The Legend of Zelda has origins in the 1980s, and by today, it’s a flagship franchise for Nintendo, effortlessly shifting millions of copies whenever a new game in the series is released. It has spanned twelve consoles, from prehistoric handhelds to Nintendo’s most up-to-date hardware, but until now, the titular character – Zelda – has never had her moment in the limelight.
That could be set to change, according to series producer, Eiji Aonuma, who has worked on the Zelda franchise since the late eighties. He sat down with Vanity Fair to deliver an interview that uncovered some telling details about the potential future of The Legend of Zelda, and how it may literally become The Legend of Zelda.
Will She Finally Take Center Stage?
Princess Zelda has been around in at least some form since 1986, having been created by the legendary Nintendo figure, Shigeru Miyamoto. She’s appeared in almost every game in the series, but the only time a player has been able to control her is in the likes of Smash Bros. or in certain scenes in smaller games, like Spirit Tracks.
In every title, Zelda has been a different manifestation, with each version taking on unique attributes, abilities, and ultimately, a new reason for existing. In the most recent title, Tears of the Kingdom, Zelda’s role sees her make an immense sacrifice that changes the face of the game, but we won’t disclose that here – the game only came out a few days ago!
Recently, in an interview with Vanity Fair, Nintendo veteran and producer of the Zelda series, Eijio Aonuma, spoke about a potential twist to the future of The Legend of Zelda. He talked particularly about the potential of having Zelda take a starring role in a future game, adopting an adventure of her very own:
We feel like what takes most priority is this idea of gameplay. If it turns out that the particular gameplay we’re trying to bring to fruition would be best served by having Zelda take that role, then it’s possible that that could be a direction we could take. With that said, of course, because we are not sure what the next gameplay experience is going to be, we can’t say what Zelda’s next step is going to be.
It’s the closest thing we’ve ever had to a suggestion that Zelda could be a playable character – and an important playable character at that, not just for a few minutes here and there.
Presently, the future of The Legend of Zelda is relatively unknown, given that Tears of the Kingdom was delivered just days ago – and quickly became the highest-rated game ever on OpenCritic.
Would you like to see an all-new game with Zelda as the protagonist?
For more Insider Gaming news, check out our coverage of Sons of the Forest’s latest patch.
