Seriously thinking about getting the book on amazon

WW sold more than 4m, and MM sold less than that...

Great job on the thread! Those new rumours are certainly intriguing, and I've thought for a while now that we'd be seeing Zelda 3DS long before we see Zelda Wii U.

I'd been hoping that we'd see Zelda 3DS along side Pokemon this year. The facts from Iwata are that Nintendo have ten key titles (including five already hitting the West in the first half of the year, though oddly Animal Crossing, a first half release, is not counted in the ten title figure) to drive sales in the West on 3DS. Now we can count Pokemon X/Y as one or two of those titles. I'm assuming a Professor Layton of some sort is still due for localisation and release this year in the West, so we have two or three Nintendo published titles to go.

Hopefully one or two of these will be Nintendo developed, with the others being third party projects with Nintendo's blessing, like LEGO City Stories in this half of the year. If Nintendo really are serious about turning 3DS into more than a Mario-machine this year, a portable Zelda in time for Christmas would be an excellent title in addition to Pokemon at year's end. Fingers crossed for a reveal before E3!

You know, the newest Zelda handheld game wasn't really on my radar to be honest. But now I realize that it's been a little over three years since Spirit Tracks. So if anything, the game is overdue. I wouldn't be surprised if we got a new portable Zelda this holiday. Although who knows how development on Wind Waker HD will affect the 3DS game.

Yeah, it has been 4 years since the last new handheld Zelda released. I do think that this year we will definately see a new title.

I wonder what it will look like. Nintendo has never had a handheld system with such powerful hardware. Do you think EAD will do a game with a top-down perspective? Or go with a 3D Zelda like the Ocarina remake?

Some possible styles:

^^ I think they will go to a more 3D Zelda. I just hope they don't use again WW artstyle.

Let's talk Zelda 3DS.

What will it look like? When will it arrive? Which Zelda games will serve as inspiration?

Right now, all we have are hints, rumors, and speculation. But I've assembled them here to help make sense of it all.

July 25, 2011:

In an interview with Nintendo Power, Zelda series' producer Eiji Aonuma said Nintendo would consider a remake of Majora's Mask if there was enough enthusiasm for such a project:

"One of the big things that we made this remake possible was that there was an outpour of emotions from people who said they would like to see [Ocarina 3D] done. I think certainly if there was a similar output of emotion and clamor from fans for a remake of Majora's Mask, it wouldn't be an utter impossibility."

October, 2011:

Another interview, this time in Game Informer, asked Aonuma about an original 3DS Zelda:

"Of course we've thought about it. I'll give you one hint, but maybe you won't understand it. It will be a game in which having 3D will mean something."

Doesn't get more cryptic than that.

November 5, 2011:

Aonuma confirms a new 3DS Zelda game:

“We are already preparing a new game, a game in the series for the Nintendo 3DS, but don’t think that it is a direct sequel to the Zelda titles released on DS. We are talking about a new game, but it takes much of what has been done on previous consoles.”

He went on to say:

"It's something I'm asked about often and I assure you that it is something I've spoken to Miyamoto about. But recently we released The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D as a remake. We are considering the idea, but it didn't seem right to launch a remake one after another, so the next Zelda game on 3DS will be original."

January 16, 2012:

This image appears on 4chan, making it seem that the next portable Zelda game would in fact be TWO games, not unlike Oracle of Ages/Oracle of Seasons. The games were named "Fire Prophecy" and "Ice Prophecy."

It was later proven to be fake.

April 13, 2012:

In an interview with Edge Magazine, Shigeru Miyamoto responds to questions about A Link to the Past remake on 3DS:

"I think I'd be even more interested in creating something new maybe based on, or starting from, A Link To The Past. I think it's important to bring some really new software."

June 5, 2012

In an interview with IGN at E3, Miyamoto talked about Majora's Mask and A Link to the Past:

"We haven't quite decided yet, whether we're going to do A Link to the Past, because there's also the possibility of doing a remake of Majora's Mask. This is something we've certainly been talking about and doing a little bit of experimenting with, to figure out which way we're going to go."

August 22, 2012:

This image appears on GameFAQS.

It hints that Grezzo, which developed Ocarina of Time 3D, is working on the new Zelda for 3DS. The Japanese text translate to "Shrimp Shield," whatever that means. This image has also been discredited; it's assumed it was made using the Colors! application on 3DS.