Topic: Lack of main character identity in Nintendo franchises

Hi all,

I wanted to know some opinions on the fact that many, if not most, of Nintendo's protagonists are suffering from a severe lack of identity. For the most part, we have no idea who these characters are, only their (sometimes vague) motivation for saving the day/princess/world/fruit...
Now, I don't consider this much of a problem with characters like Mario and Kirby, but I think Link for instance would really benefit if he was given some more personality, especially in BotW. Same with Samus. Most of Nintendo's main characters are just blank slates, which is a real shame if you ask me. Other companies tend to do a much better job with this.

Take Shantae for instance. The reason why I love her so much is not because of her games, although they are great as well, it's because of her interactions with the townsfolk and some of her enemies. The banter, her expressions, the way she gets excited sometimes, or angry or disgusted all make me know her a little better with every new game.

Anyway, any thoughts about why Nintendo doesn't seem to care all that much when it comes to this? Do you care? Or are you fine with how the way things are right now? Let's discuss!

Link has plenty of backstory

@Shantephan It never annoys me that much, as most Nintendo characters just seem to exist to be there for the gameplay. I think this serves Nintendo well though because gameplay is what they're best at.

I thought Link had a lot more character and backstory in BotW compared to the previous ones, but Link is more of a role or a symbol instead of a character.

I really enjoy Shantae's interactions with her world, but humour makes up a large part of the personality of the series. That isn't really part of the main part of any Nintendo series in my opinion, except the occasional reference done by the localisation teams.
Personally the only series that is consistently humourous to me from Nintendo is Paper Mario, but it mainly managed that by making fun of the quirks of the main series.

Alright, I can see why it would be tough to give a character that has been around for decades a personality all of a sudden. But what about the Arms characters? Why not build a story mode around them? Doesn't have to be much either. Just a couple lines of dialogue between the fighters before each match, and it wouldn't have to be spoken dialogue either. Do some know each other? Are some of them friends or arch rivals perhaps? Or why not give them a backstory as to why they are fighting in this championship besides proving they're the best? Missed opportunity?

Also, I'd like to point out one instance where Nintendo did give an established character some more personality and succeeded fairly well: Kid Icarus Uprising. So it can be done.

(Edit: typos)

With Arms, you can expect characters to be fleshed out in a potential sequel. It has become pretty standard for fighting games to have a proper story mode now.

I think Nintendo should explore more interesting and focused stories in their games, just in general. Even the more story-heavy games like Fire Emblem are still pretty tame compared to other games in the genre. Sure, Nintendo games have great gameplay and are pretty polished, but having interesting characters can't be a bad thing.

Even if they want to keep Link a silent protagonist, there are far more interesting ways of doing so.
Edit: Spellingz

I'd say that blank slate characters - rather than being a missed opportunity - are an opportunity in themselves. It's precisely because they're a blank slate that they can be drawn with the players own ideas of who they are.

It's probably because of the 'light touch' approach to character building that I can slip into the worlds of so many Nintendo characters so easily, while feeling actively put off other games because the main character's overbearing personality feels like an obstacle to immersion.

And that's not to say that Nintendo's characters don't have... "character". I feel that Wind Waker's Link managed to say more with just his left eyebrow than modern Sonic has with a thousand 'cooler than cool' statements.

I'm not saying character-building can't be done well in video games, but in my experience it misses a lot more and it hits, and a lot of what I think what makes Nintendo's mascots so timeless and universally appealing is about what isn't stated as much as what is.

@Shantephan
Samus did have personality. Everyone hated it.

"A sexist got to write a female character this one time, so let's make sure female characters never get any development ever again!!!"

I think it comes down to the fact that Nintendo, more often than not, focuses on gameplay over story in their first party games. And while I need a good mix between the two in my RPGs (!), I think for the majority of games they develop, this is fair.

Now where the blandness of a protagonist really bugged me was in Sun/Moon (so GF/TPC is responsible for that one). No matter how dire and serious the situation is, my trainer just keeps up her dumb bright smile and stares straight ahead. Sure, in the few really animated cutscenes, she does emote a bit, but it just takes me out of it, when (spoilers for Sun and Moon) Lillie was just kidnapped and Gladion and Hau join you on your rescue mission. 'Dah, my friend is in serious danger but gosh, I'm just dead and lifele- I mean, happy.' Or when Lillie leaves for Kanto. Kukui and Hau both wave goodbye with Hau even crying afterwards. All you do is stare dead ahead. At least Mario, Link and company emote and show actual concern and determination.

@GoldenGamer88 Yeah the main character's facial expression in S/M suuuucks. Gamefreak has a lot of work to do for the Switch game...

Yeah, Metroid Other M isn't a great example. Not only didn't her voice work for me, it was primarily the afwul writing of her character and the overall story of the game that made me hate it. That doesn't mean they shouldn't try it again, should they? If Nintendo would actually put some effort into it, I believe it could work.

OMG yes! The main characters of the Pokémon series have always been boring and lifeless, but the updated graphics in Sun/Moon elevated that problem to a whole new level. The rest of Sun/Moon is fantastic, but my God those protagonists... How can you possibly like a character like that? Because of looks maybe? Because there sure as hell isn't any other incentive to like them.
Pokémon games in general go like this: You talk to dozens if not hundreds of people on your quest to catch them all, you battle these great gym leaders, travel all around the continent you're in and defeat the bad guys who want to take over the world or something, and all your protagonist does is stay mute all the time and in Sun/Moon's case stare blankly like a zombie on Rohypnol.

One more thing I'd like to add to this: if you're creating new protagonists for each Pokémon game, why not give them different personalities as well? The possibilities are endless here.

@Shantephan I feel, personally, with Pokemon, Gamefreak have yet to truly challenge their capabilities. They've developed an established formulae that is guaranteed to sell at least 10 mil copies, each time they make a game. They also always get reviewed very highly. They haven't had that shock to the system, that can sometimes make you do a 180.

But to be fair, they have been trying to push the narrative a bit more with the 3DS games. There's still too much focus on hand-holding, but they're getting there.

Interesting thread. I just wanted to point to something that is a principle in cognitive psychology that few people know. I use it all the time in my job.

It's commonly done as "intentionally blank", for lack of time to explain in-depth. Meaning, you are free to fill in the blanks with whatever you do. People do it all the time, yet we think we don't. Common examples are all over the place, in games, politics, entertainment, sales... you name it. Especially when there's a larger group of people involved - it's sure to give you a statistical upside. Examples include "this game should get 9/10 scores". For what? You hear gameplay, the other hears art style, yet another hears uniqueness... fill in the blanks.

It works in character development a lot. In ocarina of time, you could name link yourself. Most people chose their own name. You got addressed through your name. You became the hero of time for crying out loud. Nobody thinks consciously that you're bonding emotionally just "because they know my name" - yet the science says that is exactly what you do.

The more generic a profile the easier it is to project your own identity in the blank space. It results in quicker buildup of a psychological bond to the activity you're doing. A lot of it is by design.

Literally every thread about Link's voice acting or character has 10 people posting the blank slate excuse over and over. Why did I read that? Lol, they might be distinct concepts in your field but, like, read the fourth post in the thread, it's saying the same thing that 'few people know.' Moreover, human instincts are a terrible argument for art. We're animals, the same argument could be used to justify murder. Art of all things should be more than just the sum of its parts.

There's your problem. Nintendo isn't other companies (in this instance).

Valve has done fine with silent protagonists in Portal and Half-life.

That is not the argument but just a fact. We don't do things because we are animals but we do things that lie in our nature. Not all animals act the same, not all instincts are the same and not everything is an easy one-step explanation.

For me, the lack of personality of the main characters really works. I project myself onto Link, Mario or whoever. However then, the other characters in the game do have to have a personality. I want to feel real interactions. Therefore, Fi in SS really destroyed that feeling with the robotic nature and BotW worked great with the characters.

We're not animals. God made man and gave him reason. Blank slate characters follow this idea by giving the player agency instead of having the player follow animal instincts, like in so many games where you only do what you are supposed to do. There's nothing wrong with that either, but then it probably would be better to actually have the player character being an animal.

Woof woof.

I agree.

Alright, let's bring this back to topic shall we? Someone's cat that is reading this might get offended if we think they're less than humans.

To make things absolutely clear: Nintendo's games are the pinnacle of gameplay design, that is beyond question here. This topic raises the question whether or not their games could benefit from characters with more defined personalities and identity.