Why Spin Off Titles Are Good for the Zelda Franchise

Recently, Miyamoto said that Nintendo is working on more spin off games for the Wii U. The first major spin off title we had was Hyrule Warriors, a mosou game with some elements of The Legend of Zelda series, this game it’s selling well in the western countries, and that made me think of how good the spin off titles are for the Zelda series. Many fans have been complaining about repetition in the series in the recent years -they want something fresh and new- but they also want the series to maintain its tradition. It’s quite difficult to make new things on an already established franchise with million of fans in the world and an established formula; You can’t change the core gameplay too much because it would feel way too different for many fans. If you don’t change too much at all, the game will feel too repetitive for many

Spin off games allow developers to try new things and change the formula of the games without affecting the main core of the series. We’ve seen this with the Mario & Luigi Saga or the Mario Kart series. These titles are not changing the established formula, but instead, thanks to these games we can enjoy different ways of playing our favorite game series without permanently changing the series’ formula, and at the same time, offer something new for players. Honestly I love the RPG Mario titles more than the main series titles, and that’s good because it creates multiple kind of fans with just one game franchise.

Now, speaking of Zelda. Hyrule Warriors is not a canonical game, nor is even considered to be included in the official timeline, that opens up the opportunity of creating new canons of the series. Another good thing about spin offs, is that they can make gamers with other kind of tastes to become interested in one particular series (In this case Zelda) For example: Not everyone likes to go into a large adventure collecting things and resolving puzzles, but instead, they like action-packed games with lots of fighting; other people likes traditional RPG titles or strategy games. Now think about it, if someone likes to play fast-paced action games, and they see Hyrule Warriors in stores, they will become interested in the game, and they’ll probably become more interested in the series, which translate into more new fans for the Zelda games. Believe it or not I know many people that never got to play a Zelda game in their lives because they don’t like the games’ style, and now Nintendo can make Zelda games for that specific public, without loosing the already established one.

Hyrule Warriors transforms the Zelda series into a fast-paced game packed with lots of action, so technically, they have the possibility of creating new fans for the Zelda series, it’s like when Nomura stated that Zelda is more popular in the west than Japan. Japanese people plays a lot of mosou games. Dynasty Warriors is like a japanese Call of Duty, driving great sales numbers and getting supported by a solid fanbase. Now, if Nintendo can make the Zelda series more popular in Japan mixing Zelda characters with mosou gameplay, and at the same time giving Western fans a new kind of Zelda experience, both sides end up winning.

One of the many Hyrule Warriors‘ concept art pieces shows a female version of Link. Although it seems like a good idea for many of us, it would be too risky for a main game of the series, because it would be a big change for the conventions of the Zelda series, but if we take that idea and make it into a spin off title with new mechanics that could work with it, we could get a different, but still interesting Zelda experience that we hardly would have seen in a traditional Zelda game.

There are lots of different kind of new genres and experiences that could work for the Zelda series: What about having more RPG elements like in Zelda II? Or making an estrategy game like Fire Emblem for example, with some Zelda mechanics? Maybe they can give us a more action-packed game where the villians are the main characters? A game where Zelda is the main protagonist? Heck, they can even give us an online multiplayer game with many races to choose like Gorons, Zoras, or whatever else they want to give us.

With Nintendo possibly considering more spin off titles of the series in the future, I’m pretty sure they will give us great titles, and what’s best, new experiences for us the Zelda fans. What kind of Zelda spin off would you love to see?