Gender-Swapped Link Appears in Hyrule Warriors Legends

Nintendo’s first Nintendo Direct since the tragic and premature passing of Mr. Iwata had a lot to live up too--and while I can’t say their new speaker has any of the charm Mr. Iwata tended to inject into each presentation, in terms of content, this was one of the best Nintendo Directs ever.

While the biggest news, of Cloud from FFVII being a contender in Super Smash Brothers, has already been covered (perhaps he was the winner of the now-legendary character poll?) there was a lot to chew through--especially as far as Zelda was concerned, as it seemed Nintendo was indirectly apologizing for the well-intended mess of Triforce Heroes. Namely, they persistently reinforced the fact that the next Zelda game would come out next year for the Wii U, but more impressively, they finally brought many Legend of Zelda fan’s dreams to life… kind of.

See, following the last ‘real’ trailer for the upcoming, thus unnamed Legend of Zelda game, there was speculation--much of it excited--that the version of Link shown in the trailer was, in fact, a woman. Considering Link is the only one of Nintendo’s mainstays that could get away with a gender swap (since every game is a new reincarnation), people were pumped at the possibility. However, Nintendo quickly and sadly dispelled those rumors, but did seem to make a nod towards them when the Hyrule Warriors art book showed off what a ‘female version’ of Link might look like.

Well, in yesterday’s Nintendo Direct conference, they briefly discussed the 3DS port of Hyrule Warriors, where they made reference to one of the new characters that would show up in the port: Linkle, a suspiciously familiar female clad in green who fights with dual crossbows. Check it out.



A neat little nod, if nothing else. I can’t say she ‘excites’ me in any way, since she appears to just be another one of a dozen fighters already in that game, but she does show up in a cutscene--what role she plays in the story might be enough to make me more interested in this ‘official’ gender swap.

We’ll find out when Hyrule Warriors Legends comes out on March 25th.