Zelda 2005 Wish List

With E3 about a month away now, Nintendo should be spilling the beans on Zelda 2005 very soon. Before they do, it seems like a good time to list all the things we'd like to see in the game. Since A Link to the Past, there have been several Zelda games, but each of them has had a flaw that could have been fixed to make the game better. With Zelda 2005, it would be nice to see a game just as good as A Link to the Past, and it is definitely possible. Here's our list of things we'd like to see included in the next Zelda game.

1. Epic Battles - Wind Waker was an improvement in this area over Ocarina of Time, but it wasn't enough. In Ocarina of Time, probably due to limitations to the N64 Hardware, the game was much more puzzle based than action based. While I enjoy the puzzle aspect of the Zelda games as much as anybody, it would have been nice to see more action, especially in the overworld areas. Wind Waker improved on this, there was a lot more to fight, but the enemies you did fight for the most part were overly easy. The only really challenging parts were the lower levels of the gauntlet where Link was forced to fight a ton of Darknuts and Wizzrobes at the same time. Otherwise every other fight in the game, including bosses with maybe the exception of Puppet Ganon and Ganondorf were far too easy. In Zelda 2005, there should be a ton of enemies to fight, and they should be more challenging, it doesn't have to be impossible, but players shouldn't be able to breeze through the game the first time without dying once.

2. Better Design - When Nintendo introduced the sailing idea for Wind Waker, it seemed like a nice idea, but too much of anything is rarely good. The sea was far too big, and sailing from island to island quickly became tedious. There was too much sea and not enough land in the game, and the sea exploration wasn't really all that interesting. The islands you could explore were far too small, which is a shame because the storyline in the game was outstanding, but the excessive sailing really took away from the game. Zelda 2005 should have a gigantic overworld with many interesting places to explore and secrets to discover. There should be plenty of hidden caves, enemy strongholds, and dungeons, and just a lot do to over the entire overworld. With animal riding seeming to be a big theme in this game, there is really no excuse for anything but an extremely large and complex overworld to explore.

3. More Dungeons - Ocarina of Time had a decent number of dungeons. If you include the dungeons that Kid Link does, the game has 8 dungeons, plus Ganon's Tower for a total of 9. That's not bad for a Zelda game, but Majora's Mask had only four dungeons, and Wind Waker only had five main dungeons, plus the Pirate Fortress and Ganon's Tower. The game was made longer by the search for the Triforce shards. Zelda 2005 shouldn't have any side quests with the sole purpose of making the game as long as it really should be. Rather than have to explore an ocean and go fishing for Triforce shards, make dungeons where you find them. If the game has 12 dungeons, so be it. Realistically there probably will not be 12 dungeons in the game, but it would be nice to see 8 or 9 dungeons that are larger and more complex than anything we've seen before, with new challenges. Maybe borrow from the Gameboy Zelda games and put a mini-boss halfway through each dungeon or at least add them to some dungeons to make them more challenging. Make the dungeon item (bow, boomerang, etc) your reward for defeating that dungeon's mini-boss, or maybe in some dungeons the Big Key could be the reward, or even a Piece of Heart.

4. New Bosses - The last few Zelda games have re-used some of the same bosses. While I'm not opposed to some favorites returning, such as Ganon and Ghoma for example, there should be more bosses. In The Wind Waker a "new" boss was Ghodan, but did anybody notice you fight him almost exactly like you fight Bongo Bongo in Ocarina of Time? The same goes for Kalle Demos, who you fight almost exactly the same way you fight Barinade in Ocarina of Time. Nintendo may be doing this, as judging by the trailer Link is fighting some sort of huge fire demon, which more than likely is a boss of some sort.

5. Original Story - Zelda games have always had outstanding storylines, but many of the games follow the same "Get the Master Sword, defeat Ganon, rescue Zelda and find the Triforce" theme, which is good, but if that is going to be re-used, add a twist to it. Maybe Ganon is taking the triforce to summon some sort of powerful demon even more powerful than he is, or he's using the Triforce to completely destroy the world rather than just to rule it. If he is ruling the world, he should be more evil. In past games, Ganon has merely kidnapped the princess and ruled the world, but other than destroying Kakariko Village in Ocarina of Time, he really hasn't done anything incredibly evil. The Dark World in A Link to the Past was pretty good, but that was just a parallel world and it didn't affect everybody, just people who tried to enter it. Ganon should be really evil, maybe slaughter a huge town or something, and he should have more powers, things that almost can't be believed when playing the game. The problem with Ganon in most of the Zelda games is that he looks challenging, but turns out to be relatively easy. Ganon should be incredibly difficult and the hardest boss in the game. In addition, the Master Sword shouldn't be the only sword that Link uses to defeat Ganon. It's a nice sword, but maybe introduce a new, more powerful sword, or if the Master Sword is re-used, put a twist in where maybe it alone isn't powerful enough to defeat Ganon or whoever the final boss is anymore. I realize in Wind Waker you had to power up the sword, but that was simply restoring power that was drained from the sword, it would be more interesting to take on a quest to give the sword additional power of some sort to defeat the final guardian, but also some sort of power that is useful against regular enemies as well.

6. Orchestrated Soundtrack - This one might come true. The trailer shown at the recent Game Developer's Conference featured an orchestrated soundtrack, but it is unknown if that is music from the actual game, or just something put together for that trailer. Gamecube Discs can hold approximately 1.2 gigabytes of data on them. That's more than enough space to put the game and a decent number of MP3's for use as background music. If space becomes an issue, the game can always be expanded to fit on two discs rather than one. The production costs of a second disc would be minimal, and it would be well worth it to hear a fully orchestrated Zelda soundtrack.

7. Spells - In Adventure of Link, and to some extent, A Link to the Past, Link had the ability to use certain spells that were actually fairly useful. In Ocarina of Time, Din's Fire was somewhat useful, but for the most part beyond a couple puzzles that required the spell, I never used it. The other two spells I rarely used, Naryu's Love was really only needed during the Ironknuckle fights, and Farore's Wind was fairly useless to me. The medallions in A Link to the Past were very useful, each of them possessed great power and had different effects on enemies. In Adventure of Link, there were all kinds of spells ranging from the ability to jump considerably higher, to restoring some life, to Thunder, which caused significant damage to nearby enemies, and was also the only way to defeat some bosses. I'm not saying Link should all of the sudden become a magician, but it would be nice to see this element added back into the game.

If even some of these elements are included in Zelda 2005, it has the chance to be the best game in the Zelda series, but only time will tell. It will be interesting to see how much of this, if any, will actually be in the game at E3 next month. Ganon's Tower will continue to keep you updated with all the latest information on Zelda 2005 and any other Zelda games that Nintendo may announce in the future.