Reboots. Everybody’s doing them, because it’s the cool thing. I’ve thought for some time now that one of the franchises in the biggest need of a makeover would be Nintendo’s legendary Zelda series. In fact, we’ve had quite a few discussions about it here on this site. While I think the series has had some great entries in recent years, its formula might need some re-thinking.
So it was with keen eyes that I read over an article on Kotaku posing the question: How Modern Can Zelda Get. In it, Stephen Totilo notes that the franchise has seen more and more modern technology (a boat in Wind Waker and the train in Spirit Tracks) as the series progresses. He then asks Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma if Zelda can continue to have even more modern technology than what we’ve already seen.
While Aonuma’s response was somewhat vague, I couldn’t help but become excited about the possibilities. Considering the rumor that there will be flight in the next Zelda game, it’s hard not to wonder. What do you guys think? Could Zelda be given fresh life by having a modern upgrade of some kind? Should Hyrule stay the same forever? Does the series even need an upgrade?
Source- Kotaku
How about a remake of ‘A Link To The Past.’ Easily one of the best games most people that owned a SNES have played. I think it would be great for the next generation to get into that story and world… and hopefully with some kind of Objective screen and a sense of direction…
I’d love to play it all again, I just don’t have patience for it’s “lets search everything until we randomly do the right thing” approach.
[quote comment=”9272″]How about a remake of ‘A Link To The Past.’ Easily one of the best games most people that owned a SNES have played. I think it would be great for the next generation to get into that story and world… and hopefully with some kind of Objective screen and a sense of direction…
I’d love to play it all again, I just don’t have patience for it’s “lets search everything until we randomly do the right thing” approach.[/quote]
They did that. It was called Ocarina of Time.
Honestly, Zelda is always awesome, but the formula is stale. They don’t need to bring it to a modern tech point to make it fresh, but if they did, I would give them the benefit of the doubt.
Zelda’s problems are it’s predictability: go into a cave, get an item, use item to beat boss, never use item again. It gets old.
Presenting: “A Link to the Future!”
Link! Once Epona hits 88mph, she’ll travel through time!
But for real, even if they gave Link a blaster, you’d still use it to hit the giant spider in the eye then never use it again, just like Anthony said.
Right, Mitch. They need to change the structure,not give it a new coat of paint.
[quote comment=”9274″]
Zelda’s problems are it’s predictability: go into a cave, get an item, use item to beat boss, never use item again. It gets old.[/quote]
See I don’t think you can complain, like you said that IS Zelda and its not the same because EVERY dungeon is different and unique and each take a large amount of playtime
to complete sure the mechanic is the same but every game you can break it down to simple stuff. And face it, in nearly every dungeon in any Zelda game there has been a bit in a dungeon where you either say Whoa or how the hell do i do this. Sorry if that cam across a bit angry, didn’t mean it to lol.
It’s why I stopped playing Twilight Princess, really. I mean, the game was pretty good and the mounted combat was fun, but at its heart it was still Ocarina of Time. All you do is replace a mystical instrument with a creepy furry with a big hat.
Majora’s Mask had a similar set up, but the masks changed everything. I really liked that game.
See, I myself don’t mind as long as it’s a joy to play. I’d be happy with Twilight Princess 2. However if they redo the game, then I would like them to either keep the Hyrule setting, but prehaps expand more on the mythology of the world (like TES’s deep mythology) or completely start from scratch. Hell, even if they do a FF7 steampunk *barf* world I’d be interested. It could be like:
Epona: motorbike
Navi: phone
Master Sword: BushMaster ACR
Bombs: grenades
etc.
I can complain,lol. It’s my right and it’s true. The series has gotten stale. They are tons of ways to change it up.
People didn’t think 3d would be a Metroid game and it worked.
They got upset with Resident Evil for being an action game. It worked.
It’s time the series evolved.
While flight would be awesome, I have a feeling the Zelda franchise has just about died. Sure, Twilight Princess was genuinely fun and gave hope that the Zelda series was still a good formula even if it was somewhat samey, but with all these godforsaken Toon Link spin-offs, it’s getting tiresome to see Nintendo trying to…destroy their franchise apparently. Ugh, Nintendo in general is starting to die off, which is lamentable, but we all know that Nintendo will probably never reclaim its state of awesome during the Golden Age of Nintendo.
As for more modern Zelda settings, stop at the railroads. Boats are pretty ancient if you ask me, and actually magical railroads are a pretty cool idea, and flying in Zelda would be awesome as long as it’s used frequently enough to be enjoyed before the final boss, but not overused as a gimmick. We’ll have to see whether this next Zelda is good enough to warrant I keep my Wii.
Honestly, while it’s fun to complain, I have no issues with Zelda. Sure, Twilight Princess didn’t engage me as much as Wind Waker or the early 2D Zeldas (I took a month-long break on TP before finally finishing it) but it was still a good game.
Actually, I count TP as a fluke of bad timing. I think Nintendo was so taken aback by their perceived need to make a Gamecube game compete with next-gen games that they lost focus on just making a fun and addictive game. I have every expectation that a true-blue Wii Zelda will be better than TP ever was.
I just realized after pressing “send” that I never answered the original question.
Yes, I’d love to see them try a modern Zelda.
I agree with Anthony. Metroid did it along with Resident Evil. While I haven’t played those games, I’ve played the predecessors and they were in need of some change.
I think zelda has a lot of potential for further story if they liven things up abit. Who knows, maybe introduce a Raiden and only play as Link for 30 minutes xD
By the way. NSFW but: Check out Legend of Neil on Atomfilms.com
http://www.atom.com/channel/channel_legend_of_neil/