This week's re-releases Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door The Nintendo Switch version restores a line from the original Japanese version confirming that the character Vivienne is transgender. In the Japanese version of the original GameCube game, Vivienne herself declares herself to be transgender, telling Mario of her and her brother, “Actually, it took me a while to realize that I'm their sister, not their brother. Now I feel their usual self weighs heavy.” She was also consistently misgendered by other characters and her own character description in the original dialogue. In the 2002 English version, all references to Vivienne's gender were removed.
Provided by: Nintendo
Now, with the Switch re-release, Vivian's true identity has been restored; she once again identifies as transgender, along with added lines that affirm her identity and removed the gender misidentification that was rampant throughout the game. To celebrate progress on trans representation in video games, here are five more trans characters that we think got it right.
Tyler Ronan “Tell Me Why”
Courtesy of Dontnod Entertainment
Tyler Ronan is Please tell me the reasonis a narrative adventure game released by Dontnod Entertainment in 2020. The game follows Tyler, a transgender man, and his identical twin sister Allison, who are connected by telepathy, as they investigate the death of their mother in their rural Alaskan hometown. Please tell me the reason It was the first triple-AAA game to feature a playable transgender protagonist, and was also groundbreaking in that it featured transgender voice actor August Black playing a transgender character. Gaming MagazineIt won the Authentic Representation Award from and GLAAD's Outstanding Video Game award.
Lev, The Last of Us Part II
Provided by: Naughty Dog
The Last of Us Part II is the 2020 sequel to the hit action-adventure game from developer Naughty Dog. The Last of Us. TLOU II Set five years after the end of the original series, the main character Ellie meets a transgender boy named Lev. Some had mixed feelings about the game including Lev's dead name and his storyline containing a lot of trauma (to be fair, is there anyone in this series who isn't traumatized?), but were still excited to see a transgender character in a triple AAA game. Lev's voice actor, motion capture, and model were provided by transgender actor Ian Alexander. In season 2, The Last of Us When filming for the TV show began, there were many calls for Ian Alexander to be cast as Reb, including from Alexander himself.
Bird, “Super Mario Bros. 2”
Provided by Nintendo
Now, the rumor that Bird is transgender is Super Mario Bros. 2the manual states that he is a man who “thinks he's a girl” and prefers the name “Bardetta.” Nintendo has neither confirmed nor denied that Bird is a trans woman, but many LGBTQMario Fans are taking her inclusion very seriously, and my response to that is that 1) women with traditionally masculine names are attractive, and 2) since Bird and Yoshi are clearly trans, you can't say Bird isn't trans.
Emhari Abdi, “ValiDate: Struggling Singles in Your Area”
Provided by Veritable Joy
Validate: Struggling Singles in Your Area is a 2022 romance visual novel and debut game from developer Veritable Joy. verification “The game was made by and for LGBTQ+ people of color, and while there is a lot of great trans representation in the game, Emhari stands out as the representation that mixed race trans people rarely get. Emhari is a half South African, half Qatari bigender trans woman and a single mother of two. She represents the Black and Arab trans experience, as well as trans people who have not medically transitioned.” verification Nominated by Gaming Magazine The 2023 Authentic Representation Award winner, head developer Dani LaRonders, was featured in GLAAD's Webby Award-winning web series. Changemakers'Season 2.
Madeline “Celeste”
Provided by Maddy Makes Games
Celeste Madeline is a 2018 platform game developed by indie developer Maddie Makes Games that follows a young woman named Madeline and her journey to Mount Celeste. The game has received critical acclaim for its portrayal of mental health issues, sparking memes and is considered a foundational and canonical game for transgender gaming. Creator Maddie Thorson said:Celeste “Players famously knew the game was a transgender story before I did,” Madeline said. While Madeline is not identified as transgender in the base game, the 2019 farewell DLC acknowledged it with a photo of Madeline's room, decorated with transgender flags, prescription pill bottles, and a photo of Madeline as a child with very short hair. Thorson acknowledged both Madeline and himself as transgender in a 2020 blog post.
