One of the misconceptions about Nintendo titles is simply that “Nintendo makes them.” It’s a bit more nuanced than that. The Big N has numerous internal teams that work on specific franchises and titles, and you can look deeper into those teams and even certain studios to find out who makes your favorite titles. For example, the upcoming Legend of Zelda Echoes of Wisdom is one that many people are looking forward to, and would likely think that “Nintendo” or Eiji Aonuma’s team helped bring the title to life. However, that’s actually not who did it. Instead, it was a different gaming team that they trusted to make it.
That team, as noted by the tweet below, would be Grezzo. That name should sound familiar to some of you, as they’ve worked on numerous entries of this franchise in the past, including a certain “Awakening” that appeared on Switch and did incredibly well. When you add that to the various remasters they’ve done of past titles, you can see why Nintendo would trust them to do something new. If nothing else, they were “testing” them before, and then they gave them the green light to go big when they earned their trust.
That does feel like what’s happening with The Legend of Zelda Echoes of Wisdom, as this is a big and bold new direction for the series. In it, Link gets consumed by a mysterious rift, and it’s up to Princess Zelda to save her kingdom. One of the “big swings” that Grezzo is taking is not only having Zelda as the main character but having her abilities 90% different from Link.
One of the key abilities she has is making “Echoes” of items and beings she comes across, which the player can use to solve all manner of puzzles, defeat enemies, or overcome obstacles. Plus, while she does get a “Swordfighter Form,” it’s a limited-time power-up, so it’s more there for nostalgia than anything else.
As we’ve also seen in past trailers, this version of Hyrule is entirely new and combines many of the places and races you’ve seen in the past. But there are also new areas like the “Still World” for you to go to, and that’s where you’ll find the classic-style dungeons and bosses.
Should this work out for Grezzo, it could give Nintendo confidence that they can do big, original games like this on their own and reap the rewards. Thus, they could have something made for Switch 2 soon enough.
