Random: Splatoon 3's Shiver Appears To Be Nintendo's First Major Non-Binary Character

Hopefully one day we can get more overt LGBTQ and NB representation in Nintendo games, but this is really cool to see!

I'm very happy for those that are non-binary, to see themselves represented more in video games.

This doesn't affect anyone negatively in the slightest, so I'm all for it

There's also Juniper from XC3. I think Taion refers to Juniper as "them" and there also is never a gender specified

Well that’s nice! Obviously we’re a while away from Nintendo having meaningful representation (Vivian from Thousand Year Door is a queen but not in the English translation) but this is definitely cool to see.

Honestly, the moment they showed off that Genders were essentially no longer a thing in Splatoon 3 but rather you choose a Style instead, I had a slight suspicion that they would do something like this. I'm all for it though!

@Munchlax Yes, Blanche in Pokémon GO is also non-binary in the English,Japanese and German translations of the game

@KateGray I agree! As a pansexual trans woman, I would love to see trans women and trans men openly showcased in Nintendo games. At this point I guess I do have to have to be happy with Penny and Grusha. Both are pretty easy to see as trans (Penny as a trans woman and Grusha as a trans man). But I would love for them to come out and confirm it.

The flag is probably just coincidental since Splatoon's box art colors have so far been complimentary color pairs. They already used blue-orange and red-green, so this is the last duo. But a fun parallel all the same.

@nessisonett Hopefully one day they re-release Thousand Year Door on a future Nintendo console, and they fix that hideous oversight. Vivian will always be a trans woman to me~

Since there is no real confirmation other than there not being any gender referenced yet does this not mean that some of the fanbase are assuming Shiver's gender?

I think Nintendo isn't intentionally ommiting their gender identity here. It's probably just oversight, knowing Nintendo, and the community at large is looking into it more than what's actually truly there.

I half suspect it to come up confirming the gender in a patch or event update later on.

Representation IS important. People wanna see other people like them. Kudos to Nintendo.

That's really cool! And good that Nintendo has coordinated it across various languages, unlike with Blanche from Pokemon GO (which is not technically a Nintendo game, of course) who's referred to with gender-neutral pronouns in English but female ones in several other languages.

Just because there's been no direct use of specific pronouns does not mean what they think it means. Could simply be oversight, and is a fan theory unless confirmed by Nintendo.

@deejrandom it must be very frustrating to have invented rules for yourself that prevent you accessing excellent games.

The box colors is most likely coincidence, but I'm all for representation, there's nothing wrong with it

That’s cool. I know there were some people theorizing it, based solely on their style being ambiguous/androgynous, which felt a bit shallow initially, but its also neat that Nintendo would lean into Splatoon’s rather notable LGBT following.

@unoclay Isnt Birdo trans?

@nessisonett @Natsura @Natsura There was already a trans character in BOTW called Vilia

@MrPKOmega nothing is necessary, some things are to be desired.

@MrPKOmega Nothing wrong with kids seeing themselves in a game.

That's not what non-binary means, and you know it, you absolute troll.

@deejrandom It's "adios."
Sayonara!

Absolutely love the enby representation but they're still my least favorite idols out of the Splatoon series lol 🤷‍♀️ Maybe they'll grow on me once I play the game!

Thank you to the mods for staying on top of this thread. 💖

Maybe wait for confirmation before publishing an article like this. We don’t know for sure yet.

ITT: Buncha dudes mad that they can't sexualize Shiver.

@bonjong23 Right, because NintendoLife never posts about rumors or speculation.

@MrPKOmega Having worked in games and knowing the translation process. There is ZERO way this is a coincidence people are reading into. It’s a lot of work to get the male and female sentence structures and such right, even more to have non-binary as many languages inherently gender lots of words.

Ultimately Nintendo did a cool thing and represented non-binary people with a character in their game. They did that and just put it out there and didn’t make a big deal of it. Now two types of people are making a big deal, those excited to see themselves and their friends and family member represented at last with a major character in a major Nintendo IP. And those who proclaim they have ‘nothing against it but…’.

Honestly if you’re in that latter category then just get over yourself. I don’t know what else to say, it’s not ruining anything for you and it’s brining immeasurable joy to many others. If you’re getting you’re back up over it that’s a you problem that you should go and do some self-reflecting to sort out what exactly your issue even is.

Celebrate or be silent, people.

Those colours are definitely a coincidence, but I think that the neutral pronouns in languages like French do show that an effort was definitely made here. Knowing how much easier it is to go with gendered pronouns in French (which is a bit less obvious in English) and it being spread across languages, I think that for once, it isn’t just people desperately looking for something that isn’t there. I’m not a big fan of splatoon but diversity kind of naturally fits with it’s gigantic focus on expression through clothes and even the whole octoling/inkling thing coming up.

Won’t make me like their designs even a smidge more, but hey, that’s beside the point. xP

I have a pet theory that certain questionable attitudes that are rife in the online gaming community persist because lots of gamers just do gaming and don't consume much other media, in a way that is rarely the case for people who watch a lot of films or read a lot of books.

Might be gubbins, of course.

I’m not 100% convinced but I give it a pretty good shot of being true. We’ll find out for sure soon enough

@-Juice- If you're speaking biological truth, then we all start as girls lol

@Ogbert on a related note, I remember wondering why German job adverts posted in English would have (M/F) after them. Turned out to be because of most/all job names are masculine or feminine so they have to explicitly make the point they aren't looking for a specific gender. Speaking English, it's easy to forget that gendered words are common in loads of languages.

@HeroOfTime32 Nah, this is a public forum of a private company. They can do what they want. Leave if you don't like it.

@DreamlandGem You can't argue with them; They don't think anything they say is wrong or offensive lol

@Silly_G Really don't see how. You're being extremely rude by pointing at folks like me and calling US rude and unhinged just because we have to fight for the right to exist.

@HeroOfTime32 Bigotry is against site rules, so bigoted posts get removed.

It’s a little sad that this will always devolve into a conversation on sides where excessive positivity and negativity are bound to clash, with mild voices being drowned out under the mud both sides are throwing at each other. Ah well. I don’t think much good comes from the conversations down here, but at least the article up there stays unchanged in what it presents.

@unoclay I feel like Birdo was intended to be trans, but Nintendo have retconned her to be cis.

However I still see her as a trans woman.

@Takoda Nonbinary and trans people celebrating a rare moment of representation in a Nintendo game isn't "excessive positivity" in my view. We're just trying to exchange high fives but intolerant folks have to come in and tell us we don't deserve to. It's sad and frustrating and it happens every single time.

I knew because of the subject matter there was going to be some heated debate and judging by how many removed comments there is, I'm really sad that seems to be the case.

As for me, I'm going to wait until we get 1000% clarification from Nintendo themselves that Shiver is indeed non-binary before applauding them for representation but it would be super cool if we got an official non-binary Splatoon idol

I don't even think this was that new of a concept to Nintendo games, a lot of Nintendo characters are purposely gender neutral so that they feel relatable to whoever is playing them. Removing genders from animal crossing felt very natural and inclusive who's to say Inklings need labels either?

@Sega69X i guess you're right.

@unoclay It's not 100% clear what is Nintendo's current view on Birdo's identity. But trans is not the same as non-binary

THAT'S A MASSIVE W LADIES AND GENTLEMEN AND EVERYONE INBETWEEN

@RareFan Birdo was retconned out of being trans long ago, right or not, and Vivian isn't consistent across different translations of the game. This looks like a worldwide effort to define Shiver as nonbinary. You're right that Shiver may not be the first, but it feels different from Birdo and Vivian to me because of the consistency of it.

Well this comment section looks like it went as expected.

Kudos to Nintendo on this one.

Doesn't identifying as non-binary ironically reinforce gender stereotypes? Like, if you're a biological male who happens to be interested in dance or interior design or fashion or cooking or what have you, that's completely fine. There's nothing inherently "feminine" about those things, even though society has placed an arbitrary label on it. Likewise, there's nothing "masculine" about a girl taking interest in video games or sports or other hobbies that were once male-dominated. I'm a dude who happens to prefer the scent or women's deodorant, who likes sniffing candles when I'm in the store, and who is very quiet and passive and open about his emotions. That doesn't make me any less of a man.

When I see so many people who want to identify as a gender different from the sex they were born (sometimes with evasive surgeries), it just makes me think of how in Eastern countries like Korea, large eyes are favored, so girls will often undergo cosmetic surgeries to make themselves more "beautiful." But I think it's rather pitiful, as they were fine just the way they were to begin with. What happened to loving ourselves as we are?

I hope there can be some honest, mature conversation about this. I'm not trying to offend or be disrespectful. I just don't understand why this has become such a prevalent thing. I welcome discussion with any trans or nonbinary folk in the comments about it and will treat you with as much courtesy and humanity as anyone else--I only ask for the same courtesy in return, please.

I just like seeing Nintendo make interesting and relatable characters, Shiver is in the same boat

That fan art is awful, Frye looks like the stuff of nightmares.

I do wonder if this is really intentional, but hey, that's fine if it is. I just worry people are jumping the gun.

Also, as to Birdo, aren't there many Birdos like there are Yoshis? It's a species, not a single individual. I think the main one that they use now in like Mario Party is a female, but there are others.

For those "waiting for Nintendo's clarification", I really don't think that's going to happen. I don't see them putting a sign around Shiver's neck saying "hello, I am nonbinary!". Overt references to sexuality/orientation just aren't in the Nintendo playbook. It's probably only ever going to be this easter egg type thing for people who want to look for it.

@Bret
To be honest, if it is true, that Shiver is non-binary, it wouldn't feel that special, because Nintendo officially created already a handful of non-binary or transexual characters in the past. It doesn't matter, if the west has changed it to fit with their beliefs at the time. Originally, characters such as Birdo and Vivian were created before people turned social justice into the next hip thing.

Drawing from the first tweet looks pretty bad imo

Baby steps.

Would be cooler if a) Nintendo actually confirmed the theory, or b) this was a primary player character, not an NPC.

By the way guys, this is a video game comment section. No need to drag the complicated nuances and political aspects of gender identity into this.

I see people are already getting themselves banned. Come on people. There are other locations to debate the sociological and political aspects of the issue. Not this place.

What does non-binary mean?

I gotta admit, characters without a gender are intrinsically less interesting to me.
Like, a characters gender gives them more of an identity, imo.

I was always bored by my legendary pokemon because none of them had genders so i didnt know what to name them lol. Gender is cool. It makes things more interesting.

@gaga64 I mean, the primary player character could be seen as nonbinary as you choose a "style" and not a gender in the character creator

@ThePizzaCheese

Basically it means that an individual does not live by the societal expectations of either sex. That’s the basic core of it but there is more to to it.

I have to stop staring at this thread while I'm at work hahaha but to all fellow enby and trans folks I love you and stay strong

Wouldn't kirby count?

I guess I need to be upset about this since the article isn't someone expressing outrage over a benign thing like preferred pronouns. Oh, no, this fictional character doesn't have a singular gender preference so I'm mad.

@RareFan

Remember the whole Poison debate?

Actually that’s still going on in the west now that I think about it. Capcom is so wishy washy on the subject in their western properties and translations.

@jobvd No, Kirby is a boy

@Bret I call it excessive because of how even milder opinions, which still have every right to exist no matter how many people disagree, have to almost tremble in fear of not stepping on any toes.

As for the people blatantly coming in here to start an argument with people being happy about this, yeap, you got me there. You either ignore em or fight fire with fire, because they admittedly leave very little choice in the matter!

I know the reaction is so intense because of how rare this is and because a lot of people push back against, in essence, a very harmless expression of a character’s identity. But hey, won’t stop me from feeling almost a slight anxiety when I’m just stating my thoughts, and that’s coming from somebody who’s actually rather happy with all this. More diversity in characters is always a welcome thing, regardless of social reaction.

By all means though, keep on giving those high fives, because Shiver, the actual subject of you being happy, doesn’t change due to this message board’s reaction! The cause for celebration stays, don’t let em get you down.

@OrtadragoonX So like a guy with long hair, I guess? Okay thanks.

Out of the three, they have the best design. I'm not particularly concerned about much else.

People will project what they want onto the characters either way. Even if they're just a fleshed out announcement system.

@PBandSmelly

That’s a much better explanation than I gave.

I don’t know too much about non-binary since I’ve only had one non-binary person I actually knew. They were a coworker (born female) for a few years.

My philosophy has always been do what fulfills you and makes you happy. I may not fully understand, but I’ll support you regardless.

@ThePizzaCheese

No it’s much deeper than that.

@PBandSmelly I'm not sure what your trying to say sorry.

How I wish I lived in a world where this wasn’t worth writing an article about. Why can’t we just assume every AAA release makes at least some efforts in representation, without journalists making a fuss about it.

@PBandSmelly Does that not imply that you consider the male or female gender as some kind of spectrum which reinforces gender stereotypes?

@OrtadragoonX I still don't get it.

@Not_Soos what you describe in your first paragraph sounds like gender non-conforming, which is related to but not quite the same as non-binary.

Maybe it has been said, but the French name, Pasquale, is a play of words with the French name Pascal, one of the few names used both for women and men.
The flag is probably totally accidental tho, but this isn't

@Leuke Wait what’s being sexualised here? I see no genitals or anything offensive.

This article made me happy. I'm a straight cis man and I still think Shiver is cute, whatever their identity

As somebody who is NB I'll happily accept Shiver into our ranks.

That's awesome!

@OrtadragoonX I'm not antagonizing anyone I won't be able to say what I said in my original comment because it will just get removed again but it definitely wasn't antagonist or offensive in the slightest

i tabbed out for 30 minutes and this comment section went from 31 to 111, my lord

@Clyde_Radcliffe I always thought he was made a boy in translations, but was originally neither boy nor girl

YEAAHHHHHHH Nintendo are u ok? I think U might have some extremely based developers making some of ur popular titles

I find it weird how a lot of people mention how the Spanish version supposedly goes through great lengths to hide Shiver's gender but no one ever brings up that Shiver's name in that language is Megan, a clearly feminine name.

@PBandSmelly Okay thanks. that's what I thought it was but someone earlier said it was deeper?

What do people consider Yoshi is? I assumed due to it's asexual reproduction it fell into a Non-binary category. Has everyone missed this? Yoshi's been around since 1990.

Edit: sorry I though about this for a second, Nintendo has loads, Priranha, Caterpilla, Kirby, loads of Pokémon are non binary like Jigglypuff, Pickachu. Fictional creatures/characters are replete with non binary attributes.

If true, I like how Nintendo kept it subtle and not in-your-face (classy). But the internet and NL has just “outed” them big time (not so classy).

@MaxPlastic "ITT: Buncha dudes mad that they can't sexualize Shiver."

If you think R34 crowd won't sexualize a character you're wrong, nothing is off limits to those people. It's probably already out there unfortunately...

@Ryan_Again This, also this is just fan speculation, until Nintendo comes out and directly confirms it themselves there is no reason to celebrate it or be mad about it.

@FargusPelagius humans dont identify through animals or creatures.

@MajorTom this is not a good a joke as you think it is

@Orokosaki Good luck being taken seriously as a transphobe in 2022

@demacho you'd be tragically surprised in these comment sections

@RickRau5 Shiver is an aquatic creature....
Edit. Inkquatic creature.

@Fath you're stressing way too much about things that don't affect you

just call individuals what they want to be called and move on with your life

Probaly just seen things that they wanted to see.
.
Probably just used the yellow and blue cause those colors look good and aren't colors used on the first 2 and the people just try to relate to something that they want to see.
.
Just because someone uses "you" doesn't mean that they dont want to be a gender.
.
And Juniper of Xenoblade 3 as always is just a not so good translation, I think HER name is Yuzuriha and IS a woman.

If that's the case, it's very cool of Nintendo. ❤

@Ryan_Again @somebread Wait are you sad that these comments aren't friendly to transphobes? 🤣🤣🤣

Nintendo still have a long way to go for full representation I'm afraid. After all, there are infinite genders to cover.

@FargusPelagius Mario's Yoshi (green one) has been referred to as male and him many times, I don't know about the others. Pokemon like Pikachu are not non-binary but come in male or female forms, similar to animals as I recall?

@demacho for me at least the opposite, sad just how friendly they are to them in these comments sections...I would not know about certain exclusionist groups if not for people hawking them on this site for instance, and it depresses me

@demacho Since there is no actual confirmation on Shiver's gender it is the truth isn't it? Many here already seem to assume that Shiver is non-binary without confirmation. It is funny because it is true.

@somebread @CorePrideX Agreed, just seems the user I was replying to was complaining about the opposite

@somebread Yeah, this site’s community has been depressingly exclusionist for years now. For something as benign as Nintendo, it sure attracts the crazies.

I really doubt Nintendo was thinking a pink creature they created that spouts eggs was trans or not in the 80s.

@Tourtus If Nintendo gives Shiver she/her pronouns, this group will have a meltdown and get mad at Nintendo for not making their headcanon official.

It doesn't bother me what Shiver is. But I wouldn't celebrate this when it hasn't been made official. That's just me.

Vivian: Am I a joke to you?

In all seriousness, I'm very impressed with the way Nintendo has handled LGBTQ+, especially with Splatoon. The idea that the biggest video game company in Japan is standing up against the government in the calmest and least aggressive way possible gives me hope that others will follow through with their example. Hostility isn't the answer. Defiance is.

@Clyde_Radcliffe yeah but because it's a fictional creature they're never portrayed with genitalia so they are all certainly the very definition of non binary.
You can perceive them as either. I always assumed Pickachu was an angry little girl, but loads of people identify Pickachu as a guy too.
Anyway, Nintendo aren't new to creating interesting new creatures. As I edited into another comment, Shiver is a inkquatic creature, you don't get more made up than that so it can be whatever you want it to be.

@BlubberWhale clearly😂

Pretty interesting development. i like that Nintendo is starting to represent LGBQT+ in their games. i also like all three Deep Cut's Designs too.

@FargusPelagius but with human-like qualities. If you want to get granular, they're a bunch of 0s and 1s lol.

Personally I think both Shiver and also Juniper from Xenoblade are female based on appearance. As Nintendo is a Japanese company and Japanese culture doesn't have a strong non-binary population, I don't think this is something they would take into consideration. As for the localization, I prefer to go by the original intentions of the developers than whoever localisation has been given to. I also think this is only something that should be applauded by whoever cares if it's actually confirmed in some way, rather than hopeful assumption

@brandonbwii 😉

This is just silly. Nintendo hasn't said anything about this being official.

Hmm, well cool for enby's if this is the case, but I'll politely wait until Shiver confirms one way or the other before making assumptions. Japanese does use 1st person pronouns far less frequently than English. There is a lot of room for nuance and vagueness in their language.

Over the weekend I was looking into the Deep Cut characters some more, since they're such an enigma right now.

Shiver (Fuuka, in Japanese, which is like the word for "shark") may be descended from sharks!

Frye (Jpn name Utsuho, similar to the word for "moray eel") seems to come from a family of eel handlers/riders?

Big Man (Jpn name Mantaro, which is a great pun using the common -taro ending for boys' names) has a vocabulary that seems to consist of only the word "ei" (localized in English as "ay", which makes me think of the Fonz from Happy Days), which is the Jpn word for stingray!
I still don't know what kind of ceremonial hat it is he's wearing, though.

As I don't understand this whole variety of personal identification...I just respect it. The magic word is respect. No one is inside another's body or mind to know what happens. Respect and empathy.
Life is simpler for some than others.

@RickRau5 Honestly, their part of a computer simulation. And yes, every single computer is binary.

And honestly I'm okay with whatever pronouns are programmed for a character. But only after this is elaborated/specified on by the developer, publisher or game. Other than that, they are fictional characters, and as the player I can make up my own mind about the characters.

@Not_Soos I'm a trans woman and it's not because my interests or personality would particularly be considered feminine, it's just that I feel I am innately female and I feel much happier being perceived that way than as a boy. I imagine non-binary people feel similarly except that they are neither male or female.

I can understand why it might sound nonsensical if you haven't experienced it yourself, but to my knowledge the majority of modern psychologists agree that gender is a mental function that doesn't always align with one's biological sex. And you don't have to fully understand it to respect people's identities and refer to them the way they prefer (that's not aimed at you specifically, just in general).