Over the course of nearly 35 years, Breath of the Wild 2.
If the first Breath of the Wild was praised for one thing, it was its innovation to a series that had begun to feel a bit stale. With fantastic open world exploration and an elaborate, vital crafting system, these new additions reinvigorated the series. If Breath of the Wild 2 wants to carry on that innovation, it's going to need to leave overused characters in the dust.
What character is more overdone than Ganon? He's been a villain in most of the Legend of Zelda games, and while the trailer for Breath of the Wild 2 appears to tease him as the villain again, it's really time for Ganon to sit this one out. One of the most tedious parts of Breath of the Wild was that every boss fight centered around Ganon in some form. In a game that left fans marveling at its grandiosity, the boss fights were boring. The Breath of the Wild 2 could fix this issue by bringing back a different antagonist, like Zant from Twilight Princess or Demise from Skyward Sword.
More Characters We Don't Need in Breath of the Wild 2
Some of Breath of the Wild 2's success will hinge on whether or not Link's companion is likable. Navi in Ocarina of Time was a sometimes-obnoxious fairy who shouted "Hey, listen!" so often it's been memed to death, but perhaps the most annoying companion in Zelda is Fi. Skyward Sword was a good game that suffered from its reliance on the Wii Remote to control Link's movements and attacks, but having Fi as a companion wasn't great either. Boasting all the personality of a beige wall, Fi felt more like an AI personal assistant than an actual character. This is probably why Nintendo went full-on smartphone with the Sheikah Slate in Breath of the Wild. No one complains about a character feeling too much like a smartphone when it's an actual smartphone.
There are certainly other characters that Breath of the Wild 2 needs to avoid. There's Kaepora Gaebora, the owl from Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, whose long-winded ramblings about where to go next were a real buzzkill. He's especially obnoxious in Ocarina of Time — and totally unnecessary, since Navi already tells the player what to do and where to go next. The Skull Kid from Majora's Mask is another character who should stay in the past, especially the iteration that appears in Twilight Princess, in which players have to chase him down to get the Master Sword by playing the world's most frustrating game of hide-and-seek.
One of the most oddball characters in Zelda is Tingle, a man in a fairy costume who sells players maps. Yes, some fans may get a kick out of his many appearances in the series, but hearing "Tingle! Tingle! Kooloo-Limpah!" really starts to grade against the nerves after a while. The Tingle costume in Breath of the Wild is as close as he should get to appearing in Breath of the Wild 2.
Most of the characters in The Legend of Zelda are endearing even if they're a little annoying. However, some characters like Skull Kid and Fi are simply too obnoxious to justify adding into Breath of the Wild 2, and characters like Ganon should be kept away if Nintendo wants to continue the innovation of Breath of the Wild and reinvigorate the series once again. With the right list of characters, however, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 could be just as awe-inspiring as its predecessor.
