Hyrule Warriors Is More Important Than You Think

With still no word on Zelda U, most of the Zelda community has turned their eyes towards the one game we know anything substantial about: Hyrule Warriors. Instead of being a mixture between combat, puzzles, and “bottle-combat”, the developers behind the Warriors franchise are specifically known for combat with large quantities of enemies. The notion is an interesting move on Nintendo’s part, and is teeming with potential to be a great game. But considering how left-field the entire concept of the game feels, it has left plenty of fans worried about the title’s quality. Those reacting negatively towards its announcement, however, have assurance that it is simply an offshoot of the Zelda franchise and not the next big release in the series.

Even with that in mind, though, a lot of great things can come from a successful Zelda offshoot. It can also go horribly, horribly wrong. With that in mind, there’s a lot banking on Hyrule Warriors being a great game.

Here’s what I think: back in December, Hyrule Warriors was announced to the public, and ever since then, it has kept the community buzzing. Now, rewind back to November when a small 3DS title released named Mario Party: Island Tour. This game was announced midway through April and never received the discussion nor hype that Hyrule Warriors has already accumulated in nearly a month of being known to the public. And yet, both games are offshoot titles to very popular Nintendo franchises. What makes Hyrule Warriors’ hype and discussion so much bigger than a new Mario Party release?

Well, the answer to that question is pretty simple: there have been, like, (twelve) eight hundred Mario Party games since the series was introduced on the Nintendo 64. At one point, the releases nearly became a yearly release in the same vein as sports franchises, and this is a spin-off series that became its own, independent franchise. In fact, Mario has had dozens of offshoots spanning many different genres over the years. The Zelda franchise has had only a handful of experimental titles for a while. There was that dabble in four player co-op, a thrown together shooting gallery, and a separate series involving everyone’s favorite thirty-year-old cosplayer. That’s about it; a new offshoot of the Zelda title is a rare sight to see.

There’s an obvious reason behind this, though. Having an odd side-series is much easier for the Mario franchise since it has less to lose. In other words, releasing a quirky game in which all of the universe’s lead characters are driving around in go-karts while throwing various objects at each other won’t hurt Mario because of how ridiculous the original game is to begin with, not to mention the fact that an offshoot won’t ruin the canon of the series. The Mario franchise has always been simplistic and downright goofy, so experimenting with character focus and gameplay in a spin-off won’t harm anyone’s image of the series. This makes the Mario series very flexible, allowing it to fit into any genre it pleases, while still playing it safe when it comes to experimenting. The rest of Nintendo’s IPs remain primarily focused on specific genres (except when something genius rolls through town like the masterpiece that is Kirby Air Ride) while Mario double dips and covers a wide variety of material.

And yet, this silly Mario character has succeeded so incredibly with past experiments with the formula. Sure there has been (seven) twelve thousand Mario Kart iterations with varying levels of quality and a few too many Mario Party titles without anything fresh to say, but there was also that time when Nintendo let Square take the helm, creating an amazing twist on the RPG genre. There was also that very solid block dropping puzzle game that put Mario in a lab coat. In fact, Nintendo dropped Mario entirely from some cases and created excellent offshoots involving his brother, his dinosaur companion, and even his evil, sleazy counterpart. So many Mario spin-offs exist that you can’t even call them spin-offs even more; they are simply other series that take place in the same universe. It’s an elaborate mess that has sparked some truly great titles.

So, when I look at the staggering spiderweb of Mario derivatives, I only wonder one thing: why can’t Zelda have the same treatment, too? The Mario franchise is sort of the Mickey Mouse of Nintendo, being the biggest icon and obviously receives the most guest stars in other titles (the validity of what I just said is a debate for a different article; just roll with it for now). However, just because Mario is the face of Nintendo, Link’s importance and popularity for Nintendo is on par with Mario’s. Link’s series stood aside Mario as together they pioneered the the two-dimensional and three-dimensional worlds. Both games have masterpieces, black sheep, and horrible CDi iterations. And yet, Mario has gotten the thousands of spin-offs and genres to experiment.

But Mario’s loose, carefree universe is welcome to experimentation. New and interesting mechanics and characters found in the RPG Mario games exist only because they don’t have some intricate timeline to ruin. Entire worlds can be fabricated out of existence because no one cares about the official Mushroom Kingdom map and how all the universe’s puzzle pieces fit together. That’s not what Mario is about. Zelda, on the other hand, is now structured into a neat timeline, fitting almost every event inside of it (with the exception of Link’s Crossbow Training, which was primarily reused Twilight Princess models used to convince people that the Wii Zapper was ever a good idea). Any attempts at offshoots or wild mechanic overhauls (The Four Swords games) that lack a well-structured plot are shoved into the canon anyway, shaking the foundation of Nintendo’s official timeline. Even games that introduce entirely new one-shot characters and races find a place in the timeline, despite never being fleshed out or mentioned again (Minish Cap). In a way, that leaves a lot of pressure on the developers to make what could be a simple spin-off into something bigger than it ought to be. Suddenly, a tiny story trying something new must fit into this complex web of games, instead of just being what it is: a fresh experiment.

In a way, I can see how that has benefited the Zelda franchise over the years. Whenever a Zelda title is announced, everyone knows what to expect: a carefully crafted game that a lot of heart was put into. Instead of getting the occasional tired New Super Mario Bros. sequel, we receive a full-fledged installment to over-analyze and break down for years to come. It makes Zelda have a much bigger impact by making each title have a weight of importance when they are announced.

But then I loo

k at the truly amazing Mario spin-offs that have happened over the years. Great RPGs like the Paper Mario and the Mario and Luigi franchises that have all felt fresh in their own ways. Fantastic multiplayer games like the first few Mario Party and Mario Kart iterations that sparked tons of sub-par sequels as well as third-party clones. Even smaller classics like Luigi’s Mansion and Wario World still have followings and interest in them today. Games like these remind us how right offshoots can be. If Mario was Cheers, then the thousands of excellent derivatives are Frasiers, and a high-quality television spin-off is rare sight to see.

Now, I’m not saying The Legend of Zelda is a ripe field for kart-racing and mini game compilations to be made, but there are plenty of genre-bending ideas to be found in the Zelda universe. Imagine Hyrule in an RPG, roguelike, or even an RTS setting but with that stylistic spin that would connect the genre to Zelda’s original mechanics. If Nintendo got it right, it could be awesome, not to mention its potential to flesh-out the universe in new and interesting ways. Like the main Mario line of titles, we have only seen Link trudge through the same plot formula each time. Having a spin-off would allow Nintendo to diverge into Zelda’s rich pool of side characters, major events, and more. It would be a little more difficult to craft than a usual Mario spin-off due to the delicacy of the material, but with a little effort, it could be the breath of fresh air the franchise needs.

What I wrote above, of course, would be an idea that might never happen if written a year ago. It has been over twenty-five years without any major franchise branching (other than Tingle’s odd series of titles) off from the beloved Zelda series, and Nintendo hadn’t hinted about changing that anytime soon. But then, as if out of nowhere, Nintendo announced the game no one really expected or wanted: Hyrule Warriors.

Now, my above tangent has a reason to exist; it has hope. What used to be a reasonable pipe dream suddenly has a chance of becoming a reality. Say Hyrule Warriors receives a fair amount of success, then perhaps Nintendo will feel bold enough to develop a Hyrule Warriors 2. Suddenly, a single offshoot has sparked a series. And hey, why stop at Warriors? Maybe they’ll get some developers to pick up an RPG, combining the interesting puzzle/dungeon mechanics of the Zelda series with some light leveling-up mechanics. In fact, why even have Link be the star? Perhaps Zelda herself can take a playable roll, like Peach during that interesting sub-plot in Paper Mario 1 and 2 or that (mildly sexist) platformer she had on the DS. Maybe they can even produce a prequel in which Epona has to save baby Link from a Wizzrobe like Yoshi had to in his own groundbreaking SNES title…

All jokes aside, however, and one thing stands: Hyrule Warriors is something new for Nintendo. They are finally handing this IP out for other people to tinker with. It could easily go very poorly, but the potential results behind its success could be just enough to create so much more for the series. Suddenly, a title of very little significance to anybody is teeming with the ability to start plenty of precedents for anything that comes out of the Zelda universe. It could also be a simple one-shot experiment and nothing more, but these wild fantasies have a higher probability of happening now that Hyrule Warriors exists, especially if the game miraculously becomes successful.

So, with all of that in mind, what do you expect to come from Hyrule Warriors? What do you want from the game? What kind of offshoots would you like to see from the Zelda franchise? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

And if you don’t have anything to say, I’d like you to join me in the wise chant of my ancestors…

“Please don’t suck. Please sell well. Please don’t suck. Please sell well.”