The Alien Franchise Inspired One Of The Best Sci-Fi Video Games Ever Made

Seven years passed between the release of Ridley Scott's "Alien" in 1979 and the arrival of James Cameron's action-heavy follow-up "Aliens" in 1986. In that time, while a new generation of science-fiction films were capturing the imaginations of moviegoers, another major media shift was happening at home in the world of video games. Nintendo released the Famicom in Japan, and by '86, it had made its way to the U.S., revolutionizing the home gaming market with a series of highly influential titles.

You know the names: "Super Mario Bros.," "The Legend of Zelda," and just slightly lower on the hierarchy of fame, a game called "Metroid," which spawned its own massively popular franchise that's still going strong to this day. Where most of Nintendo's other big first-party games took place in fantasy realms or versions of the real world, "Metroid" put players in the highly advanced space suit of intergalactic bounty hunter Samus Aran. From there, it follows the character to the desolate planet of Zebes on a mission to destroy the most dangerous species of alien predators in the galaxy: the eponymous Metroids.

If that sounds a lot like "Aliens," it's no coincidence. "Metroid" took its own share of direct inspiration from Scott's 1979 original masterpiece, from the premise of a race of hyper-violent aliens to the bio-mechanical aesthetic of H.R. Giger. "Ever since I made the first 'Metroid' game, I've been influenced by movies like 'Alien,'" as series director and co-creator Yoshio Sakamoto explained in a 2021 interview with Famitsu (translated from Japanese). "The worldview of H.R. Giger's organic design, accented with mechanical elements, is also a core theme of 'Metroid.'"

Once you know that "Metroid" was directly inspired by "Alien," you'll start noticing all kinds of little parallels. First and foremost, putting a female protagonist in a major action game wasn't all that common at the time, and while there's nothing I can find to prove that Samus' gender was explicitly inspired by Sigourney Weaver's Ellen Ripley, a quick look at her big, curly 8-bit hair in that first game suggests a strong influence. "We were partway through the development processes when one of the staff members said, 'Hey, wouldn't that be kind of cool if it turned out that this person inside the suit was a woman?'" Sakamoto told IGN in 2004.

The Metroids themselves, while very different in look from the Xenomorphs of the "Alien" franchise, fill essentially the same role — a super-predator discovered in the far reaches of space — one connected to ancient aliens — that poses a threat to all of the galaxy. You could even argue that "Metroid" anticipated some of the lore Scott would eventually bring to the property with his prequel movies "Prometheus" and "Alien: Covenant." In fact, the very first "Metroid" game introduced the ancient race of bird-like, bioengineering Chozo as the pregenitors of the Metroids, similar to the role the Engineers played in those films.

There are smaller details too. Is it mere coincidence that Ridley, the massive space dragon who murdered Samus' parents and serves as her nemesis throughout the games, bears the same name as Ridley Scott? Or that the biomechanical supercomputer antagonist of the first game, Mother Brain, is one word off from having the same name as the Mother computer aboard the Nostromo?

"All of the team members were affected by H.R. Giger's design work," Sakamoto told Retro Gamer in 2009 (via Den of Geek), "and I think they were aware that such designs would be a good match for the 'Metroid' world we had already put in place."

The cinematic inspirations and unique setting of the "Metroid" games have long made them a prime candidate for a big screen adaptation, but sadly, all previous efforts to produce a "Metroid" film have failed to follow through. A real effort was made in the early 2000s, with back when John Woo was attached to direct a live-action "Metroid" movie. However, creative disagreements between Nintendo and those involved on the film side of the project led to long stalls in planning, and the whole thing eventually fizzled out.

That all happened at a time when Nintendo was particularly protective of its major properties — an understandable anxiety, given the absolute disaster that was the live-action 1993 "Super Mario Bros." film. These days, however, the company has returned to the cinematic arena with great success. The animated 2023 "Super Mario Bros. Movie" was a huge hit, and Nintendo is following that up with a live-action "Legend of Zelda" film adaptation that's currently set to release in theaters on May 7, 2027.

Could all of that recent movement lead to Metroid fans finally getting the big-screen adventure they've been waiting for? It's certainly possible. Unfortunately, "Metroid" isn't nearly as popular these days as "Mario" and "Zelda," but with a big new entry in the property, "Metroid Prime 4: Beyond," set to be released in the immediate future, interest could spike again. If the movie does happen, it will surely be more family-friendly than the "Alien" films. At the same time, it would be impossible to faithfully adapt the games and not bring over some of that same DNA.