Nintendo Confirms That Splatoon 3's Shiver Identifies As Female

Well she's cute either way. ^^

Glad to hear it

Shiver sounds like Shiva in Japanese pronounce.

When I first saw her, I thought she was a boy first. I'm glad that Nintendo confirmed that Shiver is officially a female.

I was losing sleep speculating on this.

Yeah, that sounds about right 🤣😂

People jumped the gun too quickly... like always

I wonder if they set this up as some weird publicity stunt lol

Guess the wait for any kind of meaningful representation continues.

This is uncharacteristically forward-thinking from Nintendo. It's good to see.

People be so desperate to self insert or insert on behalf of others; onto a fictional game character. Japan isn't the same as Europe/USA/Canada/Australia. They haven't gone down the non binary rabbit hole. Thankfully. Let's see if I'm entitled to my opinion on here, on this topic. The comments are open, probs not for much longer.

Shouldn't matter if she didn't anyways.

"There will be others for whom this may come as a disappointment"

This is all yall own fault, you've assumed her gender based on nothing but a hunch and tried to silence literally everyone who brought it into question.

lol
Why does people (or gaming characters) "identify" these days? Why not just say that "she is a woman", or does that count as hate speech in 2022? xD

Don't really care, to each their own.

Is the Japanese using that too? As Nintendo of America seems to be turning even more conservative (and creepy) compared to actual Nintendo.

Didn't we have this speculation with Birdo in 1988?

Can't wait for people to be disappointed over their own assumption.

Shiver is whatever shiver identifies as

@RasandeRose I find it strange that you're so concerned with how other people see themselves when it has no effect on you.

gotta love peoples fixation on gender, seems these days the most important thing of all...

Missed opportunity if you ask me.

THANK YOU NINTENDO!
GLAD TO HEAR!

@RasandeRose I hate this age.
But you’re not allowed to have an opinion that doesn’t fit this narrative or it’s hate speech. It’s very sad that even a Nintendo gaming website is this way!

Some people are way too quick to make everything the latest platform for whatever they are obsessed with.

I can never tell whether Nintendo Life is a more liberal or conservative outlet when it comes to its users. They make an article about Shiver possibly being nonbinary and it gets almost unanimous praise. Then, they make an article about her not being nonbinary and it gets almost unanimous comments in support of Nintendo's decision. One day I make a touchy comment that's well received, and the next day I get a lot of flack for making a similar comment. Guess it just depends on who the audience is for that particular article.

I received quite a bit of criticism for it, but I'm thankful the mods left my comments up concerning the recent trend of negative portrayals of religion in gaming on their Cult of the Lamb article. I think these are important discussions worth having, so I hope NL is finally conceding to the fact that they can't completely censor the comments if they're going to cover controversial topics. The only way to erase ignorance and bigotry (which can and does go both ways) is to listen to each other and have an open, earnest conversation--not bottling up our feelings because we have no outlet to channel our frustrations with society.You can't say anything without people being overly reactionary and pointing fingers at you and screaming "You're part of the problem!" It takes a major mental health toll, and it's no wonder so many people are going off the deep end in this day and age. We need to start having real dialogue and make a genuine effort to understand different points of view.

"They make an article about Shiver possibly being nonbinary and it gets almost unanimous praise"

It got unanimous praise because all the comments to the contrary were removed!

Pretty depressing set of comments so far. 'glad'. Old enough to have lived through 'political correctness gone mad' the first time round and never expected it to make a comeback. I suppose everything is cyclical.

And she doesn't "identify as female" She is a woman. Being a woman isn't an identity like being a goth or something :-/

@nessisonett,

Not sure how meaningful this would have been, but as you say your wait continues.

@RasandeRose someone on gamefaqs suggested the wording is very deliberate.
they noticed shiver has the eyes of a male octoling.
female octolings have always been shown with a little extra black line sticking out under their eye, while male octolings have always been shown without that black line.

it could be someone forgot this detail with shiver, or it could be deliberate.

Thought the ambiguity was more fun tbh

I am genuinely confused. Why is it disappointing that she identifies as female? She could still be trans, isn't that progressive enough these days?

@Not_Soos,

You have to be very careful how you tread on here, the site with it's disclaimers on certain articles tells you where their affiliations lie, and not surprising they opt for the more liberal left route... as you can't possibly upset anyone or be seen as the bad guy, which is what most of these types of issue revolve around.

Very little place for nuance or indeed context, and you are either on the side of total submission to whatever cause is being discussed, or you are against it and therefore guilty of being an evil human being, no middle ground at all.

I mean, what can I say, people were assuming the gender without it being officially confirmed. Tbh, I wouldn’t have cared what it was as I think people were getting waay to worked up over it.

If that's the case I don't get why Nintendo consistently referred to Shiver with gender-neutral pronouns in ALL languages while using gendered pronouns for other characters.

So Nintendo have confirmed Shiver identifies as female, not that the character is indeed female, so everyone can pretty much make up their own minds on this latest ambiguous none article from Nintendo life.

@RasandeRose Exactly. I don’t get why society has gone down this route of having everyone identify as something and then shove it down our throat and expect it to like it. I don’t care what your preferences are in life, but leave sexuality out of what is essentially a kids game. Smh

@johnvboy their affliliations lie in the direction of internationally recognised human rights, equalities and hate speech legislation. As the publisher of all these comments they are obliged by law to not let them descend into the abyss. The disclaimers are there in a, generally fruitless, attempt to nip it in the bud.

Is there irony in the fact the people who are gender fluid assumed this character's gender, but if I assume a gender fluid person's gender I get abuse?

@RasandeRose what then of intersex people? Do you need to confirm everyone's biological sex? Does it bother you that people might not think the same way as you?

Your attitude is coming through in all your comments as a very hateful person so it does concern me and anyone on this site that wants to just appreciate games without people like you bringing a toxic culture to this site.

@Flash33 what you describe as shoving down your throat is confirmation bias - you spot the things you're looking out for so they appear more prevalent that they are.

@Tangerine Regardless of one’s personal feelings on the matter, I think it’s difficult to argue that ‘Japan hasn’t gone down that rabbit hole’.

LGBTQ+ topics are fairly frequently brought up in the news, variety shows, and general conversation. Fairly high profile commercials featuring transgender/non-binary people are not all that uncommon.

https://youtu.be/TddX1BKRowQ

Again, what one thinks about the is another matter, but to simply state ‘Japan is different’ requires a pretty naive perspective of the zeitgeist in the country.

"step forward for inclusivity and representation"

Sorry, but there are more than 230 million of portuguese speakers and these games still are not in portuguese.

You can not be selective about your representation (and while it is important, these gender inclusivity are an obsession of the most racist country in the world, US of A).

If you want to talk about INCLUSIVITY, why does Nintendo Life did not made an article about the lack of localization in portuguese and arabic? Or the INCLUSION of these languages does not matter?

@oatmaster,

Totally get that, and of course to more direct trolling comments need to be dealt with swiftly, but there can be a reasonable open debate between people with differing views on this, and to that end I think the site and it's moderators fail us a little, by leaning to one side when they should be remaining neutral.

Your point about human rights/equality laws and hare speech are just a red herring, as their are many laws protecting this, this is about being able to have an open conversation about sensitive subjects, where both sides have an equal chance to state their own opinions in a respectful manner.

If the site can't or is unwilling to do so, then these articles about such subjects should not be posted in the first place, or every comment section should be locked, as they do from time to time.

@Maxz 'rabid hole' is a great eggcorn.

@Dogorilla

"All"? Some of the languages do not have gender neutral pronouns.

But Nintendo of America, instead of expand the market in South America (afterr all, they are responsible for Nintendo Latam), are too busy trying to be woke for the north-american crowd.

Doug Bowser is the worst chief that NoA had.

It shouldn't be so important to be wanted to be represented by fictional fish.

@Specters

"Hateful" by regular opinions that like 99% of the general population agrees with? You're too stuck in that tiny extreme narrativ bubble, it's nothing hateful by what i write...

btw, what on gods green earth is "intersex people"??

This is no surprise because a vocal and aggressive minority is opposing progress even if it’s not in its face, nor for it specifically. Maybe next time Nintendo will force itself to recognise that gender neutral people exists and need as much representation as the traditional genders have.

I don’t think mainstream gaming is nearly as ready to become open to gender neutral topics as we hope now. As someone who is not heterosexual, I can only dream for overall more minority representation, because right now we’re probably decades away still (Also, promoting unsubstantiated rumours on mainstream gaming sites I don’t see how it helps the cause, as it makes the whole subject recognised for the wrong reasons; edit, I obviously don’t mean NL as the news has been reported by all gaming media, even before).

Kind regards.

@johnvboy thing is, I don't see much middle ground. The people opposed to anything to do with gender identity seem largely affronted by the existence of people outside the classic binary. At best, they resent being required to do the basically polite thing of allowing people to decide how they're addressed, at worst they want things put in place to prevent them from existing. The best case scenario probably feels pretty extreme to a trans woman who's being told she's a bloke.

I genuinely don't know what the reasonable middle ground looks like in this context.

Of all games, Splatoon 3 does feel like a good opportunity to be more inclusive as it has always had messages of LGBTQ+ coding. Biology-wise, it's pretty common in marine life for fluidity of genders. Just because Shiver identifies as female doesn't mean she could potentially be a trans character. But I do understand the uproar too, and this could be potentially damaging to how splatfests are done.

On the other hand, I think we need to celebrate Nintendo for Frye. Might be the first time they've had a character of South Asian/Indian decent as a lead (or ever! I can't recall a character of South Asian decent in any other series, the closest might be the Gerudo but they are more Arabian/North African-inspired and portrayed in a negative light).

@Flash33,

It's only a very small proportion of society that promotes any of these issues, I would suggest the biggest promotors are the media/ social media and politicians.

This comments section is the reason why I tend to shy away from talking to a lot of people in the Splatoon community. I feel very misrepresented as a Splatoon fan to have a community that seems to enjoy picking fights over sociopolitical issues and even just Nintendo's issues. I was already very insulted when the #FreeMelee movement hit Splatoon 2.

Seeing this? That cross many lines for me. Be like Nintendo and don't shove the idea down people's throats or start attacking them instantly for an opinion that can be controversial or ethically wrong. Nintendo made a PR statement not too long ago about same-sex relationship inclusivity without picking a fight against the Japanese government. Why can't we do the same? You win arguments by proving that it works, not enforcing it.

@Ara Don't you think that Nintendo should recognise that more than 500 million of people spekas portuguese and arabic?

Or the INCLUSION of these people are not important for you?

@Tirza bit of a false comparison as you can change which languages you know.

@Ara I think it's an odd statement to make, to bring in sexuality in a game like say Splatoon. Esp as it's pretty much aimed at a young audience and is pretty much only a competitive action game.

This feels like Vivian all over again.

Also some of these comments are super toxic. What’s wrong with you all? Why do you care so much that some people identify as non-binary? It has zero effect on you.

@oatmaster,

These issues rarely come up in day to day regular life, in fact I can't remember the last time when I met anyone I felt the need to bring up or address them as whatever they wanted to be identified as, usually just say hello to whoever I meet.

You will of course get the more extreme people who will go out of their way to upset or even cause physical harm to people, but I would suggest these people are more uncommon that we would like to admit.

@Ogbert
Thank you. This honestly hurts to see.

Nice! Glad to hear this.

@Ogbert,

If this does not affect anyone then why the comments from either side, or indeed your need to post a comment on the subject.

As you say none of this affects anyone directly, but it is still an interesting topic of conversation that both sides will have views on.

Not sure suggesting any comment is super toxic is helpful, just because you do not personally agree with it.

Just a small attempt to get back to some sort of reasonableness before I get any more het up. Most of the arguments are basically semantic and unwinnable. Instead we should focus on impact and harm.

What actual impact do these issues have on you? If you're cis (I know that annoys some people but is a useful shorthand), straight, etc, what effect does inclusivity have on your life? Most I can really see is that it means you have to put a bit more care into your choice of words which is basic politeness. Or sitting through the odd boring course.

If, however, you are gay, trans, non-binary or whatever the exclusion has a much bigger impact. If every piece of culture is denying your very existence that's going to have a profound impact.

So I reckon that's the way to look at it. You can still believe whatever you want as it's only interactions that count. And if your interactions are harming someone then free speech or whatever doesn't completely clear your conscience.

edit to add: going to have to bow out on that. Had my say and this is all having a profoundly adverse effect on me.

Nah because of this ***** I'm saying shiver is a trans guy and no one can stop me

@johnvboy they come up every single day for LGBTQ+ people.

@RasandeRose I think that education is never a bad thing. Millions of people are reaching adulthood confused by poor conservative educations, and for many the damage is done and for good.

But I don’t think some people here are necessarily interested in dialog. I hope this is not off topic and I will refrain from posting further. Kind regards.

@oatmaster,

Pretty sure the world on the whole is a better place for the LGBTQ+ community, but feel free to keep on fighting the invisible man as long a you want, but I for one refuse to think things are not improving in relation to these issues.

Well twitter definitely isnt going to like this

I feel like I‘m gonna run out of popcorn with this one.

@oatmaster Hardly. It’s the current narrative and if you don’t support it, your opinion is seen as hate speech. Like I said, I don’t care what people do with their life and what they identify as in terms of their sexuality, but certain things just shouldn’t be a concern in certain media, like in this case an aquatic character’s “gender identity” in a kids game.
There’s far more important subjects in the world that effect a far larger amount of people than someone’s sexual identity/preferences. Racism for example. That’s still huge globally.

lack of old grumpy men in games a bit of a discrimination

@Duffman92 I wonder when the comments will get disabled lol

Well even in Xenoblade 3, Juniper is almost certain non-binary based on how the game refers to the character which is pretty cool. But without official confirmation you don't assume these things and will only leave you with disappointment.

IMO regardless of the gender, we need to respect the designer who made the character and the vision they had with it. There's no reason to get disappointed in the first place.

I can’t say I’m surprised, and exactly why I wasn’t ready to presume whether she was enby or not given what little we’ve seen of her. We mustn’t forget Japan is more hetero- and cis-normative than most Western countries.

What is disappointing is seeing all the comments saying how HAPPY they are that Shiver is cis. Maybe some of you are just relieved Nintendo ended the speculation? If so, maybe word your comments more thoughtfully out of respect for the non-binary folk feeling let down, who just wanted some representation. Sheesh.

@RasandeRose,

You are allowed to discuss these issues only if you totally agree with all of this, as you are wrong if you do not agree, and need to be educated.

I feel like people speculating she is nb are either apathetic that she isn't or just choose to believe she is. In either case, my life hasn't changed so why feel upset because someone wants to believe something about a fictional character's gender?

This is to say stop bothering people for speculating she was NB.

@Maxz I live in Japan. I can confirm they have not, nor do they have they any interest in gender politics.

@iLikeUrAttitude,

Usually it's just the opposing comments, but I do feel a total lock is not far away.

@RasandeRose Exactly. I remember reading a local news article where prep and year 1 classes were being “taught” to draw and paint the entire classroom with the rainbow and that new non-binary flag to embrace the subject. I mean really? Kids at that age should NOT be exposed to any of that. Yet if the parents were to complain about it, they’d be seen as backwards and “hateful” for not accepting it.

@Teksetter,

What is wrong with people stating a personal preference, as I am sure they did not at the same time suggest the other option was wrong in some way... if they did then I agree with you, but this seem like a side filling in their own blanks and assuming peoples reason for being happy either way.

@CorePrideX 🤦‍♂️ I did say based on how the game refers to the character and there is no official confirmation. I personally think Juniper is female despite what I said. Chill.

@Tirza Unfortunately racism or anything of that nature, which effects a gigantic amount of people globally, isn’t as important to society. Because you know, racism’s only been the rounds for what? Centuries and centuries? But let’s concentrate on a minority problem for a minority group first…

@Flash33,

The problem is that while still a minority, they are a very vocal one and will be taken notice of because of this, people are so confused as to how to progress with any of this, as there are such myriad of pronouns one can identify as.

But never in the history of the world have so few people spoken for the rest of us.

In the game I am making both main characters wear armor and never take it off on-screen so you will not know what gender they are intentionally. It will be up to the player to decide.

It´s a squid so human rules does not really apply or?

Oh, thank goodness. It was on my mind every time I saw her.

I’m tired of reading “phased” and “unphased” on this website when it’s “fazed” and “unfazed.”

@Ara,

Think you have your comment the wrong way round.

@cdmac This whole thing is ridiculous if you think about it. When I play Splatoon I pick a CHARACTER. I don’t pick them on gender or anything else. They’re squids, fish etc in a fictional game. I pick one and make them look cool. Maybe if everyone did the same, this whole gender/sexuality problem would disappear.

BWAHAHAHAHA

ok on a more serious note

It would be nice and totally fine by me if the character was non binary, I have zero issues with it.

But why the laughing then?

Because of all the people that jumped on this ASSUMING it is how THEY want it to be, instead of waiting until Nintendo would confirm it.

But these people will never learn... never.

Better next time, I assume that at some point Nintendo will do such a thing for real.

(fully ignoring that in my opinion none of the Splatoon squid characters really looks like male of female to me, maybe more people should think this way instead)

Many games rely on the player's imagination and interpretation of their chosen avatar. I've yet to see a game where someone like me is represented (not willing to open a can of worms by going into more detail), but I also don't see that as a necessity as I prioritise artistic and creative freedom for games/stories to be put together as intended by the creators over wanting to see myself represented in a game beyond applying my own imagination to vacant avatars.

@cdmac,

No issues with any of this, people can identify and live their lives the way they want to, and I will defend their rights to do so.

My issue comes with demonizing anyone who does not quite feel the same way, and has any different stance on it, I will agree with you on the more extreme side, but there are many people with reasonable views on this that get lumped together with the more toxic viewpoints.

Oh dear god, the comments hahah. Both sides of this debate are out to lunch on a good day. The world needs more moderates.

@RasandeRose an intersex person is a person due to genetic abnormalities is born with not fully formed sex organs or sex organs that due to their development appear to be somewhere in between a person’s that doesn’t possess those genetic abnormalities. They can also develop secondary sex traits that are not in line with others without such genetic traits such as excessive/male pattern hair development in a person that is predominantly female in physical structure. Totally different from gender identity as the source is identified due to genetic composition rather than self identify or social identity and intersex people often protest being lumped in with gender identity people. It’s like saying a person with leucoderma (loss of skin pigmentation) or for a from birth example albinism, now identify as being a different race when it is simply a biological abnormality but they are still the same person. Human birth is always a roll of the dice. Sometimes your parents give you a loaded deck to work with.

@cdmac,

I could suggest the same, as a lot of your statements are based on feelings rather than actual facts.

@johnvboy People do often get lumped in with toxic people. Because you do have people who are jerks about it, and aren’t really nice, but just presenting a viewpoint an argument doesn’t mean there a bad person just because they don’t agree. Life would be boring if everyone agreed with something.

@cdmac I’m Hispanic and when I play games I don’t see any main characters with that racial background. They’re “under-represented” in games. I don’t see a need for me to complain about it as it’s just a game. People are taking character selection way too personal. We play games to escape reality and “be someone else” in that world. How hard is it for people to understand that not everyone can be represented at the character select screen? I’m currently playing the new Saints Row and guess who I’m playing as? No, not a Hispanic male. As Waluigi because it’s hilarious. People just need to lighten up with this issue.

I said she was female in my comment on the last article and here we are. Just use your eyes and you can see that's the case with characters like her and Juniper from Xenoblade. It sounded like Nintendolife had made their minds up too with a headline like "A big win for representation" when really it was all hopeful assumption from themselves and the fanbase. Please next time wait for the facts before getting overexcited about nothing. I will say though that it's nice to see that people from either side are able to discuss the topic this time round. Points for being entitled to their own opinions because it's always nice to hear both sides of the argument

@johnvboy you can say that again

I know a lot of LGBTQ people, and 95% of them are not different than "the normal" folks, even better most of them are even more fun to be around because of the more open way they think.

But that 5%... that very very loud 5% is more toxic than some League of Legends gamers... and the best remedy against that 5% is to fully ignore them (fully, no exception) because they think they need some "special" treatment, that even if you give one to them, they will ALWAYS find a way to complain about you "not accepting them"

Sadly that loud 5% is the reason some "normal" people have the wrong idea about the other 95% of LGBTQ people...

@Snatcher,

Parden the pun, but I totally agree with you.

People are always expecting a more toxic response with issues like this, that sometimes they are simply unwilling to see or even recognize a more rational point of view, or in some instances refuse to believe that one could even exist.

In the heat of battle you tend to look in one direction.

Last week, my comment (like many others) got banned for saying the truth about how Japan does not care about non - binary and these "modern trends".

Guess someone from Nintendo Life needs to apologize

@Hackermon I totally agree. I thought the same about Disney, but then you see all the nonsense they have created these years

@Tangerine To be fair to Nintendo Life, not only the comment section is still open, I can see by the amount of upvotes most people seem to agree with you.

i don't know man, for me this was clearly a female character from the get go

@RasandeRose the writers did that - not nintendo

Meeting new enby people and having old friends come out as transgender (and seeing how they're treated in public) has greatly changed the way I approach the topic.

You win some, you lose some. 🤷🏻‍♂️

@Rayquaza2510,

Awesome reply, and am totally with you on a very small percentage of the overall LGBTQ+ community that are themselves very toxic, and do not want understanding as such, even though the claim to, all they want is total submission to their cause, and anyone not on board is the enemy pure and simple.

Aw man, I was really hoping that Shiver was non-binary. So close yet so far. Oh well, I guess that's what we got headcanons for

https://youtu.be/rg92PER6xvE

This is a really fascinating analysis of Nintendo’s history when it comes to depicting gender non conformity in their games. The main take away being that Nintendo don’t seem to go out of their way to cater on either end. So while you have a company that does tend to cop out or come up short as far as representation is concerned, it doesn’t really enforce a hetero, cis or masculine status quo like other big budget corporations have done in the past.

Dude some of these comments are just something else 😑

@cdmac I dare to say there is no difference.

I mean technically there is, but "when you are called names, abused, spit on and looked down on" because you are a transgender... and then the same exact thing happens (based on my country) because you are black, muslim of from eastern europe...

That's the same to me

This I say as someone who belongs in both groups, double trouble for me. (actually even triple trouble)

If anything, me being who I am is on a daily basis less of a issue than all the abuse I got from others in my teenage years because of where I come from (or to be more precise, my parents because I was not born there)

@cdmac Maybe because I don’t go about society telling everyone I’m Hispanic and expect them to “accept” me? What I’m trying to understand is do NB or TG people go about their lives in society and tell people they are? Do they meet someone new and say “Hi I’m Alex, and I’m non-binary”, then shake hands? They’re people just like everyone else. So why not live life as normal?

Good God, I think I blocked half the community from this thread alone. Predictably disappointing. Either way, representation matters, even if it makes those who do not understand it uncomfortable. Sitting in the stink of one’s discomfort has always and will always be how others are able to live openly. Nintendo is a company that really does play it safe at nearly every turn when it comes to social issues. I work for a company that does not but we operate in environments (read: very, very blue cities) where we have the space to do that. Nintendo very much allows the world to sort these things out before following.

lol as I figured, word of god came through and burst the bubble of all these baseless fan theories.

Regardless of that pointless nothingburger, I can't wait to try the game out this weekend.

@Flash33 “Hi I’m Alex, and I’m non-binary”

I never though of doing such a thing as who I am

But I know to many people doing that... (and not only LGBTQ people, I even saw some say "Hi I'm (insert name) and I am from the US"

"They’re people just like everyone else. So why not live life as normal?"

Main reason why who I am is not a issue for me in my daily life, but where my parents their roots are from was until I was way after school and study.

@cdmac because it is the same type of bullying.

It doesn't matter if you are black, muslim, easter european, asian, non binary, gay, transgender.... if people have a problem with you, the way they treat you will be the same.

And it hurts the same, there is no difference there and there was never one to begin with.

That's the whole point.

@JaneBear What’s worrying to me is how lax the moderation is. There’s some genuinely vile comments openly mocking enby people that have stayed up for hours.

@nessisonett I agree but I hope the mods remove the really vile stuff and not just "sweep" out everything they think is bad.

Some stuff said here is part of a good discussion about how life really is, other part is indeed vile stuff that should be removed.

Why are people bothered about gender in video games? I've never played a game wondering what's between my characters legs.

Why would anyone be disappointed that she's a girl? Isn t that kinda sexist?