Home > The Adventures of Linkle
Originally published on Link's Hideaway.
Many fans have been asking time and time again for a female version of Link to be in a Zelda game. In fact, when Zelda U was first shown, many fans were excited, as they thought the Link shown was indeed a female Link. Sadly that wasn’t true, however 30 years after the first Zelda game we do finally have a female version of Link, who she believes is a reincarnation of the hero, and thus the question must be asked, should Linkle get her own major game? After the break I will be attempting to answer this question.
Editor's Note: Related debate - Should Zelda Have Her Own Game?
To begin with, I think it’s worth looking at how a female Link would affect the main story. Wait…it wouldn’t really change much. The relationship between Linkle and Princess Zelda, however, would not be warmly received by every household in the world, so maybe in conjunction with a female Link, there could be a male Zelda: Prince Zelda. All of the ‘dialogue’ would remain largely the same, if not 100% the same. So realistically, it wouldn’t affect the main story in foreseeable way.
Welcome to the World of Options
With that said, would it be best to have a dedicated Linkle game, or just a gender option such as in Pokémon? Aonuma himself has stated that the development team will think about Linkle when creating new games. In my opinion, I think it would be best to have a gender option such as in Pokémon. The reason for this, is that it opens the game up to a larger target audience. Some younger girls may be turned away from the Zelda series based on the fact that Link is a boy.
They would rather play Super Princess Peach, and I can’t blame them, as it included a character that’s more relatable to younger girls, and it was a fun game. If the game were Linkle only, though, young boys might be turned away from it. Sadly there’s no pleasing everyone with this option. Of course having a Linkle-only game may get better PR and media attention helping to drive sales. It’s likely that anyone who bought previous Zelda games would not hesitate in playing a new one despite the change of gender. At the end of the day however, I would still go with the gender option.
Turning the Tables
Now, I do want to be fair and argue the other side, why Linkle should not get her own major game. There has been only one hero in the entire Zelda series, Link. Now like it was said before, Linkle thinks she’s a hero, so maybe she could be included in a game where she tries to be the hero but in the end isn’t, however still helps Link defeat Ganon in the end? There are a lot of playable characters in Hyrule Warriors of course that are not playable in other Zelda games, and will likely never be seen again in future Zelda games.
It could be argued that if you were to give Linkle her own game, you should give other characters their own major game. Yes, I do know that Tingle had a few spin-off games that were released only in Japan, and while no one really likes Tingle, I think a spin-off game, such as say Hyrule Warriors, is probably where Linkle belongs. (Again, I don’t genuinely think this, I am just trying to be my own devil’s advocate here and play the field. Personally I would like to see what Nintendo is able to do with Linkle’s character.)
Hope for the Future
In summary, there are two options here. Either Linkle is featured as a hero in a Zelda game, or she isn’t. I’m not the one who is going to be the deciding factor in all of this, but maybe together the voice of the fans can help give a little input here. I do think it would be nice to give Linkle her own major game, and for you purists out there, it doesn’t even have to include Ganon or Zelda, it could be some kind of origin story, or just like a side story where Linkle helps Link without Link ever realizing it. At the end, there are many things that can be done with Linkle’s character in the future, let’s just hope that the developers see this too.
About the Author:
Christopher Weil
The 2006 Time Magazine person of the year, born in Toronto, Canada, Christopher developed a passion for gaming at a young age. His favorite franchise has always been The Legend of Zelda, but he can also usually be found playing SimRacing games such as iRacing. He's in university studying mechanical engineering and looking to start his own 3D printing business.
