Zelda NX/Wii U is such a wasted opportunity

Cel shade Zelda is cool and I have nothing wrong with it (loved Wind Waker) but to impress the masses Nintendo should have pulled out a realistic looking Zelda here.

A realistic Next gen Zelda, show people what the hardware is capable of and quite frankly looks more badass (depends on the game but here, yes). Cel shade graphics are not ugly but to the average consumer, it's cartoony.

A God of War or Dark Souls type aesthetic Zelda would be huge and it would attract people who may have been hesitant to the series for whatever reason.

Zelda NX/Wii U does look good but a more realistic mature themed Zelda, along the lines of a Twilight Princess would be huge.

Comparatively, the visually more realistic Zelda games have aged far more poorly than stylized ones (TP remaster, for example).

Zelda's visuals are not a meaningful issue - formulaic gameplay design and narrative/thematic retreads are or greater concern to me. Granted, I'm not a significant Zelda fan, but it would serve Nintendo well to emulate what others in the space have innovated.

The game isn't cartoony just because it's cel-shaded. it has a watercolor style that's versatile enough for multiple aesthetics. I know that a lot of people just want Zelda to be a grimdark M-rated series with gray and brown everywhere though. :/ If Nintendo goes third-party you'll get your wish, since that'll be a requirement to sell.

Anyone got that gif of Clint Eastwood looking disgusted?

So you want Dark Souls: Princess Zelda Edition?

Pretty much.

More narrative focused than Dark Souls, just the kind of gritty dark theme moreso than anything.

Yeah, Nintendo hasn't been too bright lately that's for sure. Splitting this tittle up along WiiU hardware just hurts the overall scope of the game.

Doesn't help that star fox zero is probably their most reviled game release in recent history.

So, they're dumb for not making Zelda look the same as every other game on the market and not throwing blood and gore to make insecure teenagers happy? Should the Master Sword become the Master AK-47?

I didn't say that. lol.

More reviled than Devil's Third? More reviled than the initial announcement of Bayonetta 2? MORE reviled than Kirby and the Rainbow Cruise? More reviled than Yoshi's New Island? More reviled than Mario Tennis Wii U?

You get the idea...

That may be true, but I don't feel like aged graphics have hurt Ocarina of Time or Majora's Mask at all.
I disagree, Zelda's graphics are an incredibly meaningful issue.
OoT when it launched, had just about the best graphics of any home console game to date.
It was a combination of amazing graphics, compelling story telling, masterful sound, large sense of scale and a proper reward system.
Graphics push the game over "8-9" to the solid "10".

Don't get me wrong I loved Wind Waker; however, OoT, MM and Twilight Princess were better.
They were also presented with, at the time, more realistic graphics.

You agree with the thread, so you pretty much did.

I guess Nintendo has been stuck in a rut for a while now, you're completely right.

was devils third first party? I was referring to First party big name releases.

I mean it's pretty shocking Miyamoto himself had a hand in Star Fox dude, c'mon now that's supposed to be the master there.

Zelda WiiU/NX, just from looking at the 5 mins of gameplay, looks like the Zelda game everyone wants.

But that's just looking at the only footage we have.

We just need more of Twilight Princess and less of Windwaker in our Zelda games.

@ReadingRainbow4: what the hell does starfox have to do with zelda? How is that at all relevant?

It's a nintendo first party title and they haven't been too amazing lately. That's all.

The only thing I agree with the OP on is limiting the hardware limits the scope of the game.

No

Zelda has never been known for its graphical prowess, so who cares.

Yeah, this is all the footage we have.

I wouldn't say that, OOT kind of set a new standard in 3d graphics at it's release.

Are you kidding me?

OoT, Wind Waker, and Twilight Princess were some of the best looking games of there gens.

So everyone wants another Cel-Shade Zelda even though Skyward Sword already happened and was the worst selling Zelda game relative to the amount of consoles sold.

@brah4ever: NOT AT ALL what I meant.

Zelda U has a Huge Map like what many people want in a Zelda game.

Zelda U doesn't have Motion Controls like Skyward Sword, exactly what many people want.

Graphics aside Zelda U is shaping up to be THAT game everyone wants to play. Too bad it's not The Zelda Witcher game you want, but if you really want that you could always play The Witcher 3 I guess.

Point of that post was that we need more Zelda games more like Twilight Princess than Windwaker. If they add back in the implied Sex that Zelda 2 had, but still had the art style of this game is it less adult because of it? Get a clue.

"implied Sex that Zelda 2"

Implied Sex in Zelda 2? What because the AVGN told a joke in his review?

Awful idea. Zelda just looks better with a less realistic artstyle.

like really?

Wtf are you talking about, it's been the arguably the best looking game on NES, SNES, N64, GC, Wii and possibly handhelds too!

The graphics look great on new Zelda but it IS goddam frustratiing that 1. WiiU people need to wait years for it. 2. NX people get a last gen port.

Twilight Princess all over again. It would have been amazing if Zelda WiiU launched in 2015, and they had a new NEXT GEN ready for NX in maybe 2018. Oh well. A boy can dream.

Don't forget Hyrule Warriors, Animal Crossing Amiibo Festival, Mario Party, and all the other crap, ports and rehashes they've been making! Lol. WiiU sucks :P

@locopatho: Hyrule Warriors was great :/

I never mentioned the Witcher.

Zelda has always benefited from tighter pacing, something the Witcher 3 is not known for.

What I'am saying is that Zelda would benefit from a Dark Souls ish theme.

This would allow the series to grow, a cartoony looking Zelda game appeals to us hardcore games but to the generic public, NO.

Do you guys even go outside or better yet, do you guys even talk to people outside of gaming forums?

Holy sh1t you guys are so out of the loop, its comical,

So some people say. Personally, I think it's pretty funny that the entire Dynasty Warriors genre has been mocked, derided and/or ignored by both reviewers and forumites for a decade or more, but as soon as a Zelda skinned one emerges everyone gets rock hard ;)

Glad you like it but it's just another repetitive button basher to me. I didn't buy any DW games on PS2 or X360. I'm not gonna start now just because they managed to get a Zelda skin draped over their engine.

Wonder which the casuals would rather play. The realistic themed one or the Cartoon Network looking one.

Hmm...

After the abysmal skyward sword, the game is not even on my radar

Id be happy with them making more top down Zelda games personally. I hope a link between worlds end sup on their E shop on NX.

That said, I really trust Nintendo with their own creative desires in Zelda. They've proven they can make the game around many different visual asthetics.

@ReadingRainbow4: just this year we got fire emblem fates and Pokken tournament. Last year we got splatoon, mario maker and xenoblade chronicles X.

Not everything they made has been amiibo festival levels of trash like some people suggest

@brah4ever: Those are both cartoony tho.

@LegatoSkyheart said:

@nintendoboy16 said:

"implied Sex that Zelda 2"

Implied Sex in Zelda 2? What because the AVGN told a joke in his review?

like really?

I've played Zelda II myself and I've always thought it was just a medic. Not some Hylian Prostitute, and I still think the "implied sex" rooted from this...

No, No and definitely not. OOT was mostly praised for its gameplay, Wind Waker was notoriously hated for its art design and Twilight Princess was never considered one of the best looking games for its time. Even if you are just counting the 6th generation there were games on the Original Xbox that blew TP out of the water in the graphics department.

OMG, you must have never owned a NES or SNES.

Zelda 1 and 2 are definitely not some of the better looking games on the NES and while A Link to the Past was a rather good looking game it still wouldn't make the top 5 best looking SNES games. Chrono Trigger, Super Mario RPG, Super Castlevania lV, Mega Man X series and Donkey Kong Country are definitely much more impressive in the visual department.

The top one is a lot less though (like barely).

@techhog89: the whole "dark games only have blood and gore and appeal to insecure teenagers" is so old. It's one thing to be completely uniformed and retarded (as you appear to be), it's another to sound like a broken nintedrone who's been spitting out the same bullshit for decades lol

The visuals look good, not everything has to look like every other open world game. Variety is the spice of life.

@brah4ever said:

Cel shade Zelda is cool and I have nothing wrong with it (loved Wind Waker) but to impress the masses Nintendo should have pulled out a realistic looking Zelda here.

A realistic Next gen Zelda, show people what the hardware is capable of and quite frankly looks more badass (depends on the game but here, yes). Cel shade graphics are not ugly but to the average consumer, it's cartoony.

A God of War or Dark Souls type aesthetic Zelda would be huge and it would attract people who may have been hesitant to the series for whatever reason.

Zelda NX/Wii U does look good but a more realistic mature themed Zelda, along the lines of a Twilight Princess would be huge.

You mean a MonHun game with those aesthetics. Fighting my first Stygian Zinogre was EPIC. But it would have blown my pants off if it looked like that.

Nintendo fanboy logic:

1. All go crazy when they see a tech demo of a realistic Zelda for the wii u, demanding for it's release and salivating over it.

2. Get a cel shaded zelda, and pretend they wanted that instead.

3. Whinge about someone who suggests a realistic zelda would be a good idea because Nintendo didn't go with it.

Oh and many of you bought a wii u because Zelda would be coming, and they are now only releasing it at the end, cross platform, and you don't hold them accountable.

Nintendo can do no wrong.

@brah4ever: indeed. When you get to the point where you are calling Starfox Zero the best game of all time it is just too late for you.

I really couldn't care less. For me it was always about the dungeon design and the exploration. I thought it was about that since the first Zelda but I could be wrong.

Yeah NES you are probably right to be fair.

I definitely think LTTP is the best looking SNES game though. Hate that pixelated faux 3D Mario RPG uses,

The game looks great the last time see saw it. I just hope Nintendo actually takes advantage of the NX extra horsepower and actually make the game look better unlike what they did with TP.