After weeks of speculation, a new Nintendo Directhas finally been confirmed to be taking place on September 13 at 7 a.m. PT, andThe Legend of Zeldafans should write that time down. While the event won’t be centered around one game, unlikelast month’sSplatoon 3-focused presentationor June’s Nintendo Direct onXenoblade Chronicles 3, there still seems to be one franchise that is commanding a lot of the excitement around the show, and that’sZelda.
As usual, the Nintendo Direct will presumably announce plans for coming months, including games, DLC, and hardware. This month’s installment will mostly feature “Nintendo Switch games launching this winter” according to Nintendo. However, when rumors of a September event began, reports suggested it would be a “blowout” of content forThe Legend of Zelda, to the glee of many fans of the franchise.
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Breath of the Wild Sequel Announcements
Breath of the Wild 2was first announced in 2019, yet details on the game are incredibly scarce. Even the final name for the title has not yet been confirmed. So far, it’s known that the game will betaking players to the skies of Hyrulein addition to the surface world they’re familiar with, with movement mechanics seemingly inspired byThe Legend of Zelda:Skyward Sword.Early trailers also suggest a darker tone to the story, similar to howMajora’s Maskhad a gloomier story element than its predecessor,Ocarina of Time.
Giant Bomb reporter Jeff Grubb, who gave the initial reports thatThe Legend of Zeldawould feature heavily in September’s Direct, has suggested thatBreath of the Wild 2will feature in some capacity during the event. Specifically, reports suggest thatBreath of the Wild 2’s official namewill be revealed. While that may not seem too significant, fans of the franchise have been given very little information on the sequel, so excitement around even the name is to be expected.
Many are hoping for more than the official name to be revealed, however. The lastLegend of Zeldaproject that was announced -theSkyward Sword HDremake- came without new details aboutBreath of the Wild 2, sosome fans were left a little disappointed. Nintendo, then, might be offering some new details to avoid a repeat of that. It seems the most hopeful expectations are a release date and a more in-depth gameplay reveal. A 2023 release is expected, but September’s Nintendo Direct may finally give fans a more specific date to look forward to.
Zelda Ports Coming to Nintendo Switch
WhileBreath of the Wild 2news might be what many are looking out for, reports suggest most of theLegend of Zeldaannouncements will be about the return of two older games from the series. These are purported to beSwitch portsof 2002’sThe Legend of Zelda: The Wind Wakerand 2006’sThe Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
This won’t be the first time these games have been brought onto new Nintendo platforms.The Wind Waker, initially a GameCube title, received an HD remaster for the Wii U in 2013. Similarly,Twilight Princesswas initially released on both the Wii and GameCube but later got its own HD remaster for the Wii U in 2016. A port to the Switch may work off the basis of these HD remakes instead of the original releases. They may also again change certain parts of gameplay to fit the hardware ofNintendo’s current-gen consoleor make graphical updates.
The potential of these ports has garnered excitement from most, but also some understandable reservations from some. WhenSkyward Sword HDwas released in 2021, many were disappointed by the full $60 price tag. It seemed a bit steep for what was mostly a graphically improved version of a 2011 title, with a few quality-of-life updates and controller changes made for theSwitch Joy-Con. If the reported rereleases ofTwilight PrincessandThe Wind Wakerare on the way, thenThe Legend of Zeldafans might hope for a lower asking price, or maybe a game bundle.
