Just joking– we all know the difference between Link and Zelda— but Linkle is no joke. Nintendo Direct yesterday was packed with great news, and the female playable character in Hyrule Warriors Legends is easily my favorite reveal of all:

That’s right, gender bent Link is officially here and her name is Linkle, or “Rinkuru” in Japanese. More noteworthy than her ridiculously adorable name is her appearance in the official Hyrule Warriors art book, more than a year ago in Japan. Although the subject of some debate, text clearly printed beside her translates to “a girl version of the hero Link”. [Source: Kotaku, Aug 2014]

So wait, we’ve got Nintendo officially including a female version of Link in a Zelda game, and allowing Link to crossplay as Princess Zelda in Triforce Heroes? All this progress after their huge misstep of excluding same-sex relationships in Tomodachi Life… dare I say that Nintendo is learning something? Catching up with the times maybe? Hell, even Linkle’s design isn’t heavily sexualized, especially considering she’s showing less leg than Young Link.

Let’s not get carried away, but I do appreciate the effort. Good on you, Nintendo. Let’s try to make this whole “accepting alternative lifestyles” thing a recurring pattern, okay? Now if only we could get you to you chill out about copyright infringement…

Ahem. Anyway, here’s my official opinion on Fem-Link: Yes, hell yes, a thousand times hell yes! Not only do I love super cute, ass-kicking girl versions of things, but she has two crossbows. How does that even work?! Apparently she’s such an unassailable badass that she doesn’t even need a free hand to reload her double crossbows. Oh, and she keeps them holstered on her thigh-high boots. Because she can, that’s why.

Hyrule Warriors Legends for Nintendo 3DS is scheduled for release on March 25th in the US, and January 21st in Japan.  You can follow Ben Briggs on Facebook and Twitter, or read more of his articles here.

Edit: Originally I had mistakenly claimed that Hyrule Warriors is canon to the Zelda universe. In fact, this is not the case. [Source: Game Informer, June 2014]