Gossip Stone: Should Future Zelda Titles Play with Time?

Time travel has been featured in several Zelda titles. Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, and Skyward Sword spring to mind as the obvious examples of games which include time travel. Are future Zelda titles likely to feature more time travel? Should they? Click through to join the discussion.

Speaking objectively, the answer is quite likely ‘only incidentally’. While Majora’s Mask’s repeating three-day mechanic makes it stand out from other Zelda titles, it never sold as well as the standard ‘beat a bunch of dungeons and save Hyrule’ storyline.

Ocarina of Time, on the other hand, is rated as one of the greatest games of all time. I would argue that this follows from it utilising the standard storyline. Sure you can time travel back and forth between eras, but you are still defeating dungeons, and gathering weapons and artefacts in the usual Zelda way.

Would I like to see more time travel? My opinion is absolutely biased because I am a sucker for time travel scenarios. Here is what I would like to see in terms of time travel: a Zelda game in which we run backwards through the normal dungeon scenario; where you lose your weapons one by one as you regress through the dungeons; where your allies forget who you are and become hostile again. Link starts the game with all the weapons and upgrades, but humiliated by defeat: Ganondorf has the Triforce. A desperate plan is hatched by a few scattered rebels (Link, Zelda, Impa, etc.). The only way to save Hyrule is to go backwards in time and put back all the artifacts, re-hiding them before Ganondorf can use them, and defeating him before he can become too powerful.

I am sure many of us have pet scenarios we would like to see used in the Zelda franchise. I am also sure that fans can be persuaded either way, as long as the title provides enjoyable scenarios and challenging gameplay. Would you include more time travel in future Zelda titles, or less? Or scrap it altogether in favour of something else? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.