Those Left Behind: The Lefties of Video Games, Part III

So, while writing my last post outlining the Southpaws of the Video Games world, I ended up with more characters than I had time.  So here’s the long-awaited follow-up to part 1 and part 2 of our thrilling series highlighting members of one of the most underappreciated groups in video games, the mighty Southpaw.  Tracking down left-handed characters in games is a lot harder than one might think, largely due to how scarce we are, but I believe that with the completion of this list, combined with the other two, I’ve almost exhausted all the lefty characters in video games.  Got any I missed?  You know where the comment field is.

Phoenix Wright-Ace Attorney Series

Here’s one that’s never officially been determined, but it really does seem likely to me.  Phoenix Wright’s pointer finger is legendary.  Tell a lie in court, and it’s coming straight for you.  And it’s always his left finger, too.  Moreover, whenever you see him manipulating anything, usually his papers, he’s holding it in his left hand.  And his left arm’s used a lot more often than his right in official art.  So I’m calling it.  Phoenix may be stuck in the closet, but he’s still a member of the Southpaw Crew.

Makes total sense, as Phoenix Wright is one of the few defense attorneys able to carve out any sort of winning career in a courtroom heavily biased towards the contribution.  Of course, that is largely due to the fact that almost all of his clients are indeed innocent, but the fact that he’s left-handed and therefore part of a long history of outmaneuvering the rest of the population certainly plays a part.

Ice Climbers-Ice Climbers, Smash Bros.

Much like lefties as a whole, the Ice Climbers are vastly unappreciated.  They haven’t had a game of their own for almost thirty years, their stages tend to be a bit more poorly designed than most in Smash Bros., and even as Smash fighters themselves, they’re a bit of an odd duck.  They don’t have the raw attributes of some of the other characters, so they really need practice and study to be able to use effectively.

Still, though, considering how smoothly they went from smacking down icicles and ceiling tiles to pounding Bowser into the pavement, you know they have to have some game.  And it’s all in their left hands.  It’s their left-handedness that gives these former benign glacier scalers the power to hang with the worst of all of Nintendo’s canons.

Bowser Jr.-Various Mario Games

So, the Mario universe is really inconsistent about the handedness of their characters, but Jr. here seems to be a lefty more often than not.  He paints left-handed, plays baseball left-handed, chucks enemies at you left-handed, etc.  He’s a significant pain to deal with, and his handedness only makes him more effective at causing you trouble.

Yoshimitsu-Tekken

Back in the day, I used to think that the Tekken Yoshimitsu and the Soul Calibur Yoshimitsu were the same character, displaced by time.  The fact that SC Yoshi was a filthy right-hander was what clued me in that this wasn’t the case.  Anyways, Yoshimitsu is pretty much what Robin Hood would be if he were a ninja from space.  He’s one of the most honorable and effective characters in the game, and has proven popular enough to be a part of every entry in the series save one.  And that one entry is pretty darn bad.  Coincidence?  I’ll let you decide.

Isaac-Golden Sun

When everything starts crumbling all around you, of course people will look to the nearest southpaw to lead them through the storm.  That’s just basic survival instinct.  You latch on to the smartest, strongest, and most skillful person available to see you through, and a preference for the left hand is one of the clearest signs of those traits there is.  So it is that everyone counts on Isaac to lead the group fighting against allowing the terrible power of Alchemy back into the land.  And a good call that is.  Isaac is one of the most talented combatants on the team, being well-versed in physical attacks while still having enough skill with Psynergy to fill in as a caster in a pinch.  And sure, Isaac may have made the wrong call in being convinced that Alchemy is necessarily a bad thing before taking the whole picture into account, but Golden Sun is still a net gain for lefties, largely because of…

Felix-Golden Sun

So, as it turns out, Alchemy in Golden Sun is a necessary thing.  In fact, it’s the only force that can avert the eventual self-destruction of the world.  It’s dangerous if misused, however, and people are scared of it.  They need someone to drag them kicking and screaming into the age of alchemy, to save their own lives.  They need someone bold.  They need someone wise.  They need someone left-handed.

For the second half of the game, Felix leads the team trying to bring Alchemy back to the world.  He knows what’s up, he knows what needs to be done, and he’s not afraid to do whatever it takes.  Obviously, as a left-hander, he’s just as skilled in a fight as Isaac, and is well poised to bring his world into the new age.

Shion Uzuki-Xenosaga

Shion’s a scientist.  In a video game.  I know, I know, Gordon Freeman aside, that’s usually a recipe for a quick and dirty death, but Shion manages to stick it out, thanks to her experimental android, her unusual weapon, and the might of that left hand.  She may not be the most useful party member, but her ether abilities do keep her afloat well enough to suitably lead the party through the first entry in the Xenosaga, and keep her relevant afterwards.

Angelo-Dragon Quest VIII

Angelo is a skirt-chasing, hard-drinking, gambling swordsman.  The fact that he rises so far in the Templar Knights even with all his vices is a testament to how much his natural skill as a left-handed warrior places him above the rest.  He outperforms the rest of his kind in their darkest hour, and proves himself to be one of the most versatile members of your party.  Seriously, he’s able to do anything well, his natural handedness lending itself well to quite a variety of weapons and spells.  In fact, some may even say the game never truly begins until the southpaw swordsman joins your crew.

Marisa-Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones

In the 2-d Fire Emblem games, people’s handedness was all over the place, thanks to sprite-mirroring.  Marisa was one of the few who ever made a point of their preference, and she’s very clear on that front; she’s a lefty.  A first-class Myrmidon, she’s very dedicated to the art of the sword, going so far as to sleep on her right side to always have her weapon hand available.  In most of her endings, she ends up as one of the best swordsmen in the land, stoppable by no man.  Of course, her southpaw nature only serves to give her the edge against anyone who dares face her.

Miriel-Fire Emblem Awakening

As you can tell just by looking at her, Miriel’s one of the smartest people in the Shepherds.  Sure, that image gives lots of traditional signs of intelligence: the book, the glasses, the superior and distant gaze, but the biggest indicator?  That’d have to be that she prefers her left hand.  A perfectionist, Miriel demands much of those around her, yet her performance in combat makes her fastidiousness worth it.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Yuri Lowell-Tales of Vesperia

Yuri’s actually fairly ambidextrous, switching his swords between hands as his combos and moves require.  He does seem to have a definite preference for his left hand, though.  He was probably born left-handed, but, as a common fate for lefties in a Right Power world, he was forced to adapt and learn to use his right as well to utilize stuff like school desks and scissors and notebooks and things like that.  Tales games usually deconstruct a common aspect of modern day storytelling over their runtimes and in Vesperia’s case, it’s all about breaking down the contemporary anti-hero, a role Yuri fills well.  Having a clear dark side, Yuri’s not afraid to just ice the villains the justice system can’t touch.  Perhaps his sinister handedness provides a window into his sinister nature as well?

Super Mac-Super Punch Out

Nintendo’s been really cagey on whether this guy is actually Little Mac or not.  The character’s just as cagey about which hand he prefers.  Unlike Yuri, who’s mostly ambidextrous, Mac here seems to be a clear case of mixed dominance, preferring to use different hands for different tasks.  In the boxing ring, his left jab is his fastest and far most reliable attack, and probably the sole reason why he’s able to take down foes far larger and stronger than he.  He also leads in with his left for his Super Body Blows, but the Super uppercuts are done with his right.

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And thus, we end.  Thirty-five characters, three posts worth, and we’ve gone through all the left-handed characters in the games I’ve played.  Are there more?  There might well be.  I haven’t quite played all the games in the world just yet.  I’d posit you’d be really hard pressed to find any, however.  So here, between these three posts, we may well have the most comprehensive list of southpaws in video games on the internet.

One thing that’s still really odd to me though.  Thirty-five characters, I’ve found, and only one, Doomguy, was brainborn outside of Japan.  Seriously, what’s up with that?  Is Japan the one place free of persecution against lefties?  I might have to be making a visit there, sometime soon…

Laying Siege In Dark Souls

Wow, it’s been a while since I had myself some Dark Souls adventures. Well, last time on Oh My God How Long Can I Keep This Going, we had a bunch of trouble with some imaginary people in a fake world, then met a beautiful woman who didn’t want anything to do with us.  Because of this, we jumped off a cliff.  Somehow that led us back to the real world. So now, rather than barely being able to handle the Painted World of Ariamis, we’re up against the rest of the famed Anor Londo, city of the gods. Will we be barely able to handle this one, or are we doomed to a life of failure and hollowness? Read on to find out!

Leaving from the entrance to the Painted World of Ariamis puts us pretty much exactly where we left off; at the foot of this chapel. I don’t get a really good screencap of it, but all this is built really high off of the ground. Good thing I’m not afraid of heights. I would be, but after the first couple hundred times you come back from the dead, the more pedestrian ways of dying kind of start losing their sting. Of particular note, you can see some bat-wing demons, those spindly little pale creatures, perched gargoyle-like to each side of the staircase. They’re the same creatures that brought me here from Sen’s Fortress, except these ones seem armed. I’m wary of them, but they don’t make a move as I head by. Either they’re as docile as the ones that served as my transport earlier, or I’m just not within their sphere of aggression.

Interesting thing to note about these stairs, they come in two sizes. Suggests there’s two sizes of people that visited this place. One relatively human-sized, much like me, the other some sort of giant.

Like these guys. Two sentinels guarding the entrance to this place. I got my practice in against them near the entrance to Anor Londo, so I don’t expect these guys to pose much challenge. Well, as long as I can keep the fight one-on-one. I’m still not crazy enough to be facing these guys en masse yet.

Fun thing I quickly discover, if you lure a sentinel far enough down the staircase, they’ll hit a point where they just start backing up to their original position, ignoring everything else up to and including the Best Chosen One slipping behind them and taking them on from their unguarded rears. If you don’t think I abuse this… well, you clearly haven’t read the earliest posts in this series.

I spy one of the bat wing demons lurking behind this door, seemingly trying to get at me. I guess it was too much to hope that they wouldn’t hate me just because they took the time to bring me here. Don’t know why I’m surprised. This is Lordran, everything and everyone hates me. Comes part and parcel with the undead curse. The more you die, the more likely you are to go hollow, and those already hollow, well, they’d love to have more of their own. Given how much I’ve fallen in this pursuit of becoming the Best Chosen One, it’s a wonder I’ve stayed as sane as I have. Anyways, lending further credence to my ‘humans and giants coexist here’ theory, this gate is built to accommodate to size. As a whole, it opens large enough to fit beings of a grand stature through, but it also has a little doggie door for those of my height built in. Hmm… ‘doggie door’ seems exceptionally fitting, the way this is built. Makes one wonder how relation between the two races was shaped.

In any case, this gate is locked from the other side, and my big beefy arms are just too large to reach to the lock through the bars.  The main doorway into the chapel is solidly locked as well. The gate to the right of the doorway is wide open, however, and it’s through that I venture forth.

It’s through that path that I finally come face to face with those demons. They… well, they’re very different opponents. They’ve got some tricks in them. They’re quick and jumpy and somewhat hard to hit and they have a habit of sneaking around corners when they go aggro unbeknownst to me so I end up fighting groups when I was trying to take them on one by one. They have electric spears, too, meaning I can’t entirely block their damage. They also slide backwards when they’re hit, so I can’t get more than one blow in at a time unless I’ve got them cornered. All these tricks makes them incredibly difficult to fight. I swing my Black Knight Sword low, so they often fly right over my attacks before punishing me for them. They’re too fast to be using pyromancy efficiently. And with how much they move, it’s hard to find an opening. Once I learn they’re moves, though, they end up pretty much being cake. Spears don’t actually have a whole lot of flexibility to them; like an inexperienced jock on prom night, all they can do is thrust. When you know what to expect, it’s not too much trouble to slip past their attack and strike out with your own. My favorite thing to do is to fight them up against a ledge. Since they slide back when hit, it doesn’t take much to fill the abyss below with their corpses.

New Eden Page 4: A New Hope… for Pages

As mentioned last time, I had taken a fairly substantial break on drawing this whole thing after sketching out the last page.  At the time, I hadn’t thought I’d be keeping this project up.  Well, the concept just wouldn’t let me go, and here’s where I decided to keep up with it in the long term.  As a result, I got a lot more serious about creating this graphic novel from here on out.  Well, for the most part.  I think it shows in the quality.

One of the big things I was wanting more practice on was hands.  Hands are really hard to draw, as seen below, in which they all look horrible.  That’s actually one of the reasons I kept going with this graphic novel, it’d be showing a lot of characters in action, and action requires hands, ergo I’d be drawing a hell of a lot of hands here.  And it’s true, I did.  I think I got a bit better at them, too.

Transcript:

Panel 1:  The American government says this is risky

Panel 2: Total virtual reality, on a machine with almost no moving parts.  Nobody knows how it works.  Supposedly, some people get lost in the illusion, wander off, and disappear.

Panel 3: On the other hand, I haven’t talked to him in so long.

Next Page

First page

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Rightie Keeping Me Down! The Left-handers of Video Games, Part 2!

Diversity’s an important thing. Especially in our cultural works. Art does reflect culture, after all, and works without diversity are pretty much saying that certain groups just don’t exist or aren’t worth talking about. In a lot of respects, one would think I’m pretty well represented. After all, you don’t have to go too far to find a white male somewhere in video games. People don’t often notice that I’m a minority as well. But I am. I face casual discrimination on a daily basis, from a society that doesn’t even seem to notice that it’s doing so. I live in a world that makes itself very clear that it was not built for me, and would much rather just leave me behind. My kind have a history of being subjected to abuse just for being who we are, to the point that many have had our defining trait beaten out of them. Most speakers of the English language still make habitual use out of words that were once used as slurs against people just like me. I’m a member of a group that makes up somewhere between eight and fifteen percent of the population, yet is still one of the most underrepresented groups in any medium of art. I am a left-hander.

Well more than a year ago, I wrote a post highlighting some of the most prominent southpaws in video games. In that post, I highlighted just some of the many, many obvious advantages of my kind, and gave light to the few of us who have managed to shine through as video game characters in our right-centric world. I’m proud of that post, and it still ranks as one of the most popular things I’ve written on this blog. Unfortunately, we haven’t seen any new left-handed characters in video games since then. Seriously, I’ve been looking and the most recent leftie game character came out a couple of months before I wrote this post. This seems daft to me. I thought I made the case for greater southpaw representation quite well. Now, you might think that nobody in a position of power has been affected by my post because I write a small blog and nobody’s gotten the chance to read it.  Well, you’re wrong.  Completely sensible and actually right but I’m being dramatic here so you’re wrong!  This is obviously a case of the establishment trying to keep a hold on things, to make sure our group remains oppressed, so that they can sit there and have all the prominent positions in the video games and the movies and the books and smoke cigars with their right hands.  Well, I’m here to fight the Right Power movement.  I’ve kept my eyes open since that last post, and I’ve got plenty of new characters to add to our roster, and together, we’re going to shake things up.  Let’s go!

Mega Man-Mega Man Franchise

 Look at that.  Just look at that picture.  Have you ever seen such a demonstration of left-handed glory?  Well, except for MegaMan.exe on the far left there.  He thinks he’s so cool.  But he’s not.

Being a primarily 2-d character, it’s been a little hard to get a firm confirmation on Mega Man’s handedness.  Sprite flipping plays havoc on everybody, so it’s been really hard to tell in game.  He was usually depicted as holding using his left hand for his Mega Buster or other weapons in the official art and game boxes, but not always, and, well, you can’t really trust Mega Man’s box art anyway.  When the series made the jump to 3d in Mega Man Legends, Mega Man Volnutt (far right in the picture above) was solidly a leftie, and every other version of him has followed suit.  Except for MegaMan.exe.  Who is lame.

Hey, while we’re at it…

Zero-Mega Man X and ZX

He was originally designed as the much cooler replacement for Mega Man, so of course he has to be left-handed.  Going right would just be a step down.

Zero’s polarity used to be just as hard to figure out as Mega Man’s.  He was just as subject to sprite-mirroring, and, although official art did depict his handedness more consistently, determination was stymied by the fact that he used two different weapons; a sword in his left hand, and his blaster in his right.  Which one was his mainstay?  Arguments could be made for both.  Even though it was definitely his sword, you fools.

His more recent appearances have settled the matter.  In Capcom’s Vs. series, where he’s in his traditional model, he definitely relies far more upon his blade than his blaster.  In the ZX series, in his new model…

There’s just no question.

Red-Pokemon

This is again a character whose polarity took several releases to determine.  In the original games, Red has a static sprite, so you never see either way.  Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen make it clear, though, he’s definitely a leftie.  Every time he pops out a Pokeball, it’s his left arm making the throw.  Obviously, this handedness illustrates exactly why he’s the best trainer in the series.