Daily Debate: Should There be More Zelda Inspired Retro Games?

As of late, the retro vibe has been quite popular in indie titles. While many of these creations are infused with a good deal of originality and respect for the games which inspired them, it’s hard to know when to draw the line between “inspired by” and “copied from”. And since the Legend of Zelda series has set the standard for so many games, this is an especially tough call. One game to recently bring this issue to attention is Midora.

Midora is a game by Epic Minds currently seeking funding via Kickstarter. While they clearly have established that their game is heavily inspired by retro Zelda games, some were suspicious of just how far said inspiration went, specifically calling out the graphics of the game for the similarities to The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap. While the team at Epic Minds clarified that all the graphics were created with absolutely no use of assets from The Minish Cap (the differences are pictured to the left), the similarities remain, both graphically and musically.

Another game that draws from the Zelda of yesteryear is Shovel Knight, created by Yacht Club Games. An 8-bit, NES type platformer (both in appearance and challenge), this game is full of features comparable to not only Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, but also Mega Man, Super Mario Bros. 3, and Castlevania. And while the Fire Rod lookalike item might be seen as a direct take from Zelda, the majority of Shovel Knight proves to be the surprisingly original result of an eclectic blend of the NES’s greatest hits.

There are many more games that use elements from past Zelda titles, but these two are some of the most recent and serve to demonstrate what may be a crucial difference between acceptance and rejection of second age retro titles; one references a game released last decade while the other references a game made over a quarter of a century ago.

It’s tacitly accepted by most if not all gamers that titles from the beginning of the console era (e.g. Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Castlevania, etc.) provided the building blocks for many games to follow. As such, elements from these games have appeared in myriad video games, even spurring terms such as ‘Metroidvania’. Adding to that, it’s been so long since the original releases that true nostalgia has had time to settle in, giving us reason to want more of these games. Meanwhile, The Minish Cap is just old enough to have had a release on the Wii U Virtual Console.

While I have certain qualms about the Midora’s music’s similarities to that of Zelda, I still want games made with a retro spirit to utilize this series as a point of reference, mostly for how they build upon what was there before; they evolve the ideas and keep them fresh. I see the ways in which games like Midora are planning on doing so and I’ve experienced how games like Shovel Knight have done so to great success. And I have confidence that more of this will be good for both the Zelda community and the gaming community as a whole.

What do you think? Should more new age retro titles use past Zelda games as inspiration? Or should the history of this franchise be reserved to games in its future? Are there any games in the series in particular from which you would or would not like to have elements reused? Share your thoughts on the matter in the comments below!