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Lately, the Zelda community has been full of fans calling for specific Legend of Zelda games to be remade. It isn’t unusual for fans to want their favorite games to be made available for the latest gaming platforms, but the recent overhaul of Ocarina of Time has made the cries louder than normal.
The loudest noise is coming from Operation: Moonfall. The operation seeks to have Majora’s Mask receive the same treatment as Ocarina of Time: a Nintendo 3DS remake with enhanced graphics and an updated interface. They are encouraged by Eiji Aonuma’s recent comments stating that Majora’s Mask could be remade if enough fans wanted it.
Another group of fans has started a similar operation for The Wind Waker, and Shigeru Miyamoto’s comments about wanting to remake A Link to the Past have excited fans as well.
I’m extremely excited about the possibilities, but I’m not convinced that remakes of Majora’s Mask, The Wind Waker, or A Link to the Past are what the Legend of Zelda series needs right now. Instead, I think it’s time Nintendo revisited the games that started it all.
Nintendo should remake The Legend of Zelda and The Adventure of Link.
Learning from Metroid
Remaking the NES Legend of Zelda games will be completely different from the recent remake of Ocarina of Time. Even so, Nintendo already has experience with extensive remakes. In 2004, Nintendo released a remake of the original Metroid game (which just happens to have been released in the same year as The Legend of Zelda) called Metroid: Zero Mission. The game is a complete reimagining of the classic NES game. The characters, setting, and story are familiar, but the gameplay has been updated for the 21st century.
While the story is familiar, it has also been greatly expanded. A whole new segment was added to the end of the game, and the story now feels like a true part of the Metroid timeline (which is infinitely less complex than the Legend of Zelda timeline).
The Legend of Zelda and The Adventure of Link are both great games that have served as the basis of the Legend of Zelda series for twenty-five years, but despite being revolutionary in the 80′s, the games were limited by the technology of their time.
Remaking the games for the 21st century would benefit the entire series in many ways, but I think the story is the most important.
The First Shall Be Last…But Why?
The Legend of Zelda timeline is a never-ending debate. Shigeru Miyamoto and Eiji Aonuma have been a little more open about it in recent years, but most of the information we have comes from the games themselves, speculation, and constant discussion. One thing that is clear is that The Legend of Zelda and The Adventure of Link likely happen after most of the newer Legend of Zelda games. While this is generally agreed upon, it is based on only a few developer quotes and the location of other games on the timeline. The games themselves offer little information to help place them on a timeline of events.
Both games have stories, but they were fairly basic compared to the stories in video games today. Furthermore, the stories cannot be found anywhere in the actual games. To get a full understanding, you have to read the instruction manuals.
Remaking the games and retelling the stories would help clear up the confusion. This could mean retconning some of the details, but it could also allow more context for placing games before and after on the timeline.
However, as interesting as the timeline is to some fans, “we need to remake these games so that the timeline makes sense” is not a convincing argument. The Legend of Zelda and The Adventure of Link are video games and they need to be fun to play. The gameplay should be updated to match what gamers expect from a game in the 21st century.
Beyond Metroid: Zero Mission
I previously said I wasn’t calling for a remake like Ocarina of Time 3D, but I’m also not calling for a remake like Metroid: Zero Mission. The Legend of Zelda and (especially) The Adventure of Link need to be completely reimagined as modern Legend of Zelda games.
The once revolutionary gameplay is now severely outdated. For example, the very first puzzles in the first dungeon (Eagle Labyrinth) in The Legend of Zelda requires that you push a block to open a door. That’s it. You don’t push the block to hold down a switch or to create a platform to jump on. You just push the block.
That kind of puzzle design wouldn’t have been acceptable in 1998 when Ocarina of Time was released, and it would be video game suicide if it were done in 2011. The dungeons need to be completely reimagined.
The Adventure of Link doesn’t even play like a traditional 2D Legend of Zelda game. I’m going to make some fans upset by suggesting it, but a remake of The Adventure of Link needs to ditch the unique game style and make the game play like every other game in the Legend of Zelda series.
Once completed, the remakes I’m suggesting would look a lot more like new Legend of Zelda games than remakes.
2D Or Not 2D
If The Legend of Zelda and The Adventure of Link are remade, the games need to be 3D. I love 2D Legend of Zelda games, but these classics should be brought into the 21st century in every way possible. Not only will the 3D environments have a greater appeal to younger gamers (who will keep the series alive when we’re gone), but they will also allow for greater creativity when redesigning the games’ environments.
The Legend of Zelda and The Adventure of Link are classic games that some fans will not want tampered with in this way, but fully remaking the games will do a lot more good than harm. These games defined the Legend of Zelda series when they were released in the 80′s, and well-made remakes would define the series once again for a new generation of gamers.
Tingle’s Rosy Rupeeland was released only in Japan and Europe, never making it to the USA due to lackluster sales. Surprisingly, the game was well-received among those who did play and review the game. You play as Tingle, a 35-year-old (and single) man lost in the world. Guided by the mysterious figure Uncle Rupee, Tingle fills a mystical spring with money and gain access to the wonderful Rupeeland, a paradise where nobody has to work. Along the way, hire body guards to protect Tingle – but from what? All may not be as it seems in Tingle’s quest for monetary gain, and Rupeeland just might not be so rosy after all...
remake of AoL coul dbe quite possibly the greates thing ever made. all that needs to be done is add a little more complexity to the dungeons and expand on the story say like a half dozen more dungeons and a larger overhead world. the same should be done for the 1st. they are both the greatest games in the series and the young fans that play zelda now deserve a chance to expireince the greatness that is nes zelda.
Technically, while Oracle of Seasons was originally planned to be a LoZ remake, it was changed near the end of production to make it a different game. And the young fans can, if they want, play all the old NES and SNES games on the interwebs.
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I think that if AoL was remade, it should be given a treatment similar to the one Cave Story received to keep it side-scrolling but taking it to the 21st century correctly. But the one game I think really should be remade in full 3D is The Minish Cap. Words cannot explain how much I love that game.
I honestly find this article to be quite a bit disturbing, and very telling of the current generation of gamers' mindset. I'd be willing to bet those that grew up with Ocarina of Time or later.
A huge red flag for me is this bit:
"The once revolutionary gameplay is now severely outdated. For example, the very first puzzles in the first dungeon (Eagle Labyrinth) in The Legend of Zelda requires that you push a block to open a door. That’s it. You don’t push the block to hold down a switch or to create a platform to jump on. You just push the block."
My response to this is, holy hell, you actually believe that ridiculous tripe about Zelda always having been focused around 'puzzles'? Please please PLEASE tell me you don't believe this. Please tell me you don't believe any of the block pushing or wall bombing or bush burning in the first Zelda was meant to be a 'puzzle' in any way, shape or form.
Good grief, after learning about the first block you could push you knew that all of them had the potential for it. It was simply a matter of logical deduction to figure out when the moment to push any block was. Although, I suppose the fact it actually took logical deduction already makes it more of an actual puzzle than any modern Zelda can hope to spew out.
The Legend of Zelda, and The Adventure of Link were about being on a grand adventure to overtake a very strong enemy with your raw skill and brain power (and no, said brain power has nothing to do with figuring out how to make a stupid door dizzy). Growing stronger as you were able to overcome these enemies and obstacles and gather things to help enhance your skills. They were NOT about talking to a random plot of idiots to find your way to a 'puzzle' room to obtain a 'puzzle' key (now days known as an item) to get to more puzzle rooms and hopefully a 'puzzle' boss. You're damn lucky if there's even one enemy in these rooms, let alone one worth fighting.
Actual skill was required in the older games, but I suppose that's the problem isn't it? The first two games really aren't unfair at all, in fact I've been playing through the first again lately, and it's very fair. You just have to actually GET BETTER. Same goes for Zelda 2, which is possibly the most epic Zelda there is, adventure-wise and in terms of feeling accomplished when you manage to complete something.
Don't misunderstand me as an 'old-schooler'. Though I did grow up with the first two games, I enjoyed them all (yes this includes the puzzle fests) until recently. Something in Zelda has been dying, even the most diehard fans feel it. And it's because something from these older games is slowly being erased from the series, and replaced with something else. Perhaps it's gone entirely with Spirit Tracks and Skyward Sword. Even the proponents of these two games can't deny there's no real excitement for them. Especially Spirit Tracks, which is why it's in the bargain bin.
There's something lost, and it disturbs me to see an article like this calling to even erase it from the two games that made the series possible at all.
Perhaps if you play these games without any strange goggles on, you'll see that they are what they meant to be. Not a small, first attempt at the vastly different Zelda we have now. And maybe, just maybe, you'll discover what's become missing within our modern Zelda's.
A remake of the first zelda would be good…..but in 2D. However, I would rather have a remake of ALttP then LoZ. If they went so far as to make them 3D, I'd rather have a new game with a new story since if they made such drastic changes it wouldn't be the same game at all except for the story. So I'd rather have a new story then a remake if they made them into 3D.
I personally dont think they should change Adventure of Link in the way mentioned in the article. I think it should stay encounter based. The battles could easily be altered into a style similar to the Tales games crossed with smash bros. (Link fights oh so well on 2d planes). (Plus to be honest, the battles often make me consider the Tales system may have been influenced from this).
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