Discussion Happy Pride Month, Fami! 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️

[EvilChameleon]

The "asexuals in video games" section of the Wikipedia page on asexuals in media having only two games mentioned is sad. The Outer Worlds and Danganronpa 3. Considering people think we don't exist, I suppose two games is pretty good!

This thread being bumped had me going back to that page and... still only two.

 

[Stephen 776]

Wow, thats pretty cool!

On the topic of pride...Thoughts on this?

As mentioned elsewhere, Hidden Gems isn't a new section, but a regular section on NoA store that's themed for Pride this month. They probably should have explicitly said Pride rather than imply it with rainbows, but alas.

That said, I do appreciate the list itself for giving spotlight to smaller developers. There's games here that I haven't heard of and look very gay, (like Heart of the Woods was it?). I find too many pride gaming lists would rather highlight mainstream titles for doing bare minimum than actually uplift queer-minded developers, and I do feel this was a rare list to avert this.

 

[kirbyfan407]

How would you like to see Nintendo better represent / support the LGBTQIA+ community in their line-up?

Personally, I'd like to see more undeniable queer representation in some of my favorite series from Nintendo that already feature stories involving gender and sexuality, such as Zelda and Xenoblade.

For Zelda, I'd really like to encounter NPCs and side quests that are queer. Is there not a single lesbian and/or ace Gerudo, even if they're still following their cultural norms and searching for a voe? Or what about a trans Gerudo who you find living outside the town once they started openly living their truth? The Gerudo talk about gender so much, so why not inject some queerness into it? What about a male character who crushes on the legendary hero they've heard tales of? A journal that reveals a hidden queer crush that you can help a character express? I felt TOTK was a slight regression from BOTW in terms of queerness, or that TOTK at least didn't take those themes any further. With the next mainline game likely years away, I'm hoping we'll see the queer inclusion be more developed once it arrives.

As for Xenoblade, I'll take a party member, major NPC, or random side quests that involve queer characters. I haven't played XBC3 yet, but I think I've read there's a nonbinary party member in the expansion.

What are some games that well embrace LGBTQIA+ themes that are worth playing this month?

I'll recommend Wandersong, a game that I remember surprising me by featuring at least one queer character.

Feel free to toss further questions into the ring

My added question: Can Pride last all year? I haven't felt the festivities as much in 2023 as in past years, so I'd appreciate if we extended things for another 11 months.

 

[PixelKnight]

I’m playing Rise of the Third Power, and was pleased to see that one of the party members, a middle-aged guy, is gay, married with kids, and the only time this is really mentioned is when you meet his family and his husband wants him to stop trying to save the world as their kids miss him. It’s not a major plot point, nobody really cares or is surprised, other than a character that had an earlier relationship with them, and even then they wish them the best. The whole game is interesting in that there are several adult characters that are old enough to have had past long-term relationships and some ended better than others, and some move on and some are messy and some struggle to reconcile the past, which makes the older characters feel real as it echoes the setting in that the world is recovering from mass loss of life in a global war that the younger characters don’t remember and are less cynical and scarred by. In fact this is the only current, functional relationship so far (and the character is by far the most stable, reliable character on the team, also a high-ranking official in one of the countries). It’s just nice to stumble into it as incidental detail really. The game isn’t really a looker (although the pixel art of the main cast is sweet) but the writing is compelling in that it hits that rpg sweet spot of characters you care about, the melodrama combined with wit and elegant storytelling that has you looking forward to the next story scene. It doesn’t waste the player’s time either, it keeps you moving on and that helps to sell the urgency of the quest.

Not sure if that’s relevant to the thread but I was playing it last night and thought of the OP. A (belated!) happy Pride month, everyone!

 

[JazzPotatoes]

One thing I will say about Nintendo is, whether intentional or not, they somehow aced the response when it came to their response about Toads and gender identity:

Nintendo Reveals the Toads' Gender Secret

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker's producer says the Toads are a genderless race.

www.gamespot.com

“This is maybe a little bit of a strange story, but we never really went out of our way to decide on the sex of these characters, even though they have somewhat gendered appearances,” Hayashida said. “But I think what I can say is that Toadette and Toad are not siblings -- perhaps it would be more accurate to say they are adventure pals. And that’s certainly true here [in Captain Toad].”

I never expected a Captain Toad interview to be the place that Nintendo developers confirmed they see gender and sex as separate things, but there you go.

 

[Aleh]

Personally, I would enjoy gay characters in games like FE and Xenoblade. Which is already a thing for FE but it needs hotter ones lol. Not really looking for gay characters in other Nintendo series. I think Nintendo is doing an all right job.

Personally, I'd like to see more undeniable queer representation in some of my favorite series from Nintendo that already feature stories involving gender and sexuality, such as Zelda and Xenoblade.

For Zelda, I'd really like to encounter NPCs and side quests that are queer. Is there not a single lesbian and/or ace Gerudo, even if they're still following their cultural norms and searching for a voe? Or what about a trans Gerudo who you find living outside the town once they started openly living their truth? The Gerudo talk about gender so much, so why not inject some queerness into it? What about a male character who crushes on the legendary hero they've heard tales of? A journal that reveals a hidden queer crush that you can help a character express? I felt TOTK was a slight regression from BOTW in terms of queerness, or that TOTK at least didn't take those themes any further. With the next mainline game likely years away, I'm hoping we'll see the queer inclusion be more developed once it arrives.

As for Xenoblade, I'll take a party member, major NPC, or random side quests that involve queer characters. I haven't played XBC3 yet, but I think I've read there's a nonbinary party member in the expansion.


I'll recommend Wandersong, a game that I remember surprising me by featuring at least one queer character.


My added question: Can Pride last all year? I haven't felt the festivities as much in 2023 as in past years, so I'd appreciate if we extended things for another 11 months.

Helloooo? Brighid and Morag are pretty obviously gay! And so are Malos and Jin

 

[ethanswift]

Please do consider I am kind of kinky.
I would like to say the Goron is much hotter in OoT & MS. So if you share the feeling that Goron is not hot enough for you in TotK, you can always find comfort in NSO N64 expansion packs.
That said I wish more macho dudes in future Nintendo offerings. If not, I am satisfied with the legacy contents as long as I can play them on the latest plat..

 

[menx64]

Happy Pride fami!!