Cuphead Developer Dreams Of Making A New Zelda Game

Zelda Gradius style. 😆

This would be amazing

I'd like to see a zelda game from ANY developer to be honest. Wish Capcom would help out again.

A 1930's animated theme for a Zelda game would be a absolute dream. Let's get the online petition going everybody

This sounds like a perfect Zelda game! I love 2D games and love Cuphead. This has got to happen! They could include multiplayer too! It doesn't have to be a remake either (I guess I'm thinking of Link's Awakening coming fairly soon). A big new huge 60fps top down Zelda game sounds like heaven on Switch!

I’m happy with Cadence and wouldn’t mind some other creative uses of the Ip, but Nintendo is smart not to throw it around. A Zelda 2 Remake would be pretty polarizing. You’d have some veterans saying that it wasn’t faithful, and newcomers turned off by the level design and difficulty if it was too faithful. There is just no winning with a Zelda 2 Remake.

@Anti-Matter That's what I thought of at first too. Like it would be Cuphead style like Cadence of Hyrule is Necromancer style. But then I thought about the 2D shooter sequence in Marioland.on Gameboy and how awesome that would be. But after reading the article I think an actual Zelda game along the lines of the NES and SNES classics would be incredible.

Would rather have them tackle the Game&Watch series to be perfectly honest.

A Zelda II remake would be interesting, if they want to do that. I never played the game myself, but have seen gameplay.

@Kalmaro LJN could cook up something I bet you wouldn't want to see.

I'm sure every indie developer is interested in working with Zelda (or any Nintendo IP for that matter) now that Cadence of Hyrule is out.

Hand-drawn Zelda would be interesting

That said, I think that Cadence of Hyrule was a exception. It's natural that more indies would start showing interest, but I'm not sure if public statements like these are going to work... Feels like a opportunistic way to pressure to Nintendo, while Cadence was a mutually agreed surprise

No, no, categorically no. Can't even get a Zelda from the main team without motorcycles or boredom! Ya made one game, not even in the same genre, and you want the reigns to LoZ?! I don't even know why or how Cadence got made, though at least that fits better than X-Com Mario. Which isn't saying a whole lot. Be in charge of a good port/remaster/remake like Grezzo or pull a successful MM/ALBW using an existing game, and THEN maybe under strict supervision.

@KingBowser86 You didn't like X-com mario? That game was amazing!

I think could do well with their cartoon style with a Link Between Worlds sequel, a Zelda 2 sequel, OR a Wind Waker/Phantom/Spirit sequel

As much as i love cuphead, i wouldn't be as confident that they would do a great job. I Can see them making a zelda game hard to just be hard and keep up with their reputation. And zelda 2 even harder. One of the few I have 100% Faith in is yacht club games. Theyd pull off an epic 2d zelda game

Love the idea, but it would probably take about 20 years to make.

This is the new attention grabbing thing that will always go nowhere, the more a developer talks about such a thing and it’s repeated by all these sites and YouTube with clickbait titles “Indie Dev X working on Nintendo IP X?!” the less likely Nintendo will want to work with them. The next one of these collaboration that does happen you won’t seeing coming a mile away I guarantee it.

I like hand drawn sprites. Wario Lane Shake-it is beautiful in that regard

@Kalmaro what about EA

@Kalmaro Gameplay was okay, but Rabbids are off-putting and the cannon arms were just strange.

What is Zelda the new IP Nintendo is trying to outsource these days?

@NotTelevision Yeah, but I think the majority of Zelda fans think that game can use some kind of overhaul like Metroid Zero Mission or Samus Returns. Its the only zelda game I have never finished because it’s so difficult and different.

Disney Renaissance style Zelda would be amazing.

@KingBowser86 you mean the guns? The gun design was interesting.

I hate Rabbids with a passion, but they were funny here since they were just the Mario team taken to extremes. Tough guy mario rabid was hilarious.

@Dragnoran I would say that would be fine, but they recently cried about how much they want micro transactions still so... hard pass.

Please do a Mario game!

Did they ask Nintendo already?! I hope big N will say yes!!!!!

I'm waiting for a long time for a proper 2D game and with Zelda theme/game would be even more perfect. Not those flash made 2D games which they call HD. A proper handdrawn perfect beauty like Cuphead graphics would be great. I would like to see that happen

As Nintendo seem to have lost all ability to create anything in 2D, this would be a great fit.

This whould be amazing, but to be honest I whould love to see this happen with a kirby or a yoshi game.

I would love to see a 2D Super Mario game from them.

@frogopus great post. I agree completely. If nintendo have any sense they will nurture this idea (carefully) but could boost their output of games, with beloved ip's, whilst also harnessing fresh ideas and direction

Mario with Rabbids
Starfox with Starlink
Zelda with Cadence

All seem to have been tremendous successes. However, part of what I think made them so successful is that these were explorations on brand with what fans expect of the IPs. Mario has been on so many different types of games that the Rabbids strategy fit well, and Ubisoft did it justice. Starlink was a better Starfox game than the latest Ninty Starfox, and Cadence seems to have knocked it out of the park with this innovative Zelda title.

Personally, I agree with previous commenters that a 2D Zelda would be too polarizing. I think there are Nintendo IPs that would be much better fits: Metroid or Icarus.

@The-Chosen-one this. A collaboration between Nintendo and Studio MDHR to make 2D Mario in the style of Yōichi Kotabe's original artwork would be absolutely out of this world!

@Kalmaro I love the Rabbids lol

They should remake the CD-i ones in Cuphead Run & Gun style. Plus, imagine the animated cutscenes.

Not to take anything away from their artistic flair, I believe a third party studio would need to pitch something creative from a gameplay perspective. Cadence is a perfect example of this. Not sure Nintendo would give their Zelda licence to a really good looking 2D shooter. Again, taking absolutely nothing away from how good Cuphead is. They need to pitch the hook.

I personally would love Lizardcube to remake Metroid or Zelda 2 as they have proven to me they can retain the soul of a game.

Again nothing against Studio MDHR. They are amazing and I'm sure they can come up with a decent game, but the 'imagine Zelda but with Cuphead graphics' isn't quite 'Nintendo' enough for me.

Hmmm, maybe if they were prepared to dip their toes into top-down or isometric, otherwise I can't see many, including myself, caring for a modern Zelda 2.

What these developers have going for them is the hand drawn style and highly polished level-design. That's what is unique – and not the 2D side-scrolling that is utterly two-a-penny.

im sure a lot of game designers are heavily influenced by Legend of Zelda and would love to make a Zelda game

I hope to God they make a Zelda CD-I style game, only with good gameplay.

A "Zelda 2" remake? No thanks. What I would LOVE to see them do is a remake or sequel to Super Mario Bros 2 (U.S.) with Cuphead-style graphics. SMB2 is a beloved game long ignored by Nintendo and they might as well let someone else develop it if they won't.

Sure.

As long as it's a quality title. Nintendo has the right idea in being very careful with how their franchise's are used outside of their usual instances or at least outside of their complete control. We have seen what a lack of oversight has done with Sonic.

But Cuphead is a finely made game and I trust Studio MDHR wouldn't disappoint. Now that it's mentioned, I would love to see a Zelda games in the hand drawn style of Cuphead. Of course, not in the exact same way as Cuphead uses a muted look to get that old timey wimey look. A Zelda game in this style would have to be vibrant

@frogopus Again, my larger issue with indies having Nintendo's IP's is theming. As for "...so long as it's handled with care," Nintendo supervises that anyway and I have no doubt that an indie can make better decisions than Other M, SFZero's motion controls, Amiibo Festival, current Paper Mario, etc. Not a popular opinion but BotW could also be included in that list (again, theming, because clearly the decision to change up the gameplay paid DIVIDENDS). I fancy the reins of Star Fox myself (to keep from seeing it suffer, though that animated short was nice) and I'm not even part of an experienced dev team/game studio, so I certainly understand sentiments like these when we see them on the news. But Cuphead is a far cry from LoZ.

Better choice: a totally new 2D Mario game using Fleischer style animated sensibilities and Yōichi Kotabe's Mario character designs.

@Dragnoran Unless it’s a Zelda-themed pack in The Sims with tons of legit Zelda stuff EA can stay away from Zelda. As it is, I have a ton of Zelda CC in my Sims games because my Sim kid needs a Zelda room.

I have no issues with Nintendo giving out their IPs to be mashed with the ideas of other developers as long as there's some quality control in the mix. Cadence of Hyrule's feedback has been great! Conversely...everyone remembers the CDi Zelda games, I take it?

Lets remember that Cadence of Hyrule is not a Zelda game with Necrodancer characters, its a Necrodancer game with Zelda characters. By that logic I would MUCH rather see a Cuphead x Mario game, where you can play as Mario and Luigi (and maybe Cuphead and Mughead too) in the 1930s animation style, shooting rapid fireballs at giant hand-drawn bosses from the entire Mario series. I've always thought the 1930s made a good fit for Mario, considering the character's roots in what was supposed to be a King Kong video game. Plus, Mario 3D World had a cool jazz era soundtrack and even Mario Odyssey evoked the 1930s at times with its travelogue style and fissticuff battles with Bowser. Cuphead x Mario just seems obvious to me.

They would certainly have an interesting take on Zelda. I just kind of feel like this franchise should be developed in-house. And that is considering that I don't particular like the direction of Zelda games lately.

@BoilerBroJoe Now THAT is an idea! I would love that.

@NullPointerExcep I don't think it's all that possible to pressure Nintendo. They've always been very comfortable doing their thing regardless of what competitors say and do. That being said, they're just stating their interest in the least in-your-face way possible. If they wanted to try pressuring Nintendo, they'd call them directly many, many times.

@BoilerBroJoe I thought reviews made Cadence of Hyrule sound like a bit more than just a Zelda skin of Necrodancer. I haven't gotten it yet, so I don't really know, but what I've read from others sounds like a Zelda game with some extra mechanics. But I suppose Nintendo might and probably does view it as the former.

@Dpullam Does that mean you don't care for Minish Cap much?

Also, I'm interested to hear what you don't like about recent Zelda games and what you'd prefer. I've never heard anyone not in love with BotW. That is if you don't mind sharing.

Is it just me or would a 2D Metroid be one of those games that they would absolutely nail?

@NotTelevision Doesn't need to be a remake, it could just be inspired

@EdScissorshands
Hell yeah! You just described my wish lol. I hope someone at Nintendo is reading these comments and make it happen.

@Spustatu I enjoyed Minish Cap quite a bit back in the day, but only the first time I played it. Personally, (and I know this isn't a popular opinion) I don't like the open world setup of Breath of The Wild. I feel disconnected from the characters, and the world in the game. Perhaps it is the lack of catchy music, or the lack of a structured, focused story. I don't know. But what I do know, is that for me, it lacks all of the charm and eye opening imagination that pretty much every other 3D Zelda game had. It felt like a complete reimagining of Zelda, but it kind of stripped away most of what I loved about the series. Music, original characters on every corner, a focused gripping story, and a smaller, more diverse world. I just kind of feel like the game's fun parts were spread too thin. Too much travelling, not enough fun things to do. I don't know.

@Spustatu Hm a interview comment was fine in retrospect, but I actually got more bothered with the Elden Pixels part, tagging Nintendo on Twitter, for me that's kinda 'in your face'
Maybe it's better to pitch the idea like Brace Yourself Games did, not appeal to a public to back it up

Ooo! Thought! They should make a remake of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link!

@NullPointerExcep I see. Yes, I can agree with you there. It is, for me, a strange world we live in today. It's hard to find the right balance in business practices today with the rule of the internet mob and simply garnering support. When you want something badly enough, it's pretty easy to let things run away with you.

@Dpullam I can certainly respect that. I missed some of the familiarity from past games, too. I sometimes wonder if this game was a result of the great deal of criticism Nintendo got from fans after releasing Skyward Sword. That was a very on-rails sort of world. I enjoyed it very much, but it did feel incredibly claustrophobia-inducing at times. But I don't know of anyone complaining about the story-telling of the game, which I thought was amazing. I think it could be argued that the story-telling of BotW basically required your imagination by the simple nature of the fact that only a bit of it is outright told to us. Now that we've seen the trailer for the sequel, my mind is running wild with the prospects of a much deeper story existing in the game that I wasn't paying attention to. But I also understand not feeling a deep connection with characters in the game. I think that might have been intentional, whether it's pleasing to everyone or not. I do think the sense of adventure it produces is basically unmatched in The Legend of Zelda. I was personally hoping for a sequel that uses the same engine with all of its physics and chemistry in a Hyrule with more civilization. And I guess we still don't know what this sequel will hold yet. I shouldn't jump to conclusions so quickly.

@KingBowser86 Did you even play Cadence of Hyrule or are you just naturally angry?

Could be the best sequel to Zelda 2.

But honestly I’d rather they make a 2D star fox game

@Spustatu True that. I do have high hopes for the next one. It looks more suited to my tastes, even with just the small glimpse we had.

Sequel or remake for Zelda 2, it would be great anyway

Apparently this is an unpopular opinion, but please don't ever allow this developer to do anything related to Zelda. I personally dislike the Disney look of Cuphead and feel this game is a bit overrated, but a more legitimate reason to avoid a collaboration like this is because it would be a bit of a wasted opportunity to see Zelda in this art style. Nintendo do an inimitable job creating expressive titles like Wind Waker by doing art styles that are completely unique and not quite something most players will have seen before, often producing an art style that is simultaneously not entirely Japanese and not entirely westernized. It would be a missed opportunity to simply "do a 1930's cartoon-style Zelda" when they can do something perhaps a little more original.

@Nerdfather1 Briefly, but no one even needs to just to be turned off by everything predictably hopping around to music combined with promotional art straight out of DeviantArt circa 2010. Especially when we could instead have an alternate LoZ2 ala MM/ALBW, a game that rivals or surpasses LttP/OoT/MM in atmosphere, etc. Cadence, the Master Cycle, none of this garbage fits LoZ. That's my opinion and you're welcome to disagree.

That description reads like what the Link's Awakening remake should have looked like.

@Majora101 Nowhere in that quote does he say they would use exactly the same art style as Cuphead.

I'd love this. If anything ittle dew feels like a cuphead zelda with it's style. I'd much rather see xuphead devs do a Zelda 2 style. Cadence of Hyrule and necromancer feel annoying or unplayable but great art

@westman98 long before cadance a little known indie dev wanted to work with Nintendo on a Mario game. They later went on to make doom.

@tendonerd
I'm pretty sure most game development studios in the 1980s/1990s would be considered "indie" by today's standards.

Well, Zelda 2 is my second most favourite Zelda game (after Zelda 3) , so I would be pretty happy if this came to be.

In fact, I might just start remixing a Zelda 2 track just for the fun of it. Maybe it'll end up in the remake!

This would be amazing but it would be more amazing if they did a new Ghouls n Ghosts in this animation style.

Would love to see that ... BUT I think then it gets super hard and frustrating.

@NullPointerExcep Hiya! That tweet was more for the fun of it than an actual request. I doubt anyone on Nintendo actually saw our tweet. If we were to make an offical request we'd try to schedule a meeting

@MikaelForslind oh so sorry for bothering. I forgot for a moment that behind those company names there are actual people.
I didn't even see the tweet before it, just went straight into judgement.
Just checked your work, Alwa's Awakening looks interesting
What's up with Sweden and its concentration of good indie devs 🤔
Wish you guys good fortune

Sounds great. Make it happen!