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[SkeptiMism]

Its almost like....Link is the main character /s

In all seriousness this should be a non-issue and I'm not even sure why it was brought up. Im all for more women in gaming but it doesnt need to be in everything.

They don't need to be in everything, but it is good that it is brought up. There's a strong tendency for developers to create male protagonists, because that's how it has pretty much always been in the history of art. That's what we get used to from our childhood.

If we ask these questions, maybe we'll someday learn to get rid of that default thinking.

This isn't an issue. Why does Back to the Future star two males?! Gender barriers don't even exist in cute games like this, no ones trying to reflect themself onto one of these characters.

Please don't tell other people something isn't an issue. You can be fine with it, there's nothing wrong with it. But understand that some people would actually like being represented decently in games.

 

[ZhugeEX]

I've never understood this debate. If they want to make 3 male playable characters then let them.

Its their creation. If they were making fun of a gender or race then I would understand.

 

[DXLelouch153]

You play as Link and two random dudes dressed as Link...

who wants to play as some random and not Link?

 

[Jonneh3003]

do you know why link is called link

I understand Link is supposed to be an empty vessle but this installment in particular doesn't seem to be one where you are the character, similar to how Four Swords Adventures handled it.

 

[DragonSworne]

Link's name now has another meaning; He is "linking" the gender gap.

 

[Finale Fireworker]

"This fictional legend in this game WE wrote features male heroes only so we couldn't do anything else"

:/

Right?

Also "some girls making the game think it's fine" drives me crazy too. Do you think this wouldn't be such a big deal right now, socially, if female characters to project onto were not a valuable thing?

Do they think that, because they know some women who don't mind, that it's the same for women everywhere? Or what about boys who are being trained to never project themselves onto women the way they do men?

Do they think the people calling for female representation are, like, pretending? In the end this is Zelda and whatever. But this assertion that "women have been playing as Link for 30 years, so it's fine" is making me roll my eyes right out of my head.

Your tradition is not worth more than progressive change.

 

[Shining Sunshine]

They should just say "they look like a girl, so they could be a girl or boy in the player's mind".

 

[MatrixMan.EXE]

Sometimes systemic racism and sexism just exist! Can't do anything about it, move on with your lives. In separate lines, please.

Ugh, way to completely miss my point, with an extra douchey comment no less. I'm saying that, the exclusion of certain races or women as playable characters in games isn't necessarily racist or misogynist as its increasingly becoming painted as. Sometimes it just an innocent oversight. Why must every instance have malice behind?

 

[Nanashrew]

Nintendo's been very good about putting playable female characters in its games lately, so I don't agree with the sentiment you're expressing. But the explanation offered here is just stupid. "The story we wrote means he has to be male!" Yes, because you wrote it that way. Simply saying it's Wind Waker-style Link split into three would be a much easier to swallow defense.

Agreed. Split into 3 would have been much easier to swallow and understandable since it would be all the same Link just in different colors.

 

[NeonZ]

The three heroes are actually a single character, not separate player avatars. So, it wouldn't make sense if somehow one of the Links were a girl. Well, it could happen with magic, of course, but it'd have different implications from something like a female avatar in Monster Hunter.

 

[dark10x]

Do you think the people calling for female representation are, like, pretending? In the end this is Zelda and whatever. But this assertion that "women have been playing as Link for 30 years, so it's fine" is making me roll my eyes right out of my head.

Your tradition is not worth more than progressive change.

Progressive change doesn't hinge on changing a long running franchise either.

 

[QueenOfThorns]

I'm guessing someone got an angry email from Anita Sarkeesian.

Ok. Do you have anything else to say?

 

[DragonSworne]

It's not that, it's that three heroes are actually a single character, not separate player avatars. So, it wouldn't make sense if somehow one of the Links were a girl.

Why not? Why does Link have to be a boy?

 

[pinkurocket]

At least you can put them in a dress and wave pompoms around.

 

[Alex_Mexico]

Pretty weak reasoning. It's their game and their made up legend. They can do whatever they want with it.

I hope the rumored female Link that will be announced for Hyrule Warriors for WiiU and 3DS becomes a huge success and opens the Pandora's box for future installments in the series featuring at least the option to play as a female hero.

 

[Pizza]

I half-see where they're coming from. Story-wise it seems like it'd be okay to gender bend link in this case though?


Like, the king needs to be a hero, so a chick and two dudes show up, and *surprise!* the hero is the girl one.

Unless there's a *reason* for it. Gameplay wise, if you're not-link does it matter what blue-haired-imposter's gender is? Why couldn't some fierce redheaded girl decide she was going to impersonate the hero?

Why, in this game where dress-up is a big feature, does link need to be a dude. Honestly! Often times the games take place in different timelines and eras, so the gender of link could be lost to time between each game and not matter *unless* they're going to do stories that require him to be a male.

But they aren't, so the "hero's spirit" could just as likely be in a lady at this point, imo.

 

[Ninjimbo]

It sounds like it's something they don't think about so I'm not sure if they're opposed to it or not. Really, I don't care. Link can wear a dress in this game. That tells me they don't care about boundaries.

 

[DXLelouch153]

The three heroes are actually a single character, not separate player avatars. So, it wouldn't make sense if somehow one of the Links were a girl.

feminine side personified
bam done pay me money Nintendo

 

[Nekofrog]

Ugh, way to completely miss my point, with an extra douchey comment no less. I'm saying that, the exclusion of certain races or women as playable characters in games isn't necessarily racist or misogynist as its increasingly becoming painted as. Sometimes it just an innocent oversight. Why must every instance have malice behind?

Because Nintendo has been displaying misogynistic qualities for quite a while now. Lest we forget Other M...

 

[YoungFa]

So what he's basically saying is "because we don't want to"? I mean you could just include a female hero in the story if you wanted to.

 

[Jonneh3003]

Please don't tell other people something isn't an issue. You can be fine with it, there's nothing wrong with it. But understand that some people would actually like being represented decently in games.

My apologise, I'm cool with exclusive Male or Female leads in all forms of entertainment, but I do get that some people aren't.

 

[Nirolak]

What IGN, so men can't wear dresses?

SEXIST

I'm not sure I follow. He doesn't seem to be complaining that you can crossdress, but that the Zelda dress reminds him that you can't play as Zelda even though they've already modeled and animated her clothing to work in the game.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

I am guessing they didn't want to because they didn't want to use a spin-off to launch something like that and to keep the characters uniform, but man, that is a terrible response to that question.

 

[Duane Cunningham]

The three heroes are actually a single character, not separate player avatars. So, it wouldn't make sense if somehow one of the Links were a girl.

Unless she was his feminine side! It worked for Starscream.

See: lower left

 

[mentallyinept]

Wait, so this isn't like 4 swords where Link is split into 4 people?

That's really weird.

 

[Hot Coldman]

Link is actually a Toad. He has no gender. He is just an adventure pal.

 

[espher]

I expected it to be a "one of these guys is Link, and two of them are people claiming to be Link"-type of answer.

 

[Wavebossa]

You can't play as a woman because you play as Link.

Whoa, crazy,

This is what they should have said, instead of giving some sorry attempt at a PC response.
Like... "some female staffers think its ok" is a dumb reason.

When the developers fish for reasons it just sounds like they are uncomfortable with your own reasoning. If you have no problem with Link being a guy, just say that

 

[Crocodile]

Because Nintendo has been displaying misogynistic qualities for quite a while now. Lest we forget Other M...

Do you have anything to back up that claim aside from that one game?

 

[Zen_Arcade]

Why should they have to explain as to why you play as the same main character in the other games of the series?

Because there are three of you in this game and it would be the perfect opportunity to give the opinion of playing as a female in a game where it's pretty obvious that they aren't looking for consistency with who the real Link is.

 

[imBask]

Ugh, way to completely miss my point, with an extra douchey comment no less. I'm saying that, the exclusion of certain races or women as playable characters in games isn't necessarily racist or misogynist as its increasingly becoming painted as. Sometimes it just an innocent oversight. Why must every instance have malice behind?

You won't win that debate, just let them imagine things the way they want to and circlejerk about it.

 

[Kouriozan]

Surprise, playable female character in Zelda U.

 

[wuth]

Ugh, way to completely miss my point, with an extra douchey comment no less. I'm saying that, the exclusion of certain races or women as playable characters in games isn't necessarily racist or misogynist as its increasingly becoming painted as. Sometimes it just an innocent oversight. Why must every instance have malice behind?

Nobody is claiming there is malice, it's just disappointing. If anything, I would think people would be more upset at their silly explanation.

 

[Crossing Eden]

Surprise, playable female character in Zelda U.

If this is the case then this dev must be screaming internally.

 

[DXB-KNIGHT]

The legend of Zelda : Cross Dress heroes

 

[Jawmuncher]

Still waiting on when we'll get to choose link's gender. I guess being androgynous helps at this point but it's at a point that we might as well be able to choose. Not like he talks or that his gender really has much bearing on the story.

 

[Archaix]

Ugh, way to completely miss my point, with an extra douchey comment no less. I'm saying that, the exclusion of certain races or women as playable characters in games isn't necessarily racist or misogynist as its increasingly becoming painted as. Sometimes it just an innocent oversight. Why must every instance have malice behind?

It doesn't have to be about malice. But at some point, ignorance stops working as a defense when you repeatedly have to say "oops, you know, it never came up"

 

[Finale Fireworker]

Surprise, playable female character in Zelda U.

This would bring me back to Zelda. I can't be the only one utterly bored with Link.

 

[Dusk Soldier]

Ok. Do you have anything else to say?

I will say I love the roundabout way he answered the question.

IGN: "So why can't we play as a female character in this game?"

HS: "Well the story is about a male character, so we had to make the player avatar male as well"

It's like way to sidestep the actual question.

Also I gotta say, I would've expected way more snark than that from Queen of Thorns.

 

[Nekofrog]

Do you have anything to back up that claim aside from that one game?

Sure do.

Constant overuse of woman in peril/must be rescued trope -- even to the point where it's just plain sad now.

Super Princess Peach, where your powers are dictated by your stereotypical "women" emotions of crying, nagging, etc.

Powerful women constantly put in a position of weakness by men.

It's a systemic thing with Nintendo and if you'd like, I could go on when I have more time later this evening.

 

[stilgar]

Link is actually a Toad. He has no gender. He is just an adventure pal.

Yep.

 

[TreIII]

Certainly not the best answer to the question. Should have just said "it's not what we want to do this time around" and kept it moving.

 

[Zeouterlimits]

Those excuses, holy smokes.

 

[super-famicom]

Nintendo just shot themselves in the foot.

I don't know how much the rest of you know about Japanese culture (I'm an expert), but honor and shame are huge parts of it. It's not like it is in Japan where you can become successful by being sexist and not creating powerful female protagonists. If you screw someone over in America, you bring shame to yourself, and the only way to get rid of that shame is repentance.

What this means is the American public, after hearing about this, is not going to want to purchase Zelda: Tri Force Heroes, nor will they purchase any of Nintendo's games. This is HUGE. You can laugh all you want, but Nintendo has alienated an entire market with this move.

Nintendo, publicly apologize and make Zelda a playable character or you can kiss your business goodbye.

 

[anaron]

lol at the dumbfuck "our female designers don't mind" excuse

 

[Kouriozan]

What IGN, so men can't wear dresses?

SEXIST

.

 

[Alex_Mexico]

I'm not sure I follow. He doesn't seem to be complaining that you can crossdress, but that the Zelda dress reminds him that you can't play as Zelda even though they've already modeled and animated her clothing to work in the game.

Exactly.

Plus we already know from Hyrule Warriors that Zelda can kick some serious ass!!!

I love Zelda as much as the next guy but I'm done with the "male mute in green saves helpless princess from big baddie at the end" story. I hope Zelda U has some twist to the story formula. It got stale years ago.

 

[Beelzebufo]

"Links basically half a girl already! He wears tights!"

Good PR lol

 

[DXLelouch153]

Nintendo just shot themselves in the foot.

I don't know how much the rest of you know about Japanese culture (I'm an expert), but honor and shame are huge parts of it. It's not like it is in Japan where you can become successful by being sexist and not creating powerful female protagonists. If you screw someone over in America, you bring shame to yourself, and the only way to get rid of that shame is repentance.

What this means is the American public, after hearing about this, is not going to want to purchase Zelda: Tri Force Heroes, nor will they purchase any of Nintendo's games. This is HUGE. You can laugh all you want, but Nintendo has alienated an entire market with this move.

Nintendo, publicly apologize and make Zelda a playable character or you can kiss your business goodbye.

but they technically already did make Zelda a playable character in Hyrule Warriors

 

[TimeEffect]

Sure do.

Constant overuse of woman in peril/must be rescued trope -- even to the point where it's just plain sad now.

Super Princess Peach, where your powers are dictated by your stereotypical "women" emotions of crying, nagging, etc.

Powerful women constantly put in a position of weakness by men.

It's a systemic thing with Nintendo and if you'd like, I could go on when I have more time later this evening.

Go on. Im curious.