We Need A “Zelda Maker” – Here’s How It Could Work

Nintendo tasked players around the world with becoming the next Shigeru Miyamoto when Super Mario Maker was released for the Wii U, which instantly led to speculation that a Zelda Maker could be on the cards. The Legend of Zelda series is second behind Super Mario Bros. when it comes to iconic first-party Nintendo franchises, so it seemed like a natural progression for the concept.

The world was given a taste of a theoretical Zelda Maker when Link’s Awakening included a basic dungeon maker. In Link’s Awakening, the player could unlock rooms and encounters that could be chained together in order to build a dungeon. There were some fans who believed that this was a test run for a full-fledged Zelda Maker game. Nintendo has mentioned that a Zelda game is coming to smartphones at some point, and Zelda Maker could be saved for the mobile market.

There was one problem with this idea – the Dungeon Maker in Link’s Awakening was not very good. It was a half-baked attempt at a new mode, as it recycled content that was already in the game and the rewards for finishing it wasn’t worth the effort. Nintendo would need to pull out all of the stops with a full Zelda Maker, which would mean bringing it up to the same level of quality of Super Mario Maker 2, and we have some ideas of how they could go about it.

Follow The Super Mario Maker 2 Theme & World Model

It’s unlikely that a Zelda Maker would follow the 3D entries in the series. It would likely follow Super Mario Maker‘s example of focusing on the 2D titles, except that the Zelda versions would be top-down 2D. There have been lots of 2D Zelda titles released over the years, and all of them could be used to define the aesthetic of Zelda Maker.

Like Super Mario Maker, the Zelda Maker could use stage themes based on different 2D Zelda games. These could include the original The Legend of Zelda, Link’s Awakening (either the original or the Switch version), the Oracle games, A Link to the Past, A Link Between Worlds, and The Minish Cap. 

The latest update for Super Mario Maker 2 added Worlds to the game, which allowed players to string different stages together on world maps, similar to Super Mario Bros. 3. This is something that needs to be in a Zelda Maker from the start, as it would justify adding Heart Pieces to the game. This will give players a chance to develop chains of dungeons based around the gradual addition of items to the player’s inventory, in the same manner as the actual Zelda games.

Keep The Focus On Puzzles

The average Zelda dungeon generally consists of several elements – enemies, rupees, keys, and items. The usual idea is for a dungeon to add a new item, which is key to solving its puzzles and acts as a way of harming the boss. It’s a simple formula, but it has remained evergreen for over thirty years now.

This format needs to remain a key part of Zelda Maker, with an expectation that each dungeon requires the player to gather keys, fight enemies, and use special items to overcome obstacles. The series has a rich history when it comes to enemies and items that can be mined, and Nintendo should bring back as many as possible to allow for more complex designs. In terms of design, the game should offer the pre-made rooms from Link’s Awakening, but give players the opportunity to further alter them tile-by-tile, in the same manner as Super Mario Maker. 

The expanded depth of a Zelda game compared to a Mario game means that there is more scope for abuse by players, but Super Mario Maker had a built-in way of making sure people can’t upload impossible stages, by forcing the creator to finish it before it can be uploaded.

Online Modes (That Actually Work)

Nintendo has created several multiplayer Zelda games in the past, but they have been hamstrung by the poor online capabilities of the system they were tied to. Four Swords & Four Swords Adventure required a ridiculous amount of hardware to run, while Tri Force Heroes was tied to the Nintendo 3DS and its shoddy online services.

A Zelda Maker has the chance to deliver a true multiplayer Zelda experience, with players uploading dungeons for other people to challenge. It has the chance to make up for the issues with Super Mario Maker 2‘s online mode, as the game is still borderline unplayable when it comes to the multiplayer. The multiplayer dungeons could follow the Tri Force Heroes example and force groups of players to work in tandem in order to solve puzzles, resulting in absolute chaos. There could also be battle dungeons, where players team up to fight boss monsters. Players could also compete in time trials to see how long it takes to complete a dungeon (similar to the Ninji speedrun mode in Super Mario Maker 2) and try to place on online leaderboards.

About The Author

Scott Baird
(2522 Articles Published)

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Scott has been writing for Screen Rant since 2016 and regularly contributes to The Gamer. He has previously written articles and video scripts for websites like Cracked, Dorkly, Topless Robot, and TopTenz.
A graduate of Edge Hill University in the UK, Scott started out as a film student before moving into journalism. It turned out that wasting a childhood playing video games, reading comic books, and watching movies could be used for finding employment, regardless of what any career advisor might tell you. Scott specializes in gaming and has loved the medium since the early ‘90s when his first console was a ZX Spectrum that used to take 40 minutes to load a game from a tape cassette player to a black and white TV set. Scott now writes game reviews for Screen Rant and The Gamer, as well as news reports, opinion pieces, and game guides. He can be contacted on LinkedIn.

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