Should Retro Studios Make a Zelda Game?

Retro Studios, best known for their work on the Metroid Prime trilogy, started out as a small, second-party game development company out of Austin, Texas. Due to their success in creating Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes for the GameCube, Nintendo brought them on as a valuable, first-party developer. Their name eventually became synonymous with their title, Metroid and they continued to make games for the series all the way through Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. Aside from that, they have made a name for themselves by helping to develop other popular titles such as Donkey Kong: Country Returns for the Wii and the recently released Mario Kart 7 for the 3DS. With so much success, Retro Studios has proven time and time again that they are capable of making great games, so the question that arises is why has Nintendo not given them the opportunity to create a Zelda game?

As many fans know, Nintendo does not grant the right to Zelda to just anyone, at least not anymore. The first company to ever have access to those intellectual property rights was Philips who then assigned software companies, Animation Magic and Viridis, to develop new titles to add to the beloved series. To the disappointment of many fans, we got Wand of Gamelon, Faces of Evil, and Zelda’s Adventure along with the CD-i console. It didn’t take long for those games to become unpopular or for Nintendo to drop them and Philips. But there was a silver lining, and that came when Nintendo made the surprising decision to sell the rights again to a different company. That company was Capcom, more specifically a division within Capcom known as Flagship. Working hard so they didn’t repeat the mistakes of Philips, they developed multiple games that would go on to become fan favorites. These include Oracle of Ages, Oracle of Seasons, A Link to the Past Game Boy Advance remake with Four Swords, and The Minish Cap. They had successfully shown that companies other than Nintendo could make quality Zelda games that would stand up against time. Unfortunately, Flagship closed their doors in 2007, never to make another Zelda game.

The Legend of Zelda has had a huge influence on the gaming industry and is often times the series a lot of other games are compared to. It’s no surprise that when it comes to this franchise Nintendo is protective of the rights because they know the power Zelda holds. Those lucky enough to get the rights must have great communication between themselves and the major contributors to the series. However, when thinking about all of this one other thing we must consider is if Nintendo even wants another company working on new titles. As long as they are putting out high quality games at a stable rate, why should a new company be brought on? But as we all know, Nintendo has become notorious for long developmental periods and this is why a third company was granted the honor to the game’s rights. Grezzo was given the opportunity to recreate Ocarina of Time in 3D while Nintendo focused on making a whole new game.

With all of this being said, it is clear that while it is uncommon for other companies to be brought on it is not unheard of. So again, why hasn’t Retro Studios been given the chance to prove themselves? Dr.A.Peter.Nintendo posted his views on the gamrConnect forums. He first points out that even though they haven’t produced many games in the last decade, the ones that have come out deliver in content, size, and quality. He also discusses that they pay attention to what players enjoy most about the games; how players progress through the games, what they felt after achieving something and how that feeling could be recreated, what was the games structure and atmosphere, and what made the exploration fun? In the end, he believes that if given the chance, Retro Studios would make a great Zelda game that would bring refreshing and new ideas while still keeping the traditional and nostalgic feel we all love.

Personally, I don’t feel too strongly one way or the other. It has been proven that other companies can produce worthy Zelda titles and Retro Studios has proven that they themselves can make outstanding games so why shouldn’t they get a chance? But Nintendo seems to have no problem developing games alone so what would they ultimately get out of bringing another team on? Overall, I don’t really care who makes the game as long as in the end it is something I will enjoy playing.

What about you guys? Even though it turned out to be a great success, was it smart to trust Capcom after what happened with Philips? Should Nintendo give the rights to Retro Studios? If they did, would Retro Studios do a good job? Let us know in the comments!

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