[Feature] Will we ever see a remake of the original The Legend of Zelda?
Posted on March 1, 2015 by Kirara Koneko(@KiraraKoneko) in Features, Game of the Month
With the recent release of The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D, it makes me wonder: will we ever get a remake of the original The Legend of Zelda? Where did the story truly begin for our beloved Zelda and green clad hero Link? Some say although A Link to the Past was not the first in the series, it is where the story should have began. If that is your belief you might feel we already saw that remake with the previous installment in the Zelda franchise, A Link Between Worlds.
For me however, the journey truly began with that first game. Looking back now, I don’t believe that I realized how truly amazing the game was, or how after so much time had past that I would still love it to this day. Even though I remember being captivated from the moment I heard the first notes of the opening song, I never realized how epic an adventure it would turn out to be.
I wonder if back when the game was first being created by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka if they could even begin to imagine that almost 30 years later people would not only still be playing the original game, but that they would still be adding to the franchise.
Now, less than two years away from the 30th anniversary of the original The Legend of Zelda, I ask: will we ever see a remake? It would be only fitting that we get it as a 30th anniversary present to all Zelda fans across the world. With 15 titles in the series, four remakes/re-visualized games, and an all new Zelda for the Wii U coming out later this year, I have to believe the idea has already crossed someone’s mind if not maybe already be in production. Although nothing has been said about this at this point, we do know that at last year’s AGM Q&A Miyamoto stated that “We have ideas for the Nintendo 3DS which have not been announced yet”.
Ironically this question now leads me to a second question if not a third: Do we want, need, or even deserve a remake of the original? I realize these might be ridiculous questions to some but give me a chance to explain.
Why do we get remakes in the first place? Is it due to sales, developer/publisher desires, improved technology, or is it purely based on fan appreciation? If it is the latter, then we might have a problem as not all of the Zelda games have sold well. Maybe here in North America Zelda has always had a very loyal and loving following, but there is a whole other gaming world out there that also has a defining factor in the release of games. It’s strange to me even as I write this that not all who have been given any of the various Zelda titles (good or bad) would not instantly fall in love with them. In Japan for instance, the home of Nintendo, The Legend of Zelda, although liked, is not as beloved as it is in North America, which I believe can truly impact when and if we will continue to see remakes of any of Zelda titles. For example, if you take a look at The Legend of Zelda (NES) sales as a whole you can see that sales in North America have far exceeded that of Japan. According to VGChartz, as of February 14, 2015, the title has sold a total of 6.51 million units globally – 57.5% of that in North America and 26% in Japan (take that with a grain of salt, of course).
This now leads me to the most important question of all: do the fans – the real die hard Zelda fans – really want a remake? This sounds crazy to me even now as my first instinct is to say yes, please, more! There is part of my mind that quietly screams, wait, I’m not sure. What if it’s not good? What if it ruins the original? Do we really want to mess with the game that started it all? How can we remake a game that launched almost 30 years of a franchise’s history? It would be like redoing The Mona Lisa.
For a game that was as significant to the gaming world as The Legend of Zelda, how would you even begin to remake the game? Would you completely redo it, or would you just re-visualize it? I honestly think that answering this last question might be the hardest of all!
