‘The Legend Of Zelda: Majora’s Mask’ Remake Confirmed For Nintendo 3DS, Coming Spring 2015
Nintendo fans found new reason to rejoice on Wednesday as the Japanese gaming giant announced that a remake of The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask would be coming to the company’s Nintendo 3DS portable console.
The news came directly from Nintendo on Wednesday with the company announcing the forthcoming game on its dedicated Nintendo Direct video channel. The Majora’s Mask remake is currently set for release in the spring of 2015.
Zelda fans have been clamoring for a remake of Majora’s Mask for years now as the darker Zelda game is considered something of a departure from previous installations in the Legend of Zelda series. As Polygon notes, Majora’s Mask was a follow-up to the wildly successful The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. That game saw a remake for the 3DS in 2011, but Nintendo has always remained coy on whether or not Ocarina of Time‘s darker sibling would be coming to the portable space.
“[W]e set out to maintain the original level of challenge, while keeping the game accessible for anyone,” Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said of the Majora’s Mask remake. “So we also focused on making sure the gameplay experience was as smooth as possible.”
The Legend of Zelda series has consistently proven a moneymaker for Nintendo, and it ranks up alongside the company’s Mario games as a consistent draw for fans and mover of systems. As such, the series has seen regular additions and updates of older titles as Nintendo’s console technology has progressed. In order to gin up support for its Wii U system, in fact, Nintendo has reportedly considered updating two other Legend of Zelda games — Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword — for release on newer, HD-capable hardware. The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker has already seen release in an HD version on the Wii U hardware.
Majora’s Mask, though, will be appearing on the 3DS, a system which debuted to somewhat weak sales due to an initially high cost and a dearth in software offerings. The 3DS eventually took off, though, and Majora’s Mask will likely only serve to boost sales as fans of the darker Zelda installment pick up 3DS units to play through the classic title once again.
Even with the assumed success of the Majora’s Mask remake, Nintendo still has a perilous road ahead of it. The gaming giant has only just recently made it out of a truly dark period following a collapse in sales for its last-generation hardware, the Nintendo Wii, and slow sales for the current-generation Wii U. Wii U sales have picked up in recent months, and Nintendo is back to turning a small profit, though considerably less than it was making during the Wii’s heyday.
Majora’s Mask isn’t the only Legend of Zelda property Nintendo is counting on to reverse its recent fortunes. The company stole the show at E3 this year with an open-world HD Zelda title that showcases the power of the Wii U. There’s no word of yet on when that Zelda title will come to Nintendo’s consoles, though.
