The Candidates – Light Fantasy
Although it’s not necessarily part of the traditional Zelda formula, a light fantasy setting is a hallmark of all Zelda titles. It’s also common amongst Zelda clones.
Here are a few franchises Nintendo might use if they stuck with the fantasy trope:
Kid Icarus
Let’s kick off this list with perhaps the most obvious and most viable option.
Kid Icarus is a criminally underutilized arrow in Nintendo’s quiver. Despite the series only having three games (for the NES, Game Boy, and 3DS) Pit is a recognizable video game icon who could comfortably step into Link’s sandals. Kid Icarus: Uprising breathed new life into the franchise as a heart-pounding arcade action title, but it doesn’t require much imagination to envision a Zelda-like entry in the Kid Icarus universe.
In fact, the biggest challenge Nintendo would face is finding a way to distinguish a Kid Icarus Zelda-like from Zelda itself. And who knows, the prospect of reinventing Kid Icarus once again might be enough to coax Masahiro Sakurai out of his early retirement. That is if Nintendo hasn’t already tied him up with ‘Smash Infinite’.
Glory of Heracles
Believe it or not, Kid Icarus isn’t Nintendo’s only Greek-themed series. In 2010 Nintendo published Glory of Heracles for the DS, a JRPG developed by Paon DP.
To this day Nintendo retains the copyright, although we haven’t seen hide nor hair from it since the DS release. It seems unlikely, but perhaps ole Herc could be convinced to star in a Zelda clone. After all, those Seven Labours aren’t going to accomplish themselves.
Fire Emblem
Kid Icarus gets our vote for purely nostalgic reasons, but Fire Emblem wins out by virtue of name recognition alone. If Mr. Iwata were here, we think he’d side with Pit, but [straightens tie] a spin-off from the Fire Emblem series would be a solid business decision.
Not only has the franchise already ventured into other genres, including JRPG (Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE) and hack and slash (Fire Emblem Warriors), but Intelligent Systems has proven time and time again that they’re capable of creating stone-cold classics in any genre they please. See Mario Paint, Panel de Pon, Paper Mario, Pushmo/Pullbox, and the underrated Battle Clash for a few examples.
Plus, imagine the puzzles that Intelligent Systems could come up with for their Zelda clone!