The Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary is Over, It’s Time to Look to the Future

Yesterday marked the end of the Legend of Zelda 25th anniversary year. It’s been a wild ride, hasn’t it? Skyward Sword was definitely the high note and the best way possible to send off the past two-and-a-half decades of Zelda. But now that those reflections on the series’ history are behind us, it’s time to take a look at the future.

New The Legend of Zelda games are coming, and since they’ll be the first new series titles on 3DS and Wii U, that means a new chapter for the franchise. Let’s talk about what we want for Hyrule’s future on both platforms.

The Legend of Zelda on 3DS

We’ve got only scant info on what Zelda will be like on 3DS – literally a single cryptic quote from Mr. Aonuma about how it will use the 3D feature in a very important way. I won’t try to imagine what that might mean, but I would like to think about what form the handheld series might take on 3DS. In my opinion, there are really two ways to go: an update to the Ocarina of Time 3D game engine or a return to the bird’s-eye perspective of the classic games. We’ve already seen that the former works quite well in 3D, and a top-down view could also see some interesting uses of the 3D effect.

Personally, I’m leaning more towards a sprite-based top-down view. We haven’t gotten a truly new game in that style since The Minish Cap in 2005, though the DS games were a good compromise between the 2D and 3D styles. There’s a lot to be said for bolstering the simplicity of classic-style games with the added horsepower of new platforms. Four Swords Adventures, for example, had really nice visuals and well-developed gameplay that I doubt will age as badly as its predecessors. Translate that level of production value and polish onto a full-scale project rather than a spin-off, and who knows? We might see a 2D Zelda revolution on the level of New Super Mario Bros..

Of course, I couldn’t complain about a Ocarina of Time 3D-based game, either. And no matter the case, all the touch screen features introduced in that game are must-haves for any new 3DS Zelda. Those quick menu controls fit the franchise like a glove. Add the ability to mark notes on your maps, first introduced in the DS Zeldas, and we might just see the best use of touch screen input in a more traditional Nintendo title yet.

Wii U’s Promise: Zelda HD

Let’s get the obvious part out of the way: Zelda HD had better be drop-dead gorgeous. Mr. Miyamoto’s suggested that EAD’s committing to making the most of Wii U’s graphical horsepower in order to give longtime fans and hardcore enthusiasts the best visual experience possible, but with Zelda HD most likely serving as the prime example of what the new system can do, it’s going to be more important to choose a visual style that’s going to resonate with as many people as possible. Fortunately, we’ve already seen a super positive response to the Zelda HD Experience tech demo, which means Nintendo won’t have to work very hard to find that winning look – all they have to do is fully realize it.

Of course, it’s also important to come up with a control scheme that’ll satisfy everybody. With the Wii Motion Plus framework not quite as much of a mass-market hit as Nintendo hoped, and Aonuma already thinking about ways to incorporate Wii U controller, it’s hard to say what will happen. If I had any say, though, I’d ask Nintendo to look to the philosophy driving the Wii U’s image: it’s a system built to be played by many different kinds of gamers. It’d be nice if the Zelda team could implement both control schemes and give players the option to choose which one they like best. How this would work out is beyond me, but I could see some kind of second-analog input in order to preserve the innovative directional sword controls.

If the next Zelda does use the Wii U controller, obviously it’d be great to see some kind of incorporation of the same features that were so popular in the games on DS and 3DS: the second screen inventory, map-drawing, and gyroscope aiming. Of course, if these are going to be key series features on both Wii U and 3DS, it might become even more preferable for Nintendo to make a top-down Zelda on 3DS while saving the modern console style for HD. We’ll see what the future holds.

The Most Important Thing: Making Solid New Zelda Games

At the end of the day, it’s the function, not the form, that makes Zelda games great. That means offering a great world full of solid game content to investigate, enemies to fight, characters to meet, places to find and to see, dungeons to navigate and survive, puzzles to solve, and items to play around with. It also means including the right features to satisfy players: things like well-hidden secrets, side-quests, the right balance of story presentation and gameplay action, opportunities to deviate from the beaten path, and popular elements like magic spells and the item upgrades system introduced in Skyward Sword.

Here are some things I’d like to see in the next Zelda:

• A large, open, fully-connected “field” overworld, broken up not by simple narrow gateways that open up as you progress, but by maze-like mini-dungeon areas like those from Skyward Sword. that require a bit of investigation to pass through successfully. Sometimes you’ll need to use a combination of special equipment and/or combat skills to make it past the obstacles and enemies in order to reach a new area. Think Hyrule from the original Legend of Zelda in terms of non-linearity, designed in a more modern style.
• Options for sea and air travel in addition to travel on land. Faster travel via a horse, giant bird, and/or warp system should be both optional and difficult to unlock. Sea travel can be used to navigate between continents and among all the islands in-between, but won’t be the game’s main form of transportation. Of course, the world would need to be truly huge to take full advantage of this.
• The return of completely optional secret items and dungeons, as well as the enemy endurance run featured in The Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, and Spirit Tracks and boss replay modes from Ocarina of Time 3D and Skyward Sword.
• A more ambitious expansion of the Adventure Pouch and Item Upgrade inventory systems introduced in Skyward Sword. In addition to base stats upgrades for items and ammo expansions, I’d like to see the ability to give items different attributes in order to create a more RPG-like equip system. That extra quiver might give you the ability to carry more arrows, but you can also soup up those extra arrows with magical tips to give them a fire attribute. Alternatively, you could upgrade your bow to give all your arrows the power of fire, but it’d be a whole lot more costly up-front. That’s the level of customization I’d like to see.
• An encyclopedia for compiling information about characters, places, story, and so on. Ideally this would be accompanied by an increase in atmospheric lore within dungeons and overworld areas akin to Metroid Prime‘s logbook, so players can do as much or as little investigation as they like.
• The ability to select the ideal difficulty option right from the start, including raw challenge levels with a Hero Mode like option that removes recovery hearts as well as a double damage mode as well as gameplay tutorials and objective hints.

Of course, what I care about most is that Nintendo just make more Zelda. Every one of the games has brought its own character, charm, and strengths – and while there’s always room for improvement, this is the series I love most. I’m always hungry for another adventure in Hyrule.

I don’t intend to hold a monopoly on wishlists for the future of The Legend of Zelda. What would you like to see in the upcoming games? Leave us a comment with all your best thoughts and wishes!