The Legend of Zelda 40th anniversary predictions

This year, The Legend of Zelda series is celebrating its 40th anniversary. And today, we’ve got a bold prediction for what we’ll see for its big anniversary: absolutely nothing.

In all seriousness, though, the timeline doesn’t line up for there to be a new 3D or 2D Zelda anytime soon. Tears of the Kingdom was in development for well over five years, and it released in 2023. Given that games are only getting bigger and more ambitious since then, there’s no way a new 3D Zelda would be ready even within another five years – it’s likely going to take a little longer than that. Likewise, Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom released in 2024, and though we don’t have an exact development timeline, it’s safe to assume it started shortly after the Link’s Awakening remake wrapped up in 2019. That being said, it’s entirely possible that we see ports or a simple remake this year, though nothing has yet been confirmed at the time of writing. Some fans are even convinced that there will be a Zelda 40th Anniversary Direct – but there’s no way Nintendo has enough content coming up to pull that off, right?

If you’ve been super involved with the Nintendo Switch news cycle over the past seven years, then you’ve heard this one repeated over and over again for many years: Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess HD on Switch. Many leakers have predicted this time and time again, and it’s always felt like something that makes sense – a simple re-release to capitalize on the momentum generated by Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. But it’s never happened, and now, the original version of The Wind Waker is available on Nintendo Switch 2 via Nintendo Switch Online. However, that doesn’t mean The Wind Waker HD can never be released on Switch or Switch 2 itself. Just recently, Nintendo put out the original Game Boy Advance version of Mario vs. Donkey Kong on Nintendo Switch Online even though there’s an almost-full-price remake already available on the console. We also got Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen despite the presence of Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu and Eevee, as well as Link’s Awakening DX despite the presence of its own excellent remake. All of this is to say, Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess HD are still possible – though, there were many years in the past that would’ve been good fits for their releases, too.

Moving onto more interesting things, I think it’d be amazing to receive remakes of Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask. Again, just because they’re on Nintendo Switch Online doesn’t mean they’re ineligible for remakes. That said, these would most likely be high-definition ports of the 3DS remakes rather than all-new remasters. Most of the main Zelda teams are probably busy with developing all-new titles, but Tantalus Media, the developers of Twilight Princess HD and Skyward Sword HD, could absolutely pull it off. Their most recent title was Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD in 2024, though two years might not be long enough to make a new HD port (let alone two).

Another problem for Zelda’s 40th anniversary is that just about every Zelda game on Nintendo Switch already has a Switch 2 Edition, so they can’t fill the gap with one unless they’re doing a Skyward Sword HD Switch 2 Edition. Since the game already runs at 60 frames per second, there wouldn’t be much to fix up or change here. Maybe something for Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity to help its performance? However, Nintendo might want to focus more on Age of Imprisonment instead, given that it recently released.

Maybe Nintendo will release some new Zelda amiibo, or more likely, finally give a release date for the Mineru’s Construct figure that was announced almost one year ago. If it’s even still coming, that is! We could also see Twilight Princess on Nintendo Switch Online, or perhaps a true Zelda movie trailer.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like a particularly packed anniversary for the Zelda series, but we’d love to be proven wrong. Though if Nintendo proves us wrong, we’re not complaining! What do you want to see for Zelda’s 40th anniversary, and how does that compare to what you expect to see? Let us know in the comments down below.