Category: Daily Debate

This month marks 20 years since the release of The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures. Even if you’ve been a longtime Legend of Zelda fan, however, there’s a good chance that you still haven’t played Four Swords Adventures or Four Swords. The most likely reason for this is because, to access these games as fully intended, you are required to play with friends. While multiplayer may be a simple proposition now, the hardware requirements for these games were a…

Are you a recent Zelda fan who arrived during the Switch generation and are interested in playing through the full catalog? Are you a veteran Zelda fan who is tired of dusting off that old system to play your favorite Zelda game one more time? Regardless of when you found The Legend of Zelda, I think we can all see the value in having the complete saga on Switch so that it is both accessible and convenient for recent and…

Barring several exceptions, I am a completionist. Collect-athons have been my jam since my first experience with Spyro the Dragon’s gems, eggs, and orbs. This desire translated into my Zelda experience, spending countless hours tracking down Heart Pieces, masks, and yes, even Korok Seeds and Minish Cap’s figurines. I regret the latter the most, even more than Korok Seeds. In Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, the Zelda series introduced its first strictly-defined completion percentage feature, visible…

We’ve all had that moment where we’re playing through a game and, all of the sudden, progression comes to a grinding halt. Sometimes, we get lost and don’t know how to reach the next objective. Other times, a difficult boss may bar the path forward and we lack the skill or knowledge to defeat it. Regardless of the reason, the sense of accomplishment that we feel once that challenge is finally conquered can be unmatched, and it cements those moments…

There’s no question that Hyrule Warriors – the closest thing to a consistent spin-off series within the greater Zelda franchise – is geared toward a very specific niche. For as simple as its moment-to-moment combat can be, the sheer variety of playable characters keeps the experience from growing too stale for me. Indeed, since the original Wii U title’s release, Hyrule Warriors has become one of my go-to comfort games. At least a few times throughout any given year, I…

Because we are coming up on almost a year since Tears of the Kingdom‘s release (can you believe it?), I’ve been pondering how well this direct sequel to Breath of the Wild continued the original story and enriched that version of Hyrule. I, for one, loved the continuity elements between the two games and enjoyed seeing how familiar settings were changed over a few years (how NPCs had grown up, etc). Tears of the Kingdom is a rarity in the…

With the release of each new Zelda game, there typically comes a gimmick. A Gimmick is a gameplay element that is designed to make the game unique or interesting, and that is typically referenced in advertising. Although the word “gimmick” carries unfavorable connotations, they aren’t all bad. Tears of the Kingdom gave us Ultrahand and sky islands, A Link Between Worlds featured wall-merging, and Twilight Princess made Link a wolf. These gimmicks prevent older Zelda titles from being made obsolete by…

The Zelda series is full of vibrant starting areas that make you feel right at home. From the lush Kokiri Forest in Ocarina of Time to the majestic islands of Skyloft in Skyward Sword, there are plenty of places I would pack my bags for and visit in a heartbeat. There are, however, a few in-game starter locales that don’t quite make my bucket list. Hyrule in A Link Between Worlds/A Link to the Past, for instance, doesn’t quite hit…

Tracking the release of Zelda titles is an exercise that can help explore and analyze development trends in the series. Looking at the data, the time gaps between 3D console Zelda games has been growing over the past fifteen to twenty years. The growing time gap between 3D Zelda games is first noticeable in the five year gap between Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword. Up to that point, the longest gap between 3D Zelda titles in North America was roughly…

The Switch, like most modern consoles, offers options for either a digital download or a physical copy when purchasing a game. Each method has its own unique advantages and disadvantages, meaning gamers around the world have strongly divided opinions on this topic when deciding to purchase their next game. Statista reports that in the year ending March 2023, Nintendo’s digital sales continued to grow, making up approximately 48.2% of its gaming software revenue, with a 6% growth on the previous…