#does anyone else miss Jetix

[coldgoldlazarus]

I think part of the reason I'm so affectionate toward Hunters is just how off-the-wall it feels. "Let's just throw up all the crazy, cool ideas we have and see what sticks" kind of energy. Metroid has always had its own particular vibe, sitting in this weird tension between Retrofuture Biological/Eldritch Space Horror and Hype Super Robot Anime. Hunters is still kinda doing some of that, but also kinda not.

Most typical multiplayer first-person shooters at the time, meanwhile, were in their Brown Is Real phase, along with an overabundance of Iraq War Jingoism. Even Halo, much as I do appreciate it for being... less that than the rest, still had undercurrents if you look at the subtext any amount. So Hunters, being a more multiplayer-focused shooter, could easily have gone that direction too if so inclined. But nope, not that either.

I don't know how to really describe it, honestly. The designs, if anything, remind me of like, Ben 10 aliens or Buzz Lightyear or Toonami Tom almost. There is just this very distinctly Early Aughts Saturday Morning Action Cartoon vibe to these characters and their backgrounds that you didn't see anywhere else in games, and just don't see anywhere period now. It's definitely still Metroid, especially with the main stuff with the Alimbics and Gorea, but it's also doing its own thing. And for how different it was from other shooters, Hunters also feels like it couldn't have been made any other time than exactly when it was.

The Prime Trilogy is already responsible for broadening the scope and adding a ton of worldbuilding. And then Hunters, this obscure spinoff on hardware much too limited for its ambition, tosses out all these crazy things in the span of some character bios that could fit on the back of an action figure blister pack, and refuses to elaborate further. And I think that's part of the vibe right there - action figures. They feel like action figures for some weird Jetix cartoon, and I adore that so so much.

#not a reblog #metroid #metroid prime hunters #does anyone else miss Jetix #not just the literal channel/timeslot #but like. the Jetix genre #like I don't watch current cartoons #so I could just be talking out my ass #but it does feel like cartoons have been like #increasingly pigeonholed into being For Kids #not as much for teens #there was She Ra at least #and the Carmen Sandiego reboot to a lesser extent #and other good ones like Owl House and Gravity Falls #but they're not action shows first yanno? #not a knock against them or anything #just there doesn't seem to be anything else doing that either #at least not that I know of #out of touch zillenial that I am #anyway I wonder what Sylux is gonna look like #will they stick close to the original Hunters design #just with better poly count & detail? #or will they get a heavier redesign #to suit modern sensibilities? #guess we'll find out sooner or later