The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker Needs a Breath of the Wild-Style Remake
With rumors spreading about the Breath of the Wild sequel's release date still being a ways off, some fans are looking back at the series and debating on which game deserves a remake in the mean time. One of the most beloved installments in The Legend of Zelda is without a doubt The Wind Waker.
This beautifully rendered sea-faring expedition won the hearts of many thanks to its unique art style, fluid gameplay, and beautiful scenery. When remaking The Legend of Zelda titles, Nintendo should take some inspiration from itself and Breath of the Wild to create more rich open worlds, and The Wind Waker is the perfect title to remake under that philosophy.
Perhaps the most beautiful and mysterious part of The Wind Waker is the Great Sea. The vast, treacherous waters that stretch on and on hold many dangers and many treasures. The Wind Waker was so close to creating an open world for players to explore, but it fell short in terms of scale and depth. The islands that were scattered along the open waters each had unique designs, but felt far too small to be considered a real "new location" for Link to discover. If The Wind Waker's Great Sea could be expanded and filled with more islands that feature more in-depth challenges, mysteries, and treasures, then The Wind Waker could rise to be one of the greatest open-world games of all time.
While the Breath of the Wild sequel uses the same map, a Wind Waker remake would likely need a revamped map that would lean into the freedom of exploration. The original Wind Waker felt vast when playing it the first time, but there are several points where the game stops the player, telling them they cannot progress in a specific direction yet. For a game about fairing the open seas the player really needs to have true freedom to explore.
If they want to venture to the Forsaken Fortress to take on Ganon and the Helmaroc King then they should be at least allowed to try. While it would take some more loose storytelling, it could definitely be done. As mentioned in the next point, The Wind Waker is a story about starting from nothing and becoming a hero, so giving Link freedom to do that at any pace would greatly help build that narrative.
What separates The Wind Waker's Link from his other iterations is that Toon Link is not a destined hero. Toon Link is just a boy from Outset Island who proves he is worthy to be the next hero, despite the overwhelming tasks ahead of him. This small boy fought every evil that stood in his way to become a hero so he could save his sister (and later all of Hyrule), but the journey itself could be fleshed out more. This could be in the form of Link finding mentors or training grounds to hone his skills (like Shrines in Breath of the Wild) or it could be more dungeons - which Breath of the Wild featured few of.
A lengthy deep-dive on Link's journey from Outset Island kid to Hero of the Wind would be phenomenal and it would truly showcase that Link is worthy of being a hero. The original Wind Waker had this satisfying Hero's Journey, but it could be expanded more.
At the start of The Wind Waker, players are given a brief rundown of the rise of Ganon and the flooding of Hyrule. However, much of the story is lost to legend. Such little information is known about the world before the Great Flood, and The Wind Waker did little to flesh out that lost history even after discovering the sunken Hyrule Castle. The Wind Waker is already one of the most beloved entries in The Legend of Zelda series, and it could be even better by fleshing out the world that exists both pre-and-post flood. Link encounters several spirits of long-lost people, as well as a few ancient entities, that would be the perfect medium to introduce historical information. There is also a whole dungeon dedicated to being an ancient tower of the Gods which could also be a great avenue to flesh out the history of the land.
Much like in Breath of the Wild, The Wind Waker features several different races and story beats tied to them, but there is always room for improvement. There is a big plot hole with The Wind Waker that does not address what happened to the Gerudo people (aside from Ganon), so with an expanded map there would be room for additional side-stories that help flesh out the lost history of Hyrule.
The Great Sea actually held a good amount of puzzles and secrets for players to discover. From sunken treasure to secret fairy fountains, The Wind Waker had some great things for the curious adventurer to find. If The Wind Waker received a true remaster, this could be greatly expanded. Breath of the Wild featured the 100 Shrines as well as the hundreds of Korok seeds for players to find along their journey. As Korok's are native to the Great Sea, they could make a comeback, or they could be replaced with any number of different collectibles.
The Rito are also native to the Great Sea in The Wind Waker, so perhaps they could play a role in some new secrets or challenges for Link to complete. Each race was, for the most part, confined to one island during the original game, but if the map is expanded perhaps there could be members of each race throughout the map that offer new challenges to Link.
One of the most interesting and unique features in The Wind Waker was the figurine quest, which tasked Link with traversing the world and taking pictures of different people and monsters. While it was in no way impactful to the main quest of the game, it was an enjoyable side quest. Breath of the Wild featured a similar mechanic with the Sheikah Slate, but the figurines should definitely make a return in a Wind Waker remake. If the world were to feature more things to find and fight, then this quest would also be expanded. Or perhaps the quest could be remodeled to better fit the game - perhaps having unlimited picture storage for starters. Regardless, the Great Sea is a fantastic place to hide some secrets and any respectable Wind Waker remake should definitely have plenty of secrets to find.
Breath of the Wild's map is littered with powerful bosses that require Link to be strategic in his combat to best these foes. Unless someone had mastered Breath of the Wild's combat then these fights could turn sour quickly with one wrong move. The Wind Waker had a couple overworld bosses to take on, but none quite as threatening as a Lynel or a Talus. One roaming boss was Cyclos, the frog God of Wind, who Link had to defeat with a Bow and Arrow within a short amount of time or he would be whisked away by Cyclos' tornadoes.
Another was the Big Octo, which summoned powerful whirlpools that would pull Link in if he didn't defeat the Octo fast enough. Both were entertaining fights, but they were the only major world bosses that weren't confined to a dungeon. Hopefully Nintendo will add many more powerful bosses for Link to face as he explores the Great Sea.
There are many things that a Wind Waker remake could learn from Breath of the Wild, and for good reason. Breath of the Wild quickly became a massive hit, and to some one of the best Legend of Zelda games of all time. From the rich open world to the plethora of challenges and secrets, it's grown to be an instant classic. If Nintendo decides to do a remake of The Wind Waker, they should definitely give it the full Breath of the Wild treatment and make it the fantastic open world game that it deserves to be.
A remake for The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is not known to be in development at this time.
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