‘Nintendo’ Rejects Female ‘Link’ In ‘Zelda’ Game, Open World Meant For Haters

“Nintendo” got into trouble recently over their decision to keep the main character of their newest “Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild” game as male, and it only got worse when one of the game’s producers provided a lackluster answer as to why they decided against a female protagonist. Things are not all controversial, however, with the open world concept of the title actually stemming from the complaints the company received with their previous game.

Speaking to Kotaku, producer Eiji Aonuma said that one of the reasons why the new game could not have a female “Link” was because of his role as one of the three parts of the “Tri-Force”; the game’s most powerful item. The others are occupied by “Princess Zelda” and the villain, “Ganon.” When asked why they simply didn’t make “Princess Zelda” the main character, Aonuma responded by essentially implying that “Link” wouldn’t have a role if this was the case.

Naturally, this incited a barrage of criticisms from certain individuals in the gaming community who either did not believe Aonuma’s answer or found it offensive. In any case, this is just another example of how easy it is to anger gamers, particularly when it comes to the topic of gender. Erik Kain even wrote on Forbes about potential solutions to the new scandal.

In other news, Polygon reported that the open world setting of the “Breath of the Wilds” was actually influenced partly by the reaction of gamers who played the last title in the franchise; “Skyward Sword.” Players complained about certain segments of the game that they couldn’t access simply because they didn’t know how. As such, “Nintendo” decided to ensure that gamers will have no problems accessing anything this time around.

"A lot of Zelda fans are the type of people that really like to explore those hidden elements," Aonuma said to Polygon. "I realized that creating this bigger world and letting them freely play may be the solution to all of that."