Game Stooge

Nintendo’s Zelda Problem

• Scribbled on October 17th, 2008 by Jonah Falcon
• Filed in Editorial Content, Nintendo Wii, RPG

IGN has an article about Nintendo’s problem with the Zelda franchise: it’s more stale than old bread. Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto didn’t fail to notice that the Wii launch title The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess failed to sell even half its expected 2M copies at launch. The legendary developer called his creation “… a franchise that does need some big new unique ideas.”

What’s wrong with Zelda? Even the most ardent fan will admit it’s the same game, over and over: Link must save the Princess, and perform the usual tasks, usually with a new game mechanic in each game. (The lone exception: Majora’s Mask.)

Zelda games also, despite the lack of creativity in the story, require you to read texts of dialogue that no real effect on gameplay. No voice work, no dialogue trees, no point. Story in the Zelda games only serve to tell you where to go, where to find things, and what to. It’s fine for one game, and maybe two, but after a long while, the lack of growth in the game only serves to point out how dated and tiresome the series has become.

Another problem is that recent Zelda games have become frightfully easy, perhaps as a way to cater to an increasingly younger audience. The family friendly cartoon style of Zelda games have wore on longtime Zelda fans.

For the next game, we hope that Nintendo will not be afraid to create some hard fights — situations where Link might actually perish and where players will need to use strategy and reflexes combined to emerge victorious.

“Without the threat of doom, the beeping heart noise getting your adrenaline up, beating a boss just doesn’t feel the same. Think about it, didn’t you just hate Metroid Prime (the final boss)? Didn’t you sink back in your chair after beating it with a true sense of accomplishment? A Zelda game that tries to cater to everyone will never be able to do this,” says IGN’s publisher, Peer Schneider, a longtime Zelda devotee and author of our Hyrule Times articles.

Yet another issue is the look of the game. The American audience was thoroughly nonplussed by Wind Waker’s cel-shaded look, though one IGN editor claims he changed his mind after playing the game for months. Should the next Zelda be cartoonish like Wind Waker, or should Nintendo investigate what a Link from Soulcalibur 3 might bring?

IGN also debates the MotionPlus control scheme, some hoping the next Wii Zelda game won’t be infatuated with motion control, while others hope you get some true lightsaber action from the new controller – though not as poor as the Wii version of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed was.

What do you think? What should Nintendo do with Link and Zelda to make it more relevent?