In the NES era of Nintendo games, there was no third dimension, the developers had to get creative with how the player could maneuver within a 2 dimensional space. The developers had to get creative with the perspective given to the player: games such as Super Mario Bros. were a side scroller, there was only right, left, and jump. The Legend of Zelda used a top-down birds eye view, you could only go left, right, up or down.
In the mid 90s with the release of the N64, Sega Saturn, and Playstation 1, the technology necessary to make true 3 dimensional games had arrived, which pretty much every single big game franchise wanted to capitalize off of. Nintendo, Sega, Vicarious Visions, Rare, Square, Naughty Dog, Capcom, all the big names and more were making 3D games. Some game series were already established in 2D, such Sonic, Mario and Zelda, and had to make a transition from 2D gameplay to 3D. What I will be exploring is: how did the Zelda series fare in 3D compared to 2D?
The Legend of Zelda series took elements from its historical 2D games and made them seamlessly function in the 3rd dimension. It kept the cherished puzzle and problem solving elements from the 2D games, and used its new 3D environment to innovate and expand on them. Albeit the 3D games selling better, 2D is by no means outdated, and still has its place in the modern day.
Let’s start where Zelda began, with its very first games on the Nintendo Entertainment System, The Legend of Zelda and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. The games didn’t have too much to work with when creating puzzles due to its pixelated graphics, and 2D environment, but it still managed to make you work for your progression by having to explore.
Unless you read the walkthrough segment of the manual (which, let’s be real, nobody does at first), the player would have no clue of where to go in the beginning. Well, obviously they go into the cave right in the first screen and get the sword from the old man. Then it’s up to the player to choose where they go from there. This exploration in order to progress is a staple in any Zelda game, including future 3D games such as Ocarina of Time.
When Link exits Kokiri Forest (where Link begins his adventure), a cutscene plays showing all of Hyrule Field, all this space for the player to explore! The 3rd dimension allows the player to look around and see into the distance, unlike the 2nd dimension’s limited view. The 2D Zelda games like Link to The Past used a map in order to show off the world Link was in. But in Ocarina of Time, If the player just looks around, they’ll see that there are rivers to cross, castles to explore, and mountains to climb which are visible when looking around. Looking at the mountain you can see a very discernible smoke halo, intriguing the player and perhaps hinting them that it will be a future destination on their travels. The 3rd dimension vastly improved the player’s ability to get a sense of their environment from where they stand over the 2nd dimension’s birds eye view of Link.
Another aspect of Zelda that the jump to 3D changed greatly was the combat. In The Legend of Zelda, every character is on your plane, since it’s 2D, in order to hit something you just need to face it, get in sword’s range and swing, it’s very simple. Even enemies like bats (or Keese for Zelda fans) were simple to hit.
However, when making the transition to 3D in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, now bats can fly above you! They move all over the place, you can’t just hit them easily with your sword anymore.
You can either wait for them to get within your height, and then swing.
Alternatively, the player can use the newly improved bow or slingshot. which in 2D shot straight forward, improving link’s range along the X or Y axis. In 3D they allow you to take aim and shoot at a point in 3 dimensional space, increasing range along the Z axis as well.
This new mechanic allowed the game developers to create new puzzles as well that involved having to look around the 3 dimensional environment, one example being shooting an eyeball hidden somewhere in the room in order to open the locked door
Now that Link could face any direction around him, the game developers for were worried about the sudden inability for players to easily orient Link towards his enemy in one of four directions he could face in 2D games. This caused them to develop a very important mechanic called Z Targeting, or just called “targeting” or “locking on” in other Zelda games. While holding the Z button towards an enemy, Link would automatically enter a combat mode, and as long as you held the button, he would face the enemy and every attack the player would throw out would be aimed at them. He would also circle around them when a direction is pressed, allowing for the player to easily obtain whichever angle they desired to strike the enemy.
Another way combat was changed was defeating enemies that had certain gimmicks.
In Zelda II, you couldn’t hit this enemy standing up because he had a shield blocking your sword.
So the solution was to crouch and hit him below the shield!
In 3D, the player’s options on how and where to hit their opponent greatly increases, you can hit them from below, above, the side, below and to the side, practically anywhere! In The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, an enemy called Armos can only be hit from behind, and the player must maneuver Link around it in order to be able to damage it.
In The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, you can use your glider to attack from above!
Now let’s look at sales, when it comes to consumer demand, which prevails: 2D or 3D?
According to Game Design Gazette, providing a list of the sales for each individual Zelda game, not including remakes or virtual console sales, along with Nintendo’s website listing the highest selling units, the best sold Zelda game is The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the wild, followed by Twilight Princess. The 3D Zeldas top the charts, but if we look at a graph, blue marking a 3D Zelda game, and red marking a 2D one, Majora’s Mask, Skyward Sword and The Wind Waker are all outsold by 2D games.
However, something worrisome for 2D Zelda fans is that the most recent 2D Zelda games: A Link Between Worlds and Tri Force Heroes are the 3rd and worst sold Zelda games, respectively. Inferring from this data, it seems the more lucrative approach in the modern video game market would be for Nintendo to head the Zelda series in a direction more 3D oriented. This is also especially because of Breath of the Wild’s massive success on the switch, going as far as to win The Game Awards’ game of the year award, and knocking the previous Zelda (Skyward Sword) out of the water sales wise.
I stated that the most recent 2D Zelda game was Tri Force Heroes, however that’s only half true. At a conference in Game Developer’s Conference, Hidemaro Fujibayashi revealed that before they started work on Breath of The Wild, he made a prototype for it in 2D, very reminiscent of the original NES The Legend of Zelda.
Several mechanics seen in the 2D prototype had made it into the official game, such as being able to shoot through fire in order to set your target on fire, cutting trees and using them as rafts, and even weapon design. A prototype is just one way that 2D can be used today. All of those mechanics working in 2D exhibits the fact that there is room for even more creativity in 2D Zelda games, and that them making a comeback may not be out of the question just yet.
