If you're not aware, March is Women's History Month, which coincides with International Women's Day on 8th March and aims to promote key contributions from women to history and contemporary society.
Nintendo, for its part, sent out a press release recently to highlight some diverse characters from its library that match the theme of the month. Princess Peach is notably missing, no doubt as a result of her recurring contribution as a kidnapped damsel in distress, but there are some pretty decent inclusions. Some are most certainly goofy, yes, but there are a handful of good examples.
We're not normally fans of sharing these quirky press releases, but in this case we couldn't help but be fans. You can see them below - with the official descriptions - so let us know what you think.
Comments 87
http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/11/17/producer-toad-toadette-have-no-gender What's all this about, Nintendo?
No Zelda?Or Sheik?But you add Lucina?The hell?And i mean Zelda not Tetra the boring pirate.
Now i can do my final Women and Gender Studies presentation with ease!
I'm glad they didn't go with Other M Samus.
@Ninty4thewin Yeah, I'm surprised she was there, too. I mean, I have nothing against her, but I wasn't expecting her to show up here.
@Yoshi_Prime I was thinking the same thing haha.
...So, they show off Bombette, but not Vivian? T.T
Didn't Nintendo recently state that Toads are genderless? Doesn't this kind of go against that then?
@TwilightAngel
Zelda is the very first image, is she not?
Pikmin 3's Brittany a missed opportunity. Biologist and badass.
I'll join in on the celebration Nintendo, just put Wind Waker HD on sale... kthnxby
I thought they said the Toads don't have a gender.... so Toadette IS a woman then.
and where is Palutena?! wasted opportunity
What has Rosalina done other than sit around in Galaxy? Peach has done more than she has. I can't believe Rosalina is there....
Do it? You mean be a pirate?
Also Mask On Lucina? Come on, WTF Nintendo, Lucina is Maskless in Smash, secrets out.
Yay Bombette! Good to see they remember Paper Mario. #PaperMario5Confirmed xD
That Bayonetta one will ruffle some GamerGate feathers. LOL.
@TwilightAngel Are you blind? Zelda is the very first one -_____-
The one people should be surprised about is Bayonetta, since she is the only non first party character here. And as such the only M rated character too.
@shinokami I know genius,but i want the real Zelda,not some boring pirate character.God people are so not even going to say it,i might get myself banned.
@DarthNocturnal She is DEFINITELY a sex symbol. But she also has a deep character and is just as powerful as she is clever. Not just some ditzy hot chick to ogle.
I should never be surprised that people are unhappy with the choices. You can't win, huh?
@Sanya because in Japan Vivian is a transgender shadow creature
Last month was Black History month and Nintendo didn't celebrate it at all!
I guess they didn't have time to create any black characters to use in a campaign. Maybe in another 30 years they will give it a shot.
@xPH03N1Xx86
Yeah I'm thinking those who are on the list have a game on the Wii U and 3DS or have upcoming games. So SM Galaxy HD or 3? Metroid Another M?
They should've added Brittany and palutena too also Rosalina's description is a little meh, she's basically the god of mario and can essentially control time and space
I love that they put Bayonetta on here, some may see her as nothing more than an attractive symbol but she's so much more than that. She is tough and doesn't take crap from anybody, the way she looks shouldn't detract from that. She's smart, clever, witty not to mention powerful as hell.
I smiled when I saw Bayonetta.
@TwilightAngel
Why would they put "your" Zelda where they could opt for the recent "tough girl" Zelda on the Wii U and promote the game as well?
@Yoshi_Prime
+1
I thought toadette wasn't a woman
@DarthNocturnal The difference is that Bayonetta owns her sexuality. There is no real sense that she is being exploited for the leering eyes of the audience. She is, rather, a primal, sexual, and powerful woman.
showing bayonetta is sure to get the "feminazis" going wild... i like it. good choices overall
@MasterBlaster I was trying to think of characters Nintendo could have used for black history month, and the first thing that popped in my head was Donkey Kong. And that's... uh... kinda racist. Yeah. It's for the best nintendo skipped that one.
What about Cia from Hyrule Warriors? Or Cackletta from Superstar Saga?
I feel like at the end of Samus' description should have been. "Just don't play Other M or else this description means nothing."
@MasterBlaster Remember me?
http://cdn.wikimg.net/metroidwiki/images/thumb/e/eb/Remember_me.png/200px-Remember_me.png
Nice to see Bombette up there, I only played Paper Mario 64 very recently so she was fresh in my mind.
Toadette and Rosalina but no Peach?
Bayonetta seems a tad inappropriate but I guess it is because she is a main protagonist in a franchise.
@MasterBlaster That only applies to the US (maybe North America), so I think they didn't feel entitled to do something for it. The women's month thing is international, I'm assuming.
@TwilightAngel tetra is zelda. Did you ever play wnidwaker?
@MasterBlaster you mean like Lenora from black and white or that guy from fire emblem awaking who has a major story arc? How about the world class trainer who used to be a boxer in punch out? These are just off the top of my head.
@MasterBlaster you mean like Lenora from black and white or that guy from fire emblem awaking who has a major story arc? How about the world class trainer who used to be a boxer in punch out? These are just off the top of my head.
@TheRedCap30 wonder black, lenora, and that fe guy from awakening. i remeber black fzero characters?
I'm fine with anything including Lucina, a badass time traveler with no sense of style and social grace? Hell yeah.
So when's straight white male day?
@gefflt
I don't see any problems when males wear blue T-Shirts.
@ryanator008 as soon as your not prominent in all media and overwhelmingly shown in a positive light and have an equal chance of getting pulled over or beaten sencless by your wife and can have a job without being fired for your identity and cant go to work without half of your coworkers trying to sleep with you or challenge you authority based on gender alone we will talk about it.
For Women's History month Nintendo should announce the release of the more feminine design of the New 3DS. I thought they were trying to appeal to both genders when I saw the faceplate model pictured beside the XL.
I'm still sooooooo disappointed....
Peach..where are you..
Samus is the best in this case.
I'd be mad if they used Peach as a strong woman example, she's like the total opposite, even if she gets portrayed a little better in the latter games of the franchise.
Bombette, lol'd.
Bombette? That's pretty random. 😗
Toadette hasn't done anything worth celebrating.
Bombette?! Okay.
Is Birdo female? I mean it's awfully confusing given "her" um functional placements
I like Bombette randomly being in there Also laughed hard at Bayo, did not expect her to be there (with the M branding and basically her nature as basically a sex symbol). Guess Ninty really likes Bayonetta
@DarthNocturnal
Don't get me wrong, there's definite sex appeal, but it's different. Most sex appeal games work by objectifying and fetishizing aspects of their female characters. Bayonetta's sex appeal isn't objectification, though, because the sexual expression flows organically out of her character. It's kind of like a femme fatale in classic noir: the character is extremely sensual, and as such trying to frame her outside of that context is to change her character.
Also, if you haven't played Bayonetta 2, then you're missing out on one of the greatest action games ever made.
I love Bayonetta being here! In like ten or fifteen years somebody is going to dig this campaign up from the depths of the Internet and they'll go, "Samus, OK, Toadette, OK, Rosalina, OK... BAYONETTA?!" Probably by that point there will be more Bayonetta games and they'll be on multiple platforms again and so this will just serve as a weird reminder of that time when Nintendo was the only place you could go for your sexy witch needs.
Plus she's the only M rated and non-first party character represented here. Such an oddball choice but it's nice to see them trying to promote that game in any way they can.
@faint
Yeah, that stuff doesn't really happen. Any hint of it gets front page in the news, giving the illusion that it's all over the place. If anything, I'd say the common people are quite discriminated against these days. If Assassin's Creed Unity had four black lesbians, there would be no complaints from the media. It would be how they praise the rumor of the all-female Ghostbusters movie, calling it "progressive" and "revolutionary". But if the opposite happened, people would be quite outraged, like with that Last Airbender movie.
Bombette! That one Bombomb from that game 15 years ago. Very relevant. She was at least a decent partner but I hardly used her. Watt was my go to girl (?). Not really sure if Watt was a girl. Maybe it's genderless like Toadette. ;p
It's a real pity Shantae didn't make a showing. How on Earth do they skip her but include Bombette?
Samus rocks! Best female character in gaming IMO. Also, I think Zelda in any of her OoT, Twilight Princess, or Skyward Sword incarnations would have been better than tetra (though I love tetra).
oh sweet!!! That's an awesome list. And for all you nay sayers, if you don't like Bayonetta there are other women on that list to relate to. But I find Bayonetta to be such a BA. Serious role-model material right there (the confidence part... not so much the fashion sense part).
Also, I think this is more of a fun representation rather than an all-inclusive list. I know that I also look up to Impa (Hyrule Warriors), Sheik (OoT), Jill Valentine (Resident Evil Revelations), and Seena (Lufia the legend returns)
Peach perhaps should have been on there. More importantly, WHERE IS DIXIE?!? Was she left off because she burst into tears when she got hit? Or was it because she threw her boyfriend Diddy into the ground, giving him a black eye?
@TwilightAngel 'Tetra the boring pirate.'
You mean the first incarnation of Zelda to have a proper personality rather than the carbon copy we've seen in most Zelda games since OoT with the warmth and compassion of wallpaper paste?
Yeah, where the hell is Dixie Kong?
Nice!
@TwilightAngel Spoiler: Tetra is Zelda.
@Samuel-Flutter Yup, Watt was a girl. And she was the way to go.
Nintendo just stated that Toadette isn't a girl...
And wow, they have Bombette? Really? She's not at all relevant yet they still chose her. They must KNOW that Paper Mario is the best game ever released.
@DarthNocturnal She's a character that's proud of her body. I wouldn't call it LOOK SEX APPEAL since she's designed after a freaking spider.
There's also how she's incredibly independent.
@ryanator008 "Every day" is the punchline to that one.
There was a statistic floating around on March 8 that dudes only care about International Men's Day (Nov. 19) on International Women's Day too.
@Quorthon Oh get off it, it's not that serious... well.. kinda, lol
@Ridley
Yes, and 99% of people will believe any statistic they see.
Kinda ironic; Bayonetta isn't a first party title, M game, and Playboy did that cosplay. Nintendo is trying to hard...
@ryanator008 I'm relieved someone here is omniscient. It's about time.
edited to actually reply to the right person
@GammaGames - toadette is the definition of 'woman'
@faint
Punch Out has several. Besides Doc Louis: Mr Sandman, Piston Hurricane, Bob Charlie and Disco Kid.
It'd be nice if they put up a few discounts relating to the games these characters are from, or release Zero Mission for the VC here in the States. Metroid Zero Mission would coincide very well with Women's History Month, since it's a remake of her first outing on NES.
Two things:
The creator of Cpt. Toad said Toadette is neither male nor female.
And why isn't Lucina's mask off? If a person didn't know that Marth was Lucina, they would now. Either mask on with the name of Marth, or mask off with the name of Lucina.
On a different note, we can do what? What are they trying to say? Isn't the point "We already did it"? It's not a movement, it's remembering the movements that already happened. Like really
Samus' pic is perfect for that poster lol. She's really a fantastic female videogame character, if not the best!
Really hoping for a new Metroid announced at E3...
Those shoulder fins on Samus brought my spirits up, that Ninty at least had the decency to not use the character's Other M incarnation when regarding women of prominence.
It bothers me that they decide to use the image of Lucina under the guise of Marth for her poster. It makes it feel like the message is that you can only be strong if you portray yourself as a man, and that's the complete opposite of what they're trying to promote here.
@Gregory123 You know, transwomen ARE women...
@AuroraWright Not Vivian from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door in Japan. also i never called Vivian a woman but a transgender shadow creature. so how does it feel being wrong? also read better
@MasterBlaster Yeah, would have been tough to build a campaign around... um... Bombbomb, Bullet Bill, the trainer from Punch-Out...wasn't there a black Yoshi color option in one of the games? Lol. So sad.
I love how there's women's month that people celebrate, but it's funny that if there was a men's month, people would call it sexist against women. But, isn't having a women's month and no men's month sexist against men?
@Quorthon @TJF588 Yup, and I liked her blurb, too.
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