In 2020, Nintendo celebrated the 35th anniversary of the Super Mario franchise in a big way. It hosted a special Super Mario-themed Nintendo Direct presentation, where it announced numerous projects that were in development for its mascot plumber. The big reveals were for Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury, a Super Mario 3D World Switch port with a sizeable expansion, and Super Mario 3D All-Stars, a collection consisting of Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Galaxy.
Since Nintendo went all-out for the Super Mario 35th anniversary, fans have expected something similar for The Legend of Zelda franchise in 2021. So far, Nintendo hasn't said much about how it will be celebrating The Legend of Zelda's 35th anniversary this year, outside of the Skyward Sword Switch port that's set to launch next month. Nintendo's E3 presentation is right around the corner, though, so there's a chance that the Big N could very well reveal more of its Zelda anniversary plans soon.
The Nintendo Direct presentation for E3 2021 is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, June 15 at 8am PT, and it will consist of roughly 40 minutes of Switch video game reveals. Smart money is that Nintendo will use its Nintendo Direct at E3 2021 to show The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 again, as well as highlight Skyward Sword HD, and if fans are lucky, potentially reveal more about its Zelda anniversary plans.
That being said, there's also a chance that the Nintendo Direct at E3 2021 isn't the big Legend of Zelda-focused showcase that some fans are expecting it to be. It could be that Nintendo only touches on previously-revealed Zelda projects like Skyward Sword HD and Breath of the Wild 2, saving its anniversary announcements for a later date. After all, Nintendo only has about 40 minutes to make its E3 2021 announcements, and if it spends too much time on Zelda, it won't be able to feature some of the other games that it has in the pipeline.
Hardcore Zelda fans may be disappointed if they tune in to E3 2021 and they don't see all of what Nintendo has in store for Zelda's 35th anniversary, but that won't meant that the Big N isn't still planning to celebrate the occasion in a big way. It's quite possible that Nintendo has a Zelda-focused Nintendo Direct planned for a little bit later in the year, which would match how it handled the Super Mario announcements.
With E3 2020 canceled by the coronavirus pandemic, Nintendo didn't have its usual big June Nintendo Direct. It instead had a special Nintendo Direct presentation a couple of months later that was focused entirely on the Super Mario franchise, which meant Mario didn't have the share the spotlight with any other Nintendo characters. It's certainly within the realm of possibility that Nintendo has something similar planned when it comes to The Legend of Zelda franchise.
How Will Nintendo Celebrate The Legend of Zelda 35th Anniversary
As it stands, The Legend of Zelda fans already know of at least one way that Nintendo is going to be celebrating The Legend of Zelda's 35th anniversary. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD is launching for the Nintendo Switch on July 16, giving Zelda fans a brand new way to experience the critically-acclaimed Wii title. There's also a very good chance that Nintendo will be showing more footage of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 after having first revealed it at E3 a couple of years ago, though fans shouldn't hold their breath for it launching in 2021.
In lieu of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2's release date being in 2021, there's a possibility Nintendo could release a Zelda collection instead. There are rumors of a 3D Legend of Zelda collection that would collect Ocarina of Time together with Twilight Princess HD and The Wind Waker HD, but that almost seems too good to be true. Reports indicate that GameStop is expecting some kind of Zelda announcement next week, though, so there just may be something to these claims.
A Zelda collection would undoubtedly get fans buzzing, but one has to wonder if such a collection will come with the same caveats as Super Mario 3D All-Stars. As fans may recall, Nintendo pulled some strange moves when it came to Super Mario 3D All-Stars, only selling it for a limited time and going as far as to pull it off the Switch eShop as well as physical stores. This move was met with backlash from the community, so maybe Nintendo will handle The Legend of Zelda anniversary differently, but only time will tell.
Ultimately, any talk of The Legend of Zelda 35th anniversary plans is merely speculation. All fans of The Legend of Zelda franchise can do at this stage is wait for Nintendo to show its hand. Whether that happens at E3 2021 or some later, unannounced event remains to be seen, however.