Nintendo has taken a dive in console sales since the release of the Wii U. They still manage to keep themselves afloat with hit gaming franchises like Mario Kart and Super Smash Brothers. But one of their most popular game series, The Legend of Zelda, still has yet to have a new version made specifically for the Wii U. There is word that The Legend of Zelda Wii U is coming out in Spring of 2016, but there are a lot of reasons not to believe these rumors.
The date for The Legend of Zelda for the Wii U is "confirmed" for the first quarter of 2016, according to iSchool Guide. Considering that these are the only source that can "confirm" this, for this week's news on the long-awaited game, this might not be true. As it is, IGN reports that the release date is still TBA 2016. If there is a confirmed release date for a game that has been delayed, the Internet explodes once the release date is given.
As it is, the story of The Legend of Zelda has become kind of a cautionary tale with Nintendo. When the original Wii was announced, shortly after was released The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, it was a huge hit, especially as it allowed players to use the new Wii mote like a sword. It could be argued that the simplicity of controls as well as this game led to success with the Wii, and it soon became the number one system. Unfortunately, the Wii was not able to compete with the Xbox 360 and PS3, and required an update with the Wii U.
Just before the Wii U came out, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword was released, and it achieved some success and kept the Zelda franchise afloat. Later that year, when the Wii U was released, fans wanted to see what new Zelda game would be coming to the Wii U, but they were told that a new game wouldn't be coming out until 2015.
Then more bad news: the producer of the game made a quick and simple YouTube video explaining that he didn't feel right releasing a new Zelda game in 2015 if he couldn't make it really good. So now the Wii U The Legend of Zelda was again delayed until 2016.
Now, after sales of the Wii U are really declining as sales of the Xbox One and PS4 are climbing, there are rumors that Nintendo is going to try and get another next generation console going with the Nintendo NX. Assuming that this is the plan, the Nintendo NX could be unveiled at E3 2016, which is a huge video game convention held annually during the summer in Los Angeles.
If that is the case, the Nintendo could release their Nintendo NX system by Christmas of 2016, and include the newest The Legend of Zelda game in order to boost sales. That, or announced the NX in 2016, but not release the NX in 2017. If that is the case, then they might as well not even bother releasing a Wii U version of any new version of The Legend of Zelda series.
In fact, this appears to be their plan as Nintendo intends to release a Wii U version of Twilight Princess in Spring of 2016. Perhaps this is the "confirmed release date" that the aforementioned sources were talking about. The release of this port of a Wii game is a bad sign, a way of satiating those that want a new The Legend of Zelda for the Wii U. After all, when it was announced at first that a new Wii U Zelda wouldn't be coming until 2015, Nintendo re-released a port of WindWaker, a Zelda game for the GameCube.
