This is the most overlooked entry in the Zelda series

Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons may just be the most overlooked entry (or technically entries) in The Legend of Zelda series.

Echoes of Wisdom recently released, and it made history as Grezzo’s first fully-original core entry in the critically acclaimed series. It’s been created in the same style as the Link’s Awakening remake on Switch: chibi-style graphics with a vague dream-like quality. A completely new Zelda game is absolutely the best timeline, but today we’re here to talk about something different that could’ve happened instead: Link’s Awakening-style remakes of Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons.

What makes the Oracle games good?

When it comes to the greater lineup of main series Zelda games, Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons rank up there as the most forgotten. Perhaps understandably, too – when people think about the Zelda franchise on Game Boy, they’re probably thinking of Link’s Awakening. Pair this with the gorgeous remake it received on Switch, and it’s unfortunately easy to see why the Oracle games often fly under the radar. With that in mind, I recently played both of them back-to-back for the very first time. And by the end of the experience, I think they’re great candidates for Link’s Awakening-style remakes, to say the least.

At first glance, Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons borrow a lot from Link’s Awakening. Many key items are similar or identical, but it’s not just that – the graphics and music are also the same, in many cases. If you don’t already know this, what makes Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons different is the ability to link the two games together. Here’s how it works: basically, you pick either game to start with (I started with Seasons) and complete the entire adventure as normal. After you clear the game, you receive a password to input into the other title, which in this case was Oracle of Ages. That game then slightly modifies and adjusts its story so that it’s a sequel to Oracle of Seasons. In doing so, it unlocks lots of extra content, weapons, and item upgrades, plus an all-new final boss and ending.

Even so, both Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons feel like their own contained adventures – they aren’t really two halves of one game, but two full games that come together when you link them up. Admittedly, this aspect would be difficult to retain in a remake. Do they remaster both Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons for $60 each? That probably wouldn’t go over terribly well with fans. But each individual game is arguably a little bit longer than Link’s Awakening – Oracle of Ages and Seasons have longer dungeons, for instance, plus a good amount of side content to explore at your leisure.

Why remake the Oracle games?

Still, if Nintendo could find an elegant solution to the two-game problem, these games are excellent candidates for full-on remakes. The games are well over 20 years old, and could absolutely do with a visual retouching. But perhaps their biggest issue in the modern day is their inventory management. The Game Boy Color only had two buttons you could really use for item inputs: A and B. Oracle of Ages and Seasons have many key items, so you’ll often find yourself opening the menu repeatedly during mid-to-late game situations where you have to use three or more key items in tandem with each other. Link’s Awakening suffered from this problem as well, and the Switch remake (with many more buttons available) almost completely remedied this. Going into the menu over and over does somewhat break the pace of the game, so this change alone would make a potential remake feel much more modern and accessible.

Unlike Link’s Awakening, which released before Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask, both Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons launched afterward in 2001. As a result, many characters who appear in those games like Tingle, King Zora, and the like – appear in one of the two games. On top of that, Oracle of Ages and Seasons have their own unique villains. The evil general Onox is Oracle of Seasons’ antagonist, and he wields a big ball and chain. Then there’s Veran, an evil sorceress who can possess anyone she chooses, and the main antagonist of Oracle of Ages. Neither of these characters are ever seen in a Zelda game again, and it’d certainly be neat to see what they’d look like in modern 3D graphics. Even if they do have to be chibi!

That being said, the time for an Oracle of Ages and Seasons remake has kind of passed. After the release of the Link’s Awakening remake on Switch, there was speculation for a time that Grezzo would in fact follow up with full remakes of both titles. Instead, they moved on to develop a remake of Miitopia, a game originally released for the 3DS. After around three years of work, they’ve now come out with The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, an entirely new title rather than a remake of an existing one. Like we said earlier, a brand-new 2D Zelda is absolutely a better timeline than one where we just receive Oracle remakes instead.

Thankfully, Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons are technically more accessible than ever to this day. They’re both included as part of the standard Nintendo Switch Online subscription. And once you start a linked game, it’s easier than ever to switch between the two and use passwords in either game to unlock extra rewards. That would undoubtedly be more difficult in a remake – especially if they’re two separate games rather than both included in one package. Perhaps Nintendo would’ve had the other game read save data rather than requiring a password, which is admittedly kind of a dated concept these days.

What do you think of Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons? Have you ever played them, and if so, how do you think they stack up to other Zelda games? Do you think they’re deserving of remakes someday down the line, or are they good enough as-is? Whichever your opinion, feel free to let us know in the comments below. Now that Echoes of Wisdom is available, we’re excited at the prospect of Grezzo becoming the main 2D Zelda team. Even with games like Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, there’s still room for classic-feeling entries in the series.