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I don't agree. The Legend of Zelda has always been about Link saving Zelda.
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Except that it hasn't and it isn't. To be honest, this statement makes Zelda seem more sexist than anything else in this thread. Zelda doesn't appear in every game and not every game she appears in is about saving her. She's often a very capable character and fighter in her own right as opposed to a classical damsel in distress. She's been like that since Ocarina of Time.
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It's okay for a laugh or two in a rom hack I suppose but I don't think it should be an option in every game because that's just not how the story is written and it goes against the personality of both characters. For example, Link would never need to be rescued if captured. His defiant spirit would drive him to fight back and he'd either die or escape. And you can't change the personality of either character because then they're not Link and Zelda anymore they're some random people nobody knows that look like them.
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That's not really really true, though. Link and Zelda -- especially Zelda, as she has a more developed, defined character -- have both had their personalities changes before. In Ocarina of Time, she was a rebellious independent woman instead of the passive damsel from previous titles. In Wind Waker, she was a cunning, tomboyish pirate. In Spirit Tracks, she's a more effeminate and juvenile girl.
Additionally, there are plenty of instances where the supposedly stronger man is captured by the villain and needs to be freed by the princess. He-Man is one of my favorite examples. Though often flamboyant, he's overall portrayed as a very powerful, masculine character. He's also a much better physical match for Skeletor than Link has traditionally been for Ganon's many incarnations. He's also had to be rescued before by princess Ardora -- She-Ra.
For a video game example, Princess Peach has also had to rescue Mario before in her own solo title, so why couldn't Zelda do the same? It could make for a fun spin-off title and I think could make an interesting game if done right. It could even be called "The Legend of Link".
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It could be just as much Zelda saving Link and saving the world.
Especially considering the title is "The Legend of Zelda", it's insulting she normally is only 5% part of the story/adventure, and 0% of the gameplay. The series would be better if it was a heroic pairing at least so Zelda isn't 1000000 character that needs saving (and some devs typically still do this to females).
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It's not insulting because the game isn't exactly about her. It's like how Sleeping Beauty might feature a titular princess to be rescued, but Prince Phillip and Maleficent both get more screen time than Aurora if my memory isn't shoddy. No one ever complains that Metroids aren't playable in a series called Metroid, so why should Zelda be playable just because the series is named after her?
Also, Zelda and Link have been portrayed as a heroic duo with Zelda playable before. That was in Spirit Tracks, in case you didn't play it.
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Princess Zelda really should have been at least one of the two main playable characters in this series, but those devs just had to be selfish and sexist with the stories, it is pathetic the only time Zelda officially becomes playable is in fighting games or some spinoff. She really deserves a lot more.
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The devs aren't sexist or selfish and it's kind of insulting to say that. Like I said, was playable in Spirit Tracks, which is not a spin-off. All things considered, I think that Zelda is one of the most positive and progressive portrayals of princesses in modern media. The Legend of Zelda is almost always a single-player series. There is no second character, with the exception of secondary characters in Spirit Tracks, or which Zelda is one.
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It's nice Peach and Rosalina are playable in a AAA quality platformer like 3D World, but this kind of thing should be standard feature, especially for Princess Zelda deserves playability, more power and involvement in the adventures and gameplay besides Link (not just a gimmick or plot tool).
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She's not a plot device in modern titles, though. In general, she's a much better developed character than Link himself.
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First of all, why does everything have to be about gender with you?
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I could be wrong, but she's either a professed feminist or has very heavily implied that she is. No offense meant, but for feminists in general everything pretty much is about gender when they criticize something.
In case you're wondering, I don't identify as a feminist -- I find the entire concept very off-putting for a variety of reasons. I appreciate positive representations of females in video games, but I'm not apt to criticize a game because of silly things like not having women as playable characters, especially when the series as a whole does a damn good job with their presentation of women.
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Not including female playable characters doesn't have the slightest thing to do with sexism. The developer of a game creates what the developer wants it to be. It is a work of art. The consumer may use it, appreciate it, criticize it and judge it for what it is, but the consumer cannot dictate what should be in a game or what the standard is for the industry as a whole. The developer decides what will be in the game and standards set themselves based on a number of different factors. It isn't selfish, it isn't sexist, it's freedom of expression and you need to get over it.
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Fun fact: a creator's expression and work of art
can be sexist. I don't think that The Legend of Zelda is, but it reminds me of a book called
Ender's Game.
Ender's Game is a very well-liked, well-received novel. However, that doesn't mean it's not sexist. The author, if not a professed sexist in particular, has a lot of rather... socially conservative views in general, for a lack of a better term, and does a damn good job of putting women down in his novel. It's set in the future and it's made explicitly clear at the beginning that women are still not typically a part of the military with rare exceptions and his portrayal of female characters in general leaves a lot to be desired. Meanwhile, in the real world, we're pretty strong on integration of the sexes and women are more consistently put into positions of power. The future we're moving toward seems like it'll probably be more like Star Trek in terms of what sorts of social values we'll hold than the presentation in
Ender's Game.
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Princess Zelda does not deserve that role in gameplay or in the story. It's not about her gender it's about who she is as a person and what she is capable of. Her personality and abilities dictate that she cannot sustain a battle on her own, therefore she needs to either be rescued or fill the support role for Link, who's personality and abilities allow him to sustain a battle.
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But that's not true either. She's often represented as a skilled magic user and it's likely her Ocarina of Time incarnation had some degree of fighting skills if her Shiek persona is to be taken into account. Many versions are also skilled with a bow. She's arguably a more competent fighter than Princess Peach is, and she's had her own title.
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As for Zelda and Link swapping roles making a game more interesting, sorry, it just doesn't. It's all the same dungeons and puzzles, it makes the story make far less sense, decreasing the quality of the game as a whole.
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I don't know about more interesting, but I think it certainly could make for a good mold-breaker, considering every (main) game so far has starred Link.
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If it's that damn important for a female character to be available(and it just isn't), I personally see nothing wrong with changing Link's gender to female. Doing so wouldn't change anything with the story and could be used as a plot device as females tend to be the more agile of our species. Zelda would of course have to remain female, for she wouldn't be a princess otherwise, the storyline already dictates she be female because she's the reincarnation of the Goddess Hylia, and even her name dictates she be female. Of course all of this is up to the developer and not us.
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I think Zelda could be male in-universe, even though it would require some sort of name change. She/he could be presented as a prince instead of a princess, and it's not that odd for mythological gods and goddesses to present themselves as the opposite gender. Hell, let's rule 63 up Gannondorf too just for shits and giggles and make it a game.
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I understand the appeal of wanting to play a game as the same gender as yourself. But calling a game sexiest because it doesn't give you the option seems wrong to me. If you want the option to chose your gender, then feel free to play a game that gives you this option.
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I'll be honest, as a female gamer weighing in here, I don't really care what sex my player character is, with the exception of when I'm using them as my personal avatar, like in Pokemon. If I'm given a choice between male and female player characters, I'll pick either option, or do multiple playthroughs so I can use both. I actually usually play as a male character when I'm playing Elder Scrolls titles in particular.
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There are plenty of badass female leads in video gaming. While some may be overly sexualized (looking at you Lara Croft) then others. They are there non the less. Samas Aran has done some incredible feats in her games. Lightning from the Final Fantasy series also has some badass moments in her game (as does fang). Sarah Kerrigan from the starcraft series is by far one of the deadliest protagonists available to play as.
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Laura Croft isn't especially oversexualized -- she just happens to have a really nice pair of boobs. I know the story behind that, and personally, I don't blame the devs or think they're sexist. If my finger slipped and I accidentally created a male protagonist with 10/10 washboard abs, you can bet I'd keep that in the game.
Idealization of the female figure is something that people really need to stop complaining about in general, especially because males in the media are just as idealized and, oftentimes, sexualized. The Avengers movie got flack for having the Black Widow in an ass pose for the movie poster, neglecting to realize that men in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe are far more sexualized than she is. There's been a shirtless scene in almost every movie made by Marvel Studios. Outside of them, I've described The Wolverine once or twice as being a movie with shirted scenes instead of shirtless scenes, because he pretty much spends half the movie with his shirt off.
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