When Nintendo released its latest The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom Monday’s trailer made it increasingly clear just how much the new game references the rest of the iconic franchise. Echoes of Wisdom will be released on September 26 for the Nintendo Switch, but there is already plenty to analyze before then.
Of the two different Zoras together, something that has not been seen since The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of the Agesand the Bind ability, which is basically Ultrahand, Echoes of Wisdom wants to draw from the franchise’s rich history to create a game that moves the series forward.
It’s common for The Legend of Zelda games to use similar formats and reference each other, but here’s what caught our eye in Echoes of Wisdom.
The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening
Image: Grezzo/Nintendo
The most obvious comparison with Echoes of Wisdom is 2019 The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening — it has the same top-down, 3D look that depicts Hyrule and its people in a cute, playful art style. But Link’s Awakening is a remake of the original 1993 game for Nintendo’s Game Boy system, and Echoes of Wisdom is a completely new game, with new ideas.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon
As two of the most recent Zelda games, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild And The Legend of Zelda: Kingdom Tears are still fresh in our memories — and probably in those of Echoes of Wisdom‘s developers too. You can see influences from the two open-world games in the new game’s UI and menus: they’re not exactly the same, but the core of the design is there. Furthermore, you can see the essence of these games — specifically Tears of the Kingdom – in Echoes of Wisdom‘s gameplay. One of the core pieces of Tears of the Kingdom is that your journey is different from that of another player; there are so many different ways to solve puzzles or travel through Hyrule.
This seems to be the case with Echoes of Wisdomalso. Zelda’s Tri Rod lets her use an ability called Echoes, which adds copies of objects or enemies to the world. You use these, instead of a sword, to fight and solve puzzles. Paired with the Bind ability, which is essentially Ultrahand from Tears of the Kingdomthe types of solutions that can be devised seem endless.
Image: Nintendo
Link can also be seen in the original Echoes of Wisdom trailer featuring a cape and a bow and sword with designs that, well, echo the Zonai elements of Tears of the KingdomThe Zonai eventually played a major role in Tears of the Kingdom after being set up in Breath of the Wilderness.
Finally, Echoes of Wisdom applications Breath of the Wilderness‘S And Tears of the Kingdomnaming conventions for various locations, such as the use of Eldin Volcano instead of Death Mountain from previous games.
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of the Ages
Image: Nintendo
There are two different types of Zora that occur in The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of the Ages, the 2001 Game Boy Color game: a type of Zora that lives in the river, and another that lives in the sea. These two Zoras are in conflict with each other in Oracle of the Ages — and that conflict seems to still be going on Echoes of Wisdom.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
The Ganon that appears in Echoes of Wisdom looks a lot like Ganon from the 1991 Super Nintendo Entertainment System game The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Pastwhich is a similar Ganon as in Oracle of the Ages. It is a pig-faced, blue Ganon with horned armor and a red cape. However, the weapon Ganon uses in Echoes of Wisdom is a two-headed trident, not a single-headed one as depicted in A link to the past. Remarkable, there is a double-bladed trident in Link’s Awakeningwhen Link fights the Shadow Nightmare.