Pre-Release The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Pre-Release Discussion Thread

[Serif]

Either that's not the same place, the lod is drastically better, or the terrain has changed quite heavily.

Definitely to the first two, possibly for the third. The field of view in that TotK shot is bigger and the moonjump is a bit unwieldy, so was tough finding a closer match.

For fun, this was as far up as the game let me go.

 

[karmitt]

.

Either that's not the same place, the lod is drastically better, or the terrain has changed quite heavily.

Certainly looks like the same place, or at least very close to it. I’m guessing they spent a lot of time optimizing how Hyrule looks at a distance due to the nature of the game. Players will probably spend a lot of time looking at Hyrule from the sky, diving down perhaps to specific locations etc.

Definitely to the first two, possibly for the third. The field of view in that TotK shot is bigger and the moonjump is a bit unwieldy, so was tough finding a closer match.

For fun, this was as far up as the game let me go.

I’m not familiar, is the shot you used some kind of cutscene, or will the camera be pulled back a smidge in the new title?

Edit: They’ve not really shown any “gameplay” so I’m guessing nobody can answer :X

 

[Stinky Horse]

I was trying to find that out myself. The closest I have from comparing the normal trailer version and extended is where the red dot is.

Yeah it's a bit south of that spot, the trailer shows a different view from the same spot and you can see the malice from the volcano in the bottom right.

 

[Dark Cloud]

Good videos from Zeltik and Monster Maze. If Zelda is exploring the dark world or similar then I don’t see how she’d use the possible malice portals on Hyrule

 

[Serif]

Looking at these distance shots, I'm still not convinced that the map extends beyond the previously out-of-bounds borders. Areas there still look kinda "soupy" in my opinion - and depending on the type of occlusion they use when the player is up high on the skylands, I'm asking myself whether the out of bounds sections will look distractingly out of place or not.

'Maybe they added a sliver of extra land with a more convincing obstacle than a text box saying 'You cannot go there."

'Soupy' was indeed what I kept thinking in my head as I was taking these screens. BotW remains one of the prettiest games I've played, but the far distance detail does start to break down (even without the absurd heights resulting from the moonjumping).

(Btw I caved and got rear speakers )

 

[Coco98bisFR]

I see some people hyping up a world outside of Hyrule and honestly I don't understand why ? The limits are literally perfect, you can see from some shots that there's literally nothing behind the world we know, the landscape is not sculpted. The "however, the expanded world goes beyond that" is just a huge underground world, and that's enough, I think.

 

[Awesomegames23]

I felt like there were way too many wolves in BoTW. I hope they reduce the number of wolves, but a full moon feature, where wolves turn into Wolfos on a full moon or blood moon would be a cool addition.

 

[manfromthedam]

'Maybe they added a sliver of extra land with a more convincing obstacle than a text box saying 'You cannot go there."

'Soupy' was indeed what I kept thinking in my head as I was taking these screens. BotW remains one of the prettiest games I've played, but the far distance detail does start to break down (even without the absurd heights resulting from the moonjumping).

(Btw I caved and got rear speakers )

Haha, I'm sorry / you're welcome =P . Hope you like it! Prime and BotW are two excellent titles with great 5.1 sound. Another personal favourite is Civilisation VI with the ambient sounds turned up. That's the ultimate audio sunbathing experience!

As far as the soup goes, I can't imagine them improving the LODs as much as they have without tackling this as well, so we'll see how they've tried to solve it. Maybe the clouds/haze at the edges of the map gets more intense if you're on a skyland.

 

[Serif]

I’m not familiar, is the shot you used some kind of cutscene, or will the camera be pulled back a smidge in the new title?

Edit: They’ve not really shown any “gameplay” so I’m guessing nobody can answer :X

It's extended footage used as a banner in the Japanese site.



Curated in-engine footage is my guess. BotW did have dynamic FoV that increased at certain points like towers, so the camera being pulled back when up high makes sense.

Also that shot of Link skydiving into Hyrule is cropped in the official trailer, vs. here.

 

[Skittzo]

I felt like there were way too many wolves in BoTW. I hope they reduce the number of wolves, but a full moon feature, where wolves turn into Wolfos on a full moon or blood moon would be a cool addition.

Yeah I wasn't a fan of having to kill actual animals that often. Make then full on monsters or something

 

[Deleted member 2181]

The engine improvements look pretty dramatic to me in those comparisons.

 

[karmitt]

It's extended footage used as a banner in the Japanese site.



Curated in-engine footage is my guess. BotW did have dynamic FoV that increased at certain points like towers, so the camera being pulled back when up high makes sense.

Also that shot of Link skydiving into Hyrule is cropped in the official trailer, vs. here.

Just noticed the shot at 2:29 Link is shirtless, as opposed to having the cloth draped over one shoulder you can see in the next scene. I really wonder if it's part of the game's earliest hours (post any exposition).

 

[Dark Cloud]

We don’t know the upper limits of this world either. How far into the sky can we really go? We see layers so far. I just want to climb forever…

 

[Awesomegames23]

Yeah I wasn't a fan of having to kill actual animals that often. Make then full on monsters or something

Yeah, that's one of my few complaints about BoTW, too many wolves in many regions that seemed to be used to compensate for a lack of enemy variety.

 

[Skittzo]

We don’t know the upper limits of this world either. How far into the sky can we really go? We see layers so far. I just want to climb forever…

We're going back to the moon

 

[Dark Cloud]

We're going back to the moon

We have to destroy the moon. The true source of evil.

 

[karmitt]

Yeah, that's one of my few complaints about ToTK, too many wolves in many regions that seemed to be used to compensate for a lack of enemy variety.

I think to a degree it was also them trying to balance their food mechanics - some players could burn through a lot of food on their journey, especially if they weren't too great at fighting. Just as they wanted to make sure players always had something interesting to see as they moved forward, they probably also wanted to ensure they could be gather whatever they needed without too much backtracking.

I personally just teleported to Faron and gathered heaps of durians. I must have been a terribly smelly traveler

 

[Awesomegames23]

I think to a degree it was also them trying to balance their food mechanics - some players could burn through a lot of food on their journey, especially if they weren't too great at fighting. Just as they wanted to make sure players always had something interesting to see as they moved forward, they probably also wanted to ensure they could be gather whatever they needed without too much backtracking.

I personally just teleported to Faron and gathered heaps of durians. I must have been a terribly smelly traveler

I know, but the wolves were always aggressive and sometimes I wasn't interest at all in killing them becasue I had food, but they always attack so I have to kill one.

On another note, apparently Canadian Best Buy got 4700 ToTK amiibo 3 days ago, and they just sold out.

 

[Captain Falcon]

Holy shit, I’m more convinced than ever they are doing a heaven / hell type thing with TotK. Game is going to be insane.

 

[Dark Cloud]

I’m sending Tingle straight to hell

 

[Skittzo]

I’m sending Tingle straight to hell

My bold prediction is tingle will not be in this game

 

[Awesomegames23]

I’m sending Tingle straight to hell

Ganondorf raised Hyrule Castle, not to get to the sky islands, but to get away from Tingle

 

[doop]

Holy shit, I’m more convinced than ever they are doing a heaven / hell type thing with TotK. Game is going to be insane.

Same but I don't think the underground will be equivalent to the Sky area. Feel like it would be represented on the boxart if it was

 

[Awesomegames23]

Same but I don't think the underground will be equivalent to the Sky area. Feel like it would be represented on the boxart if it was

I don't know, box art just has to look dope, and ToTK box art is super dope

 

[M4tthieu]

Hi there,

After i've seen Zeltik and Monster maze videos, i notice something that intrigues me.

at 1.32-1.33 minute of the trailer, in slow motion (0,25 speed or less), we can see something huge behind the mysterious woman. This thing has a movement that's seems different from the camera movement. Maybe a leg or arm of this thing moves? Could this be the humanoid creature from the wall?

Has anyone notices it yet?

(sorry for the mistakes, english isn't my native language ).

 

[Dark Cloud]

Same but I don't think the underground will be equivalent to the Sky area. Feel like it would be represented on the boxart if it was

Maybe it’ll be smaller? Same or not it’ll be there and Nintendo didn’t care to put it on the boxart.

 

[Phendrift]

Same but I don't think the underground will be equivalent to the Sky area. Feel like it would be represented on the boxart if it was

reversible cover

 

[Dark Cloud]

reversible cover

The reverse side would be Zelda squatting with a torch looking up at an opening into Hyrule?

 

[Skittzo]

Same but I don't think the underground will be equivalent to the Sky area. Feel like it would be represented on the boxart if it was

I feel like it would be hard to make a decent looking box art that can showcase both the sky and the underground.

 

[HockeyBird]

One of my theories even going back to 2019 is that Link would be ascending the heavens while Zelda goes further down the depths. As the journey goes on, they become further and further separated. At certain points, one has to do something in their world so the other can continue. It ends when both reach the highest and lowest points, obtain something, and then reunite in Hyrule to take on the final baddy.

Also I think I fought like 3 wolves in over 100 hours in BOTW. Why are you all going at out of your ways to fight wolves?

 

[doop]

reversible cover

That's a pretty good idea

I feel like it would be hard to make a decent looking box art that can showcase both the sky and the underground.

Maybe, Nintendo could probably figure it out though

 

[Awesomegames23]

Hi there,

After i've seen Zeltik and Monster maze videos, i notice something that intrigues me.

at 1.32-1.33 minute of the trailer, in slow motion (0,25 speed or less), we can see something huge behind the mysterious woman. This thing has a movement that's seems different from the camera movement. Maybe a leg or arm of this thing moves? Could this be the humanoid creature from the wall?

Has anyone notices it yet?

(sorry for the mistakes, english isn't my native language ).

I noticed this a few days ago! I have no clue what it is, and it's anyone's guess. It looks like something is opening up. The sky islands seem to use a lotus flower bud as a symbol and piece of decoration, maybe some kind of mechanical or stone lotus flower is blossoming?

Edit: Also, welcome to Famiboards!

 

[HockeyBird]

I was thinking how people forget how much info about BOTW Nintendo held back prior to release. We had the E3 2016 trailer and demo footage. The trailer only had Link exploring nature in the overworld and the E3 demo was set entirely within the Great Plateau. After that, we didn't have anything for months. Just people parsing together what they could spot in all the demo footage and not stop talk about how there are no people in the game. Our next look was in the fall with the Switch reveal trailer where we got a few seconds of Link riding a horse and fighting a Hinox. Then at the Game Awards we got a smaller trailer which teased the first look at Zelda, Revali, a Divine Beast, and some shots of a village. But the story was still largely unknown.

It wasn't until that final trailer, just a little under two months before the game's releases did we get a blow out information. That final trailer showed off Zelda, the Champions, the Divine Beasts, more villages, Gorons, Gerudo, and the Zora. That trailer was amazing in part because it put everything that had been teased into focus while also greatly expanding our scope of the full game.

 

[brainchild]

It’s not actually volumetric though. It’s billboarding, just very very well done. Brainchild did an analysis.

Correct.

Was brainchild's analysis the one that showed how the lighting angle on the clouds doesn't change as the camera rotates in the trailer? I remember seeing a thing months ago that actually tracked the highlights and shadows during that camera sweep and determined the clouds were billboarded because the lighting angle stays pinned to the camera's position (as sprites would do), rather than the environment (as volumetric clouds would do).

I was just as impressed by the analysis as I was by the clouds themselves. LOL

Thank you. It was an analysis of sorts, but they were published through posts I made on resetera at the time. I think I reposted them here somewhere, but I'm not sure.

Does anyone have the link to the analysis @chocolate_supra is talking about?

The only analysis from @brainchild about Tears of the kingdom graphics I was able to found online is this video:

Spoiler: Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 Early Graphics Tech Analysis (Reveal Trailer)

But the clouds were not part of the trailer analysed in this video, only the dust is mentioned using billboarding.

Thanks a lot

It wasn't a video analysis like that one, but I did analyze the clouds and they're definitely billboarded. As I've mentioned before, the Zelda team's VFX artists are best-in-class. The fact that they're so convincing is a testament to the artists' talent!

 

[TurtleRock]

Holy shit, I’m more convinced than ever they are doing a heaven / hell type thing with TotK. Game is going to be insane.

Put Link in the Guilty Gear Strive Switch 2 port.

 

[karmitt]

I was thinking how people forget how much info about BOTW Nintendo held back prior to release. We had the E3 2016 trailer and demo footage. The trailer only had Link exploring nature in the overworld and the E3 demo was set entirely within the Great Plateau. After that, we didn't have anything for months. Just people parsing together what they could spot in all the demo footage and not stop talk about how there are no people in the game. Our next look was in the fall with the Switch reveal trailer where we got a few seconds of Link riding a horse and fighting a Hinox. Then at the Game Awards we got a smaller trailer which teased the first look at Zelda, Revali, a Divine Beast, and some shots of a village. But the story was still largely unknown.

It wasn't until that final trailer, just a little under two months before the game's releases did we get a blow out information. That final trailer showed off Zelda, the Champions, the Divine Beasts, more villages, Gorons, Gerudo, and the Zora. That trailer was amazing in part because it put everything that had been teased into focus while also greatly expanding our scope of the full game.

The E3 2016 demo, trailer, and treehouse segments did answer key questions that I'd argue are most frequently asked - how do all of these mechanics hang together, and what is the core gameplay loop?

That demo was a very effective demonstration of basically what the player will be doing for the majority of their journey, sans shrines (and runes?). The gameplay loop was apparent, and clearly satisfying, and all marketing from there was additive. Tears of the Kingdom's marketing is like they took the 2017 trailer and ripped a few scenes from it, then spliced it with totally disjointed gameplay clips from different parts of the journey.

I think seeing an hour straight of early gameplay would do wonders for fan sentiment. Nothing would be more welcomed than a chunky treehouse segment.

 

[Mango]

I tried to watch the new Zeltik video today but I had to bail half way through. His "time-loop" theory has got to be one of the most insufferable fan theories I've ever had the displeasure of knowing about. I typically try not to let Zelda tubers get under my skin and I try not to be too harsh on them, but God damn.

Spoiler: Rant

Like just a couple of things real quick.

• Only Skyward Sword Zelda is Hylia no other Zelda. When she died either Hylia died or went to some afterlife like plane of existence. Given the statues of Hylia talk to Link in BOTW tho, I'm inclined to believe Hylia is very much still "alive" but lacks a physical form.
• A being with her own soul probably can't "reincarnate" into a still living soul thats completely different. The process of Hylia to Skyward Sword Zelda is direct reincarnation, no shenanigans or dual soul wielding. Skyward Sword Zelda is Hylia.
• Hylia raised the chunk of land that became Skyloft, and its surrounding islands and created Fi before the events of Skyward Sword.
• The islands we see in ToTK are not being raised but are instead already present, and in fact some of them are even falling. They also got a ton of ruins on them.
• Fi is present in BOTW and thus can't be "created" by Hylia since we'll she's already been created.
• We're very clearly dealing with Ganondorf here. Not Demise, not Demise using Ganondorf as a puppet, no, Ganondorf, and even in the scenario it somehow is Demise, it's not, Hylia and the surface races, (including Mogma and Parella, and the robots) fought Demise, not Hylia and a hero.

Like I'm sorry, but it's such a reach it's not even worth entertaining.

 

[Ced Naru]

I'd like to think Nintendo is better than just covering shit.

But the thing is that they already did it in the E3 2016 Botw trailer. Neat the end of the video, Link is about to get shot by the guardian, this is part of the final memory you unlock in the game and Zelda has literally be removed from it.
In the final game, she is standing right behind Link, but in the trailer he is alone so they definitely changed that part to hide Zelda's design.
Regarding Tokt is simply a matter of a few clicks for them to be able to run the debug version game with X elements removed from it (or at least set to invisible or lower LOD detail) so it's perfectly possible for them to do that without effort.

 

[Awesomegames23]

I tried to watch the new Zeltik video today but I had to bail half way through. His "time-loop" theory has got to be one of the most insufferable fan theories I've ever had the displeasure of knowing about. I typically try not to let Zelda tubers get under my skin and I try not to be too harsh on them, but God damn.

Spoiler: Rant

Like just a couple of things real quick.

• Only Skyward Sword Zelda is Hylia no other Zelda. When she died either Hylia died or went to some afterlife like plane of existence. Given the statues of Hylia talk to Link in BOTW tho, I'm inclined to believe Hylia is very much still "alive" but lacks a physical form.
• A being with her own soul probably can't "reincarnate" into a still living soul thats completely different. The process of Hylia to Skyward Sword Zelda is direct reincarnation, no shenanigans or dual soul wielding. Skyward Sword Zelda is Hylia.
• Hylia raised the chunk of land that became Skyloft, and its surrounding islands and created Fi before the events of Skyward Sword.
• The islands we see in ToTK are not being raised but are instead already present, and in fact some of them are even falling. They also got a ton of ruins on them.
• Fi is present in BOTW and thus can't be "created" by Hylia since we'll she's already been created.
• We're very clearly dealing with Ganondorf here. Not Demise, not Demise using Ganondorf as a puppet, no, Ganondorf, and even in the scenario it somehow is Demise, it's not, Hylia and the surface races, (including Mogma and Parella, and the robots) fought Demise, not Hylia and a hero.

Like I'm sorry, but it's such a reach it's not even worth entertaining.

I stopped watching Zeldatubers because generally their theories are too elaborate. I find it’s better to have simpler theories with strong reasoning than wild theories with mediocre reasoning at best, that’s why Fami theories > YouTube theories.

 

[Mr_No_U]

I remember that once upon a time, during the early days of “The Legend of Zelda for Wii U,” people speculated that the Link in the first teaser was actually Zelda because he looked so feminine (some people even claimed he had a bosom).

People have been hungry for playable Zelda (in a main line game) for decades. It’d be cool if it finally happened. Fingers crossed.

 

[Okayge]

I remember that once upon a time, during the early days of “The Legend of Zelda for Wii U,” people speculated that the Link in the first teaser was actually Zelda because he looked so feminine (some people even claimed he had a bosom).

People have been hungry for playable Zelda (in a main line game) for decades. It’d be cool if it finally happened. Fingers crossed.

100000%. Even if Zelda wasn't playable literally at all throughout the entire story of the game, even the option of post-game Zelda character change would be so cool.

 

[Ced Naru]

I tried to watch the new Zeltik video today but I had to bail half way through. His "time-loop" theory has got to be one of the most insufferable fan theories I've ever had the displeasure of knowing about. I typically try not to let Zelda tubers get under my skin and I try not to be too harsh on them, but God damn.

Spoiler: Rant

Like just a couple of things real quick.

• Only Skyward Sword Zelda is Hylia no other Zelda. When she died either Hylia died or went to some afterlife like plane of existence. Given the statues of Hylia talk to Link in BOTW tho, I'm inclined to believe Hylia is very much still "alive" but lacks a physical form.
• A being with her own soul probably can't "reincarnate" into a still living soul thats completely different. The process of Hylia to Skyward Sword Zelda is direct reincarnation, no shenanigans or dual soul wielding. Skyward Sword Zelda is Hylia.
• Hylia raised the chunk of land that became Skyloft, and its surrounding islands and created Fi before the events of Skyward Sword.
• The islands we see in ToTK are not being raised but are instead already present, and in fact some of them are even falling. They also got a ton of ruins on them.
• Fi is present in BOTW and thus can't be "created" by Hylia since we'll she's already been created.
• We're very clearly dealing with Ganondorf here. Not Demise, not Demise using Ganondorf as a puppet, no, Ganondorf, and even in the scenario it somehow is Demise, it's not, Hylia and the surface races, (including Mogma and Parella, and the robots) fought Demise, not Hylia and a hero.

Like I'm sorry, but it's such a reach it's not even worth entertaining.

He doesn't even talk about a time loop theory in this video. He is simply explaining how BOTW Zelda could have her own quest at the same time as Link, so she can connect again to her divine nature, mirroring SS Zelda and what the devs wanted but couldn't do in the final game.

Otherwise, I don't see why a timeloop would be a reach, SS story is literally Hylia setting a timeloop into motion to stop Demise so this kind of plot is already a thing in the Zelda franchise and goes beyond little jokes like the origins of Storm song and the windmill in OOT.

Regarding only the first Zelda being Hylia. I never really made my mind on that matter whether Hylia/Zelda is reincarnating often, just like Link, or only the very first time was such a case. Link is the one to be confirmed reincarnating, but it didn't prevent TP Link to directly interact with the ghost of OOT Link despite that.

Main reason why I disagree with those bigger timeloop theories connecting SS and TotK is because knowledge of SS would be required to understand what is happening in TotK and Zelda games never do that because they have to be standalone stories, even MM a direct sequel didn't require any OOT knowledge. Also as this point half of the Zelda fanbase is probably made of newcomers that discovered the franchise with BOTW, so it would be an even bigger requirement.

 

[HockeyBird]

A problem with a lot of Zelda Youtubers is that they can't possibly conceive of the idea that something is brand new to the series. Everything must be connected back to something from a past game. How many Zonai videos have you watched where they suggested that they are the Twili who are also ancient Shiekah who are also....

Take the god-like figure in the carvings. It's certainly isn't something that we have seen in the series before. It may be a brand new deity. But most Zelda Youtubers have already convinced themselves that it must be Hylia and that the carving shows Hylia making a pact with Zelda. It's certainly possible. But again, they the thought of it being a brand new character to the series doesn't occur to them. Also, why do they so easily conclude that the non-human figure is Hylia but not the Zelda-looking figure is not?

I think a lot of Zelda fans really want the series to be super hamfisted with the references when time after time, that is something Nintendo isn't that interested in. You're never gonna get the Zelda Theory of Everything that explains how it all ties together. I think the best part of it being a Legend is that it can never fully known. Some things are better left to mystery.

 

[Ced Naru]

A problem with a lot of Zelda Youtubers is that they can't possibly conceive of the idea that something is brand new to the series. Everything must be connected back to something from a past game. How many Zonai videos have you watched where they suggested that they are the Twili who are also ancient Shiekah who are also....

Take the god-like figure in the carvings. It's certainly isn't something that we have seen in the series before. It may be a brand new deity. But most Zelda Youtubers have already convinced themselves that it must be Hylia and that the carving shows Hylia making a pact with Zelda. It's certainly possible. But again, they the thought of it being a brand new character to the series doesn't occur to them. Also, why do they so easily conclude that the non-human figure is Hylia but not the Zelda-looking figure is not?

I think a lot of Zelda fans really want the series to be super hamfisted with the references when time after time, that is something Nintendo isn't that interested in. You're never gonna get the Zelda Theory of Everything that explains how it all ties together. I think the best part of it being a Legend is that it can never fully known. Some things are better left to mystery.

I don't think it's a matter of excluding "new" stuff from theories, but because they are new you literally have no information about them so theorizing can only go that far, otherwise it would just become fan fictions (well, many are kinda turning into that at times XD).

And yeah Zelda is better with its obscure lore and legends, and that's because of it that we can have people speculating about some deeper interconnections as unlikely as they are to be true or confirmed one day. Botw probably made things even worse (or better depending on your opinion on Zeldatubers) because now that Hyrule is clearly defined as a contiguous piece of land (don't insert sky island jokes here) and not some isolated smaller regions like in the previous game, it's quite tempting to go all "Is that place from TP ? And that one from SS ?" (The fact that BOTW has also literally copied and pasted a SS Spring didn't help).
I don't think it's happening anytime soon, but BOTW turned the Zelda lore into the perfect playground for that theory game, literally. What we get today is almost like a mechanical consequence.

 

[Watershed]

Wow, I don't remember when I first signed up for Famiboards, but this is the first time I've logged in for a long time.

Regarding the reuse of the same Hyrule in TOTK, I'm not concerned at all about the world not being different enough from BOTW. Between all the sky stuff, the underground stuff, the changes to the surface, Nintendo has shown me enough to ease that concern.

What interests me most about the world is if Nintendo is going do anything to make the world feel even more alive. One of the parts of BOTW that impressed me most was how alive the world felt. The elements and physics system, the weather, the animals, Hyrule felt like a living breathing world. I wonder if Nintendo is going to add any new systemic elements like that to make the world even more alive. A seasons system would be cool, but I doubt that will happen.

 

[Awesomegames23]

Not ToTK, but anyone remember this trailer:

 

[maidhhc]

I really wanna see (taste) some botw-era Tingle

 

[Okayge]

In all honesty, I certainly hope Ganondorf remains dehydrated—such a cool character design.

Credit: art by Jasqreate

 

[Serif]

Zelda having a relatively defined continuity with its 3D and certain 2D titles made it fun to theorize because it establishes a sense of history and place where certain connections could make logical sense. It was cool to see the Hero's Shade being OoT/MM Link confirmed. Some folks guessed that the Ocarina of Time was made from Timeshift stones which ended up being correct. Even though BotW doesn't have a defined placement outside of "after SS and OoT" there's still a process of elimination one can take to create likely scenarios. With all that being said I'm not convinced that Tears 'loops back around' to SS. That feels like it raises more questions than it answers. I think the events and involved parties mirroring SS are as far as it will go.

 

[ze_]

In all honesty, I certainly hope Ganondorf remains dehydrated—such a cool character design.

Credit: art by Jasqreate

Hey, if they did this, the next Smash might be forced to update Ganondorf’s model to mummydorf, which would be very funny to see pulling off Falcon Punches and kicks.