RUMOR: Retro Studio's next title a Zelda spin-off that may be announced at E3

If you don't who Retro Studio's is, they are the developers of the Metroid Prime Trilogy.

RUMOR: Retro Studio's next title a Zelda spin-off that may be announced at E3

I could definitely see this happening. After all, the Metroid Prime trilogy is done.

Surfergirl fails.

I wouldn't think so, why make a Zelda spin-off when a proper one is due sometime around 2009? They should work on Kid Icarus and let Ninty give the Starfox project to Factor5.

I'm hoping its not. New IP from Retro please, not more friggin Zelda or Mario titles.Sadyv

I Agree. I would like to see some new IP from Retro, preferebly a new FPS. But, they are a great development team, and i would not mind seeing what they do with this Zelda spin-off.

They made the best Metroid games ever, I think they could fine work with Zelda, which has gotten very stale with the last few releases.

But I don't want Retro's art and design being constrained by a previous set standard like with Zelda. Why waste the talent of artists who came up with things like Quadraxis, the Ing, and the Hunters by having them do another variation on young man with sword and bow, and having him fight even more armored warriors and skeleton men.

Let Retro create new stuff.

this is what i have to say about this idea
RETRO STUDIO, DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT TOUCHING ZELDA!!!!
YOU WILL ONLY F*CK IT UP!!!!
DO NOT, I REPEAT DO NOT TOUCH ZELDA IN ANYWAY SHAPE OR FORM!!!
that's my 2 centsGC4ever

And according to you, Retro shouldn't have touched Metroid either, right?

Anyway, Zelda is Aonuma's work. Why transfer it to USA?

Please there are always rumors of Zelda spin offs coming, and they are never true. Like the one where you play as Ganondorf, the tough inner city middle school teacher, who uses the triforce of power to teach kids right from wrong.Sepewrath

Sounds more like the wishful thinking or totally absurd ideas some people on this forum come up than actual rumors.

If it's true, I hope it stars Tingle.JAB991

I have a feeling you are joking about HOPING it stars tingle. Ugh.... Tingle....

But I don't want Retro's art and design being constrained by a previous set standard like with Zelda. Why waste the talent of artists who came up with things like Quadraxis, the Ing, and the Hunters by having them do another variation on young man with sword and bow, and having him fight even more armored warriors and skeleton men.Sadyv

Zelda follows the standard formula of the fantasy genre, so some elements are always going to be the same. But the artistic talent of a team like Retro wouldn't be wasted because of this. I think the most limiting factor in the Zelda games is the land of Hyrule itself. A spinoff which takes place outside of Hyrule would free the developer from the artistic constraints of, say, the Twilight Princess team. The various Game Boy games have taken advantage of this, as well as Wind Waker (in a way) and Majora's Mask (to a lesser extent).

With that said, I don't think there's any credibility to this rumor. But if it is true, I think Retro would probably do a good job, at least on the visual side of things.

[QUOTE="Sadyv"]But I don't want Retro's art and design being constrained by a previous set standard like with Zelda. Why waste the talent of artists who came up with things like Quadraxis, the Ing, and the Hunters by having them do another variation on young man with sword and bow, and having him fight even more armored warriors and skeleton men.JordanElek

Zelda follows the standard formula of the fantasy genre, so some elements are always going to be the same. But the artistic talent of a team like Retro wouldn't be wasted because of this. I think the most limiting factor in the Zelda games is the land of Hyrule itself. A spinoff which takes place outside of Hyrule would free the developer from the artistic constraints of, say, the Twilight Princess team. The various Game Boy games have taken advantage of this, as well as Wind Waker (in a way) and Majora's Mask (to a lesser extent).

With that said, I don't think there's any credibility to this rumor. But if it is true, I think Retro would probably do a good job, at least on the visual side of things.

What I would really want to see is a Zelda turn base RPG, with different characters, leveling up, new armours, weapons etc. and NO Ganon

[QUOTE="Sepewrath"]Please there are always rumors of Zelda spin offs coming, and they are never true. Like the one where you play as Ganondorf, the tough inner city middle school teacher, who uses the triforce of power to teach kids right from wrong.Wintry_Flutist

Sounds more like the wishful thinking or totally absurd ideas some people on this forum come up than actual rumors.

It was actually just a joke, but in most cases the rumors, especially the ones involving Zelda are ridiculous.

It would be cool if they made a game following Zelda as Sheik and the story of the Sheikah.shadowken

qft

What I would really want to see is a Zelda turn base RPG, with different characters, leveling up, new armours, weapons etc. and NO Ganonvnc20100

And this sounds like people who want the Zelda skin on everything... Like the ones who swear a Devil May Cry Zelda is the way to go.

[QUOTE="Sadyv"]But I don't want Retro's art and design being constrained by a previous set standard like with Zelda. Why waste the talent of artists who came up with things like Quadraxis, the Ing, and the Hunters by having them do another variation on young man with sword and bow, and having him fight even more armored warriors and skeleton men.JordanElek

Zelda follows the standard formula of the fantasy genre, so some elements are always going to be the same. But the artistic talent of a team like Retro wouldn't be wasted because of this. I think the most limiting factor in the Zelda games is the land of Hyrule itself. A spinoff which takes place outside of Hyrule would free the developer from the artistic constraints of, say, the Twilight Princess team. The various Game Boy games have taken advantage of this, as well as Wind Waker (in a way) and Majora's Mask (to a lesser extent).

With that said, I don't think there's any credibility to this rumor. But if it is true, I think Retro would probably do a good job, at least on the visual side of things.

I think we need to see more than dungeons in hyrule and a couple of towns. Being in hyrule may noy necessarily be the problem. I am hoping they will do large scale battles and more events that take place in places other than temples and dungeons to compliment the story. The Zelda franchise is strong but it needs something in the mix as you suggested. Its painfully obvious that dungeon roaming cannot be the only thing in the game. We need new kind of puzzles that are more dynamic and ation based.

In her comments section, in reply to various questions, she posted a few replies about this game.

In reply to a poster expressing concern about it being more of the same, she replied that "Its different from the other Zeldas."

Asked how the game was described to her, she replied "Epic, cinematic, nontraditional."

Of course this is all quite possibly not true, but if so this sounds as if Nintendo is giving them room to create.

Perhaps a more generous way of looking at this is that Nintendo is, in a way, rewarding Retro for their strong work on Metroid Prime Trilogy by letting them work on a Zelda game, giving them a greater chance at sales and exposure due to Zelda's fanbase, but having it be a spinoff/alternate take, allowing them to make their own stamp on the Zelda universe and mythology.

[QUOTE="vnc20100"]What I would really want to see is a Zelda turn base RPG, with different characters, leveling up, new armours, weapons etc. and NO GanonWintry_Flutist

And this sounds like people who want the Zelda skin on everything... Like the ones who swear a Devil May Cry Zelda is the way to go.

What ever I've been think of a Zelda RPG for quite some time, I think It would work really well. Tired of the same formula over and over

Being in hyrule may noy necessarily be the problem. I am hoping they will do large scale battles and more events that take place in places other than temples and dungeons to compliment the story.Cyber-

But that's the thing - Hyrule hasn't changed much since Link to the Past, and especially not much since Ocarina of Time. This is a land with only a few towns, a castle, and a bunch of landmarks that occasionally have dungeons in them. To change this too drastically wouldn't make much sense. People would wonder where all the landmarks went, for example. Wind Waker was different because, although it technically took place in Hyrule, the land was completely changed and made a lot of variety possible. Twilight Princess was just more of the same.

[QUOTE="Cyber-"]Being in hyrule may noy necessarily be the problem. I am hoping they will do large scale battles and more events that take place in places other than temples and dungeons to compliment the story.JordanElek

But that's the thing - Hyrule hasn't changed much since Link to the Past, and especially not much since Ocarina of Time. This is a land with only a few towns, a castle, and a bunch of landmarks that occasionally have dungeons in them. To change this too drastically wouldn't make much sense. People would wonder where all the landmarks went, for example. Wind Waker was different because, although it technically took place in Hyrule, the land was completely changed and made a lot of variety possible. Twilight Princess was just more of the same.

The only reason there are few land marks is because there were technical barriers before. Each Zelda game takes place many years before/after the next so they can do what ever they want. They can still give the Hyrule fealing but with more diversity and depth. I just really think they need to get out of their little safe zone of exclusively throwing Link in a dungeon. I suggested wars, more horse battles would be awsome, and epic events that dont involve the formula constraints that come with dungeons. Puzzles should be made in new ways now the classic shoot two fire arrows into the torches but rather smash decisive boulders to make a rockslide on the incoming horde of enemies.

This is just me personally but a futuristic Zelda is not the way to go. It may sound "creative" but its been done dozens of times with other series. Lets try and keep this.

Retro can do toher games, Nintendo has and should do Zelda, I am sory Matt and Bozon and anyone else who thinks they should do it but imagine what Retro can do with an Icarus game or a new series.

Zelda RPG, sorry but alot of people want this franchise specialized. Mario is a franchise that can break so many rules cause its just that amazing but Zelda is different.

I clicked on your link:

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[QUOTE="Wintry_Flutist"]

[QUOTE="vnc20100"]What I would really want to see is a Zelda turn base RPG, with different characters, leveling up, new armours, weapons etc. and NO Ganonvnc20100

And this sounds like people who want the Zelda skin on everything... Like the ones who swear a Devil May Cry Zelda is the way to go.

What ever I've been think of a Zelda RPG for quite some time, I think It would work really well. Tired of the same formula over and over

Changing the formula =/= changing the core gameplay that makes a Zelda what it is.

[QUOTE="Cyber-"]Being in hyrule may noy necessarily be the problem. I am hoping they will do large scale battles and more events that take place in places other than temples and dungeons to compliment the story.JordanElek

But that's the thing - Hyrule hasn't changed much since Link to the Past, and especially not much since Ocarina of Time. This is a land with only a few towns, a castle, and a bunch of landmarks that occasionally have dungeons in them. To change this too drastically wouldn't make much sense. People would wonder where all the landmarks went, for example. Wind Waker was different because, although it technically took place in Hyrule, the land was completely changed and made a lot of variety possible. Twilight Princess was just more of the same.

They don't need to make it in some other world to change the map. After all, Hyrule did change in every game, they just never dared to change it that much.

I'd like to see something like Ganon changes the world into the dark world, which drastically alters it's appearance and landmarks. They need to revamp the fighting mechanics of the game to accomodate for multi-bad guy battles, so they can have large 1000 person battles. Imagine a zelda where you run into hyrule field at one point and there is a huge battle going on, which you have to fight through to get to your location (not all the time, but just say one spot of the game).

To do this they need to make the weapon usage more fluid, like you can use your sword, and rapidly use your bow and arrow or boomerang without having to switch to it, then hit the button again to fire, then switch back to another one and so on. Change lock on baddies by using the control stick to point to who to lock on to, so that more than one enemy can fight you at the same time. Add better evade moves, and have baddies harder to fight so you actually have to use the evade moves. I can go through all of TP and Z64 without ever using that feature.

Side missions... well lets just say the side missions in most zelda games are pointless except the biggorron sword in Z64. If they bring back magic, then speacilty ones should be achieved via side quests. Instead of giving you one weapon per dungeon, make side quests a way to get weapons. When done correctly it can make the game a lot longer and very difficult if you dont do sidequests vs easy if you do them all since having the bonus items will greatly improve gameplay.

Mostimportantly, enemies need to inflict damage on link. In TP you can sit there and be hit 50 times at one quarter heart per hit, and you just never die! They need to inflict multi heart damage, to make it actually challenging. I think that Retro studios would be able to revive the zelda franchise should they have an opportunity, since I loved the MP series.

They don't need to make it in some other world to change the map. After all, Hyrule did change in every game, they just never dared to change it that much.Wintry_Flutist

And I'm afraid that trend will continue. I know that stuff could be done to make Hyrule much different yet still recognizable, but we haven't seen Nintendo really do that yet (besides when they submerged it underwater, which was a great touch).

[QUOTE="Wintry_Flutist"]They don't need to make it in some other world to change the map. After all, Hyrule did change in every game, they just never dared to change it that much.JordanElek

And I'm afraid that trend will continue. I know that stuff could be done to make Hyrule much different yet still recognizable, but we haven't seen Nintendo really do that yet (besides when they submerged it underwater, which was a great touch).

Well, it's not like they had so many chances to change Hyrule. It did change in Zelda II, and on SNES they could make it more colorful and all, which was enough. Then it went 3D, we can't complain about OoT Hyrule at all, and only came back in Twilight Princess eight years later.

But I'd like to see more cities, the Hylian city, Zora city, Goron city, etc is one of those Zelda patterns that need to be revised. It would be nice to have more cities, (wtf is up with Hyrule and its only human city?) and see two or more Zora tribes with different cultural touches, etc. Specially the Zoras, since we still have to see the ocean and river Zoras in the same game!

i think the name "Zelda" really limits the amount of things the creators can change.Console_Gamer93

The point of a series is that you keep coming back to some core elements, yes, but when you look at Zelda, you can see the series hasn't suffered from it (just compare Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass... Not to mention the oldschool ones). The real problem is when they try to pull out a new Ocarina of Time.

Well I think they should make Hyrule more grand. I still think OoT was the best hyrule evn though it was basic. They need a more alive landscape where evnts can happen outside. I have been begging Nintendo to include battles where ou and Hylian soldiers fight against the main enemy.

Also with these new cities and towns there should be more to do in them than the possible heart piece or minigame. I hope Nintendo will focus on more action oriented puzzles. They NEED to get out of thois trend of only having to do the real important stuff in these limited areas of space. Even though I dont agree with the score given to TP at GS, Jeff was right that there needs to be more changes. Bosses need to be more creative and harder, there needs to be more than just dungeons (real time battles), and there needs to be more meaningful weapons that are used throughout the game constantly. I also think that they could have more areas outside of Hyrule like they did with Ganon's tribe.

if they start remixing what we keep referring to as a formula then were gonna see some awsome Zelda games. They keep trying to bring back OoT but the only way to get to that point is to reinvent the genre as much as OoT did which means they have to go out on a limb and do some stuff a little different.

[QUOTE="vnc20100"][QUOTE="Wintry_Flutist"]

[QUOTE="vnc20100"]What I would really want to see is a Zelda turn base RPG, with different characters, leveling up, new armours, weapons etc. and NO GanonWintry_Flutist

And this sounds like people who want the Zelda skin on everything... Like the ones who swear a Devil May Cry Zelda is the way to go.

What ever I've been think of a Zelda RPG for quite some time, I think It would work really well. Tired of the same formula over and over

Changing the formula =/= changing the core gameplay that makes a Zelda what it is.

Mario RPG is one the greatest Mario games. Why not Zelda. Zelda is a rich world that can be exploited in many different ways. You need to make changes in videogames industry, that's how you survive, look at the Wii and DS. And it's not because Turn Based Rpgs Have been made a lot in the past years that it cannot being reintroduced again. There's a market for that, Blue Dragon (yes I know, not everyone liked it), Lost Odysey, Eternal Sonata (well kinda, more of a hybrid turn/action) not all people like third person adventure games.

I'd like to see something like Ganon changes the world into the dark world, which drastically alters it's appearance and landmarks. They need to revamp the fighting mechanics of the game to accomodate for multi-bad guy battles, so they can have large 1000 person battles. Imagine a zelda where you run into hyrule field at one point and there is a huge battle going on, which you have to fight through to get to your location (not all the time, but just say one spot of the game).

To do this they need to make the weapon usage more fluid, like you can use your sword, and rapidly use your bow and arrow or boomerang without having to switch to it, then hit the button again to fire, then switch back to another one and so on. Change lock on baddies by using the control stick to point to who to lock on to, so that more than one enemy can fight you at the same time. Add better evade moves, and have baddies harder to fight so you actually have to use the evade moves. I can go through all of TP and Z64 without ever using that feature.

Side missions... well lets just say the side missions in most zelda games are pointless except the biggorron sword in Z64. If they bring back magic, then speacilty ones should be achieved via side quests. Instead of giving you one weapon per dungeon, make side quests a way to get weapons. When done correctly it can make the game a lot longer and very difficult if you dont do sidequests vs easy if you do them all since having the bonus items will greatly improve gameplay.

Mostimportantly, enemies need to inflict damage on link. In TP you can sit there and be hit 50 times at one quarter heart per hit, and you just never die! They need to inflict multi heart damage, to make it actually challenging. I think that Retro studios would be able to revive the zelda franchise should they have an opportunity, since I loved the MP series.

Phazevariance

Great ideas, I agree with you.

Its not, in my mind, a question of whether they are competent to make the games. Its a question of why should talented, creative team like Retro be limited by making another version of the same thing we've all played half a dozen times already?

Prime was a great series for them to start off with, as it was a proven name that wasn't oversaturated in the game market, and had not been done in 3d, or had a sequel on a console in nearly 10 years. It also took place in a more open universe, allowing Retro to still have room to come up some wonderful additions and not be held back by 20 year old art designs for an 8-bit game.

Mario RPG is one the greatest Mario games. Why not Zelda. Zelda is a rich world that can be exploited in many different ways. You need to make changes in videogames industry, that's how you survive, look at the Wii and DS. And it's not because Turn Based Rpgs Have been made a lot in the past years that it cannot being reintroduced again. There's a market for that, Blue Dragon (yes I know, not everyone liked it), Lost Odysey, Eternal Sonata (well kinda, more of a hybrid turn/action) not all people like third person adventure games.

vnc20100

Mario RPG may be an amazing game, but it hardly feels like a genuine Mario game. It says Square all over it, from the gameplay to the characters.