Daily Debate: Will We Ever See the Entire Zelda Collection on Switch?

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 veteran fans alike.

The Nintendo Switch has seen 12 of the 20 mainline Zelda titles (not counting spinoffs) come to the platform, either through new entries such as Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, through re-releases like Link’s Awakening and Skyward Sword HD, or via Nintendo Switch Online (NSO) with classics like A Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time. This is a great service to fans of the series, as most games have found their way over to the Switch (a few key exceptions notwithstanding). The remaining eight titles, which are not available on the Switch, are from the middle of the Zelda catalog in terms of release date, from the GameCube, Wii, and Wii U home console generations (with the exception of Skyward Sword which got the HD re-release on Switch) and the DS and 3DS handheld generations, as Nintendo has made its earliest entries from the NES, SNES, Nintendo 64, Game Boy, and Game Boy Advance available through NSO.

However, with the Switch recently celebrating its seventh anniversary as Nintendo’s flagship hybrid home and handheld console and the steady stream of rumors about a Switch successor console, we’re left wondering if the remaining Zelda titles will ever find their way over to the Switch, either as re-releases or NSO additions, or if they’ll be left marooned on outdated systems.

Beloved Hits Re-Released on Switch?

• A Link Between Worlds, which laid some of the groundwork for Breath of the Wild with non-linear gameplay, is a title we could see as a standalone re-release on the Switch, both because of its success on the 3DS platform and its ease of being ported over. Gameplay mainly focused on the 3DS’ top screen and used button inputs. The lower touch screen on the 3DS was largely used as a secondary screen for managing inventory, viewing maps, and providing additional touch buttons. Mapping the secondary screen information to the main display HUD, a pause menu, and/or the additional ZL/ZR trigger buttons on the Switch should be relatively easy for developers to accomplish. We’ve seen a planned 3DS port of Luigi’s Mansion 2: Dark Moon scheduled for release later this year; let’s hope that this is a sign of more 3DS classics coming to the Switch!

• The Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess HD are core to the Zelda canon and have been rumored perennially since the Switch’s original launch in 2017. Despite the vast majority of Nintendo’s first-party hits from the Wii U finding new life on the Switch, these two have somehow eluded our grasp! Porting these two seems like it would be an easy task for developers, since they don’t require the Wii U GamePad and can be played with a Wii U Pro Controller (although having the map on the GamePad is super convenient, particularly while sailing the Great Sea in The Wind Waker HD). Let’s hope that the rumors have been true all along, and Nintendo has just been holding on to these two for the right time to re-release before the Switch’s retirement!

Surprise Expansion to Nintendo Switch Online?

• Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks at first seem like they would be a challenge to bring to the Switch given their unique gameplay mechanics with the stylus, but Nintendo has already worked through alternate ways to play these with the Wii U Virtual Console. For DS games on Wii U, Nintendo provided a handful of screen options for the player to choose from to optimize their play set-up, based on whether inputs were mostly through face buttons or the stylus, and whether gameplay focused on the upper or lower screens. For the two Zelda entries on DS, two useful display options were provided on the Wii U that could easily be reproduced on the Switch. One kept the Wii U GamePad horizontal, with the two DS displays set side by side with a smaller upper display to the left and a larger lower display to the right for more area while using the stylus (below left). There was also an option where the Wii U GamePad was turned 90 degrees on its side so that the two displays were stacked vertically for maximum use of the screen real estate (below right). If Nintendo could provide various display option set-ups for the Switch, a library of DS games would be easy to bring over to allow users to pick the optimal set-up based on the type of game and their preference.

Long-Shot Multiplayer Additions for Nintendo Switch Online?

• Four Swords Adventures would be a great addition to NSO, but whether GameCube games will ever be added to the service remains to be seen. Nintendo seems to be leaning towards remastering and re-releasing GameCube hits on the Switch, as seen with Super Mario Sunshine (as part of Super Mario 3D All-Stars) and Metroid Prime Remastered. However, Four Swords Adventures isn’t your typical GameCube game, as its graphics are at a Game Boy Advance level of detail, since the gameplay display switches from your TV to a Game Boy Advance connected to the GameCube. So while Four Swords Adventures is not technically a Game Boy Advance game, if GameCube games never make it to Switch, Nintendo could provide us with a great multiplayer experience within the Game Boy Advance NSO app that wouldn’t seem out of place.

• Four Swords is an actual Game Boy Advance game so it could easily come to the existing NSO app, but it is a relatively short game that was originally paired with A Link to the Past on a single Game Boy Advance cartridge and required a minimum of two players. Another option could be the Four Swords Anniversary Edition, which was a standalone version on DS/3DS that allowed for solo play. The Anniversary Edition seems a more likely candidate for NSO in that it allows for both solo and multiplayer play, but again with some leniency on Nintendo’s part about what is included under the Game Boy Advance NSO app.

Lost and Forgotten?

• Tri Force Heroes is probably the least likely game to make it over to the Switch. Though there is some hope of seeing ports of 3DS games, as mentioned above, this 2015 title sold poorly and is not held in high regard by the fanbase in general. It can also be absolutely grueling to play solo, better off saved for a group play session in person. It’s unlikely that Nintendo would put in the effort of porting this as a standalone release, and it is also unlikely that Nintendo will be adding 3DS games in general to NSO. From that perspective, this game will most likely be marooned on the 3DS and left behind.

Do you think that the games that Nintendo has made available on the Switch so far are sufficient? If not, what Zelda game not currently on Switch do you most want to see brought over? Which do you think realistically has the best chance before Nintendo jumps to the next console, and how would it become available? Will we ever see the entire Zelda collection on Switch? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Jared Eubanks

Jared Eubanks is a staff writer at Zelda Dungeon, and he is also a husband, father, and engineer. He is originally from the Atlanta, GA area and still lives there. He graduated from Georgia Tech and is a proud Yellow Jacket. He loves to play boardgames, build Lego, and read books with his family. He’s been gaming since childhood with the original NES and GameBoy, and he enjoys retro gaming, collecting, and modding consoles and handhelds. His favorite Zelda game is Breath of the Wild but is also fond of the older classic titles.