Minorities in Nintendo games

[CapCom]

I just kind of realized something - is Anthony Higgs the first black man to appear in a Nintendo game?

Zelda has had some rather insensitive minorities before (Beedle and the Eskimo from Wind Waker), but I don't recall ever seeing any blacks prior to .

Did they have any other minorities in other Nintendo games (here I'm saying games made by Nintendo). Maybe Dodge Ball or Urban Champion? But AFAIK no actual characters.

[doc O. Mire]

*Cough* Gerudo *cough* Ganon *cough*

A race with dark skin depicted as being generally bad thieves exiled into the desert. Nice work ninty, you managed to slip a huge stereotype past the censors because they were too focused on changing "church" to "temple."

I still like the games, but I feel as though that could be considered a little insensitive...

[RoyboyX]

FOR THE LOVE OF - ANTHONY IS NOT THE FIRST BLACK CHARACTER IN TROID. I thought you guys were superfans. Captain A.C. Exeter from MP2 is the dying guy that stumbles to the terminal in the GFMC Compound, and who's body Samus checks after watching the report. You can clearly see black skin through the chip in the visor.

[Pillbox]

I really don't think Exeter's race can be declared from just that tiny, questionably lit glimpse through his visor. I always thought he was white, honestly. Maybe a little tan.

[James Pierce]

Nintendo has had a few black characters throughout their history.

Baba from F-Zero.


Kate Allen from F-Zero.


Michael Chain from F-Zero.


Agent Olson from Disaster Day of Crisis.


Mr. Sandman from Punch Out!!


Doc Louis from Punch Out!!


There are more than that, these guys are the ones who come to mind first for me.

[RoyboyX]

http://metroid.wikia.com/wiki/File:Ace.PNG is obviously black.

[CapCom]

Ah yes, that's right, F-Zero and Punch-Out. I knew I was missing something!

Again, blacks aren't very well-represented there. Michael Chain is a gangster and a murderer and Baba is gay. Then again, it's not like many of the other racers are 'normal', but Michael Chain certainly isn't a role-model.

Add Mike Tyson to Punch-Out as well.

Exeter's race is indeterminate, but I don't think he's black. For the other marines, race isn't an issue because all you can go by are the names. "When you look at a Marine, all you see is green!" At least in the military, nobody seems to care about race in the future, or at least not divisions among people (contrast with the marines in Aliens and their quip about 'illegal aliens' to Vasquez). I suppose that's one positive message.

Nice work ninty, you managed to slip a huge stereotype past the censors because they were too focused on changing "church" to "temple."

No, you're right. Nintendo can certainly be quite insensitive. They generally avoid racial descriptions for that reason.

[Infinity's End]

Don't forget Bob Charlie from Super Punch Out!!!

And I think Disco Kid was black as well...


Also:

No, you're right. Japan can certainly be quite insensitive.

Fixed.

[Opium]

Zelda is kinda based on the northern european fairy tale genre. Fairies, dragons, swords, knights, castles, wizards, magic - all that shit. Those people and settings were all about as white as you can get. There really aren't any other races settled in that area until modern times, so naturally there really aren't any characters/stories which include darker skinned people. That said, I don't think the Zelda series is a fair place to look for any kind of affirmative action in game writing.

[TheBlackCat]

Again, blacks aren't very well-represented there. Michael Chain is a gangster and a murderer and Baba is gay. Then again, it's not like many of the other racers are 'normal', but Michael Chain certainly isn't a role-model.

So in a post complaining about poor representation of minorities, you say it is bad to be gay? I am sensing a disconnect here.

contrast with the marines in Aliens and their quip about 'illegal aliens' to Vasquez

That's actually an inside joke. During casting for Aliens, the actress who played Vasquez misunderstood the movie and came dressed as an illegal alien. They were teasing her about that. I think it might even have been ad-libbed.

[Opium]

We need a video game with a main character/hero that is openly gay as hell.

[Remnants]

The most non-white playable characters I've seen in a single Nintendo(ish) game is Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.
The "were-dragons" look... hispanic?


Then there's the more typical-looking black man

There are more.

[MaiAriSquee]

Those were-dragons don't look very hispanic to me. Just super generic anime-medieval. The Gerudo don't strike me as racist- they're playing into the arabian nights tales. As far as the eskimo in WW... I guess this will sound bad, but how were they racist? I never played Phantom Hourglass, so I can't comment on Beedle.

Otherwise, I don't have much to add. Can't think of any significant non-white, Nintendo game characters, aside from those already mentioned.

...Fox?

[darkhamsterlord]

Fixed.

Jynx wasn't actually meant to be a black stereotype, but rather, a ganguro girl. Ganguro is a fashion trend where young women paint their faces dark and dye their hair bright colors, to contrast the typical Japanese depiction of beauty as dark-haired with pale skin.

Of course, that doesn't make it any less offensive to those who don't know about ganguro and interpret it as a black stereotype.

On the main subject of the thread, the small amounts of minorities in games isn't really limited to Nintendo, it's kind of a problem with Japanese games in general. I don't really think it's ever a matter of prejudice though, they just don't think of non-Japanese when developing their games.

[fox mulder]

Those were-dragons don't look very hispanic to me. Just super generic anime-medieval. The Gerudo don't strike me as racist- they're playing into the arabian nights tales. As far as the eskimo in WW... I guess this will sound bad, but how were they racist? I never played Phantom Hourglass, so I can't comment on Beedle.

Otherwise, I don't have much to add. Can't think of any significant non-white, Nintendo game characters, aside from those already mentioned.

...Fox?

Yes?

Anyway, on the subject of Beedle, are we talking about the "Indian" shop keeper on a boat? Because he was in Wind Waker too if I'm not mistaken and he did the exact same thing.