E3 is so tantalizing close that the internet is starting to leak into the real world. It feels like we already know everything at the show, and yet there’s an air of continued mystery. If Nintendo just laid out Pokemon games for the rest of the year, that means they have to have some crazy announcement in the pipeline, right?
That’s all fun and good, but we’re here to talk about one thing we do know is coming to E3: Super Smash Bros. Specifically, as we did in a recent feature, we’ll be talking about The Franchise of Zelda’s place in the next game. Previously we laid out some ideas for content from older games. Basically, things that would have reached “Classic” status. Now, we’re going to dig deep into every Zelda game since released in 2013 and beyond. This includes A Link Between Worlds, Hyrule Warriors, and Breath of the Wild. We think that the last one is the most interesting, and we hope you agree!
Items
While modern Zelda games are full of great ideas for items, not a lot stand out as especially unique. More often than not it seems the items we’ve seen recently are reworks of previous Zelda games, especially as far as A Link Between Worlds goes. Still, there were plenty of worthy mentions that we wanted to bring up.
Spring Hammer
Kilton’s exclusive weapon from Breath of the Wild was maybe a little disappointing when we first tried to send a Bokoblin into flight over Hyrule Field. Now, it has a chance to redeem itself. Grab the hammer and take a swing with the A button. Hitting it three times does a three-hit combo, where the last hit sends players flying back off the stage. The damage will be minimal, and, like all weapons in Breath of the Wild (and Smash Bros. for that matter), it breaks after too many uses.
Ancient Battle Axe ++
The Ancient weaponline is perhaps the most iconic of Breath of the WIld. Where most weapons are the standard sword/axe/club types of fair, the ancient weapons really stand out with their neon blue glow and interesting shapes. The Ancient Battle Axe ++ would be a great weapon as the biggest and baddest of all the weapons. It would be a heavy item with a devastating hit, should it connect. One of it’s stronger properties would be throwing it, which would replicate the spinning weapon throw our hero Link performs in the Breath of the Wild. The trademark break sound effect, coupled with a devastating knock-off, would make for a superbly satisfying attack. Bonus points if it says “Your Weapon is heavily damaged” after a few swings.
Sand Rod
The Sand Rod was a stand out favorite piece of equipment in A Link Between Worlds. It felt like a genuinely interesting mechanic, it fit the layered world with some cool environmental puzzles. While the only puzzle in Smash is “How can I die slower than my enemies,” no puzzle is outside of the Sand Rod’s capabilities. Use it quickly to cast little bursts of sand that can interrupt almost anything… and give it a good charge to summon a huge block of sand from the ground! Not only will the block absorb oncoming damage, anyone over it when it comes up will be blasted into the starry sky above.
Assist Trophies
Breath of the Wild brought a roster of immediately recognizable, and lovable characters. It’s honestly difficult narrowing it down to what we have here. One of our big factors was finding ways to use a lot of our favorite characters in other ways, giving this list a little more room for the stand-out crowd.
Lady Urbosa
Maybe it’s just us, but we’d like to think that most players fell in love with the cast of Breath of the Wild. At the center of that storm of affection would be The Champions, guardians of Hyrule who fell 100 years ago. It’s easy to want them all playable, but Assist Trophies seem like a more appropriate position for them. After considering that, and finding other unique places to suit other Guardians, we came to a perfect conclusion. Lady Urbosa will be the Champion summoned by the Assist Trophy, upon being raised skyward. She’ll come into play with a striking pose, maybe a quip. Her fingers snap, sending bolts of lightning across the field in front of her in a fantastic display of style and power.
Sidon
It’s safe to assume he’s everybody’s favorite Champion in the most recent rendition of Hyrule. Like Lady Urbosa, Sidon could swoop in with his trademark charismatic pose, say something encouraging, and then summon a blast of water that he rides up, carrying any enemies caught in his wake off the screen.
Lynel
The Lynels are old-time foes of Hyrule, but they reached a whole new level in Breath of the Wild. Summon this unruly beast and it will go berserk on your foes with all of its trademark abilities, including showers of flaming arrows, a dreadful roar, and plenty of charging attacks. Brave players may try to lock horns with this foe and maybe they could be rewarded well with a Lynel Crusher if they do! (Think of Smash Bros.’s Ore Club but without the tornado summoning.)
Guardian
The panic-inducing theme of the Guardians cuts off any current stage theme as the large monstrosity starts roaming around the stage, eyeing for a target. With a lock-on, it will take some careful timing and dodges to avoid the eye-beam. Careful fighters may be able to time their attack to deflect the beam back, and any Guardian can be defeated with enough effort. Nobody is safe from the ever-vengeful gaze of these malicious machines.
Characters
Okay, hear us out! First, we recommend the removal of standard Link and Toon Link. They should be replaced with Breath of the Wild Link (Champion Link) and the younger version of Link from A Link Between Worlds. This might not be our most immediately popular ideas, but there’s a concern that there would otherwise be too many Links. Two is a great limit, but in order to maintain the gameplay styles of Link and Toon Link players, while simultaneously providing Champion Link with a chance to come into his own, we think some rearranging is necessary.
Champion Link
We saw Link wearing his Champion’s Tunic in the original Smash Bros. teaser trailer, but we’re hoping for more than just a costume. This Link should be equipped with some new abilities to better suit his role of surviving the wilderness. His Up Special becomes Revali’s Gale, carrying him and his paraglider up in a gust. His Down Special could be his Rune Bombs, allowing him to remote detonate with another Down Special press. The Guardian Arrow, unlike the classic Link’s arrows, do not drop angle when he releases it. The Forward Special of Champion Link is maybe my favorite idea: He steps forward and throws a random weapon. It could be the boomerang, a heavy claymore, or a twitching Moblin arm. Upon impact, the critical hit/break of the weapon occurs, knocking enemies away.
There could also be the inclusion of Daruk’s Protection as a replacement for the shield, or as a visual flair for his block. And then his Final Smash would be summoning the Champions to bring their Divine Beast Mega Laser straight down the center of the stage. To top off this Champion, his different outfits in Breath of the Wild would make for excellent alternate palettes/costumes.
Young Link
With Breath of the Wild‘s Link replacing Link as such, we can now give Young Link many of Link’s former abilities, mashing them up with Toon Link to get the A Link Between Worlds version.
Young Link and his weapons would follow akin to his Link Between Worlds look. He’s younger but not quite a kid; old-school but with a modern flair. He could even have a costume swap for Ravio with all the same weapons.
It should be noted that his guard and dodges could be him “merging” with the background to avoid attacks. The guard functionality will be the same, but watching a flattened Link roll in the background of his to dodge would be quite amusing.
Linkle
We don’t want to argue that just because she’s an original character created by Koei-Tecmo, it means she’s automatically out of the running. This unlikely hero won our hearts in Hyrule Warriors, and it would be a true delight to see her utilizing dual crossbows and the Pegasus Boots in a Smash capacity. An all-out Cucco Attack would make a great Final Smash. We would also love to see different costumes based on different Zelda characters! It would melt our otherwise cold, bitter hearts.
Stages
As you’ve no doubt experienced, Breath of the Wild has a whole lot of places that could make cool Smash Bros. stages. We would almost recommend making a “tour” stage, like Skyloft in Smash Bros. for Wii U. However, that sounds maybe like a technical nightmare trying to load everything at once and keep a smooth framerate. Instead, we went with some of these other ideas, including a cool location from A Link Between Worlds!
Tower of Hera
In A Link Between Worlds, the Tower of Hera features some perilous wall-shimmying. It stretches high above the world with slim platforms and spike traps everywhere. There are even shifting walls trying to bully you off the ledge! This seems like a great place to construct a new Smash level.
Atop the Divine Beasts
Arguably the most central figures of the game besides Link and Zelda are the massive, mechanical beasts created by ancient Sheikah. The Divine Beasts are well known to anybody who played Breath of the Wild, even if you decided to ignore them altogether to face the Calamity. Our more grandiose idea is that you ride on the backs of each one for a short while before transitioning to the next, creating a sort of “Tour de Hyrule.” But if that’s too much technical effort, we think riding atop Divine Beast Vah Medoh would be the most logical choice.
The Great Plateau
Every adventure starts somewhere. In Breath of the Wild, players were given a sort of microcosm of the expansive world to come in The Great Plateau. It seems like a fine way to represent the game in Smash, turning it into a larger stage. Imagine facing the Plateau head on from Hyrule Castle: on the left side is your first Sheikah Tower with small “pass-through” platforms to help you climb to the top. In the middle are some small ruins and hills with maybe a tree branch or two for climbing. To the right is a large forest with tree stumps to jump from. In the back, you can see the Temple of Time, the entrance to the Shrine of Resurrection, and a large mountain covered in snow. Just like the start of the game, dropping off the edges of The Plateau spell your demise. If you think the stage might be a bit oddly shaped, you’re probably not wrong. Maybe we can instead consider this the location for our “tour” stage idea: Moving from the tower to the chapel and the mountain tops, then elsewhere around the Plateau.
The Shrine
The natural splendor of Hyrule works great for organic-looking stages, but let us not forget that deep within this new, ruined world lie the Shrines. These hidden mini-dungeons are full of traps and challenges designed to improve the Hero’s power against the Calamity. Setting a stage of floating platforms as part of these Shrines, observed by the Shiekah Watchers, would make for a thrilling fight. Maybe even a series of different layouts, similar to the past Mario Maker stage, allowing for a more realistic representation of the variety of chambers found beneath Hyrule. Bonus points if it’s called something like the Sa Ku’Rai Shrine.
Music
A lot of us have argued that the soundtrack to Breath of the Wild has been a bit lacking in terms of “heavy hitters” when compared to previous Zelda games. However, there are still plenty of great themes within! And where those songs may lack for some, I think it’s hard to argue how great the soundtrack to Hyrule Warriors is. All of the selected tracks below absolutely deserve to represent our beloved franchise in Nintendo’s contest of champions.
Main Theme (Breath of the Wild)
Perhaps the most obvious choice of music in this set, we have the theme first heard at E3 2016 for Breath of the Wild. The only issue is that it starts kind of slow for a battle, beautiful as it is. We predict this theme will see a remix to help punch up that piano in the early parts.
The Final Trial (Divine Beast)
We would have originally said that the general Shrine Theme is cool, and definitely represents a major aspect of Breath of the Wild, but doesn’t have a lot going beyond ambiance. Then, the Ballad of the Champions DLC came out and gave us a very nice version that builds layers onto the original, making it much more suitable for Smash.
The Divine Trial (Final Battle)
A surprisingly interesting theme for a fairly bizarre boss fight at the end of the Ballad of the Champions. While it may not necessarily incorporate a lot of the themes or motifs heard throughout the rest of the game, it still holds up well as a unique and intense boss theme with just a hint of whimsy. That sounds about as Smash Bros. as it gets.
Dark Beast Ganon (Phase 2)
Spoilers: you fight Ganon at the end of Breath of the Wild. And the music is good! This phase in particular blasts the primary theme into full gear with an amazing symphonic accompaniment. Whereas the main theme on its own likely requires some kind of remix, this version is more than enough to keep itself as is for any type of stage.
Linkle’s Theme
Perhaps part of what made Linkle so endearing to us was how absolutely jaunty her theme is in Hyrule Warriors. It’s not quite the Song of the Hero we all know, but it clearly evokes it. It’s both a hero’s theme, and a free-spirited theme, and the accompanying guitar riffs should place it nicely in Smash.
Solidus Cave
An original piece for Hyrule Warriors, Solidus Cave is perhaps much better than it deserves to be. So good in fact that we’ve decided to include it in this list! It doesn’t really sound like anything from a Zelda game, but it also doesn’t sound out of place. It’s adventurous, maybe even a little epic. Plus, Smash Bros. needs more awesome brass-focused pieces in its catalog.
Silent Guardians
Similar to “Solidus Cavern,” “Silent Guardians” is an original track for Hyrule Warriors. Overall, it’s a strong song, but what helps this song stay neck-and-neck with the cave’s theme is that “Silent Guardians” is clearly evoking the sounds of a specific Zelda theme. Sure, the Temple of Time never had a wailing guitar solo, but the Gregorian chant is unmistakably evocative of that central location.
Eclipse of the Sun
At this point, we have a lot of Zelda music already, and Hyrule Warriors has such a great collection of original tracks that it would be criminal to leave them out of Smash Bros. So we’ve decided to also include Eclipse of the Sun. It has all the makings of a final boss theme, and you first hear it only 4 stages into the story mode!
Mario Kart 8 – Hyrule Circuit
This feels like we’re breaking our own rules because we don’t really need another remix of “The Song of The Hero”/”Hyrule Overworld” in Smash. However, if there is some galactic tally that simply must be met, then may we suggest this be the entry for the main Zelda theme we all know and love.
That’s all we have for the last half of this segment! All of us here at Zelda Universe are incredibly excited to see how the new Smash Bros. incorporates our favorite Zelda items, and we thank you for indulging our desire to nerd out a little bit. Feel free to let us know some of the items on top of your Smash wish list!
by Randy Marr on June 7, 2018
Maybe it’s just us, but we’d like to think that most players fell in love with the cast of Breath of the Wild. At the center of that storm of affection would be The Champions, guardians of Hyrule who fell 100 years ago. It’s easy to want them all playable, but Assist Trophies seem like a more appropriate position for them. After considering that, and finding other unique places to suit other Guardians, we came to a perfect conclusion. Lady Urbosa will be the Champion summoned by the Assist Trophy, upon being raised skyward. She’ll come into play with a striking pose, maybe a quip. Her fingers snap, sending bolts of lightning across the field in front of her in a fantastic display of style and power.
It’s safe to assume he’s everybody’s favorite Champion in the most recent rendition of Hyrule. Like Lady Urbosa, Sidon could swoop in with his trademark charismatic pose, say something encouraging, and then summon a blast of water that he rides up, carrying any enemies caught in his wake off the screen.
We saw Link wearing his Champion’s Tunic in the original Smash Bros. teaser trailer, but we’re hoping for more than just a costume. This Link should be equipped with some new abilities to better suit his role of surviving the wilderness. His Up Special becomes Revali’s Gale, carrying him and his paraglider up in a gust. His Down Special could be his Rune Bombs, allowing him to remote detonate with another Down Special press. The Guardian Arrow, unlike the classic Link’s arrows, do not drop angle when he releases it. The Forward Special of Champion Link is maybe my favorite idea: He steps forward and throws a random weapon. It could be the boomerang, a heavy claymore, or a twitching Moblin arm. Upon impact, the critical hit/break of the weapon occurs, knocking enemies away.
With Breath of the Wild‘s Link replacing Link as such, we can now give Young Link many of Link’s former abilities, mashing them up with Toon Link to get the A Link Between Worlds version.
Arguably the most central figures of the game besides Link and Zelda are the massive, mechanical beasts created by ancient Sheikah. The Divine Beasts are well known to anybody who played Breath of the Wild, even if you decided to ignore them altogether to face the Calamity. Our more grandiose idea is that you ride on the backs of each one for a short while before transitioning to the next, creating a sort of “Tour de Hyrule.” But if that’s too much technical effort, we think riding atop Divine Beast Vah Medoh would be the most logical choice.
The natural splendor of Hyrule works great for organic-looking stages, but let us not forget that deep within this new, ruined world lie the Shrines. These hidden mini-dungeons are full of traps and challenges designed to improve the Hero’s power against the Calamity. Setting a stage of floating platforms as part of these Shrines, observed by the Shiekah Watchers, would make for a thrilling fight. Maybe even a series of different layouts, similar to the past Mario Maker stage, allowing for a more realistic representation of the variety of chambers found beneath Hyrule. Bonus points if it’s called something like the Sa Ku’Rai Shrine.
