Those of us with a pechant for the video game series The Legend of Zelda know about the two upcoming games for both the DS and Gamecube/Wii. Those who casually enjoy Zelda know about them as well. Even those who've never touched a video game stand a good chance of at least knowing about one of the most hyped up games of the last few years, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
As a Zelda fangirl, I've been drooling over the prospects of this game ever since seeing the first trailer released way back around 2004. It's a radical change from the Wind Waker style back to classic Zelda design, and while I loved the graphical quality of WW, nothing beats what I've seen for TP.
Graphics aside however, there is still a lot of mystery left to the new chapter of the Zelda universe. This will all be revealed sometime before the end of 2006, as both the new Nintendo Wii console and the game Twilight Princess hit shelves in the last gaming quarter. Until then, prospects are high, and forums are overrun with speculation and eager gamers already making preconcieved notions about this game.
Therein lies the problem.
You've got two sides of the fence on this issue that have already made their decision. You've got the diehard Zelda fanatics, who will love this game no matter what. Then you've got the Zelda haters who will condemn it no matter what. These two sides are few and far between when it comes to the majority of the gaming community.
You're left with the middle gamers, who make up the vast majority, those who want an enjoyable game that meets their expectations, but don't hold any fanatical loves or hates of Zelda. They've been looking at TP for the last 3 years, and have been seeing the game hyped up by those both in the know and out of the know, about how this will be the "best Zelda ever" and will "revolutionize the frainchise again like Ocarina of Time did". When the game comes out, how will this affect their opinion of the game once they actually play it?

My main worry here is that while this may end up being the most amazing Zelda ever, it could also be just an average Zelda that was overhyped way too much by both Nintendo and the Zelda fanbase. If this turns out to be the case, I fear disastruous consequences for the overall opinion of this game and for how people view Zelda and Nintendo in the future.

If a middle gamer plays this game after being mobbed by years of overhype, they're going to look at it with disappointment and think "wow, guess Zelda's not as great as everyone says" and end up not buying it again/not reccomending it to friends. Of course, while that exact instance may be a bit extreme, they're still most likely going to end up being prejudiced against future Zelda games, because even though this was a good game, it wasn't a Superb game, and they were let down. Why would they trust Nintendo again if they think the same thing is going to happen?

Adding to all of the praise that the producers and soon to be players give this game, there's also the factor that this game has been delayed for so long because of additions and other things going on with production. A middle gamer is going to look at that and say "they must be doing something really special with this game, I should probably get it". If they were on the line about getting the game, the fact that they delayed it to add even more Zelda fun might tip them over into buying it.

However, when they play it, and it is an average Zelda, and not a superb one, they're going to say "I waited all this time for that? I guess I shouldn't trust Nintendo with delays anymore, it either added nothing to the game or turned a less than average game into something average."

My point is, if this game doesn't meet everyone's expectations of grandeur and magic, I believe that it's going to hurt the Zelda franchise and Nintendo as a whole. People have been seeing this as the game worth waiting for, as the best game ever to cross their gamecubes or any console for that matter. They look at Ocarina of Time, and all the delays it went through, and if it doesn't end up as good as OoT or better, they're going to get jaded, and that's not good for us Zelda lovers.

I've got no doubt that TP will sell millions because of this hype. But what about Phantom Hourglass and the other games down the road? Zelda was lucky that all the hype that went into OoT really produced results. But what if TP falls short of expectations? Will a game that can stand decently well on its own merits be seen as the biggest dissappointment of 2006 because people didn't take a realistic look at it?

Here's to hoping Miyamoto can still produce and improve upon the magic we've seen him come up with before.

~Nighthawk~