Too many Zelda games?

OK, I've made no secret of how I think the newer Zelda games have taken a dip in quality. But I think maybe the reason could be that we've seen too many new Zelda games, too soon....

Less than a year after Majora's Mask (the franchise's finest hour in my opinion) , we get TWO new games (the Oracle games) . Then two years after that comes a new 3D game, Wind Waker, and in between WW and the Oracles there's a remake of ALttP with a new multiplayer game tucked in. And a year after that, there's Four Swords Adventures, an enhanced version of that multiplayer game. Now it's 2005, and already there's Minish Cap, and later in the year another game for GC. That's SIX new games in the span of five years, and seven if you count FS on GBA.

That's bad news in my book. When so many sequels come out within such a short time span, they tend to be rushed. Not only that, the magic of a franchise tends to wear out. Need an example? Two words: Tomb Raider. And Mega Man games have really lost their luster....

I just hope that after the new GC Zelda, Nintendo backs off for about three or four years and takes some time to come up with something really fresh and exciting.

(Don't forget about the FS game coming out on the DS)

I have to agree with you. There are a lot of games coming out so abruptly in the past five years, it doesn't give the fans time to soak it all in and enjoy every last one. I would have rather had Nintendo make great games than many rushed ones. For example, they could have cut back on some extras and had more time on making the games.

Instead of two Oracle games, they could have made a great big one.
Instead of three FS games (GBA, GC, DS), they could just make a great big one.
They could have added in the two extra dungeons in tWW

-BGS

ah yes, but you have to remember, two developing parties are coming up with these games, not just EAD of Nintendo, but Capcom, too. but that point aside, i do agree the quality is waning, though i believe it so for different reasons. the Minish Cap has to be the first real shiner in the GameBoy zelda line in a long time, since Link's Awakening. the Oracles would have been a bigger inclusion, a true classic, if the devs stuck their heads together a bit longer when they were at the drawing stage. the oracles had huge potential; Capcom let it die. in many ways, it would hae been great combined into one huge adventure, as the story could flow a bit better, and consequently more innovative things could have been included. but even if it were to remain separate, which it did, it still could have been improved, in the terms of scale, length, storyline work, innovations; if Ages and Seasons were made to be standalone adventures in their own right, with the added functionality of combining with eachother, a whole new scale could have been incorporated into both, each being not unlike the size of both adventures combined. in reality, the two cartridges were made to fall back on eachother, and even though Capcom claimed they were adventures in their own right, really they werent. i think Capcom saw their fault, and rectified their mistakes with the Minish Cap, which truly is an awesome game, even for Zelda standards.

fact remains, Ubisoft did with the Splinter Cell series successfully what Nintendo and Capcom tried to do with the Zelda series, but failed. two separate Dev teams working in unision to put out a high number of quality games in a short space of time. while one worked on one game, the next was already halfway through it's successor. too bad it didnt work, and Splinter Cell beat Zelda to the jump.

they should definately take a step back with zelda for a while. 4 years sounds good. i think there needs to be more mario games. after mario 64, i have been pretty much dying for a quality mario game (mario sunshine is not quality). i want a good mario game now. donkey kong jungle beat will be good, and i am looking forward to that. metroid is being handled by retro, and they are doing a fine job of it, so know argument there.

yeah, i think nintendo should think up something new. notthat it matters to me personally, but if nintendo could make something set in the real world, it would be good, as it would show that nintendo can do anything the others can do, and give them a better image amongst gamers.

Well its not really 7 including FS, its 6 b/c if you have read the other posts and news, ZeldaGC is going to be released in Japan at the end of the year and America releases about half a year afterward or so. For a while, I was even craving a new mario game and I was happy when they made Super Mario Sunshine and Mario & Luigi:Superstar Saga.

I dont really mind having all of these Zelda games just pop out of nowhere, b/c i buy and play them until they are beaten. I think thats what Nintendo is doing, they calculate how long a Zelda game will last, so they set a time for when the next should be released.

I totaly agree! All those new zelda games have been easy, the makers dont have time to make new puzzels in dunguens. The last hard game there was, not very hard was OoT but the best since.

Although Earlier Zelda games were probably better...Are you not happy that there are games ready for your use? I know they're easy...but have you thought of the less gifted in the way of video games? OK, never mind.

I suppose it IS a bit rushed, but...
The new one is supposed to be really good...I...think...
Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about.

But hey, ME? I'm happy playing OoT everyday (Which I do) even though it is about seven years old...

MAybe they DO need to slow down... :moodswing

GAH I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ANYMORE!

Ignore me...I'm just a shadow in the darkness in Link's shadow...

i dont think so. sure, they should take a break, but for about 6 months. then, they continue their streak of making all those great games...

I would agree that they are making them way too fast. It is like anything that is rushed out the door just to make some money. I have said this to my friends that if they had slowed down and really concentrated on it, they could have put out one or two award winning games, instead we have 4-5-6 above average games.

Now, I work in the business world, so when I see them remaking games, with little twists, I totaly understand and am not upset by it. Nintendo is doing what they thing will bring in the most money.

Now, tWW did come out in March of 2003, the Next GC game is not due out until later this year. So, it will have been over 2 years since they released a CG Zelda game, and I think they really put some time into this, because of the complaints that they got from, tWW.

you all are just being to dramatic. Hey all of those zelda games still are great aren't they? I would think so.

HeroOfTime5 is right. Sure they rushed a little bit but I liked TWW as much as OoT and MM.

I guess that's partly true, but tww rocked, and I liked fsa, tmc however was disapointing. But I disagree on what you said about the megaman series. The classic series has ended and all were good games. The X games were good untill X7 which blowed but X8 had magnificent gameplay. The other series like battle network, weren't very good but I don't really consider those true megaman it just uses the same name, I mean it's not even the same type (platform=classic and X and Zero (which was OK) battle network=rpg)

see what I mean. It's not so bad. Hey for now the games might see a little vague but one day the story will come together.

Originally Posted by rockman64

i dont think so. sure, they should take a break, but for about 6 months. then, they continue their streak of making all those great games...

Yeah but I'd like to also see Nintendo make some NEW franchises. The big N is more sequel-happy than Capcom....

All I'm saying is when a franchise gets too many sequels, too fast, it starts to lose its magic. Another good example is the recent state of Sonic; I'v talked to Sonic fans about this lately and they agree Sega needs to back off for a while.

Yeah, they should take their time with future games, give them more time to inlcude new puzzles and items. They should be made longer as well, some of the newer Zelda games were shorter e.g FSA and MC.

Originally Posted by Grey

That's bad news in my book. When so many sequels come out within such a short time span, they tend to be rushed. Not only that, the magic of a franchise tends to wear out. Need an example? Two words: Tomb Raider. And Mega Man games have really lost their luster....

That's what I'm realy fearing. Zelda becoming a mass of recycled ideas and seemingly unrelated "sequels". Scary thought.

Originally Posted by Trigger-Finger

That's what I'm realy fearing. Zelda becoming a mass of recycled ideas and seemingly unrelated "sequels". Scary thought.

As far as I'm concerned, it's already started to happen. :confused:

this is an excelent point and a long break sounds great, in fact I've gone back to the orignals like LoZ and ALttP for more of a challenge, Four Swords adventure was just a massacre waiting to happen in my book. Running around with four copies of yourself is a little too easy if your a decent player, I bought the dang thing and beat it within a estimated time period of 29-31 hours. and some of those were replaying levels just to see if there was any extras for more dedicated Legend of Zelda players. Probably I would tend to disagree with you on the Minish Cap

Originally Posted by silver arrow

tmc however was disapointing.

I've done my research with a few other Zelda fanatics around my school and the few who didn't go on all the quests and attempt for all the fusions were the ones who were most dissapointed in the game. If you want to get a real experience you should go for 100% instead of just the required. Thats why Legend of Zelda games (and most games in that matter) put in extra things for you to find because they want you to get a few kicks from the side quests and the secrets. Also to point this out if you played The Eder Scrolls 3: Morrowind then you should get a good idea of how fun side quests can be.

In summary for all those who dont like to read long posts the Zelda games have taken a turn for the worst and become mediocre and bland but the main thing that you need to remeber is to go out for all the special things to gain the full experience from the game.