25th Anniversary Didn't Feel Filling Enough?

[feraldonkey]

So, I know a lot of people will disagree and some Zelda fan boys will go into a riot about this. Which is 30% of why I'm making this thread but anyway..
Does anyone else feel that the 25th Anniversary of a game franchise as epic as Zelda wasn't handled well enough? I mean, yeah we got a Symphony concert, a new Zelda game, a 3D remake of Ocarina of Time, and a few other things.
I have asked around and a few people have said, "Yeah it didn't feel like there was any celebration of it at all." the other half mostly complained that I was a butt hurt fa**ot and I should go die.
I'm really starting to notice a lot going around though with other franchises like say for instance, Final Fantasy.
They are celebrating their 25th anniversary this year and so far there has been a lot of specials being thrown around, for instance this:

Yup, that's a box set containing all the Final Fantasy games up to 13. I know a lot of people complain that the Final Fantasy series has gone downhill since 10, I disagree with that comment but to each his own, but for serious though.
I was kind of hoping for the same thing from Zelda, maybe a set containing a bunch of Zelda crap with artbooks and music cds of each game, each game in it's own disc format along with some bundled together on one disc, all in a nice gold box, or something like this:

Yeah, I'll end it here and for the people who wanted more we still have a 30th anniversary coming up.

 

[Ventus]

Final Fantasy 10 and 13 both sucked, imo, but hey this is about ZELDA.

I too believe the 25th of Zelda wasn't fulfilling enough. I appreciate OoT3D. I recognize that symphony CD. But Skyward Sword was sheer blasphemy. It practically ruined my vision of the Zelda series. And what's more, like you said feral, there wasn't too much celebration going on. To me, it felt like Nintendo said "oh, hey, here's some stuff. Go wild." rather than "Woohoo! Happy 25th everyone! Go nuts!!!". You know, things felt boring. If there were a little more pizazz, I don't know, some extra wallpaper and maybe a game far better than SS (imo), the 25th Anniversary could've been beter. But I'm not complaining; things are in the past now. Let's hope the 30th goes better.

 

[The Wanderer]

Skyward Sword is worth a 9.5 in my opinion, but even I acknowledge this wasn't quite the game it was being cracked up to be. Nintendo made claims that this was the end-all-be-all of Zelda, the biggest task in Nintendo's history, the greatest hurrah. And what we got...was a pretty good Zelda game. Not the greatest game in the world. Not the sparkling gem of five years' hard work. A pretty good Zelda game. In other words, on a scale from 1 to 10, it was supposed to be the cliche 12 or 13, but it didn't make it that far.

I also acknowledge that the 25th Anniversary did not feel entirely special. It came and went, and to be honest, I barely noticed. I don't hold Ocarina of Time 3D and Skyward Sword as part of the celebration; Nintendo probably would have made both regardless of what year it was. Not everyone could be present at the concerts they held, so if it was special to the attendees, it wasn't really to everyone else. There wasn't a whole lot for the common fan, like, as you said, feraldonkey, a compilation of the early Zelda games, orchestrated soundtracks of the games in the series (aside from the limited edition Skyward Sword bonus CD), or books shedding new light on Zelda's history or concepts (except Hyrule Historia, which isn't released internationally yet and still felt a little limited in its new information).

We got some good things from the 25th Anniversary, but it doesn't seem to have blown the average fan away. It could have been a bit more encompassing, I suppose. But we do have subsequent years to look forward to, like the 30th, 40th, and 50th anniversaries. I don't think they'll do anything special until the 50th anniversary, but I'm confident they'll do something eventually.

 

[JuicieJ]

Ocarina of Time 3D, Four Swords 10th Anniversary Edition, Symphony of the Goddess Tour, and Skyward Sword... How much more could you possibly want? That was a great 25th Anniversary celebration if you ask me.

 

[Garo]

To anyone discontented by the Zelda 25th Anniversary, I point to the 25th Anniversary of Metroid. Oh, when was that? Why last year of course! I'm not at all surprised you didn't know that, because absolutely nothing was done in celebration.

 

[Ventus]

To anyone discontented by the Zelda 25th Anniversary, I point to the 25th Anniversary of Metroid. Oh, when was that? Why last year of course! I'm not at all surprised you didn't know that, because absolutely nothing was done in celebration.

Nothing was done in celebration for Metroid because, guess what, the franchise isn't well known. I wouldn't pull it out, even if the series is great, because few people in relation to, say, Mario or Zelda playerbase, know what Metroid is. I get the meaning behind your post; we should be very grateful as Zelda fans that -anything- was done. However, when you have a prestigious series like Zelda and we get this for 25th anniversary, then you look at Final Fantasy which has an amazing box set release, heck, even Kingdom Hearts for its 10th anniversary gets a custom 3DS plus a brand new title plus two previous titles all in one package and on top of that you also get new releases by the best composer ever, you feel really disheartened.

Especially when the new title in Zelda is very displeasing to a sizable amount of the fanbase.

 

[JuicieJ]

Nothing was done in celebration for Metroid because, guess what, the franchise isn't well known. I wouldn't pull it out, even if the series is great, because few people in relation to, say, Mario or Zelda playerbase, know what Metroid is. I get the meaning behind your post; we should be very grateful as Zelda fans that -anything- was done. However, when you have a prestigious series like Zelda and we get this for 25th anniversary, then you look at Final Fantasy which has an amazing box set release, heck, even Kingdom Hearts for its 10th anniversary gets a custom 3DS plus a brand new title plus two previous titles all in one package and on top of that you also get new releases by the best composer ever, you feel really disheartened.

Metroid is actually pretty popular. I'd say it was more due to fan's reaction to Other M than anything (which, btw, still sold 1 million copies).

 

[Majora's Cat]

Nothing was done in celebration for Metroid because, guess what, the franchise isn't well known.

Metroid, as JuicieJ pointed it, is one of the most successful and well-known franchises in the industry. Alongside Mario and Zelda, Metroid is one of Nintendo's most beloved series and is lauded in gaming as an innovator and an inspiration to current developers.

And you know, I don't understand why anyone would desire anything more from Zelda's 25th anniversary. Nintendo went to great lengths to promote Zelda and celebrate its birthday which is already fantastic. After all, an anniversary is just a number and if pretty much any number of years a franchise has been out that is a multiple of five will be a notable anniversary. I don't see what's so amazing about the number twenty-five or thirty. It's not necessary to celebrate once every few years when a Zelda game is only released perhaps once every two or three years anyway.

 

[Kirino]

An excellent remake of the most beloved Zelda game ever made, a new 3D Zelda, a Four Swords Anniversary Edition, a Link's Awakening rerelease on eShop, and a Symphony of the Goddes tour. There's no way I could possibly hope for more.

BTW, the package that contains all 13 main FF games cost over 400$, so I still think Zelda's 25th anniversary is better so far.

 

[The Wanderer]

Ocarina of Time 3D, Four Swords 10th Anniversary Edition, Symphony of the Goddess Tour, and Skyward Sword... How much more could you possibly want? That was a great 25th Anniversary celebration if you ask me.

As I wrote before, I don't believe Ocarina of Time 3D and Skyward Sword count as part of the 25th Anniversary, as Nintendo would almost certainly have released them regardless of how many years had passed since the first Zelda game. The anniversary date probably didn't influence those decisions much. It was more coincidental than anything.

I would also take some issue with Four Swords Anniversary Edition and the Symphony of the Goddess Tour. Four Swords Anniversary Edition was a brilliant idea, but it was promptly snatched away come February 2012. Although I was lucky enough to download it well in advance, I'm a little perplexed by this choice. If they spent the time and money working on an updated version of Four Swords, why not keep it available? The 25th Anniversary is over; it wouldn't be unexpected for them to merely add a price tag to the download and leave it be. Four Swords Anniversary Edition is a nice boon to those of us who got it in time, but even dedicated Zelda fans who weren't able to grab it can't enjoy that aspect of the 25th Anniversary. If they had left it up for download, I would give it more credence, but their strange decision to lock their hard work away brings the joy down a bit.

The Symphony of the Goddess tour, too, is really a boon to anyone who witnessed it at present. To anyone that did not (including me), it wasn't a very substantial gift. I'm not sure what the difference is between the music from Symphony of the Goddess and the bonus CD from Skyward Sword, if anything, so I can't comment on its availability much more.

So while both sides of the debate have their validity, I must respectfully disagree with you. None of this is to say I'm bitter about the 25th Anniversary; it's that I was largely apathetic. The title of the thread is a question regarding how fulfilling the anniversary was, so in that sense I agree with the TC.

To anyone discontented by the Zelda 25th Anniversary, I point to the 25th Anniversary of Metroid. Oh, when was that? Why last year of course! I'm not at all surprised you didn't know that, because absolutely nothing was done in celebration.

I think the question is mainly one of hype. Metroid was never hyped to have a 25th Anniversary, so people didn't really expect one and therefore were not disappointed when no official celebratory measures were taken. The Metroid series is also not wildly popular in Japan (at least not as popular as in America) and doesn't have a big legacy and relatively high number of games like Zelda does, so Metroid would probably not have been held to the same standards anyway. Zelda, on the other hand, was given an anniversary celebration, automatically creating hype.

feraldonkey also mentioned how other franchises are taking more noticeable approaches to their anniversaries, such as Final Fantasy, and seems to be wondering why Zelda couldn't have done something more...available and on the common fan's level. Comparison is also a big part of the debate.

Again, I don't feel upset or bitter about Zelda's 25th Anniversary. I'm fine with it. But if the question is about true fulfillment, I have a few reservations. Nevertheless, I perfectly understand if the anniversary was more fulfilling to others, as I'm probably one of the ones with the skewed perspective, not them.

 

[Hero of Time]

We got OoT and FS for the 3DS, Skyward Sword, and the Symphony of the Goddess, which is a lot for one gaming franchise in a year. And besides, an anniversary is just a number after all. I'd much rather have more effort put into future projects than a bunch of rushed projects for the sake of having them released within the year. What we got was plenty, and when you think about it, more than we should have received; SS could've probably easily been released in 2010, and the others were, in a sense, gratuitous.

 

[JuicieJ]

As I wrote before, I don't believe Ocarina of Time 3D and Skyward Sword count as part of the 25th Anniversary, as Nintendo would almost certainly have released them regardless of how many years had passed since the first Zelda game. The anniversary date probably didn't influence those decisions much. It was more coincidental than anything.

You can say that about SS, I suppose, but not OoT 3D. That was clearly indicated for the 25th Anniversary.

 

[r2d93]

Pshaw just wait for the 30 year anniversary my comrades, for now the 25th stuff was good enough...

what a bunch of whiners. lol jkjk