You don't need to "identify" with the MC to enjoy a game or a story. Lately all the garbage media journobloggers and gawker-loving tumblrettas preach crap like this just to be a nuisance and keep on chasing windmills.
I'm male. Like most of us here, I'm sure.
I LOVE playing female protagonists. Especially if they're girls or young women which they all are.
I like the appearance of protagonist Ayumi from X-Blades. But the gameplay sucks and her personality sucks too which is why I don't like her.
New Lara Croft is even sexier than the old because her personality is better (less arrogant).
So yeah, personality is important too, maybe even more than appearance. Back on topic, Attack Helicopter-kun (yes, he's male, anthropomorphic personification is a thing, you know) has just about the personality of a dead doornail. It's not the fault of the patch author. The same goes for Link too, I guess.
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Wow, what a blast, the "I sexually identify as an attack helicopter" meme. People play "ad libs" with it to create countless variations.