It looked like everyone was celebrating Zelda’s 35th birthday except Nintendo

It looked like everyone was celebrating Zelda’s 35th birthday except Nintendo

by
The Legend of Zelda celebrated its 35th anniversary on February 21, 2021, and many from around the world shared incredible and exciting memories of this beloved franchise. However, Nintendo itself was surprisingly quiet about Link’s last birthday. The Legend of Zelda was released for the NES in Japan on February 21, 1986, and started a series that many consider one of the best in all video games. As its 35th anniversary approached, many expected a big celebration for The Legend of Zelda, just as Nintendo celebrated the 35th anniversary of Super Mario Bros.Last Wednesday, for the first time since September 4, 2019, we received a suitable Nintendo Direct. Many expected and dreamed, especially with the occurrence just four days before Zelda’s 35th birthday, that we would hear about Nintendo’s plans to celebrate those who call Hyrule home. While we received the exciting revelation that The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD and thematic Joy-Con will be released on the Switch on July 16, the only other big Zelda news we received was that an update for Breath of the Wild 2 will arrive on end of this year and that Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity will receive an expansion pass.

Each IGN Zelda evaluation score

Nintendo’s social feeds did not mention The Legend of Zelda’s 35th anniversary on Sunday, February 21, although this is not particularly unusual for the company. To put it in context, although Nintendo also didn’t celebrate Metroid’s 30th anniversary on Twitter in 2016, celebrated the 35th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. on twitter on the actual date.

However, that hasn’t stopped many, including those at IGN (and me!), From sharing wonderful memories of how much Link, Zelda and Hyrule mean to them.

Now, it is very important to remember that we are still in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic and that the plans have obviously been affected by it. Another important thing / date to consider is March 31, 2021. This seems to be the date on which the celebration of the 35th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. will come to an end. This will also be the time when Super Mario 3D All-Stars is apparently removed from the Nintendo eShop and when Super Mario Bros. 35 will become impossible to play.It may well be that Nintendo is waiting for Mario’s party to end before joining one for The Legend of Zelda. That said, it should also be mentioned that 2021 is Metroid’s 35th birthday and the already provoked 25th birthday of Pokémon, which falls on February 27, 2021. Will we have a Nintendo Direct theme to celebrate Pokémon this week? Will we hear more about the long-awaited Metroid Prime 4 this year? Only time will tell.

If we look at Nintendo’s past, it didn’t always celebrate a franchise’s anniversary on the exact date. For example, The Legend of Zelda’s 30th anniversary was not fully revealed until September 2016, when it was revealed that Zelda amiibo special was on the way and that Skyward Sword was available on the Wii U eShop.

While we may not yet know all of Nintendo’s plans, or if we have already seen them, The Legend of Zelda is obviously very important to them and continues to be, given the anticipation of the Breath of the Wild sequel. But for now, everyone is celebrating The Legend of Zelda’s significant anniversary and we hope to celebrate another 35 years and beyond.

Do you have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Send an email to [email protected].

Adam Bankhurst is an IGN news writer. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Source