The recent Nintendo Direct is the first of this year to show off what Nintendo and some of the Switch's bigger developers have in store for players. With some major Nintendo anniversaries happening this year, fans expect big things in what's mostly been a somewhat underwhelming celebration so far. After Mario's big birthday last year, it's now Link's turn to celebrate as the Legend of Zelda franchise turns 35. The celebration, of course, wouldn't be complete without a new remaster.

While we wait for news on Breath of the Wild 2, Nintendo is planning to release a remastered version of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, which originally came out for the Wii and Wii U. It's a good game, and they're even keeping the motion controls of the original albeit improved for the Switch. However, another, more classic game that perhaps should have gotten a remaster treatment instead: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.

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Skyward Sword is the first game in the mixed-up Hyrule timeline, so it makes sense for it to be remastered as a celebration of Link's encroaching middle-age. However, it's definitely not one of the more popular LoZ titles in the catalog, and with the success of the remake for Link's Awakening, many are now waiting for the SNES classic to make a return. This year would have been the perfect time for it, but sadly fans will have to continue waiting.

A Link to the Past was a major success when it was released in 1991 for the Super Nintendo and quickly became one of the best-selling games on the system. It ranked first on Nintendo Power's top games list for five years in a row and was maintained as one of the top games for years across Nintendo platforms. In the magazine's final issue in 2012, it did a countdown of the top 285 games in Nintendo history, with A Link to the Past coming in 2nd. Skyward Sword ranked 11th; comparatively, Super Mario Galaxy ranked 3rd despite being released in the same generation.

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Skyward Sword is also still from a relatively newer generation of consoles. That's why they're even retaining the motion controls for the Switch version. Meanwhile, A Link to the Past has only ever seen one remaster in its lifetime, and it was only available in a pair with Four Swords for the Game Boy Advance. While this version of the game was still well-received, there were various changes, making it different from the original. Power-ups were added which could only be obtained by playing Four Swords and vice versa. The audio wasn't as clear compared to the SNES version, and some of the sound effects were changed to use ones from Ocarina of Time. Finally, the controls were changed because the GBA was missing two extra buttons compared to standard SNES controllers.

After seeing how beautiful and fun the Link's Awakening remaster is, it's a shame Nintendo won't be remaking this SNES classic in a similar style. A remix of the music in a similar style, the graphics and just the way the game could play similarly would have been perfect for the LoZ anniversary. Even better would have been to have it done in an engine similar to Square Enix's Octopath Traveller or new Project Triangle Strategy combining the old and new.

Skyward Sword isn't a bad game. As discussed in the Nintendo Direct, it has many of the first versions of Breath of the Wild mechanics, and motion features will hopefully be more fluid on the Switch. Honestly, it's about time we get more movement-based controls and features for the Joy-Cons, but it's not the ideal Zelda remaster for Link's 35th birthday.

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