The Candidates – Light Fantasy
While it’s not necessarily part of the traditional Zelda formula, a light fantasy setting is a hallmark of all Zelda titles. It’s also common in Zelda clones.
Here are some franchises Nintendo could use if they stuck with the fantasy trope:
Child Icarus
Let’s start this list with perhaps the most obvious and viable option.
Kid Icarus is a criminally underrated arrow in Nintendo’s quiver. Although the series only includes three games (for NES, Game Boy, and 3DS), Pit is a well-known video game icon who could easily fill Link’s shoes. Kid Icarus: Uprising breathed new life into the franchise as a heart-pounding arcade action title, but it doesn’t take much imagination to imagine a Zelda-like entry in the Kid Icarus universe.
In fact, Nintendo’s biggest challenge is finding a way to differentiate a Kid Icarus-like Zelda from Zelda herself. And who knows, maybe the prospect of reinventing Kid Icarus once again will be enough to lure Masahiro Sakurai out of his early retirement. That is, if Nintendo hasn’t already tied him up with Smash Infinite.
Glory of Heracles
Believe it or not, Kid Icarus isn’t Nintendo’s only Greek-themed series. In 2010, Nintendo released Glory of Heracles for the DS, a JRPG developed by Paon DP.
To this day, Nintendo retains the copyright, although we haven’t seen anything of it since the DS release. It seems unlikely, but perhaps old Herc could be persuaded to star in a Zelda clone. After all, those seven tasks aren’t going to fulfill themselves.
Fire signs
Kid Icarus gets our vote purely for nostalgic reasons, but Fire Emblem wins based on name recognition alone. If Mr. Iwata were here, we think he would side with Pit, but [straightens tie] A spin-off of the Fire Emblem series would be a solid business decision.
Not only has the franchise already ventured into other genres, including JRPG (Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE) and hack and slash (Fire Emblem Warriors), but Intelligent Systems has proven time and time again that they are capable of creating absolute classics in any given genre. Examples include Mario Paint, Panel de Pon, Paper Mario, Pushmo/Pullbox and the underrated Battle Clash.
Also, imagine the puzzles Intelligent Systems could come up with for its Zelda clone!