Soapbox features allow our writers and individual contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they’ve mulled over.
Todayin response to the disappointment of some Zelda fans, who (from what we’ve seen so far) think Tears of the Kingdom looks too much like BOTW, Alana looking back at some past instances when Nintendo came back for a second time…
We’ve known quite a bit since the first trailer The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom there will be more Breath of the Wild. It wasn’t explicitly stated, but the same visual style along with its very early title – ‘Sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’ (remember that?) – did proves that Nintendo knows they’ve captured the magic with the Switch title launch, and it’s not going to be scrapped anytime soon.
And with every trailer since, including yesterdaywe were introduced to what it looks like — than Breath of the Wild, with edits. Introducing a small selection of new abilities along with an unmistakably BOTW world and general gameplay. Link’s new Fuse ability has me and many others fantasized about some of the ridiculous weapons we could make. That small addition alone opened up a world of possibilities. Combat looks the same, exploration looks the same (but leans more vertically), and yes, weapons still break. But in the midst of all that, I can tie a mushroom to my shield and use it to create a cloud of spores and surprise my enemies.
The sequel doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel; they never have. And most people, at least about Tears of the Kingdom, agree with that.
However, there is a section of fans who are not happy because Tears of the Kingdom are ‘more similar’. Claiming it should be DLC for Breath of the Wild, or being disappointed that a game took six years (despite the pandemic of mass disruption, of course) to develop ‘reusable assets’, despite few and far, very easy to find and it made me think of ‘repeated sequel’. Why does an ‘repeated sequel’ feel like a bad thing to some people?
Turn around, or stay in the lane?
In essence, video game sequels aim to take what made the previous games great and improve on them, solving problems while preserving the identity of the series. . Games arguably do this better than any other medium due to the ever-evolving knowledge base and toolkit of a relatively nascent industry.
Nintendo is famous for innovation, especially in terms of their consoles. But when I think about some of my favorite Nintendo games, I realize that the big N is also a master of repetition. Even in its early days, Big N tried new things while developing familiar sequels.
Super Mario Bros. And Super Mario Bros 2 (Lost levels) are quite similar, the latter has different levels and many, much harder. On the other hand, Legend of Zelda And Zelda II: Link’s Adventure quite different – a top-down adventure for a side-scrolling RPG is a rather abrupt left turn. Both of these sequels are controversial in their own right, but both show Nintendo as the developer.
These days, you can essentially split the Zelda and Mario series into 2D/top-down versus 3D, but even within those limits, Nintendo still manages to iterate and differentiate. Super Mario Sunshine is “the one with the water pack” and Breath of the Wild is the “open world” for example – but these also take into account the leaps and bounds of console generation, even if Breath of the Wild is a multiplayer title generation.
More than one!?
Before more recent console generations, we were often spoiled for choice. The Country Donkey Kong The series was developed and published entirely for the SNES, and each of these games adds new mechanics and new levels, but the core games are very similar.
You can say the same about Rare’s Banjo-Kazooie And Banjo-Tooie, two athletes running 3D master collection. Kazooie laid the groundwork, and Tooie just chose the “bigger” and “more” model (which could be detrimental to it, though after more than two decades of experience exploring the temporarily complex 3D world, we recommend you review it).
We’ll have an entire series or subseries on a single console, with a waiting time of often just a few years — just watching the original Kirby games, for example. These days, a direct sequel can take five years or more to devise, develop, produce, market, etc. You often have to wait for entire generations of consoles. And, sometimes, DLC follows.
With larger teams to manage, more powerful hardware to develop, and higher expectations, video games are expensive. Not only to produce, but also to buy. Super Mario Odyssey brought Mario a new gimmick in Cappy, tons of incredible worlds, more collectibles than ever before, and a huge facelift for his debut on Switch. And if people want a new Mario 3D on Switch (aside from the excellent games Bowser’s Wrath pause), what Mario Odyssey 2 might (will?) be. Of course Nintendo is going to use some of the assets and build on what made Odyssey so great, right?
We’ll probably wait until the next console for more Mario 3D, Odyssey 2, and it’ll be a little different, though not. madness distinctive.
Galactic mask
Two of the best Nintendo sequels ever To be iterations of their predecessors – Majora’s mask And Super mario galaxy 2.
Admittedly, Majora’s Mask has changed quite a bit from Ocarina of time — brand new mask mechanics, brand new afterlife, a timer is a tense new addition, etc — but it uses a lot of the same monsters, mechanics, and weapons from Ocarina of Time.
Coordinating and condensing elements of Ocarina of Time in Termina – an alien but strange world – and Clock Town is truly pure genius. You are already familiar with Hyrule, but now you must become close to the inhabitants of the town, help them and learn about their intricacies, patterns and movements. Putting you back in the place of Young Link takes some of that power away from you, Hero of Time, who had saved the world just a few months earlier. And the tone of Majora’s Mask takes some of the more unsettling parts of Ocarina of Time — The Forest Temple, Shadow Temple, Re-Deads, Likelikes, etc. — and elevates it to 11. It’s one of those sequels’ frankly’ the best out there.
Super mario galaxy 2 take this to the extreme – that is “only” than super mario galaxy, and many textbook sequels. The game has been tweaked, Yoshi has been added and there are more galaxies with a more varied layout, but this is essentially the same thing, with more challenges to solve and the quests of the Gods. blue Star.
But damn, if more of the same means more perfect galaxy-jumping gameplay, then I want them all. Saying that Mario Galaxy 2 is just a “DLC” for the Galaxy is confusing. It’s a brand new game and worth more than the price of admission. Super Mario Galaxy has a different central world and a deeper (albeit optional) focus on the story, but only by adding Yoshi and some new power-ups in Mario Galaxy 2, the possibilities and potential for New puzzles and challenges will be opened. Yoshi in space is a dream concept anyway, how could anyone be upset about that?
A new streak of ink
Splatoon is a completely unique series in the Nintendo library. Splatoon 2 took everything that makes it great first, put it in better hardware, and really tweaked the experience. Five years later, Splatoon 3 did the same thing but on very same hardware. That oversimplifies it a bit, but it stands out because it’s a sequel to the Switch game on the Switch, which repeats ‘merely’ a lot more than what came before.
But Splatoon 3 has load new stuff — new weapons, stages, characters, all the stuff we’ve talked about, and a little different musical vibe thanks to Deep Cut. And it’s in a different category from many of Nintendo’s other lines. Pikmin And Pikmin 2 on GameCube (and Pikmin 3to be fair) aren’t completely different from each other either — for example, one has a stopwatch while the other doesn’t, and two have all-new Pikmin species and enemies to confront — but they do. -ri this unique RTS has a core that, if it changes too much, as with Splatoon, it won’t To be Splatoon. The same goes for fighting games and racing games — maybe that’s why Smash Bros. And Mario Kart usually just one job per console.
Tears for the sequel
Longer wait times between sequels, increased development costs, consumable costs, and the need to patch or update the game after launch could make non-consumer sequels a member. Bitter medicine is difficult for some people to swallow. A brand new 3D Zelda game is a hugely exciting prospect, but when you follow it—and on the same console—where do you go?
Breath of the Wild is the best-selling Zelda game of all time — and it’s not even over. It is often considered one of the best video games ever created. The same thing happened with Ocarina of Time, and Nintendo realized that and made the sequel ‘repetitive’. Tears of the Kingdom seems to be following the pattern of Majora’s Mask to some extent, changing everything to keep it fresh as well as changing the tone and mood, at least from the look of the trailers. introduce. Hyrule looks familiar, but it’s also quite different with all that verticality and Sky Islands.
Breath of the Wild captures something magical, so of course Nintendo wants to build on that. Not every future Zelda game will be “another Breath of the Wild,” but from what we’ve seen so far, it looks like Tears of the Kingdom To be that is, to some extent. Repetition is extremely important in video games, regardless of whether it uses the same formula or takes the majority of previous games and just tweaks the mechanics. The space for innovation isn’t going away, and soon we’ll be back in the familiar realm with new tools that offer fresh, exciting perspectives on places we thought we knew. . What could be more ‘Zelda’ than that?
And now I can make a super long spear with a rake and a big stick, so Moblins beware.
