The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild is one of the most anticipated Nintendo releases in recent memory, so there are many ways that the launch of this NX and Wii U game could go very wrong. While there are no signs of fiasco now, these five scenarios are very real possibilities!
1) A Lack Of Dungeons: Nintendo has repeatedly said that Breath Of The Wild will feature some kind of large dungeon structure, but, so far, we haven’t seen it. Instead, the demoed focus has been on the 100 smaller shrines that have been advertised to dot the finished Hyrule map.
Like many aspects of Link’s next quest, shrines embody new territory for the series. With more of them in tow, the assumption is that true dungeons as we know them will be a much rarer occurrence. That being said, there’s the open possibility that the moment-to-moment gameplay of Breath Of The Wild might not feel quite as epic throughout the entire journey. Much of it will be relegated to locating runes in these smaller buildings. That reworking may not sit well with all Zelda fans.
2) Performance Issues: Considering Breath Of The Wild intends to stretch across the Wii U and NX console generations, there’s ample opportunity for performance issues to crop up on both pieces of hardware. The Wii U might not be powerful enough to adequately support some parts of the game, while the NX is so new that a truly perfect port can be a difficult accomplishment.
Especially in the YouTube era of gaming, every performance hiccup is magnified in ways that didn’t happen when Twilight Princess came to the GameCube and Wii within weeks of each other. Digital Foundry’s hands-on impressions of Breath Of The Wild’s E3 demo mentioned some slowdown and pop-in, and those hitches could be a sign of disparity to come. Nintendo is typically one of the most polished developers around, but there’s a lot that could potentially go wrong from a performance standpoint.
3) Amiibo Problems: We’ve known for quite some time that The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild has Amiibo support in mind, but we’ve only seen a few minor hints of it. For example, we know that scanning the Wolf Link figure offers players a momentary buddy that helps attack enemies.
What if Nintendo is just bullish enough to take that notion one step further? During September’s 3DS Direct, we learned that even more Amiibo are being made to commemorate the series. What if some of those go far enough to offer access to an exclusive area of the map or a way to reach a dungeon that features a special weapon? Essentially packaging DLC behind a physical figure that can sometimes be hard to find is a bad idea, but it’s not unprecedented. Dungeons were quietly gated in Twilight Princess HD, so they could be again.
4) Disparity Between Versions: Even as a dual Wii U and NX release, Breath Of The Wild has the potential to be a real system-seller for Nintendo’s next console. It’s not that unthinkable to suppose that Nintendo could offer some kind of advantage to those that buy the next-gen version. Hypothetically, maybe future DLC or pre-order bonuses will be exclusive to NX.
Series producer Eiji Aonuma told GameSpot that “users will be able to have the same experience with the NX version as they will with the Wii U version,” but that statement is still a little vague. If the two campaigns are 98 percent identical, for example, it’s still fair to refer to them as the same general experience. It’s the other 2 percent that could potentially leave some dedicated Wii U owners feeling upset.
5) A Poorly Received Gimmick: Zelda fans don’t take kindly to gimmicks, and that’s why The Legend Of Zelda: Skyward Sword is generally panned by purists. It took advantage of the Wiimote’s waggle in a way that was less than appreciated.
Because we still don’t have any official indication as to what the NX is, the door remains open for that version of the game to experiment with Nintendo’s latest flight of fancy in ways that detract from the experience. If the “gimmick” aligns with rumors that the NX will be a hybrid home and portable console, that idea will probably be welcomed. After all, it’d be the first game in the series with that kind of versatility. The issue is that Nintendo loves to try out weird ideas and leaks may not have revealed them all yet. Fans really want Breath Of The Wild to be a traditional RPG.
The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild is expected to come to Wii U and NX in 2017.
Do we have reason to be concerned for Breath Of The Wild? Will the NX and Wii U releases meet expectations? Tell us in the comments section!
