The Legend of Zeldais one of Nintendo’s greatest success stories. The franchise pioneered the dungeon-crawling adventure genre as gamers know it today, and it has routinely been one of the biggest sellers on each of Nintendo’s consoles. The progression ofThe Legend of Zeldahas moved steadily along with the rest of the gaming industry, to the point where its most recent entry,Breath of the Wildhas become one of the most important games of the last five years.
If there’s one thing thatThe Legend of Zeldais known for, it’s consistency. The franchise has very few games that are unforgivably bad, to the point where even the worstLegend of Zeldagames still receive pretty respectable reviews across the board. This level of consistency has led to severalZeldatitles receiving remakes of some kind over the years, each of them ensuring that a whole new generation of gamers has access to some classic games.The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HDis one of the newest examples of this, and there are many moreZeldaremakes that have truly captured the essence of the original games.
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The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D
WhenThe Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Timereleased on the Nintendo 64 in 1998, it would quickly take the world by storm with its incredible gameplay, narrative, and soundtrack. It is regularly regarded as one of the greatest games of all time, and this reputation got a second chance to shine in the form ofThe Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3Don the 3DS. This remake took everything that was great about the original and cleaned it up for a more modern audience, with enhanced graphics and a number of quality of life improvements. As ifOcarina of Timecouldn’t get any better, this remake brought it to a whole new level.
The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD
The Legend of Zeldais no stranger to experimentation, andThe Legend of Zelda: Wind Wakeris one of the biggest indications of this. From its cell-shaded graphics to the open sea exploration, it took some time for this game to become a classic. OnceThe Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HDreleased on theWii U, however, the game’s strengths became undoubtedly apparent. One of the biggest benefits that this remake had was the Wii U gamepad, as it would display the map and allow for inventory management. It seemed perfectly suited for the console and arguably made for a better experience than the originalWind Waker.
The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening on Switch
It is often a daunting task to take a game that is so drastically different from the current industry standard and remake it from the ground up, but that’s exactly what was accomplished withThe Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakeningon the Switch. The charmingGame Boytitle had a reputation as one of the best mobileZeldatitles, and the Switch remake renewed that charm with vibrant cartoon graphics and the same classicZeldagameplay. It truly looks like a whole different game from the original, and it even added a custom dungeon creator for longtimeZeldafans that have dreamed of crafting their own since the very first game.
The Legend of Zeldais certainly experiencing a renaissance as of late.Breath of the Wildhas catapulted the franchise to all new heights, and the upcomingBreath of the Wild 2already looks like it could revolutionizeZelda, and the gaming industry all over again. WithSkyward Sword HDout in the wild with favorable reviews, Nintendo has given fans yet another solidZeldaremake. While the focus will likely be shifting towardsBreath of the Wild 2for the foreseeable future, at this rate it seems likely thatThe Legend ofZeldafranchise will get yet another remake sometime in the future.
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