Zelda fans who have been hoping for a carbon copy female version of Link can rest easy today after the announcement of Linkle, a new female character coming to Hyrule Warriors Legends for the Nintendo 3DS.

The new character should not be viewed as a female version of Link, however, since her backstory is different, and her fighting style along with her weapons of choice are all different. The main similarities here come in the form of the name and the clothes she's wearing.

Nintendo made the big announcement during the company's latest Nintendo Direct video session. The company confirmed that she will be a playable character in the upcoming Hyrule Warriors for the 3DS. However, there was no word on whether or not she is set in the same world as Link, or if there's some form of relation going on between the two.

When it comes down to her weapon of choice, Linkle prefers to use a crossbow rather than a sword and shield. Furthermore, she's also good at hand-to-hand combat since Nintendo confirmed that she has a move called the "spinning kick attack." This attack is similar to Link's general "spinning sword attack."

Linkle is now the third most prominent female character in the Zelda universe, Zelda and Impa being the other two. Furthermore, these changes have some fans wondering if Nintendo will come up with a male version of Zelda, and whether or not Linkle will have her own game in the future.

Everything might depend on how well the character is received by fans and critics alike.

Hyrule Warriors Legends is a hack and slash game for the Nintendo 3DS that is being developed by Koei Tecmo. The Wii U version of the game, which is called Hyrule Warriors, was released on the system back in 2014. At the moment, it is not certain if Linkle will be released to that version of the game via an update.