Topic: What if Link is gender neutral?

Absolutely, just like we need to be able to play as a male Samus[/sarcasm]

It's like if they made the first alien film and then decided that Ripley should be a man. Story has already been established, you're just going to confuse a lot of people if you change it. Case in point:

Seriously I doubt anyone knows what gender Birdo is anymore.

This. I've seen this topic so much recently I'm honestly curious if people discussing this have ever played any Japanese games, RPGs in particular. These character designs are a dime a dozen.

Moving on.

Then again, I can see the dark side of this. I would prefer they make a character to guide Link that is a female. You could play as her and Link and they wouldn't have to turn the series' head upside down.

All of this is too complicated. Final opinion on the matter: Make Link a male as always. There wont be any "what if Zelda was a girl?" confusion amongst fans, and it's for the best. No matter how interesting a girl Link would be, it's too confusing and weird. And him being gender neutral: NOPE.

For me, personally, I'd much rather simply have the chance to play as Zelda herself for once. Her name has been on the box for 25 years now, but she's yet to have her own game? That's just mean.

Also, don't believe those nasty rumors about her having her own games on that CD-I system. THOSE NEVER HAPPENED.

The question is would the fans still buy it with a female Link (I think they would) / male Zelda. More people might buy it as well. (Judging by the Amazon reviews for Dragon Quest that basically amount to you cannot play as a girl but you can in IX this sucks).

Dis iz ma absolute final opinion on dis. Nothing else! I only changed my other comment due to the guy with the Samus comment making a fantastic point.

I don't understand this topic. How would we know if this Link is gender natural? Unless it is said at some point in the game people will assume Link is male. While a character doesn't have to resemble a certain gender, unless it is said otherwise people will always assume Link is Male.

Birdo 2.0.

This thread is pointless because there is an obvious answer, Japanese developers.

What does this even mean?!

Trying to state the obvious (i.e. what you and 8bitsamurai have been saying) in plainer english.
Yep.

It's obvious that Link is an alien in this game.

Come on people, Link was androgynous in A Link to the Past. I mean look:

I remember reading that the pink hair was originally a glitch that they basically just left in because they liked the way it looked (every single official and promotional image for the game showed Link with the traditional brown/dark blond hair).

As I said in that other thread. I want a more involved story for the next Zelda game. A more involved story requires a more defined relationship between the characters. It's much harder to do that when Link is even less defined than he was in Skyward Sword and Twilight Princess. Yes Link could have been gender neutral in earlier games but this is now. I want the series to progress and improve in terms of story not stagnate.

So yes, Link could be a female character and I'd be fine with that. However I can't see Link being a gender neutral character as a good thing. You'd have to have a really thin story that doesn't even try to hint at how Link feels the other characters. I don't know, would this scene in Twilight Princess for example have had as big an impact if Link was gender neutral? I always thought half of what made this scene was the hinted relationship between Link and Ilia

One of the things that annoyed me most about Skyward Sword was Link himself. We get the feeling that he cares a lot about Zelda, and that's he's a bit of a pushover. That's about it. If you're going to develop a game and that much emphasis on the characters, leaving the main character a blank slate no longer works.

On the other hand...my favorite part of Skyward Sword was probably Groose (<3), so we know Nintendo can do characterizations well, they just have to actually do it instead of sticking to tropes that no longer work well within their games.

No matter how many times I look at the new Link, I still see a dude.

Same