The 30th Anniversary of The Legend of Zelda starts on February 21st, in less than a month. And in March Nintendo is already releasing lots of Zelda stuff like Twilight Princess HD, the New Nintendo 3DS XL Hyrule Edition (in Europe) and Hyrule Warriors Legends in the West. But why is nothing here already put under the 30th Anniversary banner?
Well, some of these things were already released earlier in other regions, but at least Twilight Princess HD should fully fall under the 30th Anniversary releases. And in 2011 nearly everything Zelda was released under the 25th Anniversary banner, starting with the Ocarina of Time 3D soundtrack CD. So, why not here? What are they waiting for?
Okay, in 2011 the Anniversary banner was already revealed at GDC in March, but they waited for the E3 to reveal their full 25th Anniversary plans, so Ocarina of Time 3D itself didn't receive this label at first. And the same might happen right now with Twilight Princess HD and all the other March releases. It's still quite curious, because it feels like they would start advertising all these products with the anniversary right away, instead of waiting until E3, just for the hype of it.
And what will be left? 2011 had the reveal of 25th Anniversary concerts, the Four Swords Anniversary Edition, Hyrule Historia, Skyward Sword with a golden Wii Remote and more. There were quite some big surprises and I wonder, what surprises the 30th Anniversary will offer.
Naturally the Zelda game for Wii U will get the most attention and considering that the 30th Anniversary of Super Mario Bros. focused almost solely on Super Mario Maker, it's entirely possible that Zelda U will be the entire focus of the 30th Anniversary as well. Aonuma said that there might be 30th Anniversary concerts, but that's nothing new or surprising, especially since they have Zelda concerts all year long.
But what else could they do? We have been recently teased by the new president Kimishima that Nintendo is licensing movies and TV animes, where something for Zelda would certainly be a surprise, which might please many Zelda fans...
I'm also considering the possibility of a smaller release, maybe revolving around the first Zelda game, like a new Zelda game that is made in a similar style, though we certainly had our share of remakes, remasters and requels in the last years. But The Legend of Zelda for the Wii U is going to be the 19th Zelda game, unless they put some small game before that, because then Zelda U would be the 20th Zelda game during the 30th Anniversary, offering a double anniversary. For this the release would have to be something original though or at least something similar to A Link Between Worlds, because remakes, remasters and re-releases don't count.
This brings me back to my idea of Random Zelda, where you might have a game following the style of the first Zelda game, which randomly generates worlds and dungeons each time you play it. This could be interesting, but it would also fall behind Super Mario Maker, while being too similar at the same time.
With the 25th Anniversary they wanted to avoid doing the same things they did for Mario and this will probably apply to the 30th Anniversary of Zelda as well, while at the same time they want to avoid copying the 25th Anniversary of Zelda. Nintendo wants to surprise people for better or worse, where a Zelda anime certainly would feel different enough from anything they've done so far, not counting that 90s TV show (though I personally find that one hilarious). Imagine an anime in the same art style as Zelda U - the game already gives you a certain anime vibe, which could be expanded upon.
Anyway, still I would like to see something like the "Realm of Memories" as a new set of levels for Tri Force Heroes as a 30th Anniversary gift, though this would be quite similar to Four Swords in 2011. And they probably shouldn't wait until E3 to release new content for Tri Force Heroes, this game needs attention now.
Well, some of these things were already released earlier in other regions, but at least Twilight Princess HD should fully fall under the 30th Anniversary releases. And in 2011 nearly everything Zelda was released under the 25th Anniversary banner, starting with the Ocarina of Time 3D soundtrack CD. So, why not here? What are they waiting for?
Okay, in 2011 the Anniversary banner was already revealed at GDC in March, but they waited for the E3 to reveal their full 25th Anniversary plans, so Ocarina of Time 3D itself didn't receive this label at first. And the same might happen right now with Twilight Princess HD and all the other March releases. It's still quite curious, because it feels like they would start advertising all these products with the anniversary right away, instead of waiting until E3, just for the hype of it.
And what will be left? 2011 had the reveal of 25th Anniversary concerts, the Four Swords Anniversary Edition, Hyrule Historia, Skyward Sword with a golden Wii Remote and more. There were quite some big surprises and I wonder, what surprises the 30th Anniversary will offer.
Naturally the Zelda game for Wii U will get the most attention and considering that the 30th Anniversary of Super Mario Bros. focused almost solely on Super Mario Maker, it's entirely possible that Zelda U will be the entire focus of the 30th Anniversary as well. Aonuma said that there might be 30th Anniversary concerts, but that's nothing new or surprising, especially since they have Zelda concerts all year long.
But what else could they do? We have been recently teased by the new president Kimishima that Nintendo is licensing movies and TV animes, where something for Zelda would certainly be a surprise, which might please many Zelda fans...
I'm also considering the possibility of a smaller release, maybe revolving around the first Zelda game, like a new Zelda game that is made in a similar style, though we certainly had our share of remakes, remasters and requels in the last years. But The Legend of Zelda for the Wii U is going to be the 19th Zelda game, unless they put some small game before that, because then Zelda U would be the 20th Zelda game during the 30th Anniversary, offering a double anniversary. For this the release would have to be something original though or at least something similar to A Link Between Worlds, because remakes, remasters and re-releases don't count.
This brings me back to my idea of Random Zelda, where you might have a game following the style of the first Zelda game, which randomly generates worlds and dungeons each time you play it. This could be interesting, but it would also fall behind Super Mario Maker, while being too similar at the same time.
With the 25th Anniversary they wanted to avoid doing the same things they did for Mario and this will probably apply to the 30th Anniversary of Zelda as well, while at the same time they want to avoid copying the 25th Anniversary of Zelda. Nintendo wants to surprise people for better or worse, where a Zelda anime certainly would feel different enough from anything they've done so far, not counting that 90s TV show (though I personally find that one hilarious). Imagine an anime in the same art style as Zelda U - the game already gives you a certain anime vibe, which could be expanded upon.
Anyway, still I would like to see something like the "Realm of Memories" as a new set of levels for Tri Force Heroes as a 30th Anniversary gift, though this would be quite similar to Four Swords in 2011. And they probably shouldn't wait until E3 to release new content for Tri Force Heroes, this game needs attention now.
It'd never happen, but what if they made a Four Swords 30th Anniversary Edition that used a modified TFH engine as the base?
ReplyDeleteWell, if it's available for free, it would basically kill all remaining sales of Tri Force Heroes. :-D So, yes, this will never happen.
ReplyDeleteFour Swords Adventures on the other hand could get some treatment on the Wii U... They're currently remaking all GameCube Zeldas for the system, why not this one as well? As I pointed out in an earlier post, it's actually the only Zelda game, which is not available in some form for the current gen systems.
Only thing is how would it work for multiplayer? One of the main components in multiplayer play was that the Gameboy could show players inside caves and houses, so that way it wouldn't take up the entire screen. However, there's only one Gamepad, so how would they make that work with the Wii U?
ReplyDeleteWell, in HD the game uses a 16:9 format as opposed to the original 4:3. So, you put the GBA screens in the corners of the TV screen, since there is plenty of space there.
ReplyDeleteThe player with the GamePad can use the screen for himself of course. And the game might also support 3DS systems as controllers (Smash does that, so it's possible), though this should not be mandatory.
Interesting proposition, but the only way I really see it working out would be with the 3DS', which would in turn be around 800 dollars in costs, 200 for the Wii U, and another 600 for the 3 spare 3DS'.
ReplyDeleteWell, then you have a limited vision. If there's an easy solution, then why not go that route? Main problem with the Four Swords games were their accessibility and re-releases of these games should focus on changing that. And requiring multiple 3DS systems to play would not help at all...
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I personally doubt that they will work on the Four Swords games this year. It would take away the focus from Tri Force Heroes and they already did the same thing in 2011. They might offer the Anniversary Edition again for anyone, who has missed that five years ago, but that's probably it...