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[Kosheh]

The reason given for not having female characters in Triforce Heroes was pretty stupid, but it was probably the only thing that came to his mind other than "because fuck you that's the way we made it".

It's ridiculous how much more outrage porn gaming journalism has generated in recent months, especially over petty shit.

The question in general is extremely stupid and the interviewer should feel stupid for attempting to soapbox on a gaming news site. I'm sorry, but it's pretty clear that the reporter hasn't actually played a Zelda game. Maybe they should just go back to Dark Souls and forever live a filthy casualite. This question's already been asked, and Aonuma's previously answered it.
The interviewer in all honesty, I feel asked the wrong person the right question.
Shikata has nothing to do with that decision; he's literally just responsible for directing: or instructing his team HOW the plot and gameplay works, hence his "shitty answer". His superior on the project said "Listen, this is Link. Link is not a cell phone. He is not a tuba. Link is the boy hero of Hyrule. Make sure he's still Link by the end of the game."

I mean...remember this?

Remember when this was a trending topic - "is Link finally a girl?" Aonuma played it cool. "No," he said. Link is never a girl. Link is, however, historically androgynous. He's purposely designed androgynously so the player, regardless of gender, can identify with Link.
Though, he's also never the same "Link", each tale in Zelda being about a different boy with the name "Link", with each of them having a unique origin story (Wind Waker Link is not Minish Cap Link is not Spirit Tracks Link) and the character is historically always a blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy in a green tunic.
(Personally, I feel like the player simply needs more concrete acknowledgement of gender identity in the game, because it's somehow not clear enough to today's players. Given Link's androgynous design, they could easily solve this question by asking "Are you a boy? Or a girl? Or...?" at the beginning of the game and then upon the player's answer, change the pronouns to he/she/they when describing Link. That's all they need to do and they've dodged a bullet)

The real question that should be asked (and not to Shikata; it should be directed to Aonuma) is "Link is historically an everyman character, and one of the few that can all players can identify with regardless of gender due to his androgynous design. However, he's historically been blonde-haired and blue-eyed (or cat-eyed). Is there anything in the mythos that explicitly states this? Do you think there's a chance we might eventually a game where the 'Link' character is presented as a woman or a character with a darker complexion?"
Aonuma might not be able to answer that question so easily on his feet, and probably say "Well, I thought Link looked cool with blonde hair, so we stuck with it (laughs)" but that'd get the cogs turning in his head that maybe the world is ready for a chapter of the Zelda series to star a historically game-changing (lol) Link (and one that other players can "better" identify with)
And it'll be good for gaming journalism because at least clickbait journalism will be able to write informative fluff articles about when Link's hair was brown, or pink, instead of pure garbage in exchange for a paycheck.

also, question, what does this

porn gaming journalism

mean. it's too early and i keep reading that literally