The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is an incredible recreation and we in all probability might maintain taking part in it ceaselessly, however as you would possibly recall, it is now been nicely over 5 years since this newest entry within the collection was launched (and subsequent March will mark six). Yes, we’re speaking about model new adventures right here – in order that’s not together with remakes like Skyward Sword HD or spin-offs.

With this in thoughts, right now marks the “longest ever hole” in “new” releases within the historical past of The Legend of Zelda collection. The earlier document was the time between the Game Boy traditional Link’s Awakening (1993) and the N64 hit The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998). This truth was highlighted by the Twitter account ‘BombosMedallion‘ – noting the way it was roughly 5 years, 5 months, and 15 days between these explicit titles:

This new hole between releases is about to get even larger – with Nintendo asserting earlier this yr it will be delaying The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 till Spring 2023. No actual date has been locked in but, so that is topic to alter. It’s additionally value contemplating the truth that the world was turned the other way up over the previous few years because of the pandemic, and improvement schedules at recreation corporations across the globe have not all the time gone to plan.

When the sequel was delayed earlier this yr in March, collection’ boss Eiji Aonuma talked about how the group wished this subsequent expertise to be “one thing particular”. The sequel to BOTW was initially introduced approach again at E3 in 2019. And as video games get larger and higher with new tech and bigger open worlds, wait occasions on big-budget titles comparable to Zelda will doubtless get longer.

One different Nintendo collection that is been in a prolonged improvement cycle is Metroid Prime – with the fourth entry’s improvement being scrapped and restarted alongside Retro Studios in 2019. Other video games like Grand Theft Auto V and even The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim have spanned throughout three console generations – and have now been ported to a number of platforms. So video games will not be solely taking longer, however in some instances, they’re hanging round for a for much longer time – with post-launch DLC and help.

How do you are feeling ready this lengthy for a brand new mainline Legend of Zelda recreation? Is 5 plus years in between new releases too lengthy for such an necessary Nintendo franchise like Zelda, or are you cheerful for Nintendo to take as a lot time because it wants? Let us know within the feedback.