History of Hero Mode

With Skyward Sword getting ten years old and receiving an HD remaster in 2021, we're also looking at ten years of what became a staple feature for the Zelda series: the Hero Mode. By now it has been present in five The Legend of Zelda titles, but while they share the same name, these Hero Modes are all slightly different...

In general Hero Mode increases the amount of damage you take from enemies and environmental hazards, usually doubled. In most cases it also removes any recovery hearts from the game and there might be different effects as well depending on the game, which goes as far as mirroring the entire world. Hero Mode can take the form of a separate mode, a New Game+ or an option. So, let's explore for a bit how this mode has evolved over the years and what forms it might take in the future.

 

Master Quest in Ocarina of Time 3D

While the first appearance of a "Hero Mode" was in Skyward Sword, its inspiration clearly came from a similar mode in Ocarina of Time 3D, which got released in the same year on the Nintendo 3DS. It took the "Master Quest" variant of Ocarina of Time, which originally was released for the Nintendo GameCube, and made two additional changes to it:

• The game world is mirrored.
  
• You take double damage.

Those were simple, but effective alterations at making this second play-through more challenging and disorienting. Of course it also came with the re-arranged dungeons for something that's more akin to the 2nd Quest from the first The Legend of Zelda game. But sadly, this amount of effort doesn't get put anymore into designing difficulty modes for a Zelda game, so the simple changes will have to do from now on...

 

Hero Mode in Skyward Sword

After beating the game, you get the option to start over in the same save file with the "Hero Mode" variant. This was the first occurrence of this feature, but its purpose was that of a New Game+, where you get to keep all your collected treasures and insects, which makes it easier to upgrade your items the second time around. The Skyward Strike is also generally stronger and Demise gets added as a boss to the "Lightning Round".

But the main idea was increasing the difficulty by doubling the damage and removing recovery hearts, both of which became the signature features of future Hero Modes. However, unlike those you can still get the hearts to re-appear by carrying Heart Medals in your Adventure Pouch. The Hero Mode in Skyward Sword also made things slightly more challenging by increasing the amount of stamina and air consumed by certain actions.

Update: After beating the game once, you could also start a new quest log in "Hero Mode", where it doesn't have the New Game+ aspects. So, you won't keep those treasures and insects, as well as your minigame records.

Hero Mode in The Wind Waker HD

While Hero Mode returned for the first time in The Wind Waker HD on the Wii U, it was implemented in a very different way. Instead of being attached to the game's 2nd Quest mode, it offers itself as an option on any save file, where you can switch between Normal and Hero Mode any time you return to the game.

This was certainly nice to have for those who wanted a challenge right from the start, but at the same it removes the proof that you've really cleared the entire game in this difficulty mode from start to finish, unlike the Hero Mode in other Zelda games. While this is more or less just about bragging rights, it simply doesn't offer the same type of achievement that you'd normally get from clearing a Hero Mode file.

Otherwise it functions like your basic Hero Mode: you take double the damage and you won't find any recovery hearts. However, the damage output of the original The Wind Waker was generally very low, where you often only get hit with a quarter heart of damage and Hero Mode puts the damage values more or less on par with what other Zelda games usually hit you with. So, the real challenge only comes from the limited healing options, especially in the early game.

Hero Mode in A Link Between Worlds

After the odd option in The Wind Waker HD, Hero Mode returned to its New Game+ roots in A Link Between Worlds, where here you can start Hero Mode on any filer after clearing the game once. In this journey you'll discover a new secret and also will be able to view a slightly extended credit sequence, where the New Game+ aspect isn't overly exciting...

What makes this one stand apart from other Hero Modes is the fact that the damage from enemies and most environmental hazards gets quadrupled, instead of just doubled. There are some exceptions, where (lava) pits will only do half a heart of damage, regardless of the mode, but for the most part every hit will hurt badly. To make up for this recovery hearts will appear normally, unlike in other iterations of this mode.

Majora's Mask 3D and Tri Force Heroes

In 2015 Hero Mode had to take a pause, because it was nowhere to be found in that year's Zelda releases. The real omission here is Majora's Mask 3D, where it's the only Zelda remaster or remake from the last ten years that didn't feature such a mode. Similar to Ocarina of Time 3D, they also could have mirrored the game world for example, in addition to the increased damage, but instead we didn't get anything...

While Tri Force Heroes technically doesn't have a Hero Mode, some of its "Drabland Challenges" basically fulfill this role, where you will suffer from decreased defense. There are also two outfits, the Bear Minimum and the Cursed Tights, which will cause double damage in addition for an optional challenge.

Hero Mode in Twilight Princess HD

So far Hero Mode has either been an unlockable feature, where you had to beat the game once, or an option, which can be toggled at any time. With Twilight Princess HD Nintendo found a good compromise for this by making Hero Mode a separate mode, which is accessible right from the start. So, whenever you start a new game, you can choose between Normal and Hero Mode, but then you'll have to stick to this choice.

As usual, you will take double damage and you won't find any recovery hearts. In addition the game also lets you double the damage again, for quadruple damage like in A Link Between Worlds, by scanning the Ganondorf amiibo from the Super Smash Bros. series, which will color your hearts blue. This also works in Normal Mode and basically works like the Hero Mode toggle in The Wind Waker HD, where Twilight Princess HD gives you a lot of freedom in adjusting the difficulty the way you like it... Given that you have the respective amiibo.

The Hero Mode in Twilight Princess HD also mirrors the game world, similar to the Master Quest mode in Ocarina of Time 3D. This essentially provides the world as it was seen in Twilight Princess on the Wii, where the game was mirrored to make Link right-handed. And depending on which version you have played first, you will find the respective mode more comforting and familiar, which means that players of the Wii version will probably find the Normal Mode to be disorienting, instead of the Hero Mode.

Master Mode in Breath of the Wild

The "Master Mode" was part of the DLC Expansion Pass for Breath of the Wild, a Zelda game so different that it needed a different kind of difficulty mode as well. While technically this isn't the same as the "Hero Mode" in previous Zelda games, it still should be discussed here as well, since it aims to provide as similar experience.

You can switch between Normal and Master Mode when starting the game and Master Mode has its own save files, where it also displays a Triforce icon in the bottom left corner all the time, so you can see on first glance which mode gets played. 

There aren't any recovery hearts to be found in Breath of the Wild anyway and you also won't suffer from increased damage, which arguably already is quite high to begin with. Instead the enemies in the game will come in stronger variants, which is achieved by the different enemy tiers this game has. Master Mode even introduces a new tier with the gold enemies and the monsters will also regenerate their health to certain points. The AI is also more observant and smarter in certain cases, where for example the Guardians will alter the timings of their beams, making it harder to deflect them.

You will also find enemies in places that originally didn't have any, where most of this comes from the new floating platforms, which also offer some additional treasure chests for better loot. So, unlike the Hero Modes in other Zelda games there actually some changes to the environment, where you get something new to explore.

Hero Mode in Link's Awakening

Like the Hero Mode in Twilight Princess HD, you can play this right from the beginning and choose between the two different difficulty modes when creating a new save file. And like in the Master Mode from Breath of the Wild, an icon in the bottom left corner will indicate that you're playing like a real hero.

Damage gets doubled and recovery hearts can only be found in shops. The new apples are gone as well and fairies, which now can be put in the new Fairy Bottles, only appear in one of the game's three Fairy Fountains inside a cave. And this heavily limits your healing options in the early game, where you have to be either very careful or backtrack a lot to regain any health.

Sadly, while the game has a built-in mechanic to double the monsters at any given time (used in the Chamber Dungeon with the +Monsters Effect), this doesn't get utilized in Hero Mode in any way...

The Future of Hero Mode

Overall, having a Hero Mode is usually better than not having any difficulty options at all. The ability to play through the game (again) with increased damage and less healing options can always be of interest for players who want a challenge. Ideally, this is available right from the start in the form of a separate mode, like in Twilight Princess HD or Link's Awakening.

That being said, it's also the minimal approach of designing a harder difficulty mode for a Zelda game. While Zelda games in general don't tend to be overly difficult, the challenge that is there doesn't come from the enemies and damage values alone. There are also puzzles to solve, worlds to explore, dungeons to navigate and secrets to uncover, where the Hero Modes in the past rarely ever addressed any of this.

And even the increased damage and limited healing options usually don't offer a greater challenge for long. This mostly affects the early game, but once you've obtained a couple of additional Heart Containers, some bottles for potions and maybe even items that increase your defense, the effects of Hero Mode often become negligible.

The only Zelda titles to truly mix things up so far were the original The Legend of Zelda with its 2nd Quest mode and Ocarina of Time with its Master Quest variants. And there are a couple of things that Hero or Master Modes could learn and adopt here to make things more challenging and interesting overall:

• Make more enemies appear.
• Alter puzzles and dungeon flows (like in Master Quest).
• Hide items and maybe even dungeons in different spots.
• Mirror the game world.
  

Some of these shouldn't be hard to implement, others will naturally require more effort. But putting in the right amount of effort to offer a truly different experience from the base game should certainly be worth it... Or we just keep going with Hero Modes and call it a day.

Maining the Master Cycle Zero

 ... in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

So, what to do with a new Nintendo Switch, now what I've completed Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity? Playing all those good Wii U games again, of course, where I'm busy with Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury, as well as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Well, both of these titles can be played together with someone else, so that's always good, and they also offer something new over their Wii U counterparts, which is certainly nice to have.

 

And other than the new Battle Mode, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe got a couple of new drivers and karts, which includes Link and the Master Cycle Zero from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. And for completing the game I decided to primarily use this bike and character. So, no Waluigi and Wild Wiggler for me.

I already liked the Master Cycle Zero quite a lot when it got released via a free update in 2018, because it comes with an outward drift, instead of an inward drift like the original Master Cycle. While I preferred bikes in Mario Kart Wii, like pretty much everyone, I really don't like the behavior and camera for most of them in this game. But the Master Cycle Zero drives more like your typical kart, so this is great.

To be fair, I didn't go with the full setup all the time. I use the Paraglider, but I like to change the tires to something else. However, my favorite wheels, the "Hot Monster", didn't unlock for me yet, while I'm already done with three-staring all the cups in all the modes... Which was kind of frustrating, but this game loves to frustrate you anyway.

For example the bots are clearly cheating in 200cc, where they can take even the sharpest turns at full speed. Luckily, they aren't as good with dodging obstacles, which may give you an advantage after all, where you will need it, because with bots it's like you're playing alone against a whole team. Everyone is against you... And then there's the whole star system, which makes playing cups simply not fun, because it forces you to rank 1st place every single time, like some Michael Schumacher. Though, at least it doesn't ask you of utmost perfection any longer, like it did in Mario Kart DS and Mario Kart Wii.

In 200c I also dropped Link for Dry Bones at first, who is new in the Deluxe version as well, because I certainly prefer driving as a light weight character in that mode for the reduced speed. Less speed and more acceleration is actually a good thing here, or so I thought at first, because with some of the cups having more weight made things actually easier, where I personally like one of the metal characters best. And instead of taking away the speed from your stats, it's better to sometimes avoid the things in 200cc that make you go too fast in the first place, like stunts or even mini-turbos (you can quickly let go of gas to avoid them).

But despite some experimentation, I stuck with the Master Cycle Zero and will continue using it in the future, because I love this bike. It may not be the optimal Waluigi Wild Wiggler meta, but I personally prefer to find a compromise between what characters and carts appeal to me and what characters and carts work well.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: New Vs. Old

This is a small observation I've made based on a topic on SmashFAQs...

The development of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate can be divided into three stages: base game, first wave of DLC and the second wave of DLC. And each of these phases came with a total of six unique new fighters.

There were Inkling, Ridley, Simon, King K. Rool, Isabelle and Incineroar as the base game additions that weren't Echo Fighters. The first Fighters Pass had Joker, Hero, Banjo & Kazooie, Terry and Byleth, while there was also Piranha Plant as the first DLC fighter overall. And the second Fighters Pass comes six more fighters, where Min Min, Steve, Sephiroth and Pyra / Mythra have been released so far.

Now, if you exclude the Echo Fighters, because they are derivative by nature and therefore always come from an existing series, and look at the distribution of fighters that have been introducing a new series to Smash, you'll notice that it's exactly half so far:

In the base game only two fighters were added from a new series: Inkling and Simon from Splatoon and Castlevania respectively. The first wave of DLC made up for this, where only two fighters were added from existing series, Piranha Plant and Byleth, while the rest has been new 3rd party additions.

And with the second Fighters Pass so far things are very balanced, where there's a new first party fighter with Min Min from ARMS, a new third party fighter with Steve and co. from Minecraft, a third party fighter for the already represented Final Fantasy VII with Sephiroth and finally Pyra / Mythra from the second Xenoblade Chronicles game, which is another first party. It doesn't get any more balanced than that.

So, what does this mean for the last two fighters? Well, it probably doesn't mean anything at all, where this is most likely just coincidence so far. On the other hand it really may be that Sakurai's team and Nintendo want to keep additions fairly balanced, which ultimately led to the current distribution.

And to keep things balanced between additions from existing franchises and new franchises, all it needs would be one more from both sides, like for example Rayman and a Pokémon from Sword & Shield. But if they also were to keep things balanced between first and third parties, the last two fighters have to be third parties, because there are nine 1st party additions and seven 3rd parties so far.

One of them should be from an existing series, where first and foremost Tails and Dr. Eggman from Sonic the Hedgehog come to mind or another Street Fighter character like Chun-Li. And the second one is again free to dive into completely new territories, like for example a Tales Of character, the Master Chief or the Doom Slayer.

But this is pure speculation for the sake of the current equilibrium and in the end it could also be two first party additions from existing series, because that's simply what they were going for and there are no rules to get a certain number of anything into Smash.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: Pyra / Mythra Released

After the presentation yesterday, we didn't have to wait long until Pyra & Mythra got released for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. How lovely!

Their flashiness aside, it's pretty much just what you'd expect from another sword fighter on first glance. So, what ultimately sets these two apart is the fact that you're getting a new sword fighter and the inevitable clone in one package. I do like them more than the usual Fire Emblem sword fighter, however, and the switching makes them more interesting.

Basically, Pyra is stronger, but slower, while Mythra is faster, but considerably weaker. This reminds me of a certain character in Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, who also could switch between two "modes", where one mode is faster, but the other does more damage. Of course with these blade ladies you're getting a little more than just that, where this also affects their walking speeds, jump heights, certain abilities and also their Specials, where their different Side Specials are really cool and fun to use.

Overall I prefer playing as Mythra, but I like to swap to Pyra when I want to score some heavy hits. This reminds of playing as Min Min, where for the most part you want to go with Ram Ram, but the Megawatt helps you with dealing some massive damage.

Using the Down Special to swap is in line with similar characters, like Pokémon Trainer or the aforementioned Min Min, but I personally would have swapped this with the Neutral Specials, just to make the swapping in the middle of the battle somewhat more accessible. Pressing down while in the air might result in going down faster, while you simply want to switch to Mythra to save yourself...

The swapping is also not as fast as you might have expected from the first trailer, where it would have been interesting, if you were encouraged to swap characters for cool combos. Right now I wouldn't be surprised, if Sakurai was right and there are quite some people who stick to one of the two characters, which would be like Zelda and Sheik all over again. It was still executed better, though, and these two characters in combination have a ton of potential.

Anyway, the alt costumes, which had been a secret until yesterday (with one exception) are kind of a mixed bag. Some of them look great, others are way too similar to the default one. The seventh almost looks identical, where this is Crafted Yoshi all over again. The alternate costumes should help you with distinguishing players using the same fighter, where having too similar colors doesn't really help. And the one where Pyra and Mythra swap their color schemes is just utterly confusing.

Alternatively, it would have been nice to get more colors based on other Blades, like Brighid. And alt colors based on KOS-MOS and T-elos seemed like an absolute no-brainer here, where it's quite disappointing to not have this...

Moving on to the stage, the Cloud Sea of Alrest, which is really nice and probably one of my favorite DLC stages. It looks beautiful and it's very simple, where the moving head is unique, but not some overly crazy mechanic, which keeps annoying you to death. In its hazard-free version it's actually quite similar to one of the simple stages I've made for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, with a platform on the left side and a slope on the right side. I like it!

Now... if only the stage were to stop talking...

Otherwise update 11.0.0 also came with some improvements, like the ability to shut off other controllers with your own. Still no stage hazard toggle to be found on the stage select screen... This will never be implemented, now will it?

Both my mains, Min Min and Zero Suit Samus got nerfed a little, so screw this game, I'm done with Super Smash Bros. Ultimate for good. Nah, I don't really care, nor do I play much competitively...

There are new exclusive Spirits that you get from having save games of certain other games, like Arthur from Ghosts n Goblins Resurrection, but apparently those will appear in the shop via a later update, so that's fine, too.

We certainly had much more exciting updates in the past, though...

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: 3rd Fighters Pass?

When Masahiro Sakurai talks about the remaining two Challenger Packs in today's Mr. Sakurai Presents, it sure sounds like this is going to be it. "Only two more opportunities to bring you cinematic videos."

In any case we shouldn't expect a third Fighters Pass, where the current DLC offers already exceed the price of the main game. But then again a second Fighters Pass also didn't seem likely and no matter who the last two Challengers will be, there will be something left to desire. Naturally, you can't satisfy everyone, no matter how many fighters they will include, but it might be worth it go the extra mile to fill some of the biggest gaps.

As for the Challenger Packs 10 and 11, we're back to "it really could be anyone". Well, everyone except for characters that are already Assist Trophies or DLC Mii Fighter costumes, where Monster Hunter has basically been disconfirmed by the current set of Mii Fighter outfits. If they were to make a Challenger Pack for Monster Hunter, they certainly would have saved these costume for that occassion, so it's safe to say that this is it for the franchise.

The only 3rd party DLC Mii Fighter outfit that hasn't been re-released yet is Llyod Irving from Tales of Symphonia. It's likely that this costume will be brought back as well, which doesn't bode well for Lloyd, but the question what Challenger Pack will accompany the costume. Llyod could come with a different character from the Tales franchise and/or another sword fighter or even something completely unrelated.

If we're getting one more character with a sword, Ryu Hayabusa still seems like the top contender, but the inclusion of Sephiroth, Pyra and Mythra makes this feel a little less likely than before. Crash Bandicoot or the Doom Slayer would certainly feel more different and maybe Rayman finally breaks out of the ice on Battlefield at the end, which would be a hilarious trailer.

But you've heard all of this a hundred times before and most fans will probably agree that the final two Challenger Packs should be more 3rd party guest characters, because that's where all the spectacle is. However, this would leave some 1st party possibilities unfulfilled...

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate hasn't really done the best job of representing the current era of Nintendo with the Nintendo Switch, as well as late era of Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. Lots of good games are barely represented, where on the front of new stages and (updated) fighters they've only done the bare minimum with Splatoon, Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey in the base game.

The DLC has slowly, but surely been adding more 1st party representation with Fire Emblem: Three Houses, ARMS and now Xenoblade Chronicles 2, but there is still a lot to be done here. And this is where the third and final Fighters Pass comes in.

Now, for a hypothetical Fighters Pass Vol. 3 let's assume that they won't expand the current boundaries of the stage and characters select screens. They probably could, but it would look awful and there might also be some technical hurdles here. This means that there are ultimately only three slots for stages left, as well as four more fighters. Which means that a third Fighters Pass would end up being a small one, only consisting of three more Challenger Packs.

But this would be more than enough to check off some of the most important first party boxes. Here are some ideas, where it's time for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate x ...

• Kirby's Epic Yarn featuring Prince Fluff ... (jk)
• Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze featuring Dixie Kong 
• Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker featuring Captain Toad(ette)
• Yoshi's Crafted World featuring Poochy
  
• Luigi's Mansion 3 featuring King Boo 
• Pokémon Sword & Shield featuring some new Pokémon, e.g. Cinderace
  
• Animal Crossing: New Horizons featuring Tom Nook

Yes, Prince Fluff is a completely out there and not likely at all, but it's a shame how Kirby's Epic Yarn didn't get much recognition in Smash, not even a stage, despite this game being highly unique. It also could lead to a very interesting moveset and the game just got ported to the Nintendo 3DS two years ago, so this idea made this list as well, despite its low chances.

Interestingly, the Woolly World stage in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U was originally supposed to be an Epic Yarn stage, but this got changed during development. Since Woolly World didn't return in Smash Ultimate, here is a good chance to bring back the original intent.

Anyway, Dixie Kong and a Challenger Pack for Donkey Kong: Country Tropical Freeze are arguably the most important option here, where it's a crime that this game didn't get a stage or more music tracks. It's in a similar spot where ARMS and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 used to be, except that it doesn't necessarily need to come with a fighter. But Dixie is one of the most iconic first party characters left and you don't need an excuse to add her... Just do it.

Of course this could already be happening with the second Fighters Pass, where Dixie Kong might be the next or even the final Challenger. Or a new Pokémon... But if none of this makes it in now, then this will be heavily in favor of a third volume.

As a bonus this 3rd Fighters Pass wouldn't come with another Mii Fighter costume, but instead with one more Echo Fighter, where Dry Bowser feels like the coolest option for this. Yes, this could potentially bring both Super Mario and Pokémon to a total of eleven fighters, which is ridiculous, but alternatively they could also give us the Champions Pack and do something for the Zelda for a change... Which probably won't be happening.

35th Anniversary of Zelda

Today 35 years ago was a very special day, where each and every one of us were sitting in their traditional Japanese houses and inserted their copy of THE HYRULE FANTASY ゼルダの伝説 into their Famicom Disk Systems for the very first time. A day we surely will never forget!

Well, to be fair, most Zelda fans (including myself) weren't even alive back then and probably also not living in Japan, but the Zelda series is celebrating 35 years of existence nonetheless. It's kind of an odd anniversary, though. The 25th Anniversary was special, because there you're celebrating a quarter century, which is important enough. And with 30 or 40 years you're entering another decade. 35 years on the other hand is just right in the middle of those anniversaries and probably only an excuse to celebrate.

But celebrate we will, if the 35th Anniversary of Super Mario Bros. is any indication. In the end these anniversaries are just a marketing ploy anyway, but we're usually getting some goodies out of this, which can be quite exciting. We Zelda fans sure do love us some merchandise.

There seem to be many people confused out there why Nintendo hasn't brought up the 35th Anniversary of The Legend of Zelda already, despite the fact that they've just announced The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD and special Joy-Cons for this game. But this is actually quite normal...

For the anniversaries of Super Mario Bros., which take place on September 13th, Nintendo usually likes to start and announce things earlier in the year, while for Zelda they wait a couple of months, so that these two anniversaries don't clash and don't take the attention away from each other. In case of the 25th Anniversary of Zelda they started things at E3 2011, where they had the first big orchestrated concert for the series. And with the 30th Anniversary they didn't even bring it up until September 2016 with a couple of new amiibo and the Arts & Artifacts artbook.

When it comes to what Nintendo could do for Zelda's 35th Anniversary in 2021 and early 2022, it's really easy to just copy what was done for Super Mario Bros. in the last months:

• Game & Watch: The Legend of Zelda
• The Legend of Zelda 35
• The Legend of Zelda 3D Collection
• Nintendo Switch Zelda Gold Edition
• Zelda Items in Animal Crossing: New Horizons
• ...
  

But this would be lame and we already know for a fact that Nintendo likes to do something different for Zelda's anniversaries... That doesn't mean that none of these things will be happening, for example the Zelda items for Animal Crossing: New Horizons seem likely in any case. However, the vast majority of things will be something different and we're probably not getting that Zelda theme park anytime soon. A Zelda movie or TV series on the other hand? This would be really something else (even though we know that they are already making a new Mario movie).

Now, here's a number of ideas what Nintendo could potentially do for the 35th Anniversary:

 

1) The Wind Waker HD + Twilight Princess HD

Well, yes... this isn't really all too different from the Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection, which came out last year. However, we would be dealing with true HD ports here, ports that might even see some new features, because the Tingle Bottles and Miiverse Stamps don't have their original use anymore.

If they were to add Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask to such a collection as well, they most likely would just be emulated, however, similar to Super Mario 64 in 3D All-Stars. But those games are probably best put towards a Nintendo 64 collection for the Nintendo Switch Online service, which is long overdue. In any case, Skyward Sword HD already proves that Nintendo would sell HD remasters of the Nintendo 64 Zelda games on their own, for sure, so don't expect them.

But to add a little spice to the collection, they could offer an HD remaster of Link's Crossbow Training. This isn't really something that Nintendo would sell on its own, where originally it was part of a bundle with the Wii Zapper. But in an HD collection together with Twilight Princess HD, where Link's Crossbow Training could borrow all HD assets from this title, it would fit really well. And ideally this wouldn't be a time-limited deal.

 

2) Golden Pro Controller

The above collection could go hand in hand with a nice custom Zelda themed Nintendo Switch Pro Controller, like this one:

Of course they could also do an entire golden Nintendo Switch, similar to red and blue Switch for Super Mario, but this might be a little bit too much at this point, especially since we're already getting the Skyward Sword HD Joy-Cons. A Pro Controller on the other hand? You can never have too many of those.

3) Armor Sets in Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity

Items in Animal Crossing: New Horizons are cool and all, but the Zelda series does have its own platform to do something similar: Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. The game will be updated via DLC in 2021, but it could also get some free goodies, like additional armor items.

Curiously, out of the 107 armor pieces in Breath of the Wild, only 60 of them made it into Age of Calamity. And out of those missing, the majority are cameo items from other major Zelda titles:

• Hero set
• Hero of Time set
• Sheik's Mask
• Phantom Ganon set
• Fierce Deity set
  
• Majora's Mask
• Tingle's set
• Hero of the Wind set
  
• Island Lobster Shirt
• Hero of Twilight set
• Midna's Helmet
• Zant's Helmet
• Hero of the Sky set
  
• Phantom set
• Ravio's Hood

All of these would be perfect for celebrating 35 years of Zelda and they could even add a couple more that weren't part of Breath of the Wild. For example there could be a Goron Link outfit for Daruk. They could give the Mask of Truth to Impa (like in Hyrule Warriors). Or Zelda could get outfits based on past princesses. And so on.

 

4) Dungeon Maker

In the remake of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, which came out in 2019, Nintendo and GREZZO have first experimented with what basically was a small dungeon maker. The "Chamber Dungeon" was very basic, but it was founded on the simple grid layout that was utilized by all the dungeons in the original The Legend of Zelda. The dungeon rooms have always the same square shape with their entrances placed at the center.

If nothing else, they could still update Link's Awakening and add a remake of the first Zelda dungeon with Aquamentus as a new boss to the game, as a small way to celebrate the anniversary. However, it will be two years by then and this was more than enough time to expand the idea into its own Zelda title, using the same engine and visuals as Link's Awakening.

This could lead to a sophisticated dungeon maker, where you can fully create your own chambers and so on. And as part of the 35th Anniversary of The Legend of Zelda, it should also feature various remade dungeons from the first game as an example or part of a single-player experience.

Such a title would also lend itself to multi-player support, where you could design dungeons for more than one player. This would hit multiple birds with one stone, where this could be a dungeon maker, the next multi-player Zelda and a way of celebrating 35 years all in one.

Skyward Sword Picross?

History seems to be repeating itself from five years ago, at least when it comes to the Zelda franchise. The situations in early 2016 and early 2021 are remarkably similar, where we're heading right into the next big anniversary for the series. The next big Zelda title is currently in development and we might see it in full action during this summer, where it's likely that the game won't be released before early 2022.

In the meantime there is a new Hyrule Warriors game to tide us over, which will be supported with DLC until the end of the year. And if that's not enough for you, there also will be the next HD remaster of the 3D Zelda game that is getting ten years old now. The release timings are of course somewhat different between now and five years ago, but the overall picture feels very similar.

However, there is one part of this picture that is still missing... 2016 had another Zelda spin-off in its pipeline, which went hand in hand with the new HD remaster: My Nintendo Picross – The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. It was a free title as a My Nintendo reward and is to this day probably the single best thing that ever came out of this service.

My Nintendo has been changing quite a bit lately, though. You can finally get physical rewards, like in the good old Club Nintendo days, but Nintendo wants you to pay for the shipping and you can only do so via credit cards, which is stupid for countries where the usage of credit cards is rather uncommon. The discounts for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U are gone, while the Gold Points are now primarily used as a cheap discount device in the Nintendo Switch eShop...

You can still get the Twilight Princess Picross for 1000 Platinum Points and I can only recommend you to do so, because it's a fun little puzzle game to pass some time. If you don't have a Nintendo 3DS, then we can only hope that Nintendo finally decides to provide something for the Nintendo Switch on that service. And what better start than My Nintendo Picross – The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword to offer some nice hours of filling up Fi, Ghirahim and Groose pixel arts?

It's even weird how they introduced the "My Nintendo Picross" brand just for the Twilight Princess version, but then completely dropped the idea of doing any other small Picross games like it. Well, of course it's not very profitable to make games completely for free, but in the least this would serve as a nice promotion for The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD.

Alternatively, they could do a whole "Zelda Picross" game for the 35th Anniversary that spans the entire series. But something like that probably wouldn't be for free, of course. And the focus that Twilight Princess got with its Picross title was actually very nice, where this could also work really well for Skyward Sword as well. Unintentionally suggestive wordings included.

"Master, there is a 99% chance that you need to fill this hole."