Game Informer Polls Online Readers on 2D or 3D Zelda Preference

Prominent gaming news magazine, Game Informer, has released the results of an online poll on their website, which asked readers whether they preferred 2D or 3D Zelda games. Find out whether the magazine’s online readership prefers Hyrule in two  or three dimension after the jump.

The majority of Game Informer readers said that 3D was the way to go with 54.7% of the vote, according to the online poll. Only 22.2% claimed a preference for top-down Zelda, while 3.2% said they wanted more side-scrollers in the vein of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. Perhaps the best news here is that most visitors of the high profile gaming site showed interest in the series. Only 19.9% said they didn’t play Zelda games.

Game Informer’s regular polls are meant to be a fun way for the magazine to interact with its readers, and only represent a particular community’s views. With that said, it isn’t a stretch to assume the preference for 3D Zelda games extends to most gamers in general. It seems everyone nowadays wants the biggest and best in technology, and modern 2D games rarely received budgets comparable to the average 3D blockbuster. Still, 2D gaming has been shown to be resilient, as seen by the continued popularity of Nintendo’s Mario and Donkey Kong platformers, along with successful indie games like Limbo and Mark of the Ninja.

When it comes to Zelda games, it’s difficult for me to state a preference for either perspective. They both offer fundamentally different experiences. Games like Ocarina of Time, The Wind Waker and Skyward Sword are certainly able to pull off a greater cinematic scale. The extra dimension allows for a more robust combat system, and puzzles that take advantage of vertical directions. At the same time, titles like A Link to the Past and A Link Between Worlds offer a quicker pace when it comes to combat and dungeons, distilling the Zelda formula down to the key ingredients that make it fun, without over-complicating the experience.

Nintendo should continue to offer both 2D and 3D Zelda games at reasonable intervals. Not only will fans of both styles have something to enjoy, but the extra variety will keep the series fresh and engaging.

Source: Game Informer