What Can Make The Legend of Zelda Mainstream Again?

Was Zelda ever mainstream? Well, at least as far as the gaming world is concerned, a strong case can be made that it was. I’d never even heard of The Legend of Zelda before the hype leading up to Ocarina of Time, but that game was met with so much hype from so many circles even months before its release that it’s hard to argue with its relative importance in the gaming world.

[zerocrossing]

I'd rather Zelda not be main stream again it means sacrificing what makes it good, just look at COD...

[goldwyncq]

Mainstream =/= Bad quality

[linkenski]

Nowadays it seems that way, because when developers actively try to make their games for larger audiences, they tend to sacrifice aspects of the game that are important to some gamers, to make it more accessible for newcomers.

OoT was the "Skyrim" of its time, because it was the first open-world 3D game to be so big in scope. It was simply ahead of its time, like most other Nintendo games because of their hardware.

I think the key to making Zelda phenomenal again is to have hardware superior to Sony and MS' counterparts, and that will likely never happen again.

I'm not saying they can't make a great Zelda again, but i just doubt they'll ever make a Zelda that blows every other game in existence out of the water, like when they released OoT in 1998.

[DivineAssault]

To modernize its visuals & gameplay.. maybe deepen the rpg elements a bit with leveling & crafting of weapons & armor... Oh & some voice work would be nice since thats been around since dreamcast in rpgs.. I can understand if link doesnt talk but NPCs around hyrule should be full of life & able to talk instead of grumbles n squeaks

[EddieNX]

You are mostly right , but a few of your suggestions stray away from the core gameplay a bit too much.

Your first point is the one that will do it. It just needs amazing graphics and a Huge world with epic spanning vista's.
Skyward sword in my opinion is a masterpiece, considering how they've used the wii and its controller.

But for Wiiu I expect a Next gen Looking Zelda game.

[gillri]

I also loved skyward sword much preferred it to TP

[MaleManSam]

Skyward sword was a very divided experience for me and most of the people I know that have played it. I personally loved Twilight Princess to death and everyone that I know that has played both, prefer TP.

That could be a lot of thing though, the art style, the controls, the general demeanour of the story. TP just has SS beat in all area's imo. SS is the reason why Zelda isn't mainstream, it was just generally perceived as old. It just felt like a step backwards, a safe play if you will. The very small sense of exploration being a key factor.

Remember this is just what I've gathered from the 30 or so people that I've talked about it.

[Mainsqueeze]

I also preferred TP to SS while SS sword was still a good game it felt like a step backwards in almost every category except for how well the combat worked with the Wii controller. I hope the next Zelda adds voice work to everyone but Link and a little more epic-ness, if thats even a word, to its world, dungeons, and bosses. It seemed like nothing in SS made me stop and say wow thats cool! like some of the things in TP.

[Sidewinder-]

Iron Sights.

[pandehz]

For mainstream it needs to have

Blood Splatter
Hordes of loot
Sandbox open world
Dubstep
Shiny graphics regardless of art style
Multiplayer with online pass
Maybe even turn into an fps
War setting
Explosions Bay style
Cinematic trailer
Launch trailer using cameos of celebs

[Blastoise]

You forgot some kind of space marine, and possibly some BS DLC

[pandehz]

Ah yea few more

Space Marine
Extra LARGE SIZED weapons
The world coming to an end
Hero starts out powerful then falls and then has to lvl up all the way.
Of course dlc for every part of the story
Scantily dressed females
Some controversy to go with all this

[Bordel_1900]

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past was very mainstream, even my dad completed it and loved it.

[wheresmymonkey]

Nothing, leave it the fuck alone. If you can't appreciate it for what it is then it's your loss.

[Adnan_rules]

Perfectly said. Zelda needs to continue how it is!!

[Tei777]

Getting released on a console that isn't dead. By the time Skyward arrived many people have already abandoned their wii...

I'm massive zelda fan but I skipped skyward because my wii components were scattered all over the place. Nintendo had already announced the wii U and so I decided I would pick up skyward sword when I got a wii U, also hoping that the system would feature some sort of HD upscaling feature. The wait hasn't felt long because their are so many games on the HD systems, In particular skyrim stole my attention for a good few months.

In terms of the game itself, I think its art style is easily my least favourite. Its nowhere near as unique and charming as windwaker, neither is it as captivating as twilight princess and to round things off, skyword sword's Link has this strange androgynous Justin Bieber-like face.

But again, more then anything I think people were just occupied with their HD consoles.

Zelda Wii U will sell at least 6m

[wheresmymonkey]

Definitely follow through on that.Skyward is absolutely brilliant.

I think its a shame the console didn't release with it though. Gamers outlook on motion control would probably be completely different. I dont want the next zelda on the wiiU to use the new pad the wii controls are just so perfectly done.

[hazardman]

Zelda just needs to look more like what they showed at E3 and less like the cartoony games wevev gotten lately and and with no gimmicks in place. Just srtaight up old school Zelda with great gameplay and graphics. Besides that Zelda is still great but as a gamer in his 30s the cartoony stuff is a bit of a turn off.

[MaleManSam]

^This. SS was just a step back in every facet of its existence. It was just a good game.

A good, safe game... I'll take TP any day of the week over SS.

Push the boundries Nintendo.

[Tei777]

:o

you telling me you didn't love wind wakers style?! I didn't know that was humanly possible.

[Tzuno]

A link to the past.

[TitanUp]

keep the same gameplay and add voice acting,good story and a new boss.

[ThePsychoGamer]

I don't think the series needs to be mainstream. Though there is a lot of improvements they could make after SS

Like not make it story driven, or if they insist on going this route, at least hire some writer with the talent to make it work, SS had some of the biggest plot holes I've ever seen.

Have actual exploration, why SS took this out is beyond me.

Add more to the sword combat, or hell be more like Wind Waker with sword combat.

Have a decent art style instead of that terrible looking mix between cartoony and realistic that plaqued SS.

[Erdrick]

we need a zelda game where you get to play link as a really old man

[ape007]

i think a true HD Zelda game with new ideas and with (of course) nintendo's trademark game design will shock the game industry all over again

[3-4-5]

* Nice Warm Sunny Graphics Style

* Many Towns

* More Side quests ...but ones that actually matter for the overall story.

* I'll get flamed for this but .....LESS DUNGEONS...

I'd rather run around in the awesome overworld during day doing cool mini missions going from town to town then doing stupid puzzle grind in some dark generic dungeon.