The Future of 2D Zelda

We are going to get a remake of Ocarina of Time later this year, while a new 3D Zelda game is presumably in development at Nintendo EPD3. So, the Zelda fans who prefer the big adventures from a 3rd person perspective already have a lot coming on the Nintendo Switch 2. But if you also enjoy following Link's and Zelda's journeys from a top-down or side-scrolling perspective, then you will have to wait and see for now.

To be fair, the latest installment in the series is still Echoes of Wisdom, which isn't even two years old yet. But presuming that GREZZO is not the studio behind the Ocarina of Time remake, it's likely that they are already working on the next 2D Zelda game, whether that's another remake or a new title. So, let's talk about how this could look like... and what may lie beyond.

Remaking The Legend of Zelda

A week ago the original The Legend of Zelda has entered its 40th year of existence, and maybe Nintendo is about to give fans a whole new way of experiencing the classic to celebrate this special anniversary. So, let's take a deeper look of how this could look like.

Of course, a remake always has been a possibility, but one that got dismissed by this blog several times. And there have been good reasons... The NES classics are rather bare-bones and if you start infusing elements from later Zelda games, you will eventually end up with a re-imagining, instead of a remake. And then this may as well become a whole new game of its own.

That's exactly what has happened with Oracle of Seasons. When Capcom was working on Zelda projects for the Game Boy Color, they first had pitched a remake of the first game in the style of Link's Awakening. But before you knew it, you were able to ride on a Dodongo and the project evolved into something else.

Source: VGMaps.com

You can even see where the idea of changing the seasons may have come from, by looking at the game's world. There is this Akkala-like area of autumn trees to the southwest, while the graveyard to its north is surrounded by white trees and rocks, almost like it has been snowing there. And this sudden change of scenery could have been an inspiration for the game's core mechanic.

Anyway, this perspective has changed with the Link's Awakening remake, which is currently leading to whole bubble of potential follow-ups. There are even rumors that GREZZO has been busy with a third game already for a while now, a project called "Bernard", following "Richard" (the Link's Awakening remake) and "Edward" (Echoes of Wisdom). But we have no idea what "Bernard" actually is, where there are a number of possibilities, like a new coop Zelda game or even a dungeon maker.

But on top of the list is certainly a remake of the two Oracle games, which turned 25 years old just yesterday. However, Echoes of Wisdom came out only one and a half years ago and remaking two whole Zelda games since then is rather ambitious. Maybe a little too ambitious to make it in time for the 40th Anniversary. And that's why they could have considered something simpler: the original The Legend of Zelda.

Now, remaking the first Zelda in the new Link's Awakening style makes sense for a number of reasons. There is the aforementioned history of how Capcom was trying to achieve the same on the Game Boy Color, where this could be finally be realized. It could even serve as an interim step for remakes of Oracle of Ages & Season, since they could re-use new enemies (like the Bubble) and all of the bosses, where Aquamentus, Gleeok and co. were featured in the Oracle games as well.

It also makes sense in the context of Link's Awakening alone. While the Game Boy classic was originally meant to bring A Link to the Past to the handheld, it also looked back at the NES original to make it happen. You have the same screen-transitioning system, and as a result dungeons were constructed in a pattern of square rooms, which ultimately led to the Color Dungeon in the DX version as a homage and the whole Chamber Dungeon feature in the remake. Certain enemies, like the Pols Voice, Vire or even Gohma, also returned for the first time since the original.

And by re-using the assets of the Link's Awakening remake, as well as Echoes of Wisdom, they could actually cover quite a lot already. Most of the normal enemies would already have models. Items like Bombs, Boomerang and Bow have already been implemented before. And they could even re-use the meat echo for the bait item... The more you think about it, the more it feels like the game is halfway remade already.

Keep in mind, though, that such a remake would mainly be about modernizing the visuals and the combat in the current top-down Zelda style. But this alone would already make it much more accessible and fun. Some enemies, like Darknuts or the Wizzrobes, could become less aggravating, while others may even become more challenging, first and foremost the Lynels.

The world and the dungeons should stay the same, however, as it was intended. The overworld would become seamless, just like with Link's Awakening, and they may add some visual clues as to what trees you can burn and what rock walls can be blown up, because nobody got time for that nonsense today. But there is no reason to fill it with stuff that wasn't there before, unless they want to go down the same route as Oracle of Seasons.

You would also now be able to assign items to both the X and Y buttons, while the letter and potions may even work fully automatically, so you don't have to put them on a button at all. And for the remaining seven items the game could make use of the Breath of the Wild quick select, without it being a pain, since there are only so few.

One of those items could even get a dedicated button, where the best candidate is probably the Candle. You needed it all the time in dungeons to light up the dark rooms and this could get annoying very quickly, because it forced you to swap items every so often. Also, the screen-based usage of the Blue Candle won't make any sense when there are no transitioning screens any longer, so it may simply have a cooldown, which gets shortened by the Red Candle. And it should create a sphere of light around you inside dark rooms when you haven't used its fire yet, so you can still see a little bit.

The Bow could also be overhauled to use actual arrows as ammunition. And the shops that offered you an arrow now simply sell bundles of them for a refill. However, to still offer the classic functionality, the Magic Book now also upgrades the Bow (in addition to the Magical Rod), so that it still uses up Rupees when you're out of arrows. Kind of like how the Magic Armor in various Zelda games lets you deplete your Rupees instead of your health.

On the overworld the Clock power-up would probably freeze all enemies in sight or within a certain radius, like it does in Hyrule Warriors on the Master Quest map. And with the Bait it would be nice if you could carry more than just one at a time, so you're not just keeping it to bribe certain Goriyas.

Finally, the Compass would be another good candidate for a revision, because all it did in the original was showing you the location of the Triforce in a dungeon. It should still do that, of course, but it could also give you a signal in dungeon rooms that have a key, just like in Link's Awakening. Or it may even give a general signal whenever there is a secret related to defeating all enemies in a room.

And that's pretty much it. No fuzz, no nonsense, just the original game modernized. However, to make this a bit more interesting and to offer something new for most fans, this should also come with the maps and dungeons of the first BS-X Zelda game, released in the 90s for the Satellaview peripheral for the Super Nintendo. It was essentially a 16-Bit remake of the original, but it got broadcasted like a TV show with time-based events, where in each episode you were playing two dungeons.

Because of their unusual nature, these games have never been re-released by Nintendo in any way or form, but they still could remake the two maps and their unique dungeons without any of the event stuff. Fans have done it before, so it's entirely possible. In the remake it could look like this:

When you start the game you get a choice between four different quests. The "Classic Quest" is the game as you know it. The "Second Quest" lets you play the devious altered version of the original, without naming yourself "Zelda" or beating the normal game first. And the "Lost Quest", which comes in two variants, would bring you to the maps from the BS-X Zelda.

This could even be seen as difficulty modes. The Classic Quest would be the normal difficult, the 2nd Quest hard, while the Lost Quests would be a lot easier, because their overworlds are only half the size and the dungeons were meant to be cleared within a short time. 

Of course, GREZZO could also add the usual Hero Mode option for those who are looking for a bigger challenge. But this probably should be implemented in the same way as in Echoes of Wisdom, meaning that you can just turn it on and off at any time.

Also like in Echoes of Wisdom, outfits could give Link a different appearance, to add some variety and novelty without altering the gameplay. This is where amiibo could come into the equation. For example, the 8-Bit Link could give you something like the Timeless Tunic from Tri Force Heroes, so that Link appears in a retro voxel style (and the music changes to the classic chiptunes from the NES). Or there could be a variant based on A Link Between Worlds, so he looks more like the classic Link, in case you don't like the toy style.

They should call this remake "The Legend of Zelda: The Hyrule Fantasy" to distinguish from the original – at least in the west, since this has been the subtitle of the Famicom Disk game in Japan. It should be available on the Nintendo Switch, but with a free upgrade for the Switch 2. And maybe this could even be something that they will simply shadow-drop at the end of a Nintendo Direct, where they will offer a physical release later on, similar to Metroid Prime Remastered. You know, as a surprise for the 40th Anniversary...

Echoes of Wisdom ~ Codename & Developer

Well, Echoes of Wisdom is already out in the wild, so you have to be careful about spoilers. OatmealDome, who is known for giving technical insights to the Switch and Nintendo's games, has shared some interesting specifics, however.

First of all, we got the confirmation that this game was co-developed by GREZZO, which shouldn't be a surprise, since the main Zelda team was busy with Tears of the Kingdom. This is the second time that they have worked on a new Zelda title, the first being Tri Force Heroes. But this is certainly an upgrade. It's using the same engine as the Link's Awakening remake, of course, but that's not actually the Unreal Engine, but something developed by GREZZO in-house.

Also, the internal codename is "Edward", following "Richard", which was the code of the Link's Awakening remake. This is very interesting, because it was part of a code name leak from earlier this year... And that leak also talked about "U-King-O", a remaster of Breath of the Wild for the next system. So, that's all but confirmed at this point.

Anyway, it's less than a week and I'm excited! I will do my usual "play & blog" thingy, so stay tuned for Thursday.

Tantalus Developed Luigi's Mansion 2 HD

Luigi's Mansion 2 HD was released on Nintendo Switch just yesterday and of course people have already seen the credits roll, confirming that the remaster was developed by Tantalus Media. The Australian studio is best known on this blog for their work on Twilight Princess HD and Skyward Sword HD.

Together with GREZZO they have supported the Zelda main team with such side projects, where both now have also worked on the Luigi's Mansion franchise in some form, since GREZZO has remade the first game on the Nintendo 3DS.

For a while I was worried that GREZZO is making the Luigi's Mansion 2 remaster as well, because I wanted some more top-down Zelda goodness from them, after their Link's Awakening remake became my absolute favorite Zelda game. And I got my wish, so I'm happy that these two studios are taking turns here. But of course there are Zelda fans who would have preferred to get Twilight Princess HD instead.

As for The Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess HD on Switch, I believe that they became a victim of the postponement of Tears of the Kingdom. Originally, Nintendo planned to release the big new Zelda in 2022, but then they had to move it to 2023. In 2024 we're already getting the next Zelda game with Echoes of Wisdom, so there wasn't any real need for some filler releases. And Nintendo doesn't want to distract you from a new Zelda release with some remasters, which is why they have likely cancelled any plans of porting over the ones from Wii U. If there ever were any to begin with.

However, if Tears of the Kingdom's development had finished in time, we could have gotten The Wind Waker HD and/or Twilight Princess HD in 2023, just to have something for Zelda in that year. That wasn't meant to be, where Tantalus was available to develop else something else in the meantime... like Luigi's Mansion 2 HD.

But they are also available again now, where they might work on getting much requested Zelda HD ports out on the Nintendo Switch in early 2025. There won't be anything new in the foreseeable future for the Zelda franchise. They are apparently working on a remaster of Breath of the Wild for the next system (see U-King-O), but it will take many years to make new open world game. So, 2025 could become the year of remasters for Zelda.

I've said this before, but it still makes sense for Nintendo to port over the Wii U games onto the Switch, because on the next system they won't get away with mere ports, especially in the case of Twilight Princess. Time is ticking here.

As a side note, they did the Metroid Prime Remastered credits thing again, meaning that they only list the people who have worked on the remaster and not the original Luigi's Mansion 2. "Based on the work of the development team from the original Nintendo 3DS version."

Well, I get that the credits are already long enough as they are, but it's still disrespectful towards Next Level Games and everyone who has put their blood, sweat and tears into making this game. This new trend needs to stop. Credit where credit is due.

GREZZO Hiring Stylishly

GREZZO, the studio behind the remake of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening and most of the Zelda titles for Nintendo 3DS, is hiring again and this time it's UI and VFX designers, as well as programmers for the Unity engine. The project is described as "medieval and stylish".

But before you jump to conclusions, let's take a good look at the presented artwork, where we can some gigantic desert plateau up in the sky. With the job offers for Zelda in the past, they were hinting at Zelda directly, usually using the word "legend". This isn't the case here and while it looks like a fantasy game, it doesn't really look much like Zelda. Link's Awakening also seemed like it was made in Unreal Engine 4, instead of Unity, where I would not expect an engine switch for the next topdown Zelda game.

Anyway, to me this looks potentially more like Ever Oasis 2. The Nintendo 3DS game was well received and a sequel for Nintendo Switch could be interesting. It could also be something else entirely, of course.

Source: Grezzo.co.jp via ntower

Link's Awakening Remake Developed by Grezzo

I bet you can now try your luck in the sea for real!

Jason Schreier from Kotaku has published an extensive interview with series producer Eiji Aonuma, where he could confirm a couple of things about the new Link's Awakening remake.

First, there won't be any new dungeons in the remake. The focus was entirely on the Chamber Dungeon feature, which could even lead to a Zelda Maker in the future, if people enjoy it. I like, how Jason is trying to plant ideas into Aonuma's head here. He deliberately asked about the Zelda Maker, though Nintendo probably knows this already themselves that this could be the next step. It's a no-brainer. But he also asked, why you can't freely arrange the controls in Breath of the Wild, where I bet that they will let you do this in the sequel.

Anyway, he also could confirm that Link's Awakening was indeed made by Grezzo. This was expected, since they were hiring for Zelda in 2017 with experience in Unreal Engine 4 and Unity. This fully adds up and Grezzo is still at their best when it comes to porting, remastering or remaking games. I wouldn't mind, if they were to continue on remaking the Oracle games in the same style afterwards.

Dawn of a New Year – 2019

A new year has arrived and with a new year come new possibilities. And 2019 looks really promising for both the Zelda and the Metroid series. It will probably be the year to finally get a Nintendo Switch for whoever doesn't own one yet (like me), because we could be looking at some major new contents, which weren't already available in some form on Wii U and Nintendo 3DS... Let's go briefly through the potential Nintendo Switch titles:

Skyward Sword HD

When you have the producer of the Zelda series on stage, teasing the audience with "Skyward Sword for Switch", the game better should be ready to be announced soon, maybe even in the next Nintendo Direct. It could be an early title for the year, similar to Hyrule Warriors - Definitive Edition in 2018.

It will be interesting to see, how it handles the topic of motion controls, especially with the handheld mode of the Switch being a thing. And it will be nice to see what contents and improvements the game will receive, e.g. a trial cave dungeon.

It's also possible that this game (or any new Zelda release in 2019) might finally come with a special Zelda Edition of the Nintendo Switch. Imagine a bundle with a golden dock and golden Joy-cons. That's how Nintendo gets even the last Zelda fans without a Switch (like me) to finally buy one.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate DLC

While we shouldn't expect anything from the Zelda series in the Fighter Pass for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, they still might add some more contents to the game, like some additional Echo Fighters. In that case Impa from Skyward Sword would have a solid chance and together with the release of Skyward Sword HD could become an important face in 2019 for the Zelda fans.

A New 2D Zelda

Grezzo has been hiring personell to "make a legend 2" in 2017, where the fruits of this labor could be harvested in 2019. It could be another remaster, but probably not Skyward Sword HD, because this is a game that would be handled by either Tantalus or the main Zelda team, since for the most part it will only require upscaling of its graphics.

It's more likely that Grezzo has been working on some new Zelda game entirely, like with Tri Force Heroes in 2015, unless of course they meant Ever Oasis with that "legend" in their job postings... But this could lead to another game using the classic top-down or even side-scrolling perspectives in the series. It could be a new take on Zelda II - The Adventure of Link. It could be a new take on Link's Awakening. Or it could be something else entirely.

It's also possible that the game might utilize multiplayer in some form, where the trend so far was going for less. After the Four Swords titles that focused on two to four players, Tri Force Heroes became a thing from Grezzo with a strict three player count, which didn't really work out so nicely. Maybe a focus on a two player coop will be a good idea for the next multiplayer Zelda game, where one plays as Link and the other as Zelda, similar to Spirit Tracks, just with two players this time (the singleplayer mode could work like in Spirit Tracks, though). This would be interesting and be ideal for any pairs playing Zelda.

Hyrule Warriors 2

Hyrule Warriors was a great success for Koei Tecmo and a sequel will happen eventually. They've finished their work on Fire Emblem Warriors for both Nintendo 3DS and Switch last year with its DLC, around the same time when Hyrule Warriors was released on Switch as well. And with all certainty they have moved on to the next Nintendo Warriors project afterwards. But this doesn't necessarily have to be the next Hyrule Warriors, seeing how the first game is already on the Nintendo Switch. It could be something else entirely, like Xenoblade Warriors, which would be cool as well.

However, if Koei Tecmo is indeed working on Hyrule Warriors 2, chances are that we will hear about the game for the first time in 2019. But I wouldn't expect a release in this year, maybe a first teaser at the end of year, like it was done for Hyrule Warriors in 2013... So, overall this feels more like a title for 2020.

Metroid Prime 4

Not a Zelda game, but still a Nintendo Action Adventure game of big interest to this Blog would be Metroid Prime 4. So far we haven't seen anything from the game yet and this will hopefully change at E3 2019. How will the game look like? How does it play? What's Sylux like? Will we be also getting a Metroid Prime Trilogy HD release? All those questions may or may not be answered in 2019.

Smartphone Zelda?

Last but not least, there is still the open question of a potential Zelda game for Smartphones. This was expected for 2018 already, but we got Dragalia Lost instead. And 2019 will start off with Mario Kart Tour, where it will be interesting to see, how this game will be handled on smart devices. Maybe Zelda will be coming afterwards...

Grezzo Working on Luigi's Mansion 3DS

According to this entry in the Australian Classifications, the remake/demake of Luigi's Mansion is going to be developed by Grezzo. It seems like they are back in their element, following their work on Ocarina of Time 3D and Majora's Mask 3D.

This makes sense on multiple levels. Nintendo is currently insisting that they will keep supporting the Nintendo 3DS next to the Nintendo Switch, where Grezzo is one of their studios that so far has almost exclusively developed for the handheld. Ocarina of Time 3D, StreetPass Garden, The Legend of Legacy, Majora's Mask 3D, Tri Force Heroes, The Alliance Alive, Ever Oasis and now Luigi's Mansion - all on Nintendo 3DS.

Out of these titles, which were the most successful ones? Right, the Zelda remakes! Their own games didn't perform so well, sales-wise, which is probably why Nintendo has sent them right back on the remake-bank.

They can't keep sticking to the Nintendo 3DS, forever, though. And last November the studio posted a job offering for what appeared to be a new Zelda title developed for Nintendo Switch (or at least something capable of running Unreal Engine, which can't be said about the Nintendo 3DS). So, Grezzo will move on eventually and maybe Luigi's Mansion will even be their last project on Nintendo 3DS.

While they have developed multiple games concurrently in the last years, this makes it appear less likely that the Nintendo 3DS will see another Zelda episode. Though, it could be developed by Nintendo themselves, of course.

Grezzo Working on a Legend 2

Grezzo, the developers behind Ocarina of Time 3D, Four Swords Anniversary Edition, Majora's Mask 3D, Tri Force Heroes and Ever Oasis have new job postings on their website with a certain phrase on top:

"Would you like to make a legend with us? 2"

If this feels familiar, then that's because back in June 2014 they had a similar job advertisement, where the year after they released both Majora's Mask 3D and Tri Force Heroes. The job advertisement could have been for either one, based on the description it probably was Tri Force Heroes, but this is a direct reference to the job ad from before, where the "2" hints at the fact that they're doing this again. So, it seems like they are back to work on Zelda, which is nice to hear.

What's interesting here is that they are looking for developers with experience in Unreal Engine, so this is certainly not about another Nintendo 3DS game and they might be developing for the Nintendo Switch now. As a longtime Unreal fan this has me excited quite a bit and also sparks my curiosity, because this could lead to a few things.

Overall the Unreal Engine is quite versatile and can be used to make sidescrollers or games from the topdown perspective for a 2,5D look, as much as any traditional 3D game in different visual styles. So, the speculations are all over the place. I've seen fans asking for HD remakes of both Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask on the Switch (see this article from Morgan Lewis for example), where the Ocarina of Time in Unreal Engine 4 project by CryZENx certainly left many impressions of how nice this could look...

But I personally would say that it's way too early to remake the Nintendo 64 Zelda games again, because the Nintendo 3DS iterations are still good enough. The only 3D Zelda game that hasn't seen an update yet is Skyward Sword and I'm convinced to see Skyward Sword HD at some point in the future on the Nintendo Switch, because the Joycons enable this game all too well. But this would be a project of a similar size to the Wind Waker HD, where you have very little effort, because the original visuals of Skyward Sword are perfect for HD upscaling. There's no need for Grezzo or any other studio to translate the game into Unreal Engine 4.

My best bet would be that they are working either on an entirely new topdown Zelda game or a remake of Zelda II - The Adventure of Link for the Nintendo Switch. In a recent interview with Jeuxvideo.com (source) Aonuma was even asked about such a remake, where this might not be a coincidence. I've even considered such a remake in the past after interviews with Miyamoto about the original (see here), where this could lead to a new approach for a sidescrolling Zelda. This even fits the "2" in the job ad quite well, because Zelda II - The Adventure of Link was called "Zeruda no Densetsu 2: Rinku no Bōken" in Japan.

Others claim that this might be a reference to "Seiken Densetsu", also known as the Mana series, because Koichi Ishii, the head of Grezzo, used to work on the Mana series for Square Enix and they are developing a remake of Secret of Mana, but it's doubtful that Grezzo is actually involved there.

Ever Oasis: Random Dungeons

Grezzo's new game is going to be released this Friday and marks the return of Koichi Ishii to the Action RPG genre after the Mana series. There's a demo right now available in the Nintendo 3DS eShop and it was also showcased at the E3 Treehouse Live stream this week.

I think the game looks quite enjoyable, but I probably won't be getting it anytime soon. I still can't help but wonder, how this game would have been as The Legend of Zelda: Ever Oasis. The main character feels very similar to Toon Link with his behavior and attitude, while they could have used different races from the franchise as your party members, e.g. the weasel girl could have been a Gerudo. But having this as its own unique IP is probably for the better.

However, there was one thing that really had me intrigued: the randomized dungeons. Randomization in Zelda is something that I've been thinking about for some time now and that Grezzo now showed the skill to create randomized dungeon was a very welcome surprise. I wish that they'd already did that with Tri Force Heroes. If each area in the game had randomized levels, similar to how Four Swords did, the game could have offered a much longer replay value.

In the very least I think that random dungeons are the future of Multiplayer Zelda games. And it's good to know that Grezzo has the ability to provide them.

The Many Studios Working on Zelda

That Zelda games aren't always developed by Nintendo alone, isn't a new concept. Ignoring the abominations made by Animation Magic and Viridis, the first successful cooperation between Nintendo and some other company to make a Zelda game was in 2001 with Oracle of Ages & Seasons on the GameBoy Color, which was developed by Flagship - a studio formed by both Capcom and Nintendo. This studio later would develop Four Swords and The Minish Cap for the GameBoy Advance, before it got dissolved.

In the following years we also had the studio Vanpool, which developed the Tingle spin-off series for the Nintendo DS and DSiWare, where Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland is probably the most noteworthy title. Then GREZZO took over the handheld Zelda realm and co-developed the Four Swords Anniversary Edition for DSiWare, as well as Ocarina of Time 3D, Majora's Mask 3D and Tri Force Heroes for the Nintendo 3DS.

So, on the handheld systems outsourcing the development has been going on for the majority of Zelda titles. But things have gotten more remarkable in the last year, where a total of five different game development companies aside from Nintendo have been spotted working on the The Legend of Zelda franchise:

• Koei Tecmo developing the Hyrule Warriors series
• GREZZO co-developing the Nintendo 3DS Zelda games
• Monolith Soft co-developing Breath of the Wild
• Tantalus Media co-developing Twilight Princess HD
• Jupiter developing Zelda Picross

Koei Tecmo with its development teams "Omega Force" and "Team Ninja" is currently working on the DLC for Hyrule Warriors: Legends and afterwards will most likely start developing Hyrule Warriors 2 for NX. This spin-off series certainly is going strong and will probably deliver the best fan service to Zelda fans for years to come, where all the many fan favorites get to be playable on Hyrule's battlefields.

GREZZO has finished the development of Tri Force Heroes last year and is now working on their own game, Ever Oasis. But we might see them return to the Zelda franchise at some point in the future, if they aren't already developing something on the sidelines.

Monolith Soft known for their extensive worlds in Xenoblade Chronicles is currently supporting the development of Breath of the Wild, where Hyrule never has been larger and certainly will profit from the additional workforce. Before they also assisted in the development of Skyward Sword and A Link Between Worlds, but were only credited under "Special Thanks". Their involvement seems to be somewhat more important this time around.

Tantalus Media delivered the HD remaster Twilight Princess HD, where it's possible that they are also supporting the development of Breath of the Wild with high resolution texture work. Future HD remasters like a potential Skyward Sword HD might also get outsourced to this Australian studio.

Finally, there's the Jupiter Corporation known for their many Picross titles, which now just tacked into the Zelda franchise with My Nintendo Picross - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. It's entirely possible that they are currently developing a new Picross game based on another installment of the Zelda series, e.g. The Wind Waker. Potentially all Zelda games with 3D visuals could end up getting their own Picross game, so that Zelda fans will have something to spend Platinum Points on in the future.

And that's just what we know so far. It has been hinted by Nintendo that a Zelda anime movie could be a possibility, where some Japanese animation studio might be working on something as well. And hopefully one day we can see "Retro Studios" on the list above.

Grezzo's New Game: Ever Oasis

Tri Force Heroes is just half a year old and GREZZO is already showcasing their next game, where they mix Zelda-esque Action RPG gameplay with their StreetPass Garden game: Ever Oasis. Watch the trailer here.

GREZZO has been mostly making Zelda stuff in the last five years: Ocarina of Time 3D, Four Swords Anniversary Edition, Majora's Mask 3D and Tri Force Heroes. And while I would have preferred, if they kept making DLC for the latter, Ever Oasis certainly looks charming. And the dungeon gameplay seems quite reminiscent of Zelda, for example the rolling doors reminded of Twilight Princess and the scorpion boss of Skyward Sword. Or the puzzle design seems to have some Zelda and Metroid ideas in them. (Morphball, anyone?)

During the gameplay I kept thinking that this may as well could have been a Zelda spin-off, where the little guy could be a representative of the long forgotten Zuna tribe and where you get to play as different races from the Zelda series, e.g. a Goron, a Tokay or a Liandri Mining Robot, but it's probably best kept as its own new IP. However, like Dillon's Rolling Western these kind of small new IPs on the 3DS tend to get overlooked easily. I might give it a chance, though.

Grezzo Working on a Legend

Good news today, everybody!

Grezzo recently teased what their upcoming project is in their latest job openings:

It says "Would you like to make a legend with us?" with the Densetsu kanji being used like in each Zelda title and with a golden shine. That's a pretty big tease! But I'm happy to learn that we have Grezzo back on Zelda again. The more people working on the franchise, the better.

But... they are hiring programmers and planners and according to sunny_red51 on GameFAQs they need the programmers for "character control, camera, UI support, map management, game progression management, etc." and the planners for "text supervision, script and data creation supervision, and level design supervision" ... and while it does sound like stuff you'd expect for a Zelda game, it doesn't really sound like a remake as in Majora's Mask 3D.

Of course they could add lots of new content to Majora's Mask 3D, but will they really? On the other hand, I fully expect to see a follow-up to A Link Between Worlds, using the same engine to create a new game. Like a new Four Swords game or something else entirely. And since the main Zelda team seems to be very busy working on Tek Arrows, it might be that they outsourced that to Grezzo. They are good at taking something existing to make something new out of it. Like they essentially did with Ocarina of Time 3D and the Four Swords Anniversary Edition. Just that this would be the next big step, which I already suggested in the past.

That might also explains, why Aonuma is so hesistant with Majora's Mask. They need Grezzo to do something new instead. Of course it could still be that they are making Majora's Mask 3D. Maybe they plan new environments or something like MM Master Quest. Or they are working on BOTH a new Zelda 3DS game and Majora's Mask 3D, which is why they need to hire more people. That would be the best case scenario, where I would explode in a fountain of joy.

Majora's Mask 3D or Bust!

Aonuma hears the fans. The fans ask for Majora's Mask 3D and he listens and he acknowledges... but while it's nice that Nintendo is actually listening to their fans, it's entirely worthless if they don't do anything.

If I'm unhappy with something in Minecraft, there are many ways to tell Jeb and Dinnerbone, like Twitter or reddit or their bug report system. They listen and if they agree, they will change the game to make more like the fans want it to be. If I'm unhappy that I can't access the GBA shop in the Virtual Console versions of the Oracle games, I can post it on Miiverse. And maybe they'll listen. But nothing will change.

What's good it good for that you can tell the people at Nintendo about what you want, if they don't care? And if they even start to tease their fans about it, to play with them or to make a joke, the relationship gets very unhealthy. So, in case Majora's Mask 3D won't be happening, Aonuma walks on very thin ice here.

The good news is that there weren't any news about Grezzo, the developers of Ocarina of Time 3D. Last year around this time they were occupied with the Flower Town game for the 3DS StreetPass lobby, so they were not able to do anything Zelda. So far I haven't seen any news about them, they are not working on Codename STEAM or something (it actually didn't feel like there have been all too many 3DS games).

When they announced that Grezzo was working on the Four Swords Anniversary Edition, I was happy to learn that we have now an entire team dedicated to improve older Zelda games and maybe to work on new Zelda titles in the future. And I was sad to see them make some flower game instead of Majora's Mask 3D.

Some fans now hope that they save Majora's Mask for something bigger, like an HD remake or a remake for the next handheld system or even a sequel. But the reality is that Majora's Mask wasn't popular with the masses. In school I had a couple of friends who really liked Link's Awakening and Ocarina of Time, much like I did. But with Majora's Mask they lost interest in Zelda, while I got in it deeper and deeper. It's a game that the hardcore Zelda fans enjoy and celebrate, find fascinating and like to play. And Aonuma already admitted to that.

The thing for me is that Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask belong together. The development of Majora's Mask started as a N64DD addon for Ocarina of Time under the title of "Zelda Gaiden". It would later turn into a standalone N64 game, but both games share the same engine, the same interface, the same controls, as well as many graphics, models and sounds. The two games are siblings.

This also makes it easier for Nintendo. Fans are asking for something with Majora's Mask, Majora's Mask 3D is the cheapest way to "satisfy" them, because half of the work was already done with Ocarina of Time 3D. They can reuse all the assets, much like they reused all the assets in the original N64 game.

But you can't just separate the two. From the first moment I played Ocarina of Time 3D, I wanted the same for Majora's Mask. I imagined how amazing the game would look like on the 3DS, especially with the moon hovering over you in 3D. But this also works the other way around. If they made Majora's Mask HD, fans would ask for an Ocarina of Time HD, the game was much more popular after all. And why wouldn't they? What you do with one of the games, you better do with the other.

If not, it would be like releasing New Play Control! versions of Metroid Prime and Pikmin, but not their sequels. It would be like making an HD remake of Super Mario Galaxy, but not Super Mario Galaxy 2. It would be like releasing Phantom Hourglass on the Wii U, but not Spirit Tracks. Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask simply belong together.

And that's the whole reason, why I want, why I need Majora's Mask 3D - not Majora's Mask HD or some Majora's Mask sequel, but Majora's Mask 3D.

GREZZO made StreetPass Garden

Today there's an update for the StreetPass Mii Plaza, that potentially kills the application and also SELLS you four new StreetPass games. I personally haven't bothered with StreetPass until after the Symphony of the Goddesses concert, where I had to learn that you can only collect 10 people at max... So, it's all pretty new for me and four games being added seems a little deterrend for me personally. Especially since they cost money.

What striked me was the fact that one of the four new games, StreetPass Garden, was made by GREZZO (source). You know, the guys who made Ocarina of Time 3D and the Four Swords Anniversary Edition.

This is sad news. I thought that Nintendo had them made the Zelda remakes, so they would gather experience with Zelda to potentially work on future Zelda side projects. I thought they might be helping with A Link Between Worlds.

But instead of let's say... pimping the Oracle games, Nintendo made them develop a gay garden "simulator". What a waste.

This also means less man power for Zelda. Hopefully they will return to Zelda now and start working on Majora's Mask 3D.

Grezzo made the Four Swords Anniversary Edition

The guys behind Ocarina of Time 3D developed the 25th Anniversary Edition of Four Swords.

I previously thought that Nintendo EAD3 itself would work on this, because after all their team got some guys from Flagship like Hidemaro Fujibayashi, who have been working on the original version of Four Swords. And also some guys from the team who made Four Swords Adventures and the Nintendo DS Zeldas. All of them would have been perfect candidates for this project. So, to learn that Grezzo was actually behind this is an interesting surprise.

It's so interesting, because this is the exact opposite of Ocarina of Time 3D when it comes to remakes. OoT3D focused mainly on the visuals and while they added things based on available content like Master Quest or the Boss Challenge, there wasn't any real new content per se. Four Swords AE is the exact opposite, there's no graphical update here, you might even call the "Realm of Memories" stage a graphical downgrade, the focus was entirely on adding new content, two new stages containing many new dungeon levels. And a singleplayer to make this game accessible for everyone.

With this Grezzo has proven that they are not only able to improve graphics, they also know how to add cool new content. Let them combine both talents to make the ultimate Majora's Mask 3D and after that they should be ready for their own Zelda game. Grezzo could become the new Flagship and entirely take over the handheld Zelda domain.

It's also nice to know that everyone on the big Zelda team is currently working on Skyward Sword.

Update: New logo released.

Source: Nintendo Everything

The Fear of Remakes

This post is a respond to this or similar posts in different Zelda forums. Because of Ocarina of Time 3D some Zelda fans became afraid, that from now on they will only get remakes instead of new games.

Of course this is nonsense. If you mention a possible Majora's Mask 3D they immediatly get angry stating that they would prefer a new game instead. They pretend like developing remakes would hinder the development of new Zelda games. But this is not the case, remakes are usually outsourced to less experienced companies like Grezzo. Which is a good choice, with these remakes Grezzo learns how the Zelda series works and how a good Zelda game looks like and eventually they will be able to help developing a new Zelda game in the future. You might suggest, that they start working on a new Zelda game right now, but the lack of new content in Ocarina of Time 3D let's me think otherwise. I don't know whether they just weren't allowed to add anything like a new dungeon to the game or they just didn't dare. But if they can't make one single new dungeon, how should they able to make a full new Zelda game? Okay, there's Koichi Ishii, who has a lot of experience with the Mana series and at least the first two Mana games were really solid. But I'd imagine Majora's Mask 3D as a bridge, where step it up by introducing new content like a Master Quest.

And a Majora's Mask 3D remake would practically develop itself. All stones have been set by the Ocarina of Time remake, they only would need to make some more textures and models. Development time would take two months max, unless they really plan to add new content this time. And like Ocarina of Time 3D this game would be perfect to bridge the time until the next new Zelda game.


^this game is not your enemy

What Miyamoto suggested for an A Link to the Past remake was just adding 3D effects to the different layers, which means it's a candidate for the 3D Classics, similar to Excitebike or Xevious. There's a separate team working on that, they were making six 3D Classics games simultanously (source) and there's a good chance that A Link to the Past will follow. Development effort is also very low. You could call these "Virtual Console Plus" games.

I don't know where the impression came from, that remaking A Link to the Past in the style of Ocarina of Time 3D is even an option. Ocarina of Time was originally supposed to be a remake A Link to the Past in 3D, at least this was one of their early approaches, but not all stuff from a 2D Zelda game works in 3D. For example a giant pig would look stupid in 3D, which is why they made Ganondorf as a more serious antagonist. There's no way, that they're ever going to remake this game as a 3D Zelda. Or any other 2D Zelda for that matter, it would basically turn into an entirely new game losely based on the original. And it's better to just make a new game instead without being restricted in the game's design in any way.

And it should be clear, that Nintendo will definitely develop an original 3DS-Zelda game or maybe even two. Just because Nintendo likes to remake and re-release old games it doesn't mean they stopped making new ones. It's ridiculous how Zelda fans get scared that they won't get any new games anymore, just because Nintendo decided to remake one game after ten years. Just look back to the past, there isn't a single Nintendo system (except Virtual Boy) without a Zelda title and there are twice as much Zelda main titles as there are Zelda remakes and spin offs. This ratio is crazy good. Right after Mario the Zelda fanbase should be least scared of not getting anything new. And there's no reason to doom the remakes, ports and re-releases.

Bugs & Glitches in Ocarina of Time 3D

In the latest Iwata Asks interview featuring Ocarina of Time 3D Grezzo stated that they actually kept some of the original bugs in the game and treated them like features, because they were fun and part of the original game's experience. It's something you share with other people, if you've discovered it. You might think, this is crazy, but there actually some diehard fans, who wouldn't like to see certain bugs go, because they could be used to do speedruns and alike. And sometimes bugs turn into valuable features, for example the strafe jumping in the Quake series was originally just a bug, but it became a recognizeable standard in the series and other Quake engine games. So, this is nothing unusual.

It even looks like Grezzo included new glitches on purpose. There's a weird glitch, where you start a new game with the Master Sword in Young Link's hands. This only happens after beating the game once and he holds the sword in an awkward stance, which doesn't appear anywhere else in the game. The sword disappears as soon as you get the Kokiri Sword and this really looks like Grezzo actually placed that there. You can also now enter Jabu Jabu's Belly as Adult Link, which is really cool. I'm looking forward to try out that one.

However, Grezzo also removed some bad bugs. This includes the nasty glitch, that prevented you from getting a Deku Nut capacity upgrade. I've written an article about missable items in Zelda earlier this year and I was hoping, that Grezzo would fix this, and according to reports from various Zelda forums they indeed did. It appears, that nothing is permanently missable in this version of Ocarina of Time and this is great news.