Do You Want to See the Pictograph Box Again?

[The Wanderer]

In spite of being possibly my favorite item in the whole Zelda series, the Pictograph Box has only shown up in two games: Majora's Mask and The Wind Waker. That means we haven't seen it in about ten years. You can argue about the sidequests it's cooked up and the limits it's imposed, but you have to admit the idea is captivating in a Zelda game. You could only keep one picture in Majora's Mask, and it was basically only used for a couple of miniature sidequests. Its capacity was upgraded to three in The Wind Waker, and I actually enjoyed the whole Nintendo Gallery sidequest. I didn't like the sailing, gimmicky requirements that call Prof. Oak from Pokemon Snap to mind, or the unnecessary three-day wait for each picture to develop, but the concept was amazing.

Do you want to see the Pictograph Box again, and if so, how? The 3DS and Wii U's GamePad both have cameras and gyroscope functions, not to mention updated graphics, so the Pictograph Box could be a smash hit. Imagine a huge, beautiful, detailed, open Zelda world where you could go almost anywhere and take pictures from the tops of mountains, castles, trees, and all kinds of places. Perhaps you could "merge" real-life pictures with in-game pictures to create humorous photos. Doodling and captions you could send to friends over the internet would be a nice touch. So long as the redundant waiting from The Wind Waker was removed, extensive sidequests could also emerge. The photo shop could award you for taking photographs of places, enemies, animals, plants, and/or people. With a high capacity for keeping pictures, you could carry mementos with you everywhere, maybe pin them up on the wall in your virtual home or send them to your real-life e-mail.

There are tons of possibilities, and with the current technology, I believe the Pictograph Box should be continued. What are your thoughts?

 

[Not Take Mirror]

I would like to see the pictograph box again as long as its in color and holds more photos at a time then Windwaker.

I think it would be neat to integrate it with Photoshop-like features. It would be strictly optional and not necessary to complete the game but it could be alot of fun.

 

[Burning Beast]

Eh, I could take it or leave it, I never really used it, but hey why not bring it back, maybe with a video recording setting...

 

[DarkestLink]

NOOOOOOOO!!! Please don't make me suffer through that god awful thing again! D'X

 

[Spirit]

I csn only speak for using the pictobox in WW, i know it isn't exactly the same but after SS, and its linear sidequests and lack of during-game leisure, i'd love the pictobox to come back. Even if you arent using the picto box for sidequests or trophy collecting then its still fun to take some snaps. doing this in a 3DS game or an HD Zelda game with an overworld and enemies vicious enough to give you some cool action shots and a way to save them and share them online would be great. Saying that.. i'd like the nintendo gallery to come back too, really ZeldaU needs to give us everything it can after the bore-fest that SS was for me.

 

[Cfrock]

If this question was asked before the WiiU came along, I would have said this:

give you some cool action shots and a way to save them and share them online would be great.

The WiiU has the ability to take and post screenshots built into the Miiverse so ZeldaU will already be able to do that anyway.

However, I would still love for the Pictobox to return and allow you to take screenshots too. One thing I would like to see in ZeldaU is the ability to send message to friends in-game, not via Miiverse, with the Postman running up to them and everything. Having a Pictobox would enable us to add screenshots to such messages, so such a feature wouldn't be limited to just the Miiverse.

The Wind Waker also used the Pictobox in a large, open side-quest and seeing something similar would be pretty fun. I've only played the demo to Beyond Good and Evil but it seemed to have a side-quest in which you gather photos of various animals and insects. Zelda has had us hunt insects before, maybe the Pictobox could be used to do something similar. Maybe have someone who will pay you for impressive pictures, like a scientist who's compiling a bestiary of Hyrule or something. I don't know, I'm just throwing thoughts out there. I do think the Pictobox has something to offer Zelda and having it back would be quite nice.