Apart from Super Mario, there is probably not a video game series more iconic than the Legend of Zelda. Its sales were always good and its legion of fans never faltered in accepting another new edition in the land of Hyrule. It regularly recieves high review scores with each new entry, with critics and newcomers alike regularly going ga-ga. The series has also spawned what many consider to be the best game ever made, Ocarina of Time.
But since Wind Waker‘s artistic take, the series has been dubbed “stagnant” in terms of innovation. The first Wii incarnation, Twilight Princess, although including the ability to transform into a wolf, centered more on story and character development instead of the action and adventure that previous Zelda games had enriched themselves in. Miyamoto’s love of cave exploration and action had become second to the glitz and glamor associated with new hardware, it can be said.
In line with our recent “Redesigning the Console” feature series (see: Redesigning the XBox or our Wii topic), we’ve decided to tackle individual game series as our next endeavor. We all have opinions on what will get us to buy a game, or what we would like to see improved to keep our joy of a series going.
The first falls on the shoulders of Link. With a new Zelda announced at E3 this year, many have high hopes for what the next iteration will bring. What would you change in the Zelda series, if anything? What would you improve, add, or remove? Or, does the series need any changing at all? Is it on the right path? Leave your comments below, and we’ll compile as many as possible into a feature article next month.
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