Nintendo hires you as 3D Zelda director, provides Japanese interpreter

[Ezekiel]

What game do you make?




I would keep Link a young child for the rest of the series. Hate "adult" Link's earring and long hair. Would also make him brunette again, to distinguish him from the princess. A boy fighting monsters and hiding from soldiers is more interesting in that kind of fantasy.

Would make a game about the ocean again. Bigger islands, more islands. Bigger boat, which can be customized. More extreme weather.

Three-dimensional diving. You acquire an item that lets you breathe underwater. Zora's Domain is fully submerged and you mostly interact with Zora in three dimensions rather than on the ground.

Would make the adventure more linear again, with items that give access to new locations, but look at Twilight Princess as an example of things to avoid. Fewer cutscenes, less disruption.

Only a sword and shield. No spears, no axes. They dropped the directional attacks with the spears and axes, when they should have expanded on the sword instead.

Simpler art direction. The games have been garish for so long. So many grotesque faces and bodies. Just stop.

No voice acting. Nintendo has demonstrated that they can't do it well. Link is not silent. I hate silent protagonists. But he doesn't say much.

Only one outfit. Something appropriate for a seaman who sometimes fights. I wanna be able to make him barefoot. Maybe there's sand in his boots. Maybe he's quieter barefoot. I can already feel the warm, slushy sand on my bare feet as I imagine the game.

 

[Worgen]

Horror game, more psychological in a silent hill way. The world starts out colorful but takes you to a hell world partway though as a corrupting force takes over, not even Gannon knows whats going on so the whole cast has to work together to escape and seal off the world of hell corruption. Have multiple playable characters once the corruption starts and they have to split up to use their individual skills in different dungeons and such. Very little blood, no gore, much more Legend of Zelda style creepyness which the series is already good at. Have the more realistic style of the Twilight Princess.

 

[PsychedelicDiamond]

I believe you shouldn't try to fix what isn't broken so I'd go with the same basic gameplay of Breath if the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom but I'd reintroduce some conventions of the older 3D Zelda games for sort of a best of both worlds approach.

There would be longer, more involved dungeons again, those dungeons would contain items that affect the overworld exploration and parts of the overworld would only be accessible with these items. And obviously some puzzles would require them. Maybe bringing back transformations would be cool, Majora's Mask Style.

In terms of story and presentation... I dunno, personally, I still kinda pine for Majora's Mask's surreal worldbuilding and kinda Burtony, Del Toro-y whimsical but morbid dark fantasy art direction but I feel like trying to replicate that would just end up feeling like a pale imitation. Twilight Princess still had some hints of that. Zelda isn't quite Final Fantasy, that you can do practically everything with it, but it's pretty flexible as long as you manage to have a sort of basic archetypal adventure story in it.

Part of me thinks it would be fun to go crazy with it. A Fist of the North Star inspired post apocalyptic Zelda! A kind of Earthbound like 80's Spielberg Americana Zelda! But I think that's all overthinking it. Again, don't fix what isn't broken. So I think the familiar medieval fantasy setting should still serve as a base.

Okay, so, here's my pitch:

The Legend of Zelda: Call of the Mountains

As the name suggests, mountainous setting with different parts of the map inspired by different cultures and landscapes. Parts kinda alpine, parts kinda Scandinavian, part kinda Himalayan, parts kinda like the Andes, parts kinda like the Scottish Highlands... you get where I'm coming from. Your basic setup, Link is an innocent farm boy from a small village in an idyllic alpine valley, he is sent to a pilgrimage to a temple on the summit of a large mountain as some rite of passage, let's say Zelda is the Shrine Maiden or High Priestess of that temple, the villain, let's be honest, probably some version of Ganon, attacks the temple and steals the artefacts kept there, Link has to travel the land and retrieve these artefacts from the different dungeons, interacting with the different civilizations that live there. Again, this is extremely basic and needs some fleshing out but again, it's Zelda, you should probably stick to a basic setup.

As you've probably figured , the core gameplay gimmick would be that it's a game about mountaineering. I think that would be a logical place to go to mostly maintain the gameplay mechanics and controls of the last two Zelda games while making something that still has a distinct identity. Emphasize the survival mechanics a bit more (don't go too wild with them, just to the point you actually have to prepare for some trips), de emphasize the physics and crafting stuff a bit (again, don't remove it entirely, just reduce it somewhat) and... well, what I'm saying is, take some inspiration from Death Stranding.

That feeling when you've reached the top of a hill or a mountain and it's all the way downhill and you can already see a save haven in the distance... That feeling is priceless. As is that of having unlocked enough items or abilities to make a previously arduous track short and easy. So, you know, play into that some. You start off with minimal equipment and then you unlock a grappling hook and ziplines and a glider and whatnot... just don't make it so you start off with all your items and abilities already, you unlock them gradually over the course of the game and all of them open up more ways to explore and more places to go.

 

[Silvanus]

I want a weirder, darker tone again, like Majora's Mask or parts of Ocarina of Time & Twilight Princess had. Unnerving music (like the OoT forest temple theme or the Arbiter's Grounds theme). And a return of Poes (as enemies), ReDeads, and spooky shit like that.

And proper full-length dungeons again, please. Tears of the Kingdom was an improvement on Breath of the Wild in that regard but not fully a return to form.

 

[Ezekiel]

I believe you shouldn't try to fix what isn't broken so I'd go with the same basic gameplay of Breath if the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom but I'd reintroduce some conventions of the older 3D Zelda games for sort of a best of both worlds approach.

There would be longer, more involved dungeons again, those dungeons would contain items that affect the overworld exploration and parts of the overworld would only be accessible with these items. And obviously some puzzles would require them. Maybe bringing back transformations would be cool, Majora's Mask Style.

Problem is that the two conflict. You can't have both. You can't put a gigantic open world in the game with special items that unlock new areas because the player is not gonna wanna backtrack to those hundreds of locations again every time they acquire another. Such items only work in a smaller, denser space.

Real dungeons and no shrines would be my preference.

Edit: Also, real dungeons that each have their own new gimmick won't work in a giant open world that gives you access to every major ability at the start, abilities that can be used to circumvent the intended solutions and just bypass obstacles.

 

[BrawlMan]

A somewhat darker tone similar to Twlight Princess. It doesn't have to be the same color palette as TP. Keep the witch time style mechanic from BoW/ToK/AoC. Get rid of the weapon durability, and give link 3 additional weapons that can be upgraded and have their own move sets. His sword and shield as the starting weapon (with the Master Sword he gets at the halfway point), and then Link will acquire a spear, gauntlets, and axe which can double as a boomerang of sorts. There will be on the fly weapon switching, and you can mix and match your combo moves. Add in about 4 dungeons with Ganon's being the 5th and final dungeon.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

What’s the one major thing missing from all Legend of Zelda games these days? Full penetration. We’re gonna show full penetration and we’re gonna show a lot of it! I mean, we’re talking, you know, graphic scenes of Link really going to town on Zelda. From behind, 69, anal, vaginal, cowgirl, reverse cowgirl, all the hits, all the big ones, all the good ones. Then he smells the breath of the wild. He’s out busting dungeons. Then he’s back to Zelda's castle for some more full penetration. Smells adventure, back to the castle, full penetration. Adventure, penetration, castle, full penetration, adventure, penetration. And this goes on and on, and back and forth, for 50 or so hours until the game just, sort of, ends.

 

[meiam]

I'm kinda tired of the big doomsday plot, I think I'd go for smaller story. Link and Zelda are both just poor farmer in some remote corner of the world, not really part of any country, young teenager, they're already sweetheart but they dream of more. One year, the harvest is really bad and it look like the village might not have enough to survive the coming winter. Link has to leave the village in search of way to improve the village lots, Zelda stays behind and become an un official leader.

For the first 1/3-1/2 of the game, its mostly about finding various thing that will help the village, you get rumor of ruins or mystic cave with some sort of resource or object that could help Link and/or the village. Mostly non linear about exploring, with a side part where you have to develop the village for some of your gear (get a blacksmith to craft hookshoot). I'd try the exploration to be kinda like a portal, in that there's an obvious solution if you have the right tool, but that you can usual screw around with the other tool to "break" the puzzle, so there would be a "correct" order to do things, but you could deviate from that. Key part is that after every dungeon, you'd need to come back to the village with the reward, and this would be part of the ordeal, maybe a big amount of material would need to be escorted, or you'd need to something downhill without breaking it. After every dungeon, winter would happen and you'd need to use your new tool to help out (maybe the hookshoot let you gather food, or the fire magic wand let you heat up the house)

About halfway the village would be prosperous enough to be attacked by the bandit raider, lead by Gannon. At this point it would shift a bit more defensively, the raider would populate the area around the village and make everything more dangerous. You would also start gathering the piece of the triforce to oppose Gannon. The winter section would be about repealing the raider and building up the village. By the end of it, the village would be a castle town and you'd counter attack the raider in their desert.

 

[CriticalGaming]

I would make a game in which Link must traverse different worlds to collect shards of Calamity in order to prevent a calamity in his world. Each world would have different traversal mechanics and themes, I.E. Water World, Wind World, etc etc. Each world filled with puzzles, collectibles, unique weapons, and special tools. Each world would also have unlockable areas that require tools from other worlds to give players a reason to revisit previously beaten worlds which would further unlock challenges and rewards for the player.

I'd keep the game a 3rd person action game throughout, but explore different playstyles in the different worlds. Like puzzles that effectively turn the game into Zelda 1 on the NES to beat mini fights and unlock doors.


In a way it would probably look a bit like the recent God of War games, traveling between realms/worlds with a central hub world to sort of gather everything together.

 

[Drathnoxis]

I'd like a return to form with a scaled back world. Focus on making the world full of things worth finding rather than just making it huge. Limit the number and length of cutscenes, earlier games did this well, but it spiraled out of control with Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword. Thankfully BotW dialed it back in because Zelda has never done well with a heavy focus on narrative. No crafting system whatsoever! I don't want to collect junk to glue together, just give me cool stuff as a reward for exploration and puzzle solving. You can do this when the game isn't open world and you don't need to scatter rewards throughout 100 square kilometers.

The biggest thing I want though is a decent difficulty for both the combat and puzzles. Zelda's great, but it's not remotely challenging.

 

[Ezekiel]

The biggest thing I want though is a decent difficulty for both the combat and puzzles. Zelda's great, but it's not remotely challenging.

I thought A Link to the Past's difficulty was fine.

I don't know if the play count recorded total sessions (loading the save) or just deaths. But apparently I was bad.

 

[Drathnoxis]

I thought A Link to the Past's difficulty was fine.

I don't know if the play count recorded total sessions (loading the save) or just deaths. But apparently I was bad.

Well for one this is about the 3D Zelda games which have generally been easier, really in most of them it's pretty much impossible to die after a certain point you have so many heart containers, defense items and bottles full of fairies you would need to place artificial restrictions on yourself to compensate. Two I'd be open to difficulty options as long as they are for the puzzles also. I don't remember Link to the Past being especially difficult, not compared to Zelda 2 at least. In fact, I loaded my save from the only time I played the game and beat Gannon again to check:


That was something like 10 years ago, though. And yeah, the game count is just deaths, also if you died and shut off the game without saving it wouldn't count.

 

[Asita]

Funny you mention this, because this is the kind of thing I get overly detailed about for fun.

Spoiler: The Legend of Zelda: The Two Heroes (Introduction)

Scene. Farmhouse in Hyrule fields. Focus on a young boy, blonde hair, pointed ears, blue earrings...it looks like a pretty young Link whose green shirt is a bit too large for him, making it almost resemble a robe. He's reading outside, his bandage-wrapped hands flipping pages with arcane symbols on them. Mother calls. Player gets control. He goes in, which reveals that his mom is a Gerudo woman. She's at the other door and putting up her spear - so obviously still quite active - and asks him to find his father and sister so that they all can get dinner started as a family.

Kid first goes to an adjoining building and cautiously knocks on the door to announce his presence. His father's voice replies to "give me just one-" BOOM! "OUCH!" Smoke starts seeping out from under the door, and the father promptly opens the window to start airing out the room. He wryly comments that it was another failure and he wishes he had his son's aptitude for magic. Son conveys the message, father acknowledges it, and tells him that his sister's probably in the 'arena' again. Kid goes out past the fields into the adjoining woods, where he finds his sister (mid teens, Gerudo like her mother, hands wrapped up just like her brother), who has set up a little gauntlet for herself, including obstacles and a few scarecrows to use as combat dummies. She also asks for a minute and control shifts to the sister. Cue the battle controls tutorial. Boy tells her that mom's back and they're all being called for dinner.

They start heading back, but the girl quickly pulls him into some bushes and urges silence, having caught the sound of approaching bandits. Bandits are talking amongst themselves, asking why Lord Ganon wanted some random boy from a podunk farm. Other bandit comments that it doesn't matter, it'll be ash soon enough. Horrified, they realize they have to stop them. Cue combat against proper enemies, this time with the boy providing some magical support. Having dealt with the enemies, they run back...and realize that those were the stragglers. It wasn't a pair of bandits that was sent, it was bandits, monsters, and some monstrous commander calling the shots (not ganon, more of a lieutenant) and ordering them to find the boy.

Their house is burning, mother is desperately attempting a fighting retreat (and doing a damn good job, but there's just too many of them). She shoots a glance their way and shouts for her husband to get the kids out. They try to run to her, but their father - close by as it turns out, grabs them and tells them to run to the castle. They won't have it though, so he has to pretty much drag them away. Monstrous commander notices and starts pursuing. Mother sees this and calls out to her husband, alerting him.

He tells the kids to keep running, faces the commander and starts using every bit of minor magic he has (little wind for a dust cloud, little sparks in the air for visual confusion...maybe a little distraction, but only enough to startle the horse for a few seconds) to stall the commander, ultimately allowing him to grab him in passing and pull him off the horse. This allows the wife to catch up and the two do their damnedest to buy whatever time they can, but this guy is much stronger than the hordes he was commanding. It's a losing battle, and it's all they can do to keep him off balance. He gets a good hit off on the wife and she collapses. Very pissed off, he runs her husband through...at which point he puts everything he has into one last spell, silently begging the three goddesses to protect their kids...and the spell blows up in his face. Deliberately this time, a sacrifice to give his children the best chance they had. He's gone, and the commander is gasping on the ground, now heavily scarred.

Focus shifts back to the kids, who eventually make it to the stable near an inn, in shock over what happened. They don't know what's going on, or why it happened. Boy's in denial, sister is just trying to be comforting. As they tearfully settle in, they reassure each other that they'll always be together.

Title Screen: "The Legend of Zelda: The Two Heroes"

The genesis of the idea was that Ganon finally took advantage of the fact that he's a constant, while Link and Zelda are reincarnations. He knows that when he comes back, Link and Zelda will be there to stop him, and that his point of failure has consistently been that he didn't pay enough attention to Link. So this time, he tried to take out Link before he made his move.

In the original draft, I'd planned to play with this by having the Gerudo sister to be Link's true reincarnation. Hence the wrapped hands: Hides which one actually has the triforce mark on them. Increasingly, however, I'm leaning into the idea of it being a kind of dual-reincarnation, with both having inherited the Triforce of Courage (and both the boy and the girl have the mark on their hand), albeit weakened unless they're acting together.

And everyone pegs the boy as the destined hero because he looks just like Link always does, but he's young and plagued with self-doubt, so for the scene when he's trying to pull out the Master Sword, for instance? He's too small to use it, but his sister isn't. He knows this. And while he's willing to try, he's terrified of what it means to fail, so he's very hesitant to actually grab it. As his hands kinda hover around the sword's handle, not quite grasping it, his sister reassuringly puts her hands over his and closes them over the handle. She smiles and gently asks "together?" *nod* they raise the sword together, light from the triforce pouring out from their bandages.

So that's my pitch, basically. Unlike Link and Zelda, Ganon doesn't typically reincarnate. It's the same guy who has been thwarted by those two for untold generations. He knows the drill by now and is fully taking advantage of it...and poetically ends up being the architect of his own destruction for trying. Additionally, rather than Link taking on the world alone, the siblings here operate as a tag-team, changing the cadence of battle into something we're less used to for this IP, and reflecting the narrative emphasis on mutual support - especially in the face of loss. Neither of these two could do it alone, but as two heroes together, they can save Hyrule. And because they are always together, it allows for greater depth of characterization by giving both of them someone to 'bounce' off of.

 

[Gergar12]

Yelled at the head of Nintendo to put my games on Steam.