Yesterday I stayed up to watch a Nintendo Direct live for the first time in…. Well…. Possibly forever? With 2021 marking 35 years of The Legend of Zelda franchise, surely the field was ripe for juicy Zelda news? Alas no, there were reveals for a number of games, some of which I’ll admit intrigued me (a Mario golf game is coming to the Switch), but most were underwhelming. I, like (I suspect) most fans, wanted news on the Breath of the Wild sequel, or some sort of tie-in to the 35th anniversary. Instead we got a brief chat about how news on the sequel was on its way, and the reveal of a Skyward Sword HD Switch version.

Of all the Zelda games, Skyward Sword is, for this meerkat at least, the singular most frustrating and repetitive entry. It’s the most structured entry too – every player will have to do exactly the same stuff (unlike Breath of the Wild and its glorious open world). Infuriating boss fights and arbitrary filler sequences to pad the game out all conspired to make Skyward Sword the least enjoyable Zelda game I’ve played. I know not everyone will share that view, but I wasn’t impressed at the news of the remaster.

Don’t get me wrong, there were some good elements to the game, but there weren’t enough of them to outweigh the bad. Why did Nintendo choose to remaster this, when there are other, older-yet-more-popular games, better games, worthy of getting a remake?

Nintendo may yet make more announcements. Given the fanfare over Mario’s 35th anniversary, Link and Zelda are bound to get more material. If not, I for one will feel very disappointed.