Hyrule Warriors was one of the first hack-and-slash games that Koei Tecmo and Nintendo collaborated on. It was originally released on the Wii U in 2014, and enhanced ports were eventually released on the 3DS and Switch in 2016 and 2018, respectively. A sequel, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, released in 2020. However, you may be surprised to learn that Nintendo of America wasn’t entirely confident about it.
You see, former Nintendo employees Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang had some insight to share about the matter in their latest episode of the Kit and Krysta Podcast. The pair revealed that some people within Nintendo of America was worried about the quality of the game and the possibility that it might hurt the reputation that the Zelda franchise has built over the years. In fact, some felt so strongly about this that they felt that the game shouldn’t be released in North America.
Fortunately, Hyrule Warriors was well received by critics. Not only did it sell well in western regions, better than Koei Tecmo expected, but it ended up becoming one of the Wii U’s best-selling games. It managed to be even more successful when its enhanced port was released on the Nintendo Switch, surprising Koei Tecmo once again.
Thanks to Greatsong1 for the tip!