Daily Debate: What Would-Be Zelda Title Would You Want to Play Most?

Posted on January 06 2023 by Kora Burton

As I recently performed the inevitable new year’s task of taking down and packing away my Christmas decorations, I was listening to a couple of Did You Know Gaming? (DYKG) videos on Zelda titles that were either only released in Japan (“EVERY Zelda Game America Never Got”) or were never released at all (“Lost Zelda Games”). While these are only two of the many videos the YouTube channel has released on the topic of Zelda titles that for one reason or another never reached their full worldwide potential, hearing about all the possible adventures that I could have shared with Link and Zelda but probably never will have wormed their way into my imagination.

I find myself particularly captivated by Zelda games that were proposed or even underwent some development, but ultimately never got to be enjoyed by fans. Some examples that immediately come to mind are Retro Studios’ cancelled Sheikah-inspired project for the Wii and Heroes of Hyrule, an ill-fated strategy game pitch for the DS. As it turns out, there are a ton of more or less “known” titles that ended up being nipped in the bud early or just cancelled outright, including sequels to Twilight Princess, a potential third Oracle game, and Ura Zelda for the 64 Disk Drive, to name a few.

So, what would-be Zelda title would you want to play most? If you could wave your magic wand or perhaps call upon the Triforce for a wish, which cancelled or only-imagined game would you will into existence to be able to play?

Personally I would love to see what playing Heroes of Hyrule would be like. While I don’t have much experience with Tactics-style gaming, I find the premise of the project engaging, I adore the concept art, and I love the proposed approach to aligning a new set of heroes with the three parts of the Triforce. It’s the title on the list of cancelled Zelda games that to me also feels the most elusive, as it departs pretty dramatically from the traditional Zelda formula that centers around Link as the main character — a pretty solid guarantee we’ll never get anything like it. Oh well!

But hey, what about you? Which never-to-be Zelda title would you add to your collection if you could? Let us know down in those comments below!

Heroes of Hyrule featured art by Sammy Tighe