Discussion Zelda fans - are you happy with how the Switch era has been for the franchise?

[Bulgowski]

My option isn't available so I went with the Wii U choice. But honestly I feel like the Switch era isn't coming any where close or near the 3DS generation.

On 3DS you had:

Ocarina Of Time 3D
Majora's Mask 3D
A Link Between Worlds
Triforce Heroes
Four Swords Anniversary
Plus the virtual console stuff.

On Switch we have Breath Of The Wild, Link's Awakening remake, Tears Of The Kingdom and the original versions for some of the virtual console stuff.

I'm pretty sure the 3DS could play the entire series except Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, Four Swords Adventures and Breath Of The Wild. So yeah, not really feeling the Switch era compared to the 3DS one.

Until the eshop shuts down, Wii U is probably the best console for playing legacy Zelda. It's only missing the Gameboy titles.

3DS is good for 2D Zelda (though it's missing Minish Cap and the DS games, while playable, are pretty inaccessible in 2023) but is, for obvious power reasons, missing the majority of 3D entries.

 

[Amadeus]

people in this thread are forgetting Cadence Of Hyrule and it shows

 

[balgajo]

I'm not happy. This gen with BOTW they changed Zelda focus to a huge open world with all of that open world bloat(crafting, copy/paste, breakable weapons....) and sandbox. Totk seems to be doubling down on those elements and I still didn't see the stuff I like on a Zelda game(items, proper dungeons).
Beside the huge resources those games need. 5+ years dev time and no original 2d Zelda game in the meantime. Maybe Totk will change my view on this but from the trailers I doesn't seem to be the case.

TL;DR: This gen has my least favorite 3d Zelda, no new 2d Zelda, my least hyped 3d Zelda(Totk).

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

Sure. The all new game was The Greatest Thing. A Game Boy game got a giant glowup. We're soon to have every pre-Wind Waker Zelda available as part of a cheap subscription service. Skyward Sword was given a second chance with visual improvements and additional control options. It's had some fun spinoffs.

 

[GamerJM]

I don't think there's ever been a "bad" era for Zelda, though I probably like like it less than N64/GBC, Wii/DS, and Wii U/3DS, but more than the others.

-Breath of the Wild is really damn great. It's not my favorite in the series, but it is top 5, and a pretty landmark game for gaming as a whole.
-Link's Awakening remake was neat, though I'm not a giant LA fan and I found that I prefer the original (and DX). But I still had fun with it.

That's all I played. No interest in the Hyrule Warriors games or Cadence of Hyrule, and I'd rather play on original hardware than NSO. I liked Skyward Sword but not enough to spend full price on a minimally improved version on a platform I like the controls of less.

Tears of the Kingdom looks cool. I have faith in it, and I think people are too harsh on the trailers.

 

[xghost777]

I voted no for this one and after Zelda TK launches I hope to easily change my mind, but given Zelda is a bigger franchise I have a little higher expectations I guess compared to Metroid. Mainly, I’m a bit disappointed there have been no new 2D or multiplayer Zeldas so far and I am annoyed Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask are locked on NSO+ and Twilight Princess and Wind Waker haven’t hit Switch yet. Felt like Wii U had it better with all of the games easily there and a better spinoff with the first Hyrule Warriors. The Link’s Awakening remake was super pleasant, but unnecessary. I wish they put that effort into a new game.

 

[balgajo]

Btw, Wii U gen (which includes 3ds) was one of the best for Zelda imo.

 

[Jersh]

We also have two new HD remakes/remasters, multiple spinoffs, and like 75% of Zelda games playable through NSO.

It'll be 65% without the GameCube titles, and that's assuming we get Four Swords on NSO at some point.

My problem is it feels like they mishandled it a bit. We're coming off a generation where 94% of games were playable; Four Swords Adventures was the only holdout. On top of that, the 3DS versions of OoT and MM have been left behind, and while we're presumably getting Four Swords on NSO, it'll be missing the very neat anniversary edition content. I guess you could call it spoiled, but 6 years ago I had access to the best version (and in most cases, all versions) of all but one Zelda game just by owning the current hardware. Going from that to being under 50% for six years (the current count without Oracle games released and TotK not in the total count is 9/19) is... underwhelming, at least to me. This is why backwards compatibility is important.

And the spinoffs, well made as they are, don't do much of anything for me. Hyrule is a neat setting, but it's really the gameplay I care about.

Btw, Wii U gen (which includes 3ds) was one of the best for Zelda imo.

I agree on the notion that BotW is included in both eras. The rest of the output that gen easily outweighed what we've gotten so far to complement BotW on the Switch, which is why the third poll option left me confused and I abstained from voting. If it was at the Wii U era to be, I would be happy.

Hopefully Tears of the Kingdom can change that. I just wish it didn't have to.

 

[Serif]

Switch has felt like a new renaissance for Zelda with BotW, having loved Zelda since 2008 it's thrilling to be able to talk to almost anyone who plays games, ask them if they've played or seen the latest Zelda and actually being able to talk about it. The zeitgeist feels active and bursting with appreciation for the series.

 

[Scrawnton]

No. I think the past five years have been the worst five year stretch to be a Zelda fan after the gap between ALttP and OoT

 

[LunarJade]

In terms of what I've gotten on Switch I think I'm pretty happy currently.
- BotW I spent a couple hundred hours in and still launch the game now and then just to wander around in even though I've done most of what's in the game

• TotK isn't out yet but I'm decently excited for it
• Skyward Sword HD I hadn't played until it came to Switch so that was a new experience for me. (There were parts I didn't care for but I also thought it had some interesting ideas so I don't look at it too negatively)
• Hyrule Warriors Definitive Edition - I love this game so much that I had it on Wii U, and 3DS and still bought it on Switch. I've put hundreds of hours into this game across all three systems, and its one of the few games I've even sunk a ton of time into under 2 player mode. I recognize this isn't a strong contender for a lot of people but its huge for me.
• Cadence of Hyrule - heck that was just amazing to see happen. I also really love rhythm games and had played Crypt of the Necrodancer and hitting into a game like that but with an overworld map, puzzles, and remixes of Zelda music was fantastic. If rhythm isn't your thing I believe you can turn the rhythm portion of the game off and then everything just moves when you move making it a bit of a different game but hopefully something that helps those who have a harder time with that type of game. (Also played two player a couple of times and that helped with some puzzles I had a hard time with)
• Age of Calamity - Story ended up not being as interesting as they had advertised but I also love seeing what movesets get given to which characters and getting a chance to play characters that I can't play elsewhere.
• Link's Awakening - I could take or leave the look of it. I get why it doesn't gel with everyone but I do think its cute, but would have been fine if they hadn't gone that route. But I also only played this game when it came out on Switch and it was pretty cool to see.

There's a number of previous Zelda titles playable through NSO, but I haven't touched them so I don't really think about them much. Minish Cap being in the GBA section is great as I haven't gotten to that one and I'm looking forward to checking that out when I find some time for it.
In terms of just mainline stuff with no ports, spin offs and such.. yeah it might be ideal for someone who isn't into those things so I'm lucky that I do really enjoy those things.


Would I like more? Yeah honestly. I'd like to see Windwaker and Twilight Princess get moved to the Switch. I'd especially like to see a new 2D Zelda. I loved A Link Between Worlds, and if I could have found people around a little more often to play it I would have gotten a little more enjoyment out of TriForce Heroes.
Heck I'd even like to see them move the Twilight Princess Picross game and Link's Crossbow training to the Switch as I really enjoyed those and I'd even like to see more new stuff in that spin off vein as well.
I think when it comes down to it... I'd always like more Zelda. I love that world and I love seeing other takes on it. But I am also pretty happy with the experiences I currently have.

 

[MMXZero]

Until the eshop shuts down, Wii U is probably the best console for playing legacy Zelda. It's only missing the Gameboy titles.

3DS is good for 2D Zelda (though it's missing Minish Cap and the DS games, while playable, are pretty inaccessible in 2023) but is, for obvious power reasons, missing the majority of 3D entries.

Actually you can play The Minish Cap if you were a 3DS ambassador. The DS games could be played through backwards compatibility.

The only games that couldn't be played on 3DS was Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, Four Swords Adventures, Skyward Sword and Breath Of The Wild. The funny thing about this list is the GameCube titles probably could have been ported down to the New 3DS instead of being left to rot on the Wii U.

 

[ZSaberLink]

As someone who didn't like Breath of the Wild, I'm not at all happy with Zelda this generation. Breath of the Wild was fun for the first 10-15 hours and then it just became the same things over and over and over again. I wanted something different in Zelda too, but imo it threw out all the fun stuff and what was new (outside the climbing / gliding) wasn't particularly fun. Actually to be clear, outside of the climbing / gliding there was very little in the game at all! Because of how successful BoTW is, they decided to put all their focus on Tears of the Kingdom, which looks like more of the same sadly.

Outside of that the new content was Age of Calamity (which I found more fun that BoTW at least) and Cadence of Hyrule (cool concept but somehow couldn't really get into it...)

Then there were some ports / remakes with the Link's Awakening Remake was fun and reminded me of good Zelda. I already played Hyrule Warriors on Wii U plenty (so passed on Switch), and Skyward Sword HD (liked the game but didn't feel like replaying it). So basically I liked 1 spinoff, and a remake... so yeh not great for me. But thankfully there are other games to play, but disappointing given Zelda at least my favorite franchise up until this point, and now I'm not planning to get Tears of the Kingdom.

 

[Yamanoi]

Cadence of Hyrule is amazing, but until we get A Link Between Worlds or a version of OOT that is fun to play, I won't be happy. Minish cap helps though!

 

[Bulgowski]

Actually you can play The Minish Cap if you were a 3DS ambassador.

I mean sure, it's technically playable to a small percentage of owners but considering that the vast majority of 3DS owners don't have the option -I'd say it doesn't really count.

 

[MrBones]

It's hard to complain too much given that we'll have two mainline 3D games on the system, one of which ended up being the game of the decade for many. Still, the underwhelming representation of the 2D side is hard to ignore. Link's Awakening is wonderful, but we're about to hit 10 years without a new singleplayer 2D title, and that's incredibly disappointing.

I wonder what the plan is for the future after Tears of the Kingdom. Hyrule Warriors has filled in admirably for the gap years, but there really isn't anywhere else for that subfranchise to go. Hopefully 2D Zelda will take its place as the "filler" subseries, alongside the inevitable ports/remasters of older titles.

Agreed. Miss the days when we had separate 2D and 3D Teams working simultaneously.

Link's Awakening Remake's existence was really disappointing frankly; I don't think it should have been made. I would have preferred Grezzo's resources be used for an original 2D Zelda as opposed to a tile-for-tile remake. It's essentially the same game except with a different art style, feels pointless when they can re-release the original.

 

[MMXZero]

I mean sure, it's technically playable to a small percentage of owners but considering that the vast majority of 3DS owners don't have the option -I'd say it doesn't really count.

Lol. It still counts just like Four Swords Anniversary counts.

 

[Aether]

1 cross platform, 1 direct sequel to that that took way longer then expected, 1 remake instead of an original 2D zelda. 1 remaster of a game i could not care less.

Eh. If BotW would not be one of the best games ever i would be dissapointed. As it stands, its fine, i still miss an original 2D zelda.

 

[Golden]

Great games, but missed opportunities imo. I would have loved a port of the Wii u remasters while we wait for Totk. But eh, we are almost here now so it doesn't matter.