Why Zelda?

There were a couple of big news disclosed during Satoru Iwata's(Nintendo CEO) keynote at GDC 2009 like the support where virtual games could now be played through your SD cards after a firmware update and new Final Fantasy games would be available through both Wiiwares and Virtual consoles(for more info, please refer here for the entire keynote) but nothing beat a trailer of a new entry in Zelda series.

It didnt come as a huge surprise to me and I was kind of expecting a new Zelda game on NDS or to be exact I was expecting either port of Ocarina of Time or Majora Mask but to my surprise, NDS is getting another new entry of Zelda series named The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks. Why would I be surprised that NDS will have another Zelda whole new sequel? Let's have a look at the Zelda series on Nintendo portable systems. The original gameboy has its first share of portable Zelda series which is the Link's Awakening while the Gameboy Color has 2 Zelda games which are Oracle of Seasons and Oracles of Age, I consider them to be a game since the you have to link both games to acquire the real ending. Ok, Link's Awakening DX on Gameboy Color isnt considered as a new game. I am talking about the new game which has never appeared on the other consoles before. Next, move on to Gameboy Advance and what we have here? A Minish Cap right? Well, looking at every single portable system before Nintendo DS, you would realize only only 1 original entry of Zelda series will appear on each portable system. The Legend of Zelda seems to break the tradition and by having a new Zelda game on DS, I am both euphoric and disappointed simulatenously.



You know the reason I am happy right? Because it is a WHOLE new Zelda game. On the other hand, I am let down because it seems like as for now the game is not a lot of different than the Phantom Hourglass. Maybe it is too early to judge it but based on the trailer it seems like the game just plays out like Phantom Hourglass. I sure hope that this time it will AT LEAST include a d-pad control but I do notice the fairy is still available in this game, I guess I have to wait until my dream comes true in another outing. I am not trying to say that total touch screen control is bad here. In fact it is intuitive and it certainly injects a refreshing experience into a series that has been around for some time for those who are used to Zelda series but sometimes those Zelda veterans just want something traditional with their beloved Zelda series. Is it that hard to implement both touch screen and d-pad controls? The second reason I am disappointed is until now the DS still hasnt received its port of Ocarina of Time and Majora Mask. I don't care if some player think that Nintendo may milk this series by porting Ocarina of Time so many times(2 times on Gamecube and another one could be found at Virtual Console) but I havent played it and I have been waiting for a long time to see it on my Nintendo DS. This is one great masterpiece that I have been anticipating to play on the go. Why can't Nintendo make it happen? Up until now, both NES and SNES games have already appeared on GBA so I expect the N64 iterations to follow their heels by making ways to NDS. Hopefully this is going to happen one day. Nintendo, be it release them separately or combine them together in one cart, faithful ports or with some added and tweaked controls, just port them to DS one day I beg you!

Deep in my heart I know Spirit Tracks is going to be great and I will be there first day to get it, and not to mention its BGM is really that stellar and I have at least replayed the trailer 50 times to listen over and over to the same BGM and I dont seem to get bored with it. Hopefully Miyamoto will come out with something different to surprise me again in the latest Zelda game. For those Wii owners, I guess you would have to wait until next E3 to see if Zelda will be swinging his sword(or you can do that with the marvellous Motionplus technology, hehe)on Wii.