Would You Like a Game That Takes Place On The Flood?

Don't get me started on the Great Flood. Ever since the release of Wind Waker, I KNEW The Great Flood HAD to be the next Zelda game. I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo chose never to make a game about it, but dear lord would the game be amazing. This is the way I see it (Prepare for a long post):

In my opinion, The Great Flood would fulfill everything that every hardcore Zelda fan has been wanting since the end of the N64 era. I suppose I'll just go down the list, and with every aspect, you'll pretty much see my interpretation of how the game would be in my eyes, and what would make it effective:

LINK: So, every Zelda game needs Link. It's just a given. A common argument against a Great Flood game would be, obviously, that it happened, thus negating the argument that Link could ever have won. This is not true. While the Great Flood could be argued as a victory for Ganon, was it really? He and his kingdom that he ravaged were frozen in time, then left in ruins at the bottom of a vast ocean. This is hardly victory for him, and it could be easy implementing Link into this "defeat." A game about The Great Flood wouldn't be Ganon's victory, it would be Link's success, but still with a sad outcome. But, there are plenty of alternatives to Ganon's plan that could be conjured to make an effective story where Link ultimately stops him. Let's look at the situation: We know before the flood, Ganon was pretty much the most powerful he's ever been in the Zelda timeline. He was so powerful, that the Gods had to flood Hyrule. Dear lord. So, who's to say that he didn't plan to do much more with that power? For all we know, he could've achieved the power to destroy the land completely. He could've obtained enough power to slay the Goddesses. He could've obtained enough power to slaughter every being in Hyrule. With this kind of immense power, a tragic outcome seems like a given. They could make it a point in the game that Ganon grew SO powerful, that there was no way that Hyrule could be completely saved from his evil. In the end, Link would rise against him, and do SOMETHING, SOMEHOW, that leads the Great Flood to happen instead of a fate much worse to Hyrule. Obviously, this quest would include many items and dungeons and relics. Maybe Link was able to stun Ganon long enough with the Master Sword just long enough for the Goddesses to use their power, you never know, but there's a thousand and one ways where they could depict the flood as victory against Ganon, instead of defeat for Hyrule.

GANON[DORF]: Another thing we need in a new Zelda game is a fantastic villain. Ganon is Zelda, and in my opinion, the greatest game of all time. However, it is hard to find places for him where his presence truly works out, as we found in TP, where he was sloppily included and thus turned into kind of a lame character and villain. Meanwhile, Ganon would begin to lose his luster in games that take place possibly millenia after Ocarina of Time, where he began chronologically. A game about the Great Flood would be the best possible opportunity to make Ganon a villain that counts. I imagine Ganondorf, stretching his reign all across Hyrule, turning each location you love into a twisted land of darkness. I can imagine making the player hating Ganondorf in this game, something that truly adds to the atmosphere in unspeakable ways. I'll never forget the moment that I walked into the Market as the first time as Adult Link, and discovered how much I loathed Ganondorf for transforming this land into what it had become. And like I said before in the Link paragraph, his power would be at its greatest, letting us see the most that Nintendo could do out of Ganon/dorf. It'd be fantastic and memorable.

HYRULE: Fans have been clamouring for a game that's set in the same world as Ocarina of Time. A world we still recognize, but that has been remade to feel different for this generation of gaming, but still the same in essence. This was partially achieved in TP, but I wasn't feeling it. A Hyrule where Ganondorf reigns once more could achieve this vision, and give us the last of the "original" Hyrule before its flooded by the seas and replaced by a new continent.

MOOD: Fans have been wanting a dark game, and nothing would work better for Zelda in "darkness" than this. Again, we'd see a land either overcome or being overcome by evil, which would make things very dark. Also, while I know we'll never get an atmosphere that equals or tops Majora's Mask, Nintendo could make an atmosphere that resembles MM's by having a Hyrule that's facing complete annihilation. The dark tone in Majora's Mask was done better than in any other game in history, and it could most definitely be achieved in a Hyrule ravaged by Ganon, even if Armageddon was done to a lesser extent than Majora's Mask. This would be a game where the player couldn't completely save the world, no matter what, and the player would know that.

STORY: The story would be fantastic, and worthy of a Zelda game. Fans have been wanting a game that connects to the other Zelda games, and Twilight Princess did a god-awful job at this. It was only when I finally made my own version of the split timeline that I could even think about forgiving Nintendo for making no effort at this at all. I don't think we'll ever get a cohesive timeline that connects all the games, but this game would fit well into the timeline because, frankly, we know it's already happened. Furthermore, there could be references galore to Ocarina of Time, and even foreshadowing to Wind Waker and such. It'd be really interesting seeing a world sandwiched between two games that we know and love. And I think this could be the first game where Link dies. Yes, I said it, and yes, that's very controversial. But again, in the context of this game, it could work, and it could be beautifully done. Like I said in my first paragraph about Link, Link could easily be saving Hyrule from a doom much worse than the Flood itself. We know that Ganon wasn't exactly sealed in the same way as Hyrule, otherwise he'd never be able to rematerialize as he did in Wind Waker without the Master Sword being pulled. Perhaps Link would have to die, and bring Ganon down with him? It's very plausible that Ganon could be sealed away somehow by Link, at the expense of his life. But, with his death, Link would save Hyrule. Also, we know that Ocarina of Time Link's bloodline ends in the AT. What better time and cause would it end than at the Great Flood? This Link could be the last ancestor of the Hero of Time, and the one that is able to save Hyrule from the worst potential fate that ever faced it. He would die, leaving the Triforce of Courage to be passed down to the next hero that the Gods deem worthy (WW Link). It would be truly epic, and could provoke more emotional intensity than any other Zelda has done before.

I could say more, but I feel like that would just become more redundant than this already is. In my eyes, The Great Flood would make a perfect Zelda game in every way possible, and I think its ludicrous that Nintendo made a game that didn't even reference other Zelda games when they had this fantastic opportunity at hand. I seriously hope this ends up happening someday, but knowing Nintendo, it could just remain a fantasy that is never fulfilled.