Zelda is Not Dead, Just in a State of Identity Crisis

The Legend of Zelda series has seen a decline in popularity in recent years, especially compared to its holiday blockbuster contemporaries, but this doesn't have to mean it's on its way out. All the franchise needs is a bit more dedication to its identity and image and it can once again rise up among Mario and Pokemon as a true Nintendo giant.

[LX-General-Kaos]

It has declined in popularity due to the takeoff of Western RPGs like skyrim and kingdoms. Still zelda has an unbreakable following of diehard fans. With that said Zelda will never have the following as mario and pokemon. Those games have no competition.

[Colwyn]

nintendo is holding the zelda series back. zelda oot was amazing for its time along with majoras mask but because of hardware limitations and gimmicky controllers, the zelda series as declined in popularity. wiimote is rubbish and not meant for 90 percent of wii games. zelda twilight princess and zelda skyward sword were forced to have rubbish controls which would have been better if they supported the retro controller or wavebird.

[LX-General-Kaos]

I didnt have too many problems with the motion controls. I am actually playing through twilight princess little by little right now and i grew accustom to the new controls. I can understand how they would upset more traditional players though.

There is still alot of fun to be had with zelda games though. + bubbles for a nice unbiased debate.

[PopRocks359]

Really. I loved Skyward Sword and I find it to be just as charming (and more importantly fun) as OoT.

All of the Zelda games are amazing. I feel people allow themselves to get too hung up on previous experiences to allow the series to really evolve.

[Dantheman1]

the motion controls are amazing far better than boring normal controllers motion controllers are not gimmicky because when does better control and more innovation make a games worse skyward sword is one of the best zelda games ever made equal or better than oot.If 90 percent of wii games were rubbish then the console would not have sold nearly the amount of ps3 and Xbox 360 combined.STOP TROLLING

[Knight_Cid]

total BS dude.

skyward sword sold amazingly. And was critically and commercially successful

skyrim is dull, and kingdoms is even worse.

No games should be like them

[Name Last Name]

skyrim...is...dull...?

[StraightPath]

what ? Zelda Skyward Sword was better then anything offered exclusively on PS3 Xbox 360 and the PC combined. Was a stellar game critically acclaimed fan praised and also won numerous GOTY awards from many places. In terms of gameplay , story , characters and innovation it destorys Skyrim. Skyrim only thing good about it is the freedom in a large open world and the freedom to do whatever you want. But Skyrim story,quests , characters and combat all are medicore to game standards.

[NYC_Gamer]

Haven't played Zelda since the 64 versions

[PopRocks359]

You've missed out on a lot.

[-Mika-]

The series just need to evolve. Zelda hasn't changed since the n64. Like most nintendo games, there little to no changes. If they want people to become interested in the series again, they need to do something major like nintendo did with Samus in metroid prime.

[NukaCola]

I think Wind Waker was super innovating. Open world exploration like no other. It was one of the best around. Then they pulled back with TP. Skyward Sword is good but it's very much a mix of all the Zeldas and WW in the Sky.

[Dantheman1]

each zelda game they change the art stile which drematicly changes the look of the game metroid prime changed the series because it took metroid into 3d zelda has already done that.what about COD does that change much NO Halo No Fable NO.stop TROLLING

[beastlysensation]

oh ya? evolve? like what? voice acting? QTE'S? auto aim? path patrols? stfu...if it aint broken dont fix it. All you babies go crazy when COD sells 20 million, and forget that wii has sold the most this generation and mario kart, mario galaxy has sold as much as call of doody. Yet, the wii doesnt count as a console, its for babies, its horrible, nintendo sucks blah blah blah....skyward sword has almost 4 million sales, to me that sounds like its still selling strong. Zelda HD on wii u will probably sell more. I rather play zelda with the same "formula" over and over again, than COD, or assassins creed which they milk with dlc and dont change anything in game play. At least zelda tries to take risks, wind waker with the cartoony graphics, skyward sword with the motion controls, etc. I will continue to support zelda as long as it stays true to itself, which it will.

[Knight_Cid]

zelda is as good as it every was.

end of discussion

[Jirachi]

Personally the seris needs to go back to waht made it good:exploration.
ss and other recent games(i won't say which) have all ruined the exploration aspect by slapping on lame gimmicks(epona was the only metod of travel i liked besides what what the first 3 zelda games used,and motion/touch controls shouldn't be forced but optional)

[Knight_Cid]

you mean like twilight princess which wasnt that long ago?

Or do you mean like skyward sword which had the greatest characters in series history>

[Jirachi]

It had some great characters sure but alot of them were are shallow(like any skyloftian not named zelda link or groose)or had really annoying dialog(fi...) really for every character you can name as good in ss i can name the same amount if not more in oot,mm,ww,tp,etc. besides what game are you playing where npcs are the main draw of the game most good games don't just have good npcs or good playable characters but both(tales seris i.e) zelda has a few good npcs and no development of the main character at all.

[PopRocks359]

Every game prompts exploration. What I think you're asking for is a more open world like Wind Waker. The thing is all of the Zelda games offer some amount of control. Some games have more than others.

[Jirachi]

Actually no i'm not talking about ww that game's exploration was hurt by the sailing thing. i will say if windwaker was more like phg(automatically sailing were you want without worrying about the wind and more enemies at sea) but kept the size of windwaker(ww was pretty hugh) i would've like it more.
I will say sailing in windwaker was alot better then ss's loftwing(there were no enemies in the sky except one area and the controls were sometimes finnicky)

[aviator189]

I'm just not into motion controls, and that's what stopped me from buying a wii. If motion controls were optional in skyward sword, I'd definitely bought it. I hope it's different with the wiiu.

[Dantheman1]

If you don't like motion controls you are not a gamer END OF DISCUSTION

[aviator189]

Um, no. I just don't enjoy motion controls. I never said motion controls were a bad thing for the industry or for the people that enjoy them. How in the world does not liking motion controls make me "not a gamer?"

People have certain tastes and enjoy different things. You can't honestly expect someone to enjoy everything about a particular area in life... That said, Zelda is one of the few franchises that I come to respect with each installment. I have bought each one besides Skyward Sword. I know it's probably an amazing game, but I just can't stand playing any game with motion controls.

[Summons75]

The Legend of Zelda is like Final Fantasy in the sense everyone has there favorite. To my Link to the past was the pinicle of the series, no other game has come close to it. OOT was great and the exploration of WW is the best. SS was awesome to play through, though I didn't care for the flying to much. The games are fine the way they are, it dose not need voice acting and it is not an rpg nor dose it need to be. Puzzles could be a bit more challenging but there fine considering the target audience is 5-30(for fans of the old games). Zelda on the wiiU will be interesting, especially since the game will go back to (mostly) traditional controls which I am all for.

[TruthbeTold]

lol @ the supposed decline. Ridiculous.

[Droid Control]

Is link male or female? I can't tell anymore...

[mike1up]

Lmao. Did Link give you a "funny" feeling when he became an adult in Ocarina of Time?

I think that that comment says much more about you than Link.

[yabhero]

WiiU Zelda is HD with impressive tech demo like graphics, a great story like Skyward Sword and action with option for WiiUPad or WiiMotionPlus 1:1 ratio...
Then everyone will want to play Zelda... which may be good or not.
Until then I'll keep enjoying Skyward Sword...

[hellvaguy]

Link is indeed suffering from a gender identity crysis. Long hair and it makes little screaming noises when exerting itself. Link does wave its small lil dagger around at anyone passing by, so you might be inclined to think its a dude. But then in the next scene Link is playing instruments and catching butterflys.

Last, Link does resemble a young Ellen Degeneres. Nuff said there.

[mike1up]

What the hell have the folks over at Zeldainformer been smoking?

Zelda games consistently sell over 3 million copies!
Zelda just had it's 25th anniversary!
Zelda's symphony orchestra plays to sold out crowds around the WORLD!
Nintendo gave us a free Zelda title last year!

If the Zelda series is suffering from an identity crisis, then every other series has F*ing amnesia!

I stopped reading after they compared The Legend of Zelda series to Call of Duty. I don't think that Call of Duty will have a 25th anniversary. Elder Scrolls... maybe, and that's a HUGE maybe.