While playing Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition, but also NES Remix in the past, I personally had the most fun with the different challenges for The Legend of Zelda and Zelda II - The Adventure of Link, to the surprise of no one. As a Zelda fan since my childhood, those are the two NES games that I've played on an actual Nintendo Entertainment System and that I find the most enjoyable. And the rest of the NES games feels like a mixed bag, where I can't find the motivation to really dive into all the different challenges.
So, I had this idea that they should make a "Zelda World Championships" instead, which entirely focuses on Zelda and Zelda alone, spanning the majority of the classic games that are part of the Nintendo Switch Online service. This could be a great idea for the 40th Anniversary in 2026, as a nice way of re-experiencing the series in one competition-based package. On the successor to the Nintendo Switch, which should be a thing in two years, they could potentially even include GameCube titles, so we're looking at the following list:
- The Legend of Zelda (NES)
- Zelda II - The Adventure of Link (NES)
- A Link to the Past (SNES)
- Link's Awakening DX (GBC)
- Ocarina of Time (N64)
- Ocarina of Time - Master Quest (N64)
- Majora's Mask (N64)
- Oracle of Ages (GBC)
- Oracle of Seasons (GBC)
- The Wind Waker (GCN)
- Four Swords Adventures (GCN)
- The Minish Cap (GBA)
- Twilight Princess (GCN)
That's 13 games in total, same amount as in the Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition, so that's actually more than enough. Master Quest is probably the most exotic addition, taking a similar place to Super Mario Bros. - The Lost Levels, but the version for the Game Cube also was just an N64 ROM hack, essentially. It would even be nice to have it in the Nintendo 64 library on Switch at some point...
As for the two NES games, they should get a completely different set of challenges than what is already present in the current Nintendo World Championships, of course. For some of the more fun challenges, like defeating some Octoroks, they could simply bring it to a different screen. They could also go more into "spoiler" territories and include the Ganon or Thunderbird fights. And overall they probably don't need as many challenges this time, because they will be the least popular games in this collection.
Four Swords is missing in this list, because that's a tricky case. For it to work they would have to use the singleplayer mode from the Anniversary Edition, but that might not be an option... It would still be nice to have this, just so that some people may give it a try and like it enough to then play the new online version.
The Nintendo DS or Wii games aren't included either, but that's because of their different control styles. You want to be able to play everything with either a pair of Joy-Cons or a Pro Controller, effortlessly switching between different challenges from different games. Technically, Skyward Sword HD can be played that way, but they won't be able to emulate that version of the game.
As for the challenges, there is so much that they could do here, from basic stuff, like quickly defeating enemies and bosses or solving certain puzzles, to mini-games and exotic things.
In Link's Awakening they could make you steal from the shop as fast as possible, or clear the Dream Shrine. With Ocarina of Time they could emulate the Running Man Challenge, where they make you go from Gerudo Valley to Kokiri Forest on horseback. That Donkey Kong homage from a linked game in Oracle of Ages, where Vire has abducted Princess Zelda, is certainly a must. And in The Wind Waker they could make you win the battle in the Shark Island grotto, or hunt down all the kids in Windfall Island.
As for the 3D games, especially the ones from the N64, there is the question of how they will handle the controls and inventory. With most challenges they could just preselect the allowed or necessary items, and only assign them to the X and Y buttons, while the main menu is blocked. You don't want things to get too clunky and the menus were rather slow on the N64.
Beating entire dungeons from start to finish also isn't an attractive option for the 3D games, because it simply takes too long, save for something like the Bottom of the Well. But it should work fine for all 2D games prior to The Minish Cap. The best example is probably Link's Awakening, because the Chamber Dungeon from the remake already comes with some speedrunning aspects and this can be a lot of fun. And the dungeons are all quite short and sweet, also offering lots optional parts for optimization.
Anyway, this concept isn't meant to go into details, it's really just an idea. Do what they do with the Nintendo World Championships, but make it all about Zelda. Of course, this can be applied to other franchises as well, like Super Mario, Kirby or Metroid...
But Zelda probably has the richest history here overall, because they've made a new main game for every system, except for Virtual Boy. Metroid has skipped over the Nintendo 64 and Game Boy Color. Or Super Mario had only remakes on the Game Boy Color and Advance. But with Zelda you go both through the history of the franchise and Nintendo's classic systems. And that's beautiful.
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