The Legend of Zelda has been through a ton of different eras over the years, within which everyone has their own favorites. There isn’t really a wrong answer, but the usual suspects that dominate best-ever conversations are usually games like Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, or even Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom.

With the franchise celebrating its 40th birthday this year, it feels like high time we appreciate some of the lesser discussed contenders, and Skyward Sword feels like it’s top of that list. Narratively, the game is one of the more interesting in the entire series, but fans want the next game in the series to go even earlier than that.

If you didn’t know already, Skyward Sword is chronologically the earliest game in the series so far. That already sets it up to be a pretty cool outing, and it has got fans yearning for more on what the earliest reaches of the Zelda universe were like. Over on Reddit, one user shared a post contending that they would love to see a Skyward Sword prequel, while also asking the community what they thought it should be like.

“I’ve always been interested in a prequel to SS. Sadly, I don’t think they’re ever going to do it because SS is supposed to be the origin story,” one comment read.

While another added, “Ocarina of Time was originally intended to be the earliest game, set in the Imprisoning War mentioned in a Link to the Past. We’ve since had several games take place before OoT and the Imprisoning War takes place after it in the downfall timeline. An SS prequel could take place in the era of the Goddess.”

“Fierce Deity vs Majora. It’s what the people want, Nintendo, give ’em what they want,” a third said.

Others were a little less sure, saying, “Personally, I don’t think there’s much you can do in a pre-SS world, as all the series staples and things that make gameplay possible (mainly the demon tribe curse and the hero) are absent. I don’t really think there’s anything in the pre-SS world that is compelling enough to need to be explored in a prequel.

Custom Image by Matthew Wilcox

Whatever Nintendo does decide to do with the next game in the series, the anniversary is a pretty exciting time to be a Zelda fan overall. Rumors of the Ocarina of Time remake continue to swirl and the first game for the Switch 2 (outside of the aforementioned Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment) should hopefully follow soon.

Released

November 20, 2011

ESRB

E10+ for Everyone E10+: Animated Blood, Comic Mischief, Fantasy Violence

Developer(s)

Nintendo

Publisher(s)

Nintendo

Engine

Proprietary Engine