Over the past month or so, a lot has been said about The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Fully unveiled at E3 and accompanied by trailers, demos and lots of expected media coverage, it was, at first glance, everything fans wanted. The changing market has forced Nintendo once again to innovate and broaden their horizons. Much like the newly released Pokemon Go smartphone app, this new addition to the Zelda franchise is equally risky and a necessary gamble. In order to examine the series of events that led to this daring new Zelda game, it’s important to examine past releases in the franchise.
THE ZELDA FORMULA
With the release of Twilight Princess in 2006, Nintendo gave outspoken Western Zelda fans what they always wanted; a dark game with a realistic art-style. This was the game that introduced me to the series and made me want to explore older games.
After years of catching up it wasn’t difficult to notice how each game in the series after Ocarina of Time follows a formula. This formula works and produces fantastic games.
THE GREAT DIVIDE
Skyward Sword, released in 2011 (just one week after TESV: Skyrim) was a product of this game-development ‘’algorithm’’. It showcased the gameplay possibilities of 1:1 motion control, it was epic in terms of story and was the catalyst for the creation of an Official Zelda Timeline. But fans and critics alike couldn’t help but compare it to games coming out around the same time. They felt that this Zelda formula finally needed a modernization. After all, a game should strive to attract new audiences as well as die-hard fans and modern gamers have become accustomed to adventure games or RPGs that give you complete freedom to complete quests/ dungeons in whichever order you please.
BABY STEPS
Nintendo listened to the criticism. Their teams were hard at work on producing new ideas to revamp the Zelda formula and take advantage of technology that allows them to do something that wasn’t possible in the 90s; asymmetric gameplay. This was implemented in the 3DS game A Link Between Worlds, which is the furthest deviation from the traditional formula in recent years. The game felt modern, fresh and attracted attention from both critics and gamers as one of the best entries in the series. The seeds for the overhaul that is Breath of the Wild were sown.
A BREATH OF FRESH AIR
With the success of A Link Between Worlds, Zelda developers finally had assurance that change is welcome by everyone when done right. Breath of the Wild marks a new age for the Zelda series. The gameplay is heavily influenced by Western adventure games and RPGs on everything from asymmetric gameplay to HUD design. The game was celebrated upon announcement and gathered a great amount of attention on social networks and from the mainstream media.
THE GAMBLE
With a release date set for 2017 on Wii U and the new Nintendo home console, the NX, the latest entry in the series has a lot of pressure on its shoulders. Will this game be able to push sales of the NX as well as maintain the interest of a Japanese audience? I can only hope that the recent success Nintendo had with thinking outside the box doesn’t make them arrogant or over-confident and turn their attention away from the importance of such a gamble.