It's interesting how both Zelda and Mario (and perhaps their other franchises) seem to have gone through some similar evolution. Starting with the 3D Zelda, Oc

It's interesting how both Zelda and Mario (and perhaps their other franchises) seem to have gone through some similar evolution. Starting with the 3D Zelda, Ocarina of Time, the franchise changed and became less open and, in my opinion, lost some of it's simplicity and brilliance. It was good in other ways, but I felt it lost something, even if just the more complicated controls, fixed camera, and decrease in art direction/quality. I can understand that considering the switch to 3D it was the best they could do, but still. I missed LTTP. Wind Waker brought some of that old charm/freedom/simplicity back, and Breath of the Wild seems to have gone all in on these things. Similarly, I loved the 2D Mario games, and even though I also loved the switch to 3D, I had the same issues I had with Ocarina. For the most part these issues became bigger with Super Mario Sunshine (more complexity, less simple beauty in art and gameplay), except for one thing: the (very difficult) abstract acapella levels. Those gave me the same kind of enjoyment that I'd felt with the SNES mario games. I get the impression that this was a very common sentiment and that as a result, Mario Galaxy felt much more like these acapella levels and the old Mario games. Unfortunately my favorite franchise, Metroid, managed fine even in the (spectacular) transition to 3D, and went downhill from there. I'm hoping that on the Switch they will do something similar to that franchise and somehow get the magic back of Super Metroid (and the first Metroid Prime).