Canceled Zelda Game from Retro Studios Gets New Details

Retro Studios is best known to Nintendo fans as the team behind the Metroid Prime series, but the developer has made several attempts to work on a Zelda game as well. Last year, it was revealed that the developer once pitched a Zelda game focused on Sheik, but now DidYouKnowGaming has pulled back the curtain on another game, which Retro pitched to Nintendo in 2004. The game would have released on Nintendo DS, and the pitch took heavy inspiration from Final Fantasy Tactics. Titled "Heroes of Hyrule," the game was never officially approved by Nintendo, so development never went beyond the planning stages.

The video from DidYouKnowGaming detailing Heroes of Hyrule can be found embedded below.

Like the team's Sheik pitch, Heroes of Hyrule would not have put players in the role of Link. Instead, players would have assumed the role of a boy named Kori that discovers a mysterious book. 100 years prior to the events of the game, Ganon captured Zelda, and after trying to free her, Link was captured as well. However, three of Link's friends, a Goron (Dunar), a Rito (Seriph), and a Zora (Krel), teamed up to rescue him. Each hero would have represented one aspect of the Triforce. After saving the day, Ganon retreated to a mystical spell book, but his spirit became stuck. Unable to burn the book, the heroes ripped out the pages, scattering them across the land in an effort to prevent Ganon from ever returning.

The game would have started in a traditional Zelda style, with players controlling Kori. After discovering the book, Kori begins reading about the past of Hyrule. During these segments, the game would switch to strategy-inspired gameplay, which would have made up about 2/3 of the adventure. The other 1/3 would have focused on Kori completing tasks for the people around town in exchange for more pages of the book, unaware that rebuilding it would lead to Ganon's return.

All of this information was contained in a 22-page pitch obtained by DidYouKnowGaming. From everything in the video, it looks like it could have been quite promising, but it clearly wasn't meant to be. Still, Zelda fans should definitely give it a watch!

Are you disappointed Heroes of Hyrule didn't pan out? Do you think the game had a cool premise? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!