It seems 3DS will continue a year or two more alongside the Switch. But looking at the future releases for it, Zelda-caliber games don’t seem to be happening. Anyone else feel the Zelda franchise might have shrunk in terms of titles?
Zelda for the most part has always only had one release per console. The Wii had two but that's cause Twilight Princess was a port of a GameCube game similar to how Breath of the Wild was origianlly a Wii U title. Majora's Mask IIRC was original planned for the 64 Disk drive but since that was never released in NA they put it on cartridge. But usually they only do one Zelda per console.
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There'll definitely be fewer in the next 5 years than there were in the last 5. In the last 5 years we've had 2 Wii U ports as well as various lower budget 3DS games.
With just the Switch in focus, the number is gonna decrease because of the bigger budgets.
I think the next 5 years, I think we'll just see another Switch open-world Zelda and then a HD port of Skyward Sword.
Zelda has never really been like Assassin's Creed or Call of Duty in terms of its release schedule, and I for one think that's a good thing. I don't think that we would have ever gotten masterpieces like Breath of the Wild if Nintendo simply cranked out a new Zelda every year or so.
That said, I think that we're actually due for an increase in Zelda titles on Switch, since Nintendo's focus will no longer be split between two consoles. I predict one 2D Zelda for Switch in the style of A Link Between Worlds, as well as a few remasters (Skyward Sword? Link's Awakening?) before we get the next big, 3D Zelda likely near the end of the Switch's lifespan if the release pattern of other Zeldas are any indication.
Mario Galaxy is ten years old, and now I feel old.
They find a way to pad out releases. There has been Zelda game pretty much every year in some form. Wind Waker HD, Twilight Princess HD, Triforce Heroes, Breath of the Wild, Link Between Worlds etc.
Reminds me of Kingdom Hearts. Only KH1 and 2 get a lot of attention, but they've doing annual releases for that series over the past few years.
You remember 2016 was that stupid Three Swords game with a deviant Monster Hunter equipment system. There's never been any real dearth of games with Zelda in the title, the problem is that a not inconsequential portion of the franchise are unpolished or unconsidered 2D/portable games that embody the 'formula + 1 titular gimmick' stereotype more closely than the 3D games ever did.
If Nintendo were taking a wise view of the long term health of Zelda they would put more time into the portable games, because some of their fans really go in for the 2D nostalgia gobbledygook. That, and they wouldn't cheapen the name with things like 'Hyrule Warriors' when they have other franchises like Fire Emblem, Mario Party, & Animal Crossing that they're more than happy to milk with tons and tons of cheaply made releases.
Oh, and they're making that Zelda phone game. That'll probably be bad.
Blossom Tales and Ittle Dew 2 are great A Link to the Past clones that could help fill the gap until the next release if you have not already played them.
Blossom Tales and Ittle Dew 2 are great A Link to the Past clones that could help fill the gap until the next release if you have not already played them.
Indeed, though I‘d argue this makes my hunger for a 2D Zelda only grow. If a VC release of the likes of A Link to the Past or Minish Cap could fill this hunger, I don‘t know though a new 2D Zelda would certainly be welcome.
All around, I feel Zelda games, like Mario main series titles, should remain something special and not something Nintendo throws onto the scene in a yearly fashion. Once or twice per generation alongside a 2D installment and maybe a spin-off would be fine imo.
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It's just a natural result of them changing to open world gameplay, if the next Zelda game is another open world game expect a release near the end of the Switch's lifespan and/or the beginning of the Switch successor's lifespan.
There was a 5 year gap between Link's Awakening on GB and Ocarina of Time on N64, so that's about the same, if not slightly longer than the gaps in recent years (Skyward Sword - A Link Between Worlds - Breath of the Wild). Entries in franchises should be spaced out as much as possibly imo, yearly releases (or similar) is death.
The gap between BotW and the last main series entry (A Link Between Worlds) is one of the biggest gaps in the more recent franchise timeline.
BotW was also the first non-remaster HD Zelda, and the first Zelda with a large-scale open-world. It's only natural that it took longer than usual.
There was a period of 4 years between Zelda II and Link to the Past as well, so it's not that unusual for the series to slow down before making big technological leaps.
And we've had three multiplayer-focused games by now. I'd say they're on the edge of being considered part of the mainline series. If you take those into account, Triforce Heroes is nicely sandwiched between ALBW and BotW.
The gap between BotW and the last main series entry (A Link Between Worlds) is one of the biggest gaps in the more recent franchise timeline.
BotW was also the first non-remaster HD Zelda, and the first Zelda with a large-scale open-world. It's only natural that it took longer than usual.
There was a period of 4 years between Zelda II and Link to the Past as well, so it's not that unusual for the series to slow down before making big technological leaps.
And we've had three multiplayer-focused games by now. I'd say they're on the edge of being considered part of the mainline series. If you take those into account, Triforce Heroes is nicely sandwiched between ALBW and BotW.
We are getting more multiplayer and remakes than at at any time before. Aonuma did say WWHD was made to fill the larger gap between the main adventure games, so it was confirmed that development in the post Wii/DS era was just taking longer. Of course I’m wondering if this will continue with the Switch onwards.
If so, it’s not a big deal to me, but it does certainly change my expectations about the next true titles in the series, and that’s something worth considering, I feel, as a fan
That said, I think expectations for the next mainline Zelda shouldn't be affected by the number of remasters, remakes and spin-offs we might see in the future. The 3DS's lower dev costs are one of the main reasons why it has so many Zelda games under its belt. That's a benefit the Switch doesn't have.
On the home console front, there's only Skyward Sword to be remastered (and hey, it could happen), besides remaking Ocarina/Majora again. Giving those games another facelift might be a bit too much. Can't think of a Nintendo game that has been remade twice (Maybe the Mario All-Stars games, if we consider other ports remakes).
Nintendo would be clever if they ported Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess HD to the Switch, and I believe it will happen soon. The console already has a strong Zelda following thanks to Breath of the Wild, it makes sense to put as many Zelda games as possible on it.
Besides, it would be hilarious if Twilight Princess were available for purchase on retail for four different consoles.
There's been an average of about one new original Zelda game per year for the past 15+ years. I'm not exactly gonna be starving for Zelda if they skip this year (beyond the updated Hyrule Warriors).
Zelda for the most part has always only had one release per console
Not true at all. Only the SNES and Game Boy had one Zelda title. Every other system had at least 2 (Switch TBD):
NES - Legend of Zelda, Zelda II (2 new)
SNES - Link to the Past (1 new)
Game Boy - Link's Awakening (1 new)
N64 - Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask (2 new)
Game Boy Color - LA Deluxe, Oracle games (2 new, 1 remake)
Game Boy Advance - LttP/Four Swords, Minish Cap (2 new, 1 remake)
Game Cube - Wind Waker, FS Adventures, Twilight Princess (with Wii, 3 new)
Wii - Twilight Princess (with GC), Skyward Sword (2 new)
DS - Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks (2 new)
3DS - OoT 3D, MM 3D, Link between Worlds, Triforce Heroes (2 new, 2 remakes)
Wii U - TP HD, WW HD, Breath of Wild (with Switch, 1 new, 2 remakes)
Switch - Breath of Wild (with Wii U, 1 new)
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Topic: Is Nintendo making Fewer Zelda Games?
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