Hell, her name’s in the title!
Nintendo is being asked by fans to make Zelda, the eponymous princess of theLegend of Zeldaseries, a stronger and more influential character. Responding to Eiji Aonuma, who said he’d consider a playable Zelda if fans requested it, fans have decided to request it.
The campaign’sFacebook groupis currently at 1,689 members, which is impressive considering it’s not gained much mainstream attention yet.
“The character theLegend of Zeldaseries is named after is the ruler of a country with the Power of Wisdom and the Gods at her disposal, yet she’s often represented as a damsel in distress,”writes the group. “While she’s had great moments as characters like Sheik and Tetra, she more often than not feels like a background character, overshadowed by the two other Triforce bearers, Link and Ganon.
“Nintendo, the fans, male and female, have wanted this for so long: please give Princess Zelda future roles more befitting of her actual attributes. And, if you see fit, make her a playable protagonist.”
I can really see no reason why this shouldn’t be a thing. Whatever your feelings on gender representation in games might be, I think we can all at least agree the kidnapped princess thing is more than a little played out. It’d be fantastic to see Zelda have far more agency in her own story, and if that means making her playable, that’ll be all for the better.
People merrily flipped out during E3 when it was revealed Princess Peach would be playable for the first time in forever inSuper Mario 3D World, while Zelda herself has proven no stranger to kicking ass in theSuper Smash Bros.series. Meanwhile, enterprising coders have done the legwork andmade Zelda playable on their own time, so it’s not like people don’t want it.
Obviously, Nintendo will do what Nintendo will do, because Nintendo is Nintendo and that’s what it does. I would definitely be on board for a game actively starring the princess, though, and it’s very clear I’m far from the only one who would.
