Rumour: Zelda U has some suprises in store for fans of the series

Next game in the series to be available on Wii U and NX; will allow players to choose between male and female versions of Link

Nintendo have been keeping the latest Zelda game firmly under wraps, offering gamers only the briefest of glimpses of the title since it was announced. We know from comments offered by series' producer Eiji Aonuma that this will be one of the most ambitious entries in the series to date, complete with an expansive, open world for players to scamper around in. This won't be the first time a Zelda game has featured an open-world, but from what we can glean, Zelda U will be the first 3D entry in the franchise to offer up the kind of open, interconnected sandbox one would expect from a modern open-world game.

According to Twitter user Emily Rogers, this won't be the only one of the game's innovations. In a first for the long-running franchise, Emily says players will be able to select Link's gender. Aside from their sex, players will also have a choice of which system to play the game on, as the rumour suggests Zelda U will span generations, appearing on the Wii U as well as its successor, NX.

One tradition that won't be broken is Link's stoic and silent demeanour. While Link will remain tight-lipped, however, Emily claims that the rest of the game's cast will be fully voiced.

To lend further weight to these rumours, Nintendo World Report's Neil Ronaghan took to Twitter to confirm that he was hearing similiar chatter from other sources close to Nintendo.

This isn't the first time the prospect of  a lady Link has grabbed the headlines. There were murmurs of her existence when footage from the game first debuted, with many people claiming that the Link seen in the clip was female. These rumours were quickly quashed by Nintendo, but -if what Emily's saying turns out to be true- the Big N may have taken note of people's interest in seeing a female Link and adjusted the game accordingly.

We'll have to wait and see if there's any truth to what's being said, but given Nintendo's recent push for inclusivity in their games, we would not be at all surprised if these rumours turned out to be true. Historically, Link has always been sort of a cipher, the player's link (geddit) to the game, so letting players decide whether they want to play as a male or female seems like a natural step.