Game News For the first time on Nintendo Switch, Zelda really takes back the reins of the series! We explain why it’s important…
Mario, Luigi, Samus, Donkey Kong, all the Nintendo stars returned during the last Nintendo Direct… even Zelda. For the first time in the main series, the Princess of Hyrule will be the protagonist of her own game. A real event!
A new game from the cult license
Last June 18during the Nintendo Direct, a new Zelda game titled Echoes of Wisdom. A year after Tears of the Kingdom, we can therefore return to Hyrule as part of a “minor” episode that takes up the visual identity of the Link’s Awakening remake. But there is one big change… For the first time in the main series, Zelda will be the protagonist of this work. From Link’s Broom! This time it is the Princess of Hyrule who must come to the aid of the kingdom armed with the Scepter of Sorting.
A surprising and, frankly, welcome role reversal which promises us original gameplay. In fact, Zelda can duplicate various objects and creatures with her funny stick. The ability to solve a whole series of puzzles but above all, to venture onto the map like never before.
Watch The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom on Amazon
A non-playable character
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
It must be said that in the entire Zelda series The princess and heir to the Kingdom of Hyrule has too rarely played the main roles. The young woman was often relegated to the rank of a candidate or a lady to be saved, but proved more than once that she was anything but harmless. As a powerful magician, she demonstrated her ability to wield a sword in “Twilight Princess,” but also proved her talent as an archer in “Spirit Tracks.” High skills and an imaginative temperamentwhich we can see perfectly at work in The Wind Waker, where Zelda, then known as Tetra, plays a proud and wild young pirate captain.
There are so many reasons that have always made fans want to play the royal heiress in a main episode of the series. However, this was the only occurrence of this kind Ghost traceswhere the princess can be controlled during a short game phase in which Zelda takes possession of the corpse of a guardian. Urgent requests to which Nintendo has finally respondedand this, just a year after the series’ producer, Eiji Aonuma, teased fans in an interview for Vanity Fair :
If it turns out that the gameplay with Zelda can be more interesting, then it’s possible that we’ll go in that direction. However, since we don’t know what the future holds, we can’t say more at this point. – Eiji Aonuma, May 2023
Without exception
But in reality, this is not the first time that Zelda has been the star of a work. The case has already been mentioned several times, in adventures that are not part of the main series (and that many players would prefer to forget). The heiress of Hyrule was already a protagonist in Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon and Zelda’s Adventure. Two games that, together with Link: The Faces of Evil, form what we call Triforce of Shame. Titles released on the CD-i console and developed by Animation Magic as part of an agreement between Nintendo and Philips. Agreement that saw the electronics company’s use of the flagship franchise in exchange for the development of a CD player for the Super Nintendo. A bad collaboration for the Japanese companywho has learned from his mistakes and will not let his driver’s license slip away so easily in the future. Proof of this is the much appreciated book “Cadence of Hyrule”. A rhythmic rogue-lite developed by the studio Brace Yourself Games. where Zelda is one of three playable protagonists alongside Link and Cadence.
Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon and Cadence of Hyrule
Finally, the Princess of Hyrule is also represented in another genre in the squad of Hyrule Warriors and Super Smash Bros. In the first case, she has four forms: Zelda, Toon Zelda, Tetra and Sheik. And as for Smash Bros, the license was integrated into Super Smash Bros. Melee, the second episode of the license, in which she alternates between two appearances: that of Ocarina of Time and that of Sheik. This allows him to switch between two different playing styles, a more defensive style based on projectiles and another offensive style with combos. Starting with Smash 4, the two characters are separated to better anchor these two identities. An identity that the heiress of Hyrule will therefore assume even more in the next The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, available on Nintendo Switch on September 26th.
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