Next year will mark 40 years of The Legend of Zelda. The adventure game has now sprawled nearly four decades, over 30 games, and has become a staple of the culture. Nintendo has two of the biggest gaming IPs in this and Super Mario, and Mario got a small celebration for its 40th anniversary this year with the announcement of the movie sequel and the remasters of Super Mario Galaxy and its sequel. Zelda, meanwhile, hasn’t gotten an anniversary moment yet, and Nintendo would be foolish to let another one go by.
Nintendo Needs to Celebrate Zelda’s 40th in 2026
As mentioned, there was a bit of love, although not a ton, for Mario in celebration of the 40th anniversary. It paled in comparison to the 35th anniversary, which saw Super Mario 3D All-Stars (a remastered collection of 64, Sunshine, and Galaxy) in 2020 as well as Super Mario Bros. 35, a limited-time battle royale platformer that was utterly brilliant.
Zelda’s 35th anniversary, which came just after Mario’s got nothing from Nintendo, and so it wouldn’t be a surprise if the 40th came and went next year without anything. It would be a mistake, though, because the community is devoted and would be willing to buy a ton of things Nintendo put out.
It’s highly unlikely that Nintendo will drop a 3D All-Stars or any sort of remaster collection for Zelda. It was honestly a huge surprise that they did it for Mario given that they could’ve remastered each one and sold it for a similar price, thereby almost tripling their potential revenue. That is more in line with what they did with the Galaxy and Galaxy 2 package/remasters.
There have been rumors for basically forever about either a Twilight Princess and Wind Waker HD remaster, and in some cases, a collection of the two games. It’s possible that Nintendo would do that, but I believe there are other games more deserving of rereleases than those, since they’ve both been remastered at least once before.
The same is true of Ocarina of Time, so the most likely option for rerelease should be something that hasn’t been remade yet. A Link to the Past would be perfect. So would Oracle of Ages/Seasons or The Minish Cap, although Capcom’s involvement there might make it hard to bring that one back. Still, there are 2D topdown games that should be remade before 3D games that have already been remade.
Additionally, 2026 would be a perfect time to show off the movie’s first trailer. By the time this announcement happens, there will probably be enough information and enough production done for that to happen, so Nintendo can do what they did for Mario and showcase the trailer and announce whatever game.
Sadly, a new game is unlikely. The last new title came in 2024 with Echoes of Wisdom, and that was a surprisingly fast turnaround after 2023’s Tears of the Kingdom. It’s probably going to be a while before the next big mainline 3D game, but there are clearly plenty of remasters to tide everyone over. It probably won’t take six years like the gap between that and Breath of the Wild, but don’t expect a big one until at least 2027 in all likelihood (which lines up with the movie’s release year, too).
Conclusion
Zelda is nearly as big as Mario for Nintendo, but the franchise doesn’t quite get as much love. That’s not surprising, but it is an oversight that, if corrected, could be really fruitful for Nintendo. They missed the chance to do something almost five years ago, but time has a way of bringing nice round anniversaries back around soon. Nintendo would be wise not to miss this one.
