The undeniable success of bothThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomand its predecessorBreath of the Wildhave all but cemented the likelihood ofThe Legend of Zeldaremaining an open-world title for years to come. Indeed, even series producer andZeldamastermind Eiji Aonuma has confirmed that fans should expect more open-worldZeldatitles in the franchise’s future. WhileThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the KingdomandBreath of the Wildare both incredible games, there are definitelyZeldafans that are lamenting the loss of what many consider “classic"Zelda. To appease both new and old fans of the franchise, Nintendo should take inspiration from Capcom’s handling of theResident Evilseries.
Beginning with the franchise revival ofResident Evil 7: Biohazard, Capcom has steadily breathed new life intoResident Evilby interspersing new games with remakes of the classic titles. The remakes have successfully established themselves as “classic"Resident Eviland differed from the new numbered sequels thanks to relying on the traditional third-person perspective versus the newer entries' first-person POV. When considering how Nintendo could appeal toZeldafans both old and new, adoptingResident Evil’s release scheduleof dropping a remake of a classic title between newer sequels seems like an ideal fit.
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What Resident Evil’s Release Approach Could Look Like for Zelda
Zeldagames typically have long development cycles. Even thoughTears of the Kingdomused the same basic engine developed forBreath of the Wild, the sheer amount of innovations and improvements made between the two games resulted in a six-year gap between them. The long gap betweennewer games in theZeldaseriescould serve as the perfect vacuum for the release of a remake of a classicZeldatitle, much in the same way that Capcom has remadeResident Evil’s past games.
Truthfully, Nintendo has already used a similar approach withZelda, releasing a remake ofLink’s Awakeningand a remaster ofSkyward Swordfor the Nintendo Switch during the interim betweenBreath of the WildandTears of the Kingdom. Now that fans know that open-world titles are here to stay forZelda, there’s plenty of opportunity to appeal tofans of classicZeldawith a remake of a classic title every few years. The 35-year history of the franchise includes several titles that are fertile ground for remakes that bridge the gap between newer and older series fans.
Nintendo Already Has the Perfect Template for 2D Zelda Remakes
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past,released for the SNES in 1992, is often cited as one of the best games in the entire franchise. That the first threeZeldagames have not been remade is something of a statistical outlier in the age of remakes and re-imaginings of classic games, but also speaks to the timeless quality of at least the first and third titles in the series. There’s a lot of territory Nintendo could revisit first for a series of regularremakes of classicZeldatitles, butA Link to the Pastis arguably one of the best candidates and already has a perfect template to draw from.
The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakeningreleased just one year afterA Link to the Pastand was essentially its Game Boy counterpart. Much of the game’s blueprint and DNA were pulled directly from its SNES sibling, and bothA Link to the PastandLink’s Awakeningare considered highlights of theZeldafranchise. Considering thatLink’s Awakeninghas already received a great remake, Nintendo has a perfect template to use when re-imagining the classic titles in the series. TheZeldaformula of the pastmay not be revisited in newer sequels for quite some time, but there’s no reason for Nintendo to forsake theZeldaseries' origins in favor of drawing in new fans.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomis available now for Nintendo Switch.
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