After The Legend of Zelda's own 35th Anniversary next year. The original The Legend of Zelda for the NES was released in Japan in February 1986 and made its way to North America over a year later, in July 1987.
In honor of the original Super Mario Bros.'s 35th birthday, collection's lack of Super Mario Galaxy 2, the announcements were generally well-received by fans of the Mario franchise, and has reminded fans of The Legend of Zelda series that they may have their own day of announcements to look forward to in 2021.
Following the day of reveals, Reddit's dedicated The Legend of Zelda subreddit blew up with a series of posts by excited fans who realized that their favorite series' own 35th anniversary will be next year. A post by SCHylia, as well as the accompanying comment thread, capture the high hopes fans have after seeing what Nintendo did for the Super Mario franchise. Check out more of the Zelda subreddit's high hopes and expectations for a major 2021 celebration of the beloved series:
Nintendo has previously celebrated past The Legend of Zelda's anniversaries with timed releases and fanfare abound; GameCube swansong and Wii launch title The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was the celebration of the franchise's 20th year anniversary (and it was also remastered and re-released for the 30th anniversary), and 1:1 Wiimote slasher The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword was similarly timed to celebrate the franchise's 25th anniversary.
After the release of their next Mario games, Nintendo's first party lineup is lacking considerably; no other first party titles are planned for 2020 after October's Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit. This slim lineup going into the holiday season is surely not what Nintendo or its investors want to see, but the company can still hold players' attention should they start teasing any The Legend of Zelda news ahead of the franchise's February anniversary like some theorize. A string of such strong releases would help carry Nintendo through at least the first half of 2021, if not the entire year if it times things just right.
Source: SCHylia, Chriscendo38, GraveSymphony
