| Author | Message |
|---|
RedLightning
Posts: 154
|  Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 8:32 pm Post subject: THE REAL SOURCE OF THE NAME "METROID" |
| So, we love Metroid and Metroid games. They're great games that give you a great sense of exploration whether in its 2D or 3D incarnations.
But what the hell does "Metroid" mean?! The question must have plagued the minds of youths worldwide since the game's release in 1986!!
Well, it turns out that Metroid director Sakamoto Yoshio actually answered that question 2-3 years ago on the Fuji TV show "Game Center CX"(which is actually sort of neat; I've been downloading random episodes to watch over the last couple of days. The first season featured lots of developer interviews, although from the second season onwards the focus shifted more towards the "Arino no Chousen" ("Arino's Challenge") segment, where comedian Arino Shinya from the comedy group Yoiko tries to beat various retro games in a single sitting. I've been kicking around the idea of subtitling a few choice segments from it, actually.).
So explains Sakamoto, loosely translated:
Well, you know, some people call the subway the "metro", right?
And then the game sort of has feel like you're exploring underground to it, right?
And Samus is sort of like an android robot of sorts, so we sort of just tacked "roid" from that onto the end of "Metro", and... yeah.
AND THE SCREENSHOT OF PROOF:
Discuss! |
| | Back to top | |  | Burp
Posts: 313
| | Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 8:54 pm Post subject: |
| Its your average 80s reason for why you name/produced/directed a game.
By the way, Donkey Kong was originally called Monkey Kong but it was mispelled (engrish?) by Nintendo... |
| | Back to top | | | colour_thief
Posts: 116
| | Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 9:11 pm Post subject: |
| | And here I've been secretly hoping all these years they were named afterMatroids. |
| | Back to top | | | extralife
Posts: 3316
| | Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 9:29 pm Post subject: |
| | That picture is irrifutable proof that Japanese gamers are, in fact, aware of video games that are presented in the first person. |
| | Back to top | | | human seemer
Posts: 82
| | Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 9:53 pm Post subject: |
| | Sakamoto?! What about Gunpei? Oh, right... |
| | Back to top | | | Dark Age Iron Savior
Posts: 3148
| | Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 10:28 pm Post subject: |
| The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of a Metroid that takes place in an urban area that's been completely and utterly devastated by something (disease, famine, music piracy), leading to a much more grim and sobering atmosphere as the player searches for <game objective> through places that are recognizably where people used to live, work, etc.
(maybe they did that in the Metroid Prime games? I wouldn't know)
Hell, there could even be a subway that's still functioning which is used to get between different zones. I'd love to see what Metroid could do with the "train is seemingly abandoned, but when you get on it, holy shit it started to move!" setpiece. |
| | Back to top | | | glitch
Posts: 216
| | Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 11:21 pm Post subject: |
| human seemer wrote: What about Gunpei?
dead.
car accident, iirc. |
| | Back to top | | | ReroRero
Posts: 2148
| | Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 11:32 pm Post subject: |
| | Seeds sown by theVirtual Boy... |
| | Back to top | | | extralife
Posts: 3316
| | Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 12:07 am Post subject: |
| glitch wrote: human seemer wrote: What about Gunpei? dead. car accident, iirc.
Killed by Nintendo. |
| | Back to top | | | glitch
Posts: 216
| | Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 12:46 am Post subject: |
| ReroRero wrote: Seeds sown by theVirtual Boy...
and we're (almost) all guilty for not buying one!
and now it's too late!
sorry gunpei!
we didn't listen!
no seriously, imagine what he could've done with the ds and wii.
...
no i can't come up with anything.
but i bet he could. |
| | Back to top | | | Szczepaniak
Posts: 815
| | Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 1:44 am Post subject: Re: THE REAL SOURCE OF THE NAME "METROID" |
| RedLightning wrote: So, we love Metroid and Metroid games. They're great games that give you a great sense of exploration whether in its 2D or 3D incarnations.
But what the hell does "Metroid" mean?! The question must have plagued the minds of youths worldwide since the game's release in 1986!!
Well, it turns out that Metroid director Sakamoto Yoshio actually answered that question 2-3 years ago on the Fuji TV show "Game Center CX"(which is actually sort of neat; I've been downloading random episodes to watch over the last couple of days. The first season featured lots of developer interviews, although from the second season onwards the focus shifted more towards the "Arino no Chousen" ("Arino's Challenge") segment, where comedian Arino Shinya from the comedy group Yoiko tries to beat various retro games in a single sitting. I've been kicking around the idea of subtitling a few choice segments from it, actually.).
So explains Sakamoto, loosely translated:
Well, you know, some people call the subway the "metro", right?
And then the game sort of has feel like you're exploring underground to it, right?
And Samus is sort of like an android robot of sorts, so we sort of just tacked "roid" from that onto the end of "Metro", and... yeah.
Discuss!
Good lord, now that is some awesome fucking trivia. You rock man, YOU ROCK.
What other trivia have you discovered? Is it rich in such oddities? You should compile a bunch of screenshots, and then make like a website or something, on these odd bits of trivia from these shows.
So then, how would one acquire these episodes, with subtitles? I've never been good at torrents. How big are the files? Would they all fit on a single DVD? The reason I ask is, I love such random trivia, and I like sharing such random trivia with the world. If possible, I'd want to harvest these shows of their info, and then do a feature on them for Retro Gamer. Alternatively, since you've actually got the skills for translating and dloading this stuff, you could do one yourself! (I wouldn't want to steal your thunder regarding this stuff)
It's just, I'm feeling that there's a lot more such unusual information, locked away, and people need to chip away at it. Let it all out, man. Give it to the world, or something. |
| | Back to top | | | ReroRero
Posts: 2148
| | Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 1:45 am Post subject: |
| Yeah, shit, we didn't buy one and it fucking killed him. A console killed its inventor, that's something to be scared of. I bet the guy in the car was coming home from the shops after buying a Virtual Boy. I bet the Virtual Boy took the wheel.
Fuck man, the Virtual Boy, that some scary shit yo. |
| | Back to top | | | Szczepaniak
Posts: 815
| | Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 1:48 am Post subject: |
| ReroRero wrote: Yeah, shit, we didn't buy one and it fucking killed him. A console killed its inventor, that's something to be scared of. I bet the guy in the car was coming home from the shops after buying a Virtual Boy. I bet the Virtual Boy took the wheel.
Fuck man, the Virtual Boy, that some scary shit yo.
virtual boy
It's thinking |
| | Back to top | | | L
Posts: 145
| | Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 1:52 am Post subject: |
| Well, you know, some people call the subway the "metro", right?
And then the game sort of has feel like you're exploring underground to it, right?
And Samus is sort of like an android robot of sorts, so we sort of just tacked "roid" from that onto the end of "Metro", and... yeah.
Let me get this straight:
* "Metro" is short for "Metropolis" which is supposedly Greek for "Mother City".
* "roid" comes from the Greek "Android", or "Andro-id". "Andro" being "Anthro" - "man, human" - and "-id" meaning "property/aspect of".
"Metroid", therefore, is either:
* a portmandeau of "Metro" (mother) "android" (human-like), or
* just the word "Metro" suffixed with "-id" (mother-like)
Of course, there's also this:
Metroid Fusion manual (page 40) wrote: In a piece of ancient Chozo literature, and interesting reference to Metroids was found. It seems that the word Metroid in the Chozo language can be roughly translated as "ultimate warrior."
This post brought to you bythe I'm Feeling Lucky result for "etymology".
Burp wrote: By the way, Donkey Kong was originally called Monkey Kong but it was mispelled (engrish?) by Nintendo...
BUSTED. If you want genuine Engrish I suggest you check out the nomenclature of that "Gradius" series. |
| | Back to top | | | Szczepaniak
Posts: 815
| | Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 3:38 am Post subject: |
| I refuse to believe or accept any retcon perpetuated by post-Super iterations.
(wow, just look at that sentence. It makes sense in terms of modern English, but let's be honest, it sounds like gibberish) |
| | Back to top | | | Kazu
Posts: 894
| | Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 4:38 am Post subject: |
| there are more titles to talk about ... I wonder why there isn't a topic around, discussing terminology from various games?
Like REZ, Tron and it's games .REZ-files .... |
| | Back to top | | | B coma
Posts: 1455
| | Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 4:41 am Post subject: |
| | I believe Rez is named as such because of the Underworld song. |
| | Back to top | | | Szczepaniak
Posts: 815
| | Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 4:51 am Post subject: |
| Everyone knows how the word shmup (god, I love that word, it just sounds damn sexy rolling off the tongue) came about,SHoot-eM-UP, but how many realise it originated in Britain, in the C64 magazine Zzap 64?
Well, according to my sources.
Blame us Brits if you hate the word.
But yeah, a fascinating topic. Most niche subcultures (such as gaming) tend to create their own lexicon. |
| | Back to top | | | Adilegian
Posts: 124
| | Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 5:16 am Post subject: |
| Szczepaniak wrote: Everyone knows how the word shmup (god, I love that word, it just sounds damn sexy rolling off the tongue) came about,SHoot-eM-UP, but how many realise it originated in Britain, in the C64 magazine Zzap 64?
That's awesome. I grew up in Germany owing to my father's enlistment in the U.S. Army and subsequently getting stationed around the Austria/Bavaria area, and C-64 mags were a common staple around our home. I distinctly remember having issues of Zzap 64 lodged in the corners of my bedframe.
I didn't know that the magazine originated the term Shoot-em-Up, though. I also didn't know that the term had been truncated into "Schmup." I'm behind the times, it seems. |
| | Back to top | | | aerisdead
Posts: 556
| | Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 6:32 am Post subject: |
| Szczepaniak wrote: Everyone knows how the word shmup (god, I love that word, it just sounds damn sexy rolling off the tongue) came about,SHoot-eM-UP, but how many realise it originated in Britain, in the C64 magazine Zzap 64?
Well, according to my sources.
Blame us Brits if you hate the word.
You're such a fucking weird apologist, man. I believe you're saying that Zzap64 used the term Shoot-Em-Ups, as did most magazines of the era. I don't believe they (unless you have evidence to the contrary) that they truncated it into shmup.
Shoot-Em-Up - A perfectly fine piece of terminology, a good, strong, British term to make the Queen proud,
Shmup - THe horrific truncation of Shoot-Em-Up forced upon us by mush mouthed Texans (or something)
You can't blame Shmup on Zzap64, unless you blame people for creating language that then evolves, as stupid as that evolution is. |
| | Back to top | | | Burp
Posts: 313
| | Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 6:43 am Post subject: |
| L wrote: Burp wrote: By the way, Donkey Kong was originally called Monkey Kong but it was mispelled (engrish?) by Nintendo... If you want genuine Engrish I suggest you check out the nomenclature of that "Gradius" series.
Heh, funny enough, i read in the history.dat MAME that this was a excuse of Miyamoto who nobody believe it, anyway... this is the official thing i guess |
| | Back to top | | | Lestrade
Posts: 817
| | Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 6:51 am Post subject: |
| I always knew the "stubborn monkey" explanation as the only onewhere wereyou people!?
And, with that note, here is a photo of my mom playing Donkey Kong, just this past weekend!
 |
| | Back to top | | | leoboiko
Posts: 281
| | Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 6:58 am Post subject: |
| | I especially dig the kanji glossings. |
| | Back to top | | | luvcraft
Posts: 693
| | Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 7:40 am Post subject: |
| Burp wrote: By the way, Donkey Kong was originally called Monkey Kong but it was mispelled (engrish?) by Nintendo...
Lies! According to Shiggy, it was called "Donkey Kong" because they wanted a word that meant "stubborn", and when they looked up "stubborn" in their super-crappy Japanese-Engrish dictionary it said "donkey". |
| | Back to top | | | Cycle
Posts: 1574
| | Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 7:42 am Post subject: |
| | bit late to the party there, luvcraft. |
| | Back to top | | | luvcraft
Posts: 693
| | Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 7:46 am Post subject: |
| extralife wrote: Killed by Nintendo.
No, no, no, Vince Foster was killed by Nintendo. Gumpei Yokoi was killed by the neocons. |
| | Back to top | | | luvcraft
Posts: 693
| | Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 7:49 am Post subject: |
| Cycle wrote: bit late to the party there, luvcraft.
Yeah, but I brought the LUBE!! Now the party can REALLY get started!!
Wait, this might be guacamole... I had two parties to go to and... um... uh oh. |
| | Back to top | | | RedLightning
Posts: 154
| | Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 8:15 am Post subject: |
| L wrote: Let me get this straight:
* "Metro" is short for "Metropolis" which is supposedly Greek for "Mother City".
No, "Metro" comes from the common term for the subway, which is short for an UNDERGROUND RAILWAY SYSTEM.
You see that screenshot up there?
It says:
Metro (subway) + Android (artificial human)
... Yeah. |
| | Back to top | | | Mister Toups
Posts: 4943
| | Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 8:17 am Post subject: |
| luvcraft wrote: Cycle wrote: bit late to the party there, luvcraft. Yeah, but I brought the LUBE!! Now the party can REALLY get started!! Wait, this might be guacamole... I had two parties to go to and... um... uh oh.
if I knew it was going to be that kind of party, I would have stuck my dick in the mashed potatoes |
| | Back to top | | | RedLightning
Posts: 154
| | Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 8:21 am Post subject: Re: THE REAL SOURCE OF THE NAME "METROID" |
| Szczepaniak wrote:
What other trivia have you discovered? Is it rich in such oddities? You should compile a bunch of screenshots, and then make like a website or something, on these odd bits of trivia from these shows.
So then, how would one acquire these episodes, with subtitles? I've never been good at torrents. How big are the files? Would they all fit on a single DVD? The reason I ask is, I love such random trivia, and I like sharing such random trivia with the world. If possible, I'd want to harvest these shows of their info, and then do a feature on them for Retro Gamer. Alternatively, since you've actually got the skills for translating and dloading this stuff, you could do one yourself! (I wouldn't want to steal your thunder regarding this stuff)
It's just, I'm feeling that there's a lot more such unusual information, locked away, and people need to chip away at it. Let it all out, man. Give it to the world, or something.
I don't think there are any torrents for these episodes. ... I don't think there are any translated versions, either. The plus side is that it actually seems to be a fairly popular TV show over in Japan, so the episodes are fairly easy to come by on Japanese P2P networks like Winny or Sahre.
Anyway, I'm still slowly downloading episodes from the first season (which contain the bulk of the interviews), so I'm not sure what else there is. But the one with the Capcom interviews was pretty cool, too.
Apparently the VFX powers in Viewtiful Joe came to being when they coded in a slow-motion debug mode so they can check the animations in detail, then thought "hey, that's actually sort of cool."
Also, apparently one of Sakamoto's favourite games is Parappa the Rapper. |
| | Back to top | | | FortNinety
Posts: 4591
| | Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 8:38 am Post subject: |
| B coma wrote: I believe Rez is named as such because of the Underworld song.
Yup. The first level was to feature the song, but at the last minute, there was an issue with licensing the track. Same deal with Fatboy Slim. I'm familiar with the song and can easily imagine it in the context of the game. I have no idea what Fatboy Slim song was going to be featured, so I can't comment on that. |
| | Back to top | | | Clash!
Posts: 631
| | Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 9:29 am Post subject: |
| Metroid = Underground Robot???
I really wish I did not read that translation, because thats really lame. TubeBot, pfff. |
| | Back to top | | | Jesse
Posts: 214
| | Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 9:48 am Post subject: |
| L wrote: Let me get this straight:
* "Metro" is short for "Metropolis" which is supposedly Greek for "Mother City".
* "roid" comes from the Greek "Android", or "Andro-id". "Andro" being "Anthro" - "man, human" - and "-id" meaning "property/aspect of".
"Metroid", therefore, is either:
* a portmandeau of "Metro" (mother) "android" (human-like), or
* just the word "Metro" suffixed with "-id" (mother-like)
The Japanese have a lot of these shortened loan words.
Famicom =FamilyComputer
and a ton more that won't come off the top of my head when I need to think about them, of course. |
| | Back to top | | | leoboiko
Posts: 281
| | Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 9:51 am Post subject: |
| Clash! wrote: Metroid = Underground Robot???
METROSEXUAL DROIDS |
| | Back to top | | | luvcraft
Posts: 693
| | Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 9:58 am Post subject: |
| Jesse wrote: The Japanese have a lot of these shortened loan words.
Famicom =FamilyComputer
and a ton more that won't come off the top of my head when I need to think about them, of course.
Pocket+Monster=Pokemon
skin+kinship=skinship
Square+Enix+Taito = Squanto |
| | Back to top | | | Szczepaniak
Posts: 815
| | Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 11:06 am Post subject: |
| luvcraft wrote: Square+Enix+Taito = Squanto
At the risk of offending someone... Squanto sounds like a Mexican resturant. Man, now I'm hungry and feel like Mexican food. Well done, luvcraft. |
| | Back to top | | | Kazu
Posts: 894
| | Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 11:16 am Post subject: |
| B coma wrote: I believe Rez is named as such because of the Underworld song.
yup, but some people still insist that it's down to the movie TRON, for whatever reason. I think the wiki also states it's because of that track at some point, too lazy to check where. |
| | Back to top | | | Jesse
Posts: 214
| | Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 11:19 am Post subject: |
| luvcraft wrote:
skin+kinship=skinship
Still the weirdest vocabulary word/explanation in my second year Japanese class. |
| | Back to top | | | FortNinety
Posts: 4591
| | Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 12:05 pm Post subject: |
| Kazu wrote: B coma wrote: I believe Rez is named as such because of the Underworld song. yup, but some people still insist that it's down to the movie TRON, for whatever reason. I think the wiki also states it's because of that track at some point, too lazy to check where.
Its definitely from the song. I interviewed one of the guys who worked on it, and he gave me the lowdown. |
| | Back to top | | | jiji
Posts: 780
| | Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 1:17 pm Post subject: |
| aerisdead wrote: You're such a fucking weird apologist, man. I believe you're saying that Zzap64 used the term Shoot-Em-Ups, as did most magazines of the era. I don't believe they (unless you have evidence to the contrary) that they truncated it into shmup.
Shoot-Em-Up - A perfectly fine piece of terminology, a good, strong, British term to make the Queen proud,
Shmup - THe horrific truncation of Shoot-Em-Up forced upon us by mush mouthed Texans (or something)
You can't blame Shmup on Zzap64, unless you blame people for creating language that then evolves, as stupid as that evolution is.
Yes, the term "shmup" did come from Zzap64. Malcolm Laurie has said as much on the front page of Shmups! ever since the site came online. If you want some 80s and 90s-vintage examples, you can gohere.1985, in fact. |
| | Back to top | | | shnozlak
Posts: 704
| | Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 1:20 pm Post subject: |
| Mister Toups wrote: luvcraft wrote: Cycle wrote: bit late to the party there, luvcraft. Yeah, but I brought the LUBE!! Now the party can REALLY get started!! Wait, this might be guacamole... I had two parties to go to and... um... uh oh. if I knew it was going to be that kind of party, I would have stuck my dick in the mashed potatoes
Thats some ill communication |
| | Back to top | | | aerisdead
Posts: 556
| | Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 2:01 pm Post subject: |
| jiji wrote: Yes, the term "shmup" did come from Zzap64. Malcolm Laurie has said as much on the front page of Shmups! ever since the site came online. If you want some 80s and 90s-vintage examples, you can go here. 1985, in fact.
Yeesh. My bad.
I'm disgusted with you, Zzap64. |
| | Back to top | | | softlogic
Posts: 140
| | Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 2:06 pm Post subject: |
| Szczepaniak wrote: luvcraft wrote: Square+Enix+Taito = Squanto At the risk of offending someone... Squanto sounds like a Mexican resturant.
The first thing I thought of was this:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111271/ |
| | Back to top | | | ecchi
Posts: 148
| | Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 2:27 pm Post subject: |
| | I'm okay with "shmup" but what the fuck is up with "schmup"? |
| | Back to top | | | Koji
Posts: 571
| | Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 3:16 pm Post subject: |
| RedLightning wrote: No, "Metro" comes from the common term for the subway, which is short for an UNDERGROUND RAILWAY SYSTEM.
And have you ever wondered where did 'metro' come from?
Paris underground, 1904, from Fr. abbrev. of Chemin de Fer Métropolitain "Metropolitan Railway."
leoboiko wrote: METROSEXUAL DROIDS
Yes. Suddenly, the term 'metrovania' sounds much more acceptable. |
| | Back to top | | | jiji
Posts: 780
| | Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 3:34 pm Post subject: |
| ecchi wrote: I'm okay with "shmup" but what the fuck is up with "schmup"?
Misspelling. See also: shump. |
| | Back to top | | | luvcraft
Posts: 693
| | Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 3:55 pm Post subject: |
| | jiji, where did your icon come from? |
| | Back to top | | | jiji
Posts: 780
| | Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 4:05 pm Post subject: |
| | Acontent-filtering service for the DS Browser was announced in Japan, and that image is on the service's website. |
| | Back to top | | | extralife
Posts: 3316
| | Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 4:12 pm Post subject: |
| | Am I just imaging things, or is that picture saying you can't see gay people on the DS internet? |
| | Back to top | | | jiji
Posts: 780
| | Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 4:13 pm Post subject: |
| | One's the male symbol and the other's female, so...it's meant to keep your kid from hooking up with members of the opposite sex, I'd say. |
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