The Legend of Zelda series had a sliding doors moment in the early 2000s. After the huge success of Ocarina of Time in 1998, followed by Majora’s Mask in 2000, on the Nintendo 64, it seemed like the next natural step was to take the series in a realistic direction. This would mean leaving Zelda’s charming cartoonish style behind for something more grounded in reality.

This was all the rage at the time. There seemed to be an unwritten algebraic sum that said: ‘Realism + Game = Success’. Tech demos showcasing the power of the Sony PlayStation 2 and the Microsoft Xbox would reinforce this view, but Nintendo, of course, didn’t follow this trend and did things its way before the launch of the GameCube console.

The Escapist recaps 

• The Legend of Zelda series first debuted in 1986 on the NES and has been one of Nintendo’s iconic IPs ever since.
• The series has sold over 150 million copies, with the latest title, Tears of the Kingdom, selling over 20 million copies since its May 2023 release.
• The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker first came out on the Nintendo GameCube in 2003.
• The title saw an HD remaster in 2013 on the Wii U console, with a 1080p remastered sheen in widescreen, along with minor gameplay refinements.
• Wind Waker was brought to the Switch 2 in June 2025, thanks to the GameCube retro app on the Nintendo Classics service.

After an impressive tech demo of Link and Ganondorf, we eventually got Wind Waker, released for the console in 2003, and to critical acclaim, but it didn’t sell as well as Nintendo had hoped. Plans for a sequel were scrapped, and instead, some of the concepts were eventually moved to the darker, grittier, and more realistic sequel, Twilight Princess. 

But many fans still hold a soft spot for Wind Waker. Since its reappearance on the Switch 2 via the Nintendo Classics service, it seems like the time could be right for a true sequel – and we’re not talking about the Nintendo DS spin-off games such as Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks. 

Welcome to Spaceworld

First, we need to go back to the year 2000. At its annual Spaceworld event, Nintendo was gearing up to reveal a new console to succeed the Nintendo 64, then called codenamed ‘Dolphin’. With this in mind, it was showcasing a bunch of trailers to demonstrate the power of the mysterious new machine, one that would go head-to-head with Sony’s PS2, Microsoft’s Xbox, and Sega’s struggling Dreamcast. 

From Metroid to the legendary Mario 128 demo, every reel made an impression, but there was one that made the biggest splash. In just 28 seconds, it showed off Link and Ganondorf facing off in an epic sword fight, in what looks like Hyrule Castle. Fans went nuts in anticipation as to what the next Zelda game could be, if these graphics hinted towards what they’d be playing soon. 

However, at Spaceworld 2001, a new trailer was released, revealing a cel-shaded Link. What had happened to the more realistic Hero of Time they saw last year?

In an Iwata Asks interview in 2013 to mark the release of Wind Waker HD, series director Eiji Aonuma and the then Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata revealed why the tech demo never turned into a full game. Iwata explained, “At Nintendo Space World the year before, in 2000, when we announced the Nintendo GameCube, we showed a demo video of an evolved form of Link from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, so a lot of people were expecting something along those lines”.

“Yes,” Aonuma confirmed, with Iwata going on to say, “But it was difficult for us to imagine ourselves easily coming up with new ideas and expanding on that world if we had chosen that path. Of course, while a game is more than its visuals, it was going to be made mostly by the same people, and the ideas we had within the same team have their limits.”

But concerns from fans were mostly allayed once Wind Waker came out in 2003. With great gameplay and the ability to travel by sea, it made a huge impression and arguably partly inspired Breath of the Wild. A sequel was quickly decided on, but the realism idea was also resurrected along with it. 

Aonuma revealed in a GDC talk in 2007 that he had asked Shigeru Miyamoto why Wind Waker didn’t sell as well as they had hoped in America, and he had answered that it was likely because of the cel-shaded design. “That’s when I decided that if we didn’t have an effective and immediate solution, the only thing we could do was to give the healthy North American market the Zelda that they wanted. 

So, at the end of 2003, I went to Miyamoto and said, “I want to make a realistic Zelda.” After this, Twilight Princess was developed, and it became one of the series’ best-selling titles.

But concepts of Wind Waker 2 have managed to leak out in the intervening years, with a ‘land-based’ concept and the ability to fight enemies while riding Link’s horse, Epona. Despite Aonuma saying that most of his ideas were poured into Phantom Hourglass, released on the Nintendo DS handheld in 2007, many fans still yearn for a Wind Waker 2. 

With the success of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, now is the time to return to the high seas.

An even Windier Waker on Switch 2

Both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are fantastic games, but they primarily took place on land. Whether that was high in the sky or below in the depths, exploration was a concept that required players to run, glide, and control the machinations that could be created across Hyrule. But for Wind Waker, it was a matter of getting into a boat and simply sailing away.

A Wind Waker 2 should be a mix of its predecessor and Breath of the Wild. Imagine taking control of a boat, or building one you can improve upon over time, and sailing across a huge landscape of islands, fortresses, and more. In addition, an ‘Adult Toon Link’ could give the sequel some narrative pull, to almost reflect how long it’s been since we first saw this cel-shaded version of the Hero of Time back in 2003.

A rumored feature that carried over into Twilight Princess for the scrapped Wind Waker 2 title was horse-riding in battles. Subsequent games, especially Breath of the Wild with its final boss, have showcased this with ease. But in Wind Waker’s world, it could be a new way of interacting with the many islands that are yet to be discovered.

Anouma and his team have not revealed what the next Zelda title may entail. Granted, Tears of the Kingdom was a follow-up to Breath of the Wild, and they may not want to look into another sequel. But for fans of Wind Waker, there’s a unique opportunity there to leverage the power of the Switch 2 with the seascape that players can be immersed in.

It can offer something completely different to Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, but something familiar too. Ultimately, the time for a Wind Waker follow-up is long overdue, and it feels like the perfect time to return to that world to set sail all over again.

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References

1. Zelda: Wind Waker First Beta Trailer [SpaceWorld 2001!] (YouTube)
2. Iwata Asks – The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD (Nintendo)
3. The fate of Wind Waker 2 (Nintendo World Report)

The post Why it’s time for Wind Waker 2 to be the next Zelda game appeared first on The Escapist.

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