Tag: Female

Quite possibly one of the most passionate episodes of the podcast yet: I go on a twenty minute rant about gender in the series, Chris shares some conspiracy theories, and Leon admits to being a huge Zelda fan. It’s our Hanukkah episode! 

Ocarina of Time was revolutionary in its own right as the first 3D Zelda and pioneering a video gaming style which would later be recreated in series such as Okami and Starfox. Another revolutionary point which current developers could perhaps still learn from is the plethora of strong, balanced female characters. Initially I wanted to write about the Gerudo tribe, and perhaps focus on their status as an all-female society. As I thought more and more about the direction this would take, I realised that despite the Gerudos’ status as a literal warrior race, the other females featured in Ocarina of Time are no strangers to courage, strength, and conflict, and it would be unfair to exclude them from an article as such. Seeing these women as developed characters and often excellent role models is amazing for a game released in 1998, when the gaming industry still seems to struggle sometimes with exactly that, today in 2015.

A few weeks back we got a glimpse of the art book from Hyrule Warriors which showcased a female Link character. Koei Tecmo has responded to all the feedback it got with one of their most recent tweets. The tweet was in Japanese, but here is what they had to say about the female character, who they refer to as Linkle.   “Linkle (tentative name) was a rejected story character featured in the art book, but it looks like she…

Hyrule Warriors is close to being every Zelda fan’s dreams come true as multiple worlds collided for one epic adventure, but those hoping for a female Link didn’t get their prayers answered. It’s unfortunate because it almost happened. Layiko on tumblr posted some screenshots from the Hyrule Warriors artbook and for the most part it looks like what you’d expect. Different weapon designs, scrapped concepts for character designs, and it’s all accompanied by final character design renders, well all except for one.

Called “Rinkeru” in the artbook, it depicts a clearly female Link with a crossbow. Some designs show that this version of Link would either be showing their midriff, cleavage, or both. Link’s cap returns, but his tunic was altered into a coat that she’d wear over her shirt and skirt. The design also messes with Link being right-handed again. It’s a fun and interesting design and who knows, we might see it return in the future as DLC. It’s certainly an appealing design after all. Hop on in for more pictures of the artbook!