Viewer Gender Confusion/Video Games: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

** Parodied in one ''[[VG Cats]]'' [http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=103 comic], where Leo and Aeris try to see which bathroom Slippy uses. Doesn't work. "It's peeing in the fucking break room!"

* This has happened to Tails from ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' a few times, even though in the first games in which he speaks, he was actually voiced by a boy.

** It's [[All There in the Manual]], of course, since his given name is the unambiguously male [[Punny Name|Miles Prower]].

** The first images of the "enemy Rockmen" in ''[[Mega Man ZX|ZX Advent]]'' showed them in armored form, leading many to believe that Atlas (Model F) was a man and Tethys (Model L) was a girl; the names didn't help (Atlas was a Titan, Tethys a Titaness in mythology), and neither did the fact that they were boss-[[Expy|Expies]] of Fefnir and Leviathan, also a man and woman, respectively. When the unarmored pictures and gameplay videos came out, Atlas had a visible bust and Tethys sounded like a boy, albeit young. They rapidly became known as "Trap" and "Reverse Trap" in the fanbase. The dub makes Tethys sound older and more boy-like, at least.

*** In the original ''ZX'', if you never hear Hurricaunce's voice, you could think she's a guy.

** But the worst is probably Lumine from ''Mega Man X8''. Very female voice, long light-purple hair, thin feminine body, yet other characters always refer to him as a "he".

*** Similarly for Optic Sunflower, he has a very feminine voice, but is referred to as male in-game.

** [[Fan Wank]] often involves thinking of the "eggs" as more like poop, given the method of their production. Apparently Yoshis learned their combat techniques from monkeys.

*** [[Word of God]] says male Yoshis lay exploding eggs used for combat, females lay actual eggs, and the Yoshi usually seen with Mario and friends is in fact male.

*** Conflicting evidence comes from Japanese text from a Super Smash Bros. trophy, claiming that Yoshis all have no gender.

* [[The Legend of Zelda|Link]] is not a stranger to this trope, thanks to being the main character in a game [[I Am Not Shazam|called Zelda]] and people occasionally mistaking his tunic for a skirt. It doesn't help that he tends to be [[Bishonen|really pretty...]]

** Sheik is definitely a contender for King/Queen of this trope. [[Word of God]] has it s/he's female, but would you know that on your first playthrough of ''Ocarina of Time'', what with the Nintendo 64's limited graphical horsepower? [[Broken Base|S/he single-handedly divided the entire Zelda fanbase on the issue of her gender, and continues to do so today]]. Of course, this one is interesting because Sheik is actually the (quite obviously female) Zelda- the real issue is "is she disguised as a man, or does she transform into a man?" The manga said she transformed (more like brainwashed, if you pay attention), while Smash Bros manual said it was just a disguise. What version counts as [[Word of God]] depends on who you ask.

** There's a double example in [[Twilight Princess]] with the shaman [http://www.zeldawiki.org/images/2/25/Renado.png Renado] and his daughter [http://www.zeldawiki.org/images/c/cb/Luda.png Luda]. Because of his robe and her cowboy-like outfit, they could be easily seen as mother and son.

** One Game Informer preview of [[Skyward Sword]] described Demon Lord Ghirahim as "a skinny, ghostly ''female''".

** Most protagonists all the way back to Cecil from the fourth game, who, upon armor removal, had ''long flowing hair and a tiara''. Furthermore, he's got black lipstick in his concept art. Not to mention a fair few of the antagonists, until the tentacles and spikes and roots come out.

*** It's actually Lampshaded in Troia, when a drunken pub-goer mistakes him for a prostitute.

** Minwu from ''[[Final Fantasy II (Video Game)|Final Fantasy II]]'' is frequently thought to be female, despite being called a man when he is introduced, the robes, veil and [[White Mage|powerful healing abilities]] are major reasons why.

*** This is lampshaded when {{spoiler|he confronts Queen Brahne after she (expectedly) turns on him, and she says, "It's about time you showed your girly face here."}}

*** The fact that his art by Yoshitaka Amano makes him look like he's wearing ''black lipstick'' and ''Mascara'' (But then again though, that's one of his art trends) doesn't help either. Surprisingly enough; Nomura actually made him look ''MORE'' masculine for Dissidia.

** For that matter, at least one ''FFIX'' player mistook ''Zidane'' for a girl. But considering that {{spoiler|they're brothers, maybe androgyny runs in the family.}}

*** {{spoiler|When Zidane specifcally asked another of his kind whether they had males or females, they responded by saying that yes they do because asexual beings would lack the capacity to adapt to new environments.}}

** ''NO'' mention of Quina? Quina actually is always referred to as "S/he".

*** Interestingly enough for the dorks in the crowd, Ramza's technically androgynous when it comes to the game's statistics system: He gets physical growth like a man and magical growth like a woman.

*** Although in the [[Enhanced Remake]], he ''sounds masculine''.

*** It doesn't help that Marche's hair actually looks ''just'' like Ramza's.

** [[Crisis Core]]: [http://images5.fanpop.com/image/photos/25100000/Genesis-Rhapsodos-genesis-final-fantasy-7-fan-club-25151825-337-272.jpg Genesis] is a man, however much the picture might fool you.

* In the ''[[SaGa]]'' game ''[[Video Game/Final Fantasy Legend III|Final Fantasy Legend III]]'', a boss named Mayteria is referred to as "he" but take ''one'' look at the sprite and you'd bet that "he" looks like a "She"! S/he could ''easily''' pass for [[Antony and Cleopatra|Cleopatra]].

** Don't forget Corrine. Girly voice and name, cute and cuddly ball of fluff, multi-colored, Corrine's gotta be a girl, right? ''Nope''. The little fox is a male. However, Corrine can also go into [[Viewer Gender Confusion|an even bigger gender debate]] when you take in two factors, the manga {{spoiler|and the fact he becomes Verius. Verius is obviously male and outright proven so, especially when playing the sequel, and this is yet another factor that can confirm Corrine is male because he ''is'' Verius. However, the manga depicts Corrine differently where Verius is an entirely new entity sharing Corrine's likeness only in their life force and appearance. They also confirm ''Corrine'' is female and ''Verius'' is male. Oi.}}

* Zhang He from [[Dynasty Warriors]] and [[Warriors Orochi]] full stop.

** The Japanese version is ''slightly'' more difficult to confuse because his voice is more masculine and he uses a masculine pronoun to refer to himself... Mind you, there's a whole fetish around [[Bokukko|girls who do that]], but most of those oddly act ''less'' feminine than Ion.

** Jade gets a bit of this now and then, either from the especially feminine concept art or from the viewer only seeing a skit face, which shows the character from the shoulders up (he's quite pretty). The [[Gender Blender Name]] doesn't help matters.

** This is [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] near the begining of the game. If you go into the bar and speak to a certain NPC, he mistakes Yuri for a girl and asks him to join him for some drinks.

* Fire Emblem has had a couple of examples such as Sephiran and Chainey, but the most amazing ur-example is Lucius, with his bright blue eyes, long, flowing blonde hair, and monk robes that made him look like he's wearing a form-fitting dress. Not a single person thought he was a man when they first saw his official art. His gentle, feminine, almost [[White Magician Girl]] personality really didn't help. Nor did his child-bearing hips. Or the fact that his main support conversation (and the only one with a double-ending for Lucius) is with another guy.

*** Ignore not the pretty tiara he wears.

** [[Badass Bookworm|Soren]] is girly enough to have been repeatedly taken for a [[Tsundere]] [[Sweet Polly Oliver]]. The [[Ho Yay]] with [[The Hero|Ike]] doesn't help.

* ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' always had its share of gender confusion. If you started playing the series with ''Chain of Memories'', it takes quite a while to get everyone's chromosomes right, no thanks to the confusing pixel anatomy and strange, quasi-corset Organization coats making '''EVERYONE''' have an hourglass figure.

** [http://www.freewebs.com/aqualover/marluxia_2.jpg Marluxia] was originally intended to be a woman. Due to "her" already slightly masculine appearance and the fact that this trope is par for the course for Square-Enix, they didn't actually have to change anything when they decided to make the switch. Amazingly enough, the Organization features only [http://www.freewebs.com/aqualover/larxene_2.jpg one lonely female] (but no shortage of estrogen).

** When the promo images of ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' were first released, there was a debate on a Disney forum about whether Riku was a boy or girl.

* Kazooie, from ''[[Banjo-Kazooie]]'', can be very confusing, given her brash character and utter lack of feminine traits. Rareware apparently got sick of it, though, since [[The Revival]] gave her a few [[Tertiary Sexual Characteristics]].

** Many players have mistaken Terry from Banjo-Tooie as a female, since he gets mad because he thinks you've stolen his eggs, and no gender is immediately given, you'd think that he laid the eggs and is the female. But according to the game's instruction manual, as well as some random dialogue from Zombie Jingaling, Terry's wife has left him, and therefore he is very protective of the eggs.

* Kanan from ''[[Soul Nomad and The World Eaters]]''. In fact, you'll probably need to pick a certain path in the main campaign to find out "she" is really a "he".

* Gunstar Red from ''[[Gunstar Heroes|Gunstar Super Heroes]]'' is a girl. It's due either by reading the manual or by her gender being expressed ONCE that you would know this.

** This wiki even mentions that "Her name is ''Lotte''." However; chances are most people didn't actually spot that name since the other characters have rather English sounding names (Jennifer, Laura, Bobby, Mary...)

* ''[[Moviebob|The Game Overthinker]]'' summed Square-Enix's propensity for this rather nicely: "... Oh, wait, I think that's supposed to be a guy... ''Fucking Squaresoft!''"

** While almost immediately refered to as "Prince", preventing any confusion, the hero of ''Suikoden V'' is downright girly. Only when you look at him at a certain angle (And while wearing certain clothes) does he even begin to look male. Most of the time, he looks pretty hot.

** When Subala's character art was revealed, most of the fandom assumed that she was a boy due to her completely flat chest. Much to their surprise, she turned out to be a 16-year-old girl.

* The ''[[Harvest Moon]]''-iverse has Julius, who's... [http://www.fogu.com/hm/wii/img/preview/char_julie.png Well, just LOOK at him!] His favorite items are even things like jewelry and perfume! If it weren't for his name, it'd be next to impossible to tell that he's supposed to be a dude. And yes, you can marry him if you're playing as a girl. Sort of a shame, since there'd certainly be players who would marry him if he were in fact a woman. He doesn't even have the name to help him in Japan, where his name is Juli. The whole joke was that Candace/Kotomi was bullied by Juli as a child, and always thought he was a girl. Then she grows up, meets him again after so many years, and is shocked to discover that the girl who bullied her was a boy the whole time.

* There's also Jamie from ''[[Magical Melody]]'', who is always the opposite gender of your character, but they have the same sprite regardless (and hides this fact well by having Jamie wear a poncho the whole game).

* In ''[[Fallout]] 3'', many viewers were led to the impression that Fawkes was female, not because of any physical characteristics, but due to misunderstanding a laboratory log in game. After a [http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Talk:Fawkes/Gender bitter, lingering controversy], stoked by public comment from the voice actor who played Fawkes, the issue was finally resolved by Word Of God.

* ''[[Dynasty Warriors]]'' characters:

** Zhange He -- Long hair, sometimes butterfly wings, pink and purple clothes, flowers EVERYWHERE. The only way you can tell his gender is by his voice.

* Many people confuse Ammy from ''[[Okami]]'' as a male. Issun constantly referring to her as a [[She Is the King|god rather than a goddess]] doesn't help.

** The American localization was actually trying to keep Ammy as androgynous as possible, mostly since the United State's primary religion has God to be definitively male.

* You can make this happen ''yourself'' with the custom players in ''[[Backyard Sports]]'': you can make a boy wear girly clothes and sound like a girl, or a girl look and sound like a boy.

* ''[[Earthbound]]'':

** In Japan, Giygas/Gyiyg/whatever has an ambiguous gender; it's never defined as explicitly male or female, but that's much easier to avoid in Japanese than English.

** Ness falls victim to this for the [[Super Smash Brothers]] players who haven't played [[Earthbound]] before.

* ''[[Wartech|Wartech: Senko no Ronde]]'': Cuilan. [http://hg101.kontek.net/senkonoronde/Cuilan.jpg Here] [http://hg101.kontek.net/senkonoronde/Cuilan-B1.jpg HE] [http://hg101.kontek.net/senkonoronde/Cuilan-A3.jpg is].

** Bugsy.

*** Somewhat long hair, too young to make out sexual characteristics, unusual name that isn't easily gender identifiable, rather ambiguous clothes. Hey, your guess is as good as mine.

** Mostly for Tate; because Tate can actually be a feminine name, too, outside of ''[[Fire Emblem]] 6''. To clarify, Tate is the boy, and Liza the girl.

** Wallace. With that pose, cyan styled hair, and fabulous clothes, anyone could mistake him for a girl and never know the truth.

* US players of the original [[Phantasy Star]] had a couple of examples. First there's the [[Bishounen]] Noah who is referred to by both gender pronouns thanks to the [[Blind Idiot Translation]]. Thankfully the re-release on the Gameboy Advance fixed it so he's always referred to as a male. Then there's the cat-like [[Punny Name|Myau]], whose gender is never revealed in the Japanese version nor have I ever heard an [[Word of God]] on the topic.

** Doesn't help his official artwork is buxom. Maybe he's a [[Hermaphrodite]]?

* Brenda from ''[[Muscle March]]'' is officially female, but given that she's as ridiculously muscular as the other characters (with the exception of the polar bear), and the [[Hard Gay]] overtones of the rest of the game, it's easy to be confused.

* Ranmaru from ''Sakura Taisen V''. Always referred to with male pronouns... but only referred to with any pronouns starting in Chapter 6, when he's been appearing all game. With a high-pitched voice and very effeminate mannerisms. Given that he's most likely the same Ranmaru mentioned under the Art section, it's not too surprising.

* ''[[Golden Sun Dark Dawn]]''

** When the first playable Water Adept was revealed, fans were confused by "Crown", who wears an absurdly short tunic and leggings similar to Karis's, has [[You Gotta Have Blue Hair|blue hair]] in a bowl cut, fights similarly to Mia, and has [[Voice Grunting|high-pitched squeaks for a voice]]. "Crown" was [[Dub Name Change|renamed Rief]] for the dub, which makes his gender a little more clear: the [[Dude Looks Like a Lady|dude looks like a little girl]].

* ''[[Dark Souls]]'': It's easy to mistake the androgynous Gwyndolin for a woman. It's how he was raised.

* In universe example with Minogame from ''[[Hellsinker]]'' whose gender is described as impossible to tell from appearence. {{spoiler|1=He/She is a [[Hermaphrodite]]}}.

* In the original ''[[Rainbow Six]]'' trilogy, male and female operatives look identical in-game.

* Dorrie from ''[[Super Mario 64]]'' falls under this. Cutesy-looking plesiosaur with a feminine sounding name? Sounds like a girl, right? Nope, Dorrie's a boy. All official descriptions of the character refer Dorrie as a "he".

 

{{reflist}}