Art Style in the Zelda Series Matters, But Not if it Means Sacrificing the Core

Art style is a big sticking point in the Zelda series. Most of the major controversies surrounding the series, many of the “splits” in the fan base, all started with the wide variance in art styles. Keep in mind this is a series that has shifted art direction so many times it could be argued that it’s hard to pinpoint what exactly is the visual identity of the series is. Let’s look at a handful of the art styles used in this series to date:

This is The Legend of Zelda for the Nintendo Entertainment System. When it comes to style and originality, this takes the cake. This is literally the foundation under which the whole series has been built. No controversy existed, because if you didn’t like it, you didn’t like it. There was no pre-established expectations.

This is A Link to the Past for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. This art direction is notably different from the original, as it does lean towards a more cartoon style presentation. However, the benefit of this is some massively increased detail detection, and it became even more acceptable if you just glance around the SNES library at that time. Similar cartoon like sprites and art directions ran rampant during this era, and Zelda was no different. There really wasn’t a lot of controversy, as the art direction here seemed like an evolution for the sake of increased detail.

This is yet a third, different, art direction. This one feels much more “realistic” even with the simplistic character models, mostly because the world itself is presented in the most believable direction art could take at the time given the technology. This is the first time we truly see the advantages of advancing tech affecting the direction, as even greater detail is seen. Just look at the the side of the ground rising in A Link to the Past and the walls of Lon Lon Ranch. Much more detail is present here, and even the trees show more detail. There is a consistent unity here that didn’t upset fans, because despite being a different art direction altogether, it served a similar purpose – to bring more details the world at hand.

This is the first major art direction shift that isn’t justified by the same reasons present in the prior ones. While there is still a lot of detail, the detail itself doesn’t feel like a leap over what Ocarina of Time gave us. Lines are crisper, but for the most part the art direction doesn’t add too that detail. It’s a radical shift that arguably began the initial divide in the fan base over art direction. Still to this day, the game is called kiddy because of it, despite clearly not being a children’s game. This marks the first time the art style wasn’t used to improve details of the world, though notably facial expressions were much more pronounced. Either way, it felt like a major departure from prior advances.

This is The Minish Cap, the only “third party” developed Zelda title we will be looking at. It again shifted art design, but you’ll notice a continual theme with games like A Link to the Past – the shift allowed much greater detail. You can practically see and feel grass blades, the straw roof, the grain of the wood logs, and leaves of the tree. For top down games, this still feels like a natural progression. A shift in style that melds with the presentation of the prior games.

This felt like a return to the pre art shift world. Art direction is consistent with the older games, with detail increasing. The trees look fuller and with more leaves. There are finer details in the character models and even the ground textures. The rock faces on the cliffs look even more believable than they did before. For the most part, this direction is the expected form for the series at this point, especially given only one game really fell off the track. You’ll notice the visual enhancements so far, beyond one game, all served a purpose of bringing more detail to the world. However, this return to form also came after breaking with tradition, and further showed the divide in art style preferences.

Skyward Sword was yet another major shift in art direction. It doesn’t further the detail progression established in Twilight Princess, nor does it continue to show growth of The Wind Waker‘s style. Instead, it’s something entirely different. While arguably items and clothing showed more intricate details than ever before, the world itself seemed muddy in comparison. That was intended, as they wanted you to feel like you were playing inside a giant painting. Like The Wind Waker before it, the idea wasn’t to increase the detail, but to do something completely different visually.

This is A Link Between Worlds. This is a unique case in that the game was trying to recreate a world that already existed before. The art direction is a big shift over A Link to the Past, and increased detail is definitely present. However, outside of presenting a more 3D like world, it technically has less detail than The Minish Cap, which shows a regression. A Link Between Worlds is an odd game on the whole in terms of art direction and in terms of trying to add detail yet also present a top down, fully 3D world. Heck, technically everything in the world is completely slanted when looking down on the world. As I said, hard to know if this is part of the art misdirection, or just a needed cause of the actual ideas in the game.

And then we have Breath of the Wild. So far, it is the most detailed Zelda game we have seen to date. The art style seems to be a blend of all styles before it, with realistic textures and items in some places, more cel like shading in others (especially evident in the character models), and the most believable sky and grass yet seen. However, while all of these blend to make what is arguably a gorgeous game, it can also be argued the game has a bit of an art direction crisis, as it tries to blend the best of all, with no true focus. To some, it has lead them to feel the game is ugly.

Now that we’ve taken time to look at some of the most notable art direction choices, it’s easier to see why so many care about the art direction. If there is one thing this series is consistent in, it’s being inconsistent. What started as art direction shifts to enhance details in the game started to become art direction shifts just to change art directions. While some styles are arguably more timeless (The Wind Waker and Skyward Sword), they still were different just to be different. Breath of the Wild is trying it’s best to unite all the art styles back together – and in my opinion it’s an absolutely gorgeous game, but it’s understandable why some don’t like it. That sort of meshing isn’t going to click with everyone, especially if you are one that hoped for more Twilight Princess like character and enemy models that show more detail, especially in HD. Breath of the Wild nailed the most detailed world to date, but actually fell behind in character detail in comparison.

Art direction is extremely important in every game that exists, because if someone doesn’t like the way something looks, it won’t matter what’s underneath it all. Look at how people furnish their homes – often looking for a connected style throughout each room. This is to create a sense of belonging and understanding where you are. How you design something visually goes a long way to determining if you’ll want to stay there – be it a room or a game.

However, one aspect that cannot be overlooked is sacrificing art style for the sake of gameplay. In the case of Breath of the Wild, it is a massive open world game that contains an extremely complex physics system. Systems like what we are seeing in the game weren’t possible on last generation’s consoles. The reason? Well, when you go for a more popular “fantasy” aesthetic (or as the cool kids call it, a more realistic style) it means having textures and details included that create further tax on the hardware, meaning you have to cut back on something to present that art style in the best way possible. Generally, that would mean cutting back on gameplay physics and possibly even the size of the world. You’d have even smaller draw distances and far less fun things to do.

In the case of the Breath of the Wild, they could have certainly gone in art directions, but the folks wanted that currently hate the way it looks now would mean sacrificing gameplay for the sake of visuals. While I pointed out above how important visual presentation (art style) is, on the whole gameplay should matter above all else. A game can look amazing, but if it plays poorly, or doesn’t play as well as it could have, then we as gamers actually lose out overall.

As noted, I have enjoyed all the various art styles, and I can agree with the premise that Zelda has a bit of a visual identity crisis and should stick much closer to a uniformed art direction moving forward. But, and I stress this, we must always remember that a game that plays great should come before any of those desires, and we should absolutely be considerate of the playground they get to work in. The Wii U is not a PlayStation 4, and to achieve everything their doing now in a more realistic art style would require either that art style to looked dated, or if it does look modern, to run on a system that is most definitely not the Wii U.

In any case, visual identity matter, it’s just that gameplay matters more. Gameplay is Nintendo’s forte and it’s at the center of what makes a Zelda game tick.