New Zelda Tease Is Exactly What Nintendo Fans Wanted to Hear

A new tease from Nintendo tied to The Legend of Zelda franchise is exactly what fans were hoping to hear. During its recent Switch 2-focused Direct, Nintendo announced that it would be adding GameCube games to the upcoming console by way of Nintendo Switch Online. One of the first GameCube games that will be brought to the service is that of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, which has also been heavily rumored to be remastered or ported to Switch hardware in recent years. Fortunately, for those who would still like to see a remaster of The Wind Waker on Switch 2, it doesn’t seem like this version of the game coming to Switch Online will prevent it from happening.

During a recent episode of Kinda Funny Games Daily, host Tim Gettys said he talked to Nintendo SVP Nate Bihldorff during the Switch 2 reveal event and asked about whether or not The Wind Waker appearing on NSO would lead to the Wii U version of the game never getting ported to new hardware. Gettys said that Bihldorff was quick to rule this out and made clear that the Switch Online iteration of The Wind Waker won’t impact a decision by Nintendo to bring the remastered version of the title to Switch or Switch 2. While this doesn’t mean that The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD is guaranteed to ever hit these platforms, it leaves the possibility open at the very least.

“I did ask if having The Wind Waker on Nintendo Switch Online precludes it from the Switch 2 getting the actual Wii U port at some point, and [Bihldorff] was very quick to say ‘no, all options are on the table,’” Gettys reported. “Obviously, nothing’s confirmed one way or another, but there are many examples of games that are on Nintendo Switch Online and you can get them in a different way, whether it’s a remake, or the same port version or whatever it is. So, interesting that they didn’t say it’s not happening, but essentially it was ‘never say never’, it’s Nintendo.”

Over the past few years, rumors and reports have continued to suggest that Nintendo has already finished porting both The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess to Switch. For one reason or another, though, it has opted to sit on these ports rather than release them to the public. Assuming that this is true, it could indicate that Nintendo was simply waiting for the arrival of the Switch 2 to finally let these HD versions of the beloved Zelda games loose. Whether or not this will happen remains to be seen, but there’s reason for fans to keep hope alive moving forward.

[H/T VGC]