Hyrulian Hero
Zelda Informer Codger
Contended with a dude in YouTube today about the best Console for playing Zelda games. Is it the Steam Deck? The Switch? The Leapster? I'm going to take the easy way out and just copy/paste some of my thoughts. Tell me how I'm wrong about it.
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So it seems like a long way of saying that the Switch has a greater number of Zelda games now but the WiiU had more before and still will after.
"All of the YouTubers" could say whatever you want them to say but as long as you're willing to put up with the inferior analogue stick and occasional audio tearing, Ocarina for GC had improved visuals and is still the only way to play vanilla Master Quest. And they run natively on the WiiU. The Collector's Edition (including LoZ, AoL, OoT and MM) also runs natively on the WiiU. I've got a bunch of legitimate virtual console games on my WiiUs and that's entirely legitimate. When NSO shuts down, you will not have your virtual console Zeldas because they don't exist. The DS emulator for the Wii U also works really well.
If Nintendo releases a Zelda collection for Switch, I'll obviously get it and if it has the right games, it could make the Switch the ultimate Zelda console. The Switch is an awesome console and has all the potential in the world to be the best Zelda console. There's still no good way to mod the Switch though. Until there is, the WiiU will continue to be top dog. The Switch will have TotK which looks to be an indispensable title, the better version of BotW, and the underwhelming LA remake.
Side note, if you count Cadence of Hyrule and Super Smash Bros as Zelda games, then I'll count Super Mario Maker, Animal Crossing, Nintendo Land, and Soul Calibur. But nobody wants to do that. I'll even give up Link's Crossbow Training as a Zelda game even though it's much closer than even Hyrule Warriors is to a Zelda game.
So Zelda games on the WiiU in ten years:
LoZ (VC)
AoL (VC)
ALttP (VC)
OoT (VC)
MM (VC)
TMC (VC)
PH (VC)
ST (VC)
TP (Wii)
SS (VC, Wii)
BotW
WWHD
TPHD
That's a pretty good Zelda console. I grew up on physical media so I like to own my games, not pay to have the right to play them as long as Nintendo says I can.
The Switch's library of Zelda games in ten years:
BotW
TotK
SSHD
LA
Like I said, the switch has the potential to be the greatest Zelda console because it's a much better console in general than the WiiU is. The capacitive touch screen alone would make DS ports better than their Wii U counterparts. So we're all waiting on a physical release of every previous Zelda game for Switch or a reliable and ubiquitous mod for the console. When that happens, and it's likely, the Switch will be a better Zelda console (although not strictly). Let's go deeper.
WiiU (Modded)
LoZ (official emulator on Collectors Edition {CE} running natively on WiiU, VC)
AoL (CE, VC)
ALttP (VC)
OoT (VC)
OoT/MQ (GC)
MM (CE, VC)
WW (GC)
FSA (GC)
TP (GC)
TMC (VC)
PH (VC)
ST (VC)
TP (Wii)
SS (VC, Wii)
BotW
WWHD
TPHD
It's just not fair. The WiiU's ability to play 3 generations of games natively is a huge advantage. And that list obviously doesn't even touch the backup roms you could throw on there (LA, OoA, OoS, and FS run really well on emulators). I'm down with backups, that's why I say the Switch could be a better Zelda console one day, but it will never be able to play GC, Wii, and WiiU natively.
Addendum: FSA is a forgotten gem in Zelda history because people don't care to take the trouble to play it the way it was meant to be played. You've got together three friends and scraped together the hardware which is prohibitively expensive now. Just because it's dang near impossible to do now doesn't mean that Four Swords Adventures is just some kind of spin-off. I'm really blessed that back in the day, I bought four GameCubes with four Game Boy players and four chords as well as four TVs to hook up to my Wii so that three of my friends and I could play Four Swords Adventures on full-size screens. If you ever get the chance (finger's crossed that it comes to the Switch with updated play options!), You should definitely play this game. And not by yourself; you don't get to say EverQuest is a bad game because you ran around an empty server for five minutes, you need to play the game as it was meant to be played.
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The double standard is strong regarding backups around here but backups are the reason Nintendo has made so much money off me over the years and it's necessary to bring them up when we're talking about the games certain consoles can run.
I think it's totally legitimate to prefer certain games and to allow that to guide your opinion of which console is best for playing Zelda. Maybe ALBW is your jam and that makes the 3DS the best Zelda console. Perhaps you're a sadist and think Phillips makes the ultimate Zelda console. Maybe you're a hipster living in a sanitorium and you think the Game Watch is just the bee's knees. Let me know.
---
So it seems like a long way of saying that the Switch has a greater number of Zelda games now but the WiiU had more before and still will after.
"All of the YouTubers" could say whatever you want them to say but as long as you're willing to put up with the inferior analogue stick and occasional audio tearing, Ocarina for GC had improved visuals and is still the only way to play vanilla Master Quest. And they run natively on the WiiU. The Collector's Edition (including LoZ, AoL, OoT and MM) also runs natively on the WiiU. I've got a bunch of legitimate virtual console games on my WiiUs and that's entirely legitimate. When NSO shuts down, you will not have your virtual console Zeldas because they don't exist. The DS emulator for the Wii U also works really well.
If Nintendo releases a Zelda collection for Switch, I'll obviously get it and if it has the right games, it could make the Switch the ultimate Zelda console. The Switch is an awesome console and has all the potential in the world to be the best Zelda console. There's still no good way to mod the Switch though. Until there is, the WiiU will continue to be top dog. The Switch will have TotK which looks to be an indispensable title, the better version of BotW, and the underwhelming LA remake.
Side note, if you count Cadence of Hyrule and Super Smash Bros as Zelda games, then I'll count Super Mario Maker, Animal Crossing, Nintendo Land, and Soul Calibur. But nobody wants to do that. I'll even give up Link's Crossbow Training as a Zelda game even though it's much closer than even Hyrule Warriors is to a Zelda game.
So Zelda games on the WiiU in ten years:
LoZ (VC)
AoL (VC)
ALttP (VC)
OoT (VC)
MM (VC)
TMC (VC)
PH (VC)
ST (VC)
TP (Wii)
SS (VC, Wii)
BotW
WWHD
TPHD
That's a pretty good Zelda console. I grew up on physical media so I like to own my games, not pay to have the right to play them as long as Nintendo says I can.
The Switch's library of Zelda games in ten years:
BotW
TotK
SSHD
LA
Like I said, the switch has the potential to be the greatest Zelda console because it's a much better console in general than the WiiU is. The capacitive touch screen alone would make DS ports better than their Wii U counterparts. So we're all waiting on a physical release of every previous Zelda game for Switch or a reliable and ubiquitous mod for the console. When that happens, and it's likely, the Switch will be a better Zelda console (although not strictly). Let's go deeper.
WiiU (Modded)
LoZ (official emulator on Collectors Edition {CE} running natively on WiiU, VC)
AoL (CE, VC)
ALttP (VC)
OoT (VC)
OoT/MQ (GC)
MM (CE, VC)
WW (GC)
FSA (GC)
TP (GC)
TMC (VC)
PH (VC)
ST (VC)
TP (Wii)
SS (VC, Wii)
BotW
WWHD
TPHD
It's just not fair. The WiiU's ability to play 3 generations of games natively is a huge advantage. And that list obviously doesn't even touch the backup roms you could throw on there (LA, OoA, OoS, and FS run really well on emulators). I'm down with backups, that's why I say the Switch could be a better Zelda console one day, but it will never be able to play GC, Wii, and WiiU natively.
Addendum: FSA is a forgotten gem in Zelda history because people don't care to take the trouble to play it the way it was meant to be played. You've got together three friends and scraped together the hardware which is prohibitively expensive now. Just because it's dang near impossible to do now doesn't mean that Four Swords Adventures is just some kind of spin-off. I'm really blessed that back in the day, I bought four GameCubes with four Game Boy players and four chords as well as four TVs to hook up to my Wii so that three of my friends and I could play Four Swords Adventures on full-size screens. If you ever get the chance (finger's crossed that it comes to the Switch with updated play options!), You should definitely play this game. And not by yourself; you don't get to say EverQuest is a bad game because you ran around an empty server for five minutes, you need to play the game as it was meant to be played.
---
The double standard is strong regarding backups around here but backups are the reason Nintendo has made so much money off me over the years and it's necessary to bring them up when we're talking about the games certain consoles can run.
I think it's totally legitimate to prefer certain games and to allow that to guide your opinion of which console is best for playing Zelda. Maybe ALBW is your jam and that makes the 3DS the best Zelda console. Perhaps you're a sadist and think Phillips makes the ultimate Zelda console. Maybe you're a hipster living in a sanitorium and you think the Game Watch is just the bee's knees. Let me know.
