When A Link Between Worlds was first announced in April 2013, one of the first things that came to mind was a new Four Swords for Nintendo 3DS, which in a way became a reality two years later with Tri Force Heroes.
Now, after the announcement of Link's Awakening for the Nintendo Switch, we're looking at a shiny new style for 2D Zelda games and with that come many possibilities for future titles. While we haven't even seen much of the remake yet, it's already quite likely that this style will be re-used for at least one more release on the Nintendo Switch. So far every 2D Zelda game on a handheld has gotten at least one follow-up title with the same graphics...
- GameBoy Color: Link's Awakening (DX) → Oracle of Ages & Seasons
- GameBoy Advance: Four Swords → The Minish Cap
- Nintendo DS: Phantom Hourglass → Spirit Tracks
- Nintendo 3DS: A Link Between Worlds → Tri Force Heroes
- Nintendo Switch: Link's Awakening → ???
Whatever comes to our mind now could become a reality in a couple of years, so we shouldn't dismiss any ideas right now, even if it's quite early to think about the next games already. Let's go through some of those ideas here.
Oracle of Ages & Seasons Remakes
This is by far the most obvious thing to do after Link's Awakening. Both games follow the same graphical style, where everything is in the GameBoy "chibi" graphics. Remaking the Oracle games would be already worth it for Subrosia alone. This place was practically made for the new art style and would certainly look amazing in HD on the Nintendo Switch.
One major reason to remake the Oracle games, however, would be the outdated password system. Linking the games with the "secrets" had its merits, because you could manipulate the passwords or even use password generators, but it always has been an inconvenient way of linking both games. With new games on the Nintendo Switch, there would be no need for passwords. They could simply share a save file, where everything gets transferred automatically.
Ideally, both games would even get released together as one big game (on one cartridge), so you don't have to (physically) swap between both games all the time. This alone would make the remakes more than worth it.
This all sounds so good that there shouldn't be any reason not to do it... However, we don't have a clear picture of the legal situation here, since those games were made by Capcom's studio Flagship. There might be some issues with character and music rights that we don't know of.
We know that Nintendo has the publishing rights for the old games, since those are on the Nintendo 3DS. We also know that the Oracle games got featured like any other Zelda game inside the Goddess Trilogy books. But we also know that Koei Tecmo had difficulties with Vaati in Hyrule Warriors and that the Symphony of the Goddesses doesn't have any rights for music from the Capcom Zelda games. These cases might have something to do with licensing things to third parties, but right now we can't be sure that Nintendo can just remake these games without getting any permissions. We'll have to see.
Third Oracle Game
Let's say both Oracle of Ages & Seasons get remade and both games share a save file, where everything gets linked and shared automatically without the need of passwords. Without any of these "secrets", there would be one person in the game without a job: Farore, the Oracle of Secrets.
Well, she still could be responsible for giving you item upgrades from the other game or she still could reside inside the Maku Trees for a new feature, but it's also possible that she could finally star in her own Oracle game that gets added on top. It would have to be a standalone episode, however, because squeezing in a third game between the two existing ones would still be difficult, even without a password system. But the game could still receive item upgrades from the other two Oracle games and share the list of Magic Rings.
It doesn't even have to be anything out of the ordinary. It could be a short game that mainly focuses on some challenges for seasoned Zelda players. A fun bonus episode that explores some more possibilities within the era of Oracle of Ages & Seasons.
A New (Multiplayer) Game
Other than a new Oracle episode, they could do any new Zelda game, really. It's actually been over 14 years that we've gotten a new connected 2D Zelda world with the Hyrule of The Minish Cap. All the other top-down Zelda games either re-used some older 2D worlds (A Link Between Worlds, Link's Awakening) or segmented their world into smaller areas or levels (Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks, Tri Force Heroes).
It would be really refreshing just to get a new, normal 2D overworld at this point for us to explore. But at the same time it feels more likely that Nintendo and Grezzo will just do another multiplayer game like Tri Force Heroes, because multiplayer Zelda games have become a thing of their own and want something new as well. However, it's already possible that Link's Awakening might feature some sort of (coop) multiplayer in some form.
Zelda Maker
Well, if Nintendo is unwilling to make a new 2D Zelda world, they might be willing to give us the tools to make our own. The idea of a "Zelda Maker" has been in people's minds ever since Super Mario Maker made its debut. And if Nintendo doesn't want to make a Shrine Maker, they could go for a tile-based 2D Zelda Maker instead.
Of course this wouldn't end up as sophisticated as the "RPG Maker" for example. We probably wouldn't be able to write dialogues or even use NPCs in any form. Maybe even creating full Zelda games won't be an option. But it could go in the level direction of Four Swords and Tri Force Heroes, the multiplayer Zelda games, where you work with item sockets and the like.
Basically, they could even let this go hand in hand with a new multiplayer Zelda game that comes with a main campaign, but also with a level editor to create more stages.
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