Category: Daily Debate

In that oh-so-sweet Nintendo Direct from earlier this year, Nintendo made a bunch of big announcements, with maybe the biggest for Zelda fans being that of an HD remake of Skyward Sword. Something that got a little bit lost beside that announcement was the reveal that Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity would be receiving a couple batches of DLC. Two packs were revealed to be coming out this year, promising more enemies, levels, playable characters, and cutscenes. The story content…

Breath of the Wild introduced some really cool elements, like gathering ingredients for cooking food, and mining ore for jewellery-making or selling.  It also introduced the issue of content which was weapon durability.  These inclusions added some spice to the typical Zelda game and I’ve been wondering how Nintendo plan to top themselves in the upcoming sequel.  After some thought, I believe the perfect way to do this is to allow players to craft their own weapons.  We’ve seen something…

Here in the US, it’s tax season. Mid-April is the traditional deadline for individual and household returns, and that has me thinking of finances. Since some part of my brain is always on Zelda, those two trains of thought naturally crossed (Spirit) tracks. Actually, my recent completion of Oracle of Ages, with fellow ZD writers Emi and Hannah, planted the seed of this question a couple of months ago: Which Zelda games do the best job balancing the contents of…

The mechanic of time travel has become a recurring aspect of Zelda games ever since 1998, where the Link in Ocarina of Time moves forward in time at an accelerated rate in order to age seven years and be properly heralded the Hero of Time. In many parts of Ocarina of Time, whether mandatory or not, players must utilize the power of the Master Sword via the Temple of Time to jump between Link as a child and Link as…

Impa is one of the most beloved characters in the entire Zelda series, with her appearance as Zelda’s caretaker dating back to the very first Legend of Zelda title. Being one of the oldest characters in the series, that means she’s had a wide variety of appearances, and most of them have been completely different from each other. We’ve seen Impa as an old woman in Breath of the Wild, more of a mentor than a warrior, only for that…

The de-make is a burgeoning genre in the world of fan games. These unique projects take an established video game title, usually one from a long-running series, and re-imagine it with the graphics and gameplay of older or less powerful hardware. A Nintendo 64 game could be re-imagined as an NES or Game Boy title, or a GameCube game could be re-imagined as a Super NES or Game Boy Advance title. With the recent release of high-profile de-makes like Prime…

I’m not gonna lie. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks (which I’ll henceforth refer to as “the DS Zelda’s”) are my two least favorite Zelda games. There are a bunch of different reasons why, but the main one for me is the controls. I just don’t like the stylus movement system and holding my big 3DS XL with one hand while using the other hand to draw a path for Link to move gives me cramps. Another…

As part of the celebrations for the Super Mario Bros. 35th anniversary, Animal Crossing: New Horizons received an update which allowed players to purchase some really cool Super Mario-themed furniture and items.  Players raced to the Special Goods section of their Nook Shopping to get their hands on Fire Flowers, Floating Blocks, Goal Poles and more.  With such an awesome way of celebrating the franchises big occasion, it seemed natural to assume that The Legend of Zelda would be next…

Until Breath of the Wild came along with its open world and focus on emergent narrative, Zelda side quests came in basically two flavors: little side stories that would reward Link with a piece of heart, and minigames that would reward Link with… a piece of heart. Sure, there were other prize bundles here and there, but 25% of any meaty distraction came with the whiff of a new Heart Container. That’s no knock; I see Zelda‘s relatively low number…

The Magic Meter is a recurring element in the Zelda series, granting Link special abilities that made gameplay feel so much more exciting.  It made its first rather basic appearance in The Adventure of Link but became more of a staple in later 3D games, with its final appearance in The Wind Waker.  I’ve often wondered why the Magic Meter wasn’t carried over to Twilight Princess, especially because it seemed like such a natural part of the series during the…