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Should Nintendo officially retcon Ocarina of Time? [roundtable]
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Dictionary.com said:retcon
/ret'kon/ [short for `retroactive continuity', from the Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.comics] 1. n. The common situation in pulp fiction (esp. comics or soap operas) where a new story `reveals' things about events in previous stories, usually leaving the `facts' the same (thus preserving continuity) while completely changing their interpretation. For example, revealing that a whole season of "Dallas" was a dream was a retcon. 2. vt. To write such a story about a character or fictitious object. "Byrne has retconned Superman's cape so that it is no longer unbreakable." "Marvelman's old adventures were retconned into synthetic dreams." "Swamp Thing was retconned from a transformed person into a sentient vegetable." "Darth Vader was retconned into Luke Skywalker's father in "The Empire Strikes Back".
Bear with me on this. I know that Ocarina of Time has seen many releases. There was its original release, plus its Player's Choice/Million Seller release on the N64 (which, for all intents and purposes, we'll count as one release, since the changes made in its rerelease were superficial). There was also its release on the Master Quest disc on Gamecube, which fans will remember if they pre-ordered Wind Waker. Nintendo also released Ocarina of Time in a Zelda compilation on Gamecube, which also featured Majora's Mask and the two NES Zelda games. The game was THEN released on the Wii's Virtual Console, and less than two years ago, the game saw an enhanced port/remake on the 3DS. Now, I'm not saying that Nintendo needs to rerelease Ocarina of Time anytime soon. What I'm talking about can happen many years from now. However, since the release of Hyrule Historia, we now know Nintendo's official interpretation of the Zelda timeline. At the end of Ocarina of Time, the timeline essentially splits into three. Timeline A.) Link falls in the last battle with Ganon, and Hyrule goes into decline. A war takes place to seal away Ganon (though it is not explained whether or not a new Link is involved) Timeline B.) Link successfully defeats Ganon, and Hyrule as it exists in Adult Link's timeline continues on without him. Timeline C.) Link successfully defeats Ganon, and Link returns to being a child, so Ganon never obtained the Triforce in the first place. If Nintendo wants to explain ANY of that in a game, how should they do this? As I see it, there are a couple ways they could handle it: Option 1: In a future rerelease of Ocarina of Time or Ocarina of Time 3D, Nintendo offers up different endings to the game: In this scenario, we deal with a new version of Ocarina of Time. It likely either receives yet another graphical overhaul, or maintains many of the assets of OoT 3D. This game contains a 'bad ending' in which Link loses. Whether or not such an ending is optional would be up to Nintendo. Perhaps it's not unlike some of the Castlevania games, where you have to see a bad ending before you can play to the game's 'true' finale. Perhaps you lose the final battle, but then wake up in the Sacred Realm, where Rauru and Zelda explain that you have fallen. Due to magical interference or other mumbo jumbo, that world is beyond saving, and the only way to defeat Ganon is for them to send Link back to the moment before the battle. Perhaps you have to do a little sidquest to get the light arrow. As an idea, they could simply have you try to fight Ganon before you play through the dungeon remixes in Ganon's Tower. You fight to Ganon and lose to him. You then have to go through that final remixed dungeon and obtain the Light Arrow, and are now fully equipped to defeat him and get the true ending. It wouldn't be unlike in the original Zelda, where you CAN confront Ganon without the prerequisite equipment. In another ending to the game (where you defeat Ganon), they rewrite Zelda's dialogue. She basically explains that Link will get the chance to relive his life as a child, and regain the seven years that he missed in his slumber earlier in the game. She also explains that even though she can send him back, HER world will continue on, because the powers of the Ocarina of Time are limited when anyone but Link uses it. It really doesn't have to make all that much sense - it would just have to be some time travel babble that explains that the timeline will be split in two. They could even do a split screen of what exactly is happening. Option 2: Create a new game that explains Nintendo's new Timeline TheoryIn a new game, it starts off like a combination of Symphony of the Night and Mega Man X. You start off in the final battle with Ganon, being thrown RIGHT into the thick of things. Things play out similarly to the way they did in Ocarina of Time. However, there's no way you can defeat Ganon (much like Mega Man X' first battle against Vile). Ganon stops Link, and he maintains power of Hyrule for a short time. Zelda goes off into hiding, using her guise as Shiek to stay hidden among the remaining citizens of Hyrule. She goes on her own adventure and rallies the people and armies of Hyrule together, as they work together to seal Ganon away. With Link's absence, this proves to be quite difficult. Where before, only one hero stood in Ganon's way, now Zelda must rely on herself and a new alliance to put Ganon away for good. That doesn't really HAVE to be the plot of the game. Perhaps you take control of Ganon from the very beginning, and you play an entire game from his perspective. The game could be darker, and have kind of a melancholy ending, as Ganon inevitably gets sealed away by the end of the game. We see how Ganon continues to transform from a cunning thief into more of the pig like beast that we see in a Link to the Past, the Oracle games, and the NES games. However the game plays out, all that matters is that it establishes a new story arc in which Link falls at the hands of Ganon.
Is this something Zelda fans even WANT Nintendo to touch? From a story perspective, there's a TON to mine here. There's also room for a lot of new gameplay opportunities, as Nintendo has given themselves a window where games can exist without Link. New gameplay tropes, new characters, new styles of gameplay, etc. If Nintendo retcons OoT, would you rather see them do that in a future rerelease of Ocarina of Time, or possibly in a new spin-off game? Or possibly both? Maybe this sealing war could be some sort of strategy game where you control the various armies of Hyrule. Maybe it could even be some sort of multiplayer game where the player creates their own character, be it Zora, Gerudo, Hylian, or Goron. OR, is this something that's better left in the history books? Is it simply time to just move forward and put all this timeline stuff behind us? Would such a retcon only confuse future (and old) players who don't want to concern themselves with any of this? What direction do you think Nintendo should take? Should they even take a direction? URL to share (right click and copy)
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02/11/13, 19:44 Edited: 02/11/13, 19:49
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