How The Wii Zapper Killed A Twilight Princess Sequel

A Twilight Princess sequel was originally planned... until Shigeru Miyamoto suggested including the Wii Zapper. Let's look at the story, and the resulting game.

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[Mr.Foxhat]

I have huge respect for Miyamoto as a creator, but I think he got his Zelda and Star Fox wires crossed. A Star Fox game with the zapper would've been much better.

[pixxlol]

The word ‘training’ really killed it. It doesn’t look like a bad game when you realize it’s not just shooting targets

[GraceAndGlorySmash]

I played it when it came out and remember being really let down when I realized how small the scope of the game was. When a game comes with its own accessory like that, I expect some substance. Donkey Kong Jungle Beat comes to mind. Crossbow training felt like it should've been a minigame inside a REAL Zelda game. Two hours of gameplay tucked inside a proper 40-something hour experience.

[ironmuro]

Never forget what was taken from us... Miyamoto has a weird track record with the Zelda games. Having to be corrected on lore by Aonuma in interviews, admitting to not really being too interested in the lore, then this. Now I like Link's Crossbow Training... but damn would I have prefered a proper Twilight Princess sequel. I really wish we would go back to previous eras in the Zelda Timeline more. Give us sequels to Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword set in their time periods.

[Spitfyre]

Miyamoto is a wacko, man.

"Make me a sequel for Twilight Princess. But dont forget to add the gun"

[Gigamex]

You know what games deserved the Wii Zapper? The Resident Evil Chronicles games. As on rail shooters, they would be perfect for making full use of it.

[ZeldaLore]

When you really think about it, we lost Twilight Princess 2 for a plastic accesory for the Wii.

Perhaps one day in the future we will see a sequel for the Hero of Twilight. Highly doubt it at this point though, the game would be so different from its predecesor, specially now that they are full on going open world and freedom. But who knows.

[valettashepard]

Miyamoto‘s interest in making a game fun above all else is something of a double-edged sword, and I feel as if his pedigree sometimes gives him too much power to dominate in the game development process. His mere suggestions carry more weight than entire teams’ worth of planning. Good gameplay is something that’s absolutely needed for a solid foundation for a game, but his insistence on story being unimportant is something I feel harms his projects in the long run. Link’s crossbow training is fun for a couple hours, but is a literal fire and forget experience; it’s the stories, the characters, the worlds and art, that really stick with you in the long run.

When people think of majora’s mask, they think of the hopelessness of the scenario, the endless repetition of the end of the world, the emotional impact of living in other people’s shoes, and the shame, horror, and tragedy of being introduced to a weird and wonderful world only for it to be robbed of its right to exist in a mere three days. The gameplay is important and makes a lot of this possible, but it’s the vehicle by which to experience this world, not its be-all end-all.

Miyamoto’s design philosophy often confuses the vehicle through which to experience things for the destination itself, and I feel that is a flaw he largely disregards.

[neuplop]

My family gifted me this instead of twilight princess cause they thought that was the same game. We returned it the next day.

[smokindukes]

Another majoras mask style sequel to ANY Zelda game is all I’ve wanted for 20+ years

[timg]

Miyamoto is a legend in the gaming world, and rightly so, but this is a good reminder that he's far from infallible.

[huyphan]

If I had a nickel for every time Miyamoto's obsession with superfluous novelty destroyed the artistic spirit of a promising project I'd have enough nickels to drown horribly

[jeltajink]

This is one of the cases where putting gameplay over everything can be bad. It may be fun and very replayable, but if there is nothing else it can feel empty and forgettable.

It's pretty similar to what happened with Four Swords Adventures. It was going to have a greater story, but Miyamoto said to focus on gameplay. Unused text reveals that it was possibly going to be a prequel to A Link to the Past with a more faithful interpretation of the Imprisoning War than Ocarina of Time. The final game seems to be fun, but nothing else.

[GeekMuscle]

I respectfully disagree with Miyamotos' decision

[Heavens_Rejected]

My best friend got this game and the zapper on a whim back then, the day I showed up to have a sleepover at his house.
It was so much fun passing the controller back and forth to see who could get the higher score!

[STRIKENSUN]

I got the game with the wii zapper as I was interested in the accessory. I still really enjoyed links crossbow training and platinum ranked and tried to perfect every stage when I got it. Was fun for a week or so. But I honestly thought at the time that it was just a tech demo for the wii zapper since it came with it. I honestly didn't know this was more or less the planned sequel to a game I enjoyed.

[l.d.walters]

I think Miyamoto made a poor decision with this one. We need a TP sequel

[coopsaf]

Links Crossbow Training was actually one of my favorites on the Wii! I played that game so much to get platinum in every category

[HylianBull]

I enjoyed Link's Crossbow Training. A few calibrations and a bunch of cuss words later I appreciated it for what it was.

[EvilExcalibur]

2:17 we probably have seen those stories already given the team's penchant for reviving old, discarded ideas in new games many years later such as the horseback combat from OOT showing up in TP. Or the dual timeline mechanic of OOT which was an idea from the early development of the very first Zelda game. In fact with how out of step SS was with the rest of the franchise on its first release I'd wager that that particular game was influenced by the development of Crossbow Training.