Rumour: Concept Art Of Axed Sheik And Boo Projects By Retro Studios Surfaces

Love these concept art. Curious to know what these projects would turn out had they not been canned

male sheik???
Now I'm interested

Good concept art. However I don’t believe they went too far beyond that.

That Boo art is freaking awesome. I want that game.

Oh my god, I want the Shiek game to be resumed whenever it's realistically possible/feasible.

They ought to make a coffee table book containing art and data from cancelled games and projects. A perfect tome loaded with potential what if’s and what might have been scenarios.

These lovely illustrations and abandoned concepts definitely feed ones imagination...

Those Sheik artwork...simply 👌🏽👌🏽👌🏽

I wasn't aware until now that I needed a freckled Boo in my life.

I would have preferred a game staring Impa rather than Shiek.

While the Boo one looks cool, and I'd like to see something in the future, right now, instead of developing any other projects, they should have all staff and more working on making Metroid Prime 4.

The Sheik concept art is beautiful, wish they'd had made the game. Maybe if we're incredibly lucky they'll resurrect this project.

Oh noooo,

I'll never EVER be able to "forget" about this, as of now I'm forever gonna be waiting/wishing for a Boo game, what? Amazing that at some point this was actually being worked on by retro, jesus what else may have been close to happening that we just don't know

Lore for the “sheik” game sounds horrible.

Seems that somebody forgot that Sheik was a disguise and not the race. Also, if you are going to do a Sheikah game it should have it’s leader (and the only living Sheikah seen in OoT) at the helm... Impa, a woman as opposed to shoehorning a generic man into the role ( or use Zelda if you really want a game about Impa’s student, since obviously Impa helped keep Zelda safe during Link’s nap in OoT and likely trained her in the ways of the Sheikah so she could become Sheik).

Really glad this didn’t get greenlit. I’ll take the roles we see Impa and Zelda play (especially in Skyward Sword, TP- Zelda might have surrendered but she was ready to take to battle for her people, BOTW-Impa’s power is implied but still significant and even Hyrule Warriors which could have had Zelda, Impa and even Sheik sideline but instead showed them as active warriors for Hyrule) in other games.

In other words I would like to keep or expand on the roles that Impa (Kunoichi/guardian/sage/bodyguard/leader of the sheikah) and Zelda (reincarnated goddess/scholar/magical archer/kunoichi/ruler or heiress apparent/leader of the sages) already play rather than stripping that out because some demographic hates capable females. You have two existing female characters with rich history even despite LoZ’s somewhat all over the place storytelling but instead of thinking of using them the suggestion was to use generic guy number 3476.

I have always wanted to see Zelda’s battle disguise more fleshed out but I’d rather what Nintendo has hinted at over stuffing her work/role on a man any day. As this concept art and synopsis is trying to do.

I find it interesting that people want to boot Zelda out of her evolution away from damsel in distress but will go insane with rage over the suggestion of making Link female (which I don’t agree with. Give me a character designed to be female with a female’s perspective any day over a gender swap) or having a game staring Zelda (which could work considering she is a literal goddess in mortal form). I’d almost give this mess a pass for its age, but honestly it was triffling then too.

Edited to make slightly easier to read and to expound further. Happy to discuss if an actual response is offered and not random buzz words. I do find it hilarious that wanting to keep actual lore because it highlights and builds up female characters is frowned upon by gamers that want a male to take that place but they are coming at me in a manner that suggest that they are progressive thinkers. I'm supposedly the villain for liking the original body of work and seeing its potential to expound further. Still sounds like misogyny to me, guys. But I learned some new outrage buzzwords so that was nice.

Some things are just better left on the cutting room floor.

Are you sure that’s not just fan art?

The Boo game makes me think of the Avenging Spirit GB game with its talk of possession powers.

Some of the boo art reminds me of Paper Mario.

I'm assuming that these are BotW and Dark Moon pitches. No surprise that the Boos look like their SMW2 counterparts given Retro's understandable but overblown SNES love. Given BotW's focus on the Sheikah and Ubisoft towers, plus likely looking at the absurd stuff that the early first-party concept art was toying with, this is undoubtedly for BotW.

I've always wanted a Boo game. Heck, if you just floated around and "press A for Boo noises," I'd buy it.

I just want Retro to make more Donkey Kong Country games. They do it perfectly!

I can't fully contain my disappointment over Nintendo keeping Retro shackled to Metroid Prime 4. A game they only announced so they could on-board more of the older American fans eaely in the Switch's life.

Whether Retro ever had any of these project pitches accepted, and were genuinely "working" on these games or on something else, no matter what it might have been, I personally think I'd have found it more interesting than Metroid Prime 4.

@Ryu_Niiyama
That was cringe

@Grot @Sandro89 There is nothing "yikes" or "cringe" about what @Ryu_Niiyama wrote (I suggest expressing an actual opinion next time, these Twitterisms are like the cold, stale McDonald's fries of the English language). Those are all accurate and reasonable observations. It makes sense to expect a game based on Sheik, a disguise worn by the slender and graceful Princess Zelda, to actually feature that character rather than a random bearded bodybuilder on a 4k calorie diet. It is also warranted to critique the concept art for the fact that its proposed story would have centered on a fundamental misunderstanding: "Sheik" is a disguise adopted by Princess Zelda based on the appearance of a secretive tribe who are devoted to serving the Royal Family she belongs to, "Sheikah" is the name of that tribe.

I'll add that the plot would have been nonsensical, as it's suggested that the story would have taken place following the "bad ending" of Ocarina Of Time where a relatively youthful Ganondorf wins, yet it would have also essentially covered his birth event (was this meant to be a flashback? Would there have been two Ganondorfs?). It's also worth adding that Sheik wouldn't have been "the last Sheik[ah]", as Impa, an actual Sheikah, appears more or less alive at the end of the game along with the other Sages, meaning Impa survived the prior seven years (that's not to say Ganondorf couldn't locate and kill the sages afterwards in the practically non-canon bad ending, however. Might be a good time to ask, is the Hyrule Historia timeline thing still considered canon post-Breath Of The Wild?). As cool as the concept art is, it is clear why the project did not proceed beyond this stage. Makes for a great fan fiction, though.

@Sandro89 glad you think so. Offer an actual response next time.

@Grot just randomly saying words?

@Menardi thank you. Someone gets it.

@Ryu_Niiyama Very welcome, was surprised to see that sort of non-response to your well-written and informative point, they read like automated bot comments lol, just zero relevance to the topic or the point you were making. I guess it's "cringey" to expect a piece of concept art based on an existing story to actually follow that story. "Yikes".

I wouldn’t mind a game all about the Sheikah.

But that BOO game— Nintendo needs to make this happen!

I'd be all in for that boo game, love that art style. Really hope Nintendo goes with something more innovative like that when they're deciding on a visual style for the next 2D Mario.

Kinda cool idea to have a Sheik based game but seems weird to not actually play as sheik, the most interesting Sheikah. If they wanted dark and gritty, they could have set it during the 7 years interlude in OoT. But this also lines up with being just after Twilight Princess was released when Zelda was a bit more gritty anyways. Also kind of highlights how few Zelda spin offs there are, obviously there’s Hyrule Warriors and Cadence but those again focus on Link and Zelda not side elements, which would be cool to see. Boo looks pretty nice too though.

Lovely stuff! Now we know what Retro did AFTER Tropical freeze...cancelled projects. A pity, both projects looked like they had potential. Judged from the artwork at least.

Would love to see what the Zelda game would've turned in to if they got to make it.

Now imagine what they did between Tropical Freeze and Metroid Prime 4. It will probably be years until we get an answer. It's a shame they worked 5 years in something or multiple projects that will never see the light of day.

I went to the Artstation page and man, what a lovely Zelda art! Even better then what's shown above. I was always wondering what a Zelda project by Retro would be like. Sadly it never came to be...

@Ryu_Niiyama All well made points and totally agree.

I think I know why these were canned.

The concept art is really bad.

There‘s never enough boos, so bring it on please.

Cool ideas, maybe someday?

@Ryu_Niiyama you have some nice ideas but why so on the attack?
Not sure where you got the "race" part from. Also, you have a lot of assumptions about a character you know nothing of. The character isn't even established so how can it be generic? Or are males by default generic? Not sure what the point is.

You want female representation or something like that. Which is cool, but most of us just like new ideas and new games set in interesting scenarios. We don't even think about the gender part and why should we?

This headline has ruined me, I now want my "Sheik and Boo" game.

SHEIK AND BOO: MOTORCYCLE COPS

Seems to be trying way too hard to be cool and edgy, like Prince of Persia Warrior Within.

Not a fan of the Sheik stuff at all but the Boo stuff looks amazing.

I didn’t find the info some seem to have about Shiek, here, besides a paraphrase in the article based on a memory of a fledgling concept.

To me, it looked like an exploration of how to treat the character —that’s what concept art is for, not any final determinations. To me it looks like playing with the look of Zelda as Shiek back and forth between masculine and feminine to see what works... until the big beard shows up, which makes me wonder if that is just an outside-of-the-box take, or a completely different character. If you look at the original Boo artwork on the page, you’ll see the artist doing this as well. I wouldn’t jump to the conclusion that Retro was going to pitch a game with a Menorah Boo or crucified Boo.

I think that is what some of the reaction to your post is @Ryu_Niiyama . Maybe you have another source of background here that I haven’t looked at, but concept art is an exploration of conflicting ideas and there are several assumptions you jump off from and extrapolate on, which is fine, but you kind of left on a train none of us boarded.

No thanks, Zelda is not the main protagonist of the series. Link is, keep it that way, don't need the identity politics in Zelda.

@Ryu_Niiyama Please keep the identity politics to yourself. This isn't a political forum. Your starting an argument out of nothing by assuming men have an issue with strong female roles. Take a chill pill and go on reddit with that nonsense.

@TAndvig for what artistic reason is there for Zelda to be unplayable? The only fundamental change to the series would be the ability to experience her adventure not just Link's.

Can't wait for people to complain about how these concepts were thrown away to work on "aNoThEr StUpId DoNkEy KoNg GaMe"

lol this site has gone full woke. liberals and sjws everywhere

@Grot I actually agree with the SJW point you make here and now understand your view a little more, as shoehorning female/minority characters into media just to win socjus points is lazy, manipulative and predictable for many reasons, and I appreciate the Last Of Us 2 reference, as that entire scenario is ridiculous (that won't stop glue eaters in the west from buying it, though, unfortunately, gotta have that dreary movie game sequel).

I think it may have been her word choice that gave you a greater impression of an SJW "female"/"race" argument than what was there, as I think her main critique is that the story according to the article would have been about the last "Sheik" when the more accurate description would have been "the last Sheikah", specifically another member of the Sheikah tribe. Think it's the combination of that mistake and the fact that the art depicts a character who is clearly not Sheik that was drawing the criticism, it's like labeling a patty melt as a grilled cheese sandwich — similar but distinct sandwiches. Think the "generic male" line was written to emphasize the obvious difference between Sheik and the unnamed male Sheikah depicted in the concept art rather than make a social justice point.

Her later point is essentially saying games should do the opposite of what The Last Of Us 2 is doing; characters of either gender should be their own characters with their own unique purpose for being there (like Sheik/Princess Zelda) rather than being carelessly shoe-horned into media and depicted in a non-stereotypical or unreasonably uncommon way to push an agenda and manipulate target demographics into liking the game based on the things they might have in common with a token character rather than quality/good gameplay/etc. (like implementing a body-building transgender who presumably maintains a high-calorie diet and has surprisingly fruitful access to HRT in an already unrealistically "diverse" post-apocalypse setting who viciously murders established characters fans are attached to and then becomes the player character for the rest of the game. Literally a cartoon, and it takes itself so seriously, too. Award-winning writing, right there, definitely the work of a writer).

Lets keep games as games and FAR away from gender politics for the sake of muh inclusion and muh diversity. Look at what fat good that did to the joke that is last of us 2.

Both game concepts are intriguing IMO. I'm more interested in what would have become of the Sheikah project if it hadn't been axed; the theme there seems wonderfully dark. Though these concepts do seem like they're from an early part of the dev process where a lot of ideas were being thrown around to help form a cohesive whole.

@SSJW Makes sense, always thought the split timeline thing was a bit on the fence. Kind of odd how Ocarina would have split timelines but Skyward Sword does not. Twilight Princess taking place "100 years" after Ocarina Of Time, not too sure about that. Seems more like something the publisher proposed and the Zelda staff just signed off on. Could be totally wrong though, just a thought.

I would love to see a spin-off game featuring Sheik, but the ACTUAL Sheik from OOT. If they really want a storyline featuring the Sheikah tribe, I think it'd be best to do a story detailing the fall of the Sheikah tribe as hinted at in OOT, not this lore ignoring story. The concept is cool, but would not work in the context of the series. I think we all could agree that Impa would make for a great player-controlled character. Mayhaps the story could tell Impa's story from before she became the Sage of Shadows. I want to know more about the Sheikah tribes "dark history", their connection to the Shadow Temple, and what happened to the other tribe members.

@TAndvig
As iconic as Link is, I for one wouldn't mind a "Zelda" game to star the character "Zelda" for once in a century.

The parallel between Mario/Peach and Link/Zelda is obvious, aside from the elephant in the room, ie, the fact that Mario games aren't called Peach games.

Apart from the confusion in lore, the Sheik artwork looks really cool and you can tell concepts might have been taken from this and included in Twilight Princess (twili) and Breath of the wild (early guardian concept art). I would love a sheikh action rpg, whether you play as Sheik or not. I would like the character to be female though, we've mainly had sheikahs being female in the mainline zelda games.

I wonder if Nintendo canned this because it was too story based. As in didn't follow Nintendos design philosophy.

@Ulysses Well, Breath Of the Wild 2 may have her playable it looks like.

Oh man, I am all for spin off Zelda games that wouldn’t revolve around the Link-Zelda-Ganon Triforce. Great ways to explore the setting. Playing as a Sheikah would be cool, as they’re apparently more ninja than Knight/Ranger Link.
Boo game would have been adorable. I guess you would need to sneak around enemies so they don’t look directly at you?

Oh, I was utterly wrong. Tropical freeze came out in 2014, these projects are a lot earlier. Thus its still a mystery what they did after that game.

As for the axed projects: Sheik might have been the inspiration for Twilight princess and botw (especially botw, wich is Sheikah themed. The dark gerudo have been replaced by yiga). And Boo might have been a handheld-game and a Luigi's mansion spin-off. Especially the tower looks like inspiration for the hotel in Luigi's mansion 3. So in other words: While both projects got axed (sadly) they seem to have been used for other Nintendo projects.

I would LOVE a Shiek game. Whether its princess Zelda or not doesn't really matter too much to me (even though obviously it would make the most sense). Stealth/action-adventure game that takes place in one of the Zelda timelines...that would be so awesome.

@Spanjard Very well said. They are just another SJW trying to make an issue out of a non-issue, per usual.

@Ryu_Niiyama Nice post Ryu

@Li_N_K Why is that the thing that makes you interested? Not enough dudes in video games for you?