As 2016 goes along, "The Legend of Zelda" fans have been anxiously awaiting any type of news concerning the upcoming Zelda Wii U that was promised to them last year. It's been a difficulty road to be certain, as not only was Nintendo direct in saying that there would be no new Zelda title coming in 2015, but the recent Nintendo Direct previewed a plethora of upcoming games with "The Legend of Zelda" being noticeably absent.
This silence has been torture for fans, who started to question the status of the game, fearing the worst. However, producer Eiji Aonuma has broken his silence about the game and alleviated those fears while giving some much needed information about the title, ranging from its status to how he feels it stacks up to other "The Legend of Zelda" titles.
Aonuma said in an interview that the upcoming title has really taken shape and made comments likening his experience to that of his time working on "Skyward Sword," which appears to suggest that development is coming to a close.
"When we did Skyward Sword for the Wii, at the end stages of development, I was in charge of the characters' dialogue and the in-game text," Aonuma said. "And, now as well, it's like it was then. I had to work on text today, too."
"But, the game has really taken shape, and things have gotten easier. That means things are progressing well," he added.
He also mentioned "Ocarina of Time" during the interview, calling it the "base of the secret sauce" used when developing the latest title. In that vein, he said Nintendo hopes to deliver "something new" and surprising with the upcoming title and hopes that it will have the same kind of impact that "Ocarina of Time" did in 1998.
"Please look forward to it, because I think we'll be able to make 'something new' like Ocarina of Time was," Aonuma concluded.
The interview doesn't give anything major away, but then again, it didn't really have to. All that was needed was for Aonuma to generate some hype by giving a status update about the title which Nintendo has failed to do for months now.
In the meantime, there is still no estimate on when the game will actually be coming out. Substantiated rumors indicate that "The Legend of Zelda" for Wii U is slated for a holiday 2016 release, but what's not as clear is what console it would be coming out on. If you were to ask anyone informed about the subject at this same time last year, they would likely tell you that the game would launch on the Wii U. However, things have become complicated with persisting rumors suggesting that the Nintendo NX, the next generation of Nintendo gaming, is slated for a release within that time frame as well.
The two potentially launching at the same time opens the possibility for Zelda Wii U to skip the Wii U entirely and head straight to the NX. However, Nintendo has yet to skip a generation when it comes to LoZ games (Skyward Sword was released for the Wii, even when the Wii U was coming shortly after), and it wouldn't make sense for the company to suddenly spring a new AAA title and leave the vast majority of its player base in the dust. Instead, it's more likely that Nintendo will release the game for the Wii U and NX, much like it did in 2006 when it released "Twilight Princess" for both the Wii and GameCube.
Granted, this is speculation - educated, but speculation nonetheless. Nintendo can provide the answers that "Legend of Zelda" fans have been dying for, but assuming Nintendo doesn't do another Nintendo Direct beforehand, they'll have to wait until June 2016 during E3 at the latest.
