'Why Does Link have to be Female?'

[JohnZ117]

Link was actually named because the character is intended as a "link" between the player and the game world. As gaming becomes more and more popular, the woefully under-acknowledged female player base is becoming more vocal about representation (something I agree with). By the character's very nature, Link's gender is the most logical (and, not just for Nintendo games) to be up to the player's decision. It has nothing to do with "Other M."

 

[Phasmal]

I dunno, maybe because Link actually could be female because he's not always the same guy, he's a reincarnation?
But apparently the Hero just won't reincarnate if it's not into a cis dude. Because reasons. And like, fine, it's a bit flimsy but what-the-fuck-ever.

And to be honest, I'd be interested in a female Link (I'd be more interested in a playable Zelda, but I'll take what I can fucking get), and I don't even like Metroid.

I know, I know, it's a Nerd Sin, but I'm just not keen.

 

[Saltyk]

I dunno, maybe because Link actually could be female because he's not always the same guy, he's a reincarnation?
But apparently the Hero just won't reincarnate if it's not into a cis dude. Because reasons. And like, fine, it's a bit flimsy but what-the-fuck-ever.

And to be honest, I'd be interested in a female Link (I'd be more interested in a playable Zelda, but I'll take what I can fucking get), and I don't even like Metroid.

I know, I know, it's a Nerd Sin, but I'm just not keen.

Considering that Nintendo is a Japanese company, isn't it more likely that Link in Japanese? Sort of like Cloud, Goku, Sailor Moon, and most characters in Japanese properties...

Edit: Wait. I misread your comment. Thought you said "cis white dude". Because I literally always see that combination of words.

It really doesn't matter you me, though. I haven't played a Nintendo game in freaking decades. If anything, I'd rather see Zelda as the protagonist. I even stated a good was for that to happen in an earlier thread.

 

[K12]

I think it's extremely simplictic to argue that a shit game with an iconic female protagonist needs to be karmatically balanced by making a game with a female version of an iconic male character. It'd make more sense to just ask for a new, and much better, Metroid game right?

I'm totally on board with having a female Link (or a Link with a selectable gender) since he's the most audience-avatar-like of nintendo's classic protagonists and (more importantly) virtually every game is a completely separate story with a new incarnation of Link.

 

[Yoshi178]

I don't like Zero Suit Samus or regular Samus or Nintendo in general.

FTFY.

I also wish they'd stop doing the 3D games in first-person with auto-aim.

you aren't particularly fond of the Metroid Prime games ok that's fair enough.

Metroid is supposed to be in third-person.

Says who?

the majority of third-person metroid games have been mediocre at best, with the only 3rd person games being ACTUALLY good were Super Metroid, Metroid Fusion and Metroid Zero Mission which was just a remake of the original game with Metroid fusion mechanics and graphics slapped over the top of it.

and on top of that, Super Metroid was the only one of those to be released before any of the Prime games.




saying Metroid is supposed to be in 3rd person is like saying Mario is supposed to be entirely 2D Sprite games. Why is Metroid not allowed to evolve as a series?

 

[rcs619]

Just cheap and lazy enough to feel good about it being different while also being exactly the same.

To be fair, that's basically the Legend of Zelda series as a whole.

Individual games are fun and all, but as a franchise, it's been telling the exact same story just with shinier graphics for 20 years now. The only games in the series that really tried to diverge from the norm were Wind Waker and Majora's Mask (this is also why they're arguably the two best, if not the two most interesting, games in the franchise).

I say make Link a girl for a change because Link isn't even really a character. He's a voiceless, emotionless player-avatar. He's just kinda... there, and winds up getting drawn into the exact same story every time. Hell, give players a choice at least. Link never actually has any sort of romance with anyone, so letting people choose whether or not this era/timeline's incarnation of Link is a guy or a girl wouldn't even affect ingame interpersonal relations any.

Mostly it'd be something slightly different in a franchise that has been beyond stale for about 10 years now. If they're going to make a point about different timelines and the primary cast being reincarnated across eternity again and again, go whole-hog with it. Go full-on Quantum Leap or Sliders and have some of the timelines *really* diverge

Also... badass, heroic ladies are fun. Always down for more of them.

 

[Vigormortis]

Why does Link have to be female? Well, he doesn't. He also doesn't have to be male.

He's the definition of a blank slate. He has no distinct personality. He doesn't really speak through his actions. Those around him barely acknowledge him as anything but a tool. He doesn't have a voice. He doesn't even really have any history or lore to build a character on beyond "the hero of , reincarnated". He's rarely even referred to as male by most of the NPCs.

Link can be female for the same reason he's male. Because he's literally nothing but a walking, generic hero stereotype. A plain avatar for the player. You would lose nothing within the story or lore if he were female.

In fact, Nintendo could do something profoundly compelling and inclusive with a Zelda game. Give the player the option to choose the sex of Link and Zelda. That way, everyone wins and nothing is lost.

Win/win. The only losers are the whiny bigots.

and I don't even like Metroid.

I know, I know, it's a Nerd Sin, but I'm just not keen.

Sinner! Heathen! Blasphemer!

How dare you commit such heresy? I hereby banish you to the deepest, darkest, dankest pits of SJW Hell!

Spoiler

Consequently, before you, you know...go to SJW Hell, I just wanna add that I agree with your prior point. I think a Zelda-centric Legend of Zelda game would be neat. And, dare I say, apt, given the series title...

 

[Musou Sadie]

1st off: Metroid Other M is a good game, everyone who hates on it has no idea what they are talking about, probably sexists and racists too.
2nd: Link is a man, always was, always will be, how it should be, play ReCore if you're so much of a sexist that you think females need special treatment. Stop being racist also.
3rd: Never ever.
4th: Cool Cat Loves to Boogy Woogy
5th: huh?

 

[Something Amyss]

Edit: So apparently I'm crazy for thinking that people wanting a female link are people who want a female action lead video game, which we would have if we had another Metroid game. My bad. Deepest apologies.

I wouldn't call you crazy, but as someone who will likely not play another Metroid game, and thus don't really care about Samus' fate one way or another, I'd still like a female Link or selectable gender option. I don't tie the two together. I'd like more female action leads, period. I don't think having a couple of big names will change that for most of the people asking for a female Link anyway.

We're half the population. It's weird that a couple drops in the bucket are such an extraordinary ask in the first place.

For the record, Team Ninja has never been credited as the writers for Mother. That blame rests solely on the shoulders of Yoshio Sakamoto, one of the co-creators of Metroid in the first place.

Oh crap. Does that mean the people who hate the game are censoring his creative freedom?

One thing that shocks me is that the game is almost six years old, yet this still has to be explained. I know Team Ninja is an easy scapegoat, but come on, you'd think people would stop lying to themselves after six years.

You should be familiar by now with the number of things people accept, uncritically, as fact.

For the record, this is the first time I've actually heard this. People have always complained about Team Ninja., 100% of the time I've heard this discussion come up at all. And, TBH, I don't have enough investment in the Metroid series anymore to care enough. Sorry, shrekfan, but I despise 3D Metroid. So it was "good enough."

I imagine a lot of people don't really care about writing credits on games. I know I don't.

T
I think people are asking for a female Link because they think that that amount of creative bankruptcy is perfectly fine and dandy, especially if they are of the deluded mind that it's somehow balancing out arbitry discrepancies.

"Creative bankruptcy" has been Nintendo's bread and butter for decades. I have trouble imagining people are going into the 135th Zelda game expecting a complete reinvention of the wheel, no. I mean, Mario, Pokemon and Zelda are some of the biggest franchises in gaming. You've basically described all three of them with:

Just cheap and lazy enough to feel good about it being different while also being exactly the same.

Hell, I'm not even sure why Zelda as the protagonist would qualify as something different. Or a new character. In fact, the outrage over a new character for a side game that was only rumoured at the time is less than a year old.

Also, when the official line from Nintendo is "what would Link do?" if Zelda was the hero, I'm pretty sure they're not even hiding their creative bankruptcy, so can we really expect more?

And to be honest, I'd be interested in a female Link (I'd be more interested in a playable Zelda, but I'll take what I can fucking get), and I don't even like Metroid.

The weird thing is, I've always viewed a female Link as a compromise. There was so much outrage and bile at the notion that Zelda being the lead in her own game made me think "okay, fine. Why not a canonically female Link then?" and now that people are asking for that, the response is "why not make Zelda playable?"

So now I'm confused.

Also, my Link already has a girl's name. Link's already a rather effeminate boy in a dress with a girl's voice, so I don't get that this is the line that must be drawn.

 

[shrekfan246]

Sorry, shrekfan, but I despise 3D Metroid.

You wound me.

Admittedly, part of the reason I like Metroid Prime and can't get into the 2D Metroid games is because I just can't stand the feeling of movement and momentum in the 2D games. I don't like how Samus controls in the 2D games, while I can easily handle how she moves in the Prime games.

 

[Something Amyss]

You wound me.

As the Green Goblin said, first we strike at your heart.

...that worked out for Gobby, right?

Admittedly, part of the reason I like Metroid Prime and can't get into the 2D Metroid games is because I just can't stand the feeling of movement and momentum in the 2D games. I don't like how Samus controls in the 2D games, while I can easily handle how she moves in the Prime games.

I just really don't like anything about the Prime series. Admittedly, I probably wouldn't have even played the games if they didn't have the Metroid name on them, so that might have biased me some.

 

[chocolate pickles]

Link doesn't need to be female, and I honestly don't see the point. There seems to this big thing about gender swapping at the moment. Here's an idea - why not just create new female protagonists, rather than trying to rewrite old ones?

Besides, if gender is supposed to be irrelevant in modern society, then it shouldn't actually matter if Link's male. Making him female should add nothing to the character.

 

[shrekfan246]

You wound me.

As the Green Goblin said, first we strike at your heart.

...that worked out for Gobby, right?

Do you want to be Willem Dafoe or James Franco?

...

Ironically, the option that seems worse at first is probably the better choice.

Admittedly, part of the reason I like Metroid Prime and can't get into the 2D Metroid games is because I just can't stand the feeling of movement and momentum in the 2D games. I don't like how Samus controls in the 2D games, while I can easily handle how she moves in the Prime games.

I just really don't like anything about the Prime series. Admittedly, I probably wouldn't have even played the games if they didn't have the Metroid name on them, so that might have biased me some.

Aw. I mean, I won't try to convince you otherwise, but damn, I've been pining for more first-person shooters that crib level design from Prime because I find it way more interesting than the slightly curvy linear corridors that tends to make most of them up (I mean that from an overall world design perspective rather than individual room design, since Prime is, of course, made up of a lot of curvy corridors).

 

[MysticSlayer]

At this point, I honestly believe that some people simply don't know. I mean, it's pretty easy to find, but it's still something you have to actually look up because it's not like he's credited as the writer on the box or anything. People know that Team Ninja developed it, and they know that Team Ninja developed Dead or Alive, so clearly that must be why the story of Metroid: Mother sucked, right?

I would accept that for people who don't care that much about Metroid. I find it hard to accept when I've been in conversations with Metroid fans who, after having Sakamoto's role pointed out, do their best to dismiss the idea that he was responsible.

I just wondering: So forgetting Other M, Samus is also a mute, blank slate character. So what do you think would be the reaction if people asked that Samus be male in the next game, or at least there be a male option? After all, Other M was such a failure Nintendo are most likely going to reboot Metroid at some point and going off the fact they pretty much live off of the nostalgia sale, they'll return to the mute, blank slate Samus of old.

Since the problem here is that they ruined Samus's character, doing anything but going back to the pre-Other M Samus would just make things worse.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

I'm sorry, but you're connection between Metroid: Other M and the whole female Link thing is lost one me.

 

[Sean Renaud]

Lets cover this. First I enjoyed Metroid: Other M. It's got it's flaws mind you the biggest being that Samus is kind of submissive. Which if we're being fair springs primarily from the fact that Team Ninja were apparently too good for the ol' Samus gets hit really hard and loses all her power ups but wouldn't you know it those Chozo bastards had duplicates of almost everything strategically placed around the area crap. It needs some work but I'd be happy to see more games in that style.

Further more lets take a quick moment out to ding Nintendo. Because it's not just Metroid: Other M. The one time Princess Peach was finally given the lead role (and lets face it every single one of us had that idea when we were like six years old) Nintendo decided that her super power was PMS.

So we're talking to swings and two strikes from where I'm sitting.

Now onto female Link. Let me preface this statement with I haven't played Skyward Sword but it's my understanding that actually sheds some light on 'why gannon'. I have to separate In-verse from Out of Universe here. Out of Universe the Zelda games were only loosely tied together prior to probably Wind Waker and Nintendo has effectively retconned them together. The reality is that the Legend of Zelda, A Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time are essentially like Star Fox, Star Fox 64 and apparently Star Fox Zero (haven't played, only read the reviews). Remakes with new titles. So it makes sense that everybody looks the same, has similar backstories, yadda yadda. In Universe however no explanation has been given (or maybe I missed it) for why the three key players are always the same genders and races. Assuming Gender is roughly a 50/50 coin toss the fact that there is no female Link or Gannon, nor a male Zelda is actually a bit puzzling. Ever since I heard the speech Gannon gives in Wind Waker essentially about how much is sucks to live in a desert while your neighbors have an oasis I've wondered what would happen if the characters swapped around. A King Gannon of Hyrule dominating over the weak Gerudo and their leader Zelda and then Link (gender unimportant.)

TLDR: Unless there is a specific reason why Link, Zelda and Gannon cannot reincarnate as the opposite sex we are well past the point where all of them should have had at least one cannonical genderbend because it's more probable than not. If there is a reason now is definitely the time to reveal why Link needs a penis and it could be as simple as the concept that souls do have genders or at least preferences.

 

[Yoshi178]

I don't like Zero Suit Samus or regular Samus or Nintendo in general.

FTFY.

I also wish they'd stop doing the 3D games in first-person with auto-aim.

you aren't particularly fond of the Metroid Prime games ok that's fair enough.

Metroid is supposed to be in third-person.

Says who?

the majority of third-person metroid games have been mediocre at best, with the only 3rd person games being ACTUALLY good were Super Metroid, Metroid Fusion and Metroid Zero Mission which was just a remake of the original game with Metroid fusion mechanics and graphics slapped over the top of it.

and on top of that, Super Metroid was the only one of those to be released before any of the Prime games.




saying Metroid is supposed to be in 3rd person is like saying Mario is supposed to be entirely 2D Sprite games. Why is Metroid not allowed to evolve as a series?

I don't think that's an evolution for Metroid. I dislike it in RE7 and I'd be complaining if they did it to Zelda or Mario or Max Payne or MGS. Third-person has a few benefits, like being able to see your surroundings better and see where your body is in relation to the environment (which is a nice alternative to having peripheral vision and a sense of touch), which would make a difference in a platform heavy action-adventure game. I never finished any of the Metroid games, but I understand that in the first game her sex was a surprise at the end. We're not supposed to be in her head.

Metroid Prime was basically a 1st person Super Metroid. and both of games frequently appear high up on "Best Game of All time" lists.

1st person for Metroid makes sense for using things such as Scan Visor and X-Ray visor. it's also much better for the Grapple Beam where in Super Metroid the Grapple Beam controlled pretty awkwardly, in the Metroid Prime games, it feels so natural you basically feel like a Giant Metallic Spiderman swinging through the air. and on top of that shooters are very much suited to both 1st person and 3rd Person as we all know.


the only reason you've given me there for Metroid not being supposed to be in 1st person is

I never finished any of the Metroid games, but I understand that in the first game her sex was a surprise at the end. We're not supposed to be in her head.

and really, that's a pretty weak case against the Prime games.

 

[Rebel_Raven]

I wouldn't mind seeing Linkle out there more. Yeah, her name is iffy, but I like her character, and she's a potent destroyer of asses in Hyrule Warriors with a neat quest series all her own.

I'd like to see more Samus. Shooter, side scroller, or both. I dunno. Maybe make a Space legend of Zelda with Samus as the main character?
I mean the OP is right in one thing. We want our powerful female figure back. At least I do. It doesn't impact my desire to see something shaken up in a LoZ game one way or the other, though.

In a weird way, it might help distract people wanting, well, someone in terms of a strong female figure in games where we traditionally din't get any.

 

[Yoshi178]

I also find having a raised arm with a gun always in my face tiring and unrealistic.

so basically you don't like FPS games period.

 

[Fhqwhgod]

I hate the Prime series. Metroid was great in 2D. Prime ruined it for me. Not because it's a shooter but because shooters don't work on console. Never have, never will.