History AlternativeCharacterInterpretation / Nintendo

** The nurses are caring medical practitioners who you only visit when your Pokemon are badly injured but they say they "hope to see you again real soon". It comes off as malicious to some.

*** So, Adam Malkovich. In light of his role in ''OtherM'', is he really the mentor, confidant, and father figure that Samus has painted him out to be? Or a man who exploits Samus' unhealthy obsession with him to abuse her physically (e.g. preventing her from using her life-saving power-ups is dangerous situations) and emotionally (e.g. [[spoiler:giving himself the last laugh by sacrificing his life in Sector Zero in order to deeply upset Samus]])?

** Even the PlayerCharacter from ''Awakening'' is starting to fall under this. [[spoiler: Was the Avatar in the original timeline really a power-hungry jerk who backstabbed Chrom and became Grima willingly, as Grima himself suggests? Or did being forced to kill Chrom push them over the DespairEventHorizon, and led them to join Grima rather than face up to the Shepherds who would surely abandon them once they knew Chrom was dead by their hand? Since Validar attempts to mind-control Robin several times in the late game, this option makes sense, but Robin is also shown to be able to brush him off -- so he/she may still have been ''somewhat'' willing to join Grima, or at very least have an underlying conflict underneath. Or was the Avatar always loyal to Chrom, and [[ILied Grima is just lying his fell dragon ass off?]] Who knows?]]
** Making it even more complicated is the DLC [[spoiler: featuring Grima/Avatar and a world almost completely overrun by their influence. That Grima seems even MORE evil and smug than the one faced in the main story, just moments away from total victory the moment the remaining children are dealt with. But then the third and final chapter of that DLC shows a moment of weakness where Avatar halts Grima from acting through a 'faint hold' on their body, long enough to give Lucina a chance to end everything- and Grima's frustration make it absolutely clear Avatar was unwillingly being controlled, but is managing to fight it even still.]]
-->'''Grima:''' [[spoiler: '''I WILL KILL YOU!''' ...Huh? Why can't I move? My body is...nngh... No! Not now! Why does she '''KEEP INTERFERING'''... ]]
-->'''Grima:''' [[spoiler: Why does she '''STILL REFUSE''' to become one with me? ]]

** Priscilla from ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemElibe Blazing Sword]]'' is either A) a quiet, melancholy princess troubled by her lingering childish feelings for her brother, B) a ClingyJealousGirl who hates Lucius and wants to ruin his and Raven's relationship, or C) a manipulative attention-starved slut who latches onto anything male.

*** This game also calls into question whether Samus is a total {{badass}} who was derailed so as to fear Ridley in a misguided attempt to show her as needing help, or is she so badass that [[{{Determinator}} she managed to not only stand up to, but defeat, Ridley despite being utterly terrified by the monster that killed her family and everyone she knew]]? Or is it post-traumatic stress disorder after having to not only kill said monster that killed her family, but then kill him again when he came BackFromTheDead and kidnapped the baby Metroid, eventually leading to the death of the closest thing she had to a normal family?

* ''Franchise/Kirby'':

* Never mind the many {{Flat Character}}s giving plenty of room for wildly different fan interpretations, ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'''s plot is fueled by ''in-universe'' misunderstandings of one another's intentions, and in this series, PoorCommunicationKills. Messily. Often. [[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids And it's rated E for Everyone]].

* [[VideoGame/LuigisMansion E. Gadd]] gets a lot of this as a result of Bowser Jr. using a Paintbrush made by him in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine''. While there's the possibility that Jr. simply stole it from an AbsentMindedProfessor, the fact that the game never rules out Gadd giving/selling the Paintbrush to the Koopas has led to speculation that Gadd was PlayingBothSides for one reason or another.

** Wilhelm may have been trying to become God (or really was him, thus making it a case of GodIsEvil) himself. Not only does he have some subtle AGodAmI like moments, he also can [[spoiler:make people immortal, see the consciousness of anyone he likes, and is able to keep the time-loop he had going. Also, he can do whatever he wants, whether it's transporting gigantic robots with the snap of a finger or force choking someone. He also acts more like God than what the official explanation is. He claims U-DO is God and that the two Abels are it's observation vessels, but knowing Wilhelm, it wouldn't surprise me to find out that he had something to do with that too. This is the guy who was behind the U.M.N. Another thing is that we never really saw what happened to him and Kevin. It's assumed that he dies along with Kevin, but they never show them actually disappearing (like they did with Caanan and Voyager) nor do they mention it after the last boss fight. This leaves me to believe he just went to a different dimension (most likely the Upper one) during the Zarathustra battle. I mean, I find it hard to believe that he'd give a Testament the power to kill him, let alone create just one key to activate Zarathustra.]] He probably just went elsewhere to plan. Not that we'd ever find out anyway, thanks to the series being canceled.
* ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'':
** The Squid Sisters are spoiled brats who abandoned their somewhat senile grandfather [[spoiler:in the sewers to fight off the Octarians]] while they pursued a career in pop music. This is kind of supported by their own statements towards their grandfather both in the news casts and [[spoiler:during the DJ Octavio refights, including comments where Cuttlefish is lonely, they should probably take away his crabby cakes, and "maybe" they should visit him more.]]
** Callie and Marie are idols so it's unknown how much of their acts are personas or not. Some fans think they're 100% acting as they normally do while others think they're exaggerating their personalities. It's also vague if their news show is scripted or ad-libbed.
** Views on Inklings as a whole differ due to the Octarians backstory. [[spoiler:Octarians were forced under ground after losing a war. Their living situations are becoming increasingly poor.]] Many feel sympathetic for Octarians and view Inklings as genocidal jerks.
* ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing'':
** Resetti. Does he genuinely care about the player and yells at them so that they don't make mistakes in real life then try to "reset" them, or is he a sadistic grump that loves scaring children and finds that playing a game a way he doesn't like a good enough excuse to yell at them? While Don says it's the former, it's possible Resetti is just giving an excuse. New Leaf definitely makes it look like the former. Some have even suggested that Mr.Resetti is the most heroic character in the series due to the fact that his job is to protect the entire Animal Crossing universe from paradoxical destruction.
** Chrissy and Francine are two rabbit villagers that can potentially move in to your town. Due to their design the fandom likes to think that they're actually humans dressed up in bunny hoods. It doesn't help that there's a Bunny Hood that you can purchase and wear as well.
** Tom Nook is prone to this to near RonTheDeathEater levels. Is he an honest businessman or an evil, greedy creep who pretty much single handedly runs the towns economy and keeps the protagonist as an indentured servant? He is constantly upgrading your house without your permission and the first thing he does when you come to town is try to force you to buy a house without your permission or any knowledge of your budget. Some even go as far as to see him as {{yakuza}} or [[TheMafia mafia]] affiliated.
** The concept of Isabelle really being agitated and annoyed by the mayor but keeping a [[StepfordSmiler peppy facade]] pops up occasionally.
* What are the VideoGame/{{Ice Climber}}s to each other? Interpretations differ between twins, older brother and younger sister, cousins, best friends, and [[PuppyLove lovers]].

** Link's personality in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' is left vague, which has caused multiple interpretations of it to pop up. The mental effects on time travel in particular cause this. Does adult Link come off as a KiddieKid due to mentally being a preteen or does young Link come off as WiseBeyondTheirYears due to their experiences in the game? Fans of the latter often write Link as a ShellshockedVeteran post-[=OOT=].

** Colm from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones'' can be seen as either a classic JerkWithAHeartOfGold, or an abusive asshole who treats [[FragileFlower Neimi]] like crap and so [[DieForOurShip needs to bugger off so she can be paired with someone nicer.]] As for the Colm/Neimi pairing itself, one could either see it as an ultimately sweet case of {{Victorious Childhood Friend}}s, or (if you don't want their paired ending) as a more sibling-like dynamic in which Neimi happens to have developed deeper feelings for her buddy.

** Link himself can fall into this. Is he a badass, heroic avatar of courage, or an [[HeroicMime antisocial]] [[KleptomaniacHero vandal/thief]] more concerned about [[TakeYourTime fishing and gathering chickens]] than saving the world?

** It's worth noting that there is [[PokemonDiamondAndPearlAdventure a canon]] where Cyrus [[spoiler: realizes that what he had done was wrong]], although we're not told the specifics of his realization. It's also the only canon where someone [[spoiler: shows him forgiveness]], and it's implied that the two are related. However, DPA-verse was for the most part written without Platinum's characterization.

*** Whether or not he even ''knows Mewtwo exists'' is another issue. Team Rocket ''was'' involved with Mewtwo in the anime and Pokémon Special, which could feed potential Atoner theories... However, it's unclear if this applies to game Giovanni was well.

** Not helping matters is the manual for the original SuperMarioBros. It explains that Bowser had turned many of the citizens of the Mushroom Kingdom into bricks... presumably the same ones that are [[InferredHolocaust smashed by the Brothers throughout the course of the game]].

** The concept of Isabelle really being agitated and annoyed by the mayor but keeping a peppy facade pops up occasionally.

* Another theory is that the Ghost Pokemon Gengar is a dead Clefable because of their similar body shapes.

** The Pokemon cubone wears a skull on its head from its dead mother. One popular interpretation is that it's a orphaned baby kangaskhan that because of the skull evolves into marowak instead of kangaskhan, though how seriously this is believed depends on the person.

** The Pokemon cubone wears a skull on its head from its dead mother. One popular interpretation is that it's a orphaned baby kangaskhan that because of the skull evolves into marowak instead of kangaskhan, though how seriously this is believed depends on the person.

** Eliwood's son Roy is subject to a lot of this thanks to the different canons he appears in. While FE 6 fic paints him as an upstanding hero with a strong spirit, ''SuperSmashBros'' fic has him as Marth's [[CanonDefilement weepy uke]] (or just a pyromaniac moron).

** This is ''canon'' for Marth. He's always been noble and brave to a degree but in the earlier games he was decidedly naive and a bit of a bleeding-heart, apparently so much that the OAV adaptation ''removed'' the brave and noble part and upped the softness. In ''SuperSmashBrothers Melee'', he was something of a show-off. Finally, ''Shadow Dragon'' introduced a bolder, more serious version of the character. To a lesser extent Caeda went through this as well; the games portray her as a sweet, brave girl who supports and loves Marth 100% where the OAV portrays her as a snitty brat with a mean jealous streak. Considering her actions in Shadow Dragon, Caeda would make a ''very'' convincing ManipulativeBastard if the story were told from the villains' point of view with Marth and co. as the antagonists. Lorenz even notes she tends to keep people wrapped around her finger.

** Wilhelm may have been trying to become God (or really was him, thus making it a case of GodisEvil) himself. Not only does he have some subtle AGodAmI like moments, he also can [[spoiler:make people immortal, see the consciousness of anyone he likes, and is able to keep the time-loop he had going. Also, he can do whatever he wants, whether it's transporting gigantic robots with the snap of a finger or force choking someone. He also acts more like God than what the official explanation is. He claims U-DO is God and that the two Abels are it's observation vessels, but knowing Wilhelm, it wouldn't surprise me to find out that he had something to do with that too. This is the guy who was behind the U.M.N. Another thing is that we never really saw what happened to him and Kevin. It's assumed that he dies along with Kevin, but they never show them actually disappearing (like they did with Caanan and Voyager) nor do they mention it after the last boss fight. This leaves me to believe he just went to a different dimension (most likely the Upper one) during the Zarathustra battle. I mean, I find it hard to believe that he'd give a Testament the power to kill him, let alone create just one key to activate Zarathustra.]] He probably just went elsewhere to plan. Not that we'd ever find out anyway, thanks to the series being canceled.

** Maybe Mario is really just a jerk. Back in Donkey Kong, it was told that he abused his pet Donkey Kong, which lead to DK kidnapping Marios Girlfriend. Then in Donkey Kong Jr., Mario really was depicted as the big bad. Game Theory goes one step further and says Mario is a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WMSQNVhMqA Psychopath]].

** The nurses are caring medical practitioners who you only visit when your Pokemon are badly injured but they say they "hope to see you again real soon".

** Red has various interpretations on both design and personality. His remake design ''always'' shows him scowling and his ''SuperSmashBros'' counterpart is a bit of a JerkAss (or at least quite cocky) along with his ''Manga/PocketMonsters'' counterpart, though the games imply he's a nice {{Determinator}}. But his classic design is almost always shown happy, smiling, friendly, and HotBlooded. Fans love to portray him as TheStoic.

** There are many fans who think Peach really is Jr's biological mother. Her confusion in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine'' wasn't due to her being [[NeverLiveItDown infamously]] ditzy.

** [[DastardlyWhiplash Waluigi]]. Is he truly despicable and evil ? Does he just go along with Wario´s mischievous plans simply out of fear of reprisal or because he has no other friends ? Did Luigi do something terrible to him in order to evoke his behavior ? Does he simply pretends to be a loser in order to keep the Mario Brothers off his plans ? Did he seek to become popular like the Mario brothers out of spite or out of the need for love ? Is his crush on Daisy a mere attempt to annoy and disrespect his rival Luigi, or does he really care about her ? Is Waluigi truly greedy and vain or does he simply pretends to be in order to please his only friend Wario ? Because of his extremely ambiguous origins and his complex character, he is very prone to this.

*** It's mostly Peach/Bowser fans that have this view, however many thing Peach allows herself to get kidnapped. Common interpretations are she enjoys the excitement and finds it amusing or she is secretly in love with Bowser.

** Zelda in SkywardSword. [[spoiler: A benevolent Goddess who is simply reincarnated as Link's childhood friend and does not want to interfere with her current form's life... or a ManipulativeBastard who knew to get Link to do her bidding as a chosen hero to finally finish off the BigBad, flat out admitting during a pivotal scene that "[she] had used [Link]"?]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}:

** Tom Nook is prone to this to near RonTheDeathEater levels. Is he an honest businessman or an evil, greedy creep who pretty much single handedly runs the towns economy and keeps the protagonist as an indentured servant? He is constantly upgrading your house without your permission and the first thing he does when you come to town is try to force you to buy a house without your permission or any knowledge of your budget. Some even go as far as to see him as {{yakuza}} or [[TheMafia mafia]] affiliated.

*** Furthermore, with Red's appearance as the FinalBoss of Silver/Gold and the remakes, there's debate as to whether he's a BloodKnight always looking for the next battle (he's found at the end of TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon which has the strongest pokemon in the game), a RetiredBadAss that just wants to be left alone (as far from civilization as possible in game), or a DeathSeeker in the sense that he wants someone who can finally defeat him (see previous reasons and add that he vanishes after he's beaten).

** Views on Inklings as a whole differ due to the Octarians backstory. [[spoiler:Octarians were forced under ground after losing a war. Their living situations are becoming increasingly poor.]] Many feel sympathetic for Octarians and view Inklings as genocidal jerks.

** Eliwood's son Roy is subject to a lot of this thanks to the different canons he appears in. While FE 6 fic paints him as an upstanding hero with a strong spirit, ''SuperSmashBros'' fic has him as Marth's [[CanonDefilement weepy uke]] (or just a pyromaniac moron.)
** Really? I was under the impression that Marth was usually the one [[{{Wimpification}} wimpified]]...

* Zant from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'' is subject to this, mainly due to the ending of the game when [[spoiler:Ganondorf, after having been defeated, looks through a twilight portal to Zant, and Zant snaps his own neck]]. Was Zant just a [[spoiler:WellIntentionedExtremist]] all along? A case of [[spoiler:RedemptionEqualsDeath in that he killed himself to stop Ganondorf once and for all]]? Or was he just a [[spoiler:{{Jerkass}} who wanted revenge on Ganondorf for deceiving him]]? For that matter, would [[spoiler:wanting revenge for what Ganondorf did to him make him a jerkass in the first place]]?

* ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'': Is Samus Aran the villain? Is she anything more than a sociopathic bounty hunter? The games often center around breaking into the Space Pirates' bases and killing everyone inside. When introduced to a planetary ecosystem, she kills everything in sight - including very large and possibly unique predators - which must have a lasting impact on the ecosystem.

* ''{{Pokemon}}'' 's Cyrus-- is he WellIntentionedExtremist? Even his die-hard fans will admit that his actions were evil and he had to be stopped, but was it as simple as defeating a megalomaniac? Or was there a good motive under that insanity? Giving him a CryForTheDevil backstory--which you don't discover until he's already gone from the plot--throws a wrench in the works, as does that some of his agents want to continue his organization even with the realization that Cyrus himself had gone too far.

** Kotone/Lyra (the girl trainer in HG/SS). Both [[http://www.pokesho.com/img_4/4_hgss33.gif Japanese]] and [[http://toonness64.deviantart.com/art/Thats-MIND-BOGGELING-D-167739829 Western]] fandom love depicting her with a few screws loose, partially related to her ReplacementScrappy status. The Japanese version takes it up to eleven by making her NEVER change her expression.
** Nurse Joy, a caring medical practitioner who you only visit when your pokemon are badly injured but is "hoping to see you again real soon".

*** Other protagonists are like this too, even the ones with a set personality in their {{NPC}} roles. Dawn and May in particular get hit with this hard in {{Fanon}}, often being tomboyish and role model-like when their game personalities are very feminine and {{Tsundere}} in Dawn's case.
** There's also quite a bit of AlternativeCharacterInterpretation in PokemonSpecial, with some characters (non-PlayerCharacter), namely [[KillAllHumans Lance]], [[WellIntentionedExtremist Pryce]], [[MagnificentBastard Archie]], and [[KickTheDog N]].

* Mario and Luigi from ''SuperMarioBrothers'' are sometimes considered to be {{Nominal Hero}}es or even [[VillainProtagonist Villain Protagonists]] because they tend to slaughter tons of seemingly-harmless creatures on their quest to rescue the Princess. In the actual games, primary antagonist Bowser can range from being a HarmlessVillain to a huge threat.* The theories on the Mario-Bowser-Princess Peach relationship are manifold, and reflect the opinee's view of life better than any Rorschach blot could. Interpretations from the myth of St. George to a S&M game are available.
** And that's not even getting into the [[{{moviebob}} God-vs-Satan]] interpretations...

** While on the subject of Mario, what about Birdo? Is he/she/it ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'''s gender-bending dino-bloke or the girlfriend of Yoshi's that the spin-off games make him/her/them out to be? Although this could be attributed to being AllThereInTheManual causing some problems amongst the developers of the later games thanks to a dose of ViewerGenderConfusion.

** Wilhelm may have been trying to become God (or really was him, thus making it a case of GodisEvil) himself. Not only does he have some subtle AGodAmI like moments, he also can [[spoiler:make people immortal, see the consciousness of anyone he likes, and is able to keep the time-loop he had going. Also, he can do whatever he wants, whether it's transporting gigantic robots with the snap of a finger or force choking someone. He also acts more like God than what the official explanation is. He claims U-DO is God and that the two Abels are it's observation vessels, but knowing Wilhelm, it wouldn't surprise me to find out that he had something to do with that too. This is the guy who was behind the U.M.N. Another thing is that we never really saw what happened to him and Kevin. It's assumed that he dies along with Kevin, but they never show them actually disappearing (like they did with Caanan and Voyager) nor do they mention it after the last boss fight. This leaves me to believe he just went to a different dimension (most likely the Upper one) during the Zarathustra battle. I mean, I find it hard to believe that he'd give a Testament the power to kill him, let alone create just one key to activate Zarathustra.]] He probably just went elsewhere to plan. Not that we'd ever find out anyway, thanks to the series being canceled.