Summary
The Nintendo Switch has had an incredibly successful shelf life so far. BetweenMario Kart 8 Deluxe,Splatoon 3, andAnimal Crossing: New Horizonsalone, the Nintendo Switch has no shortage of platform-defining experiences, andThe Legend of Zeldaseries is responsible for two of the biggest and best.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wildmay have also been released simultaneously on the Wii U, but it quickly became the Switch’s biggest selling point. That arguably remained the case for six years, with onlyThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s release last year dethroning it. While the Nintendo Switch may be on its way out, there’s still time for moreZeldarepresentation on the console, though that window may be fleeting.
Time Is Running Out for Nintendo Switch Zelda Remasters
The Nintendo Switch—much like its other console competitors—has received its fair share of remasters and remakes over the years. These remasters and remakes have often been used to fill the gap between major new releases, and it’s a practice that Nintendo’s been using since the moment the Switch debuted. Over the last few years, there have been a ton of remasters and remakes from acrossNintendo’s first-party libraryvia franchises likeMetroid,Pokemon, andMario.
But while remasters and remakes have been prevalent on the Nintendo Switch since its launch in 2017, it feels as though they’ve become the console’s new bread and butter, essentially filling the Switch’s entire 2024 lineup. In the last few months, there has already been aSuper Mario RPGremake and aMario vs. Donkey Kongremake, and there are a whole lot more on the way, includingaPaper Mario: Thousand-Year Doorremasterand aLuigi’s Mansion 2remaster.
It’s abundantly clear that the Nintendo Switch is reaching the final months of its life, and it seems likely that Nintendo is saving all of its heavy hitters for the inevitable imminent launch of whatever console is going to succeed it. At the start of the year, rumors surfaced thatthe Nintendo Switch’s successorcould launch as early as Fall 2024, but since then, the prevailing theory is that the console will launch in Q1 2025. If that’s true, then the Nintendo Switch still has a little room to fill before then, giving theLegend of Zeldafranchise a golden opportunity.
It’s The Perfect Time for Some Switch Zelda Remasters
The Nintendo Switch has already seen its fair share ofZeldaremakes and remasters, but there’s always room for more, and some projects have been churned through the rumor mill for years now. Remasters ofThe Legend of Zelda: Twilight PrincessandZelda: The Wind Wakerare two of the most common rumored projects that Nintendo allegedly has waiting in the wings, and both would be perfectly suited to capitalize on these last few months of the Switch’s life. Ports of theNintendo 3DS’Majora’s MaskandOcarina of Timeremakeswould also fit the bill nicely.
While simple ports or remasters of theseZeldagames probably wouldn’t impact the gaming world massively, they wouldn’t need to. For Nintendo, theseZeldaremasters would be an easy way to earn a bit of extra cashbefore the Switch 2’s launchas these remasters would offer an easy way to access these beloved games, something which is getting increasingly more difficult thanks to the ever-rising price of retro consoles.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
WHERE TO PLAY
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is the sequel to the beloved open-world adventure, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. This installment once again sees Link and Zelda battling to protect Hyrule from falling to Ganondorf. This new adventure takes place in the same land of Hyrule as Breath of the Wild but sees something called the Upheaval, which allows link to travel to Sky Islands, as well as deep into the Depths beneath Hyrule. Players can use special abilities to fuse together weapons, and build items to help them progress through the release.
