It’s a uniquely Welsh experience. I’ve never been Scottish, Irish, or Latvian, but when you tell someone where you’re from, it’s usually not. “what’s that?”.
For Welsh people, basic icebreaker questions from outside the UK usually prompt deep breaths and, whether they have time or not, short and systematic about geography, history and the world’s coolest national flag. encourages good lessons. Wales is a silent mystery to most of the world. A country without footprints.
As a Welshman, I don’t expect to be represented. She was 14 when I first felt Wales reflected in a video game. The second time I was 26. It is no exaggeration to say that the medium was not always kind to Cymru. In the pre-Gareth Bale world, Wales wasn’t even in FIFA. The only credible representation was the obligatory attendance at the odd rugby match, most of which skipped Nintendo’s system.
Wales’ history in Nintendo gaming is short, but surprisingly deep and made a huge impact on me in a world I never expected to encounter.
Senhenid sky guard
In 1984, a young designer named Takashi Tezuka was tasked with coming up with a story and setting for a new game. Inspired by the childhoods of his colleagues who were obsessed with cave adventures around Kyoto, Tezuka decided to delve into his own childhood for this exploration epic.
But the first time I noticed Wales on my Nintendo console was on my way out of the house. In the summer of 2010, I decided to try out Square Enix’s Dragon Quest IX Hoshizora no Mamoribito on his DS because there were so many puns on the localization. I arrived in the town of Porth Laffan, sitting in my aunt’s empty room with a gaudy picture of the 1997 Glamorgan cricket team on the wall. The resident of the town, whom I have visited for the first time since then this week, is mild-mannered and old-fashioned, almost speaking in an OTT South Welsh accent. It was clearly written by an Englishman, and even after removing the word “Boyo” from the end of the utterance, the backspace key is probably still warm, but full of love. “Your” is spelled “Youer,” the characters refer to their favorite thing as “Tidy,” and the entire town is terrorized by a monster known as Leviathan.
In Welsh, two Ls (“Ll”) are letters. Pronounced “Thl”, it is written this way because British printing presses did not have the ability to write the Welsh letter “ỻ”. Leviathan may be a simple gag, a basic pun, but it’s also endearing. This was the first time I’d seen Welsh in a game, and it was a joke that could only be understood by someone who could understand our language.
Kiki’s Denby Service
But just a mile or two from where I would one day defeat the beast, another Japanese creator was launching a standalone adventure the same month Tezuka was defining a new adventure. Fresh off his first film as director, animator Hayao Miyazaki arrives in Wales in search of inspiration. He spent weeks trekking the beautiful Ronda Valley, enjoying it, meeting people, and on occasion visiting his aunt. But it wasn’t until he arrived in Limney Valley, my family’s hometown for generations, that he found the inspiration he was looking for.
Miyazaki witnessed the miners’ strike firsthand. Perhaps a decisive act in modern Welsh history, workers inside and outside Wales stood up to the government of Margaret Thatcher, which made Miyazaki desperate. The spirit he saw in the Welshman made it feel palpable the kind of story he wanted to tell. Warmth, optimism in the face of extraordinary difficulties. This trip was the main inspiration for his next film, 1986. castle in the skyan idea conceived entirely in Wales, is the first film to be produced by the newly founded Studio Ghibli.
Miyazaki continued to incorporate Welsh architecture into his designs and became fascinated by Kimreig folklore. In 2004, he adapted a novel by Welsh author Diana Wynne Jones. howl’s moving castle. He shifted his setting from his 1980s Wales and removed Howl’s deep love for rugby, but the thematic DNA remained.
What is Nintendo Link? Although indirectly, Laputa: Castle in the Sky would later provide direct inspiration for the airship level of Super Mario Bros. 3, while Miyazaki’s subsequent works would include Fire Emblem, It became an important reference point for Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and perhaps Nintendo’s most external Welsh creation. Franchise, Xenoblade Chronicles.
girl with guriger
I hadn’t played a Xenoblade game when the third installment ended at the February 2022 Nintendo Direct. And the mere moment of Amy Fionn Edwards’ vocals was enough to get me to my feet. I’ve never seen Wales lead before. It was almost overwhelming and enough to buy me a Xenoblade 3. Mio may not be explicitly written as Welsh, but there is a familiar tragedy in her story. Where she came from, her deep passion and her love for the family she had built, but knowing that those feelings were forged with her foot down her throat. was No matter how far away she is, she always looks back to where she came from.
The game keeps throwing nods. When I arrived at Llyn Nyddwr, my heart roared and cheered. “Llyn Nadwyr” translates to “Lake Spinner” in real world Welsh. Whereas the first game featured a Welsh girl with cat ears and was given an entire staff member, the third will allow for the most naked Kimreague scope Nintendo has ever experienced. became. Although Welsh names have been used in Fire Emblem for some time (Garg Mach, the central location of the Three Houses, is Kareg Bach’s “copy your homework”, which means “little stone”). ), this was another level. Llyn Nyddwr may be a small thing, but this is a meaningful recognition of something important that Nintendo itself may not have been aware of before.
Lampeter among the world
Still searching for stories from many years ago, Tezuka decided to surrender to the overseas fantasies he loved as a child. He went back to the writings of the Welsh-speaking J.R.R. Tolkien, who built his world out of Celtic folklore. Many of Tezuka’s journeys detailed in the books he grew up on were Tolkien’s own Miyazaki-esque journeys through West Wales (including Ireland, but let’s not let the truth get in the pretty story). Inspired.
Tezuka began reading European folklore, history, and mythology, but by pure chance, many of the stories he drew came from one place.The series’ mythical blade, the Master Sword, can be traced back to Welsh legend Mabinogion, Origin of the Excalibur myth. In later sequels, the protagonist ends up acquiring a trusty and beloved horse named Epona, a Welsh name taken from the Celtic goddess of fertility.
As the series evolved, Tezuka’s aforementioned colleague Shigeru Miyamoto cited Miyazaki as someone who had a major influence on the game’s visual style. Fittingly, Mr. Miyazaki’s own story came full circle in his 2009, when Studio Ghibli directed the animated sequences for his DS game. Ni no Kuni Dominion Darkness Jin, becomes well-known worldwide in the form of the enhanced White Witch’s Wrath. The Welsh influence on the design is also reflected in the localization, so much so that player-aid character Drippy’s first words when brought to life in Cardiff are “pretty!”
These extensive and incidentally sourced references have been compiled. Through Japanese sensibilities and Miyamoto’s magical childhood experiences, this is the game we now know as The Legend of Zelda.
Welsh has words that do not exist in other languages.HiraesA sad, nostalgic, melancholy longing for home, perhaps a word that reflects the Welsh like no other. Wales is a nation built on beauty and oppression, and it is no shame to cry about the former. But never ashamed of the latter, Hies speaks of a deep sense of pride in where he came from and knowing he’s leaving, a phrase that has been squashed for generations. I understand the feeling of smallness that oozes out of a beautiful home, so much so that no one knows it exists in a casual conversation abroad.
The world of Nintendo isn’t chock-full of Welsh looks. But something is lurking under the hood.Xenoblade’s Mio may not be explicitly written as Welsh, but her story still drips Hiraes. Miyazaki may be Japanese, but his adventures away from home have helped him understand his own life, culture and values. And in this epic adventure, Dragon Quest’s Porth Ranough gave me a sense of belonging through his warmth and humor.
Call it influence, history, coincidence, or simply cultural similarity. When you think of Wales, you might ask “What is it?”, but Wales has always been a country with a very large footprint in the world of video games.