What the Heck Happened to 2D Zelda?

Something weird has been going on with 2D (or "top-down") Zeldas for nearly two decades now. Let's talk about it.

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TWOOTER: @ArloStuff

This video was edited by the lovely Kane!

Additional footage credits:

"Reloaded Installer #11" by LHS.

[_Teej_]

Spirit Tracks music was so solid that 12 years later the overworld music still plays in my mind everytime I ride a train or bus

[cluesagi]

Now Nintendo is going to make a 2D Zelda exclusively controlled by the Ring Fit ring just to mess with you

[CosmicTornado]

Seeing Arlo not understand the Lorule counterparts really hurt me. I think they're cool concepts with a hero who lacks courage and needs to rely on others, a princess who was foolish enough to trust a conniving villain because she was desperate to save her kingdom, and the fabulous Yuga, who is just perfect with using a bad situation for his own gain. The entire point of Lorule existing is show what could come of Hyrule if the main three stabilizing factors are lost; no wisdom leads to the allowance of corruption, no courage leads to no safety, and no power leads to the destruction of an entire country in the hopes of seizing the lost power from another. ALBW's story is about how the one's who didn't lose their way show those who have how to regain and keep it. That ending cutscene is just so powerful when Link and Zelda restore hope to the fallen kingdom of Lorule. ALBW may not have had a unique overworld, but I feel that it used that to its strength by showing something familiar but telling a story that's totally different.

[fernando]

You know, since Capcom developed the Oracle games and Minish Cap, Nintendo hasn't made a Zelda game that scratches Arlo's itch since Link's Awakening. Now that's a different perspective.

[doommustard]

Arlo: Nintendo blessed us with another 2d Zelda
Me: you mean capcom, look it says it right there on the screen. That's what happened to 2d Zelda games: capcom stopped making them

[TheClodGamer]

“When you have to wait 17 years wondering why things won’t go in your direction you have to wonder if they ever will again” - every starfox fan since 64.

[drumstep]

When Arlo mentioned waiting for the next 3ds Zelda, I was legitimately expecting him to say "and we didn't get one." I completely forgot triforce heroes existed, and the lack of feeling anything when watching the trailers for it was exactly how I felt too.

[dragoonfunykid]

Phantom Hourglass just has a special place for me. Being able to draw on maps was the simplest and coolest thing for me. That's mostly because I left the US for a couple years and didn't want anything to happen to my DS. I left it at my parents place. Never beat phantom before I left. When I remembered it after I got back, I booted it up, and had completely forgotten I had left notes everywhere for my future self to pick back up where I left off. That was just pure simple joy

[thisisasupersayin]

I love how "Noah" is just the regular puppet with different clothes when getting different puppet for a different character would have been more convincing. It's like Arlo is really selling the picture that the puppet IS the one running the channel, since making a new character just by wearing different clothes is a thing Youtubers do.

[kens]

The dark world is literally the sacred realm but with ganon’s influence. Lorule is a parallel world to Hyrule. It always existed along side Hyrule, but we didn’t know that yet until A Link Between Worlds.

[garvensman]

Don’t forget, Link Between Worlds started off as a remake of Link to the Past. That’s why it’s so similar.

[Skelatox]

"I watched the reveal of the latest game and felt... nothing."

As a years-long Pokemon fan... I feel you.

[thecheesemeister]

“Arlo the Redditor doesn’t exist, he can’t hurt you”

Arlo the Redditor:

[Hawlo]

Waiting patiently for that Minish Cap remake.

[byrne]

I'm a DS kid and I get what you are saying about Spirit Tracks. But ho man that game gives me massive nostalgia, and I will forever love it.

[TheRealKirbo]

Someone giving Minish Cap the credit it deserves
That is beautiful, someone giving it the love it deserves.

[swimmyswim]

Spirit Tracks is such a criminally underrated game that it makes me want to write up my own 5-paragraph persuasive essay.

[warehouselead]

I'm sad you didn't like Lorule. I really enjoyed it. I liked it's characters and it made me excited to think of what other characters' Lorule counterparts might be like. I loved the imaginative adventures it sent me on.

[JohnnyCellos]

I really wish they would release remasters of the DS Zelda games with more traditional controls. Switch would actually be perfect for this because you could still utilize the touch screen for certain aspects

[jib]

The Oracle games were amazing, yet I barely hear anyone talk about them. I'm glad someone brought them up again.