I’m about to admit something that only my therapist should really hear. I’m not a massive fan of The Legend of Zelda series. At least on home consoles.
That doesn’t mean I hate it or actively dislike it, but out of all the games release in the series I’ve finished around half of them, and a couple I’ve not even finished the first dungeon. But hear me out before you judge too harshly, I do adore the handheld iterations of the franchise.
There’s something about controlling Link through the world of Hyrule (and others) via a smaller screen that pulls me in and transports me away from this life into a world of fantasy. It could have a lot to do with the fact thatThe Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakeningwas my first proper experience with the franchise when it was first released on the Game Boy back in 1993.
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Because it was the 1990s and I was poor I didn’t own many games, I think I completed Link’s Awakening eight or nine times back then, always hunting for new things to find and trading tips and secrets with friends. Since then, this has always been my go-to answer for my favouriteLegend of Zeldatitle, despite knowing thatTears of the Kingdomis pretty much a perfect game. But we’ll come to this one.
This fascination continued as I moved up through Nintendo handhelds; the Game Boy Colour had Capcom bring us the stellarOracle of AgesandOracle of Seasons; then the same company knocked it out of the park withThe Minish Capover on Game Boy Advance; when we stepping into the 3D era the sublimeSpirit Tracks,Phantom Hourglass, andA Link Between Worldscame and dominated.
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All of these have something in common and that’s the limitations of a handheld platform whichNintendo, and Capcom, used to their advantage. They became more contained, they’re less sprawling than the home console releases. There’s also a lot to be said for the 2D sprite work of the Game Boy and Game Boy Advance era which gave way to some gorgeous moments.
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To contradict myself greatly, I did have a brilliant time withTears of the Kingdom, which is of course, incredibly sprawling. However, I played that exclusively in handheld mode on the Switch, which brings me to another idea of why I prefer these games.
InThe Minish Cap, for instance, we have Link shrinking down to a tiny size to see the world from a new perspective, something that has been tried throughout media to hark back to the days on childlike wonder. InSpirit Tracks, we spend time placing down rails for a toy-like train to travel to villages that seem pulled from the pages of The Brothers Grimm, it’s incredibly childlike.
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And when I take myself back to Link waking up on the beach, his ship crashed off-shore, and his memory wiped,Link’s Awakeningevokes that traditional Japanese fairy tale trope of an amnesiac waking to find themselves a hero in a strange new world.
While some of the home console releases have tried their hand at this sense of setting, for me, they’ve never quite captured that feeling. Perhaps it’s because the handheld variants felt more experimental in tone, whereas the home console titles focused more on the gimmicks of the console, like motion control, or the traditional aspects of the franchise. In some sense the handheld titles feel more like spin-offs than mainline entries and because of that, there’s a bit more freedom to be playful and buck the trends seen elsewhere.
I don’t want to close out these thoughts without reaffirming that I’m aware that games likeOcarina of Time,A Link to the PastandBreath of the Wildare masterpieces in this artform, and perhaps one day I’ll reach a point where they rise up the ranks of my appreciation. However, each of these games can be played in a handheld capacity in their own right and my opinion doesn’t change, which has me pining for something new from Nintendo.
I haven’t yet playedEchoes of Wisdom, which I knewour Ewan really enjoyed. Maybe that can tap into what I love abouthandheld Zelda games. But I’d love them to throw out the rule book once again and bring us something a bit more surreal or even approach Capcom and see what the company could do with the franchise in the Switch era. Lean into that fairy tale concept and give me something filled with wonder, whimsy and awe.
Topics:The Legend Of Zelda,Nintendo,Nintendo Switch,Nintendo Switch Online
