Hyrule Blog - The Zelda Blog: Dawn of a New Year

Friday, January 1, 2016

Dawn of a New Year – 2016

One year ago I had in mind that 2015 would give us Zelda U and this year we would see the next Zelda on 3DS. These roles got switched and I'm not unhappy with it. I was moving at the end of last year, so the 3DS is my preferred gaming system right now. And Zelda U certainly feels like a better fit for the big 30th Anniversary of the franchise, similar to how Skyward Sword got released during the 25th Anniversary.

Anyway, a new year has begun, so let's look ahead what awaits the Zelda fans in 2016. It's the 30th Anniversary of The Legend of Zelda and the new game for Wii U is scheduled to release, where until then we can get entertained by Twilight Princess HD and Hyrule Warriors Legends.

So, there are certainly some parallels to the year 2011, where the 25th Anniversary took place and Skyward Sword got released, the last big console Zelda. They have been working on both these games for five years and it has been over a year that we saw something from The Legend of Zelda for the Wii U (ignoring the small teaser in the last Nintendo Direct). But we should learn more at E3 2016, which will take place between June 14th and 16th in Los Angeles, at the latest, where Nintendo will certainly teach us all about the game, which then should arrive in the last quarter of the year.

And the game will without a doubt be the highlight of 2016. A giant, open world awaits us, which can be explored by foot, horse, or sailcloth. And there will be dangerous monsters, where you will have to flee at first to find the right strategy, which might involve jumping off your horse in slow motion to fire special arrows. And that's what we know so far, where will certainly will learn more this year.

Until the game arrives the 30th Anniversary may keep us happy. The 25th Anniversary gave us Ocarina of Time 3D, the free Anniversary Edition of Four Swords, special hardware, Hyrula Historia, and the birth of the Symphony of the Goddesses, all next to the main dish Skyward Sword. It was an eventful year and since the next big anniversary won't take place until ten years from now, it should make sense for Nintendo to commercially "celebrate" as much as possible in 2016.

To start things off there is the remaster of the GameCube and Wii classic, Twilight Princess HD. It gets released on March 4th on Wii U, together with an amiibo of Wolf Link, where we will have to let ourselves be surprised by what it and the other Zelda amiibo will do in the game.

Three weeks later, on March 26th, we then will already see Hyrule Warriors Legends for the Nintendo 3DS. Apparently, there were requests for a Nintendo 3DS version of the never-ending madness from the Wii U, so Koei Tecmo has ported the game to the handheld and extended it with new contents. Toon Link, Tetra, the King of Red Lions, Skull Kid, and Linkle will all join the party, as well as new stages and an Adventure Map based on The Wind Waker. Plus, Ganondorf will get a Trident weapon. This game is a massive time sink and could easily keep you busy for the rest of the year, if you let it...

The Wii U version will only get the new characters and weapons, but there is also the possibility that Hyrule Warriors Legends will see some DLC of its own with new characters and more, like Groose and Nabooru.

Otherwise I'm convinced that Tri Force Heroes will get additional updates with contents. It was already data-mined that there are four more DLC outfits planned, as well as one more area. It's even possible that this could be tied to the 30th Anniversary somehow, similar to the "Realm of Memories" in the Four Swords Anniversary Edition. Speaking of, Nintendo might even re-release this title once more for everyone who has missed it five years ago.

Other re-releases are in the realm of possibilities as well, like Skyward Sword as a Wii download game in the Wii U eShop. Majora's Mask also didn't make it onto the Wii U Virtual Console yet and maybe they will do something with Link's Crossbow Training, now that there will be Twilight Princess HD.

Concerning the hardware, Europe still didn't get the "Hyrule Edition" of the New Nintendo 3DS XL, which was released in North America at the end of October and will be released in Japan this month together with Hyrule Warriors Legends. Maybe in Europe it will be part of the anniversary, maybe it won't get here at all, we'll see. Plus, with the exception of Tri Force Heroes, Nintendo has released special hardware alongside every Zelda in the last five years, where we might see a golden Wii U or something...

This also raises the question of Nintendo's next console, currently known as the "NX", where we will probably see it at E3 for the first time. It's even thinkable that the new Zelda won't be exclusive to the Wii U, but is also planned for the next generation, just like how Twilight Princess came out for GameCube and Wii. And these type of questions will hopefully be answered in the course of the year...

Other than games, DLC, and hardware, we might see some other things around Zelda during the year. In the very least the Symphony of the Goddesses is still on tour with concerts in Essen, Zurich, Vienna, Geneva, and Paris in October.

Summary

It's the 30th Anniversary of The Legend of Zelda and we will celebrate! Twilight Princess HD, Hyrule Warriors Legends, and The Legend of Zelda for Wii U will captivate us, while the Symphony of the Goddesses keeps pleasing us musically. And those are only the events that we know of so far, where there may be some surprises ahead of us, like additional contents for Tri Force Heroes.

Anyway, his is what we can expect in 2016: