Eiji Aonuma, series producer on 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:The Legend of Zelda, recently said that the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Tears of the Kingdom represents the “168澳洲幸运5开奖网:new kind of format” for the series. Comparing it to the template set by 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Ocarina of Time, Aonuma told that, “we've arrived at Breath of the Wild and the new type of more open play and freedom that it affords. I think it's correct to say that it has created a new kind of format for the series to proceed from."
If you love 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, that may sound like great news. But, even as a big fan of those games, I can’t help feeling like there&r🧔squo;s a bit of a void in gaming created by the more traditional Zelda’s absence. Tears of the Kingdom makes some changes to address that, like incorporating dungeons that feel closer to traditional Zelda dungeons than the Divine Beasts did. But, ultimately, these games are a different animal than the Zeldas that came before them. That’s especially noticeable because Nin𝕴tendo hasn’t released an entirely new 2D single-player Zelda game in 10 years.
The Big N put out 168澳洲幸ꩵ运5开奖网:The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening in 2019, but that was a remake. It released Tri Force Heroes in 2015, but that was multiplayer. A Link Between Worlds was the last Zelda made with the series’ traditional design, and that came out in 2013. Series fans can play remasters, remakes, and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Nintendo Switch Online rereleases, but fans that were ꦯ🍃hungry for the old style after Breath of the Wild came out in 2017 are starving now.
If the main Zelda team wants to continue to make games in the BotW mold, that’s great. Both it and its sequel are really good and Nintendo will probably make a third great game in that style if they take a crack at it. But, Nintendo can let other, smaller teams make less expensive games in the traditional 2D style. The Switch remake of Link’s Awakening had sold 6.08 million copies by December 2021. There isn’t a Tears of the Kingdom-sized hunger there for 2D Zelda (at least not a remake), but it wouldn’t need to have a Tears of the Kingdom-sized budget ♈either.
If Nintendo does put out another 2D Zelda, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Grezzo is the ob꧅vious choice to develop it. The team handled the Link’s Awakening remake, the 3DS remakes of Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask, Four Swords Anniversary Edition, and Tri Force Heroes. Grezzo knows 2D Zelda. But, Nintendo has also had success when it lets a new team try its hand at an established series. Metroid Prime was born from Nintendo giving Retro the keys to the series. Some of the best 2D Zelda games were developed by Capcom. The Donkey Kong Country series was developed by Rare (and then, lat꧙er, by Retro yet again). Cadence of Hyrule was made by Brace Yourself Games, and Metroid: Samus Returns and Metroid Dread were made by Mercury Steam. There’s precedent.
Traditional doesn’t have to imply a lack of innovation. A Link Between Worlds was a 2D Zelda game with item-driven dungeons. But it also pioneered the non-linear approach Nintendo would use for Breath of the 🥀Wild, allowing players to tackle dungeons in any order they wanted by re🔯nting items from a shop.
The contingent of Zelda fans who miss the traditional format is only going to get louder now that it’s clear that this is the direction the series is headed for the foreseeable future. At this point, there's much more separating 3D Zelda and 2D Zelda than a shift in perspective. The games represent entirely different approaches to design, and it would be a shame if Nintendo let 2D Zelda, and the ethos it represents, die so that the new 3D Zelda can live.