The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (NS) is the most successful stand alone Zelda title (not counting remasters/other versions)

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curl-6 said:

Skyward Sword was a good game, but it did show that the series formula was becoming very stale.

Breath of the Wild was exactly what the franchise needed; a bold reinvention.

BotW takes a lot from SS. From what I have seen from the multiple replays I've done of SS:

- Stamina introduction

- A more agile Link

- An story where Zelda plays a big role and it's as important (or even more) than Link, up to the point that she even has her own adventure

- More open areas and less corridors (like TP)

- Higher difficulty

- More damage from enemies

- Bosses like Ghirahim were there wasn't an obvious weak point and more like real combat

- Better use of every tool inside and outside of dungeons

- Upgrades, cooking (potions in SS)

- Better use of rupees

 

Those are the ones I remember.

This is understable considering Fujibayashi directed both games.

 

I also have especulated that maybe SS was an open world game (considering the story and dowsing mechanic), but due to the motion controls implementation and lack of power from the Wii made it impossible to make.