With our month of Zelda drawing to a close, I find myself thinking about the new Ocarina of Time remake coming to Switch 2 sometime in the next couple of years. It’s cool that it’s happening since, well, we haven’t seen a full remake of a Zelda game before, but I can’t help but wonder why that’s the only old Zelda game getting attention from Nintendo at the moment. There’s tons of games in the series that haven’t even gotten the remaster treatment yet, almost all of the handheld Zeldas, for example. Are they ever going to be brought forward?

I suppose it’s kind of a moot question for me considering my position on Nintendo, but it’d still be cool to see any of the old Game Boy or even the DS Zelda games brought forward to a new audience. They’re all fantastic games in their own rights, yet all we’ve seen of them is a release on NSO (one that took a long time to complete too). It wouldn’t be fair of me to accuse Nintendo of forgetting about them, but it’s still frustrating to think about sometimes.

You could argue that the games are all good enough that they don’t need the remaster treatment, but I think that they’re only good enough for those of us who remember playing them as kids. For everyone that came after, they probably look all kinds of dated and probably don’t feel to great to play either thanks to 90s and 00s era control schemes.

Think about how fantastic it would be if Oracle of Ages/Seasons, The Minish Cap or even Phantom Hourglass got brought up to speed in a manner similar to the Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask remasters on the 3DS. Heck, they’d probably be even better considering just how much more powerful the Switch 2 is. Just give them a bit of a graphical face lift, touch up those controls and boom! You’ve got another 3+ hit Zelda games for your platform!

As for what makes them worthy of the treatment, I first point you towards the success of the Link’s Awakening remaster/remake on Switch 1. Graphically it was night and day, but very little was changed gameplaywise. And yet, it was a hit! So, it really is surprising that Nintendo isn’t using the formula to both make another several dump trucks full of money and give fans more of what they love.

Each of these games, due largely to the hardware limitations of their eras, had to make up the difference through their gameplay. The oracle games feature masterful dungeon design in combination with gameplay gimmicks that feel, well, like fully developed gameplay mechanics rather than just quickly discarded oddities.

Minish Cap had its shrinking mechanics, and Phantom Hourglass its unique controls and the introduction of Zelda as a full participant in the adventure for the very first time. Seriously, if you haven’t played any of these and already have NSO, then do yourself a favor and try them for yourself!

Even if you don’t have NSO or a Switch, then it might be worth your while to go get an old GBA and the actual carts. It’s more expensive than NSO, but at least you’d have something to keep. (There is also always emulation for those who are into that too.) No matter the method, you really can’t go wrong when it comes to playing these classics.

The Legend of Zelda series is 40 years old now. It’s had its ups and downs for sure, but the heights it’s consistently reached are undeniable. If it weren’t the case, then it would just be yet another old IP from a bygone era rather than something that’s still very much beloved today. I personally may not enjoy the most recent games, but I’m glad Zelda is still around and that we had this chance to look back with you all on what makes it so great.

Happy anniversary Zelda! Here’s hoping the success continues for many more years to come!

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What’s your overall impression of the Zelda series? What are some of your favorite parts of it? Which GBA/DS game do you want to see remade most?

Image from the Legend of Zelda wiki