Classic Zelda on Nintendo Switch?

With a Nintendo 3DS and a Wii U in possession you could play almost all Zelda games in existence thanks to various remakes, remasters, ports and the Virtual Console. The only real exception here was Four Swords Adventures, which to this date is only playable on GameCube or a backwards compatible Wii.

Now, on the Nintendo Switch the franchise has found a lot of new interest thanks to the success of Breath of the Wild. But what Zelda games can be played on the Nintendo Switch exactly? Well, not counting any spin-offs, it's only the following:

• The Legend of Zelda (NES)
• Zelda II - The Adventure of Link (NES)
• A Link to the Past (SNES)
• Link's Awakening (Remake)
• Breath of the Wild

So, we're looking at the first four Zelda games and the newest ones. But what's with the 14 titles in between? Will they ever have a chance to make it on Nintendo Switch as well? Let's take a look...

 

Ocarina of Time & Majora's Mask

These games already have been remade for the Nintendo 3DS via Ocarina of Time 3D and Majora's Mask 3D and the Nintendo is still selling and supporting the New Nintendo 3DS line, so there is no dire need to remake them yet again already.

Remaking these games in HD would also take quite some efforts, where GREZZO so far has been busy with Link's Awakening and might continue to focus on other topdown Zelda experiences.

But that doesn't mean the N64 classics won't ever be playable on Nintendo Switch... They will most likely follow the NES games and A Link to the Past, as soon as Nintendo 64 games become available as part of the Nintendo Switch Online service. They might even put Ocarina of Time - Master Quest on this one.

 

Oracle of Ages & Seasons

After the success of Link's Awakening on Nintendo Switch it's likely that GREZZO will remake the other GameBoy Color Zelda games as well. There's a lot of potential with these games here, where we will talk about this in detail in the future.

And even if such remakes won't be happening, there is still the chance that Nintendo Switch Online will offer GameBoy and GameBoy Color titles at some point in the future.

 

Four Swords & Four Swords Adventures

The classic multiplayer Zelda games belong to the more questionable cases. Their main appeal is playing them with others, where any ports would need to support the multiplayer modes properly, maybe even online. You can play the NES and SNES titles of the Nintendo Switch Online service together with friends via the internet, however, where this could work great in case of A Link to the Past & Four Swords.

Four Swords Adventures on the other hand came with a more complicated setup, since there was a main screen and every player got their own screen with the GameBoy Advance. This would require some more work, where it would probably be best to focus on a dedicated Zelda multiplayer experience on Nintendo Switch instead. GREZZO did bring back Four Swords once, however, with the Anniversary Edition as DSiWare, so it's not completely out of question that they might remaster Four Swords Adventures at some point.

 

The Minish Cap

If the Nintendo Switch Online service ever offers GameBoy Advance games, this will be the first among them. So, it's likely to re-appear, though it probably won't get a shiny remake like Link's Awakening did.

 

The Wind Waker & Twilight Princess

Both games got HD remasters on the Wii U with The Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess HD, where Nintendo might want to port them over like every other interesting Wii U game in existence. They might even provide a bundle, where you get both games on the same cartridge.

Such ports would require a little bit of effort, though, because you won't be able to use the Wii U GamePad for maps and inventories any longer. And the Miiverse features with the Tingle Bottles in The Wind Waker HD and the stamp collection in Twilight Princess HD would need to find suitable replacements, now that the Miiverse is history.

As a bonus, they could also add an HD remaster of Link's Crossbow Training to the package.

 

Phantom Hourglass & Spirit Tracks

If there are any Zelda games in dire need of remakes, it's probably the Nintendo DS games. They did not age well and there's lots of potential to improve them. Ideally, they would even get rid of the touch controls in favor of analog stick inputs. Whether such remakes will be happening on the Nintendo Switch is a different question, however.

With Dr Kawashima's Brain Training finding its way on Nintendo Switch it's also possible that the Nintendo DS Zelda games might get remastered in a similar fashion, where you play them in handheld mode with the system held sideways.

It's even possible that the Nintendo Switch Online service might offer select Nintendo DS games, similar to the Wii U Virtual Console. However, the Nintendo Switch does not have a built-in microphone, so both Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks already wouldn't work in emulated form, unless you ask the players to get a headset with a microphone to play them... Or find some workaround to emulate the sound input, like a sound button.

But it's more likely that they would go the Kawashima-route. It's also thinkable that Nintendo might want to put these games on Smartphones instead, though they don't seem to fit the current free-to-play business model there...

 

Skyward Sword

Emulating Wii games on the Nintendo Switch seems far out there, so the only way for Skyward Sword to find its way on Switch would be via an HD remaster. But this is more likely than you would think and Tantalus (the studio behind Twilight Princess HD) could be working on Skyward Sword HD as we speak.

The game's graphics could be easily upscaled and with the Joy-cons it practically begs to be on Switch and offer a very different take on 3D Zelda.

 

A Link Between Worlds & Tri Force Heroes

As already said with Ocarina of Time 3D and Majora's Mask 3D, the Nintendo 3DS is still out there and these games are still being sold, so there is probably no reason for Nintendo to port them over to Nintendo Switch as of now. If you want to play these games, you can easily get them with a discount.

Of course this is going to change in the future, where Nintendo will discontinue the Nintendo 3DS sooner than later. But it would need a proper port / remaster to get something like A Link Between Worlds running on the Nintendo Switch, where the Nintendo DS games should get prioritized, because they need this much more.

 

Summary

There's a lot of potential for the Nintendo Switch to become a new home for many older Zelda titles. There could be a remaster of Skyward Sword in HD, while both the HD remasters on Wii U, The Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess HD, could be ported over to Switch. Nintendo 64, GameBoy (Color) and GameBoy Advance games could be offered as part of the Nintendo Switch Online service. The Oracle games could be remade in the same style as Link's Awakening, while both the Nintendo DS games could be remastered for Switch as well.

Only time will tell what Zelda games will find its way to Nintendo Switch, but one thing is for sure: Link's Awakening certainly wasn't the last Zelda game to return on Nintendo's current system.