Oh to have a new traditional 2D Zelda game, maybe with pixel graphics, priced at $30–40, on Switch 2. It’s not gonna happen, but just think of it. Some of Zelda’s most charming entries have been the handheld games that we just don’t get anymore since the Switch broke the divide between handheld and home consoles. Yeah, Echoes of Wisdom was a much smaller scale than BotW and TotK, but it wasn’t particularly a “traditional” 2D Zelda, and it still cost $60. I thought playing as Zelda was charming and a good move for at least one game, but I just really like playing as Link. It’s the autistic identifying with him for me.
Imagine if we got a new set of Oracle-like games! Two cheaper games, made with the same engine and art direction and everything, that connect to each other! The coolest thing about the Oracles was that whichever of the two you played second became the sequel to the first. The story reflected it, parts of your inventory were affected, characters who wouldn’t otherwise appear were present, all that.
The lamest thing about them is that you needed passwords to carry over save data. And if you wanted to get all the item upgrades, you needed to use those passwords a lot. I can excuse the primitive mechanic on account of it being pretty much the only way you could “transfer” data with only one Gameboy (looking at Pokémon gen 1-5 needing two consoles for generational transfer). But just imagine carrying over data seamlessly on Switch (2)!
I know it's possible because Tears of the Kingdom already did it. As long as you're playing with the same Switch user profile as your Breath of the Wild playthrough, you can carry over all your horses! Same stats, coat, name, accessories, everything. I spent my TotK playthrough using my favorite BotW horse and it was great. So imagine if that principle was applied to the whole game. We could have two new adventures that become each other's sequel, with modern hardware capabilities and design sensibilities.
The other lamest thing about the Oracles is unfortunately the hardware limitations. The Gameboy Color only had A, B, Start, and Select buttons and a D-pad, so you have to swap items constantly. Throw those puppies on a modern controller and you can have dedicated mapping plus swappable items, massively cutting down on item management time. Link's Awakening 2019 did it near flawlessly.
UM. Okay. I guess I'm advocating for both Oracle remasters and successors. Given the choice, I would gladly take two new adventures over replaying Labrynna and Holodrum, but you fucking know Nintendo has my money if they remaster the Oracles they way they did Link's Awakening. God it's so exciting to think about.
I mean just think, we haven't had a new 2D Zelda with traditional controls and traditional formula since The fucking Minish Cap in 2005. I love Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks with my whole heart, but the DS touch controls and travel mechanics fundamentally alter the formula. A Link Between Worlds experimented with nonlinearity in a way that once again fundamentally changed the formula. Tri Force Heroes was a level-based multiplayer experience. Echoes of Wisdom plays as Zelda and uses echoes instead of dungeon items.
So instead of a mechanical successor to the Minish Cap, why not go one step further and succeed the Oracles? No seriously I'd pay like, $80, even dare I say $90, if that means two games that complete each other the way the Oracles do.
Okay side tangent, I briefly considered the possibility of two adventures in one game instead of separate ones. Like, you pick one path at the beginning then it switches to the other path once you finish the first. But that could make progression balancing a nightmare. Part of what makes the Oracles work is that only some of your items carry over between games. You still have to get all the items again, letting them tailor the world to an isolated progression experience.
Yeah so I feel strongly about this. Thanks for reading!
