Oh geez, if there was ever a moment that could make me verklempt (and have me request that you all talk amongst yourselves), this is it. If you've never played Super Metroid, then what the heck are you doing reading this crappy column? Go to the Virtual Console and start downloading! The rest of us know the story: Samus is down to her last sliver of life, death is imminent, when suddenly the Metroid hatchling bursts in and sacrifices itself for its assumed mother. If a man can state that video games are incapable of eliciting emotion after witnessing this moment, then I pity his cold, dead heart.
It's truly amazing to have such strong sentiments delivered by 16 simple bits. Additionally, it touches on a deeper sense of connection with the world. Perhaps love is literally universal. Though we display enormous diversity within our own kind and amongst others, perhaps there is a power compatible across all genders, races, and species. A power unbound by borders, oceans, and in this case, planets. All that lives is programmed with a natural instinct to avoid death at all costs. Yet somehow there exists a feeling for others so strong that such genetics become meaningless. To sacrifice yourself for the sake of another is the purest definition of selflessness. Nintendo managed to portray such a beautiful facet of life through a simple sprite.
