If the Next Few Zelda Games Were Co-developed by a Third Party...

[Ventus]

I checked around WoZ and didn't find any similar threads; if there happens to be one, you mods know what to do

I was thinking over my head a bit just as I woke up this morning, what if there was a Zelda game that had Tri-Ace's hand involved? After all, there are several games in several series that have multiple, separate companies working on things. Kingdom Hearts, Star Ocean, etc come to mind. Such games and such series themselves have seen moderate to great success,

I mean, the Zelda series can only stay in its first party roots for so long until the devs get tired of making Zelda games, then they'll start flipping tables or something. So my question is, if the next couple of Zelda games had their ingredients mixed by multiple hands, what hands would you like to have dabbled

I personally would love to see Square-Enix play a part in the development, structure, graphical design et cetera in the next few Zelda games. SE has a history of making great games (sure, I may not hold them in my favorites listing, but even FFXIII was great!) and I'd love to see such an amazing company start playing around with my favorite series ever.

 

[Dan]

I would love capcom to have a go at Zelda again...
I can imagine it now.
"Okay I need a key to unlock this room of the dungeon, hmmmm ah here's a chest" then a popup appears "$15 dollars for key", and then we all scream "CURSE YOU CAPCOM"!
I know this will sound strange but I wouldn't mind naughty dog tackling Zelda myself, they have already proven they can make very different games.

 

[Zorth]

BioWare, Definitely would love to see them making a Zelda game. Just look at Knights of the old republic, Imagine bringing that kind of story telling into Zelda!

 

[JuicieJ]

I'm pretty sure this is a 2nd party, but I would love to see Retro Studios help out with a Zelda game. Miyamoto himself said they would be a good team to work with, and they've already worked together in the past -- Miyamoto helped with Metroid Prime -- so it's not like they'd be complete strangers.

 

[Spirit]

Noooo no more Capcom, they gave us the Oracles, and thank god those awful games didn't have an DLC...

Wasn't there talk about Retro maybe going to do a Zelda at least once some time in the future?

I don't really think nintendo would give Zelda wholly over to another party, Zelda and Mario seem to be the only two flagships that nintendo want to play with atm, yeah kirby got two games this gen, but DK only got one and felt like an afterthought when it was given to retro and ended up being a 2d game after the last adventure DK game was DK64 it feels a bit backwards and uncared for even though it was a great game.

What i'd like is if nintendo used a third party to bring Zelda games out in double time or at least faster.

Square Enix would turn everything into a corridor, so my vote would still be Retro. Although.. Rocksteady (batman Arkham games) would probably do really well with a Zelda =]

 

[ZeldaGod101]

I want sucker punch to help develop Legend Of Zelda

 

[Sir Quaffler]

The only other two developers I feel comfortable handling Zelda are Retro and Atlas.

Retro because they've already established they can quite aptly handle Nintendo franchises with utmost respect.

Atlas because those guys understand story and character development.

 

[Cfrock]

Square-Enix

I don't think I would be happy with that at all. I don't think there is a single Square-Enix game in existence which I like. I am not a fan of J-RPGs and I would be quite sad if any major influence of that genre found its way into Zelda.

capcom

I would be okay with this. They did an excellent job with the Oracles games and The Minish Cap is one of my favourite games in the entire franchise. I think I would be more comfortable though if they stuck to handheld Zeldas.

BioWare

I would seriously consider not buying the game if this was the case, then inevitably buy it and find hundreds of things to complain about on purpose. After playing KOTOR I became a fan of Bioware. After playing Jade Empire I was less enthusiastic. After playing the Mass Effect franchise, I think they're awful. The reason why I have gone off them over time is for precisely the reason you think they'd be good for Zelda: Story-Telling.
KOTOR was excellent and had one of the best (if not, the best) twists in video game history. Jade Empire was just clichés of Eastern Mysticism and a whole pile of missed opportunities (why did we never go to Phoenix Gate or where Sir Roderick was from?). Mass Effect was just more clichés and the single worst ending to any story ever made for commercial release. Seriously, how anyone can have faith in Bioware as a story-teller after that I will not understand.
To me, Bioware are helpless when left to their own devices and I wouldn't want them to touch Zelda.

Retro Studios

Absoloutely. Everything Retro has done, I have loved. They reinvented Metroid and Donkey Kong (sort of) and I believe that if anyone deserves a shot at a Zelda game it is they. There is perhaps no other Western developer I would be comfortable with having a part in Zelda.

Another studio who's influence I don't think I would mind and would probably welcome is Intelligent Systems. When I said I'm no fan of J-RPGs before it was an understatement; I loathe J-RPGs. Intelligent Systems made one I not only liked but consider one of the greatest games ever made. That was Paper Mario: Thousand-Year Door.
Now, I know Intelligent Systems aren't a third-party (they're first if I recall correctly) but they have never had a hand in Zelda and pretty much everything they touch turns to 24 carat gold. With a strong pedigree of titles under their belt like Fire Emblem, Paper Mario, Advance Wars and freakin' Pullblox (Pushmo), I think they could be trusted to do a smashing job with Zelda.

 

[The Wanderer]

I actually wouldn't mind seeing Square Enix have a go; they've made some very successful JRPGs (of course), and assuming they don't take any unnecessary and controversial risks that ruin the point of Zelda (like linear narratives), they should hopefully add a bunch of things to Zelda that it's needed for a long time. Sidequests, deep development for multiple characters, intricate stories, and numerous cities/settlements are things Zelda could make great use of, and from what I've heard, the early Final Fantasy games at least made good use of these attributes. I haven't played any mainstream Final Fantasy games, so I can't comment too much, but they sound like a fairly competent company to handle another Zelda.

As Cfrock suggested, Intelligent Systems is another good development team to consider. I hold Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door to have one of the greatest and best-paced stories of all time, and Fire Emblem is one of my favorite franchises. They understand how to make stories that are frequently lighthearted yet mature and deep, and I can't help but think they'd really improve the enemy design to give the game a more strategic and realistic edge.

Everything Retro Studios touches turns to gold, so I wouldn't put a Zelda game past them, either. Beats me how they'd handle it, but I trust 'em at this point.