Sound design in Legend of Zelda games has long been an aspect of design in which Nintendo has worked hard. The outcome has always helped result in a highly polished product. From the ‘bag of chips’ sound that was used for Link’s walking on sand sound in Wind Waker, to the jingle that plays when opening a chest in Ocarina of Time, sound design has always been appropriate and of high quality. Even in the sounds Link himself has made during gameplay in games like Ocarina of Time, his utterances have never been obtrusive or taken the player out of the experience.
That is, arguably, until when Breath of the Wild and full voice acting were introduced to the mainline Zelda games. With the Zelda movie on the horizon, and a new original game still under wraps, I ponder what is the state of play regarding voice acting and sound design, and what does it mean for these two key future projects?
Early Link sounds
Link makes grunts and other sounds in the very early Zelda games, but to be honest, they don’t even sound like sounds that are coming from a human. It is with Ocarina of Time that the first spoken sounds are heard. While these sounds resemble ‘hiyyyaahh’ and various versions of ‘hiyyyaahh,’ you can at least tell that these sounds are coming from a human mouth. Then, with Wind Waker, the first ever spoken dialogue is recorded when Link says ‘c’mon’ to the statue that he is commanding in the mid-game, and in the ‘Tower of the Gods’ dungeon where Link also says ‘hiyyyaahh’. Also, around this time, with the port of A Link to the Past on GBA, Link’s ‘hiyyyaahh’ was added from Ocarina of Time, for when Link swung his sword.
Throughout the years of A Link to the Past up until Skyward Sword, a vocal minority who grew in number wanted the Legend of Zelda series to include voice acting. Some other fans said that text bubbles were fine, and that they didn’t want Legend of Zelda to turn out like the Sonic series. The Sonic series had basically become a laughing stock because of how tasteless the style of the games with voice acting had become. The thinking was that when voice acting is added to a game, the game loses a certain mystery, and it is harder to retain a mature style.
Breath of the Wild and the revolution of Zelda
After five or six games that roughly followed the Ocarina of Time 3D template (complete three dungeons, find a new world, five more dungeons open up), Zelda was in much need of a revamp. The latest Zelda (Skyward Sword), while being high quality, had sold way under expectations, and had been criticised for both poor controls, and lack of voice acting. So, some time after announcing that a new game was in development, it was announced that the game would include voice acting. Breath of the Wild released in 2017 and from the start you could tell that because of the voice acting, the game had lost a mature, stylish edge. In every other way, the game was a complete success.
It revolutionized gameplay by introducing shrine, and foraging/hunting gameplay mechanics, and had a huge fully open world. You could get lost in the game world and build up your character. It was a proper action role playing game experience. The one thing that let it down was its voice acting, and by extension its story. I belive that if the game hadn’t included voice acting, the story would have been much more well received. The voice acting made the mystery of the game world disappear and judging by Breath of the Wild, voice doesn’t fit the Zelda universe. So, what does this mean for the next game?
The Next Zelda game is still a Mystery
There have been two Zelda games since Breath of the Wild. Tears of the Kingdom did include voice acting (and is very similar to Breath of the Wild in many ways), and the newest ‘top-down’ Zelda, Echoes of Wisdom which didn’t include voice acting. Echoes of Wisdom told its story in the traditional way. That is, through text bubbles and the game world. However, the next Zelda game will be based on a completely new idea. It won’t be a sequel to Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom. This means that it could go either way. I think Nintendo will probably use voice acting. However, hopefully if they do, they can integrate it in a way that isn’t jarring or tasteless. If they go for another top-down game, then I think they won’t include voice acting.
The story of Echoes of Wisdom was well told through the environment, and it was charming. All the better for it not including voice acting. I think the new 3D game could incorporate voice acting in a novel way. For example, by only having certain characters or types of characters talk where it is appropriate, in a way that allows other aspects of the storytelling to shine through. I think that the voice acting in the next game will be linked to how the voices are portrayed in the upcoming 2027 project.
The Live Action Movie – Link and Zelda have been cast
The 2027 project is, of course, the controversial movie. It is controversial because it is thought that an anime would have been easier to make successful. We now know who will play Zelda and Link. Both of the actors are relatively unknown. This bodes well as it means that there may be less pressure on both the actors and the writers. We also know that the director, Wes Ball, is a real Zelda fan. He tweeted a joke about directing a future Zelda movie many years ago, before the project had ever been revealed. He will know that Link and Zelda have an off and on relationship. However, I think he will still have characters talk, including Link.
The movie hopefully, won’t be too chatty. I’m just hoping Wes Ball and Miyamoto can channel their passion for Zelda, into a worthwhile cinematic experience. Maybe, Link speaking in a foreign accent could be a solution. The style that the voice takes in the movie will probably have an influence on the games that will release in the future. There are rumors that the movie will actually be a trilogy, so the influence of the movies on the games could continue well into the future. It is definitely a difficult subject. Voices in Legend of Zelda and even Link having a voice in the movie has had a bit of backlash. Personally, I wish voice acting had never been added to the games. However, now we might be at a point where there’s no going back. If that’s the case, then let the movie set the standard, and let’s not turn Legend of Zelda into Sonic The Hedgehog.
