Zelda Fans Losing It Over New Game Teaser

The Legend of Zelda fans have gone berserk at the first rumblings of the next game in the series. Although the recent success of Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom, and the upcoming Zelda movie basically guarantees we’ll see another Zelda game in the near future, there are only a few crumbs of evidence to suggest what that might be.

One of those crumbs comes from a recent announcement by Monolith Soft, developer of the Xenosaga and Xenoblade series, which recently announced that they hope to take a bigger role in development of future Zelda games alongside Nintendo. Monolith has already collaborated on numerous Nintendo releases, including Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, and fans are already looking forward to what they’re cooking.

Did Nintendo Just Confirm The Ocarina Of Time Remake Devs?

Zelda fans think this could be a sign

Nintendo

Of course, the leading fan theory is that Monolith Soft will be primarily responsible for the development of the rumored Ocarina of Time remake, which was hinted at in an alleged leak last week. X (formerly Twitter) user RevADB suggests Monolith could recreate Ocarina in BOTW‘s engine, at which some fans rankled.

“Nobody wants another BOTW game bruh,” one commenter put it. “I sincerely hope the artstyle for the next Zelda game takes a step back from the cel-shaded look,” another added, while a third suggested, “It needs to be the art style of Twlight Princess/the Wii U demo,” referencing some darker, more stylized looks the Zelda franchise has occasionally dipped its toes into.

Over on Reddit, some fans expressed hope that Monolith would approach Zelda from a different angle: instead of developing an Ocarina remake, maybe taking inspiration from its first-party games for an entirely new entry in the series. “Monolith Soft seems to be better suited for a new Zelda if their semi-open world style is any indication, which only leaves a lot of room for new gameplay ideas and innovation while elevating the presentation.”

Others clamored for different studios to help out with the Ocarina remake: Grezzo, which helped out with the original 3DS remaster of Ocarina and led development on the Link’s Awakening remake and Echoes of Wisdom, was a common shout. And still others expressed hope for a different Zelda remake entirely: Twilight Princess, which is set to come to Nintendo Switch Online at an indeterminate point in the future.

So it’s clear that everyone has different expectations for an Ocarina remake, the next original Zelda game, and Monolith’s involvement with it all. While some subsection of the fandom will doubtless end up disappointed, this is a promising development based on Nintendo and Monolith’s history together.

Monolith Soft Know Their Way Around Zelda

They’ve crafted some of the greatest games in the series

Artwork of Link from A Link Between Worlds in front of a map of Majora's Mask's Termina. — Artwork of Link from A Link Between Worlds in front of a map of Majora’s Mask’s Termina.

Although Monolith is best known for their original games, which include Tetsuya Takahashi’s Xenosaga and Xenoblade, they’ve also co-developed numerous titles with Nintendo. Their credits include Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Animal Crossing: New Leaf and New Horizons, all three Splatoon games, Pikmin 3, and Mario Kart World.

But perhaps more importantly, Monolith Soft has participated in the development of four major Zelda releases: Skyward Sword, A Link Between Worlds, Breath of the Wild, and Tears of the Kingdom.

These are some of the most creatively interesting games in the series; all four take big swings when it comes to reconceptualizing the nature of the franchise or introducing new game mechanics. With Monolith poised to participate more directly than ever in developing the next game in The Legend of Zelda series, it’ll undeniably be fascinating to see what they come up with.