No worries, next Zelda game will be huge, just you wait. Every dungeon will be the size of OOT's Hyrule Field, and full of content. Mario I don't know, but after Galaxy 2 they have to try something new. 3D World was a different series, and isn't the new 3D Mario, even though it has 3D in the title. Who knows, maybe we'll truly be able to explore the Mushroom Kingdom in 3D for the first time, not just tiny levels connected by a hub world.

Twilight Princess was a hell of a lot more "open" than Ocarina of Time was. Period. All Ocarina had, great game that it was, was a "big" Hyrule Field that acted as a hub. In TP, you actually NEED Epona and later Midna to help you get around, to help you save time traversing the game world. And Zelda U will no doubt feature a land even larger.

Awesome OP.

Something tells me Iwata already got his buzz on after seeing WiiU sales.

Making an expansive open-world game would mean that Nintendo would have to, you know, put some effort into designing their games, and that's hard work. And everybody knows hard work sucks.

Right, because "open world" design always means GOOD design, correct? And because Nintendo, if nothing else, is known for being lazy and cutting corners with their game design, yes? High five bro.

Yeah my comment wasn't meant in a negative way just trying to point out Iwata's leadership style of Nintendo. They definately had a win with this approach with the DS and Wii but think it isn't a good long term business ideology to hold, imo hardware design should be focused on providing developers freedom to express their ideas with as little limitations as possible.