The Legend of Zelda, one of Nintendo’s most iconic, flagship series, is almost assuredly going to continue after its most recent outing, 2023’s incredibly successful Tears of the Kingdom. With no news (or even confirmation of) the next entry, it’s impossible to know what it’ll look like, whether it iterates on the more recent open-world formula, embraces the series’ more traditional trappings once again, or breaks new ground entirely. One thing almost guaranteed, though, is that the next Zelda game will feature the series’ ever-present hero, Link, and even an innocuous change to the protagonist could pay homage to his past.
Since The Legend of Zelda began in 1986, Link has been the main character, and he’s surprisingly undergone very little change since. He’s a Hylian – complete with pointed ears – practically never talks in-game, and has traditionally worn a green tunic and long, pointed cap. In fact, Link’s biggest character change in his entire history, discounting changes in art style like the radical shift to cel shading in The Wind Waker, is perhaps a new outfit, donning a bright blue tunic in his default appearance for Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. While a reversion to his traditional outfit is certainly in the cards, there’s an even more subtle detail that could make a comeback for the next Zelda: Link’s handedness.
Early artwork for Link had him holding his sword in both his right and left hands, and the in-game sprites from the 2D era were inconclusive. When The Legend of Zelda made the jump to 3D with Ocarina of Time, however, Link became a definitive southpaw, holding his sword in his left hand, and his shield in his right. It was Twilight Princess that made Link right-handed, but only for the Wii version, due to a majority of the world’s population being right-handed, thus holding the sword-controlling Wii Remote in their dominant hand. The GameCube version retained Link’s left-handedness, and this version survives in the more modern Twilight Princess HD on the Wii U.
The Wii version of Twilight Princess was certainly the oddity in the situation – instead of creating new models and animations for Link to be right-handed, the developers just mirrored the entire game. Skyward Sword adopted this right-handed Link, as its motion controls provided the same rationale, and Skyward Sword HD kept said motion controls as an option on the Nintendo Switch. Although they both are sans motion controls (except for gyro aiming), Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom followed suit, rounding out a right-handed 3D era following the Twilight Princess transitionary period.
Link’s handedness is ultimately inconsequential; gameplay has effectively no consequences pertaining to which hand Link wields a sword with. It is, however, a charming detail in the Zelda series’ history. Games overwhelmingly cater to right-handed players – practically every first-person shooter has the player character shoot like someone who’s right-hand…
2023-12-26 13:41:04
Source from screenrant.com
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