The Future of Zelda on the Nintendo Switch 2

Earlier this month Nintendo has given us all the information about what to expect from the successor to the Nintendo Switch, when it launches on June 5th, from the games to the questionable pricing. Whether the upgrade to Nintendo's future is actually worth the investment will be decided by its offerings, where Zelda has been one of the biggest hits next to Mario Kart in the last generation, mainly thanks to Breath of the Wild. But where will the franchise go from here and what could its future look like on the Nintendo Switch 2?

This article is a refinement of a similar post from last year, The Future of Zelda after Tears of the Kingdom. But a lot has come to pass since then. We have already gotten a new top-down Zelda title in the meantime with Echoes of Wisdom, still on the Nintendo Switch. One of the ideas from the previous article is actually becoming a reality with Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment. We've learned how they will treat both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom right out of the gate: by upgrading their Nintendo Switch versions. And we know what the Nintendo Switch 2 hardware actually brings on the table in terms of innovation... Which isn't that much.

All these insights reshape the image shown in the crystal balls of your nearest fortune-teller, and this primarily affects what's the most important topic:

 

The Next 3D Zelda

The Zelda series has been in constant change, always reinventing itself with each new console generation, both visually and in gameplay. We've had realistic styles, cartoon styles, and a mix of both. We've went from motion controls to a revolutionary open world concept. We have seen more than ten different iterations of the hero Link and the eponymous Princess Zelda over the decades, but we have yet to see a true trilogy of Zelda games. So, it's natural to expect a new face and a new style coming with a new system.

However, this time things might be different. Both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom have been a massive success, true system sellers, more than any Zelda game ever could hope to achieve before. They have been so successful that their open world formula will be the way forward. And they are so distinct from the rest of the series that they have become a brand of their own.

With the Nintendo Switch 2 we will get enhanced versions of both games right at launch, where Nintendo wants their customers to keep playing these titles on their newest system. Not only that, they plan on expanding the universe of this new Hyrule with the upcoming Age of Imprisonment spin-off. So, it seems like that Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are already laying the foundations for what's to come.

Adding to this sentiment is that the Nintendo Switch 2 itself is also just a continuation of the Nintendo Switch. This isn't meant to be Nintendo's next revolutionary innovation, this is simply the Nintendo Switch in bigger and better, with a few improvements, mainly to the Joy-Cons. And given how popular the Nintendo Switch was, it doesn't have to be.

If we apply the same principle on the next 3D Zelda game and also take into consideration that it's clearly very important for Nintendo to still highlight both Breath and Tears, then it's not far-fetched to assume that we might be getting another sequel to these two Zelda titles. For the first time ever we could be looking at a true trilogy in the series. This doesn't mean that this next Zelda game won't be innovative. Similar to how the Ultrahand had shaped Tears of the Kingdom in its entirety, the next game will have some gameplay idea that makes it stand out.

However, in an interview with GameInformer from late 2023, Aonuma has already stated that they are not going to do a sequel, similar to how they are not doing any DLC for Tears of the Kingdom, because they had exhausted their ideas. He called it "the final form of that version of The Legend of Zelda." But he was mainly talking about the world, where nobody wants them to use the same Hyrule for the third time anyway. And a lot of people don't necessarily want a third game where all their stuff keeps breaking. There is a lot of room for doing things differently, while staying with the same Link and Zelda.

There is also the chance that it makes a generational leap, similar to how Spirit Tracks unfolded its story, but that it still uses the same art style and also embraces the same open world formula. But let's discuss how such a sequel could look like in an upcoming post...

 

Shrine Maker

Something that has already gotten its own post many years ago is the idea for a Shrine Maker, Zelda's equivalent to the Super Mario Maker, based on the shrines from both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. And if Nintendo truly were to make a trilogy out these games, then this would make this concept on the Nintendo Switch 2 a lot more appealing. They could start with all the assets from the first two games and later expand this to shrines from the third game.

So, the creators would have the choice between the blue Sheikah Shrines, the green Shrines of Light from the Zonai era, and whatever may come next... maybe golden shrines of the Triforce. It's also a big topic of its own, where I've been meaning to explore this concept a little further for a while now.

 

The Next Top-Down Zeldas

While Echoes of Wisdom and the remake of Link's Awakening aren't such huge hits as their big brethren on the Nintendo Switch, GREZZO's contributions to the Zelda series were still received fairly well and they have also established a new art style that – similar to The Wind Waker – may have a lasting impact, at least for the future of top-down Zelda games. There is just something very charming about looking at these miniature toy worlds from above.

Despite their simple aesthetics, both games also didn't really run all too well on the Switch, where their upcoming updates for the Switch 2 may finally give us some stable 60FPS, which was one of the biggest points of criticism about GREZZO's titles. And with that out of the way, it seems even more straight-forward to simply continue what they have been doing on the Nintendo Switch.

They could still make that remake of Oracle of Ages & Seasons, with both the Game Boy Color classics combined into one experience. They could also follow up on Echoes of Wisdom with a new multiplayer title, where one plays as Link and the other as Zelda. This all feels like a natural evolution coming from Link's Awakening and Echoes of Wisdom, where there is no real need of inventing something completely new right now.

 

Past Zelda Titles

As already discussed in my recent article about the future Nintendo Switch Online, there is the possibility that the Nintendo Switch 2 will allow you to play the entire Zelda series in some form at some point. Additional libraries for the Nintendo DS, 3DS and Wii could make it happen.

That doesn't mean that we won't be seeing any more remakes or remasters, however. As already mentioned, the idea for remaking Oracle of Ages & Seasons in the style of Link's Awakening still stands. Yes, both games are already playable on the Switch via Nintendo Switch Online, but a remake would not only offer much prettier graphics, it would also allow you to experience them as one, without the need for a convoluted password system.

Both Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks would also gain a lot from remakes in the future. Even if Nintendo were to make them playable as part of a Nintendo DS service, they would still look horrible and they would still be dependent on gimmicky touchscreen controls. And they have many other aspects that are begging to be polished, like the atrocious treasure systems. Whether this will be happening on the Nintendo Switch 2 or a future Nintendo system is a different question. The Oracle games should have priority, because everything needed for a remake is already there.

It's similar with The Minish Cap, where out of all the handheld Zelda games it is the one that would need a remake the least. It's still something to consider, but maybe not for the Nintendo Switch 2.

Of course, what the media and most Zelda fans out there are begging for are neither of these games. They want Ocarina of Time. And maybe this will happen. We've been through remaking and remastering all the 3D Zelda games once already, where they eventually will start over. It's been 14 years since Ocarina of Time 3D!

The question is who should be doing it. GREZZO has done the remakes for the Nintendo 3DS, but they have proven themselves as the new studio behind the top-down Zelda installments, like Flagship in the past, which is equally important. But if Nintendo were to find the right team for the job of remaking the Nintendo 64 classics, then nothing would speak against it.

However, there is quite a commitment here, because Ocarina of Time has to be followed by Majora's Mask – both games were carved out of the same wood, so you shouldn't have one without the other. The same goes for the two Nintendo DS Zelda games and the Oracle games are overdue after Link's Awakening. But starting with the Nintendo 3DS, we've gotten exactly two remakes or remasters of Zelda games per platform, where there is no reason to suddenly expect many more on the Nintendo Switch 2. We can't have it all at once.

Another question that comes up every time is about the Wii U remasters, The Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess HD. With the introduction of the GameCube service to Nintendo Switch Online, it doesn't feel likely that this will happen anytime soon, because Nintendo wants to pay for the service, but only having the option of playing the emulated ports won't be appealing in the long run, just like with Oracle of Ages & Seasons...

 

The ?

Except for the Shrine Maker, this article is running with lots of safe bets. Nintendo will just keep doing with Zelda on the Nintendo Switch 2 what they've been already doing on the Nintendo Switch, just with more horse power. And maybe this will be true, because the Zelda series doesn't necessarily need to completely innovate itself yet again. Each new game usually brings a set of fresh ideas anyways, even when they borrow the style of a predecessor, as proven by Tears of the Kingdom and Echoes of Wisdom.

However, Zelda games are usually shaped by their gameplay ideas and with that there is no certainty to anything. We could be looking at something completely different on the Nintendo Switch 2, it's just that it would feel natural to pick up from where we currently are.

And there is also the chance that they might surprise us with something that rarely anyone expects, like a new spin-off out of the left field, similar to Cadence of Hyrule. But that is part of the fun.

Nintendo Switch Online on Nintendo Switch 2: Potential Systems

With Nintendo Switch Online we got access to a number of classic game libraries, as the successor to the Virtual Console. The emulated systems are currently the NES, Super NES, Game Boy, Nintendo 64, Game Boy Advance, and also the SEGA Mega Drive. But the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 opens the door for more, because its hardware allows the emulation of consoles that previously weren't possible, one way or another, where the first new library is going to be the Nintendo GameCube. So, what else could be added down the line? And what Zelda games would make this playable?

Nintendo DS

Let's start with Nintendo's first dual screen handheld system (not counting the Game & Watch devices). It was already part of the Wii U Virtual Console, where the GamePad made it possible with its touchscreen and microphone. The Nintendo Switch 2 will have a built-in microphone, so that already covers that part, though ideally there will also be something like a "make noise" button. The noise cancellation in modern microphones made it quite difficult to properly play Spirit Tracks on later systems, including the Wii U, where there needs to be an alternative for blowing into the mic. And being able to play the Spirit Flute or shoot the Whirlwind with the press of a button would certainly be more comfortable for some.

The touchscreen isn't as trivial, however, even though the Nintendo Switch already has one. But you can only use it in handheld mode and it isn't very comfortable to hold the system with only one hand (especially now that the Switch 2 will be even larger). It may have worked for Brain Training on the Switch, but this isn't a general solution for all Nintendo DS games that utilize both button and touchscreen inputs.

This is where the new mouse functionality of the Joy-Cons comes in, because it could be used to control a cursor for a virtual touchscreen. As seen in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, it's also possible to seamlessly switch between the modes, which would perfectly emulate the behavior of taking your hand off the buttons to use the touchscreen. It would do absolute wonders on something like Metroid Prime Hunters.

However, some games have utilized the touchscreen to give you soft buttons for quick access to items or other features, where they would not be so easy to use anymore. In these cases you really might want to play in handheld mode and have the touchscreen contents displayed on the right half of the screen. Ultimately, there won't be an ideal solution that for works for all, where it's important to have options and to save these options on a per-game basis.

In any case, this should be part of the basic subscription, not the Expansion Pack. There needs to be something for the people who are not willing to spend double (or even more) for these online services. And the Nintendo DS is really the more basic version of what comes next...

 

Nintendo 3DS

If we can have GameCube and Nintendo DS games, then there won't be anything stopping Nintendo from adding the Nintendo 3DS as well... Except for maybe the eponymous 3D. Luckily, there are only very few games, like Super Mario 3D Land, that really required you to have the stereoscopic 3D activated in certain sections to make sense of things. Also, the Nintendo 2DS exists and has sold quite well without the 3D, where many of the later Nintendo 3DS titles didn't really put much emphasis on this gimmick. Some did not even support it at all. So, the lack of 3D shouldn't be much of a hindrance.

Another question is StreetPass, but this would be the perfect incentive to make even more out of the offline-to-online multiplayer environment. How many people had trouble actually finding others with a Nintendo 3DS in public outside of Japan and wished that this functionality would have been taken online? Quite a few, I would suspect... And that's now a selling point, because this could give you access to features that some people never got to experience.

If you add suspend points on top, then I will finally go for the true 100% in A Link Between Worlds and beat that dreaded Endless Cucco Rush. The Nintendo Switch 2 could make it possible to achieve, given that you're not one of the five people who have already beaten the challenge on original hardware.

 

 

Wii

Well, it was already possible to emulate both GameCube and Wii games on the old Tegra chip of the Nintendo Switch, where this was used for the Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection. And with GameCube games ready for features like online play or restore points, the Wii will certainly follow at some point. You could use both the gyro or the mouse modes of your right Joy-Con to emulate the pointer. And Wii MotionPlus is already covered by the gyro. So, we're good to go for games like Super Mario Galaxy, Mario Kart Wii, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Skyward Sword, and even Link's Crossbow Training.

In case of Metroid Prime 3 you had the bumper stickers for your space ship, where it would be awesome if this behaved in a similar way. If you have played the games in question on the service, then you will be granted the sticker. The necessary Friend Credits should also be possible to obtain via the online service.

It will generally be interesting to see how they will handle multiplayer with systems that had both local and online multiplayer, which already starts with the Nintendo DS. So far the Nintendo Switch Online services allowed to play local multiplayer modes online together with friends only. This should stay the same, of course... But could this also bring back actual online lobbies with random players, like you had them in Mario Kart Wii and Mario Kart 7? That would certainly be a worthwhile addition if it came to it.

Wii U

Emulating Wii U games would probably be out of scope for the Nintendo Switch 2. Well, I'm no expert on the matter of emulation, so maybe it's technically possible, but it wouldn't be necessary in any case. 90% of Nintendo's own Wii U library already got ported over to the Nintendo Switch, where having these games as part of the Nintendo Switch Online service would be heavily redundant and also a slap in the face of all the people who have invested lots of money in their Nintendo Switch counterparts. Well, many of these ports got enhanced in various ways, like additional contents, but this makes having the Wii U versions even less desirable. Who wants to play the original Mario Kart 8 or Hyrule Warriors at this point?

Instead, it's more likely that Nintendo will eventually port over some of remaining Wii U titles, like Kirby and the Rainbow Course, Yoshi's Woolly World or Star Fox Zero. And yes, even the Zelda HD remasters, so we'd have all three versions of Twilight Princess on the Nintendo Switch 2 eventually...

 

All the Legends

If Nintendo really were to add Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS and Wii, then this would be tremendous, because for the first time ever you would have access to (almost) all of Nintendo's history on a single system. It wouldn't cover curiosities like the BS-X, the Virtual Boy or the Game & Watch devices and it won't ever have all the games, but it would be quite the milestone nevertheless.

The Nintendo Switch 2 might even offer the entire Zelda series at some point (save for the BS-X games). So far this has only happened once and this was on the GameCube, thanks to the Game Boy Player peripheral. In detail, the following Zelda games and spin-offs could all make it onto the Nintendo Switch 2 via Nintendo Switch Online:

• Four Swords Adventures (GCN)
• Twilight Princess (GCN)
• Twilight Princess (Wii)
• Link's Crossbow Training (Wii)
• Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland (NDS)
  
• Phantom Hourglass (NDS)
• Spirit Tracks (NDS)
• Skyward Sword (Wii)
• Ocarina of Time 3D (3DS)
• Majora's Mask 3D (3DS)
  
• A Link Between Worlds (3DS)
• Tri Force Heroes (3DS)

Together with The Wind Waker, this would add the seven Zelda titles that you currently aren't able to play on a Nintendo Switch. And on top of that you would get some alternate variants of games (like how we currently have both versions of A Link to the Past), as well as some other spin-offs.

They could even give us access to some that were exclusive to Japan so far. Tingle's Balloon Fight, for example, doesn't really have much text, where you can understand it just fine without translations. And I'd love to finally give Navi Trackers a try.

 

3rd Parties

While it's the easiest and cheapest to go for their own gaming systems, Nintendo isn't limited to them. In fact, the SEGA Mega Drive is already part of the current offering. The Virtual Console in the past also featured the Neo Geo, Turbo Grafx or the SEGA Master System, but there is no reason not to have these on the Nintendo Switch already, should these ever return. The SEGA Dreamcast on the other hand is more on the line of something that could require the Nintendo Switch 2, though it's probably somewhere right in the middle. But even if it were possible to have it on the Switch, then Nintendo would probably make it exclusive to the successor nevertheless, since the Dreamcast is a bit of a fan favorite.

In other news, Phil Spencer has recently reassured that Microsoft will keep supporting Nintendo on their upcoming console with their games (see Variety). And while he probably means newer titles, like DOOM: The Dark Ages, there is a chance that they might extend their cooperation to the classic Xbox library, so that Nintendo can offer them as part of Nintendo Switch Online. This would be huge and I'd personally love to have this for one of my absolute favorite console shooters ever. No, not Halo...

I'm talking about Unreal Championship 2 - The Liandri Conflict. I'm still a big fan of the Unreal series and this mix of 3rd person melee combat with traditional Arena Shooter gunplay and unique characters was ahead of its time. This is the game I still keep my old Xbox around for, but it already has all started to deteriorate... Well, it's still in the list of backwards compatible games on Xbox Series X/S, so I could get that, but I'd love to have it on a Nintendo system instead. I doubt that this day will ever come, but it would make me very happy if it did.

Mario Kart World Direct Roundup

The Mario Kart World Direct has aired today and given us some more details about the game, though most of it was already deduced by the fans out there from the existing footage. For example, you could spot the Big Donut battle stage, which had soft-confirmed Battle Mode. But it's still nice to have an official confirmation on a number of things, including the possibility to play your classic three-lap courses in Versus Mode.

As a Zelda player, I'm naturally intrigued by the Free Roam mode with all the little secrets that you can find everywhere. The P-Switches are essentially like your Korok puzzles in this, but there are also special medallions to find and the ?-panels. We don't know yet what they will do, but it's not like I care about the reward with these things, as long as exploring the world is fun.

The drive-thoughs for unlocking outfits are also a nice idea. It looks like this will be based on the different courses and regions, where you can obtain Sushi and with it the Happi outfits around the new Japan-themed course, Cheep Cheep Falls. However, this will mean that you will have to go everywhere with all the characters in order to unlock all their outfits, which might be somewhat repetitive.

Also, that the outfitted characters are simply appended onto the character select screen is... far from ideal. Well, it's nice that characters in the same outfit are right next to each other, making it easy to see what you are still missing. But it will blow this out of proportion in the end, where it would be better if you were to select the character first and the outfit second, like in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

But it looks like Mario Kart World is truly getting the good stuff from Mario Kart Tour that didn't make it into the Booster Course Pass. This includes the "new" items, however, where additions like the Feather, the Hammer, the Ice Flower, or the Coin Box did already exist in previous games, mainly in Tour. It's still a novelty for everyone who hasn't played the mobile game (including myself), but only the Coin Shell and Kamek are truly new from what I can tell. And it's unfortunate for the latter, because he has just joined the fun only to be demoted to an item right away.

While there was no clear confirmation on this, it really looks like the new weird character additions, like the cow or the dolphin, come from Kamek, though. In the Direct he transformed all other players into Chargin' Chucks on a road with Chargin' Chucks, which certainly was no coincidence. And many of the new additions are present as stage hazards, like the bats. I'm guessing that there will be the default set of drivers with your typical Mario Kart cast, but you'll get to unlock the outfits and Kamek transformations on top.

The most interesting change has to be the Charge Jump, however, which is activated by the drift button, but you charge it by going straight instead of drifting. This jump is then what lets you dodge attacks, grind on rails and even briefly drive on walls. The possibilities of this looked insane and this will add a lot of depth to the racing overall.

All in all, Mario Kart Tour looks great and like an absolute must-have for the Nintendo Switch 2. It won't make me buy the system at launch, though, where right now I'm not interested in becoming a "Nintendo Switch 2 Ambassador".

Also, on a side note, I find it interesting how Nintendo is pushing Rosalina as this snow princess, like it's their version of Elsa from Frozen. I do like her Aurora outfit, however, it's really beautiful.

Nintendo Music: The Legend of Zelda Added

If they keep adding Zelda titles to Nintendo Music at this rate, then we may see a complete collection at some point in 2026, during the 40th Anniversary. They could even use the anniversary as an excuse to add things like the 25th Anniversary Orchestral CD that came with Skyward Sword. I also expect the Tears of the Kingdom soundtrack to arrive in June, when they are releasing the Switch 2 update for the game and new amiibo.

Anyway, the original Hyrule Fantasy was just added with 12 tracks. It's very basic, where they probably should have added The Adventure of Link along with it, but still nice to have. And they have also added the Famicom version, which has some differences here and there, most notably the title theme, because the Famicon had a wavetable sound channel.

Age of Imprisonment – New Battle Mechanics

With the change to Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity Koei Tecmo had streamlined a number of things when compared to the first game. The magic system was removed in favor of more powerful Special Attacks. And the clunky item selection was replaced with holding down either the L and R buttons to quickly trigger the three different elemental rods, healing, or the four Sheikah Slate Runes, which could be accessed by all characters.

Needless to say that the Sheikah Slate abilities won't return here in the same way or at all. Maybe Purah could still use some of them with an enhanced Purah Pad, but that would be limited to one moveset. And the Zonai abilities just wouldn't work so universally for combat, where it's more likely that they will be woven into individual movesets as well.

We can already see this with Recall and Zelda, where all the sages will likely get to use the powers of their Secret Stones in combat. In addition, Rauru makes use of the Ultrahand to attack from a distance, while Mineru will probably have "Autobuild" as part of her moveset. Maybe she or another character could even use Ascend in a whacky way... And the Flail weapon from Pulse of the Ancients was essentially a prototype for how Fuse would function in a moveset.

However, Fuse is the only ability here that could work well for everyone and everything, but there probably would be some limitations. Maybe it's mainly used to infuse weapons with elements when you need them, which is where the replacement for the elemental rods come in. There are technically no rods as basic weapons in Tears of the Kingdom anymore, instead they are all the result from fusions. But it would make sense if instead you were given the different types of elemental fruits:

• Fire Fruit
• Ice Fruit
• Shock Fruit
• Splash Fruit
• Dazzlefruit
  

The elements felt somewhat underdeveloped in Age of Calamity, but with the sages they should become a lot more important, where their movesets will give you clear advantages in certain scenarios, e.g. using the Sage of Fire in the icy Hebra Mountains. But in order for the other characters to be still able to do something, you also get the elemental fruits, so you can throw fire on ice enemies and so on.

Potentially there could also be Bomb Flowers, Muddle Buds and the Puff Shrooms, so eight items in total, which could be selected in a basic item wheel. Holding down R lets you select something to throw and holding down L lets you select something to fuse, where your character's main weapon will gain a temporary elemental boost.

Food is not part of this eight-way wheel, because it wouldn't make sense to fuse any healing items, but that is a topic of its own. Food is tremendously overpowered in both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, so much that it breaks these games. Age of Calamity then went with the extreme opposite, where you only get a bunch of apples that heal only a little. It made the game in its higher difficulties completely unforgiving, where maybe they will find a middle ground this time.

Finally, it also looks like there are going to be new specials, where you can join hands with other characters to do some cool combo attack. This idea really fits the symbolism of hands from Tears of the Kingdom very well and opens up many new possibilities, where it's interesting to experiment with different character combinations. This could work similar to the pairing system from Fire Emblem Warriors, where another character will escort you in battle and together you build up a "Dual Attack" gauge. Alternatively, this could simply be triggered by using your Special Attack close to another character.

Age of Imprisonment – Ancient Hyrule

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment will let us visit the new Hyrule in its founding years, long before the Great Calamity first struck 10,000 years ago. And while there are some concerns about experiencing the same Hyrule for the fourth time, this could be actually quite exciting.

It already was interesting to see the Hyrule from 100 years ago in Age of Calamity, where places like Hyrule Castle, Hyrule Castle Town, various villages or the Great Plateau can be experienced before they get ruined (or while they get ruined), at least to some degree. But it was still the same Hyrule overall, where nothing much else has happened over the 100 years after the Guardians had laid everything to waste.

This will be very different in Age of Imprisonment, where we're looking at the late era of the Zonai and their culture. Hyrule Castle sits in the middle of the Great Plateau, next to a very different Temple of Time in the Garden of Time. And that's where most of the memories in Tears of the Kingdom have taken place. There are also some at the Forgotten Temple and of course the place where the final confrontation takes place, what eventually will become Ganondorf's sealing grounds. According to the Master Works book it is the Temple of Light, a place that never was fully seen in a Zelda game... so far.

What's also a mystery is pretty much everything else. The Goron, the Zora, the Rito, the Gerudo... we have yet to see how their homes have looked like in the ancient past. And just like Hyrule Castle, it's certain that these places will have looked very differently, offering you an entirely new experience. The overall geography of the map might be the same, but what can be found in this version could all be completely new. The team working on this game has a lot of creative freedom, simply because we have seen so little.

On top of that (or more on bottom) we also have the Depths, which were this huge mystery in Tears of the Kingdom that never really led anywhere. Maybe there will be some remediation to that, showing us more of the mining operations down there and maybe shining some light on what this place used to be. For example, we could learn more about the Bargainers. And maybe such insights may not be restricted to cutscenes this time...

If you watch the trailer closely, you will certainly notice one particular moment that stands out. It's where Zelda is following Queen Sonia and King Rauru through the Garden of Time, after she was found by the both of them. This is not a cutscene, so you're actively following them as the player. But this isn't your typical Warriors fighting scenario either.

It's too early to say and we have to wait for more material, but it's possible that this game will offer "interludes" in various places, where you can walk around and talk with people, just how the modern Fire Emblem games like to do it. You probably won't be able to freely explore the ancient in Hyrule in its entirety, but there could be a number of places that act as a "base", where you can interact with your allies in different ways – first and foremost the Great Plateau with the ancient Hyrule Castle and Temple of Time. But it's likely that such a thing will be also possible in Zora's Domain, for example, or the Forgotten Temple.

And if this was the case, then this would already offer a huge selling point over Age of Calamity. Imagine if you could have done this in that game. If you could walk around Hyrule Castle as Link, talk to Zelda and her father, and so on. This would have been amazing. Well, let's not jump to conclusions here, but it would certainly be interesting to look at the ancient Hyrule in other ways than just cutscenes and battle scenarios.

Age of Imprisonment – Potential Fighters

A new Hyrule Warriors game is currently in development, this time taking place during the Imprisoning War from Tears of the Kingdom. It's again a whole spin-off title dedicated to a single Zelda game, but we know from Age of Calamity that this isn't a hindrance, at least not with an open world Zelda of this scale, where at the end we had 21 slots filled with different playable fighters. And we already know of three to boot with:

• Zelda
• Rauru
• Mineru
  

Rest assured that they won't be alone, where there is plenty to work with. It is mainly an opportunity to shine some light on characters that we didn't really get to see much during the memories. The younger incarnations of Purah and Robbie, for example, got first made for Age of Calamity. And they also came up with a number of original characters, like Terrako and Sooga. Well, in case of Age of Imprisonment it's quite obvious who should be fleshed out: the rest of the sages.

We've never learned their names and never got to see their faces, which most likely will change here. And at least with their names we can make some educated guesses, because they are wearing masks resembling the future Divine Beasts, meaning that they are likely the sages these machines got named after. Though, the original intent was probably to name those after the corresponding sages in Ocarina of Time and The Wind Waker, which got retconned with Tears of the Kingdom. And since Rauru is named Rauru, it's likely that the other sages got named after their classic counterparts as well:

• Darunia
• Ruto
• Nabooru
• Medlo (?)
  

Well, in case of Medli and Vah Medoh we can only guess how the Sage of Wind will be truly called, since their genders don't align. But I'm certain that the other sages will be named like in Ocarina of Time for the fan service alone.

Given that we strictly follow the events of the Imprisoning War, there isn't much else to work with, however. Queen Sonia's role in the story makes it difficult for her to become a playable character. Maybe we could have the Great Fairies as a support again, where it would be amazing to see them as younger versions, potentially.

It would also be interesting if this time we could play as the dragons, since they are quite important to the Zonai mythology – Dinraal, Naydra and Farosh. However, these would probably become this game's equivalent to the Divine Beasts, where you only get to play as them in select stages, which offer a larger scaled battlefield to traverse with them.

Otherwise we would already get in the territory of creating new characters, where there could be a new Korok, for example. Or they could dive into some other mysteries, like the Bargainers in the Depths or even the Ancient Hero as some bonus character. But that's pretty much it, unless... this Hyrule Warriors will allow you to be the villain again.

One of the most fun twists about the original Hyrule Warriors was that it allowed you to play as Ganondorf and take over Hyrule in the middle of the story, even if this part was only brief. Age of Calamity didn't have this, where all of the villain characters that you can play, like the two Yiga, eventually joined the forces of good in order to become playable. Koei Tecmo did get away with this, since the central villain of Breath of the Wild is this abstract force of evil, the Calamity Ganon. But they won't get away with not having a villain campaign when there's the fan favorite Ganondorf back, looking better than ever. It's an absolute must.

Well, Age of Calamity also introduced a new system, where the story chapters and side missions are all part of the same map, making it so that everything you do contributes to the same goal. But that could be easily solved by having two versions of the same map, one for good and one for evil. And this would add a number of possibilities:

• Ganondorf
• Phantom Ganon
• Twinrova
• Some unique Lynel
  

There is the question how they will handle Ganondorf's transformation into the Demon King, but maybe they could make this part of his moveset, similar to how Rhoam changes from a hobo to a king, or as a second weapon type, like with the Bow of Light for Zelda in Age of Calamity. In any case, it would not make sense to have two separate characters, except for Phantom Ganon, which is some remote entity that Ganondorf is able to create... as many times he wants. Of course with this character you want to be able to turn into the Gloom Spawn.

And that epic unicorn from hell has to be playable as well, though Hyrule Warriors has a history of not doing much with horses. Epona was only playable as one of Link's many weapon types in the first game, where she didn't see much utilization. And Age of Calamity had completely ignored horses altogether, even though they were quite important in Breath of the Wild and often seen in the memories.

Ideally, a horse or similar mounts is something that certain characters can summon at will. We also see Mineru riding on a Zonai wheel, though that's probably just her default "running" animation, but she could also summon something more sophisticated to move around even faster. Mounts could potentially also let you attack while you're speeding over the battlefield.

Anyway, as for Twinrova, you can actually see them in two of the memories, standing behind Ganondorf. They are adding to the list of masked characters, where we have yet to see their faces, but their golden masks have a gemstone on them, in their respective element's color, blue and red. Their outfits even have their names written on them in Hylian, Koume and Kotake, so that's yet another throwback to Ocarina of Time. If they are playable, they will probably be a duo character, similar to Robbie & Purah, where they can fuse into Twinrova at will.

One thing that people already wanted from Age of Calamity was a playable Lynel, and in a villain campaign this could become a reality. However, it should not be just any Lynel, just how Sooga was not just any Yiga Blademaster. It would have to be a special, named Lynel. This isn't a new idea, where I had called him "Lionel" in the past, but maybe this idea will finally become a reality.

With these additions, we're looking at around 13 characters in total, which isn't bad. That's the number of fighters the original Hyrule Warriors launched with. But it's still not on the same level as Age of Calamity and we will be kidding ourselves if we believe that this game won't include anyone from the future. That's just not going to happen.

The question is how it will happen. I've already gave an outline in my previous post, which does respect the events of the Imprisoning War and let's you play them as they happened in Tears of the Kingdom during the first half of the game. But then Zelda and her friends will mess up the timeline even more by going back into the past after the epilogue from Tears of the Kingdom. Alternatively, there could be projections of the heroes from the future that become playable, similar to the Vows, just more livelier. No matter how they do it, this will add – in the least – the following:

• Link
• Purah
• Sidon
• Riju
• Tulin
• Yunobo
• Mineru's Construct
  

One thing of importance here is that all these characters will get new movesets. While many of them were already playable in Age of Calamity, they can't just copy and paste them over. For example, Sidon will now fight with the actual Lightscale Trident and not with a pair of cheap Ceremonial Tridents. Or Riju will have two Scimitars of the Seven, instead of relying on Patricia (though, she could still be her mount if mounts are a thing).

Link might be the only one where he could play and behave mostly the same as in Age of Calamity, with the same three basic weapon types, but maybe they will mix things up as well, because it would be lame if everyone got new movesets except for the hero of Hyrule. And naturally Purah won't just be Robbie's sidekick this time, she has earned this much and her new design makes the fanbase go wild.

As for Mineru's Construct, the one we saw her using in the trailer for a special move was actually what will become the Seized Construct, not the one that Link later assembles. And it's likely that some Construct will be playable on its own, since the Constructs are somewhat important to the story. Age of Calamity had two playable Guardians, after all. And here it makes sense to use the most prominent one, which was already playable to a degree. It's even still there in the present, just dormant.

Of course, there are also other characters from the present that could make the cut. They could include Teba again, for example, or bring back Hestu, given that he didn't already exist tens of thousands of years ago. But if we're time traveling again, then this should only involve the main team, because it would have to be done on purpose. (Though, Tulin also somehow sneaked into the past together with his father the last time, but he wasn't playable.) The time travel would allow, however, to also let Queen Sonia join the cast, because her fate then wouldn't be sealed any longer. And maybe Master Kohga will also find his way into the past, so he can join the villains this time.

But with these characters from the present, we already have enough to easily compete with the amount of content Age of Calamity had in the end. And that's including the DLC characters, where ideally Age of Imprisonment will follow the example of its source material and be completely finished from the beginning. To be fair, it's not like the DLC for Age of Calamity was actually planned, it only came to be because of demand. But how they didn't anticipate the demand for Robbie, Purah and Sooga is still beyond me. So, let's hope that they won't repeat such mistakes and introduce Twinrova as some badass fighter, only to not have them playable at the end. Don't let anyone join Astor's club this time!