Like Mario, the Zelda series should have 2D and 3D games in the future
There's no point in arguing whether the old-school, top-down Legend of Zelda games are better than Link's 3D adventures in Helalu. Nintendo seems happy to continue making both types of games in the series.
In an interview with the BBC, Legend of Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma discussed the future of the series following the recent release of The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom. “So we will also be releasing dynamic 3D Legend of Zelda (like Tears of the Kingdom),” Eiji Aonuma said. “But beyond that, we want to continue to release these 2D top-down Legend of Zelda.”
Eiji Aonuma came to this point after Echoes of Wisdom made him “realize that these top-down Zelda games have a lot of possibilities as well.” Previously, Zelda producers questioned whether top-down games could incorporate new elements. Apparently they could, as Echoes of Wisdom didn't even star Link because his sword was “in the way.” This helped make Zelda the main character of the series for the first time (ignore any CDi games).
That's not the only novelty of recent Switch-exclusive games, either. Echoes of Wisdom was directed by Tomomi Sano, the first female director in the series. Additionally, Shigeru Miyamoto doesn't appear in the credits of Echoes of Wisdom, marking the first time a mainline entry in the series hasn't featured Shigeru Miyamoto.
In case you didn't know, Echoes of Wisdom can actually be cleared in under an hour due to a loophole.