Nintendo launched The Legend of Zelda series thirty years ago, with the first game released in Japan on February 21, 1986 as The Hyrule Fantasy: Zeruda no Densetsu. There are 18 core games available in the series with yet another coming to the Wii U by the end of 2016. Nintendo has not yet announced plans for how it intends to celebrate the 30th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda; for the 25th anniversary, they put together the Hyrule Historia and the Symphony of the Goddesses orchestra, along with a handful of tributes to the franchise. Whether or not Nintendo has anything special in mind, Zelda fans have many things to look forward to in 2016.
Continuation of Symphony of the Goddesses
Symphony of the Goddesses orchestra began touring in 2012; its concerts blend together some of the most iconic music from The Legend of Zelda’s long history. It seemed like an event that would come and go, but the concert tours will continue into the end of 2016, at the least. They will be playing in many new locations this year, so if you have not yet seen them, now might be your best chance.
Twilight Princess HD
Last November, in their latest Direct, Nintendo officially revealed the long-rumored The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD for the Wii U. The original Twilight Princess launched for the GameCube and Wii nine years ago; the remake is set to release March 4, 2016, so the wait for it is almost over. The game will come bundled with the Wolf Link Amiibo, and pre-orders will receive a limited soundtrack. Naturally, Twilight Princess HD has been polished over with high resolution textures. A few changes have been added to the experience with Amiibo support, a larger wallet, GamePad functionality, and handful of other features that will bring back fans who have played the original.
Hyrule Warriors Legends
Hyrule Warriors Legends may be a Nintendo 3DS port of Hyrule Warriors for the Wii U, but it adds new characters, gameplay mechanics, and an adventure map. It also expands on the Legends mode, the story campaign, with a few extra chapters based on The Wind Waker and the adventures of Linkle. The new characters, such as Skull Kid, Tetra, and Toon Link, can be transferred over to the Wii U version of Hyrule Warriors. Hyrule Warriors Legends is due out March 25, 2016.
Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks Wii U Virtual Console
Two Zelda titles for the Nintendo DS, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass and The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, have recently become available for download on the Wii U eShop in both Japan and Europe. North America has not yet received them, but it is only a matter of time.
Good Smile Company figures
For Zelda fans who want to enjoy the franchise beyond the games, Good Smile Company is releasing two Link figures later this year. Pre-orders are open for both the Majora’s Mask 3D Link Nendoroid, releasing in April, and the A Link Between Worlds Link Figma, available in June. In the past, Good Smile has distributed The Wind Waker Link Nendoroid and Skyward Sword Link Figma. All are quality products, with posable limbs and interchangeable parts.
Akira Himekawa manga
Akira Himekawa announced back in July 2015 that they are working on a new Zelda-related project. The team is responsible for creating most of the manga adaptations for The Legend of Zelda series, and they have been quiet since their announcement. Given that Twilight Princess is getting an HD remake soon, it is possible that this is the game they will be adapting in a manga form next. This is all speculation, but it may not be long before they reveal what they have planned.
Zelda Amiibo
Aside from the Wolf Link Amiibo, nothing else has been teased for Zelda in Nintendo’s popular product line, but new figures are no doubt a possibility. For example, Nintendo released a special 8-bit style classic Mario Amiibo for the Super Mario series’ 30th anniversary, and the same could be done for Link himself. Considering that The Legend of Zelda Wii U will have Amiibo compatibility, it would make sense for Nintendo to make some specifically for this title.
The Legend of Zelda Wii U
For the The Legend of Zelda’s next console title, series producer Eiji Aonuma promised that development team will “rethink conventions”. Nintendo gave fans a couple of real glimpses of the game, with a trailer at E3 2014 and some gameplay footage at the Game Awards in December 2014. Zelda Wii U was originally scheduled for holiday season 2015, but in March 2015, Aonuma officially announced a delay that pushed the Zelda Wii U into this year; it was not even shown at E3 2015. Since then, Nintendo has been characteristically quiet about the game, hardly leaking so much as a subtitle. What we do know is that it has a huge world, it will borrow ideas from The Wind Waker HD, and it supports Amiibo. In fact, the Wolf Link Amiibo will carry save data from Twilight Princess HD over to Zelda Wii U. We are likely to hear a lot more from Nintendo at E3 2016, maybe even before then. At the very least, it does not seem like there will be anymore surprise delays. As is it stands, The Legend of Zelda Wii U will be the ultimate Zelda experience in 2016.
