As with a lot of things, Nintendo was late to the party with HD remasters; while Sony introduced the God of War Collection in 2009, it wouldn’t be until late 2013 that we would see The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD. That delay in response would be partially made up for by Wind Waker HD being arguably the best remaster the world has ever seen, but the point still stands that while Sony has introduced dozens of remasters and collections, Nintendo has missed a golden opportunity.
HD remasters have so many benefits for not only gamers, but developers as well. In Wind Waker HD‘s case, myself and many others would have likely never experienced one of Nintendo’s best games in history if it didn’t exist. Also, the visual and gameplay improvements made a legendary game even better. The original title was able to secure 96 Metascore rating, and earn a ton of love from Zelda fanatics. However, Wind Waker HD would perform miracles to one of the GameCube’s most highly-regarded games.
Wind Waker HD improved a ton of things unrelated to the visual experience, including the removal of sailing bump-off, awkward rope handling, the addition of a Deku Leaf indicator, and much more. Then there was the obvious upgrade in visual fidelity. The original experience ran at an unbelievably low 480p—it was normal at the time. At 1080p with crystal clear environments and characters, its HD version was the most immersive Zelda game yet. Without it, the wait until The Legend of Zelda Wii U would be absolutely brutal.
Remastering a game requires a lot less investment than developing an entirely new name. A studio doesn’t have to draw up a new setting, compelling mechanics, and write a ton of dialog; they get to work with what already exists and polish it up. For that reason a game like Wind Waker HD is highly profitable, and could potentially have an even better outlook than something big and new like Mario Kart 8. It’s currently sitting at around the one million mark, and will certainly benefit from prospective Wii U customers.
So yes, we have Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire later this year which functions as a remaster, bringing the total count of revisited AAA games up to two. TWO. When you look at Nintendo’s lengthy list of ridiculously good games during the past decade, that number seems almost unfair.
If any platform could benefit greatly from a barrage of HD remasters, it would be the Wii U. A game like Xenoblade Chronicles or a Super Mario Galaxy Collection would do wonders as we wait until late 2015 for all the games Nintendo spoke about at E3 to release. Other candidates include Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime, Super Smash Bros. Melee, and Super Mario Sunshine.
Related: Where Should Nintendo Go From Here?
Nintendo says Wind Waker HD only existed because Nintendo EAD Group 3 wanted to have experience developing on an HD platform before moving on to the Wii U’s upcoming The Legend of Zelda. That might be the case, but chances are it performed better than they could have imagined. It brought in money, probably pushed customers to buy a Wii U—I know it was a part of the reason I bought one—, and let a game from 2003 stuck on a dead platform sail once again.
Who is to say that one of Nintendo’s premier studios has to work on remasters, anyway? Sony has routinely turned to small teams to get their collections done. For example, Bluepoint Games created several of the best collections on PS3, including The Ico & Shadow of the Colossus Collection. Have you heard of them? Probably not, but they do a great job and don’t cut into the development cycles of teams like SCE Santa Monica Studios and Team ICO.
The timing couldn’t be better. The Wii U needs more games, and Nintendo has dozens of critically acclaimed titles that want a chance to thrive in the modern era. Remastered games are the solution.
