While most of the attention surrounding The Legend of Zelda games continues to be around 3D installments, Eiji Aonuma recently went on the record in an interview with Famitsu about the future of top-down 2D games.
Prior to Echoes of Wisdom, we haven’t seen a top-down 2D game since A Link Between Worlds back in 2013. While a remake of Link’s Awakening graced us in 2019, in retrospect it seems like it was more of a trial run for an entry like Echoes of Wisdom during a 2D drought, especially since they were both developed by the Grezzo team. It’s clear that the recent success of Echoes of Wisdom has encouraged Nintendo to continue developing top-down entries.
In Aonuma’s words:
“The top-down gameplay style… is very ‘Zelda-like’, and we’d like to keep this up as a contrast to the dynamic 3D games. We want to not just create something that inherits the mechanics of Echoes of Wisdom, but add new elements to make people go, ‘So this is what they’re doing this time?’”
It’s really exciting to hear that the team is still dedicated to trailblazing in the top-down space. The tight partnership between Grezzo and Nintendo over the years has helped to bring 2D gaming into a more modern area, securing this part of the Zelda DNA for years to come. We can’t wait to see what else is in store!
We want to give a huge thanks to Zelda Universe staff Reina Proctor, as well as SatsumaFS and Simon Griffin over at Nintendo Everything for the translations.
