Zelda is basically a legendary franchise much like Super Mario Bros, Mario Kart, Sonic(up until the Dreamcast anyway), Street Fighter, Resident Evil, etc. I think Nintendo take their time with it because they want to uphold the quality of the mainline console series and make a mark with every single iteration they do. Sure most of the mainline Zelda games have not deviated significantly since Ocarina of Time in terms of gameplay/controls(other than the Wii's motion controls really) but each has been praised upon released.

Sometimes Nintendo releases games strategically Or I should say delays games strategically- IMO Zelda U was either 1) never going to be ready in 2015 but they said it would and reaffirmed during holiday 2014 to help spur excitement and sales or 2) It was ready for release (or close enough to be released) in 2015 and decided to delay the release to a future date to perhaps fill a gap, co release w the NX or some other reason

I guarantee Zelda U was NOT delayed for the reasons they indicated-

PieToast said: Each Zelda is a reinterpretation of the previous instalments, from the artstyle to the mechanics. And of course, franchise fatigue. Zelda is Nintendo's second most popular franchise, I think. So they don't want to rely on it too much because that could potentially hurt the overall positive reception of the franchise.

They don t seem to have that concern re Mario- but i agree w you they shouldnot burn tier franchises by overuse-  The WIi U they seemed to spam a narrow grouping and yet leave out (so far) some alltogether)

The WIi U has become a Mario, Zelda and Platforming box-  I don t think it could even be considered a Nintendo box so far

Skyward Sword took so long because they basically started from scratch in 2009 after Wii Sports Resort came out and they realized they COULD do motion-controls for the sword using Motion Plus.

Zelda U...presumably going HD and going open-world are both requiring more time to polish and (hopefully) fill the game with content still. The game looks great and the map looks huge and awesome, but it's not really worth it unless they can fill the world with content and things to do.

Conversely, the game could be delayed because of a potential dual-release scenario for the NX (like Twilight Princess), if NX is, in fact, a console and more powerful than Wii U so it'd be capable of running the game or making it even better. It's not as far-fetched as people think, given that they've obviously invested a ton of resources into their first built-from-the-ground-up HD, open-world Zelda game and they will want to make a profit on it (something that is not necessarily guaranteed on Wii U given its low install base).

TK14 said: Skyward Sword took so long because they basically started from scratch in 2009 after Wii Sports Resort came out and they realized they COULD do motion-controls for the sword using Motion Plus. Zelda U...presumably going HD and going open-world are both requiring more time to polish and (hopefully) fill the game with content still. The game looks great and the map looks huge and awesome, but it's not really worth it unless they can fill the world with content and things to do. Conversely, the game could be delayed because of a potential dual-release scenario for the NX (like Twilight Princess), if NX is, in fact, a console and more powerful than Wii U so it'd be capable of running the game or making it even better. It's not as far-fetched as people think, given that they've obviously invested a ton of resources into their first built-from-the-ground-up HD, open-world Zelda game and they will want to make a profit on it (something that is not necessarily guaranteed on Wii U given its low install base).

Nintendo games on Wii U have very good attach rate, Zelda WW HD is above 1.5m.

FarleyMcFirefly said: No idea. I hate it though... Much too long. I liked it when they released more consistently (Ocarina to Wind Waker). I mean, they should reuse the same engine sometimes instead of building from the ground up each time.

That's the thing. How often can they reuse the same engine. Twilight Princess used Wind Waker's engine, but that game also hapened to make it onto the Wii. THere's no way Skyward Sword could use the same engine as the DS Zelda games so they had to build a new one for Skyward Sword. 

What some people don't realize is that Zelda games come out more often than you think. I'm not talking about the remasters that are co-developed by Grezzo. I'm talking about the fact that the same team makes Zelda games on both consoles and handhelds. On 7th gen systems, they finished up Twilight Princess and then released both Phantom Hourglass and Spirit tracks before finally releasing Skyward Sword in 2011. 2 years later we got A Link Between Worlds and the Wii U game would have come out two years after that but it was delayed to 2016. So you figure between 2006 and 2016, we're getting 6 main Zelda games in 10 years and several re-releases on top of that. Remember, just because it's not a console Zedla doesn't mean it isn't a main release.

Mythmaker1 said: Because each Zelda is built, more or less, from scratch. New assets, new art-style, new controls, new engines, and so on. That takes a lot of time. Many sequels these days are built using similar engines or recycled assets in order to save costs and time.

Many new IPs these days are built from scratch and don't take 5 years to develop.

Becourse of Nintendo

It's they way they do things.. don't rus it.. I bet if they believed it was better for business.. they would.. And here I will point some out.. What is "2 games" theese days ?

Is it countet as a game if Nintendo do a "Luigi U" and releasing big (payed) Zelda DLC in 1-2 years..?

They don't take 5 years to develop, they take 3 to 4 years.

Skyward sword was an exception because it was already 3 years into development when they decided to implement motion +, so they had to rework a lot of stuff.

Zelda U doesn't have a release date yet. If it releases first half of 2016 it will have been 4 and a half years, even though they needed extra time with hd development.

PwerlvlAmy said: id rather they take lke 4-5 years to make the game quality rather than fart one out every 2 years and rush it

And yet one of the top 3 most popular games in the franchise took just a year when one of the most hated took 5... maybe they should learn to reuse a games engine and assets every now and then.