The Zelda Game I Want Next Shouldn’t Be Made By Nintendo

Mario Bautista Mario Bautista October 5, 2024

Nintendo is obviously the primary force behind the enduring quality of The Legend of Zelda, but when the next game rolls around, I’d be happy to see it come from a specific alternate source. There’s plenty of precedent for involving other parties in Zelda titles, most recently with the involvement of Grezzo. Although Grezzo has long been connected with Nintendo, it’s an independent studio that developed several Zelda remakes before ultimately co-developing the new title The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom.




I’m glad to see Nintendo placing some faith in Grezzo’s ability to create new material, and based on my time with Echoes of Wisdom so far, I think it’s definitely paying off. Grezzo isn’t the only studio that could make a great Zelda game, however, and branching out even further could bring some exciting talents into the mix. Some of the best games in the Zelda series weren’t made in-house at Nintendo, and as long as it’s approached as carefully as I imagine it would be, I’d love to see more experimentation in that regard.


The Minish Cap Is Still One Of My Favorites


More than anything else, I think it would be neat to get a new Zelda game from Capcom. Similar to Grezzo’s modern position as a partial steward of the 2D Zelda titles, Capcom handled the development of handheld adventures in the early 2000s. While Nintendo worked on Majora’s Mask, The Wind Waker, and Twilight Princess, Capcom and its subsidiary Flagship created the Oracle games, Four Swords, and The Minish Cap. Despite coming from an outside source, Capcom’s Zelda games felt like natural evolutions of the 2D titles before them while incorporating some smart ideas from the 3D games.


I’m personally a huge fan of The Minish Cap, which maintains a place among my favorite Zelda experiences, and I have friends who are equally passionate about the Oracle games. Nintendo took back the handheld reins with The Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks on the DS, but while both of those games are memorably creative, I don’t think they quite measure up to the high bar that Capcom set. I do love Nintendo’s 3DS entry A Link Between Worlds, which doesn’t match the beauty of The Minish Cap‘s world but delivers exceptional gameplay to make up for it.

Nintendo’s got a good thing going with Grezzo right now, and I have no interest in that getting disrupted. At the same time, I think it’ll be a while before the next big 3D Zelda , and repeating anything like the six-year gaps between Skyward Sword, Breath of the Wild, and Tears of the Kingdom would leave room for more than one side studio. I’d be happy to see a game from Capcom slot in before the next major Nintendo entry, whether that’s just an Oracle remake or a new game entirely.


A New Creative Environment Could Be Good

The Capcom of today obviously isn’t the same as the Capcom of the early 2000s, and Flagship doesn’t even exist in an official capacity anymore, ultimately being absorbed into its parent company. Hidemaro Fujibayashi, the director of Capcom’s Zelda games, ended up at Nintendo afterward, ultimately directing Skyward Sword, Breath of the Wild, and Tears of the Kingdom. Fujibayashi’s central position in the modern vision of Zelda proves how much Capcom brought to the table, but it’s also an effective symbol of how much that specific creative environment is a thing of the past.


Even if Capcom’s prior experience wouldn’t translate very directly to new titles, the Capcom of today is great, and the studio’s been on a roll in recent years. While the late 2000s and early 2010s saw a relative slump, Capcom’s delivered frequent hits like Devil May Cry 5, Monster Hunter Rise, and Resident Evil Village in the years since. It’s one of the few major companies currently hitting the level of consistent quality that the Zelda franchise deserves, and it would be interesting to see what new creative forces would bring to Zelda.


An Oracle remake might be more likely than a completely new game from Capcom, as the studio has mostly been sticking to remakes and remasters in between the major releases. While fans of most Capcom franchises have likely been having a good time in recent years, Mega Man and Onimusha aficionados haven’t been as lucky. Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess proved that there’s still room for off-beat creative ventures at Capcom, however, and its gorgeous mix of action and tower defense strategy earned it a place as one of my favorite games this year.

Capcom Could Lean On Classic Strengths

Art for The Legend of Zelda Oracle games showing Link with a sword.

Although I adore Breath of the Wild, which took a hatchet to the Zelda formula, I’m not really looking to upend the series. Something as simple as a new game willing to revisit the obtuse puzzle design of Oracle of Ages might be enough for me, particularly considering how much the flexibility of Echoes of Wisdom has made it a breeze so far. I’d also be happy to see another gimmick that shifts Link’s perspective of the world as thoroughly as Minish Cap did, and a new game might be able to implement something equally transformative in a more fluid way.


A Link Between Worlds
definitely deserves another honorable mention here, as Link’s ability to flatten himself into walls is used to wonderfully creative and fun effect.

I don’t really see a new Capcom Zelda game as a likely endeavor, and any hopes I have for another qualifying entry are mostly idle daydreams. All the same, it’s fun to imagine, especially in a post-TOTK time period where the future of Zelda design seems unclear. Nintendo and Grezzo are both capable of making great The Legend of Zelda games, but they’re not the only studios that could do something interesting with the material, and I wouldn’t hesitate to place my vote of confidence in Capcom as a third possibility.


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