point that Other M is trying to make, one that is not supported by Super Metroid.
See, Other M must take Super Metroid's ending scene out of context. If it put the actual context there, if it did the scene right, then the scene wouldn't work for what Other M wants. Because what Other M wants is wrong; it's not what Super Metroid was trying to say at all.
Indeed, this is one of the systemic problems with Other M. Some of the things it wants to say are antithetical to what prior games in the series have long-since established. Therefore, Other M must either change or ignore significant parts of Metroid continuity in order for what it says and does to work.
They're ignoring the fact that Samus spared the last metroid because it'd imprinted upon her. Every other metroid in the game is slaughtered as Samus commits planetary genocide, but when presented with the final specimen and the blood of all of it's kind on her hands...she doesn't pull the trigger.
Now, I don't know what Samus was feeling or thinking when the sequence plays out against Motherbrain in Super Metroid, but I know what I was thinking. I know what I was feeling. And I'm pretty sure the game wanted me to think and feel those things.
Samus caring about the Hatchling in a particular way is completely reasonable. It turning her into a useless idiot is something else entirely, but that's not the point the article is trying to make.
They're ignoring the fact that Samus spared the last metroid because it'd imprinted upon her. Every other metroid in the game is slaughtered as Samus commits planetary genocide, but when presented with the final specimen and the blood of all of it's kind on her hands...she doesn't pull the trigger.
Now, I don't know what Samus was feeling or thinking when the sequence plays out against Motherbrain in Super Metroid, but I know what I was thinking. I know what I was feeling. And I'm pretty sure the game wanted me to think and feel those things.
Samus caring about the Hatchling in a particular way is completely reasonable. It turning her into a useless idiot is something else entirely, but that's not the point the article is trying to make.
The sense I had from Super Metroid is that the Hatchling thought Samus was its mommy, but Samus didn't necessarily see it quite the same way. It's more like a pet than a daughter, I feel...
And when it shows up grown to giant-size, it's like Ridley had stolen her puppy and now it's a full-grown enormous dog, and it savages Samus before it finally remembers who she is. I feel Samus is supposed to still be a bit afraid of the creature (much like you'd be afraid of a large dog with a history of biting even if it seems affectionate enough at the moment) until the very end when it intervenes to save her from Mother Brain.
And in any case, the most important point to me is that Samus is supposed to be an unstoppable killing machine against anything short of the Super Metroid and Mother Brain themselves. She's the Hunter, the dreaded bane of the Space Pirates.
They're ignoring the fact that Samus spared the last metroid because it'd imprinted upon her. Every other metroid in the game is slaughtered as Samus commits planetary genocide, but when presented with the final specimen and the blood of all of it's kind on her hands...she doesn't pull the trigger.
Now, I don't know what Samus was feeling or thinking when the sequence plays out against Motherbrain in Super Metroid, but I know what I was thinking. I know what I was feeling. And I'm pretty sure the game wanted me to think and feel those things.
Samus caring about the Hatchling in a particular way is completely reasonable. It turning her into a useless idiot is something else entirely, but that's not the point the article is trying to make.
To add to what Mithiwithi said, and pull the thread on the "what Samus is feeling is probably what you are feeling because the game was designed to make you feel that way" idea, you know the Last Metroid for like 2 minutes. At first you think it's maybe kind of cute. Then, when you see it again, it's scary and attacks you, but then you start liking it again when it helps you, and then you get a bit righteously indignant when it's quickly killed. You do NOT, however, spend days moping about the Last Metroid and calling it "Your Baby" from then on.
Samus did what you would do in Super Metroid, she was a superpowered badass avatar in a cool universe of explosions and space pirates. Samus (or rather, Zero Suit Samus, because Other M is where Samus stops being represented in her armor and starts being just blue latex blonde) in Other M becomes a sexy pinup girl who takes abuse from Daddy (what do you mean her foster parents were Chozo - this game retcons all that away!) to whine about parental abandonment issues. What you feel has nothing to do with Samus, you're just someone punching buttons to move the "cinematic movie experience" along to find out what Samus thinks about things as she deadpan monologues feelings she can only tell because the actually talented actress doesn't have AUTHORIZATION to do any showing, only telling. (And as the article goes into, the director actually stopped localizers from correcting Engrish and demanded the voice actors speak with less emotion.)
The fact that it sees the player (Samus) as a parental figure makes it more than "cute". People like to assume the role of caretaker. Not everyone, but some.