Just to look at the original cartridge for the Legend of Zelda was to know immediately there was something special about the game. Rather than following the model of other games and sticking with the dull, charcoal gray of the basic NES cartridge, Zelda was contained in shimmering gold that to young eyes still enamored with shiny objects practically begged you to play it.
Not much has changed since those early days. Cartridges have become discs, but in general, the golden quality of the Zelda series remains. The games still glitter in quality, and do so in a manner that is soundly based in tried-and-true traditions that have persisted since the first game came out so many years ago. Today, however, it’s hard to look at the franchise without wondering if the repeated use of the same old concepts has, to some extent, left them worn out. With a new Zelda game already in development, one has to wonder if we’re in for more of the same, or if change is even necessary. Many gamers are happy with the traditions of the series, while others are quickly becoming more jaded with time. The TGR staff is here to give some insight into the future of the franchise, and offer a some possibilities for the games to come.
Stew’s take on the franchise
Twilight Princess was, in the eyes of many, little more than a visual revamping of Ocarina of Time. More than a few die-hard fans can attest to the fact that there were more than a few uncomfortable cases of deja vu during their time with the game. Nintendo shouldn’t need to be told there’s something wrong when the biggest difference between two games in the same franchise, with a whopping ten years between them, are the graphics. The biggest problem with the Zelda games is quickly becoming the “been there, done that” feeling. The easiest solution for this would be to simply introduce some change to the series. It’s not unprecedented, in fact some of the best games in the franchise--Majora’s Mask--didn’t have anything to do with the “Link and Zelda take down Ganondorf” plot line that has been the basis for the majority of the titles in the series. Simply exploring those avenues a little more, while at the same time doing a little more to vary the gameplay from what came out in 1998 might be more than enough to give the franchise a little more life.
That being said, there are other paths that could be pursued. The recent release of Mega Man 9 and the excitement its mere announcement generated demonstrates that there is still a market, especially amongst gamers who were around to play 8-bit games in their prime, for retro styled games. Who wouldn’t think it cool if Nintendo were to release a retro-styled Zelda for the Wii or DS?
Or more to my taste, Nintendo could introduce a little more complexity and maturity to the series. Not blood and gore maturity, mind you. I think it would be nice to see a little more depth to the story. What if Zelda wasn’t a flawless beacon of goodness? What if Ganondorf wasn’t an embodiment of pure evil? What if on the scale of good/evil, things in Hyrule were a bit more gray? Political intrigue, ambiguous morals, and characters that are more than cardboard cutouts are all mature things that don’t have to earn an M rating. One can only save the princess so many times before it becomes old, and it might be nice to see plot points a bit more complex than “go to this elemental temple.”
Jared’s response
Why not revert the series to retro style while incorporating more mature themes? If you play Cave Story, you’ll get a sense of how successful that can be.
In any case, I agree that Zelda needs to see some sort of fundamental change. Honestly, I didn’t make it a quarter of the way through Twilight Princess before losing interest, and when I popped Phantom Hourglass into the DS, there was an immediate feeling of being stuck in the same old Zelda rut. I sent the game back to Gamefly the next day.
Short of some monumental game-changer, we might just have to concede that the Legend of Zelda is dead. Not that it’ll matter, as we’ll continue to see new games if there’s money to be made.
Video Game Reviews 
55 days ago
Wow, I can’t believe I missed out on this feature as I’m a huuuge Zelda fan. Admiteddly, most of the games are rather similar, but there are subtle and important differences between them. My favorites are Link’s Awakening, Twilight Princess, and Phantom Hourglass.
Link’s Awakening had a great somber atmosphere and the ending was actually touching.
Twilight Princess really surpassed my expecatations as I previously wasn’t a big fan of 3D Zelda. The subtle changes like not having to play an instrument all the time and being able to traverse terrain much quicker helped make it an all around better package than Ocarina of Time, in my opinion. I also thought Midna gave the game a level of narrative depth previously unseen in the franchise.
And Phantom Hourglass had a unique piratey feel due not only to its fantastic art style (lifted from Wind Waker, which looked even better), but the stylus map system gave the player a greater sense of being on an adventure. I wrote a long and glowing review of it on my blog awhile back.
Majora’s Mask had absolutely amazing atmosphere. The best in the saga by a country mile. It’s a shame I didn’t enjoy playing it much at all (wasn’t a fan of the time repeating thing, myself).
There is room for improvement though. With few exceptions, these games have never had very memorable stories, so that could change. I’d also be curious if they tried a more barren Shadow of the Colossus-like wasteland with fewer unremarkable characters and a greater sense of isolation and adventure. I was one of the few who enjoyed sailing in Wind Waker for that reason alone.
But if you really want a Zelda game that isn’t a Zelda game, try Okami. It’s like Zelda in structure, but has a better narrative, more memorable characters, and is visually more beautiful than anything in Zelda. It doesn’t have quite the same pedgree of puzzles, however.
On a side ote, does anyone think they should remake Zelda 2? People rag on it for being different, and while I agree that it’s less fun overall, I think there’s potential for a really good Castlevaniaesque game in there. If they just fixed the checkpoints, updated the graphics, and maybe did away with the random encounters, it could be a pretty great 2D side-scrolling aventure game. People always complain that the series never tries anything different, but then when it does, people complain that it doesn’t feel like Zelda. Sigh.