I still have my Nintendo 3DS. I keep it around because, unlike the Wii U, its best exclusives never got airlifted out of obsolescence and delivered safely to the Switch. There’s some logic to that – older handheld games getting ported to a new home console is not nearly as common as older home console games getting ported to a newer generation. The problem now is that the Switch is Nintendo’s home console and its handheld console. If older handheld games are going to live on, this is the only place for them.
We’ve seen some of that through Nintendo Switch Online, where Nintendo offers Game Boy and Game Boy Advance games for subscribers. It’s where I played The Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap for the first time, and I’m hoping to eventually get around to the Oracle games, too. But that isn’t possible for the DS and 3DS Zeldas. I’m still holding onto my 3DS because its best exclusives are still languishing on old hardware.
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Zelda Needs A Link Between Consoles
Though figuring out how to translate the DS’ more unusual features — mainly its microphone and dual screens — to the Switch will be a challenge, Nintendo has proven that it can overcome this kind of obstacle when it wants to. Skyward Sword was thought to be impossible to port for years, thanks to its reliance on motion controls. Then, Nintendo ported it anyway, with motion controls intact if you wanted them and scrubbed if you didn’t. There’s no real reason Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks, and A Link Between Worlds need to stay stranded on their original hardware.
I don’t care about Tri Force Heroes because Zelda will never be a multiplayer series for me (unless Nintendo makes a Tears of the Kingdom battle arena where you build your own vehicles, weapons, etc., which would rule). Still, a Switch port wouldn’t hurt.
I have some nostalgia for Phantom Hourglass, but it isn’t an all-time classic. Going back to The Temple of the Ocean King so many times was a pain, the controls were a little uncomfortable in the way most DS games often were, and I remember the final boss battle being ridiculously tough for a Zelda game (though this may be a symptom of having been a stupid kid when I played it). Though it would be cool to see a more thorough remake that reworked those issues and brought the graphics closer to the game’s predecessor, Wind Waker, I would be just as happy to see a straightforward port on Switch.
On the other hand, I have no nostalgia for Spirit Tracks. I’ve tried to start it twice and only ever made it an hour in. If it was on Switch, say in a collection with a few other Zelda games, I might be more tempted to finally see it through.
The 3DS Zelda That Laid The Foundation For Breath Of The Wild
But the Zelda game that really needs to be on Switch is A Link Between Worlds. When Breath of the Wild came out in 2017, many players thought the series’ shift to open-ended design came out of nowhere. If you’ve only played console Zeldas, then that’s an understandable misconception. Skyward Sword is incredibly linear, and then six years later, a Zelda arrived that went in the complete opposite direction. It was a refreshing change-up, but there was recent precedent for the series’ shift away from linearity.
A Link Between Worlds took steps toward the new formula Nintendo would set with Breath of the Wild and explore with Tears of the Kingdom. Instead of tackling the dungeons in a set order, with each corresponding to a tool you unlocked before or during the process, A Link Between Worlds lets you do them in any order by allowing you to rent tools from a shop when you need them. It was a cool, smart design choice and laid the groundwork for the series next decade.
Given A Link Between Worlds’ status as a link between Zeldas, it feels wrong that it isn’t available on Switch, right there alongside the games it inspired. New players might not want to shell out the full price of an 11-year-old 3DS game, but if it was paired with both games from the DS? I own all these games already, and you could still sign me up.
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