In this series of end-of-year features, we're summing up some of 2019's biggest talking points.
Of all of the games released during 2019, the superb Cadence of Hyrule was perhaps the most surprising. While Nintendo has allowed the Zelda franchise to be handled by external parties in the past – such as the deal with Philips in the '90s and Capcom's titles on handhelds – giving the series to an indie studio was an unprecedented step.
The final game repaid Nintendo's trust many times over, and you could argue that with Crypt of the NecroDancer under its belt, developer Brace Yourself Games had already proven its talent. But even so, Nintendo was taking a massive risk that could have backfired; entrusting one of its most famous and beloved franchises to a small outside company is something that would have been unthinkable in modern times, yet it could pave the way for future indie collaborations.
Indie gaming has arguably never been more important, and it's excellent that Nintendo has woken up to the potential of collaborating with smaller studios; who knows, we could see smaller projects in the Metroid, Mario and (perhaps?) F-Zero franchises in future.
Did you enjoy Cadence of Hyrule, or did you think it deviated too much from the core Zelda template? Let us know with a comment.
Comments 17
I wish Nintendo would let the devs of Wargroove (Chuckefish) get a crack at developing a game in the Advance Wars series.
@JuiceMan_V I would be happy with Wargroove 2 tbh.
Wargroove has been a surprise for me, has got a lot of playtime more than I expected it to! the user generated levels add so much value for me personally, like playing them all.
I would love for more collaborations that ended up with us getting Nintendo games in genres Nintendo doesn't make. For example, I would love to see the Spelunky dev Derek Yu to be given access to the Ice Climber IP.
Loved Cadence and I'm looking forward to more collaborations.
Months later I still hate cadence of Hyrule. Awesome art but feels terrible to play.
Cadence of Hyrule was one of those games that just felt awesome to play. The art style helped it fit right in with other Zelda games and I'd love to see Nintendo allow more projects like this in the future.
After clearing Crypt of the Necrodancer, it was a little tough switching over to Cadence of Hyrule. I can't quite put my finger on what changed so much to make it difficult to control, but I definitely got over it, and just beat the game. In my Octavio playthrough now, and very much enjoying it.
As for other collaborations, I'd still love to see a Floor Kids/Splatoon rhythm game.
Thinking of all the possible future deals, giving F-Zero to Shin'En would be a fantastic move.
The soundtrack is what nailed the game for me and it did so from the very get go. Would like to see more collaboration of this sort but the soundtrack must be exceptional like it was in Cadence.
I'd love to see Shin'en Multimedia who did Fast RMX do an F-Zero game.
Nintendo should really give an indie dev a crack at a fresh twist on EarthBound. Many indie devs would be able to get the writing and comedy right, so a fresh twist on EB’s gameplay formula would be the revitalization the franchise needs.
Needs a physical release.
They should give different small IPs like punch-out, ice climbers, mothers and other Smash characters old IPs that they will probably never touch again to indie studios to experiment with, so if it fails, it is just a small ip and if it succeed, the Switch will have another cool exclusive in the backlog
It will be a nice way for them to use their older IPs, help indie studios and get exclusives
A generation of designers has grown up playing Nintendo, idolizing Nintendo, and religiously studying Nintendo. Games like Cadence, Mario + Rabbids, etc. show that they're fully capable of creating Nintendo games in terms of style and quality.
The company is wise to leverage this.
Really the only reason this worked with an indie developer is the music. If you want a real game then nobody's better than Nintendo. If you really want a spin-off then there's plenty of options (Hyrule Warriors comes to mind). But speaking personally, the reason I spent $40 on this at launch and didn't look back is the absolutely banging EDM/metal renditions of classic Zelda tunes. No big studio could have cranked those out with such attitude.
I'm a longtime Zelda fan and a new Crypt of the Necrodancer fan and I really feel like Cadence of Hyrule has done them both justice.
It's easy to imagine music being a key plot element in a Zelda game - hey, if you can collect ship and train parts, then why not collect musical instruments? - and there's something incredibly satisfying about the challenge of exploring Hyrule and battling monsters to the beat of some great mixed music.
I've beaten the game on both the main storyline mode and on Octavo's Ode and I can say that for me, the further along I got in each playthrough, the more "Zelda" the game became as I filled out my inventory and completed more puzzles.
Hookshot? Check. Bow? Check. Weapon upgrades? Hmmm... Snorkel and Flippers? Check. Bottles? Check. Heart Containers and Pieces of Heart? Uh oh...
There's more than meets the eye and though the game can seem a little short at first glance, the completionist aspect as is seen in Zelda games along with the Crypt of the Necrodancer features of randomly generated world maps and the ability to play in different character and game modes greatly extends the playability.
In short, Cadence of Hyrule is a fantastic blend of both Zelda and Crypt of the Necrodancer (or if you would rather, Crypt of the Necrodancer and Zelda) and if you like either or both, I'd highly suggest giving it a try!
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