Dawn of a New Year – 2026

While it's technically just a change in date, there is something magical about looking forward to another year and what exciting things it may bring for your hobbies and passions, like The Legend of Zelda. And with the 40th Anniversary taking place from February 21st onward, there will certainly be something to talk about.

 

Expanding Worlds

The year starts with a small collaboration between The Legend of Zelda and Animal Crossing: New Horizons. The 3.0.0 update for the game will launch on January 15th, in exactly two weeks, and contain a number of new features, including new amiibo-induced crossovers.

You will be able to obtain outfits, items and furniture based on the Zelda series, as well as two new villagers: Tulin and Mineru from Tears of the Kingdom. Sadly, the Zelda-themed villagers from New Leaf are not returning for this, but it's still better than nothing and will allow Zelda fans to make their islands feel a lot more special.

In general, updates and expansions like this one could become a strong point of interest in 2026. For example, Hollow Knight: Silksong will get its first free expansion, Sea of Sorrow. And it's possible that Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment may get further DLC. There are no shared plans so far, but there is certainly demand for playable Ganondorf and Sonia, where Koei Tecmo may follow up on that. It wouldn't be the first time.

Another game that sees a lot of demand for DLC is Mario Kart World. 200cc, more costumes, the Koopalings, or contents based on Donkey Kong Bananza are what first comes to mind, but for a major expansion they could return to the crossovers with other Nintendo franchises. Bring back Link and the Master Cycle (Zero), introduce Zelda as a driver, and have an island that represents Hyrule. And Samus is practically begging to make a guest appearance in Mario Kart with her newest toy, Vi-O-La.

 

40th Anniversary of The Legend of Zelda

Super Mario Bros. was celebrating its 40th Anniversary last year, which was mainly used to advertise the upcoming Super Mario Galaxy Movie, where at the forefront was a two-in-one "port" of Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2 for the Nintendo Switch.

Well, there is also a Zelda movie coming up, but it won't be part of the anniversary, since it's scheduled to launch in theaters on May 7th next year. Still, they will get the ball rolling this year and in the very least present us with a first trailer, while potentially using the anniversary to create some hype.

But a glimpse is also the best what we can hope for when it comes to a new Zelda game. The latest installments, Tears of the Kingdom (2023) and Echoes of Wisdom (2024) are still too recent for anything to be even close to finished. The next 3D Zelda game should be right in the middle of its development, where maybe Nintendo will present us a first teaser trailer.

So, we should not expect another 25th Anniversary, which was huge and revolved around the launch of Skyward Sword. The 30th and 35th anniversaries didn't coincide with a new Zelda game and therefore haven't brought much on the table (only some amiibo, an artbook, and a Game & Watch system).

Maybe this will repeat here. Or maybe they have something else in store, where the likeliest candidate is another remake. And you may already know where this is heading, since the rumor mills have been running for a while: Ocarina of Time.

It simply makes sense. They have remade or remastered all 3D Zelda games at least once, where now they can start it all over again. And this could also get fans of traditional Zelda excited for both the Nintendo Switch 2 and the movie.

If this is really a thing, the only question is who has been working on such a remake. The folks at Tantalus, the developers of Twilight Princess HD and Skyward Sword HD, are good with ports and texture updates, but not necessarily remakes. And the folks at GREZZO, who had developed Ocarina of Time 3D, have effectively taken over the top-down Zelda branch.

Speaking of, instead of Ocarina of Time, we could also be looking at a remake of Oracle of Ages & Seasons. This could have been developed in parallel to Echoes of Wisdom, where there are even some indications that this might have been the case, or at least that they were remaking the Oracle games at some point. The accessory system was clearly based on the Magic Rings and the return of Smog as a classic boss was rather curious... Make out of that what you will.

Alternatively, we could be looking at something else entirely, like a Shrine Maker based on Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. They have already been pushing both games with the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2, where they got the first Nintendo Switch 2 Editions, and such a project could be the next step. However, it probably wouldn't be an official part of the 40th Anniversary.

 

40th Anniversary of Metroid?

Nintendo has yet to celebrate any of the anniversaries of their other Action Adventure series, but there is a first time for everything. To be fair, they had the perfect opportunity in 2021 with the release of Metroid Dread, but didn't seize it. In any case, it will have been five years since the last 2D Metroid release, so it's time for another remake or even Metroid 6. And theoretically it would have been possible for MercurySteam to cook something if they hadn't been busy with their upcoming 3D game, Blades of Fire... So, it's probably best to not expect anything.

2025 – Year of the Sages

We're looking back at yet another year and there is actually quite a bit to talk about when it comes to Zelda, keeping the momentum after The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Echoes of Wisdom in 2023 and 2024.

This is mainly due to Nintendo's newest system, the Nintendo Switch 2. Already in January of this year we saw the announcement, which would characterize the rest of 2025 for the Japanese video game company. A Nintendo Direct at the beginning of April then gave us a look at the lineup for the rest of the year.

The Nintendo Switch 2 itself launched on June 5th, together with Mario Kart World and Nintendo Switch 2 Editions of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. These paid upgrades let the games run in 4K, 60FPS and HDR, but they also give you access to a second save slot in case you want to start over without losing your previous progress.

In addition, you can connect both games to the Zelda Notes app on your smartphone. This lets you easily find missing shrines and Koroks, discover a large number of new voice memories, hunt for trophies, and even share Autobuild creations via QR codes.

Two years after its release, four new amiibo were released for Tears of the Kingdom, one for each of the new sages: Riju, Sidon, Tulin and Yunobo. New paraglider fabrics, which you can unlock with these amiibo, were added to the game as part of the update.

Both Echoes of Wisdom and the remake of Link's Awakening also received the same boost in resolution and performance, where in this case they were part of a series of free updates. Echoes of Wisdom even got a new feature on top, where you can now create favorites in the list of echoes.

Via the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack you could now play GameCube games on the Nintendo Switch, which includes The Wind Waker. It's not the port of the HD remaster that everyone was hoping for, but it's better than nothing...

And all of the above happened on the same day, on June 5th, so there were a lot of old things to enjoy in a new light all at once, given that you already had/have a Nintendo Switch 2. Only the new amiibo could still be used on a normal Nintendo Switch.

But that wasn't the end of it, where Nintendo still had another ace up their sleeve to potentially convert Zelda fans to the new system in its first year. Right in April we got the announcement for a new Hyrule Warriors game, called Age of Imprisonment, which was going to explore the Imprisoning War from the memories in Tears of the Kingdom.

For the first time in the Hyrule Warriors series this would become a canonical tale, where you get to experience Zelda's journey into the past as it happened. And this also put the beloved princess in the role of the protagonist for the second time after Echoes of Wisdom, while there were many new faces to meet, like the ancient sages under their masks, or the traveling Korok Calamo and his Construct friend, who looks and acts suspiciously like Link.

At first the game was scheduled for winter, but then came out already on November 6th. Two free updates followed to flesh out the post-game, adding a new difficulty mode, more Challenges, tougher monsters, and more. And this makes you wonder if Nintendo was pushing the game into 2025 for some reason...

In any case, the first months of the Nintendo Switch 2 were a celebration of the new era for Zelda, which has started with Breath of the Wild in 2017, with the launch of the Nintendo Switch. Whether Nintendo will further continue this era on the Nintendo Switch 2 or start something new remains to be seen.

Something completely new that awaits us is the upcoming Zelda movie. This year we got a first glimpse, announcing Bo Bragason and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth as Zelda and Link. However, we will have to wait until May 7th 2027 to see it.

2025 – The Arrival of Lurking Legends

While it was too early for a new Zelda game to come out in 2025, Action Adventure enjoyers still got served quite well, because 2025 saw the release of two of the most long-awaited games in the gerne with Metroid Prime 4: Beyond and Hollow Knight: Silksong. These titles had been announced in 2017 and 2019 respectively and were in the making ever since.

However, the former saw a bumpy development, which had to be restarted in the middle, while Silksong simply took as long, because Team Cherry had too much fun developing it. And the different results tell the tale, where the sequel to Hollow Knight delivers one of the best Metroidvania experience to date, while Prime 4 is suffering from a small identity crisis.

Patrica Summersett @ Zeldathon Mythos

The end-of-the-year Zeldathon is currently running and always worth a view. During the event they had a guest appearance of Patracia Summersett, the English voice actress for Princess Zelda. You can rewatch the segment on Youtube.

And it's always interesting to see the person behind the voice, who is currently 42 years old and sounds very different in real life. She seems to be very humble and nice as well, where is open to do such interviews and things with the Zelda fan community.

Metroid Prime 4 Timeline Placement

In an interview with Famitsu, Nintendo (presumably Kensuke Tanabe) reveals some details about the development of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, where they also answer when the game actually takes place in relation to the rest of the series. It's set between Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion.

Well, you could make an educated guess already thanks to the given year, 20X9 on the cosmic calendar. As a reference, Zero Mission takes place in 20X5 and Federation Force in 20X6. Super Metroid apparently is set in 20X7, but this has to be taken with a grain of salt, because that information only came from Japanese advertisements. It lines up with what Nintendo is saying here, though.

And I'm not fully on board with this yet. They made a big deal out of how in Super Metroid the "last Metroid is in captivity", before the events of Metroid Fusion revealed that the Galactic Federation has a secret Metroid cloning program. Well, that twist got preempted by Other M eventually and the upcoming Metroid Prime titles may simply dive deeper into this topic, where Sylux has been getting his steady supply of Metroids from all those secret Galactic Federation labs doing the same illegal thing...

But in order for Samus herself to become the last Metroid in Metroid Dread, some cleanup needs to happen beforehand. You can't have cloned Metroids all over the galaxy.

Then there is also the topic of Samus's gunship. She seems to have two different ones and is swapping between them between missions. But where is she keeping the spare? And she was in need of a new gunship in Metroid Fusion, where she crashed her ship from Super Metroid / Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, meaning that the one from Corruption and Beyond has to be destroyed eventually...

Source: NintendoEverything 

My Take on Metroid Prime 5

According to Nintendo, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond was the beginning of a new tale after the Phazon saga from the original Metroid Prime Trilogy, where they may have already plans to continue this tale sooner than later. So, let's explore the possibilities. Spoilers for the game's ending right ahead!

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond (Review)

Teased 18 years ago, announced eight years ago, and its development rebooted six years ago... Metroid Prime 4: Beyond has a very long development history and now has finally become a reality on the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2. But was it worth the wait? Does it hold up to the reputation of the original Metroid Prime Trilogy? And how how does Sylux fare as a villain? If you have followed my logbook, then you will already have a good idea, but here is the condensed version.

Got the F4F Revali

The collection is finally complete! I have now received all of the First 4 Figures Champions as presents over the last couple of years, starting with Urbosa in 2023, followed by Mipha and Daruk last year. And as an early Christmas gift there is now Revali joining them.

Somehow my partner managed to hide this from me in our closet for the past six months, but since she had put Daruk in the same spot, I must have learned to turn a blind eye to it.

Well, normally you save the best for the last, but I would be lying if I said that Revali was my favorite of the Champions. The statue is still awesome, though. They have used an actual bowstring for the weapon, or at least a proper string, which is a fantastic detail. And to make Revali shine more, I got the light-up version:

My Mipha has this as well, but not the other two, so I will have to see how I make good use of this. And I still need to buy a proper display cabinet for them all, where there had been other priorities throughout the year. But at least I now won't have to leave an open space inside once it's in place.