Echoes of Wisdom laughs in the face of ‘woke’ Zelda complaints
After the same old schtick for 38 years, we're sure Link is a bit tired of the rinse-and-repeat formula in the Zelda games. While we definitely won't knock Nintendo's tentpole series and can only find praise for its ability to reinvent with each new game, the whole "Ganondorf kidnaps Zelda" thing has been done now.
2023's Tears of the Kingdom tried to reinvent the wheel with more than just its Ultrahand mechanic, and for the first time in the franchise's history, it felt that the titular princess was more on the level of Link instead of just some damsel in distress. While we didn't quite get a playable Zelda, it seems Nintendo was saving that idea for its next release.
Echoes of Wisdom laughs off 'woke' Zelda critics
An unexpected announcement from June's Nintendo Direct was the reveal of The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom. Harking back to the old top-down days of Zelda, Echoes of Wisdom has moved with the times to include a cutesy art style reminiscent of the Link's Awakening remake with a dash of Zelda's Ocarina design.
Marking a milestone moment for the Zeldaverse, Echoes of Wisdom is parking Link and has Zelda step up to the plate as the game's MVP. It's true that she was playable in parts of 2009's Spirit Tracks, but giving Zelda her own game (yes, we know the franchise is named after her) is a huge leap.
As soon as Echoes of Wisdom came out, there were all the usual complaints that Nintendo and the franchise have gone 'woke' because there's a female protagonist. We've seen this as a recurring theme in everything from Horizon to Star Wars Outlaws being branded woke simply for having a strong female lead.
Over on Reddit, u/TyleNightwisp pointed out that despite the backlash, the Echoes of Wisdom trailer has a 98% like ratio on YouTube. At the time of writing, there are 106k likes versus 3.4k dislikes. Still, that hasn't stopped there being plenty of controversy on social media.
One grumbled, "You obviously don't get it, Zelda games featured a male for years, Metroid was always a female, Donkey Kong was mostly a unisex game and was a co-feature , Zelda games are definitely turning woke now, even Metroid character is going to be Trans now."
Another said, "End of an era, It's been fun fellas. Nintendo has been compromised," while a third added, "Forcing feminism down our throats is a bad tactic. You're not getting more girls or women to play or watch ruined movie franchises this way."
It's an admittedly tiny cross-section of society, but as usual, this vocal minority is spoiling the enjoyment of others. Still, we'll admit that someone calling Echoes of Wisdom "Link's Awokening" is actually pretty funny
