A lot of fans ofThe Legend of Zeldathought that Nintendo would have as explosive an anniversary for the franchise as it did forSuper Mario’s 2020 anniversary. On the contrary,The Legend of Zeldahas been pretty quiet in 2021. Contrary to popular belief early in the year, there’s no sign of ports forThe Legend of Zelda: Twilight PrincessorThe Wind Waker.Instead,Skyward Sword HDleads the charge forZelda’s 35th anniversary, doing its best to sate fans beforeBreath of the Wild 2releases next year. It would’ve been great to seeTwilight Princessjoin its fellow Wii title on the Switch, but seeing how many adjustments Nintendo made toSkyward Sword,it’s not surprising that the publisher opted for only one port.
However, there’s definitely something valuable aboutSkyward Sword HDfor otherZeldagames longing for ports.Skyward Swordwas a controversial titlein its time for quite a few reasons, but Nintendo found a lot of ways to optimize, streamline, and generally improve the game. Although some still viewSkyward Swordas significantly flawed,Skyward Sword HD’s reception has been positive, particularly toward the ways Nintendo improved the game.Twilight Princessdeserves a similar revamp, in large part because it shares a glaring flaw withSkyward Sword.ATwilight Princessremaster for Switch really ought to let players opt out of unnecessary item notifications asSkyward Sword HDdid.
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Skyward Sword HD’s Item Notification Changes
A major issue thatSkyward Swordsuffered from in its Wii release was a deluge of unnecessary item notifications. The game was designed to explain every collectible item, from Rupees of different colors to crafting components, the first time Link finds an item of its type during any one session ofSkyward Sword. This isn’t an inherently bad idea; newZeldafans don’t know the value of every Rupee by heart, and sometimes item notifications can provide helpful information,like progress in collecting Pieces of Heart. However, every timeSkyward Swordplayers booted up the game after turning off their Wii, they’d have to review all of these item notifications for even the banalest items. It proved to be a major annoyance forZeldafans everywhere.
Nintendo must have realized how much fans disliked the recurring notifications because it made a big deal out of the fact thatSkyward Sword HDvastly streamlined item notifications. Rather than items getting described every time Link finds them in aSkyward Swordplay session,Skyward Sword HDjust explains items the first time Link finds them, then moves on. It might seem like a small change on paper, but in terms ofSkyward Sword’s pacing, it’s a lifesaver. Players that once felt actively discouraged from collecting treasure because of annoying notifications can now collect precious Rupees and valuable components at their leisure.
Treasure should feel rewarding in any game, but low-level treasure should never hinder the pacing of the game. Initial notifications are useful, but in the long run,Skyward Swordplayers want to be able to pick up red Rupees and Amber Relics without stopping in their tracks. These items aren’t nearly as important as Pieces of Heart, which deserve a moment’s celebration. Nintendo madea fantastic decision in developingSkyward Sword HD,listening to fan complaints about items descriptions, and improving the game’s pacing.
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Twilight Princess on Switch Can Inherit Improvements
Twilight Princesssuffered from somesimilar problems toSkyward Sword.Fans may remember thatTwilight Princessalso stopped to describe the value of each Rupee type whenever Link finds the first Rupee of its type in a session of play. This made finding treasure feel a lot more sluggish than it ought to. It didn’t help that there were plenty of other collectible items that constantly offered Link notifications. Collecting Poe souls could feel slow becauseTwilight Princesswould remind Link what he’d just gotten. Similarly, Agatha’s insect collecting would stop the game to tell Link exactly what he’d picked up, even though there was only a marginal difference between each bug. Just like inSkyward Sword,these notifications were small issues individually, but they added up to consistent annoyance.
Twilight PrincessHDon the Wii U did take one step in the right direction by getting rid of excess notification of Rupee amounts, on top of other accessibility improvements when it came to Rupees. Even so, it’d be great to havea Switch version ofTwilight Princessthat got rid of other unnecessary notifications likeSkyward Sword HD.For items like Poe souls and golden bugs,Twilight Princesscould easily lift an idea fromBreath of the Wild,putting a small text notification on the side of the screen when Link gets such an item. That way players will know what exactly they’ve picked up without needing to stop for a few seconds just to look closely at what minor item they’ve picked up.
Twilight Princess HD Could Still Go Further
Skyward Sword HDis a great improvement over the original game. However, it also highlights the fact thatTwilight Princessdeserved another appearance on the Switch, just as fans hoped for.Twilight Princessis also a great game, but it’s not perfect.Skyward Sword HDhighlights Nintendo’s willingness to acknowledge the flaws in its games and improve upon them. It could easily take many of the improvements that it put intoSkyward Sword HDand apply them to aTwilight Princess HDremaster for the Switch.
For now, it doesn’t look like Nintendo will release another version ofTwilight Princess HDin the near future. The extend ofSkyward Sword HD’s changes and the important work onBreath of the Wild 2mean that Nintendo has had its hands full withZeldaprojects for quite some time. If Nintendo is discussing a Switch edition ofTwilight Princessinternally, then it’s probably nowhere near ready to release. Thankfully,the appearance of the Switch OLEDsuggests that Nintendo will stick to the Switch generation for a few more years before moving on to something totally new. That means that there’s still hope thatTwilight Princess HDwill someday joinSkyward Sword HDon the Switch and borrow fromSkyward SwordHD’s long list of improvements.
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princessis available now for GameCube, Wii, and Wii U.
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