Expectations for Zelda’s 35th Anniversary
Next year is the 35th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda, and it’s very likely Nintendo will have some surprises for us.
So what could they be?
Well, I have some ideas in mind that are a mix of realistic and maybe some wishful thinking.
Ocarina of Time/Majora’s Mask/A Link Between Worlds HD
This would come as no surprise to me, Nintendo already has updated versions of both games on 3DS they can use as the basis for them. Ever since the Switch was released I’ve been wanting ports of these two games, mostly so I can cast them on Twitch (extremely costly to do it with the 3DS unless you emulate them, which I won’t do).
Ocarina of Time could pretty much stay the same as the 3DS version, with some tweaks involving the touch-screen menu controls (3DS version had touch-screen item switching). Maybe throw in a new feature or two to justify getting it
Majora’s Mask is a bit of a different story, unlike OoT the changes made to MM3D were not widely loved. There were changes to the saving system, there was a new sidequest tracking system, some of the bosses were changed, and from what I’ve seen, the big issue was the changes to Zora Link’s abilities.
Now, what could be done is basically having a “classic” or “original” mode for the game. Letting it play exactly like the N64 original,
Though some “purists” are so unreasonable that the game is ruined forever no matter what to them.
With these games they could easily release them as a double-pack, the “Hero of Time Collection” or something like that.
A possible third game that was released on 3DS and could be brought over: A Link Between Worlds. I love this game and it’s another one I’d like to be able to cast but haven’t been able to due to not having a capture modded 3DS. It’s probably not as likely as the other two, but I’ll still hope for it.
Hell, give me all three of them in a collection you know you want to Nintendo!
Wind Waker/Twilight Princess/Skyward Sword HD
This is another easy one (other than Skyward Sword), WW and TP have already had HD versions made and it’s a pretty good bet both would sell significantly better on Switch than they did on Wii U. If it does happen that would be the fourth system in a row that Twilight Princess has been released on lol. I wonder if we’ll ever get a remake of it, like how Shadow of the Colossus was released on PS3 as a remaster and then remade on PS4.
Personally I’d rather have a true remake of TP, perhaps on the Switch’s successor.
Wind Waker HD makes sense as well, for the portability factor at the very least. Plus there are few instances of slowdown in the game when a lot of effects are happening at once, which I’m sure could be fixed in a Switch release.
Skyward Sword HD is the hardest of the three to pull off, due to the control scheme and how it used the Wiimotion Plus for nearly everything. The Joy-Cons could probably replicate pretty much all of it, but there would need to be an alternative scheme for playing in portable mode.
It’s also the game that’s the most in need of a remaster since there are quite a few small things that could be fixed that would easily make it the definitive version.
Now if Nintendo wanted to be really generous they’d release all three in a collection, but that might be asking a bit too much lol.
Skyward Sword, at least, would likely be a separate release.
A New Remake
We got Link’s Awakening last year, so what could we potentially get as a remake next? The Oracle games are a possibility, but there’s a game that I would absolutely love to see a nice remake of:
The Legend of Zelda.
Yes, the original.
No, the BS Zelda game released on the Super Famicom doesn’t count.
No, emulated re-releases do not count.
I want a full remake on the same level (at least) as Link’s Awakening.
It’s the 35th anniversary, I’ve wanted a true remake of this game for decades at this point.
Breath of the Wild 2
This one is obvious, and hopefully we’ll get more details on the game now that Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is out. Eiji Aonuma did say it would be “just a bit” longer before they could show more of the game, that was back when AoC was first revealed. If I had to guess, we’ll get a new trailer during The Game Awards this week. I’d imagine it would be released in November, and if E3 happens (yeah right..) it would be the featured game.
Well, that’s all I can think of at the moment.
