Totally agree, in that way we could have Zelda NX in 2018/2019 and after that they can start developing new Zelda for next hardware.

We need two big Zeldas per generation even if one is just a port for next hardware like TP for Wii and very likely ZeldaU for NX.

This, they can do what they done with Majora's mask.

Ideally though they should expand into 2 seperate teams, so we can recieve 2 distinct Zelda's per generation. Ocarina of time, Majora's Mask and Wind Waker all arrived within a 4-5 year period which is insane, but also how it should be. If the NX truly is a unified platform we might see a return to a similar frequency as a of Nintendo's team will automatically be freed up somewhat.

Alternatively Nintendo can collaborate with a third party. I think capcom could deliver strong technical contribution towards a Ocarina type Zelda game. Nintendo Core team will of course be in charge of the art and gameplay design.

They knew after Skyward Sword that Zelda titles were taking too long. Didn't Iwata go on record to say that home console Zeldas should take around three years? Obviously this generation had a whole set of development bottlenecks didn't plan for, but I think 3-4 years between Zelda games is right. 5 years just pushes things too long, especially now it means they're only coming out in the dying months of a console's lifespan.

If NX is a unified platform it won't take as long to develop the next Zelda game because the team don't have to make separate games for two platforms.

The 6th generation was a completely different story. Those games were easier to make back then and more affordable, at least compared to today. Not to mention they all used the same engine. This why during the 6th generation, you had many GTA clones. After the 6th generation, you stopped seeing the GTA clones because nobody could afford to make those kinds of games anymore. Just like GTA, the timespan between console Zelda games was also much shorter than today, even though Eiji Aonuma had those games go through delays.

With the 7th generation, they managed to squeeze out one more console GTA game right at the start of the 8th generation and it technically wasn't even finished at the time of it's release. It's kind of like how Nintendo managed to get Twilight Princess out at that exact moment when the 6th generation was coming to an end and the 7th generation was a in full gear. In fact, it's really the same thing. The time between the releases of GTA IV and GTA V was 5 years. The time between Skyward Sword and Zelda U will be 5 years.

"We have encountered some technical issues while trying to create the best experience for The Legend of Zelda X. We need more time to make this the best Zelda ever, so this game will now be released in 2022. Please understand".

While I loathe GTA, even I'll admit it is one of the most ambitious and elaborate games on the market. I hardly think Zelda needs as much development time as a modern GTA. 

Plenty of devs have managed to put out quality blockbuster games with 3 year development cycles. There are very, very few games that need 5 years, and Zelda is not one of them.

I would be ok with that!! Whatever they need to do to put a new Zelda every two years. I even wouldn't mind playing a new Zelda every year, its story is so big they could do almost anything and it would never get boring, at least for me.

Now that they have unified the teams, maybe they can accomplish this, as they won't need to do a new mario/smash/kart/zelda/kirby/animal crossing etc for each hardware.

Though I still hope they do more handeld zelda's like a link between worlds and the older titles. Give me a hanheld remaster of oracles and awakening and I'll throw money in their face.

Zelda may not have the extensive voice acting and scripted story that GTA has but the games are still quite large and ambitious compared to most games. Again, how often do you see a game on the market that is anything like Zelda? A lot of publishers today deliberately avoid games like that. Then there's the issue of quality. Large games like that means that cleaning up bugs and glitches will take longer as the hardware becomes more sophisticated. Even after all of that, the occassional bug still gets past testing. Unlike your average publisher, Nintendo doesn't release unfinished games. They aren't a big fan of patching. So to put things in perspective, take something like Assassins Creed Unity and Battlefield 4 and estimate how long the initial development took. Then add in how many months it took to fix those games after their release. Then you'll get a true perspective on how long some of those games should take to develop.

Also keep in mind that the same Zelda team that makes the console games also makes the handheld games which are also becoming increasingly sophisticated. With something like Call of Duty or Assassins Creed, there's the console game. That's it. There is no portable games in between the console games and if their is, it's usually left in the hands of another developer. So the reality is that the Zelda team has been hard at work on several Zelda games over the last few years, one of them being the most sophisticated console Zelda game ever.

Third party to make main 3D Zelda!? No thanks.

Development of 3D Zelda takes time especially in HD era, also making very high quality Zelda game that will be on pair with previous games in series also takes time, so It's very unrealistic to expect that you can have new main 3D Zelda every two years, every 3-4 years is possible but every two years definitely not.