Whatta card!
Man, I almost don’t want to report this one, because I like the original story better, but oh well — turns out that was Link in the E3 Legend of Zelda trailer after all.
As we reported a couple days ago, a lot of fans had picked up on the fact that Link looked particularly feminine in the new Zelda trailer, and was doing odd things like not wearing green and wielding a bow instead of a sword. Then Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma made a coy comment about how nobody said that was Link in the first place, and naturally everyone assumed it must be princess Zelda. But hey, calm down everyone, he was just joking.
“Actually that comment I made jokingly. It’s not that I said that it wasn’t Link. It’s that I never said that it was Link. It’s not really the same thing, but I can understand how it could be taken that way. […] You know, you have to show Link when you create a trailer for a Zelda announcement.”
What’s that sound? Ah, it’s the sound of a thousand traffic hungry “games journalists” writing “Nintendo thinks female characters are A JOKE!” headlines as we speak.
So yeah, that’s Link after all, which is cool. Let’s not act like we’re suddenly appalled by the idea of Link starring in a Zelda game, even if the alternative would have been fun. Also, there’s still clearly something going on with this Link. The different clothes, the different weapon, the fact that Link was dramatically revealed from underneath a cloak (a classic trope from movies where women masquerade as men). Plus that was a very odd, charged “joke” for Aonuma to make, then just let sit for two days.
I could be wrong, but I don’t think this story is done yet, particularly given the hugely positive reaction to a playable Princess Zelda.
Via The Mary Sue