The Legend of Zelda is one of Nintendo's biggest franchises going back to the original NES game in 1986. It's also a rare Nintendo property with major titles handled by third-party developers. While the expansive Super Mario franchsie has spin-offs like Mario Party by Hudson Soft or the Mario & Luigi RPG series by AlphaDream, The Legend of Zelda has a history of outsourcing traditional games to developers like Capcom. One of the best of the bunch is The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap.

The Nintendo Switch has been a bastion for Zelda games since 2017, launching alongside a genre-defining open-world game in Breath of the Wild. Since then, fans have been graced with Skyward Sword HD, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, Cadence of Hyrule, and Link's Awakening - Grezzo's HD remake of the beloved Game Boy game. Even among the third-party devs working on most of these titles, such as Brace Yourself Games and Koei Tecmo's Omega Force, Grezzo stands out for a long history of working with The Legend of Zelda, and a remake of The Minish Cap could be perfect for the studio.

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Grezzo's History With The Legend of Zelda

Link's Awakening Marin

Grezzo was founded in 2006 and headed by Koichi Ichii, known for work on the Final Fantasy and Mana franchises at Square. Its first big project was Line Attack Heroes, a WiiWare action beat-em-up released in 2010. Soon after that the studio would really make itself known with Ocarina of Time 3D; a remake of the acclaimed N64 game released for 3DS in 2011. That remake is well-regarded for improving the original's controls and flow thanks to additions like swapping items on the touch screen - a particular boon for activating Iron Boots in Ocarina's infamous Water Temple.

That was only the beginning of Grezzo's partnership with Nintendo for Legend of Zelda games and beyond. The same year as Ocarina of Time 3D, Grezzo would also put out Four Swords Anniversary Edition via DSiWare, and then four years later it completed the N64 duology with Majora's Mask 3D. A multiplayer-focused game in the style of A Link Between Worlds called Tri Force Heroes also launched in 2015, which was a wholly original adventure. Then Grezzo went back to remakes, including a 3DS port of Luigi's Mansion in 2018, Link's Awakening on Switch in 2019, and Miitopia on Switch in 2021.

The Minish Cap's Prominance as a 2D Zelda Game

Zelda Fan Shows Off Impressive Stained Glass Window Based on Minish Cap

Long before Grezzo hit the scene, Nintendo did work on its major franchises with Capcom through a now-defunct developer named Flagship. Also known for games like Kirby and the Amazing Mirror and Kirby: Squeak Squad, Flagship developed Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons for Game Boy; both releasing in 2001 with stories that fed into one another. Capcom then released a Game Boy Advance (GBA) port of A Link to the Past in 2002, featuring a new multiplayer spin-off game called Four Swords. This was the first Zelda game to have multiplayer and cooperative puzzles as a component, but it also introduced a new wing of the series' lore.

The wind mage Vaati is Link's primary antagonist in Four Swords, kidnapping Princess Zelda after being freed from his imprisonment in the Four Sword blade. Though he is resealed at the end of this adventure, he returns in the 2004 GameCube sequel Four Swords Adventures - which leans harder into a cartoonish art style clearly inspired by The Wind Waker. Vaati is a striking enough alternative to Ganon that his backstory is examined further in The Minish Cap.

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A hallmark of The Minish Cap is its introduction of the Minish, also called the Picori. This miniscule race lives in the Minish Realm, occassionally crossing over to help save mankind from monsters. The Picori Blade is an enchanted weapon provided by the Minish that later becomes the Four Sword. It's upgraded with the power of the four elements collected by Link throughout his quest to stop Vaati, who is revealed to be a Minish boy swayed by dark magic. In his quest to obtain great power, Vaati turns his old master Ezlo into the titular Minish Cap that helps Link change sizes, and lays siege to Hyrule Castle - turning Zelda to stone in the process.

Link's Awakening Dungeon

While it dropped the multiplayer facets that made Four Swords and Four Swords Adventures stand out, The Minish Cap was special because it was a seeming amalgam of the games that came before. Its style continues to pull from The Wind Waker's aesthetics, but mechanically it was like Link's Awakening with an original story as grand as A Link to the Past. Comparisons to Link's Awakening are pertinent, with The Minish Cap's top-down 2D adventure featuring returning items like Roc's Cape (originally Roc's Feather) or the Pegasus Boots, as well as an underlying seashell-collecting quest.

Given its experience with Four Swords Anniversary Edition and the Switch remake of Link's Awakening, Grezzo seems the perfect developer to tackle a modern version of The Minish Cap. If Nintendo Switch Online does not receive a GBA library as rumors are suggesting, an HD remake may be the only way for this adventure to return for modern audiences without a virtual console. This potential remake wouldn't necessarily need the toy-like aesthetic of Link's Awakening, but the similar chibi style of each original game means it could work just as well - likely better than the laggy, unoptimized first attempt.

The possibility for a Minish Cap remake would have benefits beyond bringing a solid, undersung Legend of Zelda story into the modern age. Its synthesis of mechanics includes Link gaining new abilities akin to Twilight Princess and working to solve puzzles with Tingle. It also has plenty of original ideas such as Kinstone Fusion, allowing Link to interact with his countrymen and surroundings in a deeper way. Its more diverse dungeons (even if there are less than usual) and unique scaling environments could also make for stunning visuals in HD, and give Link's Awakening's dungeon maker another chance to shine. Grezzo doesn't necessarily have to be behind this venture; it would be worth trying regardless of who mans the helm.

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap is available now for Game Boy Advance, Wii U virtual console, and the 3DS Ambassador Program.

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