Canceled Zelda Game Starring Sheik Leaks in New Report

New details tied to a canceled entry in Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda franchise have recently leaked. At this current moment, a number of Nintendo fans are currently waiting to hear more about what Nintendo has to say with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2, which is slated to launch at some point next year. And while new information on that project might come about before 2022 comes to a close, we’ve now gleaned information on a Zelda spin-off that never saw the light of day. 

Coming by way of DidYouKnowGaming, a new report has shed light on a Zelda title that was previously in the works at Retro Studios. During the Nintendo Wii era, Retro, which is the studio that also worked on Metroid Prime and Donkey Kong Country Returns, was in the process of developing a Zelda game that was codenamed “Project X.” The game was never meant to be part of the mainline Zelda series and was poised to feature Sheik, which is the persona of Princess Zelda that she dons in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time to hide her own identity. 

While this idea on paper sounds greatly interesting, this mysterious Zelda project within Retro ended up falling apart somewhat quickly. Former Retro programmer Paul Tozour went referred to Project X as “an experiment gone wrong” and also said that much of the game wasn’t “anything like Zelda.” This was primarily due to the combat of Project X, which was likened to a “simplified version of Whack-A-Mole” that players carried out with the Wii controller. In short, the gameplay seems to have never been all that fun, which is one major reason why the game was eventually scrapped. 

The reason for Project X’s actual cancellation isn’t known, but it seems that the departure of key members of the development team at Retro contributed to the decision. While it would have been interesting to see a Zelda spin-off with Sheik in the central role, work on the game officially ended in the early part of 2008, making this merely a title that will only ever truly exist in our imaginations. 

Would you have been interested in playing this canceled Zelda game for yourself? Or is it probably better that this project ended up getting scrapped? Let me know for yourself either down in the comments or message me on Twitter at @MooreMan12.

[H/T IGN]