Nintendo Life Weekly: Zelda Wii U Rumours Point to Sex Choice in Playable Character

I'm totally game for it. Hoping for the best, but preparing for disappointment.

Not that surprising, if it turns out to be the case, with Aonuma talking about taking inspiration from Skyrim, and Linkle having already debuted Hyrule Warriors.

Still very anxious to hear more about the new Zelda from Nintendo themselves.

I think it's fine. People will find something to complain about no matter what Nintendo does.

I'm 100% on board with this idea. If you're dead set on a male Link, then just pick that one.

I think this is a great start for Nintendo, but I'm still severely disappointing that Link is only portrayed as a white person. If their goal was to truly link the character to the player, then they've completely dismissed people of color here. You should be able to pick a black Link or an Asian Link. I'm really disappointed in Nintendo.

Still over nine weeks to go until it's E3 time! :E
It's an agonizingly short AND long time!

No.

We need a female hero. It only makes sense that the chosen hero for this chapter of the story is a girl. There's no way that it's a male every time. change it up!

If this happens, Zelda doesn't have to be dude either, It can still be a girl. I honestly hope Linkle is the next hero.

If they're going in this direction at all, I think an open character creator would be cool. Keep Link/Linkle as the face of the games/trademark and in Smash, but I don't see why the player character can't be customized if it's also going to be open world.

I know Nintendo likes to be different and I'd expect nothing less here, but that's just an expected thing in open world games these days.

I'm not against this idea, but if the gender of the main character won't matter anymore then why not let the players create their own main character and call him/her Link/Linkle or whatever they want them to.
Of course i don't expect Nintendo to do this so I for one will always go with Link (male) because in the end this is Zelda we are talking about, not Pokemon.

@TheLegendofMe I get where you're coming from, i myself would love to play as a customized Link tho i like all the character designs of the different Links Nintendo has come up with. But i think there are some things you and others need to understand first.

Link does not represent a white guy. He's an elf, (light elf or wood elf, whatever) a fictional race who most of the time, are portrayed as fair skinned creatures with light colored hair and eyes, like Legolas whereas Aragorn is the real white dude.

This is Nintendo, and as we all know they don't get with the times as we still can't create our own Black villager in Animal Crossing or a Black Pokemon Trainer.

You mean gender, of course, since we won't know the sex of the character without taking a look at private bits.

@Senario Now there's an idea. A choice of a Zelda story or a Link story, which maybe some secrets and a true ending for doing both! I hadn't thought of that. To be honest, I don't really think Nintendo would do something that daring, but now I want that!

@Senario This is a point well worth making and one I didn't have the strength or eloquence to attempt.

Not that it should act as any sort of argument against greater variation in video game character designs (in terms of skin tones, facial features, or really any other aspect of design) but it always seems a bit wonky to flat out state that, "Link is a white dude" when he's a highly stylised member of a fantasy humanoid species.

I just hope if it's true that Nintendo doesn't sexualize her, do what fire emblem did with robin where it's the same clothes just different hair.

Still preferred link stay male.... :/ by looking and reading these rumors it sounds like link will be x from xenoblade chronicles x. (Thats the bland avatar you play as)

@Senario @Yalaa Yes, you're right that Link is not of the traditional "white race" but there's no denying that his skin is of a light tone. Somebody with a very dark skintone is not going to be able to identify with Link and some might even be triggered by his light skin color because they might feel that Nintendo is forcing colored people to portray themselves as a person with a lighter skin color than they have in real life.

Nintendo needs to make its characters more customizable so that people can more easily identify with the character that they play as. Another issue that Nintendo seems to have is also its inability to portray a body positive image of the protagonist. Plus sized people have simply no representation in video games which again is a shame. In the Mii creator, you're able to create Mii's that are more plus sized, thus enhancing the overall body positivity of people with an alternative weight. With the Zelda games however, Nintendo seems to just take a step back from their Mii creator (which was released almost 10 years ago at this point).

@Tendogamerxxx We don't NEED one, if that one is just a stupid gender swap.

Now if we get to play AS ZELDA, or another newly-created female character, that's an idea I could get behind.

Oh, and the correct term for a female main protagonist, is Heroine, not Hero.
Common literary mistake.

I'm entirely against the idea of a gender-swapped Link, but I would LOVE to be able to play as Zelda or another newly-created female that is NOT Link.

@TheLegendofMe You are a troll right? Those are literally Tumbl´r level arguments.

I don't really want to be able to choose between a male and female link.

Nintendo doesn't have the best track record when it comes to showing gay relationships and unless this is the most barebones Links in the series (think how playing as a female link in OoT would change some of the implied relationships), I'd rather the game just have a female Link.

@TheLegendofMe

Ive always seen Link as being made in a way that white can see him as white and asian can see him as asian. With Japan being Nintendo's homeland, and America it's primary market for Zelda, it would make sense they would cater to these 2 groups. But i agree itd be cool for people of color to be able to make their hero look like them.

I personally would love it. Each and every Zelda game expands on the Zelda Lore, we learn more new stuff each game and well, if they do this, it could expand on the reincarnations of Link wouldn't really be tired to a gender and you could think of it like Avatar (Nickelodeon's one) and that the gender isn't tied.

I'm hoping this rumour is true. I usually play as female characters when given the option. Although I'm a fan of Link so I may just play as him anyway.

Link has been a well handled character (yes, character, not avatar). Male, but not hyper-masculine, somewhat feminine in appearance. I remember an old thread discussing how his appearance was almost androgynous. He could play the typical hero-character in the classic "hero saves princess" story. Games could contain a hint of romance (Malon, Zelda, and Ruto in OoT; Tetra/Zelda and maybe Medley in WW; Ilia, Zelda, and Midna in TP; Zelda in SS). The games have had innumerable strong female characters.
I'm afraid this attempt is going to shave away some of those more subtle parts of Link's personality, which at least gave an indication that there was a bit more to him. That said, if they are going to add the option, they better make it meaningful. Other games with characters of customizable gender (Mass Effect, Fallout, etc.) used these differences to effect the narrative and the interactions the player could have. The difference added to how the player could interact with the world. I place doubt in Nintendo doing anything like this. A model swap and a few pronoun switches is all I'm expecting. And for addition of some boobs, a few s's in front of "he", they'll erase any hints that Link is anything more than a "blank-slate". I'd like to be surprised, but I'm not optimistic about it.
Then there's still the issue of continuity. You're forced to either never mention the events of the game, do so vaguely, or take one course of events as "canon" (unless they want to make the timeline an even more confusing mess than the family tree in "I'm My Own Grandpa"). Link is an established character and the face (though not a name) of the franchise. I'd rather see this not happen and if it does, it'll have to prove to be a meaningful addition.
I just don't want to see artistic vision trampled for progressivism's sake. If this is their vision and they are truly impassioned to make this an addition to the game, I'm for it. If this is just them thinking "well, people seem to want it, so we'll just adjust the game to fit it in", then it's a misfortune.

[Exeunt SomeBitTripFan]
(Thus concludes my somewhat dramatic ramble/rant. Take from it what you will.)

(Bonus) Jocular Desperate Point: This will make the whole issue with "It's called 'The Legend of Zelda', so his name is Zelda" that much more of an issue. I HATE having to correct people on the internet who would even SUGGEST that Link's name is Zelda, let alone those idiots who name him anything other than "Link" in their game files!

@World Somehow I misread you as saying, "an orphan character creator." I was thinking, "Why would anyone want to CREATE an ORPHAN!? " I must be tired...

No problem with the choice of a Link who is male or female, but I have to say... Not once, ever, in my many years of playing video games have I ever thought of how I "identified" with the character I am playing in such a superficial (skin tone) way. How utterly lame and completely self-unaware to even entertain such issues in a video game character.

Now that said, I have to say, that I think Link is hideous and gets worse with each new game. (sorry, I was never a fan of the Zelda franchise, so I shouldn't be talking I guess).

People are so short-sighted of the long-term implications of these daft touted rumours.. The feminist agenda is ruining popular culture..

Instead of emasculating Link why not have Zelda as a playable character ffs? If you want a strong female character then Zelda is the clear choice.

I'd rather not pick links gender, The Zelda series all ready has plenty of female characters, most of the time the support cast is female dominated.

IF there's a gender choice, i'd rather it be a character one with the game reacting differently based on the character. the easiest one to do would be have Link and Linkle (man she needs a less man-girl name) as twin's at the start you decide who will go on the adventure and who will stay behind to look after the village/younger sibling . Then use that in the story perhaps have the other hero pop up later in the story (this also opens up an DLC/unlockable where you discover the siblings story)

I much prefer that to "pick link's junk"

@TheLegendofMe Yes because if every race isn't available it's racist. Tolerance goes both ways.

I don't care if Link is a smurf Just Give me some gameplay, preferably before June 11th

I was thinking last night about the Link/Linkle choice potentially rearing its head in Zelda Wii U/NX. As much as I've enjoyed Linkle's appearance in Hyrule Warriors/Legends, and welcome more character/diversity into the universe, I'd find it very difficult to select her for my adventure as Link has been such a prominent figure/avatar within the Legend of Zelda universe since day one for me. For me it would be as odd as selecting Marion in the next major Mario release...

Having said that it'd be great to see the choice there for players.

@Thaswizz Agree. Last thing games need is "PC" forced on them by leftie loonies.

Another article? Again this is to be taken with a grain of salt. I have feeling if LoZ WiiU is revealed at E3 2016 with no sex selection option this will be the "big issue" that dominates discussion.

In fact I bet if LoZ WiiU doesn't have a female Link option there will be articles about the game and people being enraged over the game not having a character option that Nintendo never said there would be.

I hate rumours like these and I'm getting sick of when tertiary elements relatively unimportant to the game design begin dominating discussion because of of being a societal "red button issue". All articles like this will do is make it blow up and bury actual discussion if the game doesn't have gender options even though it was "rumoured from a source"(AKA a guess) and nothing Nintendo even said themselves.

@Dr_Lugae Totally and maybe going as far as burying the NX even before it's released.

I don't mind having a choice about gender, I'm still going to choose link. I just hope that they don't swap genders for other characters, i.e. Make Zelda a man. That would just be weird

@Dr_Lugae Finally, some logic.

(Total sarcasm here):

What about an obese, male Samus?
Give me Father Brain, not Mother Brain!
What about a thin, orangutan Donkey King?
Why does Pit have to be a "kid" Icarus?
Eggplant Wizard...how about Pumpkin Witch?
When will Kirby get to be a blue square?
I don't want a Gameboy, I want a Gamegirl!
Nintendo Wii was fine, but we need Nintendo Vii.
Little Mac should be Big Mac...oh wait... :/

@TheY True, I just meant that I expect she's probably going to be paired with Link in the branding in future media, not that she was literally Link.

@Not_Soos Well hey, it's not like we've ever SEEN Link's parents (okay, maybe there was that one time)

We should keep our heads in check, as we've only had one completely off the wall comment (or string of comments), and it'd be a shame for this to resort to the usual polarised name-calling.

The implications of those comments seemed to be that a game was automatically rendered deficient or even immoral if it didn't allow you to customise every aspect of your character to closely look like every person person on the planet.

Clearly, we don't demand films to be refilmed with a variety of actors playing the protagonist, so we do seem fairly capable of relating to another human (or even other species), even if they don't have the same waist-size as us.

Of course, this is a slightly facile point, as we don't realistically have the option to do that with films, whereas it's relatively easy to do with video games. But some games work with the 'film' style narrative, where you follow a particular character throughout their story, and others take advantage of the customisability of a character creator. The former allows for the character to take a less ambiguous role in the story, and allows for a more iconic character to be developed, while the second allows for... well, customisation.

Link, in my opinion, falls somewhere in the middle. He's not a character per se, as we have different characters between most games, but Link is at least 'iconic', and to divide that up into two (or possibly more) pieces arguably dilutes that iconography somewhat. However, Link generally already has ambiguous role in the story compared to a lot of protagonists, so there's certainly room for movement.

Personally, I keep flip-flopping between wanting the clarity of a single character adventure, and being curious to see how Mr. Aonuma would implement it. My heart is generally more set on the former, but I can't shake off the inexplicable feeling that being able to run through the field and chop grass as Link-Girl as opposed to Link-Boy would be oddly cool.

I guess we'll wait and see.

Is there transgender options? We need a male Link who thinks he's Linkle and a female Linkle who thinks she's Link. We also need gay Link and Lesbian Linkle then I think everyone will be happy? Do we also need a human that thinks they're an animal to truly reach out to everyone? Man, Nintendo is so behind on the times.

In all honesty though I think having a Link/Linkle choice is kind of cool.

I feel like it would be a clever way to have branching paths by choosing to follow 2 different characters going on their own adventures, but I'm prepared for disappointment if it turns out to just be a customization thing. Hopefully Nintendo can avoid a s***storm if it turns out to be just a rumor because they really don't need another helping of the flack they got for Tomodachi Life.

Nintendo need to stop saying Link is simply a player vessel if they aren't going to give FULL customisation of him/her. Either commit to it or stop saying it and let Link remain an actual character.

Wake me up when we know for certain and then I might have to something to write on the matter.

Zelda is sounding more like zeldablade chronicles x in the rumors.....

This is ridiculous. Link is a male, always has been. I will not support this.

Link has quite the masculine jawline in the thumbnail for the video. Why again, then, did certain believe this Link was female? I don't get it. Was it only due to the hair and pale complexion?

@TheLegendofMe Oh look, a social justice warrior.

100% against this, but it's a false rumor, from a liar. So what do you expect.

i think Zelda U is gonna have a good story there is a guy named Zeltik that made a video called Mystery Rito in Twilight Princess HD? (Zelda Focus) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZ4WioLQnFM in this video he shows a photo in twilight princess i think in that photo it is link with his mother and dad. i think in this story links mother and farther will be killed in front of him. i think there is gonna be a lot of choices you can make and if you make the wrong one something bad can happen. i think there will be crafting i hope there is it sounds fun by just looking at the open world of zelda U it looks like there will be a lot to do. i feel like this game will do very good if there is a girl link i think it would be good for players to pick what they wanna be and not change the game. this game sounds like its gonna be fun i cant wait to see what they do to Zelda U. im glad there is a change to the zelda series i hope they keep the green tunic but i think people will like this game. im a huge fan of zelda and im so excited to see what Zelda U looks like when it is done

In no way am I against idea of a female protagonist in a Zelda game, but unlike certain other commenters, I don't think Link has hints of femininity or androgyny, unless we're counting superficialities and cultural misunderstandings about his clothing choices. In each Zelda game with a significant amount of dialogue (ie, at least LttP and onward), Link has expressely fulfilled a traditionally male role, whether or not that role should be confined to males alone. There has been no hinting in any of the Zelda games that the Triforce of Courage bearer would be female or even effeminate in any way. Trying to force a entirely different character in the same context as Ocarina of Time's princess-saving, medieval-like fantasy, for example, would seem awkward. A similar role played by a female character in games like the Elder Scrolls or practically any MMO is not as strange because the character in those games doesn't have an established identity or personality type, which, despite his lack of speaking, Link consistently has in each game he's in (with little variation between each respective Link's characteristics).

At least to me, what would be more enjoyable would be if there was a separate story for the male Link and for the "female Link", as that would allow for a stronger sense of identity and uniqueness for both characters, rather than of a forgettable create-a-character. I don't personally like the idea of Princess Zelda fulfilling the same role as Link, not because of her gender or social status, but because of her established role in keeping Hyrule in order as its monarch (SPOILER: which she arguably continued to do even as Sheik and Tetra END SPOILER), unless the gameplay or story of the particular hypothetical game she is in features much different gameplay or setting. But, if implemented creatively and tastefully, I'd be happy to play anything new in this series, whatever it may be.

ZOMG so #progressive!

I don't mind the choice between male n female Link although would prefer it too be between Link n Linkle.

I don't know but anyone else here but I've never thought of Link as me, only as a character in a game.

Do we need male Samus and a Samus of different skin tones? How about a female Mario? Or better yet, how about we change the orientation of a character who doesn't even say a word throughout the entire game?

Now, I wouldn't mind a female Link as Link is INTENDED to be an avatar. I'm just saying I have always considered Link his own character and never me.

People welcomed Linkle with open arms.

The debut of a female player character in Pokémon Crystal has become a series staple ever since.

Spider-Gwen might be the most successful alternate universe variant of Spider-Man to ever grace the Marvel comics multiverse.

Awakening's Robin and Fates' Corrin are gender-neutral avatars that gave the Fire Emblem series more variety.

Why would a canon gender choice for Link be any different? And I'm using again Pokémon as an example for my thesis. Both Pokémon and Zelda feature heroic mimes as playable characters, so I think the world is more than ready for a female Link in a mainline Zelda title. As @DBPirate just said: Link is intended to be an avatar.

@SomeBitTripFan but I like naming my character in LoZ after myself! It just adds to my enjoyment, I know his name is link.

@Danny429: I feel like I did a good job of making this clear, but that last section was said very tongue-in-cheekly. I was making fun of rabid ultra-purists.

If the Zelda U is a female, I know which Internet Rule i'm going to use a lot. OneHand Kreygasm