Despite being among the franchise’s most iconic and arguably memorable characters, Nintendo missed the perfect opportunity to include one particular individual in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Between The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and its predecessor, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, many familiar faces from the series appeared in both Zelda games on the Nintendo Switch. Yet with Tears of the Kingdom in particular featuring classic series characters like Ganondorf, Beedle, and even a new interpretation of Rauru, one iconic character that has been a mainstay of past Zelda games remained absent.
Having appeared in eight Zelda games and a spin-off series of his own, Tingle has long since become as much a staple character in the Zelda franchise as the likes of Link and Princess Zelda themselves. With a love-hate relationship among Zelda fans due to his comical design and backstory, perhaps it was no surprise that grounded games like Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom opted to exclude Tingle. However, in hindsight, Tingle could have been an ideal character to feature in Tears of the Kingdom as a natural counterbalance to the game’s world and story.
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Tingle Would Have Been A Perfect Fit For Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s Darker Story Deserved Tingle’s Comic Relief
While both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom had more mature stories than past Zelda games, Nintendo has always shown that it understands the need to balance darker tones with lighter moments through comic relief and feel-good moments. For instance, Breath of the Wild featured moments of levity, such as avoiding Magda’s flowers at Hila Rao shrine or distracting Yiga clan members with bananas, indicating that despite the game’s dark story there was still fun to be had. While Tears of the Kingdom attempted the same humor, most of these moments were carried over from Breath of the Wild as its direct sequel.
Therefore, balancing gameplay and story in Tears of the Kingdom with lighter moments could have been something it achieved with Tingle. Given his absence from Breath of the Wild, his comeback would have caught players’ attention in Tears of the Kingdom and explained away using his lore as a self-proclaimed fairy returning to Hyrule alongside the Great Fairies from the previous game. Even if Nintendo had limited Tingle’s appearances in Tears of the Kingdom to just a handful of occasions, it could have helped pay homage to the character’s history while adding some catharsis to the game’s story.
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s Sky Exploration Would Have Been Perfect For Tingle
Introducing aerial exploration and sky islands was one of the biggest changes to Breath of the Wild‘s Hyrule and a major feature in Tears of the Kingdom‘s world design. While Tears of the Kingdom capitalized on the verticality of its expanded open world, Nintendo missed an opportunity to combine these sky islands with the return of Tingle, given the character’s close association with balloons. With previous appearances in Zelda games like Majora’s Mask, Oracle of Ages, and Four Swords Adventures attached to a floating balloon, players could have encountered Tingle throughout Tears of the Kingdom‘s skies and islands.
In fact, Tingle’s return in Tears of the Kingdom could have been a more organic and inventive way of gifting the player the Tingle Armor set which had previously appeared in Breath of the Wild. Instead of reducing the Tingle Armor set to one of several Misko’s Treasure side quests, Tears of the Kingdom could have had Tingle give the player each piece of armor individually with three different encounters throughout the game. Not only would this incentivize players to explore Tears of the Kingdom‘s sky more, but it could have added some novelty to searching for and then spotting Tingle’s red balloon in the distance.
- Released
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May 12, 2023
- ESRB
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Rated E for Everyone 10+ for Fantasy Violence and Mild Suggestive Themes
- Developer(s)
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Nintendo
- Publisher(s)
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Nintendo