The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 has some important challenges to overcome, and Majora’s Mask gives a hint at how Nintendo can plan to face them.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 The trailer shows Link and Zelda exploring the depths of Hyrule Castle, discovering what appears to be Ganondorf’s own corpse before the body is revived and the castle appears to be taking off. And that’s basically all the fans know.
While there are ways to connect the games, The legend of Zelda generally has little continuity, with each installment being its own independent story, where Link starts from scratch and slowly becomes the Hero of Tim. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2, however, will be one of the few direct sequences released in the franchise’s history. As such, it will probably be necessary to make a move seen in one of the other sequels in the series, the acclaimed and scary Majora mask.
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Challenges faced by Breath of the Wild 2
Breath of the Wild 2 It faces Nintendo with some significant challenges after the first game saw Link awaken after a hundred-year sleep. It made sense for him to start with almost no power, with the character suffering from amnesia as he gradually mended his past and became the knight he was a century before. The explanation is simple, but it allows Link and Zelda to have a background story that is discovered during the game
Breath of the Wild 2 it doesn’t have that luxury. Assuming the next game takes place immediately after the events of the first, which the trailer seems to suggest, Link must be as powerful as he was when he defeated Calamity Ganon. Starting the game at this level of strength, however, would be limiting. It would not allow for a significant sense of progress or the fun of surviving in a world where the player is drastically defeated.
The same can be said of the Hyrule map. One of the best parts of the original Breath of the Wild he is slowly discovering the entirety of Hyrule, from the Gerudo Desert to the lava fields of Death Mountain. Nintendo will also have to find a way to make the world worth exploring again. This can present an even greater challenge than Link’s progression of power. Simply covering the map again and requiring players to unlock it would be tedious for players who have already explored it in the first game. Nintendo will need to find a reason within the universe so that Link is no longer aware of his surroundings, or at least access to a map of them.
The studio will also need to ensure that players have a new motivation to explore the regions they’ve seen, with Breath of the Wild 2 confirmed to be using the same map as the original. While Majora mask does not provide direct solutions to these problems, it had similar challenges that can give players a clearer idea of how Nintendo could face these challenges.
Majora mask
Majora mask is a direct sequence of Ocarina of Time. He faced a similar set of problems for Breath of the Wild 2: explaining how Link’s power was restarted after the events of Ocarina, and giving players a new world that’s worth exploring. Nintendo circumvented the global problem by defining Majora mask in an alternative version of Hyrule, Termina, which was also affected by the imagination of the Skull Kid wearing Majora’s Mask. However, none Ocarina nor Majora mask were open world, and Breath of the Wild 2The open world of can face a higher risk of repetition using the same basic structure as the first game.
Majora mask circumvented Link’s energy problem by having Skull Kid steal his Ocarina of Time at the beginning of the game and turning Link into a Deku Scrub. This plus Link’s out-of-water fish presence in Termina helped explain why the Hero of Time was so suddenly out of reach at the beginning of Majora mask, and helped the game to have a sense of steady progression that was unaffected by, but did not collide with, the story of Ocarina.
Applying Majora Mask to BotW2
There are a few ways Breath of the Wild 2 could follow the example of Majora’s Mask, some that seem to be suggested in the trailer as well. Over the Breath of the Wild 2 trailer, viewers can hear sounds that seem to be playing backwards, as a mysterious force moves through the castle.
This seems to imply that Breath of the Wild two will rely on the manipulation of time to solve some of its main challenges. For example, it is possible that Link and Zelda will be suspended in time for another hundred years, emerging to see a version of Hyrule that has been under Ganondorf for a century. Nintendo is unlikely to want to use the amnesia card again, but being hurled in time can also have effects on Link that can cause him to lose his powers, or at least some important items like the Master Sword.
It is also possible that Link could see himself cast into the distant past, with Ganon trying to lift Hyrule Castle off the ground and teleport him back in time to defeat the Sheikah directly, at which time Hyrule Castle probably would not have been built. During the height of the Sheikah civilization, even Link’s powers would likely be overcome by his technology.
A significant jump in time may also allow Nintendo to make major edits to the map of Breath of the Wild 2 it could make that world look worthy of being explored a second time. Alternative schedules have been one of the pillars of the Legend of Zelda franchise, and it seems likely that Ganondorf will have the advantage once again using some form of time manipulation early in the game.
Until more information is released by Nintendo, however, fans can only speculate. Considering the movements made in Majora mask and the similar challenges that Nintendo faces with Breath of the Wild 2However, fans can expect that the beginning of the story for the next game will see a sudden and significant change of some kind that will leave Link helpless and Hyrule drastically changed.
The sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is currently in development for the Nintendo Switch, with no confirmed release date.
