San Francisco (CA) - Zelda will join the ranks of many other classic Nintendo franchises that have made their way online, with the release of Phantom Hourglass later this year.

In an interview with Game Informer magazine, Zelda co-creater Eiji Aonuma was asked if The Legend of Zelda : Phantom Hourglass will have online multiplayer battles. Without elaborating, he just said, "Yes."

This will make Phantom Hourglass the first Zelda title in the series’ 20-year history to include online functionality. The multiplayer will be quite limited, however, because the game devotes most of its space to the single-player campaign.