Last week we were graced with a megaton announcement: Sonic the Hedgehog is in Super Smash Bros. Brawl! Finally, Mario gets the opportunity to beat the inferior mascot into a pulp. But all is not well in the world of Brawl. The next day we were notified that Brawl would slip into next year. This "launch" title is now pegged for February 2008. So now we want to know how these two announcements affect your excitement.

How does the arrival of Sonic, and the delay of Brawl, make you feel? Is Sonic enough to make up for the delay, or are you down because of it? How does this make you feel about Nintendo’s holiday line-up in general? Head to the Hot Topic thread, and tell us what you think!

There's no prize on offer this week, other than that your response could be featured in this space next week if you've got something good to say. If that happens, you can brag to your friends that you were on Nintendo World Report. Cool, eh? Remember, you'll need to register for our forums if you want to put your two cents in. It's quick and easy.

Last week we asked how you would manage the future fate of the Zelda franchise. Congrats to Chasefox who won a Phantom Hourglass (magical qualities not included).

Here are some of the fine answers we got.

Chasefox wrote: I love the Zelda games; I'll put that out there first. Though I'd accept another Zelda readily, it's time to mix up the formula a little bit. I've got a couple ideas just to throw out there...

- How about a "side-story" or heck, even a main one following the path of Zelda or even Ganondorf, how they rise to power or the occasion? What about an interesting look at some of the other challenges that await them.

- "Link" is now part of the Hyrule army, fighting the battles of darkness actually talked about in some of the games. I've actually wanted this idea for a while...maybe starting as a noble Knight and growing to become the legendary hero.

- On rails Link? Not my ideal situation, and though I have no interest in purchasing a Zapper, we'll get a look at the concept.

So while I am always looking forward to the next new concept and game that Nintendo presents, maybe some things end up better just being left alone.

Morari wrote: It may not even be possible for a console, but what I think Zelda needs is a massive, living world. There would have various towns and villages, with people to speak with. Sometimes the people will talk about nonsense, or sometimes [they will] relate what they've heard about the rising evil or whatever the main story would be. Other times maybe they'd just want help with a simple quest that has little bearing on progressing through the central plot.

Furthermore, not every item you find should be in a carefully decided place. It'd be nice to have some items that aren't necessary for the completion of the game but help or increase the fun. Maybe some items that only serve the purpose of leading you to or uncovering secret areas, which in turn house interesting weapons or something.

More than anything though, I think the series needs a new story. Evil guy kidnaps helpless princes, young boy rises as mythical hero to defeat said evil guy. It gets tiresome, as it's already fairly predictable without having to be experiences in slightly different incarnations every console cycle.

Ian Sane wrote: I like a lot of the innovation in Phantom Hourglass. I don't like the touchscreen only design but there are good ideas in the game and it's fun to play. And even with some changes that sound major on paper and some I don't care for, the game still feels like Zelda.

Twilight Princess was very safe and conservative to the point where it seemed a little dull. There was a lot of flack about Wind Waker's graphics and so it was like Nintendo said "fine we'll give them the Zelda they want" and made it as cliché and repetitive as they could. I’d say of the four 3D Zeldas Twilight Princess is the worst, though it's still a fantastic game.

I want Zelda to try new stuff. The only real requirement is that it was to feel right. And if one Zelda game has controversial changes to it Nintendo has to realize it might just be the specifics that makes it controversial and not the concept of change itself.

I wasn't so offended by Wind Waker doing things differently but more exactly what was done differently. For me it wasn't about a new look, it was about what look was emphasized. I didn't like the sailing. However, with a better method [of sailing] in Phantom Hourglass, it appears that it was more the specifics of how sailing was done that I didn't like

Though I think Zelda needs a take a break for a few years. Majora's Mask was only the sixth game and back then every Zelda was a huge deal. Now they have separate series for consoles and portables. They've got EAD's Zelda and Capcom's Zelda. They've got Four Swords. They've got spin-offs like Tingle and Link's Crossbow Training. TOO MUCH ZELDA! Eventually the well will run dry but at least with proper pacing that won't happen so quickly. There's like Zelda product every year now. Cut back on the milking and Zelda will become more special.

Kairon wrote: I really think that going for more story, RPG elements, or a fleshed out world is the WRONG way to go. I that direction have only been suggested because other games are moving in that direction.

What isn't obvious is abstraction. Innovation isn't about adding features to a game, innovation is about taking some abstract concept and successfully capturing it in the confines of a game. Zelda abstracted the adventure of exploring a landscape and stumbling onto a cave, Mario abstracted pure "what if reality breaking": increasing size, finding invisible blocks to stand on, running on top of the level, warp zones.

Zelda doesn't need more characters, Zelda doesn't need deeper story lines, Zelda doesn't really need a Morrowind-esque "living world." Zelda just needs to nail the one thing that have made Zelda games timeless: a sense of adventure.

For my part: I say put Link in a frontier territory, a vast wilderness of woods and mountains on the edge of Hyrule's territory. People live there, but are few and far between. There are a handful of families in homesteading cabins, the odd wandering traders, quirky loners, outdoorsmen, eccentrics and outcasts... and vast stretches of untamed land that hides caves, forts, ruins, and dungeons of some long-forgotten ancestral evil that's rallying its strength out of sight of the Hyrulian kingdom.

Snoogans wrote: Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I really enjoy pretty much every Zelda game that I play. Each game provides me with several hours of enjoyable story and familiar gameplay. I think that this is the problem for most of you: it's too familiar. I do, of course, think that the gameplay should evolve and all of those things, but I also enjoy what has made a great Zelda game in the past.

Majora's Mask probably sits at the top of my list of great Zelda games, but it was basically an OOT clone with slightly better animation/graphics and a ridiculously awesome story. I will say that what made it so awesome was how different it was. One of my favorite tasks from a Zelda game was trying to get the Couples Mask in MM. It would take close to 15 or 20 minutes to get the job done: I would have to sit around for 5 minutes just waiting for the girl to come downstairs, wait until the right time to talk to the boy, wait again for the girl, wait for the right time to save the boy, and make it back to the town to wait for 3:00 until certain doom, all because of the time/schedule system that was so innovative. Yet, at its core, MM was just OOT 2. Now, TP can be argued to be OOT 3, but I felt that there was enough new stuff along with great Wii controls to make it a fantastic game.

On to the future: I would not complain if we got a new Zelda that was similar to the past formula but with kookier weapons and a great new play mechanic. On the other hand, all of your talk regarding side quests or alternate characters intrigues me. I will honestly say that I'm going to trust Nintendo on this one, as they have yet to let me down with a Zelda franchise that I love.

Dryden wrote: Let it die? Never - the Zelda Franchise is a genre-king. No one competes when it comes to adventure games - I mean, they compete, but Zelda never gets fazed. As for innovation, what's to innovate? The formula hasn't really changed since the first dungeon we crawled into, but it's still great. Stay the course, Nintendo - we love Zelda.

Sessha wrote: I think Nintendo is afraid of straying too far from the original formula. I don't think they realize that making a Zelda game on a bigger scale would not alienate any gamers that are already Zelda fans. Any changes they do should be to advance the series, and not to cater to a certain demographic. I think they should realize by now any cosmetic changes that draw in Japanese gamers is only fleeting.

What needs to be changed are core game elements. Voice acting would be nice, but if the want Link to be silent that's fine. There's always a way to work around that. If Nintendo releases a new Zelda game on the Wii, they need to implement the controls into the game. They made it work for Twilight Princess well, but the controls weren’t made explicitly for the Wii. If they don't it won't feel like they are moving forward.

They could change the setting a bit. Hyrule is fine, but Link needs to venture out into the world more. Hyrule has always been shown as a kind of Pangea, and made the scope of the world seem rather small.

Wandering wrote: What would an ideal Zelda game look like, to me? Everything in the game would have a reason to exist. Every person would have their own life and their own goals. If blood thirsty monsters are hanging out in a cave, they'd be in that cave for a reason. Treasure would be hidden in logical places, not in magically appearing treasure chests. Structures, doors, and locks would not just be there for my benefit. NPCs would never stay in one spot all day.

My ideal Zelda game would also have one other feature: voice acting. Everyone would talk, including Link. There's no reason for him not to. He already has a voice, and facial expressions. Giving him words wouldn't make him any less of a cipher.

I want Hyrule to become more real, and more complete. I think that would allow people to invest more of themselves into the games.

vudu wrote: I look forward to these staples (or clichés, if you'd rather call them that) with every game. The idea of a Zelda game starring Zelda is nice, but if they wanted to remove Link from the equation I'd rather they just create a brand new world with a new main character and a new supporting cast. This way the designers would be free to start off with a clean slate rather than shoe-horning secondary characters into the lead role. A Zelda game without Link is hardly a Zelda game at all.

On the Internet Machine, we have other machineternets.

- Talk Back: Brawl Delayed to February in N. America

- Nintendo Console Discussion: Japanese Retailer Conference

- Handheld Discussion: Advance Wars Series: Next Title - Advance Wars: Days of Ruin

- Super Smash Bros Discussion: Smash Bros Spoilers: SONIC APPEARS

- General Gaming: Portal - The Cake is a Lie!

- Fun House: Sometimes I love chess...

- NWR Friend Codes: Zelda: Phantom Hourglass